MGRMFL Chapter 14

“It’s fine, we won anyway! Let’s queue again, come on.” Miao Xin stepped in to smooth things over. He muted his mic, planning to go over and comfort Qi Jingzhi, but then saw him staring at him with a look of quiet resentment, looking utterly drained, like every last bit of energy had been wrung out of him.

 

“Qi-shen… what’s wrong? If you don’t feel like playing, we can stop.”

 

Qi Jingzhi waved his phone in front of him, “Matching…” was displayed on the screen. Rubbing his temples, he said, “Just focus on playing your hero well.”

 

“Oh.” Miao Xin unmuted and said: “Let’s make this the last one, then I’m washing up and heading to bed.”

 

“You? Sleeping this early?” Yan Linjian said.

 

Both of them had their mics off earlier, who knew what they’d been talking about in private? Seeing how relaxed Qi Jingzhi had been during the last game only made Yan Linjian’s irritation worse. There was no way he was letting him off that easily.

 

Yan Linjian: “Let’s go for two more stars. Is that alright, little Moon?”

 

Qi Jingzhi instinctively wanted to say “sure”. “Su—” had already slipped out before he quickly shut his mouth and typed a reply on the tablet: 【Sure.】

 

“Then let’s keep going.”

 

Miao Xin looked down at Qi Jingzhi, who was lying on the bed looking utterly worn out yet still queued up as jungler, and clicked his tongue: Qi-shen, don’t love too hard.

 

The four of them played two more rounds, leaving Qi Jingzhi dizzy and lightheaded. He didn’t say a word in the entire last match, his full attention locked on the two devices in front of him.

 

Both the side-laner and jungler had outstanding results. Yan Linjian’s attempt to mess with him had backfired spectacularly, he gritted his teeth: “It’s late. Time to sleep.”

 

Then, after a long silence, Qi Jingzhi suddenly asked: “When are you coming back?”

 

His voice carried a hint of exhaustion.

 

Lying on his bed, Yan Linjian jabbed at Qi Jingzhi’s avatar on his phone: “Tomorrow or the day after. I still have class next week.”

 

“Alright. I’ll wait for you.”

 

With that, Qi Jingzhi quit the game and collapsed back onto the bed, completely spent.

 

Miao Xin poked his head into the curtain and whispered: “Qi-shen, you’re really not afraid Yan Linjian’s boyfriend will misunderstand?”

 

Qi Jingzhi kept his eyes closed: “What’s there to misunderstand?”

 

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. You dare say you don’t have any other feelings for Yan Linjian?”

 

“… Mind your own business.”

 

Qi Jingzhi rolled over, turning his back to him. Finding no fun in pushing further, Miao Xin left with his washing tub to wash up.

 

Meanwhile, Yan Linjian tossed and turned in his bed. Thinking back to how quiet Qi Jingzhi had been during the game, that flicker of irritation began to rise again.

 

What was that guy even thinking? Lied to him, and yet still dared to meet with him. Was he planning to rent someone to show up for him when the time came?

 

Over the next couple of days, Yan Linjian went over everything between him and Qi Jingzhi. Back in high school, they’d only talked online, and he’d never even told Qi Jingzhi his real name… Who could’ve guessed they’d end up at the same university!

 

Qi Jingzhi had even watched him go through so many relationships, and when he mentioned wanting to find his first love, Qi Jingzhi must’ve been laughing his head off inside, right?

 

No, no, maybe he was more shocked or angry. Suddenly finding out the person he’d been waiting for all this time was actually his roommate, Qi Jingzhi must’ve been very surprised.

 

So why hadn’t he shown any reaction at all…

 

Yan Linjian thought back carefully to Qi Jingzhi’s expression, it had been very calm, as if 【Lú Biān Rén Sì Yuè】 had nothing to do with him whatsoever.

 

He couldn’t figure it out, no matter how hard he tried. When they met in person, he was definitely going to ask about it.

 

So should he still go meet with Qi Jingzhi?

 

The thought popped up suddenly, and the shock nearly sent Yan Linjian rolling off the bed.

 

Qi Jingzhi had lied to him. Now that he knew the truth, wouldn’t meeting him just be letting him off too easily?

 

Yan Linjian punched the mattress in frustration, then saw a new message pop up on his phone.

 

Dog Moon: 【I’m kinda tired. Gonna sleep early.】

Dog Moon: 【You should too.】

Dog Moon: 【Good night.】

 

So this guy does get tired too, huh!

 

【Good night】

 

Yan Linjian furiously typed out the words, each letter practically punching a hole through the screen. But once the message appeared, it looked completely calm, even a little gentle against the lake-blue chat background.

 

Deflated like a balloon, he sank under the covers, phone in hand, wanting to complain to his friends, but this was too embarrassing to talk about.

 

After flipping through a few apps, he finally opened the school forum and typed in Qi Jingzhi’s name. Instantly, over a hundred posts popped up, most gushing about his looks, but nearly all were no longer accessible.

 

Qi Jingzhi didn’t like having his photos online, so he regularly took down any posts about himself. He had the skills for it, and no one could do much about it.

 

Yan Linjian scrolled for a while before finding one that hadn’t been deleted. No replies, just a post title using Qi Jingzhi’s initials, maybe that’s how it escaped being wiped.

 

【QJZ, the way you look at him is anything but innocent】

 

The title alone was suggestive enough to pique his curiosity. He clicked in, only to instantly regret it. The moment he saw the image, his face flamed all the way to his neck.

 

It was a candid photo taken during a computer class. Qi Jingzhi’s face took up barely a fifth of the frame, separated by a row of desktop towers. But the phone camera was sharp, so sharp that Yan Linjian could see the faint curve of Qi Jingzhi’s lips and the soft, bright affection in his eyes. He was resting his chin on his hand, head tilted slightly, gazing tenderly at the computer tower next to him.

 

From the photo, it looked like Qi Jingzhi was deeply in love with the computer. But the half of a face peeking out from behind that monitor was one Yan Linjian knew all too well, brows lifted and grinning like always, probably in the middle of sharing some random story he’d run into on the way.

 

Yan Linjian covered his face, then peeked through his fingers again. Was that really how Qi Jingzhi usually looked at him?

 

He tried a few more posts, but none would open, except one whose author he recognized: Jiang Mei.

 

Yan Linjian took a screenshot of the post title and privately messaged her:【What did you write in this post?】

 

Jiang Mei: 【Bro, it’s almost eleven. You know, normal men don’t text their exes at this hour, right?】

 

【I’m gay.】

 

Jiang Mei: 【………………】

 

Jiang Mei: 【You finally bent.】

 

【What was that post about? Why were you asking if people knew Qi Jingzhi?】

 

A few minutes later, Jiang Mei sent him a screenshot. The original post read: 【Does anyone know Qi Jingzhi? What’s his relationship with Yan Linjian? I swear there’s something fishy between those two.】

 

The replies below it read:

 

1L: This thread pops up every month. Answering again: they’re a real couple.

 

2L: OP, you’re done for. This post is gonna get deleted by Qi Jingzhi. He doesn’t allow anyone to talk about his relationship with Yan Linjian.

 

3L: If you ask me, it’s pure brotherly affection.

 

4L: Qi Jingzhi, ask yourself honestly. Is what you feel for Yan Linjian really just brotherly affection?

 

Jiang Mei: 【That’s all. I got curious about your relationship, so I went to ask. You and Qi Jingzhi are so well-known at school, always making it to the homepage every now and then, but I bet you’ve never actually seen these kinds of posts, right?】

 

Yan Linjian really hadn’t… At most, he’d only seen people teasing them for being too close, but never anything this explicit.

 

Jiang Mei: 【Your dear hubby[mfn]t/n: the author actually used 老攻 here, it’s like a word play. The 公 (gōng) in 老公(husband) and 攻 (gōng) in 老攻 have the same pronunciation. 攻 means attacker, in bl contexts, it means the top.[/mfn] went and deleted it for you】

 

【Don’t talk nonsense…】

 

Jiang Mei: 【You’re gay because of him, aren’t you? I noticed back at the bar, the way he looked at you wasn’t how someone looks at a friend. While I was talking to you, I nearly got skewered by his gaze. You’re just too dense to notice.】

 

【Personal attack rejected】

 

Jiang Mei: 【Out of the five boyfriends I’ve dated, three turned out to be gay. I’m practically running a Gay Men Pier at this point 🙂 】

 

Jiang Mei: 【Forget it, I’m getting mad just talking about this. Here, I’ll send you a document compiled by some gay guys from the art academy. You should learn your lesson.】

 

After that, she didn’t reply to Yan Linjian again. Yan Linjian saved the document, then went back to browsing the forum. He dug around for a while and found a few more scattered photos of Qi Jingzhi. Wherever Qi Jingzhi appeared, he was almost always there too, but it was never his full face. In every single picture, Qi Jingzhi was looking at him, focused, eyes fixed on him and nowhere else.

 

Before he knew it, it was already midnight. The more Yan Linjian looked, the more awake he became. He tossed his phone aside, stared at the ceiling, and let out a long sigh.

 

What on earth was Qi Jingzhi thinking?

 

He would be going back to school tomorrow.