Chapter 20: A Blushing Revelation in the Dorm

“The matter of meeting during the Mid-Autumn Festival can wait until then!”

He reassured himself, ‘Perhaps before then, I can make him utterly devoted to me, unable to live without me, simply through online chats?’

Moreover, his mother’s earnest advice from their phone call still echoed in his ears—he desperately needed a relationship to stabilize his accursed gender, which was evolving in an uncontrollable direction.

From every conceivable angle, accelerating his ‘conquest’ of Xiao Moyuan had become the utmost priority.

“The worst that can happen is I’ll have to sell a bit of my charm online later!”

He took a deep breath, completing his final mental preparation. ‘After all, what does anything ‘Sweetheart Marshmallow’ does have to do with Su Mian? Right, absolutely nothing!’

With this conflicted and self-deceiving mindset, Su Mian returned to his dorm room.

The moment he pushed the door open, a figure rushed towards him, carried by a gust of wind.

“Mianzi! Are you alright?!” Lu Yang’s face was etched with tension, his bronzed features filled with profound worry.

He scrutinized Su Mian from head to toe, his voice laced with urgency.

“Why would someone with your small build insist on provoking trouble with someone like Xiao Moyuan? Wasn’t that like an egg hitting a rock? What did the hospital say? Any broken bones? Is it serious?”

Growing increasingly incensed, he waved his large hand, appearing utterly indignant.

“Don’t you worry! Your brother here has already contacted several of our teammates, every single one of them a brawny man over 1.85 meters tall!

We’ll find a chance, and we’ll all go together. We absolutely must teach that scoundrel Xiao Moyuan a lesson! We’ll show him that the guys in our dorm aren’t to be trifled with!”

Seeing that Lu Yang genuinely intended to grab a weapon and start a fight, Su Mian was scared out of his wits, inwardly groaning in distress.

If Lu Yang and his athletic friends were to face disciplinary action, or even have their futures jeopardized, all because of his petty jealous squabbles, then he truly wouldn’t be able to absolve himself, even with a thousand deaths!

What’s more, if Shen Zhixia were to discover that he had incited Lu Yang to confront Xiao Moyuan, their already precarious relationship would likely shatter completely.

“Stop! Boss Lu! Calm down! Please, calm down!” Su Mian quickly grabbed Lu Yang’s arm, explaining at a rapid pace.

“I’m fine! Really, I’m fine! Xiao Moyuan didn’t hurt me! It was… it was just me being clumsy. I bumped, bumped into the corner of a table! Yes, I hit a table!”

He quickly concocted an excuse, his eyes darting away, unable to meet Lu Yang’s probing gaze.

Lu Yang looked at him with skepticism, his thick brows furrowed. “Really fine? Could bumping into something hurt that much?”

“Truly fine!” Su Mian tried his best to appear utterly sincere, even patting his chest to demonstrate his “strength.”

However, he accidentally hit a sore spot, causing his mouth to twitch in pain, and he quickly lowered his hand as if nothing had happened. “If I were hurt, would I be able to bounce back from the hospital this lively?”

Lu Yang stared at him for a few seconds, seemingly accepting his explanation. His tense body relaxed, and he scratched his head. “I suppose so… It’s good that you’re fine, it’s good.”

He mumbled, then turned to pick up his signature pink dumbbells, beginning his daily routine workout. “Be careful in the future, you scared the hell out of me, brother,” he muttered.

With the crisis averted, Su Mian secretly let out a sigh of relief.

He walked to his wardrobe, preparing to grab clean clothes for a shower. Having just returned from the hospital, he felt as though his body was covered in germs.

He rummaged absentmindedly, his mind still replaying his conversation with Xiao Moyuan and his mother’s phone call.

In a moment of distraction, his elbow accidentally knocked over Qin Xuan’s half-empty coffee cup on the adjacent desk.

“Clang—!”

The ceramic cup hit the floor, emitting a crisp shattering sound.

Dark brown coffee splattered everywhere, not only staining the floor but also splashing several drops of scalding coffee onto the clean change of clothes Su Mian had just taken out.

“Ah! I’m so sorry! Brother Qin! I’m so sorry!” Su Mian instantly snapped back to reality.

Seeing the mess on the floor and Qin Xuan’s calm gaze directed at him, he stammered out apologies. “I-I’ll clean it up right away! And I’ll buy you a new cup!”

Qin Xuan pushed up his glasses, his gaze sweeping over the fragments and stains on the floor. No emotion was discernible on his face as he merely stated, “It’s fine, just a cup of coffee.”

His tone was so calm it was as if what had shattered wasn’t even his.

Despite Qin Xuan’s words, Su Mian felt genuinely bad. He immediately pulled out his phone, reordered the same coffee on a delivery app, and insisted on paying for it.

After dealing with the “aftermath” of the coffee, Su Mian looked at the coffee-stained clothes in his hand, feeling a sense of dilemma.

The clothes he had washed yesterday on the balcony hadn’t dried yet. He only had three sets of regular changes of clothes, and now, not a single wearable item remained.

“Forget it…” He sighed, resignedly picking up a soft, white summer short pajama set. “There are no classes tomorrow, and I’m not going out anyway. Pajamas it is.”

Carrying the pajamas, he stepped into the bathroom, closing the door and shutting out the outside world.

As the warm water cascaded over him, Su Mian’s gaze involuntarily fell upon his own body, again and again.

He recalled the doctor’s words about “secondary development” from earlier that day, and his mother’s assurance of it being a “normal phenomenon.” His heart swelled with contradiction and panic.

‘This… it won’t keep growing, will it?’ he thought, deeply worried. His fingers, gingerly and with an almost fearful hesitation, lightly touched the area, which immediately flared with unbearable pain.

He only wished this process would slow down, just a little more.

At least… at least until he successfully dated Shen Zhixia and stabilized his gender, he hoped it wouldn’t become too obvious. Otherwise, he truly wouldn’t know how to cope.

‘But… this area hasn’t been properly cleaned for days.’ His meticulous habit of cleanliness eventually overcame his shame and fear.

He squeezed out some shower gel, rubbing his palms together to create a rich lather.

Then, with a flushed face and tightly pressed lips, as if performing a ritual both sacred and sinful, he extended his foamy fingers, extremely gently, towards his front.

As his fingertips, slick with foam, cautiously began to clean in circles, an indescribable sensation instantly swept over him.

The pain was undeniable, a stinging sensation as if his skin had been excessively rubbed.

This feeling was foreign, peculiar, and even carried a hint of… reluctant attachment.

It was much like an ear-picking session, where a soft feather gently rotated deep within the ear canal, creating an exhilarating, goosebump-inducing experience that made one both want to escape and crave more.

He had initially intended to clean himself quickly, but his fingers seemed to develop a will of their own, their movements unconsciously slowing.

For a moment, he forgot the time, forgot where he was, completely immersed in this contradictory sensory experience.

It wasn’t until Lu Yang’s rough voice echoed from outside the door, laced with concern and confusion, that he was startled. “Mianzi! Are you alright? You’ve been in there for almost forty minutes! Did you fall into the drain?”

Su Mian abruptly awoke from his dazed state, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him from head to toe!

What had he just been doing?!

He had actually… actually been doing that instead of properly showering?

A colossal wave of shame instantly engulfed him. His cheeks burned crimson as he fumbled to turn off the faucet, his voice tinged with panic.

“N-nothing! I sweat a lot today and went to the hospital, so… so I took a bit longer to wash! I’ll be out in a second!”

He hastily dried his body with a towel, as if trying to wipe away the blushing sensations and memories. He quickly pulled on the white pajamas, then practically fled, yanking open the bathroom door.

“Mianzi, you…” Lu Yang, standing at the doorway, watched Su Mian emerge, his words trailing off. A flicker of clear astonishment crossed his eyes.

The soft, skin-hugging fabric of Su Mian’s white short pajamas clearly outlined his overly slender frame and waist.

Since he wasn’t wearing loose outer pants, his legs, revealed beneath the pajama shorts, were straight and fair, seeming to glow with a lustrous sheen under the dorm room lights.

Lu Yang had always known Su Mian was thin, but typically, he wore oversized T-shirts and jeans, which obscured his precise physique.

Yet, at this moment, the simple pajamas unexpectedly exposed his waist, so slender it seemed one could barely encircle it with a hand, and his long, straight legs, with skin so flawless it was almost unbelievable.

The sight was quite striking. Lu Yang froze for two seconds before finding his voice, his tone laced with disbelief.

“You… you’re really too thin! Your skin is so fair, your figure so slender… Anyone who didn’t know would genuinely think some girl had accidentally wandered into our men’s dorm!”

He shook his head, making an effort to dispel those chaotic associations from his mind, and adopted a serious expression, like a parent disappointed in their child’s lack of progress.

“Seriously, Mianzi, why don’t you work out with me? Just one semester, and I promise, brother will get you built up and stronger.

You’ll definitely be more popular than you are now, looking so frail! You won’t have to worry about finding a girlfriend then!”

As he spoke, his gaze involuntarily darted back to Su Mian’s legs.

‘Sin, oh sin!’ he muttered inwardly. ‘I’m a straight man! Straight as an arrow! But I have to admit, I haven’t seen many girls’ legs in school that look better than Su Mian’s…’

He felt he had probably gone too long without a relationship. If this continued, his iron will might just falter.

Just then, Qin Xuan, who had been quietly reading, suddenly looked up.

He pushed his glasses, his gaze sweeping over Su Mian’s attire, which was starkly different from his usual image. A faint, knowing curve played on his lips as he quietly interjected.

“Actually… this look is quite popular too.”

His voice was calm, yet both Su Mian and Lu Yang instantly understood the unspoken implication of his words—referring to popularity among men.

Su Mian’s face flushed crimson in an instant, overwhelmed by shame and embarrassment. He protested in a small voice, “Brother Qin! Please don’t tease me like that…”

He sighed, then turned to Lu Yang, who was still ‘planning’ his grand fitness regimen. His voice carried a sense of helplessness and resignation that even he couldn’t fully explain. “Boss Lu, working out… it’s truly useless for me.”

He had once tried exercising, hoping to appear more masculine. Yet, no matter how hard he tried, his muscle definition showed no change, and his physique remained slender.

He only learned later, after asking his mother, that before his gender fully stabilized, his body was unlikely to undergo significant changes through conventional exercise.

Lu Yang merely assumed he was being lazy and making excuses. He laughed heartily, no longer pressing the issue.

He walked over, intending to give Su Mian a friendly pat on the shoulder, but remembering Su Mian’s aversion to physical contact, his hand swerved mid-air and slapped his own thigh instead.

“Alright, alright, fine then. Being thin isn’t a big deal! Anyway, as long as you’re at N University, your brother Lu will definitely take good care of you!”

Su Mian felt a slight warmth in his heart as he looked at Lu Yang’s cheerful smile.

However, as he lowered his head, his gaze inadvertently sweeping over the subtly rising contour beneath his pajama neckline, an inexplicable sense of panic and bewilderment still quietly crept into his heart.