Chapter Seven: A Call from Mother

“Oh right—if you have questions, ask Du Niang!!” A flash of inspiration struck, and she instantly felt revived.

One hand quickly reached toward the laptop’s power button, but the next moment it weakly withdrew, just about to press it. She scratched her head in frustration—of course, the internet had to fail at the most critical moment!

She pulled out her knockoff phone from her pocket. At a time like this, she could only make do with it.

She entered keywords like “gender” and “transformation” into Du Niang, but the results that came back were either reports about transgender people or medical explanations of sex and gender. Some searches even led her to a large number of gender-bender novels—so-called transformation novels.

There were also quite a few neurotic posts claiming that they had “transformed,” which excited Su Yuan for a moment, but once she saw the source—Tieba forums—she realized it was all just joking around. Her hopes deflated again.

“There are so many transformation novels on the internet—maybe I can use them as references.” After some thought, she decided that the most reliable sources were the protagonists of those transformation novels. She might as well learn from the experiences of her predecessors.

So she downloaded more than a dozen novels that were currently popular or had once been popular, preparing to combine theory with practice and create a theory of her own.

She loaded the novels onto her knockoff phone and read them from time to time.

Gao Jun and Ji Yehao didn’t return until after four o’clock. After playing basketball in the scorching heat, they were drenched in sweat. As soon as they came in, they grabbed basins and towels and headed for the bathroom to take showers.

At this moment, Su Yuan discovered that there were actually so many “people” on the internet who shared the same fate as her. Her mood had improved considerably, and she was even humming a little tune.

“Gao Jun, you’re not allowed to go out these next few days. Stay in the dorm and focus on working out the software,” Su Yuan said sternly, her eyebrows raised. Since the software wasn’t finished, there would be no internet. Naturally, she harshly criticized Gao Jun for his “neglect of duties.”

Ji Yehao also realized that Gao Jun had a software-writing task. He immediately drew a clear line between himself and Gao Jun, slung an arm around Su Yuan’s shoulder, and said, “Su Yuan’s right. Your most important task is to finish the software as soon as possible.”

Gao Jun opened his mouth, snorted, and said, “You want the donkey to run, but you won’t even let it eat grass. Work and rest in balance—that’s the true way.”

Su Yuan suddenly frowned—not because Gao Jun was being disobedient, but because of a hand resting on her shoulder. That hand had just been handling a basketball, who knew if it had been washed, and the strong smell of sweat made her uncomfortable.

She slapped the arm away and said unhappily, “Yehao, please move your salty pig hand away…”

“What did you say?”

Ji Yehao looked as if he’d heard the most unbelievable thing ever. He stared at Su Yuan with wide eyes, full of disbelief. He was the one with a bit of a cleanliness obsession—since when did Su Yuan become pickier than him? And his clean, masculine-smelling hand was actually being called a salty pig hand… Was there no justice left in the world?

“Su Yuan, three days without a beating and you’re climbing onto the roof now?” he threatened through clenched teeth. His left hand rubbed his right knuckles, making cracking sounds.

Gao Jun watched gleefully from the side, fanning the flames. “Looks like our Su Su’s wings have hardened—this former peasant wants to sing now. Yehao, what do you think we should do?”

“Family punishment!!”

On this issue, the two exchanged a look and achieved unprecedented unity on the revolutionary front. They closed the door and advanced toward Su Yuan step by step.

“Damn it!” Su Yuan’s face changed. She hadn’t expected to anger both of them by accident. Thinking of the so-called family punishment, her face instantly turned green.

After closing the door, Ji Yehao pressed both hands on her shoulders and shoved her down onto the computer desk, while Gao Jun grabbed her feet and stripped off her shoes. According to past experience, the next step would be “loosening clothes and undoing belts”—pulling off her pants.

In the past, Su Yuan wouldn’t have feared such minor punishment. Besides, even when they stripped her clothes, they never exposed her completely—her privacy was well protected. But now it was different. If she were stripped naked and something unusual was exposed, what would she do?

This time, Su Yuan was truly panicked. Facing the two roommates who were eyeing her like tigers, her eyes darted around as she tried to think of a way to escape their clutches.

Just then, her phone rang abruptly. To Su Yuan, it sounded like heavenly music.

“Wait, let me answer the phone!”

Ji Yehao and Gao Jun showed looks of regret and let her go.

Joking was joking. No matter how close friends were, there were limits to jokes. Of course, they weren’t satisfied with letting her off so easily. Just when Su Yuan thought she was finally safe, Ji Yehao suddenly hooked her under the arms, lifted her up, flipped her over, and pressed her face-down onto the desk again.

“Gao Jun, your turn!”

“Hey, what are you doing?”

“Nothing!”

Gao Jun made strange grunting noises as he strode forward, then brought his palm down hard on Su Yuan’s back. The blow almost made her cough up internal injuries.

“Cough, cough! That was too hard!” Su Yuan turned back and glared at him angrily.

“My turn.”

“Hey, hit lighter.” Knowing she couldn’t escape, she took a deep breath. If she held it in, it wouldn’t hurt as much. Just when she thought Ji Yehao would imitate Gao Jun and slap her hard on the back, a sharp smack sounded—but there was no pain on her back. Instead, her butt took a heavy hit.

“You jerk! You actually hit my butt, you pervert!!”

Su Yuan’s face flushed red. That hit was really hard. She jumped up at once and swept a kick at Ji Yehao, landing it on his calf. Before he could retaliate, she grabbed her phone and ran out of the dorm.

Only Ji Yehao and Gao Jun were left in the room. Gao Jun stared at Ji Yehao with his mouth agape, wearing an expression that said “you’re a beast.”

“You—you actually hit Su Yuan’s butt! I never imagined you’d be this shameless.”

After a moment, he leaned in with a lewd grin and asked in a low voice, “So, how did our Su beauty’s butt feel?”

Ji Yehao looked at his palm. That slap just now… actually had a pretty good feel. He flexed his fingers and bragged, “Not bad.”

“Animal!!” Gao Jun said with a look of disdain. But inside, he was already scheming: “Next time, I’ve got to find a chance to smack Su Yuan’s butt too. That way it’s fair.”

“You think I don’t know what you’re thinking? You’re the real pervert!”

The lewd smile on Gao Jun’s face froze. He encouraged himself, “Says the guy who just couldn’t forget the feel of a man’s butt.”

“Get lost! I’m not talking to you anymore. I’m going to take a shower!”

……

“Damn Gao Jun, hitting so hard! And damn Yehao, actually hitting my butt!!”

Su Yuan rubbed her sore butt while feeling the burning pain on her back. Those two animals—both of them hit way too hard! Could there be internal injuries?

She walked to the window at the end of the corridor. The phone was still ringing stubbornly. But when she saw the number on the screen, her expression froze.

It was a call from home!