Chapter 008: Surprise—I’m Your Roommate

When they arrived at the university gate, slogans and banners welcoming new students were visible everywhere.

Along the tree-lined avenue from the gate to the main teaching building, many clubs had set up tents and pop-up banners, actively recruiting new members.

Xia Chiyi led Zhou Zhexiao forward. Zhou Zhexiao was so quiet that Xia Chiyi had to look back every few steps to confirm the guy was still there.

They passed the Go Club, the Chess Club, the Film Studies Club, and the Photography Club. Xia Chiyi remembered his roommate, Little Fatty, saying that joining the right club could exponentially increase the chances of getting a girlfriend.

However, real school teams like basketball or badminton required specific registration. For instance, if the basketball team entered the divisional competition, the school would register the participants in the “China Student Sports Information Service System.” Therefore, recruitment for such school teams had a dedicated office and wouldn’t be found here.

The largest booth belonged to the Anime Club.

Although not a hardcore fan, Xia Chiyi couldn’t help but stop when he saw cosplayers with exquisite makeup.

“Wow…” Xia Chiyi’s eyes locked onto an Elven Queen. He tugged at Zhou Zhexiao’s arm. “So beautiful! It’s my first time seeing such a stunning elf! This cosplayer must be famous! I want to take a photo with her!”

“Oh,” Zhou Zhexiao responded, his eyelids drooped slightly, showing little interest.

“You really are a block of wood!”

Xia Chiyi thought: Look at that gaze, alluring but not tacky; that graceful figure; that elegant neck; those slender yet not weak arms… Xia Chiyi’s favorability towards the Anime Club skyrocketed.

“Excuse me, student, can I take a photo with you?”

The moment the Elven Queen made eye contact with Xia Chiyi, she paused ever so slightly, then smiled. “Sure, but there’s a condition.”

Her languid voice, deep with a hint of richness, resembled Cate Blanchett’s regal tone. Her eyes held a touch of seduction—it was just perfect.

Xia Chiyi felt as if his collar had been tugged by her gaze; she nailed the game character’s regal temperament perfectly.

Two other cute girls wearing cat ears crowded around with registration forms.

“Wow, you’re really handsome! Your eyes are beautiful and natural!”

“And your figure is amazing! A born cosplayer!”

“Ah… thanks…” It wasn’t the first time Xia Chiyi had been called handsome, but being fawned over by two cat-eared girls made him retreat step by step.

The elf walked over, smiling. “Still want a photo?”

Only then did Xia Chiyi realize the Elven Queen was wearing flats yet was still very tall, definitely over 180cm.

Are girls nowadays this tall?

“Mm…” Xia Chiyi nodded. The more he looked, the more familiar she seemed, but he wracked his brain and couldn’t recall where he’d seen her.

“If you can pick me up and do ten squats, I’ll take a photo with you.” The Elven Queen leaned in close, looking at Xia Chiyi with a sly smile. “Or can you not handle it?”

The surrounding boys started jeering.

“A man can never admit he can’t handle it!”

“Pick him up!”

“Wow, squats! That really tests waist strength! Click the top right corner to surrender!”

Xia Chiyi scratched the back of his head, a bit confused about the situation.

The Elven Queen sighed. “Every one of them thinks I’m heavy, saying it’s a sin for an Elven Queen to weigh over 45kg. No one has picked me up yet. Looks like I really have to go back to eating grass.”

“No, don’t diet. You’re healthy as is! I’ll pick you up!”

Unexpectedly, Zhou Zhexiao gently tugged at Xia Chiyi’s shoulder, frowning as if wanting to say something.

“Don’t worry, just ten squats. I can get back up!” Xia Chiyi patted Zhou Zhexiao’s hand confidently.

“He’s very heavy,” Zhou Zhexiao said.

“I can get up even if heavy.”

Xia Chiyi clapped his hands and said to the Elven Queen, “Let’s do this!”

The Elven Queen put an arm around Xia Chiyi’s shoulder. When Xia Chiyi lifted the person, his waist dipped forward—he almost threw his back out.

Huh? Why so heavy! Xia Chiyi vaguely felt tricked.

“Can you do it or not?” The Elven Queen whispered in Xia Chiyi’s ear.

Under everyone’s gaze, even if he couldn’t, he had to!

Xia Chiyi clenched his jaw, tightened every muscle, and completed three squats at a steady pace. Each subsequent one tested his full-body strength.

When the last one was done, he put the Elven Queen down and exhaled deeply.

Applause erupted around them, with cheers of “awesome” rising one after another.

“Not bad. If you don’t play basketball, you can go into weightlifting.” The Elven Queen flicked his ear.

“Huh?”

She knows I play basketball? Did she watch my games in high school?

“Let’s take the photo.”

The Elven Queen adjusted her hair accessories and beckoned Xia Chiyi over.

The price of this photo was too high; not framing it would be doing himself a disservice.

Xia Chiyi returned to Zhou Zhexiao’s side and whispered, “You really have a good eye, knowing she was heavy… almost killed me…”

“Because he’s a man.”

After saying that, Zhou Zhexiao pulled his suitcase and continued walking forward.

Xia Chiyi froze on the spot, struck by lightning, burnt to a crisp inside and out.

Fck! over 180cm… firm and smooth arm muscles… Adam’s apple…*

What “Cate Blanchett regal tone”! That was clearly a man’s voice!

Why… why am I so easily tricked!

Xia Chiyi, were your eyes eaten by a dog? How could you not tell that was a man!

The girls from the Anime Club were chatting around the Elven Queen, who looked down, smiling with evident delight.

“That first-year you just teased is really handsome, right? His eyes look like little peach blossoms; I really want to do his makeup.”

“And his legs are so long. Did you see his calves? I’ve never seen a guy with such beautiful ankles. if he wore boots to cosplay a hitman, he’d kill it!”

“Ahhh, even if he doesn’t join the club, guest appearances would be fine! He’s really handsome…”

The Elven Queen bopped them on the head one by one like whack-a-mole. “Restrain yourselves, face-connoisseurs. That kid is innocent; don’t scare him away.”

He glanced at Xia Chiyi. Sure enough, the back of Xia Chiyi’s neck was red as a tomato, and he was walking stiffly, same arm and leg moving together.

After finally finishing the walk down the avenue, Xia Chiyi took a deep breath and turned to Zhou Zhexiao. “Hey, keep this a secret for me.”

“Mm?” Zhou Zhexiao raised his eyelids, acting like a goldfish with a seven-second memory, having already forgotten everything that just happened.

“Just… the thing about me doing squats while holding that Elven Queen.”

“Why keep it a secret?”

“That was a guy. Couldn’t you tell he set me up on purpose?” Xia Chiyi wanted to cry but had no tears.

Zhou Zhexiao looked at Xia Chiyi, analyzing exactly what the Elven Queen had tricked Xia Chiyi into.

“You exchanged ten squats for a photo with him. Isn’t that a fair trade?”

Xia Chiyi took a deep breath. “This is like getting catfished in an online relationship. I’d rather the person on the other end be a sixty-year-old lady than a man!”

Zhou Zhexiao gave a meaningful “Oh.” “Since you were deceived either way, why care if it’s a sixty-year-old lady or a man?”

Xia Chiyi pursed his lips. His fragile heart took ten thousand points of damage. “I don’t want to talk to someone like you who doesn’t understand the pain of being catfished.”

“Shouldn’t you be happy?”

“Happy about what?”

“Besides me, you probably won’t find a third person in the whole school who can complete ten squats with an eighty-kilogram load.”

Xia Chiyi stopped walking and turned to face Zhou Zhexiao. Put that way, he actually felt somewhat comforted.

“Ah, true.” Xia Chiyi broke into a big smile. “Ningchang University doesn’t have a weightlifting team.”

As they walked, Xia Chiyi introduced Zhou Zhexiao to the library’s location, the school cafeteria, and the teaching buildings, finally arriving at the dormitory building.

Reaching their dorm room, Xia Chiyi unlocked the door and pushed Zhou Zhexiao’s luggage inside.

“Look, rational use of space. Bed on top, living space below with a desk and wardrobe. Ah… I forgot to buy you a small desk lamp.”

Zhou Zhexiao had just walked in when his forehead hit the upper bunk with a thud, startling Xia Chiyi.

“Let me see!”

Xia Chiyi hurried forward, lifting Zhou Zhexiao’s wispy bangs. Suddenly meeting Zhou Zhexiao’s eyes, Xia Chiyi’s heart felt like it had been lightly punched by a kitten.

Zhou Zhexiao’s good looks really had lasted from childhood to adulthood.

“I bumped my head too when I first arrived. Still hurt?”

Zhou Zhexiao remained silent, a hint of tears in the corners of his eyes. He must have been dazed by the hit.

Xia Chiyi covered the spot with his palm to soothe it.

Zhou Zhexiao closed his eyes, suddenly realizing he was being coaxed.

In the past, no matter how severe the injury during a game—ankles, ligaments, shoulders, or back—doctors on the sidelines would react swiftly, and coaches would look on nervously. Everyone cared about whether he could still play. Only in this moment did Xia Chiyi ask if it hurt.

He used to think he didn’t care about such pretentious, meaningless concern. But when Xia Chiyi covered his forehead, he suddenly realized… he actually wanted it very much.

He simply wanted to be cared for.

After a few seconds, Zhou Zhexiao raised his hand to cover the back of Xia Chiyi’s hand and mumbled, “Doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“Do you want to climb up and test it? If the bed is too short, we can discuss it with the school.”

Zhou Zhexiao climbed the ladder and lay down on the mattress-less bed, incredibly obedient, as if he would do whatever Xia Chiyi said. “Length is fine.”

“Mm, it should be 2.2 meters long. With a pillow, it’s about right. If you grow any taller, it’ll be cramped.” Xia Chiyi glanced behind him and noticed the bed opposite, next to Little Fatty’s, already had bedding, and a computer was on the desk. It seemed the fourth roommate had arrived.

Xia Chiyi sent a WeChat message to Little Fatty: [Fatty, our dorm is full. Can we have a group dinner tonight?]

Little Fatty: [Yeah, the new guy has lots of fans! Heard he’s an internet celebrity!]

Internet celebrity? How famous?

Suddenly, Xia Chiyi thought of something. He quickly climbed to the head of his bed and used a pillow to cover the Sheng Xingming poster.

Remember, Zhou Zhexiao was still fantasizing about being Sheng Xingming last month. What if seeing the poster triggered an episode?

Better cover it for now. When Zhou Zhexiao wasn’t in the room, he’d take it down.

But as soon as he turned around, Xia Chiyi met Zhou Zhexiao’s eyes.

The guy was standing by the bed, had seen the poster long ago, and watched Xia Chiyi’s entire futile attempt to hide it.

“Um… I have other posters… if you want, you can put one up too,” Xia Chiyi said sincerely.

“No need, I’m not that narcissistic.”

After speaking, Zhou Zhexiao showed no extreme reaction and continued unpacking his luggage.

Xia Chiyi scratched his ear, wondering what putting up a poster had to do with narcissism. Godly logic…

Good, good. It seemed the poster could stay at the head of the bed.

“Actually, what I really want is his player card from the year he won the championship.”

“Oh,” Zhou Zhexiao responded faintly, disappointing Xia Chiyi a bit.

As a fan of Sheng Xingming, can’t you be a little more excited?

Next, Xia Chiyi took Zhou Zhexiao to register, picked up the textbooks for the previous semester, packed them into the suitcase, went to the dorm management office to collect a set of bedding, strapped it to the suitcase handle, and walked back to the dorm.

While walking, Xia Chiyi was reading the freshman notice on his phone and almost crashed into another student’s pushcart. Zhou Zhexiao extended an arm to catch him, and Xia Chiyi leaned back, his back hitting the other’s chest.

The pushcart passed in front of them, its wheels less than a centimeter from Xia Chiyi’s toes.

“Thanks.”

“Mm,” Zhou Zhexiao’s voice sounded by his ear.

Xia Chiyi’s ear tickled. He hadn’t expected Zhou Zhexiao to have such a deep, resonant voice.

Back in the dorm, Xia Chiyi took out his spare sheets and duvet cover, first spreading the mattress pad for Zhou Zhexiao.

He stuffed each corner of the duvet into the cover, had Zhou Zhexiao hold them, and once the four corners were fixed, stood in the center of the room with Zhou Zhexiao to shake the duvet.

“Emperor Zhou, please open your arms a bit wider, like this—like measuring your wingspan!”

Only then did Zhou Zhexiao spread his arms and shake in rhythm with Xia Chiyi.

Sunlight streamed in through the window, tiny particles floating and scattering like quantum clouds. Xia Chiyi’s wispy bangs flew up with his shaking movements, revealing his beautiful forehead.

As they shook, the duvet cover smoothed out and adhered to the duvet core.

After tidying up simply for a while, it was 5:30 PM. Registration for various clubs should be ending.

The sound of a key turning came from the door. Xia Chiyi thought Little Fatty was back. Just as he opened his arms to welcome him, he almost crashed into the Elven Queen’s embrace!

“You… you… why are you here?”

“Surprise—I’m your roommate!”