Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Pei Ran stood by the window for a long time, yet he could still hear those voices even with it closed.

It was only when he turned on the bathroom light and looked in the mirror that he realized his cheeks and ears were flushed red.

He washed his face and, using the back of his hand to support it, left the bathroom before picking up his phone again.

Pei Ran had received many confessions over the years. His first love letter came in elementary school, from a fifth-grade girl with a ponytail whose smile carried the freshness of lemon. Blushing, she handed him the letter, reminding him to read it at home.

Back then, he hadn't blinked an extra eye, politely pushing the letter back and saying, "Sorry, thank you."

Luo Qingshan had also received his share of apologies.

Taking a sip of water, he thought to himself that his reaction must have been due to being startled.

Why would Yan Zhun like him? They had no connection before this holiday, no intimate encounters, not even any extra conversation.

Pei Ran unlocked his phone, and the screen still displayed his chat with Yan Zhun.

In the darkness, the phone vibrated again, causing Pei Ran's palm to tingle slightly.

"Yan Zhun: I'm just explaining, not confessing. No need to rush to reply."

"..." Pei Ran was momentarily taken aback.

So that didn't count as a confession?

His rejection seemed to be stuck in his throat, unable to go up or down.

"Yan Zhun: But from now on, I won't call you 'boss' anymore."

As the rain subsided, Yan Zhun leaned against the balcony, enjoying the breeze. After sending that message, he went back to check his inbox, which was already filled with messages.

It was the same group of people, urging him to hurry up and continue killing in the game.

Before Yan Zhun could respond, they eagerly sent an audio message. He hung up once, but they persisted, so he finally reluctantly answered with a frown.

"Bro, what are you doing? Why did you hang up on me?" Lin Xuhuan asked.

"Busy."

"What could you possibly be busy with at this late hour?"

"I'm waiting for news."

Lin Xuhuan was taken aback. "Huh?"

Yan Zhun wasn't in the mood to elaborate. "Why did they call?"

"To continue gaming online. Old He and the others are already up. You're the only one missing." In the background, a deep male voice could be heard mentioning Yan Zhun's name.

Yan Zhun replied, "I'm a student, and I have school tomorrow."

"Oh, come on. Old He said skip class and spend two days at the base."

"I won't skip. Gotta go."

Lin Xuhuan stopped him. "Hey, let's chat a bit more. The people in my live stream all want to hear your voice. Don't hang up so quickly."

"Very urgent," Yan Zhun said.

"What's so urgent?"

With his phone in hand, Yan Zhun's voice was carried by the wind. "I'm urgently looking for a sister-in-law for you."

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the line.

"?" Lin Xuhuan responded, "What the hell! Are you serious? You still like women?"

Yan Zhun spoke in an even tone, "I prefer men."

"Hahaha," Lin Xuhuan laughed, assuming Yan Zhun was joking with him. "Just kidding, just kidding. I didn't mean anything by it. I thought you were going to be single for life... Which woman is so amazing that she caught your fancy?"

"He is indeed remarkable," Yan Zhun replied. "Is there anything else?"

Finally realizing the situation, Lin Xuhuan asked, "Are you waiting to call your girlfriend?"

"Not yet, don't jump to conclusions," Yan Zhun gazed at the moon and said, "I'm waiting for his reply."

Unfortunately, he didn't receive any new messages until the call ended.

Yan Zhun felt that he might not get a reply tonight. He closed the balcony window, tossed his phone onto his pillow, and prepared to sleep.

After gazing at the ceiling for an unknown period, his phone screen suddenly lit up.

"Pei Ran: Okay."

Forty minutes had passed since the last message.

The corners of Yan Zhun's lips twitched. Despite his drowsiness, he unlocked his phone and typed a few words.

"Yan Zhun: I'm sleeping, Pei Ran."

-

The next day, Pei Ran declined the chauffeur's pick-up and took the bus back to school.

When Pei Ran arrived at his dormitory, his roommate had just finished a game. Removing his headphones, he asked Pei Ran, "You didn't check the class group chat, did you?"

Pei Ran, busy organizing his belongings, replied, "No, why?"

"My class is short on male participants for the sports event, so our counselor asked everyone to sign up. We're currently registering," said his roommate. "What do you want to participate in? I think you should just go for the 100-meter dash. Winning isn't important; finishing the race is good enough."

Pei Ran pondered for a moment. "I'll do the 3,000-meter run."

His roommate let out an "oh" and casually continued texting his girlfriend. A few seconds later, he turned to Pei Ran with shock. "Huh?"

It wasn't hard to understand his roommate's reaction. Despite his height, Pei Ran gave off an overall impression of being quite slender, and at one point, his roommate had suspected that he might be thinner than some of the girls in their class.

However, Pei Ran never undressed in front of him, not even when taking a shower; he would always bring clothes in to change. Thus, his roommate could only make rough judgments.

Under his roommate's doubtful gaze, Pei Ran registered for the 3,000-meter run. Lifting his head to meet his roommate's eyes, he chuckled. "I can really finish it. Don't worry."

Just as he finished packing, Lin Kang sent him a message asking if he wanted to have lunch together.

Recalling that he had once offered to treat Lin Kang, Pei Ran readily agreed. They arranged to meet at a Western restaurant near campus.

"I actually wanted to ask you to return to school with me today, but after playing basketball, I realized it was too late," Lin Kang said, sipping his lemon water. He whispered, "Is this place too expensive? We can go for spicy hot pot instead. I'm not picky."

Pei Ran replied, "It's okay. I have a membership here, so we can get a discount."

It turned out that even those riding in a Maybach could use discount coupons. How down-to-earth. Lin Kang felt that the gap between him and Pei Ran had narrowed slightly. As they conversed, Lin Kang suddenly received a call from Luo Qingshan. He glanced at Pei Ran awkwardly, who was calmly browsing the menu with his eyelashes lowered, seemingly unaffected. After ending the call, Lin Kang cleared his throat and said, "He asked me where I put the basketball." Pei Ran nodded and lifted his gaze from the menu. "Shall we order a set meal?" Lin Kang quickly agreed. After sitting for a while, Lin Kang couldn't hold back his curiosity any longer. "Um, Pei Ran, I'm not being nosy, I'm just really curious… Did you and Luo Qingshan really break up because you two were incompatible?" Pei Ran countered with a question of his own, "What do you think?" "I can't just guess randomly," Lin Kang said, then added, "Was it perhaps because of Su Nian?" Pei Ran paused in his perusal of the menu and fell silent.

Lin Kang was a typical straight guy; the kind who wouldn't realize his girlfriend was angry until hours later. If it hadn't been for a friend mentioning it last night, he would never have thought in that direction.

But after some reflection, he had to admit that those two were... rather peculiar.

"Really? Damn, no wonder Su Nian was acting so snarky in the group that day..." Lin Kang said. "Is there anything I can help you with? Just let me know, I can't stand seeing people treated unfairly."

"No, we've already broken up," Pei Ran didn't want to continue the conversation.

But Lin Kang misunderstood his intentions. "Don't be shy, although I'm closer friends with Luo Qingshan, I'll side with justice over friendship. Should I give him a scolding on your behalf?"

This conversation could go on forever. Pei Ran thought for a moment before carefully suggesting, "No need, but there's something I'd like to ask you."

Lin Kang eagerly asked, "What is it?"

"Was Yan Zhun also a student at Full Middle School before?"

"Yeah... huh?" Lin Kang was confused.

Pei Ran explained, "I don't recall ever seeing him before."

"No way?" Lin Kang was immediately distracted. "He was quite famous in high school, and we were in the same class. But our classrooms were on the first floor, quite a few levels away from yours. Oh, right, he even won the championship in a local online PUBG tournament. You didn't hear about that?"

Back then, the battle royale game was at its peak, and a high school student winning a gaming championship garnered more attention than getting the top score in the city's exams.

Pei Ran held the cup absentmindedly, shaking his head.

"Well, you really were... focused on your studies," Lin Kang said. "At that time, not only within the school, but someone even took a photo of him during the competition and posted it online. It was just a side profile, but it got over 20,000 shares. He was quite a big deal."

Upon hearing this, Pei Ran recalled the incident.

Not because he recalled Yan Zhun, but because he remembered the tweet.

He had been drawn to the keyword "citywide" when he scrolled past it and even clicked to view the full image. However, before he could make out the person, Luo Qingshan had covered his phone with a laugh, teasing him not to look at other boys.

Pei Ran muttered vaguely, "I think... I have a vague recollection."

"What do you remember about me?" A familiar voice sounded from behind them.

Both were startled, but Pei Ran in particular. His eyes widened in panic and embarrassment, as if he had been caught red-handed.

He turned stiffly and met Yan Zhun's gaze through the artificial greenery behind him.

Pei Ran rarely wore such an expression. Yan Zhun studied him for a few seconds before glancing at Lin Kang beside him and explaining, "I wasn't eavesdropping. I've been sitting here for a while."

There were partitions between each seat in the restaurant, making them difficult to notice unless one paid attention. Lin Kang snapped back to reality. "I really didn't see you... Are you dining alone?"

"I was stood up," Yan Zhun glanced at the queue of customers outside the restaurant and suggested, "Want to share a table? There are many people waiting outside."

As soon as Yan Zhun sat down, Pei Ran felt that the four-person table had become somewhat cramped.

He had never spoken ill of anyone behind their backs before, and he never expected to be caught the first time he did.

Pei Ran clutched his phone, lowering his eyes and keeping quiet, trying to minimize his presence.

"What did you say?" Yan Zhun asked indolently.

"Just about you winning the championship in high school," Lin Kang replied. "Pei Ran had no idea you were in the same school."

Yan Zhun was not modest. "As a top student, it's normal not to keep up with games."

Lin Kang glanced down at his phone and grumbled, "Why is this class group chat so noisy? It's just a sports meet; can't everyone just sign up for an event to fill in the numbers? What did you guys choose?"

Yan Zhun replied, "I haven't decided yet."

Feeling their gazes, Pei Ran obediently said, "I signed up for the 3000-meter race."

"Wow, impressive. Forget it, I'll just go through the motions." Lin Kang put down his phone and stood up. "I'm going to the restroom and will call our counselor while I'm there."

As soon as Lin Kang left, the atmosphere at the table turned quiet.

Pei Ran absentmindedly pursed his lips, searching for an excuse to leave in his mind.

If he couldn't alleviate the awkwardness, he would escape from it.

Just as he was about to come up with a reason, Yan Zhun spoke up again, asking, "What did you just remember about me, Pei Ran?"

Pei Ran felt like a student who had been caught trying to skip class and reluctantly answered, "...I remembered the Weibo post that Lin Kang mentioned."

Yan Zhun recalled the photo – it was blurry but not unattractive, given the side profile.

"It's just exaggeration; they're not that impressive."

Pei Ran hummed in agreement.

The restaurant table was small, and when he leaned down, he could see Yan Zhun's casually splayed legs, clad in a limited edition pair of sneakers from a renowned brand.

...So that was how he had fallen for it when Yan Zhun said he needed money and wanted to be a gaming companion back then.

Lost in thought, he suddenly noticed Yan Zhun's shoe turn slightly, gently touching the side of his own.

Yan Zhun lowered his gaze to compare, then commented, "You have rather petite feet."