Since Lu Ze had no idea what Liang Xiao liked to eat, he randomly picked a few of his own favorite side dishes and shoved the plate into Liang Xiao’s hands. “Go find us a seat. I’ll wait here.”
Han Jing and Qiu Ning’s noodles were ready to go. Standing nearby, Lu Ze helped pass the takeout containers over. Han Jing carefully avoided touching his hand as she took hers. “Thanks.”
“No problem,” Lu Ze replied.
Han Jing still looked a little awkward. She quickly muttered, “Well… we’ll get going then. Bye.”
Lu Ze nodded. “Bye.”
Now it was just Lu Ze by himself. He frowned slightly, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets. This whole situation had probably become public knowledge by now.
Tsk. What was that saying again? Straight guys pretending to be gay will get struck by lightning?
But he hadn’t toyed with anyone’s feelings—his “boyfriend” was rented at a high price, after all.
Lu Ze sighed, deciding not to dwell on whether he was straight or gay anymore. Either way, he was already a “gay” man in everyone’s eyes now.
Taking out his phone, he glanced at the time, calculating how long Liang Xiao had been pretending to be his boyfriend so he could settle the payment later.
“Hey, kiddo, your two bowls of noodles are ready.”
“Oh, okay.”
Lu Ze put away his phone and picked up the two large bowls of beef noodles. The broth was almost spilling over the edges, steaming hot and difficult to hold.
He was debating whether to carry one bowl in each hand or make two trips when Liang Xiao suddenly appeared behind him, his voice very close. “Let me carry one for you.”
Startled, Lu Ze turned around and nearly bumped into Liang Xiao’s face. He instinctively stepped back but accidentally stepped on a girl’s foot behind him.
Liang Xiao reached out to steady him as Lu Ze quickly apologized, “Sorry about that…”
To his surprise, the girl smiled brightly and waved it off. “It’s fine! It’s fine!”
Lu Ze glanced down at her shoes—white leather ones with a very noticeable black footprint on the toe. How is she smiling about this?
He reached into his pocket. “About your shoes…”
The girl kept waving her hand dismissively, her grin widening even more. “Really, it’s no big deal! I’ll wipe it off when I get home. You guys go ahead!”
Liang Xiao extended a hand from behind Lu Ze, holding out a single wet wipe. “Sorry about that—here, you can use this.”
The girl accepted the wet wipe with a cheerful “Thank you,” but instead of cleaning her shoe, she just kept covering her mouth and giggling.
With each carrying a bowl of beef noodles, Lu Ze and Liang Xiao made their way to their seats. Once seated, Lu Ze muttered under his breath, “What’s with girls these days? Why do they get so excited whenever I date someone?”
“You’re good-looking,” Liang Xiao replied casually as they moved away from the crowd of onlookers.
Lu Ze glanced at him. “That’s the most half-hearted compliment I’ve ever received—it just rolled off your tongue like nothing.”
Liang Xiao looked up and gave him a faint smile before repeating more earnestly this time: “You’re good-looking.”
Lu Ze clicked his tongue in amusement. “Did you keep track of the time? I’ll pay you in a bit.”
“No need,” Liang Xiao said as he twirled some noodles around his chopsticks. “Consider it payment for dinner.”
Lu Ze glared at him. “ Xiao-ge, do you think you’re eating royal beef noodles? For the price of this, you could’ve had steak.”
“It’s better than steak,” Liang Xiao replied after taking another bite.
Lu Ze chuckled, lowering his head to take a bite as well. “I agree. Every time I’m on break and crave beef noodles, I can never find a place better than this one.”
Neither of them said anything further, quietly eating for a while. Lu Ze ate so fast that sweat started forming on his forehead. He stood up and took off his jacket.
“Do you have any wet wipes?” Lu Ze asked.
“For wiping sweat?”
“Yeah.”
Liang Xiao pulled out a packet of tissues from his pocket. “No wet wipes left—use tissues instead.”
Lu Ze raised an eyebrow. “Tissues are exactly what I wanted. I thought you only carried wet wipes… Why are you so well-prepared?”
Liang Xiao swallowed the beef in his mouth before looking up and replying, “Girls tend to need these things when we’re out.”
“Oh, true. I used to carry some for Han Jing too…” Lu Ze paused mid-sentence and didn’t continue. Then he asked with a grin, “Were you just running the ‘make-the-ex-jealous’ service earlier?”
“Yep.”
Lu Ze laughed for a while. “Not bad—five-star performance. Too bad my ex won’t get jealous anyway; she never liked me to begin with…”
“Well, wrong gender,” Liang Xiao said casually as he drank the beef noodle soup straight from the bowl.
Lu Ze handed him a tissue. “Actually, Han Jing has pretty good taste. Qiu Ning—the girl sitting next to her—is pretty cool too. She looks awesome when she plays basketball.”
Liang Xiao finished his last bite of noodles and wiped his mouth. Lu Ze froze for a second before exclaiming, “What the—did you already finish?”
“Yeah.”
Lu Ze quickly lowered his head and started eating faster too. “It’s good, isn’t it? Want another bowl?”
“I’m full,” Liang Xiao replied.
Lu Ze hurriedly finished his noodles and even drank the soup. “Alright, let’s go—I’ll take you to grab some fruit.”
Liang Xiao followed him back to the dormitory. As soon as they entered, two pairs of eyes turned toward them. Sun Zhuoyu remarked, “Back so soon?”
“How long does it take to eat?” Lu Ze retorted. “You’re back too.”
“That’s different—I haven’t succeeded in my pursuit yet,” Sun Zhuoyu replied.
Mao Xin stared dumbfounded at Liang Xiao standing behind Lu Ze. Sun Zhuoyu had said that Lu Ze’s boyfriend was really handsome, but Mao Xin hadn’t expected this level of handsomeness. Standing next to Lu Ze, it was hard to decide who to look at.
Liang Xiao introduced himself, “Hi, I’m Liang Xiao.”
Mao Xin quickly stood up from his chair. “Hi! Hi! I’m Mao Xin—just call me Maomao.”
Lu Ze wasn’t embarrassed anymore in front of strangers, but facing his close roommates still made him feel awkward. Pretending to be gay was harder than he thought.
While packing some fruit into a bag, he explained, “I’m just grabbing some fruit for him; otherwise, the three of us won’t be able to finish it all…”
He turned to Liang Xiao and asked, “Is there anything you don’t like eating?”
“No, I’m fine with anything,” Liang Xiao said. “This should be enough. You guys don’t have much left.”
“This is all stuff Ze-ge’s mom sent over from the same city,” Sun Zhuoyu said with a grin. “We’re just freeloading, so it doesn’t matter. Take as much as you want—Ze-ge’s boyfriend definitely needs to have enough to eat…”
Liang Xiao smiled faintly. Lu Ze tied up the bag, handed one to Liang Xiao while holding the other himself, and quickly pushed Liang Xiao toward the door. “Let’s go, I’ll walk you out.”
Liang Xiao nodded politely to Sun Zhuoyu and Mao Xin. “Sorry for the trouble.”
“No trouble at all,” Sun Zhuoyu and Mao Xin said in unison.
“Come back next time…” Sun Zhuoyu added.
But before he could finish, Lu Ze had already slammed the dormitory door shut with a loud bang . He lowered his voice and said to Liang Xiao, “Those two are super curious about me suddenly having… a boyfriend. If I stay any longer, they’ll bombard me with questions. Let me walk you back.”
“Walk me back?” Liang Xiao raised an eyebrow.
Lu Ze raised his own eyebrows in response, grinning. “Yeah, walk you back. I don’t have anything else to do anyway. Let’s go.”
He took the lead, walking ahead, while Liang Xiao followed behind him and said, “Let me carry the fruit.”
Lu Ze lifted the bag and gave it a little shake. “It’s not even heavy. Do you really think I’m your boyfriend or something?”
As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly turned around, and Liang Xiao almost bumped into him.
Lowering his voice, Lu Ze asked, “ Xiao-ge, am I really your first male client?”
“Yes,” Liang Xiao stopped in his tracks and replied calmly. “Why?”
“Nothing,” Lu Ze muttered with a slight frown. “It’s just that you seem so natural… You’re not secretly treating me like a girl, are you?”
Liang Xiao stared at him for two seconds before replying, “…Are you treating me like a girl?”
“How is that even possible!” Lu Ze exclaimed. “It’s because you’re a guy that I feel so awkward! I’ve been straight for 20 years—this is my first time pretending to be gay. It feels so weird… I don’t even know how to act like I’m in a relationship anymore.”
For the second time that day, Liang Xiao was amused by Lu Ze’s antics and felt like laughing. He stepped forward without missing a beat, his tone steady as always. “I wouldn’t treat you like a girl either—none of my female clients are as tall as me.”
