Chapter 18 Chapter 18: It’s All Because of Hardship — Part 2
“Don’t be so sad,” Xu Yecheng said with a hint of exasperation, patting Zheng Wenxuan on the shoulder. “Besides… don’t you still have a ‘girlfriend’?”
Zheng Wenxuan frowned, looking confused. “What are you talking about? I don’t have—”
He stopped mid-sentence, suddenly realizing what Xu Yecheng meant by “girlfriend.”
“Like hell I do!” Zheng snapped, clearly annoyed.
Xu Yecheng couldn’t help but laugh at Zheng’s reaction.
After finishing the deletions, Zheng shoved the phone back into Xu’s hands, put on a “cool-and-don’t-talk-to-me” expression, and flopped onto his bed.
Liu Xianlin, left out of the loop, was utterly baffled.
“What’s going on?” He looked from Xu Yecheng to Zheng, who was already lying down. “Whose girlfriend?”
Zheng cleared his throat lightly and gave Xu a meaningful glance.
“Just… a close female friend,” Xu explained casually.
Liu’s expression turned incredulous.
“You actually have a *close female friend*?”
Xu Yecheng felt genuinely sorry for Zheng—and couldn’t hold back a snort of laughter.
“Go to hell,” Zheng grumbled.
“Little kids shouldn’t act all high and mighty,” Liu teased with a chuckle.
Xu Yecheng burst out laughing again.
Zheng decided he really didn’t want to deal with these two anymore.
Xu stared at the borrowed phone in his hands and sighed quietly. The whole commotion had completely wiped out his earlier urge to nap.
Still… it really hurt losing his phone.
He inserted both SIM cards, quickly logged into his social accounts, and immediately set up fingerprint and lock-screen authentication.
Dinnertime was still a while away, and he had a late shift tonight—he really should rest properly.
Clutching the phone tightly, Xu lay back down on his bed.
Should he get it repaired? But this phone had already been fixed twice, and the model was pretty outdated…
Getting a new one was out of the question—he didn’t have the money.
At that thought, a decision settled heavily in his heart.
He had to go back to work…
At this point, he didn’t care about dignity anymore—all he wanted was cash.
He opened his chat with the store manager and typed:
“Manager, I’m ready to come back.”
He hit send—and immediately felt a wave of shame.
Life was tough. When you’re desperate, you cross-dress for cash.
Thankfully, he had that cheat-like ability—otherwise, he might’ve had to sell a kidney.
The manager replied instantly:
“Great! I can’t wait for your cross-dressing look to absolutely stun me!”
Followed by an Anya smiley emoji.
Xu Yecheng thought the manager was acting suspiciously.
“So… I need to dress up properly before seeing you?” he asked, already feeling a headache coming on.
“Yes~ And if the event brings in more customers, there’ll be extra commission for you all!”
Xu was getting dizzy.
“When should I come in…?”
“Anytime! But preferably before next week—I’ll save you a spot. Don’t you dare ghost me!”
“Okay…” Xu hesitated before replying.
Now he felt even more anxious.
He was really going to wear women’s clothes?!
But wait—he didn’t even *own* any!
His head throbbed. He couldn’t possibly walk into a women’s clothing store looking like *this*—people would think he was some pervert!
He rubbed his temples—then suddenly had an idea.
He’d wear something slightly androgynous, go to a women’s store, and buy a basic set.
But then he remembered this morning’s incident.
Hold on—when he wore the mask and transformed into his “girl” form, he became significantly smaller…
He took a deep breath. Just then, a Taobao ad popped up on his phone. His eyes lit up—of course! He could just *order* women’s clothes online!
He opened Taobao and started browsing women’s fashion.
Then another serious problem hit him.
How was he supposed to take his measurements? He needed accurate sizing first. His brow furrowed.
Should he do it outside?
The only semi-private place he could think of was the restroom.
But it was a *public* restroom—he’d have to go in first, *then* put on the mask…
He thought it through carefully, but couldn’t come up with a safer plan.
The real issue was that the mask wasn’t something he could just take off at will…
The science building was usually empty—lower risk.
But was there a more foolproof method?
He put down his phone and sighed softly.
Wait—! The mask only fell off if someone called his *full name* out loud.
What if he recorded someone saying it?
“Xuan! Xuan!” he called out.
Zheng Wenxuan popped up from his bed. “What? Why’re you calling your dad?”
“Send me a voice message saying my full name,” Xu said bluntly, skipping all pleasantries.
Zheng blinked. “Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for my voice?”
Xu was speechless—but decided not to strangle him this time.
“Yes, yes! I’m absolutely obsessed with your voice, Master Wenxuan! Please, recite my full name and send it to me on WeChat. If you grant this humble wish, I’ll be forever in your debt, tears of gratitude streaming down my face!”
Zheng pondered for a moment. “Why do you sound like you’re about to die?”
Xu sat up and pulled back his bed curtain. “Just say it.”
Zheng still didn’t get why he had to do something so awkward—but hey, it was *Bao Bei Cheng* asking.
His paternal love for Xu Yecheng was as vast as a mountain. If he couldn’t even fulfill such a tiny request, what kind of father-figure was he?
Ah, fine—he’d indulge him!
Zheng suddenly felt incredibly noble.
He sent the voice message as requested. Xu received it and immediately jumped out of bed.
*Time to test it…*
He climbed down carefully.
“You…” Zheng’s expression instantly changed.
Xu looked at him, puzzled. “What’s wrong?”
“You’re not gonna go to the bathroom to… *you know*… are you?”
Xu stared at him in disbelief. “Can your imagination get any *worse*?”
Zheng looked innocently confused. “You just heard my voice and suddenly looked so happy…”
“For the love of god, stop being so full of yourself,” Xu groaned, genuinely nauseated.
“It’s your actions that are suspicious!” Zheng protested.
“I think it’s your mind that’s filthy!”
—
*What if I told you the one who’s about to transform… is actually He Xiaohan?*
Dude, if He Xiaohan changed, the title would have been better changed.
Damn, my English is really bad