That evening, Ning Guiqu went to the drama club alone. Originally, he had planned to have dinner with Lu Yuan, but after eating, Lu Yuan said he had something to do and left early.
Ning Guiqu wanted to ask Lu Yuan if he would watch his play, but he thought better of it. After all, he was only playing a dwarf, and there wasn’t much to see in that role. It was understandable if Lu Yuan didn’t want to watch at the last minute.
Upon arriving at the drama club, Jiang Xu patted Ning Guiqu’s shoulder and said, “Go change your clothes. The performance is about to start.”
Ning Guiqu was a little confused.
Before him stood Jiang Xu, dressed entirely in blue. A blue double-breasted top paired with loose blue pants. Although the outfit was formal, the poor quality of the material made Jiang Xu look like a blue giant.
During rehearsals, Ning Guiqu had worn his own clothes. The club president mentioned they would order costumes for the performance. Surely this couldn’t be the dwarf costume?
Ning Guiqu forgot his earlier anger and asked sincerely, “This is your own outfit, right?”
Jiang Xu shrugged. “Would you rather believe I’d dress like this voluntarily than accept these are the costumes? Xiao Qu, yours is red.”
Shock flashed in Ning Guiqu’s eyes.
Red?
Don’t tell him the dwarfs’ costumes are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet?
“Ning Guiqu, come change your clothes. We’re just waiting for you!” The club president called from nearby.
Ning Guiqu turned around, and his vision went dark. Beside the president stood the yellow giant, the green giant, and the purple dwarf!
Help! What ugly clothes! Thank goodness Lu Yuan didn’t come.
Jiang Xu sighed, “You once had the chance to play the prince. The prince’s costume is a white suit. The president borrowed it from his brother.”
Ning Guiqu now wished he could play the prince!
“Ning Guiqu, come over here,” the president continued to call.
The yellow giant shouted to Ning Guiqu, “We specially saved the red one for you.”
Ning Guiqu: “…”
What a colorful bunch of idiots.
Ning Guiqu reluctantly went to change his clothes.
And then—
He became a red giant.
It was truly, blindingly red!
The seven dwarfs stood together, each strikingly conspicuous in their own way. Ning Guiqu also spotted the prince Jiang Xu had mentioned. He was really wearing an all-white suit. It was the most normal outfit by far!
Usually, only club members occupied the rehearsal hall, but today, there were some unfamiliar faces. Ning Guiqu glanced around, relieved that Lu Yuan didn’t come.
Lu Yuan, please don’t come!
Jiang Xu also looked around, puzzled. “Why isn’t Lu Yuan here? Didn’t he say he would come to watch you? You two didn’t have another fight, did you?”
Ning Guiqu replied sarcastically, “If we did, are you going to get me drunk again?”
Jiang Xu: “…”
The dwarfs were scheduled to appear mid-performance. Currently, the Evil Queen and Snow White were on stage. Ning Guiqu and the other dwarfs waited for their cue.
“If I’d known the costumes were this ugly, I wouldn’t have let my girlfriend come,” one yellow giant said bitterly.
The green giant chimed in, “I know, right? My girlfriend insisted on coming too. I don’t care much, but if I’d known I’d be dressed in all green, I’d never have let her come. It’s so embarrassing. The club president didn’t even warn us when choosing the costumes.”
The purple dwarf said, “Well, what can we do? We’re the dwarfs after all. Jiang Xu, did your girlfriend come?”
Jiang Xu shrugged. “We broke up recently, so no.”
The purple dwarf turned to Ning Guiqu.
Ning Guiqu replied innocently, “I don’t have a girlfriend.”
The purple dwarf shook his head. “No, I mean, why do you look different from us in that costume?”
Ning Guiqu was baffled. He looked down at his clothes.
“How is it different?”
The orange giant interjected, “It’s kind of cute.”
Ning Guiqu: “…”
If possible, please say Xiao Qu is talented and handsome!
The purple dwarf continued, “You know, that Lu Yuan from your dorm seems really cold, but I didn’t expect him to be so sentimental.”
???
Ning Guiqu was confused and about to ask what he meant when Jiang Xu suddenly bumped his shoulder and whispered, “Xiao Qu, be honest with me. Did you and Lu Yuan break up and get back together? I really can’t think of any other reason for you two to have a conflict.”
???
Ning Guiqu followed Jiang Xu’s gaze and saw – he saw – he saw! Lu Yuan!
And it was Lu Yuan holding a large bouquet of flowers!
Ning Guiqu gasped.
Lu Yuan sat in the corner, but the surrounding girls’ attention was no longer on the play, but on Lu Yuan! Ning Guiqu even noticed a girl pretending to take a selfie while actually taking pictures of Lu Yuan.
The yellow giant clicked his tongue, “My girlfriend is taking pictures of Lu Yuan. Jiang Xu, Ning Guiqu, which one of you is Lu Yuan’s bouquet for?”
Jiang Xu immediately pointed at Ning Guiqu.
“Probably him. They’re close.”
Ning Guiqu… blushed.
But no one noticed Ning Guiqu’s red face, except for the orange giant who had called him cute earlier.
The purple dwarf considered, “Maybe not? Why would a guy give another guy flowers? Maybe someone else gave them to Lu Yuan, and he just brought them along to watch their performance.”
The yellow giant said, “Could be. He’s so flashy. He already stole my girlfriend’s attention.”
The green giant rolled his eyes, “Thanks to him, my girlfriend probably won’t even notice how I look now.”
Jiang Xu nudged Ning Guiqu again, whispering, “I think they’re for you. Even if you’re not together now, you will be after this. How sweet is Lu Yuan? A quality gay guy like him isn’t easy to find.”
Ning Guiqu was steaming!
Damn it! Was that idiot Jiang Xu starting again?! But now, Lu Yuan had really confessed to him. He… wouldn’t embarrass himself again!
Ning Guiqu remained silent.
[After entering the cottage, Snow White discovered seven small beds pushed together. Exhausted from running through the forest all day, Snow White lay down on the beds and unwittingly fell asleep. In the evening, when the seven dwarfs returned home, they found someone in their house.]
As the narrator read the lines, Ning Guiqu and the other dwarfs took the stage. As soon as they appeared, Ning Guiqu heard laughter from the audience. He moved stiffly, wondering if Lu Yuan was laughing at him in his red giant costume.
The girl playing Snow White slept on seven tables pushed together. The dwarfs gathered around the table, peering at Snow White and reciting their lines.
“What a beautiful girl!”
“How can there be such a pretty girl in this world!”
Ning Guiqu didn’t have any lines yet; he just needed to stare at Snow White on the bed.
“Hahahahaha”
“Hahahahahahaha”
The audience couldn’t contain their laughter.
Was… was Lu Yuan laughing too? The cold penguin probably didn’t laugh, right?
Ning Guiqu didn’t dare look up. All six dwarfs were looking at the princess; if he looked up, he’d stand out too much.
Soon, Snow White on the table rubbed her eyes and woke up.
It was time!
Time for Ning Guiqu’s line.
Ning Guiqu pretended to be angry, “Why did you break into our house?”
That was Ning Guiqu’s only line. After delivering it, he became a silent NPC. The dwarfs always moved together, so Ning Guiqu just had to stick with the others.
While acting as a background character, Ning Guiqu sneaked a glance upward.
As he looked up, he saw Lu Yuan pointing his phone at them. Ning Guiqu’s breath caught. Could he be… taking a picture of him?
No need! He looked so ugly now, no need for any photos!
Lu Yuan calmly looked up from his phone and winked at Ning Guiqu, who quickly averted his gaze.
Help!
If Lu Yuan took photos, he would have to make him delete them!
The rehearsal ended amidst Ning Guiqu’s jumbled thoughts. Afterward, Ning Guiqu rushed to the changing room without looking at Lu Yuan, hurriedly changing out of his costume.
After changing, he opened the door to find Lu Yuan leaning nearby.
And… club members sneaking glances at them.
Seeing Ning Guiqu come out, Lu Yuan immediately handed him the bouquet. The former yellow giant, who had changed his clothes, remarked, “So they really were for Ning Guiqu.”
Jiang Xu’s mischievous voice chimed in, “I told you, they’re close.”
Ning Guiqu was embarrassed to his core and quickly dragged Lu Yuan away.
Outside the hall, night had fallen. Ning Guiqu led Lu Yuan along a small path back to the dorm, finally saying, “Why did you bring me flowers? I’m not obsessed with flowers. I don’t feel anything special about them.”
Lu Yuan glanced at Ning Guiqu. In the dim path, he couldn’t clearly see Ning Guiqu’s expression, but the vague outline was endearing.
Suppressing his thoughts, Lu Yuan explained, “No special reason, just to congratulate you on finishing the performance.”
Ning Guiqu was incredulous. “It was just a rehearsal. Nobody brings flowers for that! And I’m just a dwarf!”
Lu Yuan thought about something and chuckled softly.
Ning Guiqu was very sensitive to Lu Yuan’s laughter. After all, he’d been wondering if Lu Yuan had laughed during his performance.
Ning Guiqu said quietly, “Are you laughing at me?”
Lu Yuan cleared his throat, his voice amused, “No, nobody’s laughing at you. They’re all saying you’re cute. Ning Guiqu, these flowers are for the cute little dwarf. Congratulations on finishing the rehearsal.”
Ning Guiqu’s already warm cheeks grew even hotter. Really, they should be praising Xiao Qu as talented and handsome! Besides, Lu Yuan didn’t feel like a cool penguin at all!
The rich fragrance of roses kept wafting towards his nose, and Ning Guiqu felt a bit intoxicated by the flowers.
As his embarrassment slowly faded, Ning Guiqu still grumbled, “You shouldn’t give them so obviously.”
Lu Yuan replied, “Next time, for your formal performance, I’ll sneak them to you.”
Ning Guiqu: “…”
Ning Guiqu thought that for a formal performance, there’d be no need for sneaking! But flower-giving between two men was still too ambiguous. It was normal to be ambiguous. After all, penguin Lu Yuan was chasing him.
He didn’t even believe Ning Guiqu had transmigrated, yet he still pursued him!
The thought still irritated Ning Guiqu a bit.
However—
Ning Guiqu stopped walking, and Lu Yuan stopped beside him.
Ning Guiqu asked quietly, “Your phone, did you take pictures of me?”
Lu Yuan nodded, “Want to see? You look cute.”
Ning Guiqu steamed again! But he maintained his composure and nodded.
Lu Yuan opened his photo album, revealing a bunch of pictures of the red giant Ning Guiqu. Ning Guiqu wanted Lu Yuan to delete them all.
“This one where you look confused is cute, this one crouching like an adorable mushroom, this one with your lovely smile, this one sneaking a glance at me.”
Ning Guiqu’s face turned bright red. Finally, pointing at the photo of him secretly looking at Lu Yuan, he said with feigned seriousness, “This one, delete it.”
Lu Yuan looked disappointed but clicked delete. “I really liked that one.”
Ning Guiqu didn’t say anything.
Liked it… liked it or not, it had to go!
After walking through the dim path, they reached the teaching building. Although it was the weekend, there were still a few passersby. So Ning Guiqu placed the flowers back in Lu Yuan’s arms, saying, “My arms are tired. Help me carry them for a bit.”
Then—
He put some distance between himself and Lu Yuan, pretending they weren’t close.
Lu Yuan chuckled softly.
Ning Guiqu… heard nothing!
This resulted in Lu Yuan getting a lot of attention! Everyone was looking at him. Ning Guiqu kept his head down, maintaining distance from Lu Yuan, playing the role of a low-key Xiao Qu.
Lu Yuan stated confidently, “I’ll definitely be on the forum.”
Ning Guiqu nodded.
Lu Yuan added, “But you will be too.”
Ning Guiqu nodded again.
He’d just be mentioned in passing as Lu Yuan’s roommate!
Seeing Ning Guiqu’s unconcerned attitude, Lu Yuan figured his simple mind hadn’t caught on, so he hinted, “They’ll probably speculate about why you rejected my flowers.”
Ning Guiqu: ??
Ning Guiqu looked at Lu Yuan, waving his hand to deny any connection, “You’re holding these flowers yourself.”
Lu Yuan: “Did you forget that I gave you the flowers at the drama club?”
Ning Guiqu: “…”
Ning Guiqu did not forget.
He just…
Thought that denying it now would absolve him of any involvement.
Lu Yuan teased, “Or do you think the drama club members don’t use the internet?”
Ning Guiqu hastily snatched the flowers back.
Fine.
Genius Xiao Qu’s intelligence occasionally dropped.
Lu Yuan chuckled quietly, and Ning Guiqu quickly glared at him. The amusement in Lu Yuan’s eyes didn’t fade. “Ning Guiqu, you’re really cute.”
Ning Guiqu… was steaming again!
Then—
Ning Guiqu lowered his head, deciding to correct Lu Yuan, “Don’t call me cute.”
Lu Yuan drawled, “Then… you’re extremely cute.”
Ning Guiqu was about to be cooked through!
Damn it! Damn it! Even Genius Xiao Qu would be flustered by such a sweet attack!
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