The typhoon's passage caused significant damage to the school.
At least on the way to the cafeteria, Lin Nan discovered that most of the school's taller trees had been completely flattened. There were broken branches and fallen leaves everywhere, and the school's janitors were overwhelmed. They were now calling on students to help with cleanup.
The entire school looked like it had welcomed the apocalypse. The cloud cover was so thick it almost turned day into night, standing water could be seen everywhere, and there were hardly any pedestrians visible on campus.
Lin Nan felt a bit guilty going out today. What he feared now wasn't simply being mistaken for male or female, but being called a transvestite or something similar due to his ambiguous gender.
"Do I really look like I'm wearing women's clothing in this outfit?" Lin Nan asked again on the road - he was quite concerned about this matter.
"You've asked several times already." Chen Yao smiled bitterly, but finally nodded. "A little bit."
"So you were just fooling me before? Talking complete nonsense..."
Lin Nan was a bit angry: "Why don't you learn something good from Tu Tu?"
Chen Yao looked back at Tu Junhui, who was discussing with Xiong Da how they could profit most from in-app purchases for mobile games, and curled his lips: "He doesn't seem to have any good qualities either, does he?"
True...
Arriving at the cafeteria's second floor, they found that quite a few students had learned there was still a fast food place open here. Now over twenty people were crowded together, queuing to buy food.
There were no lights in the cafeteria, and it was also dark outside due to the storm clouds, making Lin Nan nearly blind inside. He could only see blurry black shadows moving back and forth in front of him.
Fortunately, the fast food place had lit a few candles, allowing him to barely keep up with Chen Yao's pace.
After buying food and getting a discount coupon, Lin Nan felt delighted, thinking he'd gotten a great bargain.
Lin Nan followed Chen Yao to find a seat and sat down, then looked up and asked the male in front of him: "What did you order?"
"Chicken leg, beef strips, fried egg." He answered instinctively, also looking up and asking Lin Nan in confusion: "Miss, who are you?"
"???"
Only then did Lin Nan realize what happened. He turned on his phone's flashlight and shined it on the person in front of him, discovering this was just a stranger with a build and height similar to Chen Yao's.
He immediately understood, using the light to look around for Chen Yao's figure, but discovered his roommate had long since disappeared.
So... I got lost?
On the other side, Chen Yao and the others walked out of the cafeteria carrying their packed lunches, planning to check out the supermarket, when Tu Junhui suddenly asked from behind: "Where's Nan Nan?"
"Wasn't he behind me?" Chen Yao turned around and looked at the two behind him in confusion. "Where's Lin Nan?"
"If you're asking me, who am I supposed to ask?" Tu Junhui rolled his eyes. "With your attention span, you'd probably lose your wife and kids in the future."
Chen Yao scratched his head. After waiting at the entrance for a while without seeing Lin Nan come out, he could only choose to return to the dorm directly. After all, Lin Nan wasn't a child, and if they went back to look for him now, he'd probably already ordered and be eating.
But what was this guy thinking? The restaurant was pitch black inside - wasn't he afraid of sticking chopsticks up his nose instead of into his mouth?
Chen Yao was relatively confident about Lin Nan's safety. After all, this was school, not some bar or anything.
The three slowly returned to the dorm. After eating, they discovered the dorm computers had no internet, and they were afraid to play with their phones for fear of not being able to charge them. The guys could only stare at each other blankly.
With nothing to do and Lin Nan absent, Tu Junhui could finally vent the complaints he'd been holding back for a long time to his roommates.
"Don't you think Lin Nan is getting more and more feminine?" He sat there with a serious expression, asking the two: "He's not sucking others, is he?"
"Just say gay—be civilized, you, me, everyone," Xiong Da immediately reminded. (TN: Doesn’t really translate well. The first one is supposed to be a crude/disrespectful way of saying gay.)
Chen Yao couldn't be bothered with this topic. As someone somewhat in the know, he turned on his computer and listened to their conversation with perked ears.
"Xiong Da, you really don't have this feeling?"
"A little bit." Xiong Da was generally immersed in his own world. Previously it was simply because after not seeing each other for a summer vacation, Lin Nan's femininity was too abrupt when they met again. But now that Lin Nan stayed in the dorm with them day and night, the changes didn't seem that significant to him.
After pondering for a moment, he said: "He's just becoming more and more like a girl."
"Right, right, right! I feel uncomfortable all over being around him! It feels like there's an extra girl in the dorm, and I have to be cautious about everything I do." Tu Junhui slapped the table. "I don't even dare wear just underwear in this hot weather anymore!"
"And he seems to have breasts now. He keeps saying he's gotten fat, but I haven't seen him get much fatter anywhere except his chest and butt."
Xiong Da muttered to himself in confusion: "Lin Nan wouldn't be a drug girl, would he?" (TN: Hormone replacement therapy.)
"What's that?" Tu Junhui asked curiously.
Chen Yao also immediately tilted his head slightly to listen to Xiong Da's explanation.
"Look it up yourselves, it's hard to explain clearly." Xiong Da scratched his head. "Basically, like... Thai ladyboys, I guess..."
"Lin Nan isn't that disgusting," Chen Yao retorted without hesitation.
"No, I mean something like... I don't really understand either, I saw it in novels before." Xiong Da only knew the concept.
Tu Junhui made amazed sounds: "How are all the novels you read so weird?"
The two turned to search online, finally understanding what the definition of a "drug girl" was.
But the problem was they'd never seen Lin Nan take any medication. Moreover, Lin Nan was almost always in their sight every day, and recently he hadn't even been going to the bathroom much. He was just inexplicably becoming more and more beautiful, more and more like a girl.
And based on Chen Yao's understanding of Lin Nan, this guy was poor as hell - getting hundreds of yuan every month to take those kinds of drugs would be pure fantasy.
The three stared at each other, their reasoning hitting a dead end.
"Maybe he's just naturally getting prettier?" Chen Yao tried to steer the topic in another direction. "I saw some Japanese pictures recently - those crossdressers are also very pretty."
"Makeup plus beauty filters—even Qiao Biluo could be pretty." Tu Junhui said disdainfully. "How is that like our Nan Nan's natural beauty?" (TN: Chinese steamer exposed for using a beauty filter.)
"Junhui seems to really like short-haired girls. Chen Yao, you should make this clear to Lin Nan and tell him to stay away from Junhui," Xiong Da suddenly reminded.
Chen Yao had a realization. Tu Junhui gave Xiong Da the middle finger and immediately cursed: "Fuck you! Am I the kind of person who'd do that to Nan Nan?!"
"Just afraid you only like pretty ones, regardless of gender."
At this mention, Chen Yao awkwardly rubbed his nose. Why did he always feel like Xiong Da was making indirect accusations?
While the dorm was in an uproar, Lin Nan pushed open the door and walked in with a lifeless expression: "I got lost... followed the wrong person."
"Are you blind?”
"That person's build was too similar to Chen Yao's. I don't know when he got in front of me."
Lin Nan sighed. He also felt like an idiot. He silently walked to the corner of the dorm and pulled out his dusty suitcase.
"Chen Yao and I are heading back tomorrow night. Tu Tu, don't scatter sunflower seed shells everywhere in the dorm while we're gone."
"Meeting the parents doesn't require such urgency, does it?"