WAYCAV Chapter 59

Shen Nianjing ignored his speechless expression and just kept going. “You’re good-looking, you have a great personality, you learn fast, and everyone likes you. Any way you look at it, that’s main character material.”

The more he talked, the more worked up he got. “If you weren’t a villain, I definitely would have kissed you the moment I saw you for the first time. There’s no way I would have been trying so hard to avoid you!”

Su Zhiyan: “…”

“If you had kissed me the second we met, that would be sexual harassment,” he said calmly, looking at Shen Nianjing. “And honestly, I would have thought you were some crazy person who escaped from a mental hospital.”

Shen Nianjing went quiet. “…Okay, fair.”

Even though he felt a little speechless, Su Zhiyan had to admit… hearing that made him pretty happy.

But he was never going to say that out loud!

Su Zhiyan let the corner of his mouth curl up just slightly and looked toward the guy sitting quietly on the bench ahead of them. He was silent for a moment.

“Let’s go find out,” he finally said.

“Hm?”

“I think the differences between the dream plot and reality aren’t limited to just us,” Su Zhiyan said, swaying Shen Nianjing’s hand the same way Shen Nianjing usually did to him. “Go ask around indirectly.”

He thought socializing with strangers would definitely be easy as pie for Shen Nianjing.

Shen Nianjing looked puzzled. “Why ask indirectly? Let’s just ask directly.”

If they asked directly and got completely different answers, great. If there were similarities, asking directly would avoid minsunderstandings and any gaps in information, and it would also prevent unnecessary connections from forming.

As he spoke, Shen Nianjing pulled two masks from his pocket and handed one to Su Zhiyan.

Su Zhiyan: “?”

“Where did you get these?” He quickly tore open the packaging and put it on, covering his lips that hadn’t quite returned to their normal color yet.

Shen Nianjing’s eyes sparkled with pride and amusement. “Ever since we got together, I’ve just made a habit of carrying two in my pocket.”

Su Zhiyan said, “…Okay. Very forward-thinking¹ of you.”

The words came out a little forced, but Shen Nianjing took it as a compliment anyway.

“In the dream, Xia Shi is a second-year graduate student in the College of Finance who just came back from an exchange program.” Shen Nianjing quietly told Su Zhiyan the information. “In the original plot, by this time he should have already gone through all the obsessive pursuit and dramatic emotional mess with the other lead, Gao Yi’ang, and come back to lay low for a while.”

Gao Yi’ang?

Su Zhiyan frowned. “I think I know this senior.”

“He’s from Finance too. He came back last year and gave a speech in the main auditorium. I saw it on the university’s official account.”

He seemed like a pretty normal senior. Could he really do crazy things like chasing someone’s car at midnight and ordering a highway to be blocked off?

“I’ve never heard of any highway getting shut down,” Su Zhiyan said, his expression completely flat.

Shen Nianjing grabbed his hand. “Come on, let’s go find out.”

The two walked up to Xia Shi. Su Zhiyan smiled and greeted him, “Hello, Senior.”

His eyes naturally held warmth, and his easygoing, friendly face did all the heavy lifting. A few sentences in, and he and Xia Shi were already chatting like old friends.

Shen Nianjing stood to the side watching in amazement, his lips curving up slightly.

After knowing Su Zhiyan for so long, he sometimes found they started picking up each other’s way of handling things. Like just now, when he’d thought asking directly would be faster and more efficient. And like how Su Zhiyan had gotten better and better at talking to people.

Xia Shi was obviously very easy to get along with too. When he spoke, his tone was always gentle and unhurried. “That’s roughly everything you’ll need. The teacher will let everyone know when the time comes.”

“Okay, thank you, Senior.” Su Zhiyan sat very obediently next to Xia Shi and asked “very casually,” “Senior, do you know Senior Gao Yi’ang?”

The topic changed so abruptly it practically made a ninety-degree turn.

Shen Nianjing’s eyebrow twitched.

Su Zhiyan was still very much Su Zhiyan, even his “roundabout questioning” was this direct.

But still… he looked over at Xia Shi, waiting for his response.

Xia Shi’s eyes filled with confusion as he stared blankly at the two of them. “…Not really sure. I just heard there was someone in our department with that name before.”

He had only wanted to sit there for a bit, play on his phone, and then head to the group meeting. But then these two good-looking junior students suddenly cornered him with all kinds of questions, even randomly asking about a stranger’s name.

Xia Shi put on a pained expression. He was an introvert, please stop asking questions, he just wanted some quiet time to himself before the meeting.

Seeing this, Su Zhiyan nodded politely, “Okay, I was just asking casually. Thank you, senior!”

The two quickly bowed their thanks, then ran to the nearby milk tea shop, bought a drink, and shoved it into Xia Shi’s hands. Xia Shi panicked and tried to wave it off. “No no no, you really don’t have to!”

Su Zhiyan said, “It’s so cold today. The milk tea can warm you up. Thanks for answering our questions!”

Then the two of them bowed to each other and walked away in different directions.

Shen Nianjing thought, “…”

He tilted his head slightly and smiled.

Su Zhiyan didn’t understand what he was smiling about, “What’s wrong?”

Shen Nianjing’s eyes flickered, “Nothing.”

You’re just too cute.

On their way back, Su Zhiyan looked thoughtful, “It seems like the gap between the dream world and reality really isn’t small at all.”

“It looks like we really can freely and easily choose our own lives…”

Shen Nianjing saw his serious expression and couldn’t help but reach up to ruffle his hair, his gaze gentle, “Yeah!”

Then he said, “New Year’s is coming soon.”

Su Zhiyan was deep in thought when suddenly his head got ruffled and his train of thought was completely interrupted.

He said a little grumpily, “Yeah, so what, do you want me to wish you a happy new year or something!”

Shen Nianjing smiled and flicked his ear lightly. “Yeah, I want the very first New Year’s wish I hear to come from you.”

His eyes sparkled, “And of course my first wish will go to you too.”

Su Zhiyan let out a little “tch” and turned his head to dodge his wandering hand. “I’m not staying up for it, so just wait for your bright morning sunshine greeting at seven or eight a.m.”

“Then I’ll block everyone except you first, and after you send me yours I’ll add them back.”

Su Zhiyan stared at him. “…”

Shen Nianjing made a heart shape with his hands at his chest in response to Su Zhiyan’s look that said he was looking at a crazy person.

“Or there’s another option.”

Su Zhiyan listened silently, wanting to see what other nonsense he could come up with.

Shen Nianjing smiled and took advantage of no one being around to hug him directly, leaning close to Su Zhiyan’s ear, “Ms. Lin is going on a business trip for all three days of the New Year holiday, and my little brother is going on a school study trip.”

His voice dropped low. “I’m scared to be alone~”

“…”

I can’t even bring myself to call you out on that.

Su Zhiyan shoved him away with one hand. “If you’re scared, just sing some patriotic songs. Weren’t you going all out with those military anthems back then?”

Shen Nianjing: “…”

He pouted and trotted over to walk in front of Su Zhiyan, walking backwards while facing him to complain, “You just said you liked me and wanted to hug me, it was all lies.”

“Men and their mouths…” He tilted his head back dramatically.

Su Zhiyan: “…”

His ears turned red, but he didn’t take the bait.

Being alone in a room with someone he liked, it was fine before when they hadn’t confirmed their feelings. But now that he had, he still couldn’t just… let himself go that easily.

“Hey!”

Shen Nianjing was leisurely walking backwards when his body suddenly tilted back, looking like he was about to fall completely.

Su Zhiyan’s heart jumped. He reacted quickly and grabbed his hand.

The next second, the world spun. A sudden pull yanked him several steps forward, and he slammed into something with a loud bang.

By the time he realized what happened, he was already trapped in Shen Nianjing’s arms.

And the one responsible for all of it was looking back at him with victory shining in his eyes. He lifted both their masks aside and dipped down to press a kiss to the corner of Su Zhiyan’s mouth. “Take your pick, Zhiyan-gege. The free and easy kind.”

His eyes were so bright, like a happy little dog wagging its tail.

Su Zhiyan’s heart skipped a beat. He turned his face away, “Stop copying the way I talk.² You’re using it wrong.”

Shen Nianjing raised an eyebrow. “Am I?”

Su Zhiyan yanked his mask up to cover the bottom half of his face and said firmly, “Yes, you are!” Then he shoved Shen Nianjing aside and marched off ahead.

–

After New Year’s came finals week. In previous years, Su Zhiyan would just stay on campus, maybe grab a meal with friends and ring in the new year together.

This year was the same. His WeChat was flooded with invites to all kinds of New Year’s Eve events.

Su Zhiyan scrolled through the messages without much interest, turning them down one by one.

Wen Bei’s voice came from behind him, dripping with sarcasm. “Looks like I’m spending New Year’s Eve all alone~ Wow, how shocking.”

Su Zhiyan: “…”

Why were there so many crazy people around him?

He turned back to look at him, “If you want to be alone, you can go stay somewhere else.”

Wen Bei’s eyes went wide and his voice cracked, “?? You’re not going out on a date with Shen Nianjing for New Year’s?”

Su Zhiyan said, “We’ll definitely go out during the day. He might even come to our dorm to study for finals together.”

Wen Bei: “????”

Who studies for finals with their boyfriend on New Year’s Eve?

“You can afford to take one or two days off, you know. Nobody’s stealing that number one ranking from you.”

“Actually, Shen Nianjing is.” Su Zhiyan said casually.

Wen Bei: “…”

His voice trembled. “Don’t tell me… you’re going to… kill—”

Su Zhiyan turned and shot him a look. “You watch way too many dramas.”

Wen Bei relaxed and rolled his chair over to Su Zhiyan’s side, “Okay but seriously, why aren’t you spending New Year’s Eve with Shen Nianjing? Isn’t that like the one thing campus couples look forward to most? Aren’t you two in the honeymoon phase right now?”

“Wait, do you not actually like him?”

Su Zhiyan’s fingers paused over his messages.

He looked up. “Does not wanting alone time mean I don’t like him?”

Wen Bei choked. “Well, not necessarily.”

He’d been single his whole life. How was he supposed to know what it meant to want or not want alone time with someone?

“It’s enough that he knows I like him.” Su Zhiyan looked back down and kept turning down invites.

“That’s true…” Wen Bei nodded and rolled his chair back to play games.

But Su Zhiyan stared at his phone screen, lost in thought.

It did seem like he’d been subconsciously pushing Shen Nianjing away all this time…

“This is just the natural pull between two people in love. It’s completely normal.”

“You don’t have to feel embarrassed about it. Don’t hold yourself back from feeling it.”

Su Zhiyan gripped his phone tighter.

This was his first relationship, and he really couldn’t let himself go. He didn’t even dare face some of the emotions and reactions he had toward Shen Nianjing directly, always feeling somewhat ashamed.

“That’s because you like me.”

“Just like how I like you.”

Shen Nianjing’s voice came drifting back to him, soft and close, like he was whispering it right by his ear again.

Su Zhiyan pressed his lips together. He unlocked his phone and tapped into his chat with “A Certain Shen.”