—

“Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding~”

The death-summoning video call rang again — it was Gu Zhao calling back.

Ji Su startled, quickly pressing the decline button.

Still trembling from the fright, his heart pounding wildly, his fingers shook as he typed.

Mengmeng: [Sorry, senior, something came up on my end, I'll get back to you later.]

After sending the message, Ji Su leaned back in his chair, his face a picture of despair: “Xiao Qiao, am I really done for…”

Qiao Jin thought about it seriously, his eyes full of sympathy — everything said without a word.

“I'll take the initiative and admit my mistake to Gu Zhao.” Ji Su bit his lower lip. “Maybe he'll understand — after all, it's all a misunderstanding.”

Everyone has to pay the price for what they've done. He hadn't expected the boomerang to come back so fast…

“Maybe he won't understand.” Qiao Jin analyzed calmly. “Think about it — he bought you clothes, sent you abs photos. If you suddenly tell him Mengmeng is a guy, that you added him in the first place to scam him—”

Ji Su raised his hand to cover his face: “I really didn't mean to…”

Qiao Jin shifted his tone: “But I think things aren't as bad as you imagine.”

Ji Su opened his eyes, peering at him through his fingers: “What do you mean?”

“Think about it — the scumbag doesn't know who you are. He only saw your leg photo, he was definitely just struck by your looks.” Qiao Jin shrugged. “How deep can that kind of feeling really be?”

Ji Su lowered his hand, his expression thoughtful.

Qiao Jin completely abandoned his earlier “true love” argument, speaking with growing conviction: “He can get dirty online with you, and he can get dirty online with other pretty girls. You just need to disappear for a while, and he'll completely forget about Mengmeng.”

Ji Su slowly blinked: “Seems like that's right…”

“But I really didn't expect — School Hunk Gu usually looks so cold and proper, but privately he's actually this…” Qiao Jin clicked his tongue twice. “You really can't judge a book by its cover!”

Ji Su couldn't help but recall when he first added G, the other person had dismissed him with a single “?”, which now seemed perfectly consistent with his impression of Gu Zhao.

And the other person had suddenly changed his attitude — indeed, from the moment he sent the leg photo.

“Xiao Qiao, you make sense.” Ji Su decided to handle it coldly first. “I won't reply to him these next few days — maybe in a few days he won't look for Mengmeng anymore.”

“Mm-hmm!” Qiao Jin nodded vigorously, then asked, “But can you send me School Hunk Gu's abs photo? Save it for me as a keepsake!”

Ji Su: “…No.”

*

The next few days, Ji Su didn't dare log into his WeChat alt.

Thursday afternoon, Qiao Jin tried to drag him to the Gymnasium to watch Zhou Yang play basketball, but was turned down.

“Xiao Qiao, I don't think I can see Gu Zhao right now.” Ji Su frowned slightly. “I'm afraid the moment I see him, I won't be able to resist going up and confessing.”

“No no no!” Qiao Jin quickly stopped him. “I'll go watch Zhou Yang by myself, you go read for a bit, we'll meet up at the cafeteria later.”

But what was coming couldn't be avoided.

In the evening, Ji Su met Qiao Jin at the cafeteria. They had just sat down when a small commotion arose.

He raised his eyes toward the source of the sound, then quickly turned his face away, lowering his head with the guilty air of a thief.

“What's wrong?” Qiao Jin also looked over and let out a cry, “Holy shit! What are the odds!”

Ji Su covered the side of his face with his hand, asking quietly: “Didn't you say they were going out for dinner tonight?”

Qiao Jin was also baffled: “Zhou Yang said they were going to dinner — who knows why they came to the cafeteria.”

“Stop looking at them, Xiao Qiao.” Ji Su was a bit nervous. “Zhou Yang's going to come say hi to you in a bit.”

The moment the words fell, Zhou Yang spotted them and greeted them warmly: “Qiao Jin, Ji Su!”

Ji Su: “…”

Qiao Jin could only wave: “Zhou Yang, what a coincidence!”

Ji Su sat up straight, putting on an air of nonchalance — only to crash into a pair of dark, icy eyes again.

His heart skipped a beat; he immediately lowered his eyes, silently praying they wouldn't come over.

Heaven might have heard his prayer — a clean-looking boy suddenly stepped in front of Gu Zhao.

“Su-su-su-su, a cutie has appeared!” Qiao Jin's gossip soul blazed to life. “I bet he's asking Gu Zhao for his WeChat!”

Ji Su couldn't contain his curiosity, secretly lifting his lashes to look.

Gu Zhao was tall with long legs; the boy opposite only reached his shoulder, his face flushed bright red.

But Ji Su felt the school hunk's expression was even colder than last time — an almost sinister air between his handsome brows.

He couldn't help but admire that boy, daring to ask for WeChat under such pressure.

Just then, Gu Zhao said something, and all the color drained from the boy's face — he turned and ran.

Qiao Jin: “Holy shit, that doesn't look good!”

Gu Zhao seemed very displeased by this little interruption, didn't even eat, and strode out of the cafeteria on his long legs.

Although he felt a bit sorry for that boy, Ji Su secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhou Yang strode over: “Gu-ge went back to the Dormitory, I'll eat with you guys!”

After he sat down, Qiao Jin probed: “What's wrong with Gu Zhao? He looks like he's in a really bad mood?”

“Sigh, don't mention it.” Zhou Yang sighed. “These past few days Gu-ge's pressure has been extremely low — everywhere he goes is shrouded in a dark cloud.”

Qiao Jin and Ji Su exchanged a glance: “What happened?”

“Not sure exactly, seems like it has something to do with that online dating partner.” Zhou Yang slammed the table. “Could it really be like you guys said — Gu-ge ran into an online scammer!”

Ji Su's brow jumped, guiltily averting his eyes.

Qiao Jin laughed dryly: “No way?”

“Gu-ge's state these past few days has really been off — phone clutched in his hand without putting it down, dialing calls every now and then, but the calls never seem to go through.” Zhou Yang followed a thread of clues and vaguely arrived at the truth. “That's right — it must be that online dating partner suddenly disappeared!”

Ji Su pressed his lips together, asking softly: “Do you think… Gu Zhao is seriously doing the online dating thing?”

“Of course he's serious!” Zhou Yang replied without hesitation. “This is Gu-ge's first time dating — how could he not be serious?”

Ji Su: “…”

“No way?” Qiao Jin tried to steer the conversation. “Who still does online dating these days — let alone a handsome guy like Gu Zhao, he's not short of beautiful women around him. He should just be playing around, right?”

Zhou Yang shook his head: “You don't understand Gu-ge — he's really not the type to play around, and I've never seen him care about someone this much.”

Ji Su listened in silence, the guilt in his heart growing heavier, pressing down on him like a great stone.

His original intention had been to do a good deed, to help a senior get revenge on a scumbag — but why had it now dragged an innocent person into it?

Deceiving someone's feelings is the worst kind of thing, and he was that worst kind of feeling-deceiver.

“Is that so, haha…” Qiao Jin laughed awkwardly again, changing the subject: “Oh right, what did that boy want when he stopped you guys?”

Zhou Yang didn't think much of it: “That one? Asking Gu-ge for his WeChat.”

Qiao Jin sympathized: “Ran right into the line of fire, huh?”

“Yeah, Gu-ge already dislikes gay people.” Zhou Yang had just finished saying, then quickly added, “Of course, I personally don't dislike— I mean, what I'm saying is I respect everyone's sexual orientation.”

But Qiao Jin's focus wasn't there: “Wait, you're saying Gu Zhao is homophobic?”

Ji Su suddenly raised his face, his gaze fixing on Zhou Yang.

“This…” Zhou Yang hesitated, choosing his words carefully. “Maybe because he was harassed by the same sex before, Gu-ge is more averse to male pursuit.”

Qiao Jin exchanged another glance with Ji Su, five big characters clearly written in their eyes: “Can't save you.”

*

Back at the Dormitory, Ji Su sat at his desk lost in thought.

After who knows how long, the fingers hanging at his side moved, and he pulled his phone from his pocket.

Qiao Jin noticed his movement: “Su-su, you're not planning to confess to Gu Zhao, are you?”

“Yes.” Ji Su replied softly. “Explain the whole story clearly, apologize to him.”

As for whether Gu Zhao was willing to forgive him — that wasn't something he could control.

“Don't be stupid, Su-su!” Qiao Jin got anxious, walked over and snatched the phone. “Didn't you hear what Zhou Yang said?”

“It's precisely because of what Zhou Yang said that I feel I can't handle it this way.” Ji Su exhaled. “At worst, I'll let Gu Zhao beat me up to vent his anger.”

Qiao Jin's eyes widened: “What? Beat you up?”

Ji Su said hesitantly: “It is a society ruled by law, after all — he probably won't go too far…”

“No, Su-su, listen to me analyze this.” Qiao Jin advised earnestly. “Think about it — Gu Zhao is a straight man, a possibly homophobic straight man. If he finds out he's gotten off to a guy's leg photo who knows how many times, he might never be able to stand up again in his life!”

Ji Su: “…”

“But if he was just dumped by his online dating partner, at most he'd be listless for a while, and he'd quickly forget Mengmeng and start a new life.” Qiao Jin countered. “Which is worse — what do you think?”

Ji Su knit his brow, falling into thought again.

After a long while, he reached out his hand: “Xiao Qiao, give me back my phone.”

Qiao Jin: “What are you planning to do?”

“As you said…” Ji Su took the phone, logged into his WeChat alt. “End everything as Mengmeng.”

The moment he opened WeChat, messages flooded in.

In these three days, G had sent him many messages — voice messages and video requests — all of which had sunk without a trace.

The latest two were from ten minutes ago—

G: [I'm really worried about you.]

G: [Tomorrow I'll come to your School to find you.]

Ji Su's hand trembled, then quickly steadied.

Mengmeng: [Senior, I'm fine.]

Mengmeng: [I've been busy these past few days, didn't see the messages, sorry.]

Within almost a second, a reply popped up in the chat.

G: [Really fine?]

Mengmeng: [Really fine.]

G: [That's good.]

Ji Su took a deep breath and began to organize his words.

Mengmeng: [Senior, after that video call with you, I realized I added the wrong person. You're not who I meant to add.]

G: [What do you mean?]

Mengmeng: [The person I like isn't you.]

Soon, the other side dialed a voice call.

Ji Su declined the voice call and continued typing.

Mengmeng: [Senior, I'm really sorry — I should have confirmed properly from the start.]

Mengmeng: [I wasted so much of your time, I'm really sorry.]

G: [Answer the voice call.]

Mengmeng: [WeChat Transfer: 10000.00]

Mengmeng: [I can't return the dress you bought me, senior — please accept the transfer.]

This time, the other side sent a voice message.

“Do you think I lack money?” The low voice sounded icy and chilling, suppressing an obvious rage. “Where are you right now?”

The online dating partner had disappeared for three whole days — and the moment he reappeared, it was to draw a clear line. Anyone would have trouble accepting that.

Mengmeng: [I know senior must be angry — what would make you feel better?]

Another voice message came: “I'll ask you one more time — where are you?”

Mengmeng: [Senior, actually I'm really ugly — the leg photo I sent you was photoshopped.]

G: [Seeing is believing.]

Ji Su figured this was getting nowhere, so he simply closed his eyes, steeled his heart, and blocked the other party directly.

He logged out of his WeChat alt, silently reciting: Sorry, school hunk — I'll try to find a way to make it up to you in real life…

At the same time, Gu Zhao gripped his phone in one hand, the force so great it seemed he wanted to crush it.

He closed his eyes briefly, forced himself to calm down, deleted the text in the input box, and retyped.

G: [Mengmeng, I don't care whether you added the wrong person or not. The person who's been chatting with you every day during this time is me.]

He hit send — and the next second, a bright red exclamation mark appeared on the screen.

Gu Zhao stared fixedly at that glaring exclamation mark, and after a long while, a hair-raising smile appeared on his handsome face.