2

Back at the dormitory, Ji Su had just set his backpack on the desk when a shout came from behind.

'Ah! Zhou Yang accepted my WeChat friend request!' Qiao Jin threw down his phone in excitement and lunged at him. 'I absolutely love you to death, Su-su baby!'

Ji Su turned and braced him off with his elbow: 'Calm down.'

Qiao Jin's hug attempt failed; settling for the next best thing, he blew a kiss across the room at him, then whirled back to his own desk like a gust of wind, clutching his phone and tapping away furiously.

Ji Su unzipped his backpack, pulled out his textbooks, and said offhandedly: 'But I thought you liked that campus heartthrob?'

'Huh? Campus heartthrob?' Qiao Jin twisted his head around. 'You mean Gu Zhao?'

'Didn't you just say he's your male god?' Ji Su laughed. 'You know his bio better than the final exam review points.'

'Aiya! A male god, of course, must only be admired from afar and never trifled with.' Qiao Jin shook his head sagely. 'Besides, I'm not that delusional — thinking a mere me could land Gu Zhao.'

Ji Su gave a small shrug: 'Alright, then I wish you an early victory over Zhou Yang.'

He thought for a moment, then added: 'But Xiao Qiao, I think Zhou Yang looks pretty straight.'

Qiao Jin muttered, 'Straight my ass — would a straight guy blush looking at you?'

Ji Su didn't catch it: 'What?'

'Aiya, I mean he's not as straight as he looks.' Qiao Jin flashed a grin. 'Don't worry — if he really is a full-on straight guy, I'll retreat in time.'

'Alright, I trust you.' Ji Su didn't pursue the topic further; he pulled out his phone and opened WeChat.

Lin Yan: [Little Su-su, did you add the scumbag's WeChat yet?]

Ji Su: [Not yet, jiejie. I need to set up an alt account first.]

Lin Yan: [Go for it! Jiejie believes in you!]

Ji Su turned and asked: 'Xiao Qiao, do you know how to register a WeChat alt account?'

'Easy. First get a secondary SIM, then you can use it to register a WeChat alt.' Qiao Jin replied without looking up. 'But why are you asking?'

Ji Su beckoned: 'Come here, I'll tell you.'

Qiao Jin's gossip radar immediately went off; he put down his phone, dragged his chair over: 'What what?'

Ji Su briefly recounted the whole thing, just leaving out jiejie's name.

'Holy shit! This is like grandma drinking porridge — shameless and vile!' Qiao Jin leaped up on the spot after hearing it. 'I, Xiao Qiao, curse him to nurse his stomach forever — best case, his little buddy snaps right off!'

'Mm… I'll pass your thanks along to jiejie.' Ji Su paused, then continued, 'If I can trick the scumbag into sending private photos too, jiejie can rest easier.'

He and jiejie came from the same high school; they'd crossed paths a few times before, and since enrollment she'd helped him a lot, treating him like a little brother.

Now that jiejie was in this mess, he wanted to do whatever he could to help.

Qiao Jin stroked his chin: 'Honestly, this plan is great — you get revenge on the scumbag and grab leverage on him. I approve with both hands and both feet.'

Ji Su knit his brow: 'But I have zero experience with online dating — let alone pretending to be a girl and online-dating a scumbag.'

Qiao Jin rolled up his sleeves, ready to dive in: 'Don't panic, I'm helping with this one too.'

He smoothly applied for a secondary SIM, then registered the WeChat alt account — all in one go.

'Disney Runaway Beauty.' Qiao Jin typed in the WeChat nickname. 'For the avatar, let's use a little kitty — girls love that kind of avatar.'

Ji Su nodded beside him: 'Mm, this really does look like a girl's WeChat.'

After successful registration, Qiao Jin cautiously set Moments to 'last three days only,' switched to his main account to note down the scumbag's WeChat ID, then went back to the alt to send the friend request.

'Mission accomplished!' Qiao Jin handed the phone back to Ji Su. 'Now we just wait for the scumbag to accept.'

'Good.' Ji Su took the phone. 'As thanks, I'll treat you to the bobochicken at the Second Cafeteria tonight.'

The words had barely landed when the dormitory door swung open from outside, and a tall, burly guy came striding in like a whirlwind: 'Who's treating me to bobochicken?'

'Sorry, you misheard.' Qiao Jin spread his hands. 'It's me being treated.'

'Hogging food all to yourself is too much!' Zhao Ziyun hiked up his jersey and wiped the sweat from his face. 'Li You and I were out on the court sweating for the glory of the Architecture Department, and you guys wouldn't even bring us bobochicken!'

While he was talking, the tall and lanky Li You squeezed in from behind him: 'Hold on, I'm going to shower first.'

Qiao Jin said with a grin: 'Don't train too hard, you two — we're not beating the Law Department anyway.'

'What?' Zhao Ziyun wouldn't have it; his eyes bulged like brass bells. 'Qiao Jin, are you even from the Architecture Department? How can you boost the enemy's morale and crush our own!'

'Sigh, I don't want to either.' Qiao Jin quickly sighed, then delivered the soul-searching question: 'But Gu Zhao's playing in the next game — you guys got any confidence?'

Zhao Ziyun: 'I-I I—'

He wanted to talk tough, but he just didn't have the nerve — his slightly rugged face flushed red with the effort.

Qiao Jin was about to twist the knife further when Ji Su opened his mouth and broke the spell: 'Tonight I'm treating everyone to bobochicken — not a soul left out.'

'Ha! Ji Su's the real one!' Zhao Ziyun came back to life, reaching out to pat Ji Su's thin shoulder. 'Good brother!'

Ji Su, caught off guard, wobbled under that big palm; he pretended nothing had happened and casually steadied himself against the desk.

*

The next morning, the moment Ji Su woke up he opened the WeChat alt — and was surprised to find the other party still hadn't accepted his friend request.

He thought it over — probably because the scumbag had just dumped jiejie and had a guilty conscience, so he didn't dare casually accept friend requests from strangers.

Ji Su sat up in bed and opened Baidu to search 'how to add strangers on WeChat.'

After reading through the guides for a while, he decided to send the request again, this time adding a verification note: 'Hi xuechang, I'm Mengmeng~'

With a cute emoji tacked on at the end.

After sending it, Ji Su got up, washed up, and headed to class.

He had just reached the classroom when his pocket buzzed.

Ji Su breathed a quiet sigh of relief, pulled out his phone, and opened the chat between them.

He carefully picked out a cute sticker from his sticker library and sent it.

Disney Runaway Beauty: [cat_peeking_out.jpg]

G: [?]

Disney Runaway Beauty: [Hi xuechang, I'm Mengmeng, a freshman at the Music Academy.]

G: [Something you need?]

Disney Runaway Beauty: [I happened to see xuechang playing basketball last time, and thought xuechang was really handsome.]

After sending, Ji Su looked at the chat and worried his tone was a bit stiff, so he sent another sticker.

Disney Runaway Beauty: [cat_shy.jpg]

According to the info jiejie gave him, the scumbag was also a college student at a nearby school, loved basketball, and had scammed several pairs of limited-edition sneakers from jiejie.

Using basketball as the entry point should pique his interest, right?

After sending that message, he waited a long time, but the other side never replied.

Ji Su bit down on the cap of his pen, puzzling over which line had gone wrong.

Wait, no — since adding him, he'd only sent two messages total, plus two stickers.

Just then Qiao Jin leaned over and whispered, 'Su-su, why the long face so early in the morning?'

Ji Su replied quietly, 'I added the scumbag's WeChat, but the conversation isn't going well.'

'Let me see.' Qiao Jin glanced at the screen and laughed. 'Oh, this little trash is playing it pretty cold.'

Ji Su felt a little more confident. 'Right? I thought my opener was fine too.'

'Just chat him up casually — a player like this shows his true colors fast.' Qiao Jin jabbed at the screen with her finger. 'Let's see how long he can keep up the act.'

*

Over the next few days, Ji Su switched back and forth between his two WeChat accounts every day, racking his brain for ways to keep the conversation going.

He even went online to study how girls talk — adding soft, cute particles here and there to seem a little more adorable, for instance.

But from good-morning to good-night, the scumbag never once replied.

On a weekend evening, Ji Su opened his alt account again and stared at the one-sided chat log, head beginning to ache.

'Xiao Qiao.' Ji Su had no choice but to call in reinforcements. 'Come look — do you think he's blocked my messages?'

Qiao Jin had been caught up with Zhou Yang these past couple of days and hadn't been following his progress; on hearing him, she hurried over. 'What, the scumbag chat not going well?'

Ji Su held up his phone screen. 'Not well doesn't begin to cover it.'

'Damn!' Qiao Jin took the phone and scrolled up. 'He hasn't replied to a single one?'

Ji Su said helplessly, 'That's why I think he might have blocked me.'

Qiao Jin's eyes rolled thoughtfully. 'Let me think — this scumbag's probably more popular than we figured, and his WeChat list has more girls than we figured too.'

Ji Su was a little annoyed. 'Even so, never replying is really rude.'

'But looking at your chat log, it really is kind of boring.' Qiao Jin looked thoughtful. 'Su-su, you need to bring up something the scumbag's actually interested in.'

Ji Su asked earnestly, 'What topic?'

'Sexy stuff, of course!' Qiao Jin laughed with mischief. 'No man alive can turn down something horny — especially a straight guy whose dick talks straight to his brain!'

'Are you sure?' Ji Su wrinkled his nose. 'Bringing that up right away won't seem kind of…'

'Look at your Moments — there isn't even a pretty photo, he doesn't know what you look like, so why would he be interested in chatting with you?' Qiao Jin said with absolute certainty. 'So right now, we need to hook the scumbag's interest first!'

Ji Su: '……'

'Come on, come on!' Qiao Jin exited WeChat and opened the camera. 'Live shot, right now.'

Ji Su instinctively raised a hand to cover his face. 'No, if you shoot like this, anyone can tell I'm a guy.'

'Relax, I'm not shooting your face.' Qiao Jin moved the phone, and the frame filled with two long legs wrapped in jeans. 'A leg shot to make the scumbag drool.'

Ji Su's gaze followed downward. 'What's so good about legs?'

'Aiya, you don't get it!' Qiao Jin wore an expression that said *this is hard to explain*. 'You have absolutely no idea how perfectly your legs match the male aesthetic!'

Ji Su: '……'

'Wait, Su-su, change into shorts first — not too long.' Qiao Jin controlled every detail. 'White ones are best.'

Ji Su: 'What for?'

Qiao Jin: 'Do you still want to get revenge for jiejie or not?'

Ji Su held her gaze for a few seconds, then expressionlessly dug a pair of white shorts out of the wardrobe and went to the bathroom to change.

When he came back out, Qiao Jin's eyes were riveted to those jade-white long legs, and she couldn't help but let out a wolf whistle.

Ji Su: 'Get lost…'

Under Director Qiao's hands-on guidance, Ji Su sat in the chair, struck a pose, and took a leg photo from a top-down angle.

After shooting, he couldn't even bear to look at it again, opened his alt WeChat, and sent the photo straight to G: 'Sent.'

'Damn! You didn't even let me see it first!' Qiao Jin snatched the phone, tapped into the photo on the screen, and immediately sucked in a breath.

The person in the photo wore a pair of white cotton shorts, revealing a stretch of slender, well-proportioned thigh — snowy white, fine-grained, with just a hint of softness, so tender it seemed a light pinch would leave a fingerprint.

But the most provocative thing of all was a single red mole nestled in the soft flesh along the side of the leg, half-hidden between the thighs as if deliberately left for the imagination — if one were to brush that little mole lightly, would these flawless jade legs tremble in response…

'Truly… the peak of peaks — perfection itself.' Qiao Jin licked her lips. 'Forget straight guys, even a pure-blood bottom like me can't handle this.'

Ji Su, embarrassed by all the praise, reached out and snatched the phone back. 'Aren't you a zero? You're supposed to like muscular guys with eight-pack abs.'

'Oh, my precious Su-su!' Qiao Jin cupped her hands over her heart. 'If it were you, I'd be willing to top for love!'

Ji Su: '……'

With a buzz, a new message arrived on WeChat.

G: [Is that your leg in the photo?]

Ji Su stared at the screen. 'He replied.'

'Didn't I tell you!' Qiao Jin burst out laughing. 'Straight guy or scumbag, this move absolutely works!'

Out of the corner of his eye, Ji Su glanced at the photo in the chat window; the tips of his ears burned faintly. Before the recall window closed, he tapped to retract the photo.

Qiao Jin panicked. 'Hey hey hey! Su-su, why'd you retract the photo?'

Ji Su typed with his head down. 'Just let him take one look.'

Disney Runaway Beauty: [Sorry about that, senior, I sent that photo to the wrong person just now.]

'Holy…' Qiao Jin's expression shifted, her tone turning solemn and respectful. 'Master. Su-su, you're a hidden master!'

Ji Su lifted his lashes. 'What?'

'Play hard to get, hold back your words — let the scumbag drool, and at the same time make him think you might be stringing along other men, so he feels threatened.' Qiao Jin propped her chin and analyzed seriously. 'What a masterclass in push-pull!'

Ji Su: '……'

What was all this nonsense — he just didn't want the scumbag jacking off to a photo of his legs, that's all.

Even as they spoke, two more messages came through from the other side.

G: [It's fine.]

G: [Is that your own leg in the photo?]

Though the phone screen kept him from seeing the other's expression, the tone of those two lines was clearly softer than that first [?].

With nothing but a half-revealed leg photo, Disney Runaway Beauty received the most enthusiastic reply in history.