Chapter 11

Ti Xiao usually used QQ for work-related communication, whether it was with his editor or clients. His QQ and Weibo avatars were the same—a little sprout of hair sticking up, often accompanied by a playful and sometimes risqué art style that could suddenly veer into edgy territory.

On the other hand, WeChat was reserved for family and friends. His nickname and avatar were much more conventional, and his posts were generally calm and thoughtful. His comic artist persona was kept tightly under wraps. If you only glanced at his WeChat moments, you’d never guess what he really did for a living.

After all, his main job was drawing BL (boys’ love) comics, which occasionally required him to “drive the car” (a Chinese internet slang term for creating mature or explicit content). If his real-life friends found out about this, Ti Xiao felt like he could just bury himself alive on the spot.

Especially if Xiao Yao found out.

But Xiao Yao wasn’t the type to pry into others’ lives. He didn’t immediately check Ti Xiao’s WeChat moments. However, Ti Xiao’s WeChat nickname made him chuckle.

“Magical Conch.”

The avatar was a picture of SpongeBob SquarePants holding his pet snail, Gary.

Xiao Yao’s understanding of Ti Xiao had just skyrocketed to a whole new level—no, it had practically gone to the moon.

Looking at the message he had already typed in the chat box, Xiao Yao thought that if he sent it, Ti Xiao might reply with, “Why don’t you ask the magical conch?”

After some consideration, Xiao Yao added another sentence and sent it.

Past: Do you have any food allergies or things you don’t eat? Like cilantro or something?

Ti Xiao hadn’t had the chance to stalk Xiao Yao’s WeChat moments yet because he received a message from his editor urging him to finish his work. The platform where his comic was serialized was undergoing an update next week, coinciding with his usual update day, so he was asked to submit his work earlier.

He was currently drawing a scene where the two main characters were having a meal together. The “gong” (top) character asked the “shou” (bottom) if there was anything he didn’t eat, like cilantro or green onions.

And then, he received Xiao Yao’s message.

The collision of reality and his comic gave him a surreal feeling.

Tomorrow, I’ll just drive the car straight to the edge of the city!

Let it crash hard!

Despite his wild imagination, Ti Xiao carefully considered what he couldn’t eat. Cilantro, carrots, celery, century eggs, fishy herbs… If he listed them all, it would probably fill an entire B5-sized comic page.

But in front of Xiao Yao, he couldn’t just rattle off a list of his food aversions like he was reciting a menu. After all, people have their pride, and he didn’t want to leave a bad impression of being picky.

After some deliberation, Ti Xiao nervously selected a few of his most hated foods and sent them to Xiao Yao, casually adding that he wasn’t really that picky.

While waiting for Ti Xiao’s reply, Xiao Yao casually changed his contact name for Ti Xiao—from “Ti Xiao” to “Little Sprout,” then back to “Ti Xiao,” before finally settling on “Little Sprout.”

Little Sprout: Oh, I’m not really picky. I just don’t eat cilantro, carruts, or century eggs.

Xiao Yao was momentarily confused by “carruts” before realizing Ti Xiao meant “carrots.” He found it oddly endearing and chuckled as he replied.

Past: Got it. I’ll contact you again on Sunday.

After sending the message, Xiao Yao put his phone down to take a nap, as he still had two classes to teach in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, Ti Xiao only remembered something important after seeing the word “Sunday.”

He had promised the neighborhood committee to help draw a winter solstice-themed blackboard poster for the community. With less than a week left until the solstice, and considering it usually took him two to three days to complete the drawing (and even longer now that it was cold and his hands were stiff), plus the fact that the poster needed to be put up several days in advance, Ti Xiao realized he was running out of time.

He quickly calculated the tasks he needed to complete before the solstice: finish his comic, draw the blackboard poster, and have that meal with Xiao Yao.

Originally, he could have comfortably submitted his comic next week, but the platform’s update forced him to rush. Adding in the fact that he had promised his readers a live stream, Ti Xiao felt a bit overwhelmed.

But then he shook his head, pushing away the distracting thoughts. For the sake of having a meal with Xiao Yao, he was willing to push through!

To tackle the comic deadline first, Ti Xiao sent a message to Ti Nanyi, telling her that he was entering “hell mode” to finish his work and that she should handle her own lunch for the next few days.

Ti Nanyi, unsurprisingly, replied instantly, clearly not napping.

Ti Nanyi: To make up for the missed lunches, buy me a skin, okay? Hehehe.

Ti Xiao grumpily sent her a 100-yuan red packet.

Ti Xiao: The skin costs 188! I got an 83 on my last English quiz! [Hands on hips.jpg]

Ti Xiao sent another 100-yuan red packet, then, knowing how cheeky she could be, added another 50 yuan.

Magical Conch: Here’s 250 yuan. Take it and scram.

Just as he dealt with Ti Nanyi, a message popped up on QQ.

He suddenly remembered the “duck neck” he had left hanging earlier.

When Ti Xiao checked the chat, Duck Neck had already deleted the two messages that could have gotten her in trouble and reverted to her usual cute persona. She even sent Ti Xiao a Weibo link.

Desperate Duck Neck: Thank you, sensei~ [Heart]

Duck Neck’s Weibo had a pinned post about her new serialized comic—nine long images. Ti Xiao skimmed through a few and found that her skills were indeed impressive. Under pressure from his editor, he forwarded the post.

Brave and Wise Big Achoo: Repost // @Charming and Adorable Desperate Duck Neck: New serialization…

Ti Xiao, who had a somewhat negative impression of Duck Neck, didn’t read the entire post. But Xiao Yao, who happened to follow Ti Xiao’s comic account, saw the repost and read it in full.

In the ninth image, Duck Neck had written: “Thank you to all the readers who made it this far! Here’s a little bonus for you q3q.”

Below was a black-and-white comic panel, seemingly excerpted from the story, depicting two naked men entangled together, accompanied by suggestive sound effects and heavy breathing.

It was as if the excitement of their “applause for love” could be felt through the screen.

Xiao Yao felt like his eyes had been assaulted.

Just as the chemistry teacher from his class came over to discuss swapping classes, Xiao Yao caught a glimpse of the image and immediately flipped his phone face down, his dark expression scaring the teacher away.

Frowning at his phone, Xiao Yao felt a wave of irritation. Why was this author reposting such inappropriate content? What a…

Brave and wise? More like brave and shameless.

 

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