Lin Nan exchanged contact information with Chen Jiang. When he returned to the dorm, it was only 4 PM. Just as he walked through the dorm door, Lin Nan heard Tu Junhui's loud, startled shouting.
"Holy shit! You scared the hell out of me! Nan Nan, can't you knock before entering?"
Lin Nan looked up with confusion and found all three roommates gathered in front of Tu Junhui's computer, each wearing tense, serious expressions.
"What are you guys doing?"
He'd been in a good mood, but getting yelled at the moment he walked in made him feel wronged.
"Watching a movie. Nan Nan, want to watch?" Tu Junhui responded while keeping his attention on the screen.
Watching a movie?
Hearing the screaming sounds coming from his computer speakers and seeing the three of them with their serious, tense expressions, Lin Nan immediately shuddered and refused: "I don't watch horror movies."
Despite saying this, before returning to his seat, Lin Nan still curiously glanced at the screen. He didn't see anything particularly horrifying, but just hearing those sound effects made his hair stand on end.
He'd never understood before why people liked watching horror movies or playing horror games. Now, after having gone out crossdressed, he finally understood that the thrilling, tense emotions could really be addictive.
Unfortunately, he was afraid of having nightmares, so despite his curiosity about the horror movie they were watching, he tried hard to control himself and avoid looking at Tu Junhui's computer screen.
"Lin Nan, where did you go this afternoon?" The movie plot had entered a calm period, so Chen Yao finally had time to turn around and ask Lin Nan. "This afternoon I was going to call you to watch the King of Glory competition, but you ran off right after class."
"I'm not interested in that competition. I went to do part-time work." Lin Nan took the towel hanging on the wardrobe door and pushed open the back door to go wash his hands and face.
On his way back to school, Lin Nan had already noticed the King of Glory competition being held on the main athletic field. The competition seemed quite professional—three large screens, a commentator, and at least one or two hundred audience members below the stage. But the problem was that the ten players on stage looking down at their phones really didn't look much like they were competing.
Of course, ten people looking down at computers would be fine for a livestream, but in reality it felt somewhat strange.
After washing his face, Lin Nan returned to the dorm, but his eyes still couldn't help glancing at Tu Junhui's screen.
"Xiong Da, you're really such a coward. Damn, your jump scared me more than the movie."
"You've got nerve criticizing me…" Xiong Da kept his head down, taking time to play mobile games, too lazy to argue with him.
The horror movie plot entered a calm phase, and the three began chatting and laughing while mocking whoever had been most scared just now. Chen Yao looked quite composed—he was naturally brave. He'd even dragged Lin Nan to haunted houses before, scaring Lin Nan to tears while showing no emotional reaction himself.
"Nan Nan, you really won't watch?" After finishing his argument with Xiong Da, Tu Junhui immediately turned to tease Lin Nan. "You're not really that much of a coward, are you?"
"I never watch such meaningless movies." Lin Nan righteously refused.
"Then you can probably only watch art films, like 'To Live?’" (TN: 1994 Chinese drama. IMDB writes, “After Fugui and Jiazhen lose their personal fortunes, they raise a family and survive difficult cultural changes during 1940s to 1970s China.” It’s genuinely a good film, go watch.)
"What's that?" Tu Junhui's movie knowledge was far beyond what Lin Nan could compare to.
"It's an art film, pretty good. I highly recommend you watch it and then read the novel afterwards. It's passionate and inspiring—absolutely amazing!" Tu Junhui earnestly recommended it to Lin Nan. (TN: Facts.)
He seemed overly enthusiastic, making Lin Nan suspect he might be talking about some adult film.
Chen Yao glanced at Lin Nan. Recently, they hadn't had much interaction or communication, mainly because he was too familiar with Lin Nan and was afraid of being "bent."
But Lin Nan was definitely a girl now—that shouldn't count as being bent, right?
Although he'd already mentally classified Lin Nan as a girl, having known him for so many years, that male image was still deeply rooted in his mind, making him incredibly conflicted.
He couldn't help looking at Lin Nan again, only to find Lin Nan staring straight at him.
"What?"
"Want to come home with me on Friday?"
Tu Junhui immediately interjected: "Going home to meet the parents? Isn't that a bit fast?"
Lin Nan and Chen Yao directly ignored him.
Chen Yao roughly knew that someone in Lin Nan's family had been in a car accident, so he helplessly shrugged: "Alright, I'll go home with you then."
He thought for a moment, then suddenly pointed toward the front door: "Let's go outside to talk."
"Mm." Lin Nan immediately understood what he planned to discuss, stood up, and followed closely behind Chen Yao out the door.
Since Tuesday afternoon was a public rest period, there were quite a few students moving around in the hallway. Several strangers who saw Lin Nan looked like they'd seen a ghost.
Fortunately, Lin Nan had gotten used to such stares from attending classes daily. The dorm supervisor uncle held his arms crossed every day, helplessly watching Lin Nan enter and exit the male dormitory, but could never catch Lin Nan doing anything wrong.
Obviously a girl, yet really living in the male dorm every day? And with perfectly clear identification—even when reported to the school, the school said there was no problem.
Posts titled "Girl Spotted in Male Dorm" had appeared on the school forum, but since Lin Nan's transformation into this androgynous appearance hadn't been going on for long, such posts hadn't heated up yet. Occasionally, his classmates would speak up for him on the forum.
Most students on this floor were classmates, so Chen Yao didn't pay attention to the few strangers' stares and directly asked Lin Nan: "Isn't it not so good for you to go home now?"
"If I don't go home soon, my parents really won't recognize me..." Lin Nan smiled bitterly. "I'm really afraid of being treated like I'm mentally ill when I go back."
Chen Yao consoled him: "Actually, the changes aren't that dramatic. If you look carefully, you can still recognize yourself."
"The problem is being too much like a girl... and that medical report..." Lin Nan suspected that if he showed the medical report to his parents, they'd probably drag him off for surgery.
But he didn't want surgery at all. Since he had magic that could turn him into a girl, why bother with surgery that would waste money and possibly hurt terribly afterwards? If the surgery went wrong, there might even be life-threatening risks.
"What about the medical report?" Chen Yao didn't understand Lin Nan's concerns. He naturally felt that since Lin Nan's medical examination showed he was a girl, he should have surgery to return to his original identity.
Lin Nan fell silent. He felt maybe he could find a way to get money from his parents, using the excuse that he'd go to a big city for surgery without needing them to accompany him, then actually use magic to become female?
But even if his parents were absent-minded, when it came to surgery, they couldn't possibly be absent-minded enough to let him go alone, right?
"What's wrong?" Chen Yao noticed his expression wasn't quite right.
"For now, don't tell my parents about this, okay?" Lin Nan lowered his head, his expression dejected and conflicted. "Let me think about how to explain it."
Seeing Lin Nan with this kind of expression, Chen Yao felt his heart aching in waves. His former best friend was now facing this kind of situation, yet he was powerless to help—he couldn't even find words of comfort.
In the end, he could only pat Lin Nan's shoulder and turn back into the room.