CFL 23

The private room had separate restrooms for men and women, both luxuriously decorated. The floor and wall tiles shone brightly under the lighting, reflecting a dazzling glow. Upon entering, there was a large mirror with intricate carvings around the edges, and even the washbasin was made to gleam with a golden luster.

Wen Ci stood in front of the mirror, using a wet tissue to wipe the milk stains from his collar, but to no avail. Previously, he had thought Jiang Yufeng was just bad and intimidating. Now, he felt that description was insufficient; he should be awarded the title of “Invincible Supreme Super Villain.”

Wen Ci was quite speechless, as he now exuded a distinct milky scent. “Are you cursing at me?” Jiang Yufeng asked, washing his hands and drying them with a paper towel. He didn’t look much better, with milk stains on the bottom of his shirt and the thigh area of his pants. He stepped back and positioned himself behind Wen Ci, who, unaware of his presence, frowned slightly in frustration. Even when angry, Wen Ci didn’t look fierce; instead, he appeared a bit wronged.

Wen Ci pursed his lips and replied curtly, “No.” Jiang Yufeng, noticing Wen Ci’s ears turning a delicate shade of red, realized he couldn’t hide his feelings even when confronted. The restroom was empty except for the two of them, the door closed, blocking out the outside chatter. It seemed as if everyone outside had an unspoken agreement not to disturb them.

After Wen Ci had wiped so much that paper shreds appeared, he let his hands drop. Jiang Yufeng suddenly stepped in front of him and, with two fingers, tugged at his collar. “Let me take a look,” he said. Wen Ci turned away, avoiding his touch. “No need, I’ll wash it when I get back,” he insisted. Wen Ci’s neck was porcelain-like in its smoothness and warmth, emitting a faint, pleasant scent. As soon as he moved away, the scent dissipated as well.

Jiang Yufeng’s fingers, now empty, hovered in the air for a moment before he withdrew his hand, remaining silent. When they emerged from the restroom, they found everyone’s attention focused on them, making Wen Ci feel extremely awkward, as if he wanted to dig a hole and bury himself in it.

Having learned his lesson, Wen Ci chose to sit next to Lu Xuesong, keeping a good distance from Jiang Yufeng. He even found himself not wanting to drink milk for a while. Lu Xuesong, curious as ever, whispered to him, “What were you guys doing in there for so long?” Wen Ci, knowing his nosy nature, pursed his lips and asked, “Do you want a long story or a short one?” “Give me a one-sentence summary,” Lu Xuesong replied. “Just two words,” Wen Ci said. “I’m all ears,” Lu Xuesong responded. “Cleaning milk,” Wen Ci deadpanned. Lu Xuesong was taken aback for a few seconds before he got it. “Your high school essays weren’t just a stream of consciousness, were they?”

“Eight hundred words isn’t much to fuss about,” Wen Ci frowned, taking his first sip of fruit wine. It tasted slightly sweet at first, with a hint of spiciness on the tongue, and it wasn’t hard to swallow as it went down the throat. It was quite alright. As he took his first sip, Jiang Yufeng, sitting opposite him, had already noticed.

After drinking a little over half of the glass, Lu Xuesong kindly warned, “This wine isn’t very strong, but you seem to be getting tipsy.” Wen Ci put down his glass, cupped his warm cheeks with both hands, and said slowly, “I blush easily, but I’m actually fine.” His speech was slow, his gaze was dazed, and he wore an inexplicable smile. Lu Xuesong felt as if there were loading symbols frozen around Wen Ci’s head.

Shaking Wen Ci by the shoulders, Lu Xuesong said, “You need to stay awake. Otherwise, Tao Peng and I will have to drag you back. Do you know how strong you are? Be strong!” He quickly moved the wine glass away from Wen Ci and said, “Forget it, don’t drink anymore. Have some honey water instead.”

“You’re so nice to me,” Wen Ci said, his eyes filling with tears of gratitude, ready to spill over. “You’re the first friend I made here. Although you’re lecherous, sometimes act out, and occasionally unreasonable, you’re still a good person.”

Lu Xuesong: “……”

Alcohol perfectly amplified the little emotions hidden in Wen Ci’s capillaries, but he quickly regained his senses as his phone vibrated at that moment.

Seeing the note, his eyes widened.

[Senior: Don’t drink too much at the party.]

Wen Ci looked around and finally settled his gaze on Yu Bin, who was playing with his phone……

But there were quite a few people playing with their phones at the scene, like Jiang Yufeng was also on his phone.

Wen Ci suddenly squinted and stared intently at Senior Yu Bin’s pants, which were light gray with two strings in the middle.

They looked very much like……the pants that appeared in that video the other day.

Ahhhhhh.

Wen Ci screamed in his mind.

Soon he stopped screaming.

Wen Ci wasn’t quite sure yet whether Yu Bin was the senior, but all the clues, information, and identities seemed to match.

Wen Ci doubted, Wen Ci was stunned, Wen Ci made an appointment.

[W: I’ve had a little, but I’m not drunk.]

[W: Senior, can we meet up?]

The senior didn’t reply instantly. After sending the message, Wen Ci looked up at Yu Bin and saw him pausing, thinking, as he looked at his phone.

After a few minutes.

[Senior: When?]

It was Wen Ci’s turn to think. Today was definitely not possible, so tomorrow it would be.

Wen Ci asked the person next to him, “Do we have classes tomorrow?”

Lu Xuesong asked the person next to him, “Do we have a lot of classes tomorrow?”

Tao Peng asked the person across, “Does Class Two have a lot of classes tomorrow?”

“Full schedule, and there seems to be a class meeting in the evening, in the lecture hall, probably about clubs and class committees. Are you guys planning to run for a class committee position?”

Tao Peng looked at Lu Xuesong, Lu Xuesong looked at Wen Ci.

Wen Ci: “……”

Actually, I can hear you.

We’re not barbers in a hair salon, do we really need walkie-talkies in a thirty-square-meter space?

[W: How about the day after tomorrow evening? I have a full schedule tomorrow.]

[Senior: ……Okay.]

Jiang Yufeng also overheard this.

As the dormitory curfew time approached, people gradually started to leave. Today had been an eventful day for Wen Ci.

He waited until most people had left, and as he stood up, he felt a wave of dizziness. The aftereffects of the alcohol seemed to be kicking in.

Wen Ci staggered out of the door, not noticing that Jiang Yufeng was following behind him.

Wen Ci leaned against the door frame and walked to the entrance, where he saw a few classmates waiting for a ride. At this time and place, there were too many people calling for cars, and the drivers were taking their time to accept orders.

The group stood to the side, and as Wen Ci looked up, he saw Yu Bin nearby.

Yu Bin had his hands in his pockets, smirking as he looked ahead, seemingly noticing something and turning his head, which happened to meet Wen Ci’s gaze.

Wen Ci stood against the light, his face and body outlined with a soft glow. His eyelids were wide open, revealing deep, clear eyes that looked like they held a pool of spring water, gentle and pure.

Yu Bin looked at him for a while longer for no apparent reason, then smiled at Wen Ci.

Wen Ci pursed his lips, about to nod and greet politely, when someone patted his shoulder from behind. Jiang Yufeng, with a stern expression, said, “You’re in the way.”

Wen Ci: “……”

He slowly moved aside to let him pass.

Yu Bin smiled and said, “I almost forgot you have a car. I drank tonight, so I can’t drive.”

Jiang Yufeng hadn’t drunk. He glanced at Lu Xuesong and the others standing in a row and asked, “Want a ride?”

Tao Peng frowned slightly, but Lu Xuesong quickly turned off his phone and said, “Yes, please! Thank you, Jiang.”

With the drivers not picking up their orders despite the increased fare, a ride-share was definitely the best option.

Tao Peng’s impression of Jiang Yufeng was already quite vague. Their last meeting seemed to be in the dormitory. Even as classmates, they rarely exchanged a word.

Jiang Yufeng opened the passenger door and said to Wen Ci, “Get in.”

Wen Ci was taken aback by the gesture but then thought it made more sense for Tao Peng and Lu Xuesong to sit in the back.

“Thank you,” Wen Ci said. As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a loud bang—the car door had been shut.

Wen Ci shrank his right shoulder, his body trembling slightly, feeling bewildered and not understanding why he was angry.

When he was angry, his face looked terrifying, as if he was about to hit someone.

Wen Ci felt like he was sitting on pins and needles in Jiang Yufeng’s car, wishing he could return to the dormitory in a second.

The club wasn’t far from the school, and they soon arrived at the entrance. The school gate was quiet at this hour, with only the security guard and a few other people around.

Lu Xuesong and Tao Peng got out of the car first. As Wen Ci was about to open the door, Jiang Yufeng softly said, “Wen Ci.”

Wen Ci cautiously turned his head, his eyes filled with wariness.

Jiang Yufeng didn’t speak immediately. He just held the steering wheel, his arm resting on it, and quietly looked at him.

Wen Ci’s heart was pounding. “What’s wrong? Did I disturb you? I wasn’t that close to you, was I?” The passenger seat was where he had been invited to sit.

Jiang Yufeng tugged at the corner of his mouth and said indifferently, “Get out of the car.”

When taking a shower, Wen Ci liked to pull his hair back, revealing his smooth and full forehead. His long and thick eyelashes couldn’t hold the cascading water droplets, which soaked through in an instant. Wen Ci squeezed out some shower gel and began to lather up.

Before long, his hands were slippery, and he slowly spread the foam over his body.

Yu Bin might be the senior, but Wen Ci didn’t dwell on it anymore. Even if he was……it would be fine, since they would meet in two days.

Wen Ci’s finger accidentally touched somewhere, and he suddenly froze.

Wait, what was his initial purpose for starting this online relationship?

It was for some fun！！！

Ah, how could he forget.

So when they meet, should they……go to a hotel and sleep together.

Would that be too fast.

Should he prepare himself, like dilation……

Not necessarily, it’s not that urgent, right.

Wen Ci tried hard to recall Yu Bin’s physique, but he couldn’t quite picture it. The image was hazy, as if shrouded in a layer of fog.

Instead, he remembered the awkward scene in the restroom with Jiang Yufeng, trying to clean the milk stains off their clothes.

It was just too embarrassing.

After taking a shower and shedding a few layers of goosebumps, Wen Ci got dressed, put on a jacket over his pajamas, and stepped out. It was early November, with a chilly autumn wind and a sharp drop in temperature.

The alcohol had numbed his brain, and Wen Ci dried his hair, climbed into bed, and fell asleep without even saying goodnight to his senior.

He used to be very consistent about this.

The next morning, when the phone alarm went off, Wen Ci was doing exercises in bed, lying face down with his buttocks sticking up and his arms stretched back, stubbornly refusing to get up and maintaining a yoga pose.

He went to wash up with his messy hair, and saw Tao Peng shaving. Wen Ci, with a mouthful of foam, said, “I don’t seem to need this.”

Lu Xuesong, with his special physique, said, “I don’t need it either. Are you also one of those?”

Wen Ci didn’t mind his accent and mimicked, “I am not one of those.”

Wen Ci had naturally sparse body hair; he didn’t have much hair down there……he was quite clean.

The classrooms for the four morning classes were all in the laboratory building. After dozing through two classes, there was a twenty-five-minute break. Tao Peng, feeling restless, wanted to go to the basketball court downstairs to play for a bit.

Lu Xuesong, feeling stiff from sitting through two classes, wanted to go downstairs for a walk and dragged Wen Ci along to buy something to drink from the supermarket.

Wen Ci didn’t have milk for breakfast and felt a bit uneasy, but……he still chose to buy a bottle of mineral water.

The basketball court was lively at this time. Tao Peng caught a ball thrown from the opposite side and joined the game. After playing for a short while, Yu Bin came off to rest. He looked around but couldn’t find his water bottle. Before he could call out to ask, a bottle of mineral water was handed to him.

“Want some? It’s unopened.”

Yu Bin raised an eyebrow slightly, took it, and smiled. “Thanks.”

Wen Ci frowned slightly, feeling more and more that something was off.

On their way back to class, Wen Ci covered his phone with a book and sent a message to his senior.

[W: Are you good at basketball?]

[Senior: No, I’m not. I don’t play.]

[W: Why not?]

[Senior: Do I have to be good at it and play very well?]

Indeed, why should a guy necessarily be good at basketball?

Wen Ci suddenly realized he had fallen into a stereotype. Being good at drawing, having a good physique, and wearing the same pants didn’t mean anything. There were countless people in the world with the exact same combination.

What Wen Ci should have asked was something the senior didn’t have, like playing basketball, which he had never heard the senior mention.

He had been misled by Lu Xuesong and Tao Peng’s thinking. In fact, Yu Bin was not the senior and had nothing to do with him.

This realization was like a splash of cold water on his face, and many details gradually surfaced. The senior had once said he had an average relationship with his roommates, but Yu Bin was good friends and roommates with Du Chengyan, often playing basketball together.

Ah, he had mistaken someone else for the senior and even wasted a bottle of mineral water that cost one and a half yuan.

On the way to the cafeteria after class, Wen Ci was already feeling a bit disoriented. Fortunately, he hadn’t acted impulsively; otherwise, he would have caused trouble.

Of course, Yu Bin’s conditions were quite good, but he wasn’t Wen Ci’s type. Wen Ci suddenly understood where the awkwardness from last night to just now had come from.

“Wen Ci!”

Wen Ci looked up to see Lu Xuesong’s eyes blazing with anger.

Lu Xuesong was exasperated: “I’ve called you a hundred times. Where’s your book?”

Wen Ci looked at his empty hands and panicked: “It’s probably in the laboratory building. I forgot to take it.”

“……”

After the meal, Wen Ci declined Lu Xuesong’s company and went to the laboratory building to get his book by himself.

The classroom door was open, as it usually was during the day, and Wen Ci didn’t expect anyone to be inside. By coincidence, it was Yu Bin.

The desk was scattered with blueprints, which Yu Bin must have borrowed the printer in the room to print.

Wen Ci’s heart skipped a beat. What a clichéd encounter: “Hello.”

He found his book and was about to leave when Yu Bin stopped him: “Thanks for the water this morning. Add my WeChat so I can pay you back.”

He definitely wasn’t the senior. Wen Ci forced a smile: “No need.”

“I have a friendly match tomorrow night. Do you want to come watch? Tao Peng will be there too.”

The senior had said he didn’t like playing basketball. Wen Ci pursed her lips. Maybe her actions had caused a misunderstanding: “I……”

Explain, Wen Ci, explain quickly.

Think of a reason on the spot.

Wen Ci’s hesitant expression was seen by Yu Bin as shyness, too shy to make eye contact or speak.

Yu Bin leaned lazily on the desk with a few fingers, chuckling lowly, “Wen Ci, do you like me?”

Jiang Yufeng, who had just walked into the classroom, paused in his steps.