TT Chapter 28. Bewitched Little Dumpling

At that moment, Pei Yiyao found himself at a complete loss. Because after he kissed Chen Ting… Chen Ting started crying again.

This time he did not sob out loud, but tears very clearly slipped from the corners of his eyes. His cheeks were flushed red, and he looked utterly pitiful.

Pei Yiyao tried to wipe away the tears and pull him into his arms to comfort him, but then worried that getting too close would only make things worse. Chen Ting blinked a few times, letting Pei Yiyao stew in his anxiety. He sniffled quietly, still feeling a little miserable inside.

Because Ting Ting had turned gay.

And the culprit was none other than Pei Yiyao. He used to think this guy was a good person. He had clearly misjudged him. If Pei Yiyao had not done something like that, he never would have been driven to the point of shedding these purely physiological tears. What a disgrace.

Who ever heard of crying after being kissed by someone you liked? Was this supposed to be tears of joy?

Give him a break.

The sight of those tears completely stunned Pei Yiyao. Helpless and filled with guilt, he finally gave Chen Ting some space and softened his voice. “I’m sorry. That was my fault.”

Chen Ting stared at him blankly. “Your fault, my ass.”

Pei Yiyao: “…”

Chen Ting added, “Do you not know how to comfort someone?”

You were the one who kissed me today. If you don’t make this right, I’m going to have my mom ship a truckload of hairy crabs from back home and snap your dick in half.

Chen Ting kept a stern face, but with tear streaks still on both cheeks, he did not look intimidating at all. If anything, it only made Pei Yiyao feel even more sorry for him. And what else could he do? Of course he had to comfort him.

Fifteen minutes later, Chen Ting was sitting on a bench near the rock garden with his hoodie pulled up, showing only his face. He kicked pebbles around in boredom while waiting for Pei Yiyao to come back with ice cream.

He had, of course, stopped crying. That had all been for show, to scare Pei Yiyao a little.

Pei Yiyao had to run a long way to find a dessert shop still open and get the ice cream, and then run all the way back to deliver it. Thankfully, it was nighttime. If anyone had seen the campus heartthrob sprinting across school grounds with an ice cream cone in hand, they might have been too stunned to recover.

Chen Ting finally got his ice cream, but he still wasn’t satisfied. As he ate, he laid down a few ground rules with Pei Yiyao.

“From now on, you’re not allowed to kiss me without asking first.”

“Alright.”

“And no more public displays of… uh, inappropriate behavior.”

“Alright.”

“But I can.”

“…Alright.”

Chen Ting finally laughed. In truth, he had already started softening the moment he saw Pei Yiyao running toward him with the ice cream. All that pent-up frustration from the past few days felt like it had finally cleared, like sunlight breaking through the clouds.

He now understood why he had never outright rejected Pei Yiyao from the start, why Pei Yiyao’s confession had left him sleepless night after night. The question of labels no longer mattered. What mattered was that, in the end, he liked Pei Yiyao.

From the moment he was confessed to, he had never truly wanted to say no.

But if it had been Yang Shulin, or Gao Duo, or anyone else, it would not have been the same.

Chen Ting licked his ice cream and sneaked a glance at Pei Yiyao. Pei Yiyao was looking at him too. Their eyes met for a moment before Chen Ting quickly turned his head away. But Pei Yiyao kept his gaze fixed on him.

The difference in how thin or thick their skin was completely obvious.

“You keep looking at me like that and people are going to notice,” Chen Ting reminded him helplessly.

Pei Yiyao had wanted to say “So what?” but caught himself. Just because he didn’t mind did not mean Chen Ting felt the same. He ought to tone it down. No need to cause Chen Ting any extra trouble.

“Alright, I’ll be careful.”

Pei Yiyao meant what he said. But since there was hardly anyone passing by here, there was no need to go out of his way to hide either.

“Is the ice cream good?” he asked.

“It’s good.” Chen Ting took another bite, paused, then leaned the cone a little toward Pei Yiyao. “Want some?”

Pei Yiyao was about to say no. He wasn’t a fan of sweets. But then he caught a glimpse of a bit of cream still lingering at the corner of Chen Ting’s mouth. Before he knew it, he had leaned down and taken a bite.

Chen Ting had not expected him to actually do it. He yanked the cone back in a hurry, ears burning all over again. Thankfully, the hoodie covered it up completely.

“Let’s go.” He stood up in a fluster, already turning to head back to the dorm. Pei Yiyao knew better than to push it further. He simply walked alongside him and stopped once they reached the building.

“I’ll wait till you’re inside,” he said, standing at the bottom of the steps and looking up. He looked exactly like a boyfriend seeing his girlfriend home.

Chen Ting let out a quiet hum like a mosquito and dared not look at him again. With his hands tucked in his hoodie pocket, he hurried into the building. But once he rounded the corner, he could not help turning back for one more look.

Pei Yiyao waved at him. Good-looking, long-legged, and all-around excellent.

Totally worth it.

Chen Ting returned to the dorm in good spirits. He opened the door, saw that Yang Shulin wasn’t around, and happily booted up the game. Tonight he was going to take on the final boss of the hunt, the armored elephant.

But just as he was getting into it, a ghostly voice suddenly floated past his ear.

“Ting Ting…”

“Shit!”
Chen Ting’s hand slipped, and the armored elephant crushed him flat.

Yang Shulin poked his head out from under the covers, hair a total bird’s nest, and looking as pale as if a demoness from the Spider Cave had just drained him of all vitality.

Chen Ting stood up in alarm. “You’re here? What’s wrong, are you feeling sick?”

“No.” Yang Shulin shook his head. “Gou Ge sent my article back again. I’m reevaluating my life.”

Chen Ting thought for a moment, then said, “I don’t think your topic choice is the problem, but… maybe you could polish your writing a bit.”

Yang Shulin suddenly sat upright. “What do you mean? That’s called unvarnished honesty!”

Chen Ting replied, “Focus on your writing. Don’t forget we’ve got a presentation on Wednesday, and besides that, you still have to turn in the summary. And CET-4 is this week too. Plus you’ve got to choose between Sub Group and Transnet for the translation course. You said you wanted to get into Sub Group, did you actually get in?”

Yang Shulin pleaded, “Ting Ting, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have mixed that photo into the PowerPoint. You have to forgive me!”

Chen Ting went on, “We’re only sophomores now, but the interpretation certificate has both a written and oral component. Might as well start preparing. Oh, and there’s TEM-4 coming up too. It’s right around the corner.”

Yang Shulin, deceased.

Even after lights out, Yang Shulin could still see countless little red booklets circling in front of his eyes. One certificate after another, all of them blurring together until he felt dizzy.

Chen Ting kept an eye on him and began to wonder if he had gone too far. But just then, a message from Pei Yiyao came through, and he promptly tossed Yang Shulin to the back of his mind.

Pei Yiyao: Sleep early. Good night.

Chen Ting pouted. Cool Guy really did not know the first thing about romance.

Donghu Crab King: What are you doing? About to sleep?

Pei Yiyao: No. Reading.

Donghu Crab King: Oh…

Across campus, Pei Yiyao stared at those three little dots on the screen for a long while. Eventually, he closed his book, pressed it down on the desk, and quickly typed a reply.

Pei Yiyao: If I don’t read, I’ll start thinking about you.

Because if he didn’t keep reading, he would not be able to stop.

Chen Ting understood what he meant. The corners of his lips curled slightly as he tucked himself into bed, wrapping up tightly like a little dumpling. Curled into one corner of the bed, it was as if he had made a small world all to himself, one where he could quietly enjoy the moment.

Donghu Crab King: Then keep reading. I’m going to sleep.

But of course, he was not going to sleep at all. Everything that happened today had come too fast and felt too important. Because of one accidental mishap, he ended up playing the drums, got kissed, and somehow, just like that, ended up crossing a line with Pei Yiyao.

Were they… together now?

Chen Ting touched his nose, and when his fingers brushed against his lips, that kiss came rushing back to him.

The little dumpling rolled once in bed. Then stayed still.

Ding-dong.

A new message. He peeked his head out and saw it was a voice message from Pei Yiyao. So he climbed down from bed, rummaged through the drawer for his earphones, and climbed back up to listen.

“See you tomorrow.”
Just a simple goodnight, but in that quiet late-autumn chill, under the soft glow of a warm yellow lamp, Pei Yiyao’s voice carried an unusual kind of tenderness.

Donghu Crab King: Okay.

Chen Ting didn’t respond with a voice message, keeping up a show of restraint. But his fingers betrayed him. He opened the photo album on his phone where he had a picture of Pei Yiyao saved. The moment it opened, six-pack abs hit him square in the retinas. His eyes followed a trail of water droplets down to the defined V-line, and he let out a silent howl in his heart as he slapped a hand over his face.

Absolutely not. Say no to porn, gambling, and drugs.

That night, everyone except Chen Ting got a good night’s sleep.

But very soon, before the honeymoon phase could even begin, Chen Ting’s life was once again buried in academic responsibilities. He was constantly working on translation assignments, passed the CET-4 exam, and then received a notice from Lin Juan about signing up for the Mandarin proficiency test and computer certification.

What was the true essence of college life? Getting certified.

Chen Ting hesitated for quite a while. Aside from the professional qualifications for his major, all other certifications were optional. He did not want to drown in an ocean of credentials, so in the end, he just followed the crowd and registered for the Mandarin test.

Pei Yiyao had no strong opinion either way, but Chen Ting’s reasoning left a fresh impression on him.

Donghu Crab King: If I can’t make it as an interpreter in the future, I’ll go home and farm crabs.

Coming from a family with inherited ponds, Chen Ting had no lofty ambitions. He neither envied the senior students working as simultaneous interpreters nor saw anything wrong with becoming a fisherman. After graduation, he would be an internationalized fisherman.

Unfortunately, foreigners didn’t seem to like hairy crabs all that much.

Pei Yiyao, of course, was the complete opposite. Anyone could already see that he was the kind of person who would spend the rest of his life doing lab work.

“Are you going for a PhD later?” Chen Ting asked softly during their usual Friday night study session at the library, sipping milk tea that Pei Yiyao had brought him.

The two sat close together. Pei Yiyao let out a light “mm” as he casually grabbed a tissue to wipe a smudge of milk tea from Chen Ting’s fingers.

Chen Ting did some quick math on his fingers. “If I really go back to raise crabs, by the time you finish your PhD, I’ll have already taken over the whole of Yangcheng Lake.”

Pei Yiyao gave a faint smile, the subtle curve of his lips enough to leave everyone around him astonished.

So even the cool guy could smile.

Over in the corner, Yang Shulin was working on his summary with a blank expression. His mind was a mess. What was I just doing? What am I even doing right now? Wait a minute. Why is Chen Ting always sitting with Pei Yiyao?

Why do they look so relaxed?
Do they not study?
Do they not need to take certification exams?
Do they not have presentations to prepare?

Meanwhile, Chen Ting slapped his assignment down on the desk and pointed his chubby finger at Pei Yiyao’s laptop screen. “I want to write about this topic. How do you think I should start it?”

Pei Yiyao replied, “Blah blah blah blah…”

A while later, Chen Ting poked at the page again. “How should I translate this part? I tried a few different words, but none of them feel quite right.”

Pei Yiyao responded again, “Blah blah blah blah…”

After another stretch of time, Chen Ting slumped over the desk with a sigh of relief. He had finished. It really was so much easier this way.