It wasn’t that Zhang Deyi’s heart shattered at the thought of his goddess having a boyfriend. To him, she was an unattainable ideal, a spiritual anchor. He didn’t expect to win her; he just wanted her to be happy. But if what Liu Fei said was true, then his Snow White was about to be played by a scumbag.
“Deyi, Deyi?”
“Did you think of something?” Liu Fei, sitting nearby, noticed Zhang Deyi suddenly fall silent, head bowed. He waved a hand in front of his face.
Zhang Deyi was quiet for a moment.
“Liu Fei, are you saying she’s also Yun Bro’s girlfriend?”
“What?”
Liu Fei’s mouth fell open in surprise. Seeing Zhang Deyi’s utterly dejected look, he was at a loss for words.
“Come on, man, is your brain stuck on that Snow White of yours? Weren’t you just saying you’re not interested in dating?”
“I’m not trying to date her…”
Zhang Deyi, realizing Liu Fei misunderstood, started to explain but quickly caught the oddity in his friend’s words. Snapping back to focus, he leaned in, grabbing Liu Fei’s shoulders tightly.
“What did you mean just now? You think she’s Yun Bro’s girlfriend? What’s your take?”
Zhang Deyi desperately needed a convincing explanation.
Liu Fei sat in a chair, Zhang Deyi on the hospital bed. Their intense stare-down was so charged that a passerby might’ve suspected something improper between them.
“…”
Liu Fei hesitated for a few seconds, swallowed hard, then mustered the courage to look up.
“I think… The Yun Bro you’re talking about is Snow White.”
“?!”
“What are you talking about, Liu Fei?!”
“That’s impossible! Don’t talk nonsense, bro!”
Zhang Deyi’s eyes bulged at Liu Fei’s words, nearly leaping off the bed.
“Your goddess turning into your best bro? Who could accept that? And it’s totally baseless!”
At the start of the semester, Zhang Deyi had seen Su Yun fresh from a shower, wearing nothing but underwear. That build was undeniably male—arms twice as thick as his goddess’s.
“Calm down, hear me out,” Liu Fei said, trying to soothe the agitated Zhang Deyi.
Soon, Zhang Deyi settled down. He figured it was impossible and needed to stay rational.
“Go on.”
So he sat quietly, ready to hear how Liu Fei would spin this.
“Do you remember Su Yun’s voice?”
“What about it? Has Yun Bro’s throat been off lately?”
“Off? You think a sore throat turns your voice into a girl’s? If it’s that bad, why hasn’t it gotten better after so long? Bet if you text Su Yun for a voice message right now, it’s still like that,” Liu Fei said urgently, but Zhang Deyi’s expression didn’t budge.
“I’m not sure, but it varies by person, right? That’s your only evidence?”
“There’s more!”
Liu Fei went on, listing every change in Su Yun since the “sore throat.” Sitting next to her in class, he’d observed her closely. First, she started wearing hats and masks, getting mad if anyone touched them. Second, she took forever to shower, constantly grabbing tissues. Third, and most crucially, after joining the Snow White fan club, he noticed the girl in the photos sometimes wore the same clothes as Su Yun.
The hat and mask were to hide long hair; the tissues were for drying it. The white strands he found on Su Yun’s bed today all but confirmed it. Not to mention her visibly smaller frame—even with bulky clothes, a closer look revealed something off.
As a keen observer and good roommate, Liu Fei had noticed it all. If Su Yun knew someone in the dorm cared this much, she’d probably be touched… maybe?
“…You’ve been staring at Yun Bro all the time?”
“Are you into guys or something?”
After hearing Liu Fei’s analysis, Zhang Deyi instinctively leaned back on the bed.
“…”
Liu Fei’s face darkened, exasperated. After all his effort explaining, this is what he gets? Called a gay? Fine, fine.
“Alright, so you’re saying Yun Bro is secretly Snow White? But you know Yun Bro’s a guy,” Zhang Deyi said, dropping the teasing to offer his own explanation.
“So maybe she changed suddenly. Or, from the moment she started wearing that hat, someone else took her place.”
“?!”
Liu Fei’s words made Zhang Deyi’s jaw drop again. With a loud rustle of blankets, he stood up, genuinely shocked.
“Bro, bro, listen… you’re not saying Snow White killed Yun Bro, are you?”
His lips trembled as he spoke, unable to believe such a possibility.
“Maybe, but not necessarily.”
The hospital room’s atmosphere turned eerie. Zhang Deyi, spooked, wrapped himself in his blanket.
Soon, he remembered the day the campus beauty cried. Why hadn’t Yun Bro gone on stage to comfort his girlfriend? A performance that big, and he wasn't there?
But the clues still broke off somewhere. Thinking of his cherished Snow White, Zhang Deyi mustered the courage to pull out his phone.
(Yun Bro, remember what kind of girls I like? What’s my type?)
He sent the message to Su Yun.
At the start of the semester, Zhang Deyi used to blast videos of beautiful girls, all of a similar type, and Su Yun often watched alongside him. Back then, Su Yun was undeniably a guy. If she could answer, it’d prove she was still Su Yun.
If she did, he’d ask another question to test his final theory.
For a short while after, Liu Fei felt the conversation had gotten too wild and shifted to bragging about his girlfriend—how great she was, how understanding. Soon, she’d be waiting for him at the school gate in black stockings.
Zhang Deyi, sitting on the hospital bed, happily congratulated his buddy.
…
“When’s Sister Xiaoyun coming back…”
In a quiet room, Qin Xue lay bored on the bed, flipping through her phone. Without constraints, her chest had spilled to the sides.
Staring at the unanswered messages, she knew Su Yun was busy. But she still felt restless. If Sister Xiaoyun were here, she could cuddle her soft, small body and nap. Maybe even grab those white-stockinged feet and tickle her soles.
hehe.
I loved seeing Sister Xiaoyun shy or annoyed.
(End of Chapter)