And then he felt it—a scorching heat.
Coming from beneath the covers.
Pressed right up against him.
As a guy, he knew exactly what it was.
Heat rushed to his head. His ears and cheeks flushed bright red in an instant. Liang Zhixia knew it was a perfectly normal reaction, but he had no desire to dwell on it. Mortified, he tried to inch away again.
Little did he know, the man behind him had been awake for some time.
Lu Quan curled his lips in amusement as he watched Zhizhi cautiously extricate himself from his arms. He could even faintly hear the young man muttering words of encouragement to himself— so endearing that Lu Quan nearly laughed out loud.
To reward such determined effort from Zhizhi, he was willing to indulge him this once.
Once Liang Zhixia had finally wriggled free of Lu Quan’s hold, he exhaled sharply in relief. Next time, even if he had to pull an all-nighter, he would never share a bed with Lu Quan again.
He glanced back at Lu Quan, who appeared to be sleeping soundly, then carefully swung his leg over him and hurried straight to the bathroom.
Only after the door clicked shut did Lu Quan lazily open his eyes. He glanced down at the telltale tent in the sheets, then indifferently looked away.
In the bathroom.
Liang Zhixia stared at his reflection in the mirror, noting that his lips looked even more red and swollen than last time. He vaguely remembered swatting at a bug in the middle of the night.
A loud smack.
What puzzled him was why Lu Quan’s bed would have bugs on it.
When he emerged from the bathroom, he saw Lu Quan sitting up on the bed with his legs bent. Suddenly, it all made sense.
Lu Quan lifted his gaze toward him, his voice husky and low. “Good morning, Xia Xia.”
Liang Zhixia halted his instinctive step back toward the bathroom and forced an awkward but polite smile onto his face.
“Morning, Brother Lu.”
Lu Quan arched a brow and drawled, “How was sleeping with me last night?”
“…” Liang Zhixia kept up the awkward yet polite smile. “Not bad.”
The look in the man’s eyes was thick and shadowed as he murmured something Liang Zhixia couldn’t quite parse.
“Looks like I need to step up my game.”
After seeing off the last batch of customers, Liang Zhixia pulled out his phone and messaged L.
【Zhizhi】: I’ll be super busy tonight, so no time to chat~
【Zhizhi】: Rolling Kitty.gif
【L】: Got it. Let me know when you’re done, Zhizhi.
【Zhizhi】: Will do.
He pocketed his phone and shrugged off his uniform, just in time to run into Li Keke emerging from the women’s staff room.
Li Keke waved her phone at him. “Let’s go—the timing’s perfect.”
Ever since that last incident, the boss of the coffee shop had generously granted everyone a half-day off, to be taken on any day they chose, as long as they coordinated with their coworkers.
This time, for the birthday party gig as servers, he’d used up his half-day.
Li Keke knew the way. After hopping on the subway and following the navigation, Liang Zhixia listened as she explained, “That area’s full of rich folks. We’ll have to follow orders to the letter—whatever the foreman says, we do.”
He nodded. He got it; rich people had a lot of rules.
Li Keke continued, “The foreman will go over a ton of etiquette, but the big one they’ll hammer home is no shady little tricks. Keep any improper thoughts to yourselves. These people aren’t for the likes of us to chase.”
She mimicked the forewoman flawlessly, down to the exact expression.
This was Liang Zhixia’s first time working service at a place like that, so the warning went over his head a bit.
Li Keke covered her mouth and whispered, “Basically, don’t rely on being hot or having a great figure to hook up with the wealthy guests. The forewoman means well—even if you snag a rich one now, what then? They’re just playing around.”
Liang Zhixia blinked, still a little lost. “Do guys do that too?”
Li Keke laughed. “Of course! There are plenty of rich ladies who go for pretty, smooth-skinned college boys like you.”
Liang Zhixia: “…”
After however many stops, Liang Zhixia trailed behind Li Keke as they exited the subway station.
A minivan idled in front of them. A middle-aged man’s face poked out from the driver’s window. He sized them up and waved. “Hop in—Sister Ai’s been texting nonstop.”
Li Keke nodded. “I coordinated with Sister Ai on my phone ahead of time.”
The man said nothing more and pulled away toward the affluent neighborhood.
After they got out, Liang Zhixia glanced back at the driver and caught the man staring right at him.
Something about the driver’s gaze felt off, and he’d been sneaking peeks at Liang Zhixia the whole ride.
Only then did it hit him. He turned to Li Keke. “This birthday party’s legit, right?”
She knew exactly what he meant and grinned. “Totally legit. I’ve known Sister Ai for years.”
Reassured, Liang Zhixia fell silent.
Ten minutes later, a sprawling villa came into view, complete with a fountain in the front courtyard.
They had barely stepped inside when a woman at the villa entrance approached.
“Sister Ai,” Li Keke called out.
So this was Sister Ai.
Liang Zhixia followed suit. “Sister Ai.”
Sister Ai swept a critical frown over them both. Her red-nailed finger jabbed toward Liang Zhixia. “This the other one from the list you sent?”
Li Keke nodded. “Yep.”
Liang Zhixia shifted uncomfortably. After that day, he’d thought it over and told Li Keke, who said she’d submitted both their names.
Had something gone wrong?
Sister Ai eyed him up and down several times, her frown easing slightly. “Whatever. At least you’re easy on the eyes. I’ll have them bump your pay by an extra five hundred.”
“?” Liang Zhixia shot a puzzled look at Li Keke, who winked back at him before turning to Sister Ai with a pout. “Sis, is Little Xia a problem or something?”
Sister Ai crooked a finger and flicked her forehead. “Did you even read the message I sent you?”
Li Keke clutched her forehead. “Of course I did!”
Sister Ai rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “I spelled it out clear as day: all servers for this birthday party have to be women.”
She pointed at Liang Zhixia again. “Is he a woman?”
“Ah?!” Li Keke yanked her phone from her pocket, opened her chat with Sister Ai, and scrolled frantically through the records.
There it was, plain as day: women only.
She turned to Liang Zhixia with a grimace. “Sorry, Little Xia—I totally missed that part.”
So that’s what happened.
No wonder the driver had stared at him so much.
Liang Zhixia pressed his lips together. “It’s fine.”
He just hoped he could still clock back in at the coffee shop now.
The day off wasn’t paid.
He was about to text his shift replacement when Sister Ai grabbed his arm.
“Go change first. The party’s starting soon.”
As she tugged him along, he blurted, “Sister Ai! I’m not—”
Sister Ai cut him off. “You look pretty enough. You can pull off women’s clothes.”
“…”
He could wear women’s clothes alone in his dorm room, sure—but not in front of all these people.
“Sister Ai, I can’t.”
Li Keke glanced at him, then her eyes lit up. She jumped in eagerly. “Xia Xia, I think it’d suit you perfectly! You’re already so pretty, with long legs and a slim waist. Just pinch your voice a little, and you’d pass better than me.”
Sister Ai turned to him. “If you bail, we’ll be short a server. If the client complains, I’ll have to tell them why—and guess who takes the fall?”
Liang Zhixia hesitated, torn, but pressed on. “Isn’t there still time? Can’t we find someone else?”
Sister Ai checked the time on her phone screen.
“Not enough time to find and vet a replacement who fits the bill.”
“Are you in or out?”
Her tone carried real weight. Thinking of the money he had to repay next month, Liang Zhixia’s eyes stung as he whispered, “Fine.”
Sister Ai softened a touch. “I’ll get you a private room. The makeup artist will keep it confidential. No one besides me and Keke will know. Oh, and another five hundred on your pay.”
Liang Zhixia murmured, “Okay.”
Why did everyone think they could just throw money at him?
The problem was, he couldn’t resist.
The server uniforms were maid outfits, available in black or pink. He got pink. During makeup, the artist topped it off with a matching pink wig.
He didn’t even have a chance to refuse.
After the makeup was done, Liang Zhixia looked at himself in the mirror and let out a small sigh of relief.
He looked just like a girl—no one would recognize him now.
Meanwhile, Li Keke, standing off to the side, had long since been left staring in awe.
Xia Xia in drag was simply too beautiful!
His long, perky eyelashes were thick and dense, fluttering like butterfly wings. The lip gloss on his lips sparkled under the lights, while his pink hair was clipped back on one side with a hair clip, falling in soft waves down his back.
Beneath the hem of the maid outfit stretched a pair of long, straight legs with smooth, perfectly proportioned lines. His waist and abdomen were slim enough to wrap in a single hand.
At that moment, the makeup artist picked up two items from the nearby table.
One was a set of cat ear headpieces, the other a pink collar.
The makeup artist pointed at his Adam’s apple. “To cover that.”
Once he had the cat ears and collar on, the only thing that stood out in a crowd was his height—otherwise, nothing seemed amiss.
When Sister Ai saw him, she raised an eyebrow. “Very pretty.”
Liang Zhixia felt a little embarrassed by the praise. He’d posted a few times on the video app before, but he rarely bothered with the comments, and those were always viewed through the buffer of a phone screen anyway.
Noticing his unease, Sister Ai made a point of assigning him an easy spot.
“Usually, there aren’t many guests over here. Just watch—if someone comes by without a drink in hand, or if their glass is running low, go over to them. If they’ve got a full drink, you can stay put.”
She paused for a moment, then added, “If you run into any unreasonable customers, don’t make a fuss. Slip away if you can and come find me.”
She didn’t often give such warnings, but the boy before her was far too striking, and she couldn’t shake her worry that trouble might find him.
Liang Zhixia nodded in a bit of a daze. “Got it, Sister Ai.”
He stationed himself in the corner, half-obscured by a large potted plant. It lent him a touch more security.
Outside, the sky slowly darkened.
Young people around his age began trickling in through the villa entrance, men and women alike.
Suddenly, he froze in place. His eyes caught sight of two familiar figures.
He hadn’t expected to run into people he knew here.
Lu Quan… and Senior Xu Cheng.
