Yan Chong, no matter how drunk he was, would not show it on his face, only that his reaction would slow down and he could only process limited information, so every word he said was particularly careful and solemn. Xue Liang could not bear his serious and dazed eyes, so he gave up struggling as soon as he entered the room, coaxing him to drink some water and coaxing him to bed.

"Go to sleep."

"Mm, you sleep," Xue Liang said, "Goodnight."

Yan Chong seemed to have no defense in front of him, whether it was drunkenness or other reasons, he obediently closed his eyes and fell asleep. He was also exhausted and soon his breathing became even and long.

Xue Liang, however, sat on the bedside all night, looking at the sleeping face of Yan Chong, he only felt a moment of heartache. Who could have thought that the first time he had a crush on someone seriously since he was a child was just a joke of self-romanticization.

Those seemingly invisible probes, those clever and funny pretenses... As he got closer and closer to Yan Chong, what kind of eyes would he look down at him with? What was the difference between him and that person surnamed Zhu with sarcastic words, and Han Bowen who pushed others into the water?

Both are stubborn, chasing, flattering, and the same...... foolish dreams.

People are often prone to extremes when they are extremely depressed, although Xue Liang did not have Yan Chong's family background, but he was also spoiled by his parents, after some time he felt that he could not stay here for a moment longer, he just wanted to leave immediately. But just when he got up, he found that one corner of his shirt was firmly held in Yan Chong's palm.

Xue Liang was stunned, then he was angry, and he tore back his shirt from Yan Chong. Yan Chong's hand was empty, as if he was aware in his dream, he immediately frowned and opened his fingers quickly, firmly grabbed Xue Liang's wrist, and pressed it hard towards his chest.

Xue Liang was about to fall on him: "......"

After this pull, although he could not run away completely, the vigorous heartbeat under his palm strangely extinguished the anger he wanted to burst out.

Xue Liang looked up to the sky and sighed, the blue veins on his forehead jumped, he took a deep breath and sat down again.

His temper came and went quickly, after the impulse, he soon realized that he should not be angry at Yan Chong, after all, the culprit was himself.

His rational mind told him that he should talk to Yan Chong as soon as possible, clear up the misunderstanding, and go their separate ways, each finding their own path. The wrong affection should not be allowed to continue. It needed to be extinguished early and losses needed to be cut in time.

However, Xue Liang is not a saint. He cannot "follow his heart without crossing the line" or "uphold justice and extinguish human desires". He can only grit his teeth and remain silent, passively waiting for the deadline.

So the next day, when Yan Chi woke up from his drunkenness, he opened his eyes and found Xue Liang, who had fallen asleep on his pillow.

Last night, he had fainted, vaguely remembering returning to the villa room with Xue Liang, but he couldn't remember anything else. When he asked Xue Liang, Xue Liang also said nothing had happened. However, Yan Chong was so keen and observant that he could see he was in a low mood, as if something sad was hidden in his heart. Not only would he not reveal a single thing, but he was even deliberately avoiding him.

Yan Chong narrowed his eyes but said nothing.

Xue Liang had stayed up all night last night and had only vaguely fallen asleep when dawn was breaking. On their way back, the driver had just started driving when Yan Chong ordered him to stop and to switch places with him so he could sleep in the back. Xue Liang was too tired to refuse and was stuffed into the car. With the warm blanket, he forgot everything and had a vague feeling that something had brushed his face before he fell asleep.

He slept soundly without any worries until the car drove into the community and passed the deceleration zone, and the car shook heavily. Xue Liang awoke but had not had the time to open his eyes when he heard Yan Chong's low voice from the front seat, telling the driver, “Stop at the bottom of the building, you go first by taking a taxi.”

The driver replied, “Then you…”

Yan Chong said, “He stayed up all night yesterday, let him sleep a bit more, until he wakes up, then I will drive back myself.”

Xue Liang closed his eyes tightly, not knowing what to feel. He pricked up his ears and heard the car stop smoothly, the engine turn off, and the driver get off and close the car door lightly. A crack was left in the window, and the cicada chirping and the rustling of the wind blowing through the leaves came through.

Only Yan Chong was still and silent, as if he did not exist.

Did he need to be so considerate towards a “canary” he had bought with money?

Yesterday, Xue Liang had only been depressed and annoyed, but after sleeping today and calming down, he pulled himself away from his biased perspective. To be fair, no matter what his identity was, Yan Chong had been nothing but kind to him. Even if Xue Liang looked back on their past interactions, he could not find any fault.

He suddenly remembered that once he had joked that the contract was a “slavery contract”. Yan Chong had calmly explained, “Don't worry, this is selling skills, not selling your body.”

There was once a precious opportunity in front of him, but he didn't cherish it. When he lost it, he regretted it deeply. There is nothing more painful than this in the world. If heaven could give him a chance to do it again, he would say three words to Boss Yan: "Excuse me for bothering you."

With his legs kicking and lying like a salted fish, tears flowed like a river silently in his heart.

The next evening, Xue Liang, with two huge black eye circles, appeared in the barbecue restaurant outside of X University’s South Gate. At the end of August, near the start of school, his roommates who were from outside of Beijing had all returned and they were in a hurry to take advantage of the holiday to meet up. As soon as Xue Liang entered the door, he was warmly welcomed: "Wow! We haven't seen each other in a holiday and our Brother Liang has evolved across species! Look at these eye circles, is this a giant panda?!"

Xue Liang's face showed a state of distress, and he mumbled: "Give me two sticks so I can skewer myself."

His roommates were shocked, and all gathered around to comfort him: "What's wrong? Has Guo Degang retired from the circle or has Yu Qian changed his career? Has he been cheated out of money and love or has he become a father?"

Xue Liang choked on his words and couldn't say "comrades, I've been kept by someone".

The other three people, Zhao Xi and Ouyang Dong who were watching the show, immediately became energetic and yelled: "What happened?!"

Xue Liang took a sip of beer to boost his courage, hesitated for a while, organized his words, and said hesitantly: "Assuming there is a man A, he mistakenly thought that another person B is a woman, and he treated him very well, but B is actually a man. So I want to ask—".

The other three people responded with a deep "wow".

Xue Liang said expressionlessly: "I want to ask, is A homosexual or heterosexual?"

Ouyang Dong raised his hand: "Question: Does A now know that B is a big-dicked cutie now?"

Xue Liang's face turned white: "No."

Zhao Xi weakly raised his hand: "I think, you should be concerned about what will happen to B after A knows the truth..."

With a thud, Xue Liang trembled and covered his chest, as if he was going to bleed to death in the next second. Chen Yuan hurriedly said: "No, no, no, your majesty, cheer up! You can't answer this like a math problem, one and two. This is a subjective question, the point is not whether A is homosexual or heterosexual, the point is... it's about this person B!"

The six eyes looked at him at the same time.

Chen Yuan swallowed hard and nervously chuckled, "Don't novels often write like this? 'It's not that I like men, it's just that the person I happen to like is a man.'"

Even Xue Liang was shocked: "Brother Yuan, what kind of novels do you usually read?"

Chen Yuan: "..."

As he pondered over Chen Yuan's words, Xue Liang seemed to have gained some enlightenment. He drank and thought, eventually getting drunk, but fortunately, he didn't go crazy or sing songs, nor did he spontaneously come up with some witty remarks. He simply became quiet, propping his head up with one hand, as if dozing off with his eyes closed.