Chapter 05

At 8 p.m. on Friday evening, the performance concluded successfully.

The drama club’s approach was relatively innovative and less bound by strict rules. After the event, there was a special segment where audience members lined up to take photos with their favorite performers. After posing and taking photos with countless people, Bai Zining’s face was stiff from smiling.

Fortunately, the performance ended early this time, so the photo session wrapped up in less than an hour.

Cai Yu also came to watch the performance. After the show, he first went to buy Bai Zining a stuffed pancake and then waited backstage.

When he saw Bai Zining walking over with an exhausted stride, he quickly handed the pancake to him and shared the photos he had just taken. “The seat Senior Xi Yun gave me was amazing! I was in the third row. Look at these photos, they perfectly capture your beauty.”

Bai Zining, biting into the pancake, had no energy to argue over Cai Yu’s choice of words. After finishing, he removed his makeup and wig in an empty lounge, changed back into his regular clothes, and walked back to the dormitory with Cai Yu, his arm draped over his shoulder.

The dormitory was empty. Zuo Xingwei was probably out with his girlfriend, and Zhu Shizhou had likely gone home.

With something weighing on his mind, Bai Zining quickly finished washing up and climbed into bed to start applying for a new WeChat account.

For the username, he decided on “Little Bear Bread.”

As for the profile picture, he casually found a pinkish, girly avatar online.

For the Moments post, he decided to first upload a photo of himself in a dress in the dressing room.

This was a picture he secretly took two days ago while trying on dresses. In the photo, the person is holding up a phone to cover their face, making it unrecognizable. To be extra cautious, he added a flower sticker to cover his face and the hand holding the phone.

In the end, this dress hadn’t been chosen for the final performance, so there was no need to worry about being exposed.

During the process of applying for the new account earlier, Bai Zining had already drafted a rough plan in his mind.

He planned to pretend to be a girl and start an online romance with Zhu Shizhou. Then, at the peak of Zhu Shizhou’s infatuation, when he was utterly head over heels, he would ruthlessly dump him. This way, he could achieve three things: first, get revenge on Zhu Shizhou; second, avoid exposing his own identity; and third, skip the hassle of a physical fight and the pain that would come with it.

A flawless plan! Bai Zining secretly praised his own cleverness. He then switched back to his main account, copied Zhu Shizhou’s WeChat ID, searched for it, and sent a friend request with verification, all in one seamless flow.

Now, all that was left was to wait for the fish to take the bait.

Bai Zining curled his lips into a smirk, already imagining Zhu Shizhou’s devastated and dejected appearance after being dumped.

Every minute, he picked up his phone to check if the friend request had been accepted. Gradually, the intervals between checks grew, from three minutes, to five minutes, and then to ten minutes.

From 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., a full three hours had passed! Zhu Shizhou still hadn’t added him! Who knew where he was off messing around!

How busy could he be, not even sparing a glance at his phone?! Bai Zining roared inwardly, tossed his phone aside, and went to sleep in a huff.

The next day was Saturday, but Bai Zining woke up at just past seven in the morning. The first thing he did was grab his phone to check.

Finally, at 2:30 a.m., Zhu Shizhou had accepted his friend request and coldly sent a single word and a symbol: 【Who?】

“The one who can break your heart,” Bai Zining chuckled to himself as he typed: 【Good morning, gege!】^[1]Gege (哥哥) is a Chinese term that means “older brother.” It can be used literally to refer to one’s elder brother or more casually as a term of endearment or respect for a male, … Continue reading

All guys liked being called “gege”—including himself.

Zhu Shizhou had probably stayed up late last night and hadn’t woken up yet, but Bai Zining was brimming with confidence. He believed that, as a man, he understood men best. With this inherent advantage, he could anticipate Zhu Shizhou’s thoughts and gradually lure him in, step by step.

Around 1 p.m., the other side finally sent two more messages.

Ferry: 【Don’t call me that.】

Ferry: 【Name.】

What a stubborn rock, acting cool again. Even though he hit a wall, Bai Zining wasn’t discouraged. He doubled down and continued his efforts.

Little Bear Bread: 【Gege, just call me Xuanxuan. I once saw you in an open lecture, and you were super handsome! So handsome that my heart melted (^▽^).】

The emoticon was Bai Zining’s little trick. It looked adorable, and it would subconsciously make the other person think he was adorable too.

Little Bear Bread: 【Then I asked a friend to get your WeChat. I really want to be friends with you, gege.】

Two hours later, Bai Zining finally received a cold reply:

【Sorry, I don’t make friends.】

What was that supposed to mean? Was he forcing him to play his trump card?

Gritting his teeth, Bai Zining steeled himself and sent the photo he had prepared yesterday.

Little Bear Bread: 【[Photo]】

Little Bear Bread: 【This is me. Do you like it, gege?】

This time, Zhu Shizhou didn’t reply at all for the rest of the evening.

Seeing that his attempt wasn’t going well, Bai Zining sent another message:

【Gege, are you there? [Pouting.jpg]】

The moment his message was sent, a red exclamation mark appeared almost instantly in the chat window.

Damn Zhu Shizhou! He had actually blocked him!!