Wait—Ye Qingyang suddenly jolted as a realization struck him.
What had he just been thinking? That it would be great if Lu Jingcheng were a girl? That if Lu Jingcheng were a girl, then he would agree to be with him?
Something about that felt off.
Why would he agree just because Lu Jingcheng was a girl?
Plenty of girls had chased after him before, and he had never said yes to any of them. So why would it be different if it were Lu Jingcheng?!
Ye Qingyang immediately felt like he shouldn’t keep thinking down this path. If he did, his perfectly straight orientation might not stay so straight anymore.
He took a sip of water to steady himself, but his thoughts kept running out of control.
So… Lu Jingcheng was acceptable—just not as a guy?
But that didn’t seem right either. Everything he liked about Lu Jingcheng, the reason he enjoyed being with him, was built on the fact that Lu Jingcheng was a guy.
From the very beginning, the version of Lu Jingcheng he got to know was male—not some cross-dressed version.
Ye Qingyang took another sip of water, feeling like the more he thought about it, the worse it got.
If what Lu Jingcheng had said before was true—that he had always believed Ye Qingyang liked him, and that was why he treated him so well and stayed so close—then, looking at it plainly, Ye Qingyang’s behavior from the start hadn’t been how one treats a friend, but how one treats a boyfriend.
The problem was… he had been completely fine with it. No discomfort at all. In fact, he had even felt like they could keep going on like that forever.
His grip on the cup wavered.
He had been accepting being treated like a boyfriend… and feeling good about it?
That was terrifying.
Silently, he finished the water in his cup, feeling strangely lightheaded.
Resting his head on the desk, his mind filled with memories of his time with Lu Jingcheng. Looking back now, all those moments when Lu Jingcheng had gotten jealous—those weren’t just a friend’s possessiveness. That was real jealousy. The kind lovers felt.
And here he had been, thinking Lu Jingcheng just had a strong sense of possessiveness toward friends. But in reality, it had been completely normal romantic jealousy.
After all, if it were just about friends, would Lu Jingcheng have let Chen Wei or Bai Le—people he had grown up with—run around getting close to others however they liked?
From start to finish, the only person Lu Jingcheng had kept a close eye on… was him.
Ye Qingyang sighed. Something in his heart loosened, and a thought quietly surfaced, testing the waters.
What if… he just gave it a try?
He had never liked a guy before—but then again, he had never really liked any girl either.
Now that he had transmigrated, with no parents and no family, just himself alone in the world—even if he turned out to be gay, it would only affect him. It wouldn’t hurt anyone else.
But if he didn’t… then their little peacock would probably end up crying like a fallen tyrant.
And Ye Qingyang couldn’t bear that.
He had always treated Lu Jingcheng so well—never made him fold the blankets, let him pinch when he wanted, hug when he wanted, even shared half his bed with him.
He had basically granted him every wish, indulged him completely.
After raising this little peacock for so long, how could he just release him now?
Especially when the peacock clearly didn’t want to be released. Just hearing the word “let go,” and look—he’d gotten sick!
From the time they met until now, Lu Jingcheng had never fallen ill. And now, the moment there was conflict between them, boom—he got sick.
This definitely wasn’t physical—it had to be psychological. Otherwise, how could he still be so lively during the exams, only to collapse right after they ended?
It must be because his confession failed last week, combined with exam stress, building up into illness. The moment he got home and relaxed, the sickness took advantage and hit him all at once.
…So tragic.
After an entire afternoon of this wild train of thought, Ye Qingyang slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed to Zhang Ye’s house. He had rescheduled tomorrow’s tutoring session to today—he was honestly worried that tomorrow he’d go looking for Lu Jingcheng and wouldn’t be able to teach.
Zhang Ye wasn’t very motivated today. Having just finished monthly exams, his tension had vanished, leaving him in full relaxation mode. As he worked on his homework, he kept trying to chat.
“Hey, what kind of girls do you like?” Zhang Ye suddenly asked.
Ye Qingyang’s heart skipped a beat. He almost asked back—why does it have to be girls?
“What about you?” he countered.
“I like cute ones,” Zhang Ye said without hesitation. “Soft, sweet types.”
Ye Qingyang nodded. Straight guy, confirmed.
“And you?” Zhang Ye pressed.
Lu Jingcheng’s face instantly flashed through Ye Qingyang’s mind. He felt a little awkward. “I’m not sure.”
“You don’t like soft girls?”
Ye Qingyang thought about it, then shook his head.
“Then what—mature types?”
Lu Jingcheng: 【……】
Ye Qingyang: 【Get some proper rest. I’ll come see you tonight.】
How could Lu Jingcheng possibly rest now? His heart was completely on edge. What was Ye Qingyang coming to say? That he hadn’t been doing well these past few days either, so he wanted to be together?
No way.
Lu Jingcheng quickly shut that thought down. Hadn’t he learned his lesson? Hadn’t his previous self-delusion hurt enough? And yet here he was again.
More likely, it was about his exam results. That made more sense—Ye Qingyang had been pretty into studying lately.
Which just proved they weren’t compatible. He hated studying, while Ye Qingyang liked it. Even if they were both underachievers, a hardworking underachiever and a lazy one weren’t the same kind of person.
Lu Jingcheng lay down on the bed and called his driver, asking him to pick Ye Qingyang up at the school gate.
Then he sent Ye Qingyang a message and went back to sleep.
That was the annoying thing about having a cold—every time he took medicine, he got drowsy. It felt like he had been sleeping much more than usual these past few days.
Looking at the message, Ye Qingyang couldn’t help but sigh again. Lu Jingcheng was such a good guy. Someone like him—who would be willing to let him go?
Better to keep him close and take good care of him.