Chapter 22 Chapter 22: A Man's Romance
Xu Yecheng stood under the eaves, watching as the rain outside grew heavier and heavier. He let out a helpless sigh, his gaze fixed on the soaked ground, his mood sinking even further.
*Soaked through…*
He tugged at his sopping clothes. The icy chill clung to his skin, his garments plastered uncomfortably against his body. He never expected the rain to pour down this hard.
*Look at me—drenched like a drowned rat.*
The thought only deepened his irritation.
He needed to get back to his dorm to shower and change, so he pulled out his phone and checked the time—only half an hour left before his shift started.
Suddenly, he didn’t want to go at all.
But he had no money. He *had* to go...
Just then, the rain seemed to intensify even more.
His eyes grew hazy. He wrung out his shirt with his hands, strands of wet hair plastered to his forehead. Too exhausted to care, he stared blankly at his phone, silently praying for the rain to ease up.
A few minutes passed. The downpour finally began to lighten. Xu Yecheng took a step forward, ready to dash back to his dorm—when he felt a tap on his shoulder.
He turned around.
There stood that familiar, calm face—He Xiaohan. His deep-set eyes looked straight into Xu Yecheng’s, his high nose bridge and slightly upturned eye corners giving him an elegant air. A faint smile played on his lips.
“Brother Cheng,” He Xiaohan said, “share an umbrella?”
Xu Yecheng blinked in surprise. Before he could react, He Xiaohan had already leaned in, draping an arm casually over his shoulder.
“I’m completely soaked,” Xu Yecheng reminded him gently.
“No problem,” He Xiaohan replied, already striding forward. Xu Yecheng, still a little dazed, followed a step behind.
“Weren’t you supposed to have left ages ago?” Xu Yecheng asked, perplexed.
“Yeah,” He Xiaohan answered. “Saw you didn’t have an umbrella, so I came back for you.” His voice dropped slightly, but carried a playful lilt.
“It’s too late now—I’m already washed away,” Xu Yecheng joked with a laugh.
Maybe it was He Xiaohan’s natural charisma, but the guy always wore that ever-smiling expression—whether genuine or not, it never failed to lift Xu Yecheng’s spirits a little.
And honestly, He Xiaohan wasn’t hard on the eyes either. Pleasant to look at, for sure.
“But isn’t it still better than walking back in the rain alone?” He Xiaohan added.
“…Thanks,” Xu Yecheng said after a brief pause.
“Heading back to your dorm?”
“Yeah,” Xu Yecheng nodded. “Where else would I go like this? Soaked to the bone.” His expression soured slightly with resignation.
“We could take a romantic stroll around the track instead. Doesn’t that sound poetic?” He Xiaohan teased.
Xu Yecheng really couldn’t figure this guy out. “Romantic? Between two grown men?”
“Romance isn’t about gender—it’s about atmosphere, a state of mind. Freedom. Poetry,” He Xiaohan explained patiently.
Xu Yecheng chuckled again, realizing it was just a joke.
“If you get soaked too, I’ll go for that ‘romance’ with you.”
“Forget it. I just changed clothes,” He Xiaohan deadpanned.
Xu Yecheng burst out laughing. “You’re ridiculous.”
Honestly though, this little exchange did lift his earlier gloom quite a bit.
“Let’s hurry,” He Xiaohan said, glancing up at the sky. “Rain might pick up again.”
“I think I’ve got longer legs,” Xu Yecheng quipped, quickening his pace to match He Xiaohan’s.
*He really comes through when it matters most,* Xu Yecheng thought inwardly.
His feelings grew complicated again.
He Xiaohan… If only he didn’t have that fickle, flirtatious side, Xu Yecheng would’ve thought there was nothing wrong with him at all.
---
Back in the dorm, Zheng Wenxuan and Liu Xianlin were just about to head out when the door creaked open. They turned and froze at the sight of Xu Yecheng—dripping wet, looking like a drowned chicken.
“You forgot your umbrella?” Zheng Wenxuan asked blankly.
“Yeah, didn’t check the weather before leaving,” Xu Yecheng mumbled, walking over to his closet. He pulled out a change of clothes, rolled them up, and headed straight into the bathroom.
...
That night, Xu Yecheng didn’t fall asleep until around midnight—but still set his alarm for 7 a.m.
The reason? Fewer people on campus that early.
When the alarm rang, his mind was still foggy, but his body automatically sat up. Exhaustion weighed heavily on him, and his mood felt like a chicken coop ravaged by a weasel—all feathers, no order.
He ran a hand through his messy hair. The dorm was pitch-dark; his three roommates were still fast asleep, Zheng Wenxuan and Liu Xianlin snoring rhythmically in harmony.
Moving quietly, he slipped out of bed, changed out of his sleepwear, grabbed the mask, and sneaked out.
Glancing at the soft measuring tape in his hand, he yawned lazily, wondering how long it had been since he woke up this early.
The campus was vast, but Xu Yecheng always walked—unlike He Xiaohan, who had a bike. Bikes were convenient, sure, but they cost money. And money was something he didn’t have.
He passed through the grove usually bustling with couples, now quiet except for the occasional sparrow fluttering from the treetops.
The campus was serene in the early morning. Xu Yecheng strolled slowly along the pebble path. As he passed the front of the academic building, sunlight hit the fountain, casting a shimmering rainbow across the spray.
At the end of the path, a cleaning auntie set down her broom, sat by the flowerbed, and took a long sip from her water bottle.
Just like that, Xu Yecheng’s irritation melted away. Peace settled over him, as gentle as the morning light.
He slipped into the science building and climbed the stairs. The whole place was eerily silent. His mind wandered to those ghost stories he sometimes saw on short videos—though he never really believed them…
But then again, the mask he held in his hand was proof enough that the supernatural might just be real.
A chill ran down his spine.
Every footstep echoed through the empty stairwell.
*Blast this—just get it over with and leave.*
He climbed a few more floors and peered down the pitch-black corridor. At the far end, a pale, ghostly figure stood out sharply against the darkness.
His scalp prickled.
He squinted—only to realize it was just a human skeleton model used for anatomy class.
“Damn it—who leaves that right by the door?” he muttered under his breath, letting out a sigh of relief.
He hurried into the restroom.
The lighting inside was slightly better than the corridor. Xu Yecheng stepped into a stall in the men’s bathroom, put on the mask—and instantly, his clothes went slack as his body transformed.
“This really is such a hassle…” he sighed, his voice emerging now as clear and melodious as a songbird’s chirp.
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