Chapter 10

Plip—

The dorm room lights blazed on. Liang Zhixia tossed his phone casually onto the desk, exhaustion etched across his face.

The sharp scent of disinfectant clung to his clothes, nearly overwhelming him. It wasn’t pleasant at all.

He slumped over the desk and inadvertently caught sight of Lu Quan’s neat and tidy bed. The scene at the bus stop flashed through his mind.

He blinked his light tea-colored eyes slowly. It turned out that he had been so bold while running a fever, daring to confront Lu Quan right to his face.

Luckily, the other man hadn’t lost his mind and thrown him off the bus.

The massive dorm room echoed only with the soft hum of the air conditioner and air purifier. In that moment, Liang Zhixia felt utterly abandoned by the world.

Footsteps passed occasionally outside the door, but he never heard that telltale click right in front of him.

Buzz—

The phone’s message alert jolted Liang Zhixia out of his reverie.

He tapped open the two voice messages from L.

“They’re drinking. No one’s hitting on me.”

“Baby, call me Hubby from now on.”

The husky, low voice suddenly filled the quiet dorm. It wasn’t until the playback ended automatically that he fumbled to turn it off.

A flush spread across his handsome cheeks, and his ear tips burned hot. He rushed to stand in front of the air conditioner, letting the cold air dissipate the heat from his face.

“What nonsense are you saying?”

Even though he was alone in the dorm, his own slightly hoarse voice came out low and soft, as if it were wrapping around him.

He felt like he had a fever again.

Once the heat on his face finally subsided, he pursed his lips and picked up the phone. His pink fingertip seemed to accidentally brush the screen, replaying the voice message once more.

This time, he listened carefully. L seemed to be in a somewhat noisy environment, and he had been drinking.

No wonder he was talking nonsense.

Liang Zhixia didn’t know how to reply. He planned to play it cool and pretend he had already fallen asleep.

But L seemed to have mind-reading powers, peering right through the internet cable into his thoughts.

【L】: “Why isn’t Baby replying to my messages?”

【Zhizhi】: No, I just saw them.

【L】: “Baby, call me Hubby.”

Liang Zhixia frowned and hammered out a response on the keyboard.

【Zhizhi】: You’re drunk.

L seemed to misunderstand him. His voice came out lazy and drawling: “Does Baby not like me drinking? I won’t do it anymore.”

He rubbed his ears, only to find his chest pounding wildly and his head spinning dizzily.

【Zhizhi】: I’m going to sleep!

【L】: “Just call once, okay?”

The man let out a light chuckle, his low, husky voice laced with temptation.

Liang Zhixia realized that drunk L was incredibly clingy—not aloof at all. He kept pestering without letting up.

【L】: “Just shout it once, okay? Then you can go to sleep.”

Liang Zhixia let out a soft huff. He would just mute his phone later; it wouldn’t bother him anyway.

He tossed aside the scalding-hot phone, showered, and climbed into bed to sleep.

But his overactive brain refused to settle, endlessly replaying those voice messages on loop.

A long while later, an exasperated voice suddenly rang out in the dorm.

“So annoying!”

He snatched up the phone. In that short span of time, L had sent several messages every one or two minutes.

Did the guy really plan to spam him all night?

He pursed his lips. His soft, red lips drew close to the microphone, and he whispered softly, “Hubby.”

The moment the word left his mouth, he powered off the phone. He didn’t dare listen to it again.

It was too embarrassing.

Meanwhile.

The welcome party had finally wrapped up.

Everyone except Xu Cheng and Qu Yizhou had bolted, as if a vengeful ghost were chasing them.

Lu Quan stared at the rainy-day photo in his photo album, trying to discern the real figure behind the blurry silhouette.

Once everyone else had been sent off, Xu Cheng switched off the garish lights and music.

He winked. “Liu’er, if you’re in a bad mood, you can tell your bro about it.”

Lu Quan only drank like this when he was in a foul temper.

His stomach couldn’t handle that kind of hard liquor anyway.

Lu Quan’s dark eyes turned toward his friend. He drawled casually, “I’m in a pretty good mood.”

Xu Cheng had knocked back quite a bit tonight, making him bolder than usual.

He propped himself up on the table and fixed Lu Quan with a stare. “Are you dating someone?”

“No.”

Xu Cheng snorted with laughter. “Oh, so you got dumped then.”

Qu Yizhou tried to intervene but failed. He silently stepped aside, hoping Lu Quan wouldn’t take his anger out on him later.

Lu Quan’s lips curved slightly, but his gaze was icy. “I wasn’t dumped.”

Xu Cheng met those pitch-black eyes and felt a chill crawl up his scalp. He rubbed his goosebumped arms and touched his nose, dropping the teasing.

Only Qu Yizhou hadn’t drunk anything—he was the designated driver. Xu Cheng rode shotgun and twisted around to look at the man in the back.

“What’s that person’s name? Got any photos? Let me see.”

Lu Quan propped his forehead on his hand and replied lazily, “No.”

“You didn’t fall for a scammer, did you? One after your money or your body?”

The more Xu Cheng thought about it, the more it made sense. Lu Quan had money, looks, and everything else.

A flicker of contemplation passed through Lu Quan’s eyes.

He was rich, had a great physique, and wasn’t bad-looking. No wonder Zhizhi kept liking him.

When he got home, he finally noticed the message from Zhizhi.

The soft, sweet voice echoed through the empty house. Lu Quan unbuttoned his shirt, revealing swathes of skin. His exquisite collarbones glowed with the flush of alcohol.

He propped his forehead on his hand and listened to the voice message by his ear. Then he glanced downward.

He was hard.

“You’re saying that chat buddy transferred you five thousand bucks at midnight?!”

Liang Zhixia sketched away while answering the questions from the person on the phone.

“Yeah, I sent it back.”

Thanks to his fever and the infected wound, both the counselor and the instructor had given him leave slips. He no longer had to play mascot on the training field.

Zhuzi spoke with utter conviction. “He’s obviously trying to hook up with you! I saw it coming! I told you cheap chat services are all bad news!”

Liang Zhixia erased the parts he wasn’t happy with and smiled as he replied, “But I didn’t give him anything. Besides, I’m a guy.”

Zhuzi sounded exasperated. “He doesn’t know you’re a guy.”

That was true.

Liang Zhixia had completely forgotten about that.

“You did the right thing not taking his money. Don’t believe a word he says. I’ve seen tons of guys like that!”

Zhuzi’s voice was fiercely indignant, loud enough for the whole hallway to hear.

Liang Zhixia knew it was all for his own good. He replied obediently, “Okay, I’ll listen to you.”

Zhuzi went on, “Yeah. Once we graduate, we can room together. I’ll steal from the boss and keep you fed!”

Click—

Liang Zhixia looked up to see someone standing in the doorway.

It was Lu Quan.

He instinctively hung up the call, unsure how much the other man had overheard.

Lu Quan glanced at his roommate, who had been all smiles moments ago but now looked tense. Without a word, he grabbed something from the desk and left.

Click. The door shut again.

Liang Zhixia let out a deep breath and opened his phone to explain to Zhuzi.

【Zhizhi】: My roommate just came back suddenly.

【Zhuzi】: No worries. So we’re set for the weekend meetup. Don’t forget.

【Zhizhi】: I won’t!

【Zhuzi】: I’ll take you around to have fun. I know the area like the back of my hand.

【Zhizhi】: Sounds great!

Since coming to A University, he hadn’t gone out to play at all. Just thinking about meeting up with Zhuzi that weekend got him excited. Inspiration flowed, and he quickly finished his draft.

As dinnertime approached, he headed to the cafeteria early to grab meals—three portions.

Jiang Ling and Fan Li had trained all morning and were starving, their stomachs practically glued to their spines. The two wolfed down their food without a word.

Liang Zhixia wasn’t very hungry and ate slowly.

In a moment of idle time, he looked up and spotted Lu Quan. Remembering their conversation that night, he opened his mouth to greet him—only for the man’s indifferent gaze to slide right past, as if they were strangers, before he walked on by.

His slender brows furrowed in confusion. He couldn’t figure it out.

But this was Lu Quan turning him down first. Next time, he wouldn’t have any reason to hold it against him.

After the three finished eating, they dashed to the milk tea shop off campus to buy drinks.

It was peak lunchtime, and the shop was packed. They squeezed into a corner seat to chat.

The air conditioner’s chill breeze wafted over. Jiang Ling slurped a huge gulp of milk tea without a care for appearances.

“The school leaders personally inspected the military training these past couple days. The instructors cracked down hard—exhausting and sweltering.”

Fan Li nodded vigorously beside him.

“Even though you got hurt, skipping training must feel pretty great.”

Liang Zhixia smiled.

The phone screen on the table lit up. He reached over and unlocked it.

It was a message from L.

【L】: Why won’t you accept it?

He was asking about the five thousand yuan, wasn’t he?

Truth be told, Liang Zhixia couldn’t quite understand that kind of behavior.

【Zhizhi】: Why would I take your money?

He took a sip of milk tea and cradled the phone, waiting for L’s reply.

Just then, Fan Li spoke up. “Yo! The trending topics today are wild.”

“What trending topics?”

He craned his neck to peer at Fan Li’s phone on the table.

Fan Li pointed to one entry. “This one. ‘Online dating comes with risks: scammed for money and more.’”

Jiang Ling skimmed it quickly and scoffed. “That’s some amateur scam. First, they act generous and send the girl money. Throw in some sweet nothings now and then, fake pics of abs and pecs, use a voice changer for calls… then reel her in, get her to spend on them and send nudes.”

Fan Li’s eyes lit up. “Damn, Jiang Ling, you know way too much about this!”

Jiang Ling snorted with a laugh. “Back in the day, Sis was a force to be reckoned with online.”

Only Liang Zhixia stayed silent. He couldn’t shake the feeling that it sounded familiar.

His palm vibrated. A message had come in.

He glanced down.

【L】: Want to spend money on you.

Sweet talk?

He sneakily typed back.

【Zhizhi】: Are you gonna send pics of your abs and pecs next?

L on the other end seemed to pause, taking a full three minutes to reply.

【L】: So Zhizhi’s into that kind of thing?

【L】: (photo) (photo)

Jiang Ling and Fan Li chatted for a while before noticing their other friend had gone quiet. He was just about to speak up when he caught sight of the boy’s flushed cheeks.

“Too hot in here?”

Liang Zhixia slammed his flip phone shut on the table. The tempered glass screen protector clanged against the surface.

He blinked rapidly, his movements clumsy as he avoided meeting their eyes. “I… I’m feeling a bit hot.”

His slender fingers clutched the milk tea tightly. The chill seeped into his palm, but his mouth still went dry. Dodging their gazes, he lowered his head and took a big gulp, puffing out his cheeks.

“Not coming down with another fever, are you?”

Fan Li couldn’t help raising his voice, hollering with concern.

Liang Zhixia shook his head sluggishly. “No, just a little hot. It’ll cool off soon.”

The two of them eyed him. Since only his face was a bit red, they relaxed slightly.

“If anything feels off, just tell us right away.”

Liang Zhixia nodded hurriedly. He bit down nervously on the straw, but he couldn’t get that photo out of his mind.

The shot framed only the man’s jawline. He looked like he’d just stepped out of the shower, dressed in nothing but a pair of black pants.

Pale skin gleamed under the light, stretched over broad shoulders and a narrow waist. Below that sat eight perfectly sculpted abs—defined, attractive, with the faint outline of mermaid lines.

The water droplets clinging to his skin packed a powerful visual punch, laced with an irresistible, freshly wet allure.

Liang Zhixia swallowed the milk tea in his mouth and turned to stare out the window.

Was L trying to lure him into some online romance scam?

No—trying to get him to keep bankrolling the guy?

But he was broke.