WAYCAV Chapter 05

While the two of them were still going back and forth at the stall, they had no idea that the campus forum had already exploded.

Less than a month into the new semester, the only topic of discussion on the forum had been the “widespread suffering” of freshmen during military training. While the first couple of weeks were somewhat interesting, the content eventually became repetitive and boring. Thankfully, today’s autumn market brought some exciting new content.

The hottest post was about Su Zhiyan and Shen Nianjing.

The original poster attached two hastily taken photos – one of Su Zhiyan standing at the edge of the stall, and another of Shen Nianjing reaching out to put a bracelet on him.

[Gossip Post | Early morning at the market, what’s going on with these two?]

Floor 1: Who’s the stall owner? He’s so handsome! Why haven’t I seen him before?

Floor 2: You must be a freshman. Let this senior tell you. He’s the handsome guy who went viral on the forum during the 2021 freshman military training. At that time, he really stood out among all the tanned rookies. His grades were good too, but he took a gap year. But who’s the guy in the background? Feels familiar /thinking

Floor 6: Do you even need to ask who that is? That’s obviously our department’s top student and campus heartthrob /starry-eyed

Floor 7: As someone in the same major, the stall owner is Shen Nianjing, the “new student” who returned this semester. The one in the back is my dad (sorry but do one group project with Su Zhiyan and you’ll understand /smirking.jpg)

Floor 8: Got it, he’s the famous overachiever from the Math Department. Heard he’s already won awards for two papers.

The comments below immediately flooded with – Top student energy, let me rub off some of that academic luck!

Floor 34: ? Don’t you think there’s something fishy about these photos? Is our school’s academic atmosphere so intense that even gossip posts can’t escape it??

With this comment, the previously “upright” direction of the discussion immediately went sideways, and the post exploded.

[What’s the relationship between the two Math Department top students?] instantly topped the forum’s trending list.

The campus livestream [Autumn Market Live Broadcast – Come Watch~] was filled with barrage comments saying “Quick, go to Area A Stall 21!!”

“Someone please explain what he meant by ‘You can put it on girls but not on me?”

“Can the photographer get a close-up? There are too many people, I can’t see my dad’s face”

“They seem pretty close? Maybe he came to confront his boyfriend about being surrounded by girls at his stall /dogface”

“Anyone with half a brain (?) would know that’s impossible. People really just make up rumors these days”

“Shen Nianjing just came back from his gap year, they’ve only known each other for a month at most”

“Yeah, and they look more like a debtor and debt collector (just kidding)”

“I just love watching handsome guys. It’s so pleasing to the eyes, it even warms up this corpse who has 8 AM classes.”

“Who says I’m here to watch handsome guys? I’m obviously here to soak up the academic atmosphere from the top student!”

In the dorm room, Wen Bei, an internet surfing expert, stared at the livestream comments with a complicated expression.

Looking at the various comments in the post, he recalled how Su Zhiyan had asked him several times about Shen Nianjing.

“…” Wen Bei’s worldview crumbled.

Was this for real? What was going on? How did they suddenly become so close?

He turned around stiffly, staring blankly at the other two who were still gaming. He wanted to speak but held back.

Forget it, asking these empty-headed guys would be pointless.

When Su Zhiyan returned to the dorm, he was carrying not only meals for all four of them but also a colorful bag of items.

“Dad!!” Two guys immediately lit up. They tossed aside their phones and rushed over to take the food from him.

“This is great, I really want to switch dorms and freeload here forever.”

Only Wen Bei remained in his seat, staring at Su Zhiyan in a daze as he put the food on his desk. He lowered his head numbly and immediately spotted that gaudy bag.

Could this be the rumored bracelet?

Su Zhiyan noticed him staring and frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“Have you checked the forum?” Wen Bei smiled and blinked.

“No, what’s up?”

“You should take a look.”

Cryptic bastard. Su Zhiyan took out his phone and found a pile of unread WeChat messages.

“…” He had a bad feeling about this.

When he opened WeChat, he found a bunch of busybodies sending messages with annoying strings of “hahaha” attached.

“…”

He randomly clicked one, which was a forum link with the message “You’re finally famous for something other than academics. I knew a handsome guy like you couldn’t be buried under that top student halo!!”

Su Zhiyan read through the entire thread with a headache.

What was all this about?!

He wondered just how good his fellow students’ gossip skills were. They could sniff out gossip anywhere like bloodhounds.

The WeChat messages kept refreshing.

“Top student, I need to know. Are you really gay? /crying cat face.jpg”

“Su-ge, you’ve gotten even more handsome in these two months, nice! Also helping my sports department buddy ask. Can I share your WeChat with him?”

“Dad, you’re trending again.”

“Cat meme.jpg Who’s the big spender that bought out an entire stall? Sugar daddy please adopt me /kneeling.jpg”

“Su baby, buying so many bracelets early in the morning, is there one for me? /finger hook.jpg”

Su Zhiyan’s face darkened as he turned off his phone.

Wen Bei carefully inched closer, his voice as thin as a mosquito’s, “So you and-”

“No, it’s not like that.” Su Zhiyan denied coldly.

“Then why did you go find him so early today? It can’t really be just for bracelets.”

“Why not?” Su Zhiyan dumped out the bracelets from the bag, spreading them all over the desk. “The two girls in our group really like these accessories, and didn’t your cousin keep asking you to buy her jewelry?”

“Help me get rid of these,” he said firmly. “I’m not keeping any.”

“…” Wen Bei was stumped. He felt Su Zhiyan had been acting very strange lately. First, he got sick out of nowhere, then mysteriously got better. And now, he was acting out of character buying so many bracelets.

Weird, too weird.

“But on the forum…” he hesitated.

“They don’t understand, but you do, right?” Su Zhiyan pushed aside the bracelets and phone, focusing on his meal.

“Everyone’s just bored since school just started,” he said dismissively. “In a few days, I won’t be the headline anymore, don’t worry.”

He calmly picked up some food, appearing completely unbothered, as if he couldn’t care less about the forum.

“Headline? What headline?” The two food-obsessed guys finally joined the conversation.

“It’s nothing.” Wen Bei slowly turned to the two empty-headed guys. “Hurry up and finish eating, then go back to your dorm. We have major classes this afternoon.”

–

Before falling asleep that night, Su Zhiyan puzzled over everything that happened during the day.

He felt that bastard had been avoiding him the whole time.

Hello?? I haven’t even started avoiding you yet, but you’re already mysteriously dodging me?

You’re the one moaning in my dreams every day, have I been keeping my distance from you?

At most I’ve just beaten you up in my head!

Talk about turning things upside down!

Could he really know something about this dream? Su Zhiyan tossed and turned.

Previously, because the dreams had stopped for a while, he didn’t ask Shen Nianjing about it. But now, it seemed he had no choice but to ask.

But how could he bring it up without sounding like a lunatic?

Besides, under the current public opinion, openly seeking out Shen Nianjing didn’t seem like a wise choice.

That afternoon, as soon as he entered the classroom, countless eyes locked onto him. Their hunger for gossip was so intense even a wildcat would bow in respect.

If he had any obvious interaction with Shen Nianjing now, things would probably become even more unpredictable, heading in an unfathomable direction. He’d never have peace in class again.

“You bastard,” Su Zhiyan mouthed silently.

Ever since that nightmare, no, to be precise, ever since “Shen Nianjing” entered his life, his originally well-ordered and healthy daily routine suddenly became uncontrollable.

However… Su Zhiyan’s eyes darkened as a theory from earlier that day flashed through his mind.

To verify this theory, he closed his eyes, his breathing gradually becoming steady and prolonged.

The next day, Su Zhiyan woke up with an expression quite different from his usual heaviness. He even seemed excited.

He finally found a way to avoid having those dreams.

Just as he suspected, as long as he had physical contact with Shen Nianjing, he wouldn’t dream.

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Please consider supporting the author directly.

You can also follow me on Ko-fi to get access to the latest updates on my translation progress and new projects. I appreciate your love and feedback.