Chapter 9: Wu Dongming’s Solution
Late at night, An Han went alone to the school field and sat on a stone bench under a broken streetlamp.
The lamp was already out of order, so he sat in the dim light, resting his chin on his hands, watching students jogging at night or couples walking nearby.
If possible, he’d rather not have this system at all.
It was fine that Su Peng found out about his cross-dressing, Su Peng was a decent guy.
But Wu Dongming? That was going to be much harder to handle.
He sighed helplessly.
Wu Dongming and Brother Long didn’t even talk much before, so why did they suddenly start chatting today?
“I should’ve just told Brother Long the truth.”
If that night he had explained to Long Xing that he was only cross-dressing for a mission, it would’ve just been social death at worst. Embarrassing, yes, but survivable.
In fact, he had thought about confessing several times back then.
But now…
Long Xing had fallen for his female disguise.
At first, An Han thought it was just a joke, but it seemed Long Xing was actually serious.
An Han let out another weak sigh. “If the truth comes out now, it won’t just be social death anymore.”
It was Long Xing’s first love, after all.
Don’t be fooled by his gangster-like face, deep down he was still a pure, shy boy who blushed when talking to girls.
If he found out the truth, wouldn’t he just explode and beat An Han up?
An Han looked down at his thin arms and legs. Clearly, he wouldn’t stand a chance in a fight.
Besides, having your first love turn out to be a man… that’s just tragic.
The thought suddenly struck him as funny, and he laughed out loud, before quickly pulling a long face again.
Too bad the person being liked was him. Otherwise, he’d definitely be the first to mock the poor guy.
“An Han.”
A sudden voice broke his gloomy thoughts. He turned his head to see Wu Dongming jogging over.
“Can’t you pick a better spot? Took me forever to find you.”
“Sit,” An Han said, moving over to make space for him.
Out of nowhere, the system interface appeared before his eyes.
[Option 1]: Ask Wu Dongming for a solution and follow his advice.
Reward: Random Advanced Skill
[Option 2]: Kick him and tell him to get lost.
Reward: Basic Makeup Skill
[Option 3]: Change the topic.
Reward: Random Attribute Point
An Han froze, confused.
Even a small thing like this can trigger a system task?
Option two was absolutely out of the question. If he kicked Wu Dongming, that guy would definitely go straight to Long Xing and tell him everything.
Option three didn’t seem very useful. Option one had the best reward, and it was what he wanted anyway.
An advanced skill. He didn’t know how advanced it would be, but if previous rewards included houses and lottery numbers, this one had to be at least as good as a national-level professional skill, right?
If past rewards made him rich overnight, then this one could make sure he’d never have to worry about making a living again.
“So what’s so serious you had to call me out here?” Wu Dongming said, sitting down beside him. “Is it about your cross-dressing?”
An Han sighed deeply, holding his head in his hands, full of regret. “What do you think I should do now?”
[Task 1 selected. Please complete it soon.]
“You seriously came back still dressed like that?” Wu Dongming crossed one leg over the other, smirking. “What were you thinking?”
Blame the system, okay! An Han cursed inwardly. There were better options, but it tempted me with rewards!
“I just don’t want them to know I wear women’s clothes, okay?” An Han still tried to sound tough. “If you hadn’t run off with my clothes, would it be this troublesome?”
“That’s because you were the one who tried to trick me into wearing women’s clothes first! If I didn’t still need your help next week, everyone in class would already know your little secret.”
“Alright, alright, we’re brothers, no need to argue,” An Han said, patting his shoulder. “So? Got any good ideas?”
“Confessing the truth definitely won’t work. You’ll just get beaten up.” Wu Dongming grinned mysteriously. “Come closer, don’t let anyone hear.”
An Han leaned toward him. “Hmm?”
“Just make that girl really exist, simple as that.”
“???”
An Han froze.
“You dress up again, meet Long Xing ‘by accident’ one more time, then tell him clearly that you don’t like him. Problem solved.”
“This…”
“Think about it, if Chen Junjie finds out there’s no such girl in the school records, won’t everyone figure out that it was you cross-dressing? They already suspect you anyway.” Wu Dongming fanned the flames even more.
[Task updated: Dress up again and meet Long Xing.]
This plan was completely insane!
“If I talk, he’ll recognize my voice right away!” An Han protested.
“You can just fake your voice.”
“I can’t!” An Han snapped.
“Then forget it,” Wu Dongming shrugged. “But honestly, I think this plan’s the best. And since you’ll have to dress up again next week anyway, consider this practice.”
“I have to dress up again next week?” An Han looked at him in disbelief. “Why?”
“Well, since you made my parents think I’m gay, you’ve got to help me fix it, right?” Wu Dongming said with a sly grin. “If I try to explain it, they’ll just think I’m making excuses. But if you dress up and pretend to be my girlfriend, how could they still think I’m gay?”
“......” An Han’s lips twitched. “That’s way too far-fetched.”
“Why should I go easy on you?” Wu Dongming laughed even harder.
If he let something “slip” in front of Wu Dongming’s parents at that time, then Wu Dongming would never be able to get rid of their doubts about his orientation, unless that shorty actually managed to get a real girlfriend.
But An Han didn’t believe that would ever happen. After all, he was better-looking than Wu Dongming, and no girl had ever confessed to him.
Of course, part of that was because he didn’t usually hang out with girls, even playing games with them annoyed him because they weren’t good enough.
An Han squinted at Wu Dongming, the two exchanging a look full of mutual scheming.
The system task didn’t have any punishment, so it wasn’t a big deal if he ignored it, though it would be a shame to miss out on the reward.
But the real problem, Long Xing, was still unsolved.
Still, Wu Dongming’s idea could work… sort of.
“How about this,” An Han suggested, “I’ll just tell him I got that girl’s WeChat?”
Meeting in person while cross-dressing was impossible. But pretending to be a girl and chatting with Long Xing online, that he could manage.
As long as Long Xing believed the girl really existed, he wouldn’t suspect anything.
“WeChat? I thought you didn’t use it?”
“I just don’t use it much.”
Other than messaging his parents, An Han rarely used WeChat, so his roommates had never added him there.
“Alright then, what’s your WeChat ID?”
Wu Dongming nodded sleepily, but then turned to give An Han a curious look. “You know, these past few days, you’re actually starting to look kind of… nice.”
“You mean you didn’t think so before?”
“Before? I just thought you were annoying, always causing trouble!”
“And you’re any better?”
An Han shot back quickly, but inside, he was secretly happy.
Looks like that “+1 charm” effect really worked, even if his classmates wouldn’t say it out loud.