Late at night, neither Lin Nan nor Wu Guodong felt sleepy.
The computer screen was playing the movie "Parasite," a Korean film that had been very popular on Bilibili recently and was said to be extremely profound.
Lin Nan had initially assumed from the title that it would be an anime work similar to "Parasyte," never expecting it to be an art film reflecting social issues.
Although he had once told Tu Junhui that he liked watching profound movies, that was just an excuse to avoid horror films. To be honest, he always watched movies in a superficial way. When it came to art films or brain-burning movies, he was always left confused. After watching, his head would be full of "I get it," but if you asked him to explain in detail, he couldn't say anything.
This movie was the same. Although Bilibili praised it to the skies, Lin Nan just thought the film was quite interesting.
Wu Guodong beside him was even more so. This guy already had high work pressure, and at home he basically used games and mindless light novels for entertainment and relaxation. He had little interest in movies that lasted two hours, especially if they required thinking.
"Tomorrow I'm treating a colleague to dinner. Should I take you back to school before I go?"
"Either way is fine." Lin Nan rested his chin on his hand while looking at the computer, but curiously asked, "Colleague gathering?"
"A colleague said he'd introduce me to a girl." Wu Guodong's face showed some nervousness as he tentatively asked Lin Nan, "Why don't you come with me tomorrow?"
Lin Nan's eyes lit up, immediately becoming interested. "A blind date? Have you seen what the girl looks like?"
"I have photos."
Wu Guodong searched through his phone for a few minutes, then handed it to Lin Nan, his face full of helplessness. "She looks quite pretty."
This shut-in might be okay with ordinary girls, but faced with a pretty girl, he'd become flustered and sweat nervously. Just thinking about tomorrow's blind date made his heart race uncomfortably, and he even wanted to cancel it.
Lin Nan actually didn't know much about girls either. The girl he'd had the most contact with was Lina, but Lina came from another world, so her thought processes were quite different from Earth people.
However, looking at the girl in the photo, Lin Nan frowned, feeling like he'd seen this girl somewhere before.
"This person... looks familiar..."
"My colleague says it's his sister, she's nineteen this year."
Nineteen... Lin Nan had thought it would be a girl around Uncle's age, but unexpectedly there was an eight or nine year age gap.
"Are you sure she won't think you're too old?"
"My mindset is forever eighteen!"
Lin Nan stared at the photo for a long time. Nowadays, girls' selfies online were basically all makeup plus beauty filters. After observing for a while, he finally managed to recognize the girl.
"This is Liu Xuefei!" He suddenly realized. "No wonder she looked familiar but I couldn't place her. This girl is incredibly good at makeup."
What a small world—to actually encounter someone he knew.
Wu Guodong became interested and leaned forward to ask, "Your classmate?"
"A girl from the neighboring class."
That girl Liu Xuefei had almost become as much of a psychological shadow for Lin Nan as Lina. Last time, to unlock magic, it was this very person who had done Lin Nan's makeup. And originally he could have stayed peacefully in their dorm for the day, but she just had to encourage Lin Nan to go out... Otherwise, how would Chen Yao have discovered his crossdressing, and he never would have gone out in women's clothing.
Although now, having experienced wearing a swimsuit, looking back at that incident didn't seem so shameful anymore—after all, he'd already done something even more embarrassing—but he still felt apprehensive about Liu Xuefei.
But honestly speaking, aside from being flat-chested, Liu Xuefei's appearance among girls could only be considered average, though knowing how to do makeup added quite a few points.
"What's her personality usually like? Does she really look as good as in the photos?"
Lin Nan thought for a moment, then pursed his lips and cursed angrily, "She's a total pervert! And flat-chested! This photo definitely has chest padding! Plus this photo must be using level ten beauty filters!"
Wu Guodong immediately lost all interest. "Forget it, I still prefer big big big ones."
He found himself an excuse, feeling somewhat cowardly. "Maybe I shouldn't go tomorrow..."
This is exactly why Wu Guodong had remained single his whole life. Lin Nan really couldn't understand why some people would be afraid of girls.
"There's a reason you're single." Lin Nan sighed deeply. "Doesn't Grandpa pressure you? You're already twenty-eight."
"I think you should worry more about when you're getting surgery. Your situation is much more serious than my being single," Wu Guodong retorted.
When Lin Nan heard him bring up this topic, he immediately fell silent.
The atmosphere in the room suddenly became somewhat awkward. Wu Guodong then realized he might have said the wrong thing.
Just as he was about to apologize, Lin Nan suddenly asked, "If after the surgery, the relatives don't accept me... what then?"
"..."
Wu Guodong had actually never thought about this, since he'd only learned about Lin Nan's condition today.
"My dad's side... probably can't accept me anymore. I don't know what he's thinking."
"I'm fairly familiar with him." After all, he was his brother-in-law, and Wu Guodong had had some exchanges with Lin Nan's father. After hesitating for a moment, he smiled bitterly. "Based on my understanding of him, your dad really cares about face. He'd definitely feel that raising you for over ten years only to find out you're a girl would make him unable to hold his head up in front of relatives."
Lin Nan actually didn't care about the relatives on his father's side. According to his mother, among his father's generation, only his father was relatively diligent; the others were basically just coasting through life.
The problem was that not only was his father old-fashioned, but the relatives on his mother's side probably weren't much better.
"Your maternal grandparents..." Wu Guodong smiled bitterly. "They'd probably have a hard time accepting it too, right?"
Actually, Lin Nan's maternal grandparents had always been quite good to him. As their grandson, his treatment was much better than his male cousins. Every time he went to their house, his grandparents would always find ways to slip him money.
But the prerequisite was that he was a boy.
"Most of our relatives—nine out of ten have never even been to the provincial capital in their lives. Some have barely left their villages. Their thinking is like people from the sixties and seventies..." Wu Guodong knew the relatives' situation well. "They might say it's fine to your face, but they'll always gossip about you behind your back. They're all big mouths."
What Lin Nan hated most was his relatives' big mouths. No matter whose family had issues, they'd all gather to gossip and discuss, even telling outsiders about relatives' private matters. And not only would they tell, but they'd easily distort the facts.
If he really had the surgery, news of him becoming a girl would probably spread throughout the entire village before long. What was originally intersex surgery might even be passed around as gender reassignment surgery...
"Forget it, I'll take it one step at a time." Lin Nan dejectedly returned to the bed.
Wu Guodong watched helplessly. "I'll definitely go home for New Year's. I'll try to help explain things then..."
"Mm."