"He's actually a woman?"
Shi Si scratched his head: "Huh? Isn't that right?"
"Whose young master is named Tangtang?"
After saying that, Shi Si glanced at Shi Youxi's pink hair. Even in the dimly lit room, the pink hair still shone brightly, just like the lights in his mother's nightclub. Shi Si shook his head and mocked:
"Oh, it's not impossible. Some young masters wear bright pink, and some are named Tangtang. What's so strange about that?"
Shi Youxi lazily raised her eyes to look at him: "You don't like it?"
Just as Shi Si was about to speak, Shi Youxi kicked over the documents on the low table, scattering them first. Shi Si looked down and saw several large characters that caught his eye:
[Shiye Africa Division Project Proposal - Shiye Company]
"You don't like my pink, but you must love African blacks the most. I approve, now get out of here."
Toki: "......."
Shi Youxi opened the door. "Before you leave, find out more about that girl named Tangtang."
Shi Si, clutching the project proposal, looked utterly dejected: "Investigate what? Gender?"
"......."
Shi Youxi sighed. He didn't want to stay with this person anymore; he felt like his IQ had dropped.
"Everything except gender."
Condis wouldn't be investigating Mu Yiran's affairs at this time without a reason.
Unless... he became curious about Mu Yiran now.
Shi Youxi's eyes darkened, and he immediately pushed open the door and left.
Shi Si let out a howl, and seeing the boy's departing figure, she seemed to remember something, and like a mother nagging a child going out to play, she shouted:
"Hey! Take your medicine on time, or I'll talk to Guan Shiyan! If you don't take it, I'll let him out to bother you! Also, you and that Mu Yiran are just putting on an act! Putting on an act!"
"Please don't let me take this too seriously!"
"...."
Shi Youxi entered the elevator. His projection was reflected on the smooth glass wall, along with the towering buildings outside. The lights of the nightclubs in the distance flickered frequently. He stared at his face, which appeared frame by frame, his indistinct eyebrows and eyes obscuring his features.
Is this fake relationship turning into a real one?
He really couldn't keep up the act any longer.
...
The dance was on a weekend evening, in the college's assemblies.
After the training course ended, Mu Yiran could change her clothes and go directly there. She originally thought that Shi Youxi would let her wear the fishtail dress, but the other party gave her a different dress instead.
When Mu Yiran came out of the dressing room backstage after changing her clothes, many teachers and students were already gathered in the makeup room touching up their makeup.
Ghost looked around and, finding Tessa not there, found a corner to hide in, planning to wait for Shi Youxi to arrive before going out.
As soon as she sat down, her elbow was violently bumped. Mu Yiran looked up and saw it was Sage, the teaching assistant in the same office. The two of them almost never spoke to each other in the office.
The woman was bending over, applying mascara with a focused expression, seemingly unaware of the people around her or that she had bumped into someone.
Mu Yiran initially thought it was an accident, until the second time the other person flung the lip gloss straight out of their hand.
Glancing at the drop of blood on her chest, Mu Yiran slowly stood up and said, "Secia, are you sick?"
The woman frowned and looked over, saying, "What are you talking about? You're the one who's sick."
Mu Yiran laughed: "Sorry, I saw your hands and feet shaking for a while, and I thought you weren't feeling well."
She handed him her lipstick, saying, "It seems the problem isn't with the person, it's with the lipstick. Would you like to use mine?"
Sedge's eyes bulged, and the next second, she chuckled to the women around her, who crossed their arms and scanned her dress.
"Sorry, I messed up your skirt, but you don't mind, right? You can always ask your boyfriend to give you another one."
Mu Yiran: "?"
Are you misunderstanding something?
Sage answered irrelevantly, whispering to the person next to her before leaning closer to Mu Yiran, "You're pretty impressive. How exactly did you get close to that person from the Time Gate?"
"Is it because of his family background? Or his talent? To be honest, did you get into Joris because of him? There must be a lot of benefits to being around him."
Another woman beside her said, "Of course! She made it into the rookie talent show, didn't she? If she hadn't, that spot would have gone to Sagin.
Upon hearing this, Mu Yiran frowned deeply. "What do you mean by that?"
"What are you pretending for?" Sagin shoved Mu Yiran's shoulder and sneered.
"You were selected only because of your boyfriend, why don't you dare admit it? Isn't he your boyfriend, or your sugar daddy?"
"What are you doing?" Tessa appeared in the dressing room at some point, looking at the group of people gathered in the corner with a puzzled expression.
"....."
Upon seeing Mu Yiran trapped inside, Tesa immediately walked over and pulled her outside, saying, "What are you doing here? He's already here, come out with me!"
As the two left, Sagin and the others began to whisper amongst themselves. Mu Yiran pursed her lips but followed Tessa out. Only when they entered the clubhouse did Mu Yiran shake off Tessa's hand.
Mu Yiran: "May I offer a suggestion?"
Tessa: "No."
Mu Yiran said to herself, "Can we keep some distance from each other at school from now on? If you keep this up, it'll be easy for other people to suspect my relationship with Shi Youxi."
Celia probably saw her acting with Shi Youxi.
Tessa scoffed:
"What's your relationship with him? What, you're already starting to care about what other people think? Mu Yiran, why are you becoming more and more self-centered lately?"
The more she spoke, the more suspicious she became, scrutinizing Mu Yiran. "You've really changed a lot lately, you're practically a different person from before..."
"......"
Fearing she would realize she wasn't Mu Yiran, Mu Yiran forced a smile and said:
"I just feel that our tug-of-war is a bit too ambiguous."
"Do you think I want to get into this?" She grabbed Mu Yiran's shoulders, turned her around, and said as she pushed her:
"If you don't want to talk to me, then you'll spend the whole night with Shi Youxi."
"..."
Shi Youxi was talking to an elderly man with white hair. When he saw Mu Yiran, he raised an eyebrow and continued talking to the old man casually.
“Xi, I still hope you will reconsider and join us.”
The young man smiled faintly and remained silent.
The other person, sensing the situation, didn't say anything more. The two clinked glasses. "Have you had a good time? But did you come alone? Didn't you bring a girlfriend? You're not young anymore, it's time to start dating. Do you need me to introduce you to someone?"
Shi Youxi took a sip of wine, waited a few seconds, and then smiled, "No need."
"I'm sorry I'm late." Mu Yiran walked over and hooked her arm around the boy's.
Shi Youxi curled the corners of her lips, tilted her head back, and drank the rest of the champagne.
The white-haired old man glanced at the two's intertwined hands with surprise, and lingered for a long time when he saw Mu Yiran's face. "Hiss, is this...his girlfriend?"
Before Mu Yiran could speak, Shi Youxi beside her hummed in agreement, nodded to the old man, and then pulled Mu Yiran away.
Mu Yiran turned around and saw the old man behind her still smiling at the two of them. When they met her gaze, the old man smiled meaningfully and waved.
Mu Yiran turned around, her fingers tracing Shi Youxi's suit. Looking at the young man's profile beside her, she pursed her lips and hesitated, saying:
Why did you just tell him I was your...girlfriend?
Shi Youxi lowered his eyes, pondered for a few seconds, and asked, "What's wrong?"
Mu Yiran stammered, "Female companion and girlfriend are not the same thing, and besides, I'm practically your teacher now. If someone hears this... it won't look good."
Shi Youxi easily shut her down, "James is not British, he doesn't know you."
"And it's more convenient to answer that way."
Mu Yiran knew he didn't want to explain their personal relationship to outsiders, "But isn't this more troublesome? If someone asks about it in the future, you can't always use me as a shield."
Shi Youxi: "Why not?"
Mu Yiran choked.
Why else could it be?
Of course, she was afraid that the mask she had painstakingly built up would be easily and completely shattered.
Mu Yiran was afraid to face the reality after her true identity was exposed.
Is she afraid to face Shi Youxi's feelings? Mu Yiran doesn't know.
All she knew was that those who got too close to her, those who sacrificed more than usual for her, and those who truly loved her would not have a good outcome.
Her parents were, and so was Mo Mumu, who had been hurt because of her...
Shi Youxi stopped and looked at her. "Or is it okay if I don't use you as a shield? What if I said that I didn't say that because I wanted to use you as a shield?"
"......."
Mu Yiran was completely stunned, followed by an inevitable panic. She felt as if she were standing on the edge of a towering wave, about to be swept away at any moment.
It seemed she didn't even have a chance to run.
But Shi Youxi hadn't finished speaking.
She watched the boy's thin, red lips move up and down, and before that low, husky voice could sound, Mu Yiran suddenly shouted:
"Tessa! Tessa is behind us!"
"Hurry up, hurry up!"
Mu Yiran was wearing 12-centimeter heels, and she could get close to Shi Youxi's ear by tilting her head.
The airflow warmed his earlobe layer by layer. Shi Youxi tightened his arms, his Adam's apple bobbed, but he swallowed the words in his mouth and turned his head to say, "Hmm?"
Mu Yiran ignored him and kept walking forward, saying, "Hurry up! Tessa is watching from behind!"
Shi Youxi slowed her pace. "Don't you want her to see? Why?"
Seeing the woman's guilty look as she glanced around, Shi Youxi's eyes darkened. "Feeling uncomfortable? Does my sister really hate being with me that much?"
"ah?"
The two of them stopped unconsciously. Shi Youxi looked down at her outstretched hand and said, "You promised me you could do anything before we came, but you can't even handle holding hands?"
Mu Yiran scratched her head, caught off guard by Shi Youxi's series of reactions, "You really are..."
She really had no way to deal with Shi Youxi.
There wasn't one before.
Now, however, they dare not do it.
The boy snorted and turned his head away. Mu Yiran tried to pull him to a corner, but her left hand was held tightly by Shi Youxi's arm, standing still like a pillar.
His striking appearance drew stares from passersby, while Tessa behind him kept a watchful eye on her. Mu Yiran had no other choice. After a moment's hesitation, she hooked her arm around the boy's and tentatively squeezed her fingers between his, easily managing to get them in.
She secretly held hands with Shi Youxi.
Mu Yiran pulled, and it moved.
She quickly pulled him to a corner, grabbed a stack of small cakes, and shoved them at him. Shi Youxi turned his head away, leaned against the bar, downed a glass of red wine, and, seeing Mu Yiran's hesitant gaze, asked calmly, "What's wrong?"
Mu Yiran fidgeted with her fingers helplessly. After calming down, her mind kept replaying Shi Youxi's words.
No, I can't calm down.
Mu Yiran touched her dress; the lipstick stain on her chest had dried. "Uh, thank you for the dress you gave me. It's very pretty... but I accidentally got some lipstick on it."
Shi Youxi remained expressionless. "Hmm."
Mu Yiran was afraid of the suffocating atmosphere that would follow once things quieted down, so she could only continue to make small talk.
"Is this the haute couture dress ES made for the spring? Actually, I prefer the one you made. I think that dress is prettier. I thought you made that one for me to wear to the ball."
Shi Youxi had drunk an unknown number of cups; his movements were sluggish, his expression not only blank but also fixed on Mu Yiran.
His gaze swept over the woman's exposed collarbone and forearm, then caught Mu Yiran's wandering eyes and held them tightly.
"That's why I won't let you wear it, it's because it looks so good."
There was no way we could continue our conversation that day.
Mu Yiran stood up abruptly and said in a low voice, "I'm going to the bathroom." Without even looking at Shi Youxi's expression, she took off running.
Behind him, Shi Youxi watched the woman's skirt flutter as she ran. His narrow, phoenix-shaped eyes were dark and intense, filled with suppressed emotions that seemed ready to burst forth at any moment.
He released his other hand; his index finger and thumb were already red and the skin was broken. Shi Youxi rubbed them hard, unable to bear it any longer, and closed his eyes to finish the rest of the red wine.
...
Mu Yiran played in the cold water in the bathroom for a long time until the music outside started, indicating that the dance floor had opened, and she slowly walked out.
Shi Youxi's pink hair immediately caught the eye in the crowd, and the boy was also surprised to see a slender woman standing next to him.
It was Helian Xin.
Why is she here?
But... it's just in time!
Just as Mu Yiran was thinking about taking this opportunity to slip away, a tall figure swayed into view.
Candis called out to her in a deep voice, "Ran! You're here! I've been looking for you for so long."
Mu Yiran frantically shushed him, and he shouted and waved his arms like an excited golden retriever.
Finally, Candice grabbed her hand and led her to the dance floor.
"Ran, dance with me!"
"Wait, wait!"
Mu Yiran called out, and the lights in the hall dimmed. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a light pink color, and her eyelids twitched.
The next second, her wrist was forcefully pulled away.
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