Chapter 45: “What My Baby Says Is Right”

The roommates were greatly shocked by his words and didn’t react immediately.

The dormitory fell silent for a while. Lu Liu quietly thought that his plan of treating everyone to a meal might be ruined. Since he had chosen to come out right from the beginning, he didn’t care what his roommates thought about him being gay, but the suddenly frozen atmosphere still made his previously light-hearted mood grow heavy.

Lu Liu lowered his gaze and returned to his seat, hesitating whether to break the silence he had caused.

“No matter what, congratulations,” Gao Zhenghong was the first to smile and speak.

“Yeah, congratulations!”

“Since we’re all guys, let’s not be polite. How about barbecue?”

Lu Liu smiled in relief. “Sure.”

【Lin Zhi: You said it that quickly?!】

【Lu Liu: The conversation just happened to go in that direction, so I casually came out.】

Lin Zhi thought, it sounds so casual.

【Lin Zhi: What was your roommate’s reaction?】

【Lu Liu: They congratulated us.】

Actually, Lu Liu later specifically asked them about it. He didn’t want his roommates to pretend to congratulate him when they secretly looked down on him. That would make the “getting single” meal uncomfortable for everyone.

The roommates all smiled sincerely, saying that it was a modern age, and they weren’t feudal, and anyway, they had no right to interfere with Lu Liu’s privacy. One of the roommates even mentioned that this was the first time he’d met a “real” gay person.

【Lin Zhi: That’s it?】

So coming out to your roommates was that simple? To show sincerity, should he also come out?

【Lu Liu: Yep, that’s it.】

【Lu Liu: I’m treating them to a meal on Saturday night. Do you want to come?】

Lin Zhi remembered that when someone in his dorm started dating, they also treated everyone to a meal, and under everyone’s teasing, they invited their girlfriend and her roommates. He didn’t know if Lu Liu’s roommates teased him, but he was more concerned about what Lu Liu thought.

【Lin Zhi: Do you want me to go?】

【Lu Liu: I want to see you.】

On Saturday, they had planned for dinner, but Lin Zhi arrived at Lu Liu’s school early in the morning.

This time, entering the school felt different. In the past, he always hoped for a chance encounter with “Zhi” at this school, and in the process, he somewhat overlooked Lu Liu, causing a big misunderstanding. But now, from the moment he saw Lu Liu, his heart and eyes were filled with nothing but his boyfriend’s image.

“You came this early.” Lu Liu slightly moved his fingers, wanting to touch the person in front of him.

Lin Zhi awkwardly echoed his words, “I wanted to see you too.”

Lu Liu, with his eyes squinted in the cool autumn breeze, turned and walked side by side with Lin Zhi. They were very close, and their hands brushed ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly.

Lin Zhi finally formally met Lu Liu’s roommates. It felt like their two worlds were beginning to merge. He felt a bit awkward, but the rest was all joy.

Lu Liu borrowed his roommate’s student card and took Lin Zhi into the library, which Lin Zhi found particularly interesting.

“There are novels on the fourth floor,” Lu Liu said.

“…I didn’t come here to read novels.” Lin Zhi felt his image had been damaged and said, “Where do you like to study? Can you show me?”

“Of course, but…” Lu Liu showed his empty hands. “I didn’t bring any books, and I don’t want to study today.”

“Just a quick look.”

Lin Zhi thought back to when he told “Zhi” that he didn’t want to study and was going to take a day off. “Zhi” had been so righteous back then, completely opposite to the lazy Lu Liu now. He couldn’t help but chuckle, then pretended to be serious and said, “Do you know what inertia is? If you don’t study for a day, your efficiency will drop significantly later.”

Lu Liu gave him a surprised look and said, “It’s just one day. It won’t affect me.”

Lin Zhi: “…”

Damn, he never dared to reply like that to “Zhi”. As expected, knowledge made people confident.

“And,” Lu Liu added, “there’s something more important to do today.”

Lin Zhi suppressed the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “What’s that?”

With no one around, Lu Liu leaned closer to Lin Zhi and whispered, “Spending time with my boyfriend.”

Lin Zhi couldn’t suppress his smile anymore and let it spread across his face.

On the way to the seats, Lu Liu casually picked up two books from a shelf, one for Lin Zhi and one for himself.

His usual spot was empty, so Lin Zhi sat there at his gesture, and Lu Liu sat next to him.

The two of them laid out the books on the desk, sitting side by side, like they were back in senior year, elbows touching.

Lin Zhi’s gaze wandered as he looked at people, the window, the patterns on the desk.

In the previous life, “Zhi” had sat in this position, self-studying advanced mathematics, teaching him problems, gazing out the window when his eyes got tired, and sending him messages when he missed him.

Back then, Lin Zhi could only imagine “Zhi’s” blurry image in his mind, but Lu Liu clearly knew how he looked.

Suddenly, Lin Zhi’s elbow was nudged. He snapped back to reality and realized that his gaze had been on Lu Liu’s profile for a long time.

He didn’t know if anyone else had noticed his unusual behavior, but he couldn’t sit still anymore. When Lu Liu glanced over, Lin Zhi gave him a quick look, and the two of them, heading towards a destination, hurriedly left after less than a minute. They returned the books to the shelf and left the library via the same path.

“So what’s the point of going up there?” This was the shortest time Lu Liu had spent entering and exiting the library. He smiled, “You only sat for less than ten minutes.”

“I just wanted to reminisce about you studying there.”

“Reminisce?”

“Yeah,” Lin Zhi couldn’t help but glance at him. “Now I can imagine what it was like when you were studying there.”

“That’s not reminiscing, dear,” Lu Liu, in his scholarly manner, corrected him. “Reminiscing is usually about things in the past.”

Lin Zhi chuckled to himself, both because of the word “dear” and because of the little secret he alone knew. Acting playfully, he said, “I said it, so it’s true.”

“Alright, alright,” Lu Liu laughed at his childishness. “What you say is what it is.”

Lin Zhi enjoyed the sweetness of the moment and, getting a bit pretentious, pouted, saying, “You’re so dismissive.”

Lu Liu lost his composure, showing an expression that was a mix of laughter and tears. He helplessly asked, “So how should I say it so it’s not dismissive?”

“You should nod and agree with me,” Lin Zhi, blushing, lowered his voice and shamelessly said, “Then say, ‘What my baby says is right.‘”

After saying that, he couldn’t help but shiver a little.

Lu Liu struggled to hold in his laughter, opening his arms and placing them on Lin Zhi’s shoulders. He then flicked his finger twice on Lin Zhi’s red ear and whispered, “Baby, you must be hungry, let me take you to eat.”

“Damn,” Lin Zhi, raising his eyelids to look at him, said, “You really know how to make inferences.”

It used to be applied to solving problems, now it’s used for flirting.

Lunch was in the cafeteria. Afterward, they wandered aimlessly around the school, feeling bored, but being together was fun. The conversations were simple, yet endless. Occasionally, they would share a smile, their gazes meeting with sparks flying.

They wandered near the small grove for military training, where Lin Zhi saw the bulletin board from “Zhi’s” profile picture. He took out his phone to snap a photo as a keepsake.

“Step aside,” Lin Zhi directed. “I’ll take a photo of both of you.”

“What is this? It’s so silly,” Lu Liu complained, but obediently stepped next to the bulletin board, stiffening his body and rejecting the classic 70s-80s photo pose Lin Zhi suggested.

Lu Liu was handsome, tall and slender, neither too fat nor too thin. No matter how he was posed, he always looked great, and Lin Zhi couldn’t stop changing angles while taking photos.

“Are you done yet?” Lu Liu asked, watching Lin Zhi move around him.

“Almost,” Lin Zhi said, looking through the lens. “How about a ‘Yay’ pose?”

Lu Liu didn’t respond, stepping closer to Lin Zhi. The picture in the lens grew closer, until Lu Liu finally grabbed Lin Zhi’s phone with one hand and his hand holding the phone with the other, adjusting his fingers to interlock their hands.

“What’s the point of taking a photo with a sign? A photo of the two of us is much better.”