❖

Wang Guangning didn't know whether it was just his misconception, but he felt that the contents of Zhang Lingyi's text messages this time made it seem as if they really were in a relationship and that he was the one who had an affair with someone else.

Ah, what kind of mysterious headcanon was this?!

Wang Guangning stared at the texts wordlessly, then reluctantly dialled Zhang Lingyi's number.

The call was picked up rather quickly by Zhang Lingyi, "Shou shou, how could you cheat on me¹?!"

[1] 紅杏出墻: translates literally to 'the red apricot tree leans over the garden wall', and is an idiom to describe a wife having an illicit lover.

Wang Guangning rubbed his temple. "It's a misunderstanding."

"Of course I know that it's a misunderstanding!" Zhang Lingyi hmphed, "As if it's possible for you to still like Yu Haining."

Then why did you send over so many accusatory texts?

Wang Guangning changed from kneading his temple to rolling his eyes.

However, it had to be said that Zhang Lingyi's confidence and trust in him made Wang Guangning feel somewhat warm inside.

"When I saw your texts, I thought that you were angry!" said Wang Guangning.

"Ah, really? Did it really seem like that?" Zhang Lingyi smirked, "Then that's good. Coincidentally, I'm supposed feel jealous today. Didn't I perform really well?"

Why is your logic so unfathomable?

Wang Guangning had the urge to hang up.

"But, what exactly happened? Regarding the post and that photo?"

Wang Guangning briefly explained everything to him.

"Fuck, Yu Haining really is......" Zhang Lingyi was a person with good manners, and couldn't say anything too unpleasant towards women. Thus, he ended up resentfully closing his mouth. However, the more he thought about it, the more unwilling he felt. "Shou shou, don't worry. I will help you to settle this matter."

"What are you thinking of doing?" Wang Guangning felt a bad premonition.

"He he, you just need to wait for the good show." Zhang Lingyi finished speaking then hung up.

Wang Guangning stared at his phone in resignation. Sun Siyang sidled over to gossip, "Guangning, who were you talking to?"

It had to be said that Wang Guangning was usually quite a principled person. There was a lot of gossip regarding him on FXingRen, and some were real while others were false. However, Wang Guangning had always upheld himself with the attitude that 'the truth would speak for itself', and didn't like contending with other people. Even if it was his closest friend, Sun Siyang, Wang Guangning would find it too bothersome to explain unless he was persistently pressed about it.

Yet, Sun Siyang had clearly just heard him explain the situation to the person on the other side of the phone. They must be very important person...could it be that she was Wang Guangning real girlfriend?!

Sun Siyang felt as if he had discovered the truth.

Wang Guangning rolled his eyes then hooked his arm around Sun Siyang and dragged him forward, "You're a man, so don't gossip so much. Let's go and eat."

After Wang Guangning and Sun Siyang finished their dinner and returned to the dormitory, the matter had unexpectedly escalated.

A male student who had admired Yu Haining for a long time posted a thread on FXingRen and indignantly denounced that Wang Guangning simply was unable to meet Yu Haining's standards and so on.

With sharp and incisive words, the male student described how Yu Haining was a girl who was beautiful inside and out, and would absolutely not just wantonly visit hotels with other people. He labelled Wang Guangning as an empty flower vase² and said that he must have used despicable means to trick Yu Haining.

[2] 花架子: someone with an attractive appearance but without substance.

In order to prove how detestable Wang Guangning was, Zhang Lingyi was also accidentally brought into it.

In the post, the male student energetically praised Zhang Lingyi for possessing an excellent temperament and appearance, and wrote that Wang Guangning wasn't even worth being used to carry Zhang Lingyi's shoes. The main purpose was to borrow Zhang Lingyi to set off Wang Guangning. The final verdict that he obtained was that if Yu Haining didn't even view Zhang Lingyi as worthy, how could Wang Guangning be up to par?

His logic really wasn't just ordinarily unusual!

Even Zhang Lingyi was shot when lying down³.

[3] 躺著也中槍: internet slang to describe someone getting unjustly ridiculed, attacked or implicated for just being present.

However, the incredible thing was that many people actually agreed with the male student's perspective.

Although Wang Guangning's popularity was quite high, the male students in F University who didn't know him would, to some extent, hold envy and hate towards him. In particular, those who admired Yu Haining were naturally unable to watch their own goddess falling into another person's clutches. Hence, they all became a member of the brigade engaged in a crusade against Wang Guangning.

As far as the female students were concerned, their image of Wang Guangning had always been that of an elegant man. There was nothing they could do after hearing about the news he had a girlfriend, but to their surprise, the news that broke out was actually a sex scandal about booking a hotel room together.

Even though the university students in this age were already not as pure-minded as before, it was another thing to have such a matter be exhibited right at their front door.

Many people expressed their misconceptions about Wang Guangning. I didn't expect for him to be the same as the other male students: a lecher who only thinks with his lower half.

Wang Guangning was shot numerous times.

"Fuck!" Wang Guangning sat in front of his computer and watched the post spread like wildfire.

"Guangning, do you want go online and explain?" Sun Siyang asked as he glanced at Wang Guangning darkly clouded expression.

"Forget it." Wang Guangning waved his hand, his expression changing to that of one who had experienced the vicissitudes of life. "A wise man does not believe in rumours. Who cares about him?" With that, he then climbed onto his bed for an afternoon nap.

He was indeed worthy of being Wang Guangning. Even at this moment, he was so calm and collected.

Sun Siyang admired him secretly.

"Ah, exactly who did I offend?!" Wang Guangning hid in his quilt and howled in anguish, then exerted all his strength and knocked against the wall.

Sun Siyang: "......"

Anyhow, as a xiao cao who was often mentioned in other people's gossip, Wang Guangning still displayed sufficient composure. After sleeping, he got up and walked out to the self-study hall to revise, feeling completely refreshed.

The days near the end of the term were very boring and irritating. Other than having exams, they would continuously revise. It was no wonder that everyone's enthusiasm for gossip was so high. After all, they needed to relieve their stress.

Although Wang Guangning felt extremely depressed, he was certain that as long as he didn't pay attention to it, the matter would pass in a few days.

It would be fine as long as his friends believed him. As for those who had nothing to do with him, their opinions were irrelevant.

However, Wang Guangning didn't expect that after a day of fermentation, the 'Hotel Incident' would end up being pushed to the top.

The reason was that Zhang Lingyi also joined.

The story went like this: Originally, Zhang Lingyi was feeling quite unhappy about the label the other people had recklessly thrown at Wang Guangning. He had just been thinking about how to gently help Wang Guangning clarify things, but didn't expect that the situation would actually escalate after just taking a nap.

A male student had suddenly written a post and attacked Wang Guangning, and there was even numerous replies.

Angered, Zhang Lingyi sat in front of his computer and his fingers flew.

Soon, he typed out a large section of text and posted it on the thread, using a name that basically everyone at F University recognised.

Hence, many people were shocked one after the other upon seeing it.

Fuck, even Zhang Lingyi took action. And what he wrote is just as sharp and incisive.

In actuality, Zhang Lingyi did not post much as it was mainly just divided into three points——

[4] 那位帥哥: a form of address

[5] 老以為葡萄是酸的: this is referring to the tale of >, where a fox comes across a vine of grapes and wants to eat them. However, is unable to reach the grapes as they're too high up. After failing in his attempts many times, the fox gives up and says that he didn't want to eat the grapes in the first place since they're too sour. (He also proceeds to tell the other animals that the grapes are sour.) In this context, Zhang Lingyi is telling the male student that he shouldn't slander and criticise Wang Guangning if he doesn't actually know anything.

As soon as this came out, the entirety of F University exploded.

For a start, the dear friend who had posted this thread was publicly slapped in the face by Zhang Lingyi, then ridiculed until he had cuts and bruises all over⁶. He was ashamed and unable to show his face, and from then on, was known as "F University's number one loser".

[6] 體無完膚: to be totally refuted

Upon reading Zhang Lingyi's post, everyone accepted his words. The entire university knew that Zhang Lingyi and Wang Guangning did not get along well. With this being the case, the fact that Zhang Lingyi stood out on behalf of Wang Guangning and clarified the situation proved that Wang Guangning really was innocent.

He had been wrongfully accused to the point that even Zhang Lingyi was unable to tolerate it any longer.

Finally, and most importantly, Zhang Lingyi unexpectedly said that he and Wang Guangning were actually together.

All the rotten women in F University were immediately agitated.

Could this be considered as Zhang Lingyi publicly coming out of the closet?

For a moment, the rotten women took action and stood up in succession. Within their group, PS was conducted and their conversations were unceasing.

At the same time, debates regarding the roles of shou and gong between Wang Guangning and Zhang Lingyi became hot topics.

In contrast to the excitement of the rotten women, everyone else approached the part of Zhang Lingyi's post that was similar to a coming out of the closet statement differently.

Unexpectedly, their opinion was unanimous——

Fuck. Yu Haining, this is a tragedy!

It should be noted that Wang Guangning and Zhang Lingyi's incompatibility was comparable to that of North and South Korea. Therefore, the hidden meaning behind Zhang Lingyi's words was equivalent to——Wang Guangning would rather become gay and be a couple with Zhang Lingyi than to be together with Yu Haining.

This statement held a different approach to what people in ancient times said—'what can no longer be endured, will no longer be tolerated'—but the result was the same.

If I were able to be with Yu Haining, then who else in the world would I be unable to get together with?

Even if it was with the completely incompatible Zhang Lingyi, I would still be able to calmly become a gay couple with him.

Hence, this then devolved into a different problem——

Exactly what did Yu Haining do to cause these two men who had fought for her attention in front of the entire school not long ago to rather become gay than be involved with her?

The ability of the masses to completely change the topic was quite high as their capability to think properly was basically nonexistent near the end of the term.

Thus, everyone began discussing Yu Haining's 'secret' in high spirits and ignored Zhang Lingyi's coming out of the closet confession.

This was because they all thought that Zhang Lingyi used a rhetoric technique and wrote that as an exaggerated contrast, rather than describing a real thing.

According to everyone's logic, if they really were together, how could they just announce it so openly in public? Shouldn't they be trying their best to conceal it?

In this amusing-to-death era, if you were serious, then you lost.

Hence, the Zhang xiao cao who had originally been waiting for the matter of Wang Guangning and himself being a couple to spread all over the school and break the hearts of many girls, sat in front of his computer and watched everyone discuss what exactly Yu Haining had done and could only be deeply dejected.

En. I say, everyone. Don't you think that the matter of me being a couple with Wang Guangning is more shocking?

While Zhang Lingyi was extremely puzzled over this, Wang Guangning had already exploded from anger.

"Zhang Lingyi, can you be any more reckless than this?!"

Even over the phone, Zhang Lingyi could imagine Wang Guangning's appearance as the other flushed with anger. Consequently, he replied feebly, "I was just stating a fact."

"Stating your head!" Wang Guangning hmphed and hung up. Clearly, Zhang Lingyi wished for the world to be in chaos.

He was finished. Wang Guangning seemed to be really furious.

Zhang Lingyi wiped his face. Ah, he really did just want to help Wang Guangning!

Wang Guangning cut off the call, then continued reading the post with anguish.

In actuality, he also knew that Zhang Lingyi had done this to help him. It was only that the other had been so daring.

If other people had taken it seriously, then things would have been quite difficult to clear up.

If they really were together, then it didn't matter. They might as well just casually come out of the closet.

But the problem was that this was all just an agreement.

Wang Guangning also did not know why he was feeling so uncomfortable.

Thankfully, everyone's focus was not on this. Or rather, no one believed that Wang Guangning and Zhang Lingyi would really have something with each other.

After all, if it had been a few weeks ago and someone said that he would be a couple with Zhang Lingyi, Wang Guangning would definitely beat that person up into pieces.

Therefore, it wasn't that he didn't understand. It was that the world changed too fast.

Wang Guangning worriedly closed the forum and prepared to play a game, when someone knocked on the door.

The other person living in the dormitory was absent. Only Wang Guangning who was reading the post and Sun Siyang who was taking a bath was left.

"Come in, the door isn't locked." Wang Guangning said.

Hence, the door was pushed open and Zhang Lingyi's bald head which grown a bit of black hair stretched in, "Shou shou."

Wang Guangning's temple twitched and with a fierce expression, he said, "What?'

"Ah, I'm here to apologise!" Zhang Lingyi blinked innocently and slipped in. In his hand, he held a small glass bottle.

"Forget it, I know that you were only trying to help." Wang Guangning rubbed his head. There was really no way for him to stay irritated at Zhang Lingyi any longer.

"I just knew that shou shou is the best." Zhang Lingyi flattered.

"Enough!" Wang Guangning became more cheerful and he waved his hand, "I'm not angry anymore, so you can quickly get lost now!"

"En, since shou shou isn't angry anymore, let's complete another matter!" Zhang Lingyi shook the small bottle in his hand, "I've already eaten vinegar for shou shou, but shou shou hasn't eaten vinegar for me!"

Wang Guangning stared at it. Fuck, it really was a bottle of white vinegar!

"You want me to drink this?!" Wang Guangning vowed that as long as Zhang Lingyi nodded, he would kick the other back to Mars.

However, it had been stated before that Zhang Lingyi was a brilliant and knowledgeable young man. Thus, he decisively shook his head after seeing the expression on wang Guangning's face. "No, this bottle of wine is for you to remember this by." After he finished speaking, Zhang Lingyi placed it on the table then said in a cool manner, "I'm going to go now."

Then he rolled out⁷ at high speed.

[7] 滾: Same word and meaning as to when WGN told ZLY to 'get lost'. It directly translates to 'roll away'.

Don't laugh at how he had escaped so quickly in abandon.

With his experience, Zhang Lingyi knew that if had walked just a bit slower, then he would be the one ending up having to drink the contents in that glass bottle.

After exchanging blows with Wang Guangning for so long, Zhang Lingyi had already profoundly understood the difficulties of being a loyal dog type gong.

__________________

Zhang Lingyi, you tried ~ //pats

translator: k i a i