Chapter 49

Yang Yunran didn’t mishear, nor did he miss anything: “Why are you angry?”

“I’m not angry. But you let another man buy you a soufflé?” Jiang Yi let him rest on his thigh, lowered his head, and gently pinched his soft cheek, speaking in a calm tone, “And now you’re quietly crying?”

“I didn’t ask another man to buy me a soufflé, he bought it for me himself!” Yang Yunran’s face showed more grievance. Holding his wrist, he felt the steel watch strap pressing into his palm and said, “You even looked at another guy in the elevator! I didn’t say anything about that. How can you be angry?”

“When did I look at another guy?” Jiang Yi felt baffled, “Don’t falsely accuse me. Tell me clearly, when exactly, what date, what time?”

“Just now… in the elevator, you looked at my tutor.” Yang Yunran didn’t want to care about this, but he couldn’t help it.

“…Did you shed tears because I looked at your tutor a few more times?” Jiang Yi wasn’t sure who he cared about more, the person he was looking at or the one being looked at? He frowned and asked, “What if I looked at someone else?”

Yang Yunran didn’t want to explain the matter to Zhao Youmo to him; it was something inexplicable, like a delusional fantasy about “future plot lines” that sounded insane. Yang Yunran opened his mouth, then closed it, finally hugging his waist and saying in a low voice, “Jiang Yi, you can’t look at anyone else. You can only like me.”

His little boyfriend’s response left Jiang Yi feeling helpless.

It was clear that Yang Yunran was hiding something regarding Zhao Youmo. Out of magnanimity, he could overlook it.

Jiang Yi patted Yang Yunran’s head and said, “I only like you, don’t cry anymore.”

Since Jiang Yi rarely said the words “like” to him, Yang Yunran stiffened slightly upon hearing it, hugging him tighter and clinging to his waist, saying, “You better keep your word.”

Jiang Yi: “Mm.”

Yang Yunran didn’t want to lose Jiang Yi.

But if losing him was inevitable, Yang Yunran felt that short-term pain would be better than long-term pain, to avoid getting too deep. After comforting him, Yang Yunran silently ate the soufflé, not giving Jiang Yi a single bite, not wanting Jiang Yi to realize, “Zhao Youmo managed to find such a delicious little dessert; he’s really a good guy!”

Later, during a video meeting, Yang Yunran mentioned Evan to Zhou Kai. It was about asking Zhou Kai to help Evan find an opportunity to break into the industry.

Zhou Kai paused for a few seconds, his expression slightly unnatural.

Because Mr. Lin was also in the meeting room. Mr. Lin didn’t know about the million dollars in his pocket.

So Zhou Kai quickly said, “That matter, there’s progress, there’s progress. Because he looks good, we’ve found him a chance to audition for a supporting role in a movie.”

Yang Yunran asked, “A movie audition? Did he agree?”

Zhou Kai: “It seems he agreed. The people below are working on it. I’ll follow up and get back to you as soon as possible. Mr. Yang, let’s discuss the MV storyline now. What do you think of the plot?”

Yang Yunran: “Oh, I think this part needs some changes…”

His mind was blank. Jiang Yi actually agreed to make a movie, which meant he was going to debut…

The gears of the plot had really turned to this point.

Because every time Jiang Yi would say, “Why should I debut?” or “Why should I become a star?” Yet now, Jiang Yi actually agreed to the movie audition opportunity.

Thinking about this, the next day at lunch at his place, Yang Yunran asked out of the blue, “Did my agency contact you?”

Jiang Yi served him some food, saying, “An email? I saw it. Did you ask the company to invite me?” The email mentioned inviting him to be the male lead in Yang Yunran’s MV.

Yang Yunran nodded, “I recommended it to Kevin… So, what do you think? Did you agree?”

“…Still considering.”

He certainly wasn’t interested in this, but if it were to appear in his little boyfriend’s album MV, Jiang Yi could consider it for a few days.

Upon hearing this, Yang Yunran quietly lowered his head and said, “Take your time to think about it. I’ll read my defense draft for a bit and borrow your computer later.”

Jiang Yi’s room was very small. Yang Yunran occupied the desk and chair, while Jiang Yi sat on a small single sofa nearby.

Yang Yunran opened the computer and read the draft for a while, his thoughts piling up. Suddenly, he asked, “Brother, why isn’t WeChat logged in on your computer?”

Jiang Yi: “Do you need to transfer something on the computer?”

Yang Yunran: “Yeah, I’ll log in to yours.”

Jiang Yi scanned the code to log in. Yang Yunran held the mouse and said, “Let me see if you’re chatting with other guys…”

“Checking on me, huh? Alright.” Jiang Yi didn’t say anything more.

Yang Yunran felt a bit embarrassed, denying it, “No, I just want to see what nickname you gave me.”

Usually, Jiang Yi would manage him but never checked things like this, not even once. At most, he would ask if he had dinner with classmates, how many guys and girls there were.

He glanced at the screen and immediately saw that Jiang Yi had pinned his chat to the top, with his own avatar and the note being an emoji of a [Little Lamb].

Yang Yunran quickly glanced at his homepage, seeing nothing particularly suspicious, mostly work-related things. He continued, “So this is the nickname you gave me.”

Jiang Yi leaned back on the sofa, fiddling with his tablet, “You don’t like it?”

“I like it! Let’s keep it for now.” Yang Yunran thought although it wasn’t something like “baby,” “darling,” or “dear,” the little lamb emoji was cute, so it was fine.

Yang Yunran: “Alright, I won’t check your chat history anymore. You can continue reading your papers.”

Jiang Yi read on the tablet, and Yang Yunran used his computer. Suddenly, Jiang Yi said, “I’ve downloaded some videos on my computer. Don’t open them.”

Yang Yunran quickly looked up, “…What kind of movies?”

Jiang Yi couldn’t say they were for studying, so he quickly said, “18+ ones, downloaded randomly, in the trash bin. Don’t be curious.”

“GV?” Yang Yunran asked.

Jiang Yi paused for a second and then nodded. Yang Yunran immediately opened the recycle bin, curious, restored the file, and played it.

The loud sound filled the room, and Yang Yunran quickly turned down the volume, considering the poor soundproofing of the apartment.

Jiang Yi looked helpless, “…I told you not to watch it.”

“But I’m curious, and your roommate isn’t here.” As Yang Yunran dragged the progress bar, the visual impact was quite strong—a 1V1 Western film.

Despite the reduced volume, the sound of flesh slapping against flesh from the computer was still jarring to Jiang Yi. He reached over to lower the volume and said, “Turn it off. You have your defense tomorrow.”

“Alright… We’ll watch it on my projector at home later.” Yang Yunran closed the video; he really needed to study. Due to his upcoming graduation, he hadn’t done anything with Jiang Yi recently. Given the size issue, Jiang Yi had said to wait until his exams were over, and Yang Yunran, thinking he might have to visit the proctology department, felt a bit scared, so he held back.

“Watch less of it.” Jiang Yi raised his hand and patted his head.

“Oh… just casually watching, not every day.” Yang Yunran continued using his computer, spending an hour or two preparing his defense draft. Out of boredom, he browsed Jiang Yi’s download history to see how many movies he had downloaded.

There weren’t many movie downloads, probably just seven or eight.

There were a lot more academic papers, mostly related to biology, and just reading the titles made Yang Yunran feel a bit overwhelmed.

But suddenly, he noticed a medical paper titled “A Review of Enucleation Surgery.”

Yang Yunran froze for a second, instinctively looking up at Jiang Yi.

Jiang Yi sensed it but didn’t look up, “What’s up?”

Yang Yunran: “…Nothing, just looking at a handsome guy.”

Jiang Yi seemed to smile slightly, responding with a “Mm.”

Since Jiang Yi’s downloaded papers covered various topics, Yang Yunran felt uneasy but didn’t dare ask him.

He silently continued scrolling, unexpectedly finding more papers on this topic! His hands trembled slightly, unsure if Jiang Yi knew something or if he was just researching this area.

However, when he scrolled back further, he saw about a dozen rather peculiar papers with translated titles like:

“The Causes of Homosexuality”

“Genetic Research on Homosexuality”

“Rights and Equality of Homosexuals”

“Legal and Social Impacts of Gay Marriage”

“Psychological Health of Homosexuals”

“The Relationship Between Homosexuality and Gender Identity”

“What I Did to Play a Gay Role”

…

Yang Yunran’s fingers trembled as he opened the last one, finding Jiang Yi’s annotations inside!

He felt a chill all over.

Did Jiang Yi download these out of curiosity, or for some other purpose? Why did he download such papers? Yang Yunran’s mind went blank for a moment as he checked the download dates.

They were roughly around the time Jiang Yi got back together with him.

He stared at the screen for a while, then closed the computer and shut his eyes.

His breathing became unsteady. Jiang Yi put down the tablet, came over, and began rubbing his head and ears, a habitual gesture since he found his ears and hair particularly soft and pleasant to touch.

Jiang Yi leaned down and said, “Are you tired? Want to go for a walk? Though it’s a bit hot outside.”

Yang Yunran felt like he might break down if Jiang Yi knew about his eye condition. Was it Professor Chen who accidentally let it slip? And those papers on homosexuality and playing a gay role.

“Jiang Yi…” His voice trembled, “I’m curious about something. Can you tell me, were you… always gay since you were a child?”

Yang Yunran’s way of confirming wasn’t direct.

Jiang Yi looked at him for a while and said, “No.”

“Did you like girls when you were younger?” Yang Yunran opened his eyes.

Jiang Yi’s answer was cautious, “Maybe.”

Yang Yunran stared at him and said, “Then when did you turn gay?”

Jiang Yi’s gaze was steady. After a few seconds of silence, he replied, “After we got together.”

Yang Yunran sat up straight. Despite knowing there was deception, he couldn’t help but hug him.

Since Yang Yunran often hugged him, Jiang Yi was used to it and would automatically adjust his posture, lowering his head and bending his body in a way that fit both of them comfortably.

Yang Yunran buried his head in his chest, muffledly saying, “Then when did you start liking me?”

Jiang Yi couldn’t be sure. After thinking for a while, he answered, “Maybe when we went to see an animated movie together. I thought you were cute.”

Yang Yunran asked for the movie’s name to confirm it was the one he saw with him. Then he asked, “What about before that?”

Jiang Yi didn’t want to use words like “didn’t feel anything,” so he said, “It was alright before.”

His voice was very low, and when he spoke, his chest would resonate. With his thin summer clothes, Jiang Yi’s solid, slightly muscular body felt great to hug. Yang Yunran was reluctant to let go, finding reasons in his mind—maybe Jiang Yi pretended to be gay when he was with the original character, and with him, he had to keep pretending until he truly turned gay.

He didn’t doubt his own charm, and many people liked him. Jiang Yi seemed to genuinely like him now.

But these things were something Yang Yunran couldn’t ask Jiang Yi. Some words, once spoken and the bubble burst, could never be restored.

“Why are you suddenly asking these things”? Jiang Yi lowered his head, his nose against Yang Yunran’s fluffy black hair, enjoying the faint fragrance of his shampoo.

“I want to understand you more.” Yang Yunran said in a dull voice, “I feel like I might not know you very well.”

Jiang Yi’s voice was calm but gentle, “We still have a lot of time to get to know each other.”

Lately, Yang Yunran has been anxious and uncertain more often, frequently saying random things. Jiang Yi couldn’t quite figure out what he was thinking, guessing it might be due to the psychological pressure of his upcoming graduation.

“After your exams, I’ll help you relax.” Jiang Yi said, “We’ll indulge for a few days.”