### 110. The Roommate’s Defense
==============================
Getting the cat vaccinated and checked out didn’t cost as much as Lin Nan had imagined—only about three hundred bucks. The medical examination revealed that Cola was all good, though slightly over-nourished with a case of indigestion.
Lin Yuan was to blame for that, occasionally treating Cola to fancy cat food and nutritional paste. To Lin Nan, cat food that cost as much as his own meals was downright extravagant; getting one can a week was a good deal!
I mean, he wasn’t a cat slave or anything. He felt there was no need for Cola to eat better than he did. Compared to those poor cats in the countryside munching on leftovers, Cola was living the high life.
When he returned to the dorm with the cat, he noticed a few unfamiliar classmates hanging around.
Lin Nan paused at the door, pretending he didn’t see them, then strutted in with the cat and plopped down in his seat.
These classmates were friends of Chen Yao and Tu Junhui, a casual gaming crew more than anything else.
Lin Nan wasn’t particularly fond of these classmates; they were all shifty-eyed, practically clones of Dong An. Having faced bullying back in middle school, he had a natural aversion to this type.
There was no way he could befriend people like that! And just like that, Dong An was still outside of his friend zone.
He innocently sat at his desk, searching for some interesting anime on his computer, while keeping an ear on their chatter with Tu Junhui.
“Junhui, your team is playing the finals next week, right? Don’t forget to buy us dinner when you win!”
“Yeah! Let’s go out for some food and drinks! It’s been ages since we hung out!”
“Hey, that roommate of yours, Lin Nan, isn’t a girl, is he?”
The moment Lin Nan heard this, he perked right up.
“He’s male.” Tu Junhui leaned back in his chair, fishing out a pack of cigarettes to share. “Let’s smoke on the balcony later.”
“Male? A girl-boy?! ” One person exclaimed, wide-eyed.
Lin Nan’s expression darkened at that. Just as Tu Junhui popped open the cigarette box, he paused, looking over at Lin Nan.
“I thought he looked like a girl!”
Another classmate chimed in, “You know, the term ‘boyish beauty’ exists for a reason, right?”
They burst into laughter, but their amusement didn’t last long. Their smiles gradually disappeared as they realized Tu Junhui was not amused.
His face turned the color of charred coal, and he snatched the cigarette box back, rising slowly as the two-hundred-pound mountain of a man loomed over them like a Demon King’s shadow.
“Enough of this! Get out of here! So d*mn frustrating!” he barked.
“It was just a joke!”
“Just a joke?!” Tu Junhui shoved the guy, sending him staggering into the ladder next to Lin Nan, causing Lin Nan to puff up like a startled cat.
“What the heck?!” Tu Junhui spat as he rolled up non-existent sleeves, “If I see you in my dorm again, you’re getting a beating!”
The others, with some reluctance, muttered explanations, “It was just a joke; we won’t do it again.”
“Scram!” Chen Yao suddenly intervened, catching their attention. They turned to see him holding the dumbbell Tu Junhui had left in the dorm last semester.
He had stayed quiet, probably because he was wary that fewer people would mean less chance in a fight. He had to dig out the dumbbell for intimidation.
These guys were all tall and skinny, with the one chubby guy barely reaching Lin Nan’s height. They exchanged glances between the towering Tu Junhui and the well-built Chen Yao. With dark, downcast faces, they shuffled out of the dorm, not forgetting to slam the door on their way out with a parting insult: “You’ll pay for this!”
“Yeah, you’d better skedaddle!” Tu Junhui cursed as they fled.
Still trembling from the door slam, Lin Nan finally collected himself, glancing at Chen Yao and then at Tu Junhui, scratching his head in confusion.
What just happened? Why did it get so heated? Even Chen Yao was ready to throw fists?
As he watched the fuming Tu Junhui head out to the balcony for a smoke, and saw Chen Yao put the dumbbell back in the corner, it dawned on him that they might be defending him.
Now, Chen Yao defending him was all fine and dandy, considering they’d been pals since middle school. But Tu Junhui… this guy teased him the most, yet when someone else said something, he was the one reacting the fiercest.
Lin Nan felt weirdly happy about it—like finding a twenty-dollar bill in an old coat pocket.
It was getting late, and classes were on the horizon. Tu Junhui took a quick smoke break and rushed to his bed wearing nothing but his boxers, tucking himself in. Chen Yao, stifling yawns, prepped for one last round of Civilization VI before crashing. Xiong Da had already curled up on his bed, gaming away with his “wife,” King Arthur, chilling beside him.
Meanwhile, Lin Nan wasn’t feeling drowsy yet. After a few days of emotional turmoil, he had been sleeping early. Despite today’s upsets, it was still a day that ended decently.
“Hey, Lin Nan,” Chen Yao suddenly perked up from his game, “What do you think about trying to stream while gaming?”
“Streaming?” Lin Nan shook his head vigorously. “My computer can barely handle gaming, let alone streaming!”
“I’m not saying to game; just chat with people! Play a few rounds of斗地主 (Landlord) or something,” Chen Yao coaxed. “In the last couple of years, cross-dressing streamers have gotten super popular. I think you could fit right in without even using a beauty filter!”
Lin Nan scoffed, “Come on, I know what I look like!”
Sure, he had become more feminine-looking lately, even kind of resembling an official girl at this point. But still, at his core, he was a dude. No amount of magical beautifying could compare to those online girls decked out in full glam.
He had some self-esteem issues and would often find himself unwittingly comparing himself to the stunning photos of beauties online. No way could he compete! In real life, he hardly ever saw a girl who looked better than him.
“I think it’s a go!” Xiong Da suddenly piped up, raising his hand, “I’m voting for Lin Nan to stream!”
“I think it’s a bad idea! Our Lin Nan is the dorm flower! How could we let him go out there flaunting himself?!” Tu Junhui declared with righteous fervor. “How about you practice in the dorm first? When we all agree you’ve got the potential to be a big streamer, then you can go live!”
Practice?
Lin Nan paused, quickly googling to find out what this was about. Turns out, it was a song that started with a sound resembling a train horn, commonly played during dance streams, where dancers always wore as little as possible to show off their moves. The racier, the better.
“Then I can just create a shadow clone! Dance a little, and I’ll be rolling in the bucks!” Tu Junhui chuckled deviously.
“No interest whatsoever!”
He had a rare moment of resisting the money-making temptation.
Mainly, he thought he couldn’t possibly look as good as those professional female streamers. If they didn’t watch because he didn’t measure up, it would be awkward. If they did tune in, he’d feel embarrassed; it just wasn’t a realm he should be dabbling in.
Besides, the reputation of female streamers was not exactly stellar.
