AAUMOBIP C4

Chapter 4

Liu He and Jiang Yi were playing a game inside, neither of them wearing headphones.

When the door to the private room opened and someone spoke, they both looked up.

And just at that moment, their in-game selves, who had been trying to break up a fight, ended up getting wiped out.

Coincidentally, everyone had arrived, and the game was over.

But the person who came in was dressed quite strangely.

They couldn’t help but glance at him a few more times.

Unless something unexpected had happened, this person was Liu He’s online boyfriend.

Good news: Yun-ge’s body stats didn’t seem to be fake.

Bad news: Yun-ge still refused to show his face.

Liu He and Yun Jingqiu exchanged a look. Then Liu He looked away and stood up.

Yun-ge was wearing a long black trench coat, and the two of them even looked like a couple in matching outfits.

Liu He thought for a moment, then tentatively called out, “Yun-ge?”

The man’s exposed eyes curved as he smiled and responded, “Xiao He, it’s me.”

“Sit. Once the dishes are all here, I’ll take off my mask,” he said.

He took off his baseball cap and hung it in the lounge area, then removed his trench coat and hung that up too.

His hair was now visible, but his face was still covered by that black mask.

It gave him a somewhat deliberately mysterious air.

Liu He hesitated for a moment, then chose to respect Yun-ge’s weird dressing preferences.

He nodded. “Okay.”

Liu He was holding a bag and, a little embarrassed, handed it to Yun Jingqiu. “These are some local specialties I bought yesterday in City A. I hope you’ll accept them.”

Yun Jingqiu didn’t refuse. He accepted the gift Liu He brought.

Then, quite naturally, he took Liu He’s hand with his other hand and led him to the dining table, letting him sit beside him.

Normally, private rooms had large round tables. But when Yun Jingqiu made the reservation, he had specified the number of people and chosen a more secluded private room with a small table.

Jiang Yi: ?

Did these two forget about him? Sure, he had come to play third wheel, but they didn’t have to treat him like this.

Even a third wheel deserves some respect.

“I also prepared a meeting gift for Xiao He,” Yun Jingqiu said, taking a small box out of his pocket.

Inside the box was a wristwatch.

Liu He didn’t know much about luxury goods, so he couldn’t recognize the brand.

The watch looked simple in design, but the quality felt high-end.

It looked expensive.

Liu He thought, and before he could react further, Yun Jingqiu had already grabbed his hand and was putting the watch on his wrist.

“It fits nicely,” Yun Jingqiu commented, leaning in close to Liu He’s ear and speaking softly. “Aren’t you going to introduce your friend to me?”

Yun-ge suddenly leaned over, and the warm breath by his ear made Liu He flinch.

Even though the man was wearing a mask, and the heat didn’t actually touch his ear, Liu He still felt a little shy.

They’d just met in person, and already he was being this intimate? That didn’t seem appropriate, right?

Liu He quickly looked toward Jiang Yi.

Jiang Yi, the self-sufficient third wheel, was sitting across from Liu He and looking down at his phone.

“Yun-ge, this is my friend and roommate, Jiang Yi,” Liu He introduced.

Jiang Yi was startled, looked at the two of them, and quickly stood up to introduce himself. “Hello, Yun-ge. I’m Liu He’s best friend.”

Yun Jingqiu nodded. “You’re the one who got scammed, right?”

Liu He held back his laughter, but his face was full of amusement, his shoulders shaking slightly as his throat itched.

He coughed twice, suppressing his laugh, and said, “That’s him.”

Bringing up that painful memory made Jiang Yi angry again—thinking about that damn scammer. Worse still, the money was unrecoverable, and he was still living off Liu He’s financial support.

Having lost all means and strength, Jiang Yi slumped back down, speaking in a muffled voice. “That’s right, it’s me, the poor little scam victim.”

“May there never be another scammer in this world!” Jiang Yi declared.

Liu He laughed and echoed his words.

He sneaked a glance at Yun Jingqiu sitting beside him. Seeing the black mask on his face again, he withdrew his gaze in confusion.

Was that mask welded onto his face or something?

They were about to eat soon—how was he planning to eat without taking it off?

“This is a meeting gift for Jiang-classmate,” Yun Jingqiu said, taking out a rectangular gift box and handing it to Jiang Yi.

Jiang Yi was flattered, staring at the gift box in disbelief, then at Yun Jingqiu. He hadn’t expected to get a gift too.

He recognized that the fountain pen was from a mid-luxury brand. He didn’t know the model, but even the cheapest ones from this brand cost over five thousand yuan, with mid-range ones going for ten to twenty thousand.

For him, that was a huge amount of money.

Jiang Yi felt the gift was a bit too much, holding it carefully as he looked at Yun Jingqiu and sighed. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to say—you look a lot like my idol.”

Yun Jingqiu didn’t reply, only nodded slightly, his eyes curving as if in a smile.

“You have an idol? How come I never heard you mention it?” Liu He asked.

Jiang Yi: “I only started stanning them a few days ago. Of course you wouldn’t know.”

Liu He: “Oh.”

He wasn’t really interested in digging deeper.

What he was interested in was the face under Yun-ge’s mask. He still had no idea what his online boyfriend actually looked like!

Liu He thought he was being discreet with his glances, but Yun Jingqiu, who was already used to being stared at, had long since noticed.

Yun Jingqiu knew Xiao He was curious. He also wanted to show Xiao He his real face and see him be shocked.

But now wasn’t the right time.

The food hadn’t been served yet, and the servers could come in at any moment.

His meeting with Xiao He was a secret trip.

“Xiao He, your gaze is too spicy—are you trying to strip me with your eyes?” Yun Jingqiu murmured. “You’ll get a chance to touch later, little perv.”

Liu He: ?

He still wasn’t used to this level of intimacy. He scooted slightly away and lowered his voice to retort, “I’m not.”

“What did you lie to me about anyway? Is it that your face under the mask is super ugly?” Liu He questioned, trying to regain control of the conversation.

“It’s not ugly. I’ll take off the mask once the food is served.”

Yun Jingqiu’s voice carried a hint of laughter, his tone deep and magnetic, and he spoke close to Liu He’s ear, making it tickle.

Hiccup~ Jiang Yi couldn’t hold it in and let out a burp.

Both of them looked over.

Jiang Yi quickly pretended to be very busy on his phone, waving his other hand. “Don’t mind me. I’m just full from eating your PDA. Carry on.”

“You guys can speak louder, I can hear everything anyway.” Having already admitted to eavesdropping, Jiang Yi didn’t mind exposing more. “It’s super quiet in here. No matter how low you talk, I can still hear it.”

Unless they were chatting by phone.

Jiang Yi had been in a relationship before—he knew that couples in the throes of passion wouldn’t waste time texting when they were together. They’d cherish every minute, wanting to hear every word from each other.

So why did he come here to third wheel again?

Oh right, because he was worried his bro’s first in-person meeting might end with him getting kidnapped.

But this didn’t seem like a kidnapping situation at all.

Jiang Yi started frantically texting his own partner, ranting about how lovey-dovey Liu He and his boyfriend were.

[Lao Xu: Hmm]

His partner Lao Xu was really the quiet type.

Liu He felt a bit awkward and shot Yun Jingqiu a glare.

Yun Jingqiu nodded and said in a normal voice, “That was my oversight.”

“My situation is a bit special. I’m not really in a position to be seen by others. I’ll take the mask off later.”

Jiang Yi nodded, not particularly bothered.

Having his bro point out that he’d been whispering sweet nothings with Yun-ge made Liu He feel a bit embarrassed, and he didn’t say anything.

Then his phone buzzed. He quickly checked it.

[187 Boyfriend: Feeling shy now?]

[187 Boyfriend: Didn’t you want to see my abs? Don’t be shy, go ahead and sneak a feel.]

[187 Boyfriend: But don’t go too far. If you make me react, that’s no good.]

[fon: !]

[fon: Stop saying such lewd things!]

[fon: I’m not touching you!]

[187 Boyfriend: Really not touching?]

[187 Boyfriend: Feels great.]

[187 Boyfriend: Since you can’t see my face, I’ll have to use my body to keep you.]

[187 Boyfriend: Hand. Give me your hand.]

Liu He looked down and saw Yun-ge’s hand extended toward him, placed between them, waiting for him to take it.

He knew that if he took that hand, there’d be no turning back.

But…

He looked at the messages Yun Jingqiu had sent and knew there was no way he wasn’t tempted.

Liu He took a deep breath and was just about to reach out—when the knock at the door made him jump and yank his hand back.

A regretful clicking of the tongue sounded beside his ear.

“Hello, here’s your food,” the server’s voice came from outside.

Liu He’s heart was racing.

What had he been about to do? Touch his online boyfriend’s abs here?

He didn’t even know what the guy looked like, and he was already about to feel him up?

In a place like this?

Even if Jiang Yi noticed, he probably wouldn’t say anything.

But the servers could walk in at any time! He’d been seduced by Yun-ge—how could he be doing something like that here?

Who was the real perv here?

Clearly, Yun-ge was the perv!

The server brought in the dishes, including the stir-fried seasonal veggies Jiang Yi had mentioned before—priced at 188 yuan per serving.

There were also other dishes, each portion small but beautifully plated, clearly expensive.

The table was now full of dishes. Since the portions were small, Liu He didn’t feel like there was too much food.

“All your dishes are now served. Let us know if you need anything,” the server said with a smile before leaving the private room.

As soon as the door closed, Liu He immediately turned to Yun Jingqiu, his gaze saying everything.

“Take off the mask!” he said.

If Yun-ge didn’t take it off soon, Liu He was going to do it himself.

Yun Jingqiu: “Alright.”

He stood up and walked over to the window.

There was a window in the private room, overlooking the courtyard.

He drew the curtains and turned on the lights in the room.

Liu He: ?

At that moment, he suddenly thought of those locked-room murder mysteries often seen in detective novels.

He shivered and looked at Yun Jingqiu suspiciously.

Could it be that his first online romance was going to end with a cold-blooded killer?

Jiang Yi noticed the change in lighting as he was taking photos of the food to send to Xu Yi.

“What’s going on?” he asked. “Planning to kill and silence us?”

No wonder he and Liu He got along so well.

Yun Jingqiu chuckled. “This is just something I have to do before I take off the mask.”

Liu He: “Is your face that unpresentable?”

Yun Jingqiu looked at Liu He helplessly.

Liu He quickly tried to explain, “I didn’t mean you’re ugly! I didn’t mean it like that. You’re just making this way too mysterious.”

“All the dishes are here, the curtains are drawn. Can you finally take off that mysterious mask of yours?” Liu He asked.

Yun Jingqiu nodded, grabbed the strap of the mask looped around his ears, and pulled it off.

Footnotes:

• “Gag someone’s waist” (嘎腰子): A slang expression implying abduction or harm, often used humorously online to describe being cautious during first meetings with strangers, especially from the internet.

• “Eating dog food” (吃狗粮): A slang term used to describe witnessing public displays of affection between couples, as if being force-fed the sweetness like “dog food.”