028. Everyday Life in the Boys’ Dormitory
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To be honest, being around Li Na feels pretty terrible.
Lin Nan always thought that women were just a bundle of troubles. He used to waver on this assertion, but now he could confidently declare to anyone: “Women are trouble!”
Let’s set aside the feud between Li Na and Lilith; Lin Nan still can’t wrap his head around why she, as a Saintess, hasn’t figured out that he’s not the rebirth of Lilith.
Fortunately, all his worries about Lilith were pushed aside while he was feeding the kitten.
“Cola~ Cola, come here for some milk~”
Chen Yao shivered, casting a shifty glance at Lin Nan, who was squatting on the floor, bottle in hand, playing with a cat. But when he saw Lin Nan’s motherly gaze, he couldn’t help but think that this scene was actually quite lovely.
The only problem was that Lin Nan’s deep voice chanted those cutesy phrases, making it all feel hilariously out of place.
So men can be motherly too?
Not that he played games, Chen Yao turned sideways, propping his chin on one hand and watching Lin Nan feeding the cat not far away.
At that moment, Lin Nan seemed to radiate maternal instincts; despite having a more masculine face, the aura of motherly love made him oddly… charming? Wait, nope, that’s a dude.
Chen Yao felt conflicted; Lin Nan must’ve really messed with his brain last time. The shock of seeing him in girl’s clothes was one thing, but now he seemed to be acting more and more like a woman.
Plus, after witnessing the best side of Lin Nan before, Chen Yao couldn’t help but treat him like a girl.
He turned to Tu Junhui and Xiong Da, who were surprisingly calm, as if they quickly accepted Lin Nan’s transformation.
Perhaps the relationship wasn’t close enough to be best buddies, so they were keeping their reactions under wraps? It’s like if he saw a disturbingly ugly person on the street, he wouldn’t exactly wear his disgust on his face.
After Lin Nan finished feeding the cat, he put it back in its shoebox, but curiosity got the better of the kitten, which was now trying to escape.
He couldn’t do much but slide the shoebox with the kitten into an organized drawer, leaving a tiny gap for ventilation.
Such a small cat, if left to roam free, might get stomped on by a roommate or fall off the balcony. While the odds were low, Lin Nan didn’t want to worry day in and day out about the kitten’s safety.
With the cat situation handled, Lin Nan’s mind wandered. He glanced around at his roommates, only to find all three glued to their computers, with no chance to touch one himself.
Tu Junhui’s new computer was still on its way, and once it arrived, Lin Nan would finally have a computer to use!
As for paying him back… well, that’d take some serious budgeting. If necessary, he could always settle for a second-hand computer.
With nothing else to do, Lin Nan dragged a chair over next to Chen Yao, staring eagerly at his computer screen. Chen Yao peeked at Lin Nan beside him, sniffing the growing scent of milk in the air; he felt a bit uncomfortable.
“Want to play?” he clicked off the webpage. “Dong An just called me to play basketball.”
“Play!” Lin Nan didn’t even think twice about why Chen Yao was so quick to hand over the computer, his head bobbing in agreement.
Chen Yao stood up to make room, glancing down at Lin Nan rushing to occupy the computer, shaking his head as he opened the wardrobe to change into his basketball gear.
Being on the basketball team, he had a whole set of jerseys.
“By the way, starting next Tuesday, there’s a basketball game every week. Wanna cheer for me?” Chen Yao asked, stripping off his shirt and exposing his bare chest.
For some reason, he couldn’t help but feel like he was undressing in front of a girl.
Lin Nan looked up at him, brows slightly furrowed. “But I don’t really understand basketball.”
“Just boo when the other team scores, and cheer when we score. Can’t be that hard, right?”
“Isn’t that a good way to get hit?”
His attention shifted to something bizarre, eyes wide as he asked Chen Yao, “Why do you have hair on your chest? I never noticed that before.”
Chen Yao quickly glanced down at his sparse chest hair, then back at Lin Nan’s big, curious eyes. He hastily threw on his jersey and explained, “Everyone has that, right? Just look at Junhui’s legs—he’s got hairy legs for sure.”
It felt like… being seen through by a girl was kind of embarrassing.
“Really?”
Tu Junhui was not pleased, looking up and declaring, “What’s wrong with guys having body hair? You think everyone’s as smooth as you?”
Even though Tu Junhui spent all day in the dorm shirtless and decked out in oversized shorts, Lin Nan had never really noticed before. His legs and arms only had wispy hair, but that was in the past now.
Speaking of body hair, Chen Yao couldn’t help but check Lin Nan’s hand, and sure enough, this guy had no hair there! Smooth and fair. But even though Tu Junhui had a point, Chen Yao still banded together with Lin Nan, rebuking, “I never even noticed that—why are you inspecting him so closely? You got a crush on our Nan Nan?”
“Nan Nan is the dorm’s!” Tu Junhui shamelessly yelled back. “What do you mean your’s?”
“He’s always duo-queuing with me, helping me out in games, so isn’t he mine?”
“I even use his shower gel every day.”
Lin Nan was utterly bewildered as the two bickered back and forth about him.
“Wait, no wonder my shower gel runs out so fast!” Lin Nan interjected suddenly, disbelief painting his face as he stared at Tu Junhui. “You can afford a computer worth thousands, but you can’t buy a bottle of shower gel? Did you finish it right after school started?”
“I’m fat!” Tu Junhui argued back earnestly. “Bigger skin surface area means more shower gel needs to be used; it’s normal to run out fast.”
“He buys the small bottles,” Xiong Da chimed in, “He runs out in less than a week, and if I’m not mistaken, he’s also using my shampoo.”
Chen Yao crossed his arms, looking down at Tu Junhui with disdain. “You must’ve used my face wash too—which explains why the position keeps changing. Aren’t you ashamed?”
“Last time I saw him taking Lin Nan’s laundry detergent,” Xiong Da added with a straight face, clearly fed up with Tu Junhui commandeering his stuff, but too shy to say it outright until now, “And he often borrows my basin to do laundry.”
You gotta hand it to Xiong Da; he knew how to fan the flames beautifully and successfully ignited Chen Yao and Lin Nan’s anger.
Yet, amidst their verbal assault, Tu Junhui still wore a calm expression, defending himself, “It’s just roommates using each other’s things; there’s no need to buy new ones when we can share.”
Having spent a year together, Lin Nan knew how thick-skinned Tu Junhui could be. But now, witnessing him stay cool under fire from three sides, Lin Nan couldn’t help but admire his guts.
Maybe it wasn’t that he had thick skin; he was just shameless!
