Chapter 224: No way, right? No way?
Lin Wenbin showed up so suddenly that it really gave Lin Muqing a big scare. Only then did she remember that such a big “time bomb” was so close to her. But what surprised her the most was that when Lin Wenbin saw her, he had no reaction at all.
From the looks of it, there was only one possible explanation. That silly guy didn’t recognize her.
“Big Bro, I think this might be dangerous…”
After the banquet ended without any trouble and they got back home, Lin Muqing looked at her best bro with some worry. Even though Lin Wenbin was kind of a dummy, she was still nervous.
Same name, same face, always hanging out with Ye Ziming. Anyone with a working brain would start to get suspicious.
“The safest way is to just tell him the truth and ask him to keep it a secret.”
Ye Ziming thought for a moment, then gave what seemed like a pretty solid suggestion.
“Ehh… I don’t want to be targeted by him or his weird knight group…”
At first, Lin Muqing thought that idea wasn’t bad.
But then, after remembering some of Lin Wenbin’s ridiculous behavior, she quickly changed her mind, her face full of disgust.
After talking about it for a while longer, they finally came to a conclusion, they’ll test him first.
Tomorrow at school, if Lin Wenbin sees Lin Muqing in her male disguise and doesn’t react at all, then they’ll stay quiet and do nothing. But if he does react, then Lin Muqing won’t mind using the self-defense tool her mom gave her.
Besides all that, Lin Muqing also took some time to shower before going to bed.
“Oh right.”
Just as she was about to put her phone down and crawl under the blanket to sleep, Lin Muqing suddenly remembered something.
Back at the banquet, her good buddy had asked her to pretend to be his girlfriend. She had planned to talk to him about that tonight.
“What is it?”
Ye Ziming saw Lin Muqing suddenly sit up with wide eyes and a shocked expression, and he asked, confused.
“Big Bro, what I’m about to say is… really important.”
She turned to look at her best bro. The smile on her face was completely gone, replaced by a very serious expression.
And as she spoke, she even scooted a little farther away from him, to make sure she was safe, she needed to keep a bit of distance.
“Okay, I’m listening.”
Surprised, Ye Ziming raised his eyebrows slightly and narrowed his eyes, watching Lin Muqing with interest. He didn’t know what she was going to say, but judging by her serious face, it was definitely something big.
“Ahem.”
After adjusting her position to feel safe enough, Lin Muqing cleared her throat twice.
She needed to set the mood and also take a moment to figure out how to say it.
“Big Bro… you don’t have a crush on me, right?”
After thinking hard for a while, Lin Muqing opened her big eyes and carefully said the words.
As soon as she finished, she started watching Ye Ziming’s face and body language, hoping to find any unusual signs.
Suddenly, the air went silent. Ye Ziming just stared into Lin Muqing’s eyes, not saying a word.
“No way! You really DO like me, don’t you?! You can’t! I’m your best bro! Big Bro, you can’t turn gay!”
Seeing that her bro stayed quiet for so long, Lin Muqing suddenly panicked and started rambling like crazy.
She spoke super fast, and every sentence showed how shocked and freaked out she was.
The idea that her buddy might like her. She just couldn’t accept something like that. And of course, the same goes the other way around too.
“You dumb loli!”
Listening to what Lin Muqing said, a bunch of “#” symbols seemed to pop up on Ye Ziming’s forehead, and they were growing more and more. When it reached a certain point, he suddenly opened his mouth and said three words.
His voice wasn’t loud, but it had a strong presence. As soon as he said those words, Lin Muqing immediately went quiet. She blinked, then stared at him blankly.
“You want a spanking again, huh?”
He reached out, grabbed her, and pulled her over. Just like that, Lin Muqing was standing in front of him. Ye Ziming narrowed his eyes and said in a very unhappy tone. As he spoke, he used his other hand to pinch Lin Muqing’s chin and cheeks, making her pout a little on purpose.
“Mmm! No, I don’t!”
Forced to look into his eyes and hearing that dangerous tone, Lin Muqing’s eyes widened as she quickly denied it. Because he was pinching her cheeks, her lips were puffed up, and it took a lot of effort to squeeze out just a couple of words.
Then came a bit of a struggle. Faced with her good buddy’s anger, Lin Muqing started begging and apologizing.
“I’m sorry, big bro. I shouldn’t have doubted your preferences. I promise it won’t happen again.”
When she was finally let go, she added a little promise.
She could tell that her good bro was angry, but she didn’t really know why. She thought he was mad because she questioned his sexuality. But the truth was, Ye Ziming himself couldn’t clearly explain why he was so angry.
He only knew that after hearing what she said, he felt a strange kind of fire in his chest. So his actions just now came out a bit rough without him realizing it.
He liked her. But she didn’t know, and then she said something that really hurt. It made him feel awful inside.
“Alright, go to bed early.”
After thinking things through a bit, Ye Ziming adjusted his expression and gave Lin Muqing a faint smile. Just like always, the smile looked totally normal. Then he patted her gently on the head.
“Okay~”
Not knowing anything, Lin Muqing nodded. After getting a head-pat, she quickly showed a sweet, obedient smile. She wriggled around a little, pulled her blanket into place, and crawled into bed. Then they said “good night” to each other.
To Lin Muqing, everything was solved, so she fell asleep easily. She felt relaxed and drifted off pretty fast.
But Ye Ziming wasn’t like that.
After Lin Muqing fell asleep, he kept thinking about how he should act around her in the future. Maybe he had rushed things. It was only a bit more than a month since the school year started, and Lin Muqing had only been living as a girl for three months.
Maybe… he needed a turning point, something that would make her truly realize she was a girl now. Or something that would make her give up the idea of turning back.
Actually, things between them had been progressing. Lin Muqing didn’t guard herself around him at all anymore. They could sleep in the same bed and cuddle naturally. Even when she woke up in his arms, she didn’t seem surprised or weirded out.
And he also knew that, at that very moment, lying under the blanket, she was only wearing blue-and-white striped panties and a thin nightgown.
“Hmph. This life? You’re never getting away.”
He turned his head. Through the dim light, he could faintly see the shape of Lin Muqing’s head. That’s what Ye Ziming thought to himself.
There was still one year and three months until she became an adult.
And probably six months after that, during the summer after college entrance exams, that’s when he could really do whatever he wanted.