Chapter 6

In the end, Ji Su overcame his mental block and did an emergency two-day Clamp Tone boot camp.

Qiao Jin inspected the results and gave lavish praise: 'Anyone who doesn't know you well — absolutely won't be able to tell you're a guy!'

Ji Su felt a little more confident, but he didn't immediately reach out to G for a voice call — conveniently, the other party had been busy these past few days, as if he'd temporarily forgotten about it.

Of course, it would be even better if the scumbag was willing to do an online romance without voice calls — speaking in Clamp Tone was genuinely exhausting.

Friday afternoon, after class, Qiao Jin dragged Ji Su to the Gymnasium to watch Zhou Yang's game.

The last basketball match between the Architecture Department and the Law Department had ended, unsurprisingly, with the Architecture Department eliminated.

To keep the peace in the Dormitory, Qiao Jin hadn't even gone to watch that match, afraid he wouldn't be able to stop himself from cheering for the Law Department on the court.

The result, then, would probably have been Zhao Ziyun throttling him to death on the spot.

But today it was Law Department versus Finance Department, so Qiao Jin could cheer for Zhou Yang without a care.

Knowing the two were coming to watch, Zhou Yang had even saved them seats in the prime viewing area.

'Little Qiao, where are you and Zhou Yang at now?' Ji Su settled into his seat, glanced at the buzz-cut boy in the rest area grinning at them like an idiot, and asked quietly.

'Let me think…' Qiao Jin hesitated. 'Probably the regular-friend stage.'

Ji Su asked again: 'Have you confirmed his orientation, then?'

'I can't just walk up and ask him if he's into guys — how rude would that be — so I can only drop hints.' Qiao Jin sighed. 'But whether he's genuinely clueless or just playing dumb, he never picks up on them.'

Ji Su encouraged him: 'At least he's not put off by you. Take it slow.'

Qiao Jin lowered his voice: 'But I've done some digging — he's never had a girlfriend his whole life. What does that tell you?'

Ji Su thought for a moment: 'That the odds he likes girls and boys are equal?'

'Exactly!' Qiao Jin brightened. 'Means I still have a real shot!'

Just then, a tall figure appeared inside the Gymnasium, stirring up the familiar commotion.

Gu Zhao stood in the rest area with one hand in his pocket, exchanged a few words with his teammates, then started walking toward the spectator stands.

Ji Su found it a little odd: 'Gu Zhao's not playing today?'

'Right, he's sitting this one out.' Qiao Jin launched into another briefing. 'You know why?'

Ji Su: 'No.'

'Gu Zhao picks his opponents — if they're too weak, he can't be bothered to play.' Qiao Jin said with a grin. 'Last time Campus Heartthrob Gu personally played against the Architecture Department — even in defeat, we can hold our heads high!'

Ji Su laughed: 'That's something.'

As the two talked, Gu Zhao was already striding over on those absurdly long legs.

The next moment, Ji Su's eyes met his.

Those pitch-black eyes were as cold as ever — nothing readable in them, as if no person or thing in the world could stir his interest.

Senior's summary echoed through Ji Su's mind: 'I suspect he doesn't actually like humans.'

In a way, he envied a person like that — and yet felt a little sorry for them, too.

With that thought, Ji Su curved his lips into a faint, pleasant smile and offered it to the other boy.

Since Gu Zhao hadn't shown any sign of singling him out, he could be the first to extend friendliness.

Apparently caught off guard by the reaction, Gu Zhao's stride faltered, and an indescribable expression flickered across his face.

But the ripple vanished in an instant; the campus heartthrob quickly recovered his blank expression, turned, and sat down in the stands.

Ji Su tucked away the curve of his lips along with a small pang of disappointment, and turned his attention to the game.

Maybe G was right — no point trying to win over someone who didn't like you.

This Law-versus-Finance match should have been a foregone conclusion, but after a while even Ji Su, a complete basketball novice, could tell something was off.

'Damn! How are the Finance guys playing this dirty!' Qiao Jin cursed as he watched. 'Are they playing basketball or assaulting people?'

Finance knew they were outclassed, so they'd adopted a one-on-one man-marking tactic — the whole point being, if I don't score, you don't either — and several players kept deliberately slamming their bodies into opponents.

Ji Su watched the situation on court, puzzled: 'Isn't that a foul?'

'Of course it's a foul — the ref's just deliberately playing blind!' Qiao Jin smacked his thigh in fury. 'If those Finance dogs hurt my Zhou Yang, I'm not letting it slide!'

The words had barely left his mouth when a sudden uproar exploded through the Gymnasium.

Ji Su looked closely: Wang Mingzhe had been knocked to the ground with the ball, apparently injured.

The referee blew his whistle immediately, calling a timeout.

Qiao Jin shot to his feet: 'Shit!'

At the same moment, Gu Zhao, seated in the front row, also rose.

That handsome face still wore no expression, but the cold, biting chill radiating off him reached even Ji Su, several meters away.

Ji Su figured Gu Zhao was angry.

The injured Wang Mingzhe came off to rest, and Gu Zhao took his place on the court.

The second half had barely begun before Finance Department was being brutalized.

Gu Zhao moved like a black leopard on the hunt — aura fully unleashed, speed terrifying, explosive power staggering; his sharp claws drew blood with every strike, driving the opposition back step by step until no one dared body-check him anymore.

His teammates, swept up by his presence, found their morale surging and reclaimed the rhythm of the game.

The Gymnasium erupted in cheers and shrieks, wave after wave, and in barely ten minutes the atmosphere had been pushed to its peak.

When the game ended, Gu Zhao turned and walked toward the rest area.

Beads of sweat rolled down the ends of his dark hair; the fierce intensity still clung, not quite loosened, between those deep-set brows and eyes. He walked over with unhurried steps, the air around him enough to make anyone's heart pound.

Qiao Jin gripped the back of his chair and sat back down, uselessly: 'Damn, Campus Heartthrob Gu's got my legs going weak from how handsome he is…'

The court was electric, and Ji Su felt his own blood beginning to heat up. He nodded in agreement: 'Genuinely handsome.'

If the everyday Gu Zhao was an unfathomable iceberg, then today's Gu Zhao on the court proved that even icebergs could erupt.

Perhaps Gu Zhao wasn't really as cold and ruthless as everyone imagined?

Lost in the thought, Ji Su's gaze unconsciously trailed the other boy's figure.

Gu Zhao walked into the rest area, casually grabbed a bottle of mineral water, twisted off the cap, and tipped his head back to pour it down.

His Adam's apple slid up and down; water he couldn't swallow fast enough traced the sharp line of his jaw, soaking the collar of his shirt and, mingled with hot sweat, slickly outlining the contours of his chest.

Ji Su's thoughts began to drift: What a great physique. If he started working out properly from now on, could he build something close to that?

Gu Zhao, off-court, seemed to sense his gaze and glanced his way without warning.

Ji Su blinked, pretended nothing was happening, and turned his head: 'Little Qiao, can we go now?'

Qiao Jin was a little worried: 'I don't know how Zhou Yang's roommate is doing.'

'Qiao Jin!' The moment the words were out, Zhou Yang came running over in big strides. 'Old Wang might have a bone injury — Gu-ge and I are taking him to the hospital to get it checked out.'

'Oh oh, hurry to the hospital!' Qiao Jin responded quickly. 'Need any help?'

'No need, Gu-ge and I can handle it.' Zhou Yang waved a hand. 'You two head back first, we'll be in touch when we're free.'

Qiao Jin didn't insist: 'Okay, WeChat later.'

After watching Zhou Yang's group leave, he and Ji Su also headed for the cafeteria to deal with dinner.

Over dinner, Qiao Jin was still savoring the spectacular moments, and couldn't help sighing: 'I really wonder what kind of celestial being it would take to land Gu Zhao.'

Ji Su echoed: 'Who knows?'

Qiao Jin leaned his head in: 'Hey, Su Su, you think Gu Zhao might actually be asexual? Or does he have some other issue?'

Ji Su's brow furrowed slightly; he set down his chopsticks and said seriously: 'Little Qiao, whether or not someone dates in college is a personal choice. Maybe he just feels there are more important things — we can't read some problem into it.'

'Fair point.' Qiao Jin nodded. 'Take you, for example — you don't want to date either.'

'You know perfectly well what my situation is.' Ji Su smiled helplessly. 'Besides, right now I just want to study architecture properly.'

Qiao Jin grinned brightly: 'I know — isn't it just that most of your pursuers are guys?'

Ji Su: "..."

Since starting university, Ji Su had had no shortage of admirers — perhaps because he was too pretty and his temperament too easy, the proportion of male pursuers was actually higher than female ones.

He personally had nothing against homosexuality — otherwise he wouldn't be so close with Qiao Jin — but he was an ironclad straight man, and confessions from the same sex still caused him a measure of trouble.

"Alright, alright, let's not talk about your sad business anymore." Qiao Jin fished the chicken drumstick out of his own bowl and laid it across Ji Su's. "Eat more, get nice and sturdy — then no faggots will come bother you!"

Ji Su: "Thanks a lot..."

*

Back at the Dormitory, Ji Su opened his phone and logged into his secondary WeChat account.

G hadn't sent him any new messages; their conversation was still parked where it had been yesterday.

Mengmeng: [Senior, I watched a super~ amazing basketball game today!]

The scumbag liked basketball, and Ji Su had thought he'd be interested in the topic — but no reply came in time.

Ji Su was a little puzzled, and went on studying while he waited for a message.

An hour later, he was sure something had gone wrong somewhere.

Ji Su tapped into their chat, his fingertip sliding across the screen, and realized he hadn't sent G leg photos in several days now.

Could it be that some girl with prettier legs had appeared in the scumbag's list, so he didn't want to bother with him anymore?

Ji Su unconsciously bit his lower lip, turned it over in his mind, and decided to send a fresh leg photo to test the waters.

He glanced back; Qiao Jin was lying in bed playing on his phone, completely unaware of what he was doing.

Ji Su took his phone to bed as well, and quietly slipped off his long trousers.

He lowered his gaze to his own legs, slowly adjusted his pose, took a photo from top to bottom, and sent it to G.

And so Gu Zhao picked up his phone, opened WeChat, and the first thing that met his eyes was a leg photo.

The slightly bent thighs were white as congealed fat, making the red mole on the side of the leg look all the more vivid — but the knee joints were a faint fleshy pink, leading down into long, slender calves; it wasn't hard to imagine how flushed they would become after kneeling for any length of time.

This time the photo also included part of the foot — luminous white as a piece of translucent jade, the instep showing faint blue-green veins, the toes round and cute, the nails tinged with a thin red — impossibly beautiful.

Gu Zhao stared at the photo, his dark pupils contracting slightly, his breathing visibly deepening by a degree or two.

After a long moment, his expression returned to what it had been, and he leaned against the edge of the desk to type his reply.

G: [Just got back to the Dormitory.]

Ji Su finally received a reply on his end; seeing the content, he couldn't help but curl the corner of his lip.

Again "just got back to the Dormitory" — what a coincidence, every single time he only "got back" right after Ji Su sent the leg photo?

Scumbag — clearly doing it on purpose to make him send leg photos.

Mengmeng: [Getting back so late — did Senior eat dinner?]

The well-behaved Mengmeng didn't complain about Senior's delayed reply, but offered her concern first thing.

G: [Ate.]

G: [Getting ready to sleep?]

Mengmeng: [I couldn't possibly sleep without Senior's message...]

G: [I'll bring my phone next time.]

Ji Su straightened up, feeling as though a progress bar was beckoning to him — and then the other side sent another new message.

G: [You could come watch me play basketball.]

Ji Su froze for a beat, then realized this was a reply to what he'd said earlier about watching an amazing basketball game today.

Mengmeng: [Senior wants to see me?]

G: [You don't want to see me?]

Mengmeng: [Of course I do!]

Mengmeng: [It's just... I'd be a little shy...]

G: [Not shy when sending leg photos?]

Ji Su's face flushed — of course sending leg photos was embarrassing, but without them how would he ever catch this scumbag's attention?

Mengmeng: [Senior doesn't like my leg photos?]

Mengmeng: [kitten sulking.jpg]

G: [I like them.]

Mengmeng: [So Senior only likes Mengmeng's legs?]

G: [The feet are nice too.]

Ji Su: "..."

On purpose, right? The scumbag is doing this on purpose, right?

G: [Do you send photos like this to other people too?]

Mengmeng: [What's wrong?]

Mengmeng: [kitten confused.gif]

G: [Nothing.]

Ji Su gave a cold little laugh and slowly typed his reply.

Mengmeng: [I haven't sent them to anyone else — only to Senior...]

Properly satisfying a man's vanity and possessiveness, letting him feel he is the one set apart.

But the scumbag was more rational than Ji Su had imagined.

G: [What about the very first one?]

Mengmeng: [That one was sent to my bestie.]

Mengmeng: [And I was wearing shorts in that one, so it's nothing...]

The other side was silent for a while, then a reply popped up.

G: [The one you just sent me — no shorts?]

Ji Su's ears grew hot, and his snow-white cheeks flushed warm.

After all that pretending to be proper, the scumbag had finally shown his true colors!

Ji Su was wearing pure cotton briefs today, and when he'd taken the photo he'd deliberately avoided the triangular area, so the picture looked as though he was completely bare...

If the other side asked to "see" what he was actually wearing, how was he supposed to explain the bulge...

Ji Su looked down at himself, and a sudden flash of inspiration struck.

He flipped over onto his stomach on the sheets, stretched out his arm, and with some difficulty took a blind backhanded photo.

After taking it he checked the photo, and the heat that had only just faded from his face came flooding back like a tide.

The figure in the frame lay face-down on the bed, the hem of his top rolled up to reveal a stretch of slender white waist; the edge of pure black fabric caught on narrow hipbones, two dimples faintly visible at the small of the back, the perky full buttocks pushing the fabric into two rounded curves that met the pale roots of his thighs.

Ji Su had never observed his own body so carefully — why did it look so... in the photo?

It must be the angle, right?

Yes, definitely that!

Ji Su didn't dare look again, and blushing, sent the photo to G.

But the moment he sent it, he regretted it, and quickly tapped to recall the photo.

Almost the next second, a message came chasing after.

G: [Didn't see clearly.]

G: [Send it again.]