Chapter 22: The Night We Invented a Girlfriend

Lin Chuji really wanted to grab their heads and shake them, to see if he could shake out a couple pounds of water.

Even though what they said sounded like they were on his side, somehow becoming his cheer squad, what did that have to do with him!

What did they mean, “Lin Chuji isn’t there so he’s off cheating”?

They weren’t even dating.

Being misunderstood like this was absurd.

 

His face flushed red, and he quietly begged Xie Yan, “Explain.

Help me explain.”

This reputation damage wasn’t just affecting one person.

But Xie Yan didn’t know where to start explaining either.

He had been doing a good deed and suddenly had a huge pot dropped on his head.

What kind of player climbs twelve flights of stairs for his roommate in the middle of the night?

Ridiculous.

 

Xie Yan clicked his tongue.

“Can you get the facts straight before yelling at me?”

“Explain, then,” Shen Yinan said coldly.

“Defend yourself,” Shen Yibei said with deep distress.

 

Xie Yan reached out, grabbed the belt of Lin Chuji’s military training uniform, and pulled him over with a slight effort, wanting to let him show his face in front of the camera to prove his innocence.

Lin Chuji waved his hands frantically, shaking the phone screen to show him the chat history in the group.

Only then did Xie Yan notice that during the time they had deleted each other, Lin Chuji had actually been in this group, but since he never spoke, it was as if he didn’t exist.

He should have just asked Shen Yinan for the contact in the first place.

What a waste of effort.

“I don’t want to.

It’s too embarrassing,” Lin Chuji said, not wanting to show his face at all.

He had thought he was already getting familiar with the Shen brothers, and even if there was an awkward misunderstanding, he could explain it away.

But hearing their shouts, the sheer force of it was so scary he didn’t dare make a sound.

Wouldn’t they turn around and tell everyone that the person who was princess-carried with their face hidden, pretending to be a girl, was actually him?

If these gossip kings spread that, it would just add another dramatic chapter to Jing University’s collection of jokes.

 

Lin Chuji’s face was full of resistance and suffering.

 

Xie Yan let go of him, looked at the camera, and raised an eyebrow slightly.

“Really called the cops?

The vice squad?

Coming for me?”

“Don’t you know what exaggeration means?

If you really get taken in like that, how would you face your parents?”

Shen Yibei muttered.

“What nonsense are you talking?”

Shen Yinan interrupted him.

 

Xie Yan didn’t have much of an emotional reaction.

He just stared expressionlessly at the video feed, feeling a bit headachey.

Just one night staying off campus had led to a mess of problems.

 

Shen Yinan brought the topic back, lowering his voice to lecture.

“Which girl are you with, exactly?

You… instead of staying in the dorm, you go out and get laid…

I understand the post-adulthood burning desire, but you can’t be this indulgent, right?”

 

Xie Yan slowly ground his teeth.

Right now, I only have raging anger.

I want to bury you both alive on the spot.

“Young people need to learn restraint, understand how to control your desires, not be ruled by your lower body…”

Shen Yinan continued his patient guidance.

“I…”

Xie Yan laughed in exasperation.

“It’s late, big brother.

Can’t I just come to a hotel to sleep?”

 

Shen Yinan squinted at his face, which looked every bit like a player’s, and said confidently, “How ridiculous.

A male and female college student don’t go back to their own homes but get a room together, and you tell me you’re just innocently sleeping under the same blanket?

I don’t believe it.”

Xie Yan countered logically, “Because the dorm is locked.

We couldn’t get back.”

“You were still in the dorm playing games with me at midnight.

Then you logged off and went out specifically to find her.

Were you just waiting for curfew so you could lure her out?”

Shen Yinan looked at him with some distaste.

“How could you deceive a girl like that?

Your morals are a bit twisted, bro.”

 

Xie Yan’s head hurt.

He simply lay down on a nearby lounge chair, too lazy to argue.

Lin Chuji’s expression grew even more distressed.

Having his roommate bear such an unclear infamy was really inappropriate.

It had escalated to a moral issue, and he was hiding in the corner being a turtle.

Too cowardly.

So annoying.

Why had it turned out like this?

 

After struggling for several seconds, Lin Chuji finally slowly moved over, approached the screen, bent down, and showed one eye.

His voice was so low it was almost inaudible as he clarified, “It’s no one else.

It’s me.”

 

Xie Yan looked up at him.

From this angle, his chin was clearest.

When he spoke, his throat vibrated slightly, along with that bite mark, unknowingly alluring.

If it really were a girl… she’d probably be pretty good-looking.

 

On the other side, Shen Yibei suddenly saw a pair of eyes appear on the screen—light-colored pupils, long eyelashes.

He paused, admiring for several seconds.

Then he commented leisurely, “I have to say, you dog, you have pretty good taste.

This girl is really nice… she looks a bit familiar, kind of like Lin—”

“Is this guy playing a body-double trope?”

Shen Yinan laughed as he looked over, then his expression dropped, and he slapped the back of his brother’s head.

“That’s Lin Chuji, you blind idiot.”

“What kind of advanced role-play are you two doing?”

Shen Yibei asked, exasperated.

 

Hearing his name, Lin Chuji quickly retreated back.

He sat curled up on the small sofa, listening as Xie Yan briefly explained the whole situation.

In the end, it couldn’t be hidden, and it was very awkward.

Lin Chuji looked at the princess-carry photo in the group chat and wanted to die.

Finally, he heard Xie Yan conclude, “Anyway, just let you two know the truth.

Don’t tell anyone else it’s Lin Chuji.

He’s thin-skinned and gets embarrassed.”

 

Lin Chuji banged his forehead against his knees, full of regret.

If he had just stayed a little calmer the moment he saw Zhao Heng, he wouldn’t be in this convoluted, hiding mess now.

“You two, why bother,” Shen Yinan truly didn’t understand this thought process.

“Two straight guys staying at a hotel, hiding from a classmate they see.

Funniest joke of the day.”

Shen Yibei hit the nail on the head.

Lin Chuji said weakly, “It’s because you guys keep stirring things up that I had a stress reaction.”

Now looking back on his reaction at the time, he also thought it was pretty stupid.

 

Xie Yan brought the topic back.

“So, let’s get our stories straight.

Tonight, I was with my girlfriend.

No Lin Chuji.”

“Fine, since it’s come to this, let’s flesh out what your girlfriend looks like, so we don’t mess up.”

Shen Yinan, not sleeping in the middle of the night, got very excited about this kind of thing and paid great attention to detail.

“Yeah, in case they ask, what do we say?”

Shen Yibei had already pulled out a small notebook and pen, looking more serious than in class.

 

Xie Yan had no concept.

He said lazily, “I don’t know.”

“You’re straight, aren’t you?

You don’t know what you like?

What’s your ideal type?”

Shen Yinan dug deep.

 

Xie Yan thought about it.

Why was he so sure he was straight?

Probably because since he was a kid, girls had always confessed to him, and he had never thought in other directions.

As for someone he liked, there really wasn’t anyone.

He didn’t even know what it felt like to have feelings.

“No ideal type,” Xie Yan answered honestly.

“Can you be serious for a second?

It’s 1:40 in the morning, bro.

Who are we covering for here?”

Shen Yinan was very dissatisfied.

 

Out of the corner of his eye, Xie Yan noticed Lin Chuji seemed to be sneaking a look at him.

Just one glance; when Xie Yan looked back, his gaze quickly darted away, a clear attempt to hide.

What, are you curious about what my ideal type is?

Anyway, it’s completely different from you, so it doesn’t matter.

 

Without much thought, Xie Yan started making things up.

“I’d prefer someone with a height difference of about thirty centimeters.

Around thirty centimeters is best.”

“Thirty centimeters… you’re almost 1.9 meters.”

Shen Yibei looked confused for a moment.

“So 2.2 meters?

What, your ideal type is Yao Ming?”

 

Xie Yan really felt like this conversation couldn’t go on.

Ridiculous.

“Fine, between 1.58 and 1.6 meters.

Anything else?”

Shen Yinan reluctantly calculated and noted down the height.

“Round face, dark skin, small eyes, monolids.

That’s about it.”

To prevent Lin Chuji from associating it with himself, Xie Yan threw out a few completely irrelevant keywords and said perfunctorily, “Really tired.

We need to sneak back to the dorm at six in the morning.

Let’s sleep.

No more questions.”

 

Shen Yinan, as a CP fan of the two, was clearly not satisfied with his answer.

He kept lowering his standards and finally held onto one last point. “We’ll set aside the facial features for now.

Your height should at least match Lin Chuji’s—1.77 meters.

Adjust it a bit.

Be serious.

You’ll get caught.”

“Whatever.

Make up whatever you want.

Goodnight.”

Xie Yan mercilessly hung up.

 

When he looked up again, he noticed Lin Chuji staring at him again.

What, is it because your ideal type is completely different from him?

Are you sad?

No way.

He was even planning to abandon him and stay at Qin Yi’s tonight.

He probably doesn’t even like him that much.

Just thinking about that Qin Yi was annoying.

How dare Lin Chuji put him in the same backup candidate pool as himself.

 

But Lin Chuji’s focus was completely elsewhere.

So Xie Yan is actually bisexual.

The kind that likes both guys and girls.

But I’m completely not his type.

So we can continue being roommates with a clear conscience.

Great.

 

The two had their own secret thoughts.

They looked at each other for a few seconds, then looked away.

 

Xie Yan got up, dimmed the room’s lights to the lowest setting to give him plenty of space, and said, “I’m going to brush my teeth.

If you don’t want to sleep in your training uniform, you can take it off and get under the covers.

I won’t look.”

 

Hearing his suggestion, Lin Chuji nearly bit his tongue.

“Sleep naked?

I don’t…”

 

Xie Yan had already reached the bathroom door but turned back.

“When you were swimming in the sea, I saw everything anyway.

What are you shy about now?”

He swore he said this without any other meaning.

Back then, when a bunch of them went swimming, they all wore just swim trunks into the sea.

They were all boys; no one paid attention or saw any difference.

But when these words landed in Lin Chuji’s ears, they changed flavor.

He had a good memory and quickly recalled that time.

He said slowly, “I only swam once, and I went alone.

How could you see me?”

 

Xie Yan: “……”

Forgot about that.

How to explain this?

A bit weird.

It made him sound like a pervert trying to spy.

 

Lin Chuji was still staring at him with those clear, black-and-white eyes.

The look more or less carried the subtext of wondering if he had just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.

 

Xie Yan suddenly felt insulted.

He curled his lip and reminded him, “Don’t lump me together with that creep Qin Yi.

I’m more honorable and more open than him.

I just happened to see you while I was looking at the scenery on the terrace.

Believe what you want.

I’m going to brush my teeth.”

Lin Chuji hastily explained, “No, no misunderstanding…”

Xie Yan finished speaking, slowly walked over, and closed the door, saying nothing more.

 

Lin Chuji was worried to death.

Looking at his own face reflected in the mirror across from the bed, the corners of his mouth drooping, his eyes full of words left unsaid, he did indeed look easily misunderstood.

He didn’t socialize much and sometimes couldn’t control his expressions well.

He had gotten along well with Xie Yan before, becoming much more cheerful, all because the other had been accommodating, not because he himself had done well.

But today… he seemed to have messed up again.

After Xie Yan had come to rescue him from potential danger in the middle of the night.

 

Someone like him really didn’t deserve friends.

The only one he could really care about was now too angry to talk to him.

Lin Chuji was panicking, his thoughts a mess.

A long-dormant habit returned: he uncontrollably bit his fingertip, biting hard.

When he came to his senses, that patch of skin had been bitten red, with a hint of blood.

He stared at the wound on his fingertip, still dazed and at a loss.

 

Xie Yan had showered in the dorm, so he just brushed his teeth slowly and came back out.

He stood in the doorway and spoke first.

“Are you under the covers yet?

I’m coming out.”

Lin Chuji mumbled an indistinct “mm-hmm.”

Xie Yan, getting the permission, walked out quickly, only to find that Lin Chuji was still wearing his training uniform, sitting on the edge of the bed without moving.

And those beautiful eyes were misty with moisture, reddish, looking as if he had been crying.

“What’s wrong?”

Xie Yan crouched down to look at him.

“I’m sorry.

I didn’t mean it like that just now,” Lin Chuji said incoherently.

“Don’t be angry.

I… my ability to express myself isn’t good.

I’m clumsy with words…”

 

Now Xie Yan felt like he really was about to cry.

Am I that important to him?

Important enough to mess up his sentence order?

Xie Yan’s gaze fell on his fingertip.

Repeated bite marks—sensitive, anxious, prone to overthinking.

Lin Chuji must have been repressed for too long in that kind of family.

He had some psychological issues.

Xie Yan reached out, took his wrist, and pulled it away from his mouth.

“I was a little angry just now, but only because I don’t like Qin Yi.

That’s my personal preference.

It has nothing to do with you.”

“Then do you forgive me?”

Lin Chuji looked at him pitifully.

 

That sentence made Xie Yan’s heart truly soften.

Lin Chuji wasn’t incapable of socializing; he was too sensitive.

Just moments ago, he had been joking around with Shen Yinan and the others, and one sentence from Xie Yan had turned his emotions upside down.

If he overthought everything like this when interacting with others, it would be very hard on him.

“Forgiveness is too strong a word.

We…”

Xie Yan chose his words carefully.

“We should be friends, right?

Between friends, even saying things that cross the line a bit is normal.

Like Shen Yinan and me, we often speak carelessly.

As long as you don’t mean to hurt anyone, it’s fine.”

 

Lin Chuji stared blankly at him.

It seemed that, up until this moment, someone was finally truly teaching him how to make friends with people.

Xie Yan felt a bit creeped out by his stare and looked away.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

 

Lin Chuji snapped out of it dazedly and murmured, “How am I looking at you?”

It’s all because of those amorous eyes—they make anyone seem passionate.

“Like you’re about to fall in love with me,” Xie Yan said bluntly.

Then, afraid he might say “yes, yes, yes,” he quickly added, “That was a joke.”

 

Lin Chuji was tongue-tied.

“You… you…”

“Goodnight, Princess and the Pea.

The bed should be comfortable.

Not lumpy.”

Xie Yan deliberately teased him.

“Sleep well.”

 

Lin Chuji couldn’t find any words to retort.

He just turned off the bedside lamp with a click and ignored him.

 

He had been training all day and then running around all night, so he was exhausted and quickly fell into a dream.

Perhaps because of the painting he had seen, he had a very vivid association.

The boy in the white sweater in the painting suddenly turned into him.

He was tied up in a dark room by that thick chain, unable to go anywhere, unable to move a step.

The slightest movement produced only the clinking of the iron chain.

The quieter it was around, the more terrifying.

He couldn’t hear anything except the dripping of water, which fell on his face, on his body—very cold, so cold he shivered.

 

Lin Chuji’s brow furrowed deeply.

He reached out randomly, wanting to grab onto something, wanting to shout, wanting to speak, but no sound came out.

 

Xie Yan wasn’t sleepy.

He opened the group chat again to reply to messages.

[Crab Boss]: Please don’t pay too much attention to my private life, thanks.

[Crab Boss]: @z, you even took a surreptitious photo.

With all this gossip, you should quit finance and become an entertainment reporter.

[z]: With a beauty by your side, you’re texting in the group?

[Crab Boss]: …….Aren’t you too?

[z]: We just came back from a late-night snack after finishing up.

But you… twenty minutes?

Really?

 

Between the lines, it almost said those words: “Xie Yan, are you no good or what?”

[Crab Boss]: Scram.

We are very pure.

Get rid of your dirty thoughts.

[z]: Still an innocent and touching high school boy at heart, truly pure.

This senior admits defeat.

 

Xie Yan muttered a swear word under his breath and turned to look at the other bed.

Pure my ass.

What can I do lying in a room with another guy?

But by the moonlight, he could see the other’s expression clearly, and Xie Yan’s face grew serious.

Lin Chuji’s eyes were closed, his eyelashes trembling, almost burying his entire face in the jacket Xie Yan had given him.

His arms were practically squeezing the clothes into his body, as if trying to meld with them.

 

Xie Yan looked at him for a long time, falling silent.

The sleeping state best reflects the subconscious.

Has Lin Chuji really grown to like him this much?

He got out of bed, walked to the other bed, and bent down to look at Lin Chuji’s sleeping face.

Lin Chuji was deep in a dream, very frightened, just clutching his lifeline.

“I’m scared…”

 

Nightmare?

It must be because he saw the painting today and remembered things from when he was little.

If the scene in the painting was real, that’s really too pitiful.

“Don’t be scared, Lin Chuji.”

Xie Yan patted his head.

The other just clutched the jacket tighter.

Even in his dreams, he’s grown this dependent on him.

When he was awake yesterday, he wouldn’t admit it.

He’s just stubborn.

He’s probably starting to really like him now. Xie Yan lowered his gaze. Never mind.

It’s because I’m soft-hearted.

He won’t know anyway, since he’s dreaming.

I’ll just comfort him for a bit.

In the morning, I’ll put him back exactly as he was.

 

He carefully tried to pull out the jacket Lin Chuji was clutching, but Lin Chuji wouldn’t let go.

Xie Yan said softly, “Let go.

I’m right here.

What do you need the jacket for?”

Lin Chuji’s fingers only gripped tighter, his face turning pale, breaking out in layers of cold sweat, as if clinging to his last lifeline.

He begged unintelligibly, “No…”

 

With no other choice, Xie Yan bent down, picked Lin Chuji up, jacket and all, letting him tilt his head and hang onto his body like a koala.

His left hand steadily supported Lin Chuji’s dangling thigh, while his right palm patted the trembling back, like comforting Xie Wan when she was little.

“Don’t be scared.

Big brother is here.”

He coaxed softly, walking around the room holding Lin Chuji, lap after lap.

 

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