CH 3

3 – xxr

Translator: Xena

Fang Mo was only half a breath away from dying on the spot.

The entire dialog went silent for a few seconds, during which, he felt his heart turn completely stiff and almost motionless. Just when he was at a loss, a new message came from the opposite side.

[“???”]

In times of crisis, people can often erupt with wisdom far beyond their usual times.

A light bulb lit up and Fang Mo typed quickly.

[“Hahahahaha, do you often encounter this kind of harassment?”]

The other side was silent for a while. When there was finally movement, a long ellipsis was sent.

Fang Mo braced himself to patch-up his behavior.

[“I’ve come across this often and I really can’t stand it, do they think others are as perverted as they are?”]

Very luckily, his Mr. Heavenly Dish was completely fooled by these words. The newly sent reply carried quite a bit of sympathy.

[“Sure enough, fellow sufferers empathize with each other…”]

Fang Mo let out a long sigh of relief.

They continued chatting in the private chat in a friendly and warm atmosphere. Unfortunately, after about half an hour, the other party said he had to go offline first. Fang Mo was not yet satisfied and asked if they could exchange contact information, such as WeChat or something.

[“It’s embarrassing to talk about this kind of thing. It’s also not easy to have someone who can understand and be mutual tree holes, right?”]

He spoke in a high-sounding manner and the other party did not suspect him, immediately sending his WeChat account.

Fang Mo was overjoyed at the unexpected return, but also was not impatient to add the other as a friend.

He immediately went to check his Moments. First, it was changed to be all visible only after three days, and then he archived the rest of the content that might cause doubts for the other. He even changed his original irritating selfie avatar and replaced it with a cartoon image. After making sure everything was absolutely safe, he sent a friend request to the other party.

Previously, this person used an ID consisting of three lowercase letters on that website; xxr. It looked very casual, as if randomly pressed. When Fang Mo added him as a friend, he immediately understood.

Xu Xiran. This person’s WeChat account actually has his real name.

He didn’t know if it was because of his rose-tinted glasses, but Fang Mo felt comfortable with reading the name aloud. Not only was the name pleasant to hear, but the person was also pretty good. With such a screen name, there was certainly no cunning plot and it was not difficult to understand at all, giving people a very reliable and down-to-earth feeling.

Fang Mo’s own WeChat name was “A Little Mo”. Half to get closer and half to find a chance to converse, he immediately sent a message after Xu Xiran confirmed his friend request.

[“Exchanging politeness, my real name is Fang Mo.”]

Soon after, Xu Xiran replied with an “OK” gesture.

This time, Fang Mo was not in a hurry to open a topic again. On one hand, he felt his conscience weighing on him, and on the other, he was afraid that being too energetic would cause the other party to be on guard. Second, he was busy looking at Xu Xiran’s Moments.

Xu Xiran set it to be all visible within a month, so there was not much content, but it was still quite confusing to look at.

The latest one was a photo. In the photo, a gray kitten was bowing its head to eat cat food spilled on the ground. The back of the kitten’s head was round, its little tail was upright, and its whole body was fluffy, which was very cute. By the looks of it, Xu Xiran should be feeding a stray cat. This was supposed to be a very warm picture, but the caption on the top of the photo made Fang Mo look like a three-meter high monk, you can’t rub his head1.

“When will you turn into a beautiful girl to repay me?”

What the hell.

The next one was also quite difficult to decipher.

It was a photo of the sunset, taken beautifully. The orange-red clouds in the distant sky were stacked layer upon layer, looking somewhat aesthetically magical. If the photo had not undergone special post-processing, there had likely been a special astronomical phenomenon on the day it was taken.

Originally, this photo was very much worthy of a like, but the statement above still left Fang Mo at a loss.

“The door to another world is about to open?!”

The last one was pretty normal; a hand holding a cup of milk tea. There seemed to be a cartoon character printed on the cup. Fang Mo didn’t know much about these, so he didn’t take a closer look. The matching caption was very simple, only a red heart symbol.

Fang Mo thought it probably meant that the milk tea was very delicious.

Compared to the exaggeratedly conspicuous colored cup of milk tea, he cared more about Xu Xiran’s hand which appeared in the frame.

Taking the cup as a reference, it appeared that his palm was very large, his fingers were neither thick nor thin but very slender, and the joints were distinct. His nails were cut short, with neat and clean edges. Almost every detail of this person could take Fang Mo’s life.

If it were someone else, the content of the Moments was so inexplicable, Fang Mo might’ve thought the person was weird. But when it came to Xu Xiran, it became mysterious, special, different from the masses, and thought-provoking.

Fang Mo’s favorable opinion for him has already broken through the ceiling.

He was too turbulent that night and forgot an important matter.

The next morning, he slept until noon because of tossing and turning from the previous night. After waking up, he glanced at his phone and found several messages from Zou Shun.

[Aren’t you finished yet?]

[Fuck you, you’re not sleeping, are you!]

[…Hey, are you still awake?]

Fang Mo quickly called him. However, when the ringtone rang, the other party declined it. He waited for a while after that but received neither a message nor a call back. Thinking that Zou Shun might be busy doing something and couldn’t be distracted, he stopped disturbing him.

When he got up and finished washing his face, he noticed something amiss.

Now that it was vacation, Zou Shun was definitely not in class. If he was driving, there would’ve been enough time to send a message at a red light. Thus, Fang Mo originally thought that Zou Shun was driving a different kind of car.

But on second thought, it didn’t make sense. The guy now has his heart set on someone, causing him to become unbelievably pure, there was not a single bit of playfulness left. Plus, he and that person were in a delicate stage of mutual probing, so there should be no such rapid progress.

Fang Mo was inevitably worried, and a trace of self-blame arose. His behavior last night, to put it mildly, was completely putting hoes before bros.

Just as he was thinking of sending a message to ask after breakfast, his phone suddenly vibrated.

Fang Mo quickly picked it up, and in just a short half second, his mood made nine turns and eighteen bends.

It was Zou Shun who sent a message, telling him that he would call him later. This should have reassured him, but Fang Mo unexpectedly felt a little sense of loss in his heart the moment he saw it.

It would’ve been great if this was a message from Xu Xiran.

After his melancholy, he began to spurn himself.

Zou Shun was his best friend. Wasn’t that kind of thought too fickle?

Xu Xiran didn’t take the initiative to send him a message, and Zou Shun also didn’t contact him.

Fang Mo, who had nothing to do, spent half of the day sorting out his luggage. After some time, school would start, and after entering third year, he had to change to a new campus. Everything would become unfamiliar, so he plans to return to school a few days in advance to familiarize himself with the environment.

In the end, there was not much luggage to carry, but his express package was packed in two big boxes.

The contents were very pure, it was a whole variety of clothes. Fang Mo was a very ambitious person in this regard. Before going out every day, he must ensure that every strand of his hair was flawless. Although he was quite confident in his appearance, he also understood the principle of people relying on clothes, and didn’t allow himself to appear in the same outfit within a week. It was not enough to just dress up, even if he was going to stay in the dorm with a T-shirt on, he must change it every day to guarantee cleanliness. In his first two years of college, his clothes alone occupied two and a half of the closets in a four-person dorm room. Fortunately, his roommates did not have many things and were carefree, so no conflict was triggered.

He was hoping his new roommates were also easy to get along with. Otherwise, Fang Mo can only move out.

It was only in the evening that he finally received a call from Zou Shun. The person’s tone was completely different from yesterday, exhibiting listlessness.

“Straight men really make people love and hate.” He sighed on the other end of the phone. “I really want to know what he thinks. I think I’ve behaved quite obviously. Only God knows if he’s really stupid or pretending to be stupid.”

After careful questioning, Fang Mo quickly figured out the ins and outs.

Zou Shun has an outgoing personality and has never concealed his sexuality. He was in a transparent closet. The object of his heart’s desire naturally knows this, but has never shown any intention to avoid suspicion. Yesterday, Zou Shun was so excited and shy because he had been invited to be a guest at the guy’s house, and said guy even clearly stated that there was no one else at home.

In Zou Shun’s consistent way of thinking, it had been rounded up to imitating the dog and stealing chickens2.

Unexpectedly, the other party really just invited him as a guest. He made him a meal, and after eating together, he dragged him to play an online battle game for an afternoon. The entire course of events were pure and faultless.

“I had just arrived at his house when you called me. I’d thought something good would happen.” Zou Shun said in a dejected tone like a dead fish, “Do you think he’s toying with me?”

“What did he say when he asked you out?”

“He said that the vegetables his relatives brought from their hometown are very fresh, but they will not taste good after a long time. He can’t eat that much by himself, so he asked me to go over and help him get rid of some together.” Zou Shun narrated, “He also asked me if I was interested in games because he had a newly bought game and it was lonely playing alone so he wanted to find someone to play against. Of course I said I was interested!”

“…Strictly speaking, it really can’t be said that he’s toying with you.” Fang Mo asked, “Is his cooking delicious?”

Zou Shun was silent for a while. “It’s not bad.”

“Then isn’t that good?” Fang Mo said, “Maybe he wants to slowly develop a relationship with you!”

“Is that so?” Zou Shun came to life again. “Do you mean to say that I have a chance?”

“It’s not easy for me to promise you…”

Zou Shun heard it and sighed slowly. “It’s so annoying. Let me tell you a lesson earned from blood and tears, you have to absolutely, definitely stay away from straight men in the future. It’s tormenting.”

Fang Mo was about to reply when his phone suddenly vibrated.

He faintly shot a glance, then abruptly held his breath.

“I-I-I have something to do,” he shouted into the phone, “hanging up first!”

“Huh? Why are you again…”

Before Zou Shun finished speaking, the call was cut off by Fang Mo.

Xu Xiran actually sent him a message.

like a three-meter high monk, you can’t rub his head. Meaning puzzled, at a loss. I thought the idiom was funny so I kept it as is.

unscrupulous activities