Chapter 20, Chapter 20: Or are you homophobic?
Gu Shiyue had just seen the message; he only glanced at the post title and hadn't clicked to read it yet.
Jiang Luo hesitated for a long time while holding his phone, and finally mumbled a reply: I sent it to the wrong person, senior.
Gu Shiyue knew those two messages were sent to him, but he asked knowingly: "Weren't they sent to me?"
Jiang Luo honestly replied: It was sent to you. I didn't send it to the wrong person, I sent it to the wrong thing.
It seemed that Gu Shiyue hadn't opened the post yet, so Jiang Luo felt relieved and happily typed a reply: It's nothing, it's not important.
He thought he could just laugh it off and move on, but Gu Shiyue replied: Send it again.
Jiang Luo: It's really not important... It's okay if you don't look at it.
Gu Shiyue: Is it because it's unimportant, or because you don't want me to see it?
Jiang Luo felt guilty under his question and didn't know how to answer. Gu Shiyue was so smart, lying wouldn't work, so she might as well be honest.
Jiang Luo: If I say I don't want you to see it, can you not watch it?
Gu Shiyue: No
Jiang Luo was out of ideas and replied with a "[choose to die]" emoji.
Gu Shiyue: Tell me about it.
Gu Shiyue: Reasons for not wanting me to see
Jiang Luo: The comments section... is too inappropriate. I'm afraid you'll be unhappy if you read it.
Gu Shiyue: Send it over
Jiang Luo had no choice but to forward the post again.
Viewing the comments section requires downloading software, which Gu Shiyue didn't have on his phone; opening the post automatically redirected him to a page where the software would download. He wasn't interested in the photos of himself posted in the main text; he was just curious about what in the comments section Jiang Luo was so unwilling to let him see.
Gu Shiyue scrolled down the comments section and glanced at it.
After Jiang Luo shared the post, there was no further activity; it was completely silent.
After Gu Shiyue finished the trial, he left the comment section. As soon as he left, the homepage automatically refreshed. With the help of big data, all the posts that appeared were related to Jiang Luo's autograph session.
The screen was filled with interactive videos from the autograph session. Gu Shiyue casually clicked on one to take a look.
——【[/video/] Original video straight out of the camera, no editing, no filters, no background music. Those haters who were stirring up trouble can shut up now. #LuoC##LuoC Autograph Session#】
Gu Shiyue glanced at the comments section.
Holy crap, that voice is so nice...
-It sounds so amazing! I almost fainted when I was there.
-My goodness, what an authoritative face...
-Hahahahaha, did those who said they'd die when Luo C was exposed get slapped in the face?
- He's really handsome, even more so in person than in photos. And his makeup is very light and natural, you can tell he has a naturally good figure. Sigh, I'll have to quit for a long time again.
-Just passing by, could you tell me which cosplayer this is? Any directions?
-I was incredibly sincere and dedicated! I responded to every single thing I said, and the experience was amazing. I was so moved I cried. Anyone who's been there knows how worthwhile this autograph session was. I'm already looking forward to the next one!
-Our Luobao is really, really good! [crying][crying][crying]
Someone posted Jiang Luo's account ID in the comments section, and Gu Shiyue clicked on the account's homepage to take a look.
Jiang Luo's account on this platform mainly posts her own cosplay photos, with almost no daily posts. Gu Shiyue scrolled down and even found a few cosplay photos of two people.
If you look closely, you can see that the other person in the photo is Cheng Jiashu. Jiang Luo's homepage has quite a few of these duo cosplay photos, and they are mostly taken with Cheng Jiashu.
A photo of two people in an intimate pose suddenly caught his eye. Gu Shiyue's gaze stopped, and he squinted at the photo.
Jiang Luo tagged Cheng Jiashu in the main text; Cheng Jiashu's ID is "A Fake Tree." The post received a lot of likes, and the comments were surprisingly unified; scrolling down, there was a string of "Shu Luo 99," like a secret code.
Shuluo 99.
Gu Shiyue certainly understood what it meant.
Jiang Luo remained silent, and so did Gu Shiyue. The post had been up for a while, but he hadn't said a word or replied to a single message. Jiang Luo even wondered if the comments section had left him speechless, so speechless that he'd implicated himself.
Jiang Luo didn't want to be implicated, so she took the initiative to send a message: Senior, are you still there?
Gu Shiyue was at his uncle's place. He had just checked his phone while his uncle was on the phone, and was currently talking to his uncle and hadn't replied to Jiang Luo's message.
When Jiang Luo didn't receive a reply from Gu Shiyue after three minutes, her heart skipped a beat.
Could we really be implicated as relatives?
Jiang Luo sent another message: Senior?
There has still been no reply.
Jiang Luo climbed out of bed, holding her phone and pacing back and forth by the bedside, typing and deleting words in the chat box repeatedly.
Finally, I sent a message: "Senior, why are you ignoring me?" [bitter]
Jiang Luo paced back and forth in his room, holding his phone and staring intently at the screen, looking restless. Jiang Chen turned to look at him: "Brother, what's wrong?"
"Hmm?" Jiang Luo looked up. "Ah, it's nothing. I just ate too much. I'm just going to digest."
Jiang Chen was skeptical but didn't ask any further questions: "Oh."
"Did I disturb you?" Jiang Luo sat down on the bed. "I won't move around anymore."
"No."
With a "buzz," the phone vibrated, and Jiang Luo sat up abruptly.
Gu Shiyue: I didn't check my phone just now.
Gu Shiyue: What's wrong?
Jiang Luo: You haven't replied to my messages, I thought you were implicating me TvT
Gu Shiyue: What bad thing have you done that I'll hold you accountable?
Jiang Luo: No, I didn't do anything wrong.
Jiang Luo: I was afraid that if you read the comments section of that post, you might get upset and start to dislike me too, and then you wouldn't want to hang out with me anymore. [bitter]
Gu Shiyue: Do I look homophobic? Why are you so afraid that I'll be unhappy?
Jiang Luo was typing when Gu Shiyue sent another message: Or are you homophobic?
Jiang Luo stared at the screen, stunned.
Jiang Luo: No, I am not homophobic.
Gu Shiyue didn't say anything more, only replying with an "Mm".
Jiang Luo stared blankly at her phone, somewhat bewildered by the question, and the conversation between the two ended there.
Jiang Luo sat there holding his phone for a long time, then clicked on the post again. He didn't care about netizens pairing people up or shipping them, so his first reaction when he saw the comments was that he was afraid Gu Shiyue would be unhappy. He didn't think about why the comments suddenly went off track and why so many people were shipping them for no reason.
He slowly scrolled down through the comments; the comments he had just glanced at were now clearly laid out before him—
"Their interaction was so ambiguous..."
Upon seeing this comment, Jiang Luo's ears inexplicably turned red, and she belatedly felt embarrassed.
What is this...?
Where is the ambiguity...?
Jiang Luo rubbed his ears, tossed his phone onto the bedside table, rolled over, and lay face down on the bed, pulling the blanket over himself and covering his face. He remained wrapped in the blanket like a silkworm for a while, then after a long silence, he suddenly poked half his head out from under the blanket, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Jiang Chen got up to go to the bathroom and turned around to see his brother curled up in a ball on the bed. His brother was acting a little strange tonight; he wondered what was wrong.
"Brother, what are you doing?" Jiang Chen walked over and asked, "Aren't you hot wrapped up like that?"
Jiang Luo glanced at him: "Xiao Chen, I have a question for you."
"What?"
"During the book signing event, when Gu Shiyue came on stage, did I look... weird?" He didn't know how to ask. He couldn't just ask, "Was our interaction a little ambiguous?"
Jiang Chen thought for a moment and said, "A little."
"What's strange about it? Tell me in detail."
Jiang Chen was like a blank sheet of paper, his mind as clear as glass, so naturally he couldn't explain it either: "...I can't explain it. Didn't you say yourself that you were scared?"
“Yes…” Jiang Luo said blankly, “I was scared…”
"Brother, what's wrong with you today? You're acting strange."
"...I'm thinking too much nonsense." Jiang Luo threw back the covers and got out of bed. "I don't want to think about it anymore."
Jiang Luo had said beforehand that he wouldn't accept flowers or gifts for this autograph session, so the fans sent him letters, filling a whole bag. Jiang Luo sorted them out and planned to read them slowly when he got home.
While organizing the letters, Jiang Luo found a gift box in his bag and realized he had forgotten to give it to Gu Shiyue. It was a small felted wool pendant he had made himself, intended as a belated birthday gift for Gu Shiyue. He had been too busy today and had forgotten about it.
Jiang Luo took out her phone and opened Gu Shiyue's WeChat chat. Their conversation had just ended on a slightly awkward note, which was why Jiang Luo couldn't calm down all evening; she felt like she was suspended in mid-air, unable to go up or down.
If this awkward situation continues, he probably won't be able to sleep well at night.
Jiang Luo wanted to break the awkward silence, so she used the excuse of forgetting to send a gift to Gu Shiyue and chatted with him casually as usual.
Jiang Luo: Senior, I forgot to give you the gift today =w=
Gu Shiyue replied after a while: What gift?
Jiang Luo: This is a belated birthday present for you. It's a little trinket I made myself. I was thinking of giving it to you today if you came to the anime convention, but I forgot. I can only give it to you after the holiday =w=
Gu Shiyue: I'm coming to get it.
Jiang Luo: Huh? Now??
Gu Shiyue: I'm outside, I'll pass by your place on my way back.
Gu Shiyue: I'll be there in an hour. I'll message you when I arrive.
While we were eating hotpot, Gu Shiyue received a call from his uncle. His uncle was back and had some business to attend to, so he would be staying for a few days. Liang Siheng usually stays in the top-floor suite of a hotel when he comes back for a short stay, which is more convenient. Gu Shiyue stayed with him after dinner.
While waiting for Gu Shiyue, Jiang Luo was pulled into Cheng Jiashu's room to play games. Cheng Jiashu's room was on the same floor as Jiang Luo's, making it easy for them to visit each other. Jiang Luo figured Gu Shiyue wouldn't arrive for another hour, so she played a game with Cheng Jiashu.
After finishing a game, Jiang Luo went downstairs to get the dried clothes. While he was getting the clothes, Cheng Jiashu, lying on the bed, felt sleepy, tossed his phone aside, closed his eyes, and fell asleep almost immediately.
When Jiang Luo got downstairs, he discovered that the drying function of his washing machine was malfunctioning. The clothes he took out were still wet, so he had to get a different washing machine to dry them again.
Gu Shiyue arrived ahead of time. He sent Jiang Luo a message, but after waiting for a while and receiving no reply, he made a voice call directly.
Cheng Jiashu had just fallen asleep when he heard his phone ring. With his eyes still closed, he reached for the phone on the bedside table. Still half asleep, he didn't realize it wasn't his phone. He squinted and randomly tapped the screen to answer the call.
"Hello?" Cheng Jiashu's tone was a little impatient, and his voice was hoarse from just waking up.
Gu Shiyue sat in the car, silent.
"Who is it?" Cheng Jiashu frowned, his eyes still closed.
Gu Shiyue could still recognize Cheng Jiashu's voice. He asked expressionlessly, "Where is Jiang Luo?"
A note from the author:
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The next chapter is going to be a paid chapter! There will be three updates tomorrow, and I'll update a little earlier, around noon. Thank you everyone for following along! [heart]
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