Ning Guiqu spotted Shi Wen in the classroom, slumped over his desk asleep, but still thoughtfully saving seats for him and Lu Yuan in front.
Normally, Ning Guiqu wouldn’t have cared about Shi Wen’s afternoon disappearance, but the fact that he returned exhausted enough to nap on his desk was unusual. Shi Wen was the type who’d rather play on his phone than sleep.
Li Mu couldn’t have given up on him and turned his attention to Shi Wen, could he? If that were the case, Ning Guiqu would definitely need to rough up Li Mu!
“Xiao Shi?” Ning Guiqu gently patted Shi Wen’s back.
Shi Wen lifted his drowsy eyelids, yawned, and glanced at his phone. “Class is about to start.”
Ning Guiqu hummed in acknowledgment, then probed, “Did you hang out with Li Mu this afternoon?”
At the mention of Li Mu, Shi Wen let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah. Xiao Qu, gays are really a terrifying group.”
Ning Guiqu’s heart skipped a beat.
“What… did he do?”
Shi Wen didn’t hide his homophobia from Ning Guiqu. “He found out about my homophobia. He thought my behavior of distancing myself from good friends because of it was awful. To cure my homophobia, he wanted to show me a charming gay. But when did we even become good friends?”
Shi Wen found it confusing. Ning Guiqu wasn’t as surprised; after all, if knowing someone for just over a year could be called childhood friends, considering Shi Wen a friend wasn’t that strange.
“Did he manage to show you the charm?”
“He made me even more homophobic!” Shi Wen recounted the torture he suffered in the afternoon and complained, “He dragged me through every haunted house in the amusement park, saying I’d see a brave gay who wasn’t afraid of ghosts. At the amusement park, I’d see an energetic gay. At the arcade, I’d see a gay who’s great at claw machines. If it weren’t for evening self-study, he would’ve taken me to an escape room to see an intelligent gay. I was exhausted all afternoon and he wouldn’t even let me rest!”
Ning Guiqu’s lips twitched slightly.
Shi Wen slumped on the desk. “Don’t you think gays are a terrifying and crazy group?”
Ning Guiqu: “…”
Ning Guiqu hesitated, wanting to say that not all gays were like Li Mu. But faced with Shi Wen’s pleading look, he nodded reluctantly.
Shi Wen closed his eyes, satisfied. Ning Guiqu glanced at Lu Yuan, who was searching for “best brain doctors” on his phone. So, he and Lu Yuan would have to keep their relationship secret.
What an idiot, that Li Mu.
No, wait. Ning Guiqu suddenly realized something. Ignoring the dejected Shi Wen, he turned to Lu Yuan in disbelief, demanding, “What are you searching for?!”
Lu Yuan nonchalantly swiped away, now searching for “what to do when your boyfriend is too smart.”
Ning Guiqu: “…”
The straightforward “boyfriend” made Ning Guiqu blush. Honestly, things seemed to be moving too fast with Lu Yuan! And Lu Yuan really did act like an experienced player!
“Is this really your first relationship?” Ning Guiqu glanced around before asking.
“First time. If you think I’m too forward, maybe you should consider whether you’re being too conservative.”
Ning Guiqu: “…”
He was conservative? He had already even poked Lu Yuan’s pecs!
And besides—
Ning Guiqu pointed at Lu Yuan’s Baidu search. “Are you taking me for some kind of idiot?”
Lu Yuan let out a muffled laugh.
Ning Guiqu: “…”
Lu Yuan turned off his phone and whispered to Ning Guiqu, “No, I genuinely think Genius Xiao Qu is a genius. Genius Xiao Qu thinks he’s smart, too, right? Genius Xiao Qu?”
Though his voice was deep and pleasant, Ning Guiqu sensed the malice in it.
He was the Genius Xiao Qu!
“Ah, yes.”
Lu Yuan wanted to kiss the super cute Genius Xiao Qu again.
Ning Guiqu noticed Lu Yuan’s strange gaze and quickly turned away, distancing himself from Lu Yuan, and fiddled with his phone.
He sent a message.
[Stupid Penguin]
Yes, he had switched back to his real alt account! But this complaint was sent to his fake alt account.
Lu Yuan’s phone lit up.
Lu Yuan accepted it without complaint, silently playing the role of a trash bin.
Ning Guiqu was satisfied. Some things were easier to type than to say out loud.
So now, Ning Guiqu had two alt accounts.
To distinguish between them, he changed Lu Yuan’s contact name to: [Penguin Asking for Scolding]
This account was specifically for scolding the penguin. After all, Lu Yuan had said he didn’t think Ning Guiqu lacked manners. Huh, Lu Yuan was weird.
After evening classes ended, on the first night of their official relationship, Lu Yuan, now with a title, climbed into Ning Guiqu’s bed. Ning Guiqu was on the balcony feeding his fish. Of the five fish, three had died, leaving only two. The roses had all wilted and Ning Guiqu had thrown them away.
After finishing, Ning Guiqu casually returned to the bed. He found Lu Yuan’s arm already draped over his pillow.
Ning Guiqu pushed but couldn’t move him.
Ning Guiqu tried to push again.
“Xiao Qu, are you and Xiao Lu watching a horror movie?” A listless voice called out.
Ning Guiqu froze, stopped pushing, and lay down on the pillow to avoid Shi Wen noticing anything unusual. He didn’t want to be disliked by the increasingly homophobic Shi Wen. But Ning Guiqu’s eyes widened. That damned Lu Yuan actually hugged him directly!
Ning Guiqu trembled as he tried to peek at Shi Wen on the opposite bed.
Shi Wen casually commented, “It’s Lu Yuan, right? He must be so scared he’s hugging you in his sleep.”
Ning Guiqu: “…”
Straight guys never read too much into things!
Ning Guiqu thought that as long as he never admitted to being gay, Shi Wen would never figure it out. That’s great.
Lu Yuan’s eyes curved slightly as he silently mouthed, “We can sleep like this every night from now on.”
Ning Guiqu couldn’t read lips, so he closed his eyes with his nose pressed against Lu Yuan’s chest.
Lu Yuan smiled gently.
He might not have extra chromosomes, but Ning Guiqu definitely hadn’t satisfied his oral fixation.
“I’ve booked an appointment with a specialist for 3 p.m. tomorrow for a CT scan.”
Ning Guiqu opened his eyes slowly, questioning, “Is it that easy to get an appointment with a specialist?”
Lu Yuan: “It’s a friend of my aunt’s.”
So that’s how it was, using connections.
“Whatever. I won’t pay a single cent for the doctor’s visit. My brain is fine.”
Lu Yuan thought there was indeed something wrong with Ning Guiqu’s brain.
As it turned out, Lu Yuan’s guess was correct.
The next afternoon, in the hospital’s consultation room
The doctor held Ning Guiqu’s freshly taken CT scan, and his expression was grave.
Ning Guiqu went from feeling slightly embarrassed about a healthy person getting a CT scan and bothering the doctor to now worrying that there might actually be something wrong with his brain.
After several minutes of silence, Ning Guiqu tentatively broke it, “Doctor, am I okay?”
The doctor finally put Ning Guiqu’s scans on the desk and removed the glasses he’d worn specifically to examine them. “There’s a blood clot inside your skull. When was the last time you hit your head?”
Ning Guiqu was stunned.
He had a brain blood clot? And he hit his head? But he hadn’t!
Ning Guiqu’s face was full of innocence, while Lu Yuan slightly furrowed his brow.
Seeing this, the doctor said, “Can’t remember? Your memory seems to be affected. Have you felt like you’ve forgotten some things recently?”
Forgotten some things? He actually had! The events before he transmigrated into the book had become somewhat blurry. He’d thought it was a side effect of transmigration, but was it because of the brain blood clot?
If so, it would scientifically explain his forgetting of pre-transmigration events.
Ning Guiqu hesitantly nodded, “Yes. But I haven’t hit my head recently.”
The doctor rephrased his question. “When was the last time you felt severe pain in your head?”
Ning Guiqu pondered.
The last time…
Suddenly, it dawned on him. He knew! When he first transmigrated, he woke up in the original owner’s bed with a slight headache. But he’d dismissed it as a transmigration side effect and hadn’t thought much of it.
If that was the case, the original owner must have fallen and hit his head, causing Ning Guiqu to transmigrate. But since the fall wasn’t severe and there was no visible bleeding, Ning Guiqu hadn’t paid attention. The blood clot had already formed by then, gradually affecting his memory.
Ning Guiqu quickly said, “On the 9th of last month, I woke up with a bad headache. Doctor, how should this be treated?”
The doctor replied gently, “For now, we wait for the blood clot to dissipate. If your memory returns after that, no treatment will be necessary beyond some medication. If not, we’ll reassess based on your condition. Come back next month for another scan, and I’ll check on the blood clot’s progress.”
Ning Guiqu nodded seriously.
The doctor wrote a prescription and handed it to Ning Guiqu.
“These are mild sedatives that will also help protect your brain. I don’t recommend taking any other medications for now.”
Ning Guiqu continued to nod earnestly.
Lu Yuan glanced at the doctor, who was about to stand up but sat back down.
After leaving the consultation room, Ning Guiqu noticed Lu Yuan’s silence and gently bumped his shoulder. “The doctor said the memory loss is due to the blood clot. It’s just that my pre-transmigration memories are a bit fuzzy, not that my brain is damaged. It’s different from what you thought!”
“I should thank you for your guess, or I wouldn’t have known about the blood clot. I won’t hold it against you for saying there was something wrong with my brain,” Ning Guiqu said magnanimously.
Lu Yuan lowered his gaze without saying anything, leaning against the wall near the consultation room with a bland expression. “Go get your medicine. I’ll wait for you here.”
??
After saying so much, this was Lu Yuan’s response? Ning Guiqu stared at Lu Yuan for a few seconds, feeling something was off. So, Genius Xiao Qu went to get the medicine alone.
Once Ning Guiqu was out of sight, Lu Yuan re-entered the consultation room.
The doctor was still inside and, seeing Lu Yuan enter, teased, “Your aunt said you’d be single for life, but I didn’t expect you to find a boyfriend so quickly. That kid is your partner, right?”
Lu Yuan didn’t deny it and merely hummed in response.
The doctor smiled. “So, is there anything else you want to ask me? His condition isn’t too severe. Although he’s lost his memory, he’s still quite optimistic. The area of clot isn’t large, so there’s no need to worry too much.”
Lu Yuan felt his uncle still didn’t understand the full situation. He revealed more about Ning Guiqu’s condition, saying softly, “It’s not just memory loss. There’s actually a bit of a problem. He’s been under the mistaken impression that he’s transmigrated into a novel.”
The doctor opened his thermos, took a sip of water, and asked, not quite understanding, “What do you mean by transmigrating into a novel?”
Lu Yuan explained to the middle-aged doctor in simple terms, “Basically, he thinks our world is a romance novel he’s read, and he’s transmigrated into the novel’s world, becoming the villain who interferes with the main characters’ love story.”
The doctor was stunned for a few seconds, then muttered, “A villain? Interfering with a love story? It doesn’t sound like a very proper book, does it?”
Lu Yuan’s forehead was covered in black lines. “…Uncle, I’m not joking.”
The doctor became serious, thinking for a moment before saying, “These symptoms sound very much like a mental health issue. It’s similar to how some mentally ill patients might believe they’re Spider-Man saving the world. Xiao Ning, right? Xiao Ning believes he’s the villain from a book. However, we’d need a psychiatric diagnosis to be sure. But given the current situation with the clot on his brain, it could still be a memory-related issue. For example, he might have been reading something before hitting his head, or he might have had some fixation on the idea of transmigrating into a novel. So, for now, we still need to wait for the clot to subside. It might resolve itself after that.”
Lu Yuan’s expression was serious. “So, should we take him to see a psychiatrist now?”
The doctor countered, “Would he be resistant to the idea that he might have a mental health issue?”
Lu Yuan replied helplessly, “If he wouldn’t be, I wouldn’t be telling you this in secret. He’s convinced he’s transmigrated.”
The doctor thought for a moment, then asked, “Is he emotionally stable right now? Since he thinks he’s a villain, has he exhibited any antisocial behavior?”
Lu Yuan: “No.”
The doctor: “In that case, I wouldn’t recommend it at present. With the clot on his brain, we can’t risk overstimulating him. We can first try to find the cause of his memory problems. If he doesn’t return to normal after the clot subsides, then we’ll need to transfer him to psychiatry. The treatment will need to be targeted. We can discuss it further at that time.”
Lu Yuan nodded.
The doctor sighed, “Let’s hope it’s just a memory issue. If it involves mental health, I’m afraid the situation could become serious in the future. You won’t abandon him then, will you?”
Lu Yuan’s mouth twitched as he calmly replied, “Am I sick?” He had finally managed to win over his boyfriend; why would he abandon him now? Did they think he had nothing better to do?
The doctor: “…..”
Lu Yuan glanced at the time and stood up. “I have to go. Don’t tell him about our conversation for now. He can’t handle that kind of shock. And don’t tell my family either. Thanks, Uncle.”
The doctor nodded once. “Understood. But if it’s confirmed in the end, we’ll have to notify his parents.”
Lu Yuan said nothing. As he left, he saw Ning Guiqu approaching from a distance, carrying medication. Lu Yuan took long strides toward him.
Ning Guiqu, with his incredibly sharp eyesight, asked suspiciously, “What were you doing in the doctor’s office just now? You didn’t go and tell the doctor that my brain’s messed up and I think I’ve transmigrated into a novel, did you?”
Lu Yuan: “…..”
He had to admit, Ning Guiqu could be quite perceptive at times.
Lu Yuan denied it. “No, I was just sitting inside to rest for a bit.”
Ning Guiqu scrutinized Lu Yuan carefully, but upon seeing Lu Yuan’s honest gaze, he believed him again.
“Let’s go then. Shall we have hot pot?”
Lu Yuan remained silent. Ning Guiqu noticed Lu Yuan’s increasingly tender gaze and couldn’t help but shudder.
“What’s with that look?”
Lu Yuan leaned down and hugged Ning Guiqu, his voice growing deeper and hoarser, “I’m sorry for constantly questioning you about transmigrating into a novel earlier.”
????
Ning Guiqu was confused. A passerby even glanced at him and Lu Yuan.
Ning Guiqu’s face slowly turned red. He tried to push Lu Yuan away but couldn’t budge him. However, he seemed to understand why Lu Yuan was acting this way.
“So now you think I’ve actually damaged my brain, and you’re pitying me, feeling you shouldn’t keep asking about the transmigration? I haven’t hit my head that hard! The doctor said it’s just clot, it’s memory loss. I really did transmigrate! And the clot has indeed affected my memories from before transmigrating.”
Lu Yuan gently hummed in agreement, his voice gentle, “I believe you.”
Ning Guiqu: “…..”
He clearly didn’t listen to a word.
As more and more people started staring, Ning Guiqu had no choice but to continue pushing Lu Yuan, his voice softening, “Let go of me first. We’re being treated like a spectacle.”
Lu Yuan let go of Ning Guiqu, but his dark eyes were filled with concern and sincerity, “Ning Guiqu, I won’t abandon you.”
Ning Guiqu was truly embarrassed.
What on earth was Lu Yuan doing in public?
Besides, the only flaw of Genius Xiao Qu was his vulgar alt account! But Lu Yuan didn’t think he was vulgar, so how could he possibly abandon him? If anything, he should be the one abandoning Lu Yuan!
Ning Guiqu kicked Lu Yuan’s pant leg, grumbling, “I feel like you’re the one who needs to see a doctor more than me.”
Lu Yuan hummed in agreement again.
?????
He’s still agreeing??
The one with a clot on the brain must be Lu Yuan!
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