Chapter 26: 26

26 – Suspecting Others of Stealing the Axe1

 

Fang Mo stared at Xu Xiran for a while.

He then quickly came back to his senses and explained, “No, don’t think like that, we really are just friends!”

“Keep your voice down. Of course, I know that you don’t have anything with him,” Xu Xiran said. “I’m just saying whatever is on my mind, just think of it as my random thoughts. Don’t take it to heart.”

“Don’t think like that, really, don’t think like that, I’m begging you,” Fang Mo couldn’t help but take it to heart. “You wouldn’t want others to think like that about you either, would you?”

Upon hearing this, Xu Xiran suddenly made a strange expression, “Have you forgotten how other people see our relationship as?”

Fang Mo froze.

That was different. Others could think however they want about them. Fang Mo wanted them to think to their heart’s content. The more the better.

His expression suddenly changed, and when Xu Xiran observed this, he seemed to misunderstand. He suddenly curled his lips into a smile, and purposely leaned over to Fang Mo’s side until he was at a distance that could be considered ambiguous.

“Come, say it. What is our relationship?” He asked Fang Mo with a smirk, “What am I to you?”

The blood in Fang Mo’s body suddenly rushed in two directions, both upwards and downwards.

He knew that many straight men liked to joke around with each other like this. Before coming to college, more than once had he seen male classmates fooling around with each other in public, hugging each other, or even sitting on top of each other, with no shame whether the affection was verbal or physical. Back in elementary and middle school, these brats were also obsessed with sneaking up and grabbing each other’s crotches. Fang Mo always thought these kinds of behaviors were stupid, but up until now, he suddenly realized their appeal.

He tightly pursed his lips, and in his heart, he secretly said, my husband.

Seeing him silent, Xu Xiran misread the situation again, and returned to his original position with a big smile, “Look, this was your own proposal. Who would be convinced by this appearance?”

Just as Fang Mo was about to say that they should practice more later, someone from not far away deliberately cleared their throat.

The two both turned their heads to see Zou Shun standing near them.

“Am I interrupting you two?” he asked while slightly tilting his head and raising one eyebrow. His eyes fell on Fang Mo’s face, and his tone clearly harbored ill intentions.

In contrast to Fang Mo’s blushing, Xu Xiran was openhearted and naturally unbothered. He smiled and asked Zou Shun, “Are you all done over there?”

“Not yet, she said she’ll use a pin to temporarily change it, and will let me try it on later,” Zou Shun said, sitting next to them, “I won’t bother you two if I stay here, right?”

Fang Mo thought to himself, yes, you’re bothering us. This kid was obviously here to watch the fun. Since Xu Xiran was still present, it was inconvenient for him to blatantly shoo him away, so Fang Mo could only discreetly glare at him.

“You have no choice even if I’m bothering you,” Zou Shun said with a sigh, “I came over here on a mission.”

“Mission?” Xu Xiran was curious. “What did they ask you to do?”

“The two older girls over there asked me to help persuade Momo,” Zou Shun turned around and gestured, then grinned at Fang Mo, “They want you to join and cosplay as the second male lead, the one with the silver hair.”

Fang Mo repeatedly waved his hands, “No, no, I can’t do that.”

He has seen the anime, and had somewhat of a good understanding of the characters in the story. The so-called male number two did not have many scenes but was quite popular. He was a very mysterious character, and one of his main characteristics was that he was tall and handsome. As the pinnacle of male attractiveness in the entire show, he was also Fang Mo’s favorite character.

But as for cosplay itself, he initially persuaded Zou Shun but had no intentions of trying it himself. In addition to feeling embarrassed when wearing bizarre clothes, Fang Mo also couldn’t bear to be surrounded by chattering girls like Zou Shun.

He didn’t think that Xu Xiran, who had always been on his side, would help Zou Shun persuade him, “I also think you’d be very fitting, why don’t you try?”

“That’s right. Give it a try. Just because you haven’t liked this before doesn’t mean you won’t like it later. Maybe it will open a new door for you if you try?” Zou Shun used the same set of words that Fang Mo had used in persuading him. “Why not challenge yourself in this new field? When they showed me the picture of the character just now, I knew that you were the only one for this role, you simply look exactly like him!”

Fang Mo saw right through him. Zou Shun was very resentful of the task that was given to him. 

He didn’t come here to persuade, he came here to take revenge.

And Xu Xiran, his steady comrade-in-arms, turned his back on him, “Our club really can’t find a better candidate than you. If you don’t go, this role will be vacant.”

“Can’t you do it?” Fang Mo resisted, “I’m not tall enough!”

In his impression, this character was a head taller than the main protagonist, and he and Zou Shun did not have much of a height difference.

“You can wear those special kinds of platform shoes. You’re not that short, a little padding should be good enough,” said Xu Xiran. “This character is so handsome, how would I be suitable? Besides, I also don’t like being on stage.”

“Wait a minute,” Zou Shun abruptly raised his hand, “You have to go on stage?”

Xu Xiran nodded, “Yeah, what else did you think?”

Zou Shun held his head, “I thought it was only a photoshoot or something!”

Just as he said that, someone on the other side of the activity room gestured for Zou Shun to come back to try on his modified jacket. 

After he left, Fang Mo asked Xu Xiran, “You’re so invested in this event, why aren’t you participating in it at all?”

“I’m participating,” Xu Xiran said. “The entire male cast was recruited by me. I like to help behind the scenes. Besides, other than the second male lead, we’re not missing anyone else.”

Fang Mo felt that he was quite suitable for the second male lead, tall and handsome. He just didn’t match his personality. But since he didn’t want to, Fang Mo, an outsider, had no reason to force it. Aside from Xu Xiran’s participation, he suddenly thought of something more important.

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He grabbed Xu Xiran and said, “Is someone cosplaying as Xiaoyao?”

“Of course there is,” Xu Xiran nodded, “but they’re not here today. Next time I see them I’ll point them out to you, they look so much like the original character.”

Upon hearing this, Fang Mo immediately fell into a state of high alert. Since her appearance was so close to Xiaoyao’s, she must undoubtedly be in line with Xu Xiran’s taste. When the time comes for her to dress up, there is no guarantee that this die-hard otaku won’t catch feelings. Prevailing over those other gays lurking in the dark can now only be regarded as swatting away flies. This girl that he has never met would probably be the biggest enemy he would ever encounter so far. 

Xu Xiran was unaware of his inner thoughts, and raised his arm and put it around his shoulder, hugged him, and leaned against his side. 

“Don’t you think it’s weird,” he slightly leaned towards Fang Mo’s direction and lowered his voice, “Zou Shun’s attitude just now felt quite unnatural.”

Facing Xu Xiran’s sudden closeness again, Fang Mo’s thoughts were muddled for a moment, “Ah? What?”

“I’ve been observing for a while,” Xu Xiran said, “I’m not overthinking anything. He really cares about you.”

Fang Mo finally came back to his senses, “You don’t think he has a crush on me, do you?”

“It’s like this,” Xu Xiran said. “You told me before that what he complained to you about was that the straight man he likes never knew his intentions, and that made it hard for him, right?”

Fang Mo spit out.

Xu Xiran continued to analyze, “Didn’t you say that other than his friends that are girls, the rest of his friends are from the circle? So aren’t you the only straight guy that he’s close with?”

Sorry, I’m not straight. Fang Mo felt ashamed, and for a moment, didn’t know how to explain.

“I see that he’s a bit against cosplaying,” Xu Xiran said, “but he’s still willing to come and help. It must be because you tried to persuade him, right?”

It’s because he knows that I want to bang you, that he so honorably made the sacrifice to create an opportunity for me. This is a true testament of friendship. If he really liked me, how would he be so willing to help me pursue someone else?

It was too bad that the real truth couldn’t be told.

Xu Xiran was still immersed in his own reasoning, “Wasn’t I leaning next to you when he came over just now? He seemed to have come to purposely interrupt us.”

This Fang Mo also saw. But he knew that it was only because Zou Shun was unhappy when he saw him enjoying himself, while he was being tortured. 

“Have you been feeling suspicious for a while?” Fang Mo asked.

Xu Xiran nodded, “I wasn’t sure about it before, but the more I looked at it, the more suspicious I became. I hesitated for a while on whether I should tell you… but it won’t be good for him or for you if it goes on like this…”

No wonder that he had been hesitating before speaking; it turned out that this was what he was thinking about. All of these inferences seemed reasonable, but unfortunately, because the most crucial piece of information was missing, everything was wrong.

Fang Mo was speechless and thought that this was hilarious. Xu Xiran, this fool, who was completely unaware that there are so many people of the same-sex around him who were interested in him, was yet quite focused on observing other people’s feelings.

“You’ve never met the straight man he has a crush on, have you?” Xu Xiran said.

This time, Fang Mo could finally refute.

“I’ve met him before!” He quickly said, “The day that I first met you, he was the man that drove me and Zou Shun to school.”

Xu Xiran was very surprised, “Yi, there really is such a person?”

“Yes, of course there is,” Fang Mo emphasized emphatically, “So your reasoning is fundamentally untenable.”

Xu Xiran frowned and thought for a while, and couldn’t let go of the fact that his long-standing deduction was fundamentally wrong, “Are you sure? Did Zou Shun tell you himself? That he likes this person?”

“Don’t take unnecessary efforts to study this” Fang Mo didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, “Do you think he’d lie to me about this sort of thing?”

Xu Xiran suddenly became curious, “What kind of person is he?”

Fang Mo tried his best to recall: “He’s much older than us, around thirty or so, and seems quite mature. He wears a pair of glasses, is not too tall or handsome, but he’s quite comfortable to look at, and talks and behaves very politely.”

“…That’s even more strange.” Xu Xiran frowned.

 Fang Mo also frowned, “What’s strange?”

“You attract the same sex so much, you’re so handsome, and you stay with him all day, and yet he doesn’t feel anything towards you and likes some ordinary-looking uncle?” Xu Xiran couldn’t easily give up his assumptions.

Fang Mo was speechless.

When this person, who wasn’t one to gossip, started to think a certain way, not even ten bulls could pull him back. No wonder he first asked what he and Zou Shun were doing in the small garden last night, and then reminded him not to be too intimate with Zou Shun.

Unfortunately, at this moment, Fang Mo could not say any of the sufficient arguments that could be used as a valid explanation.

“There’s no way that Zou Shun would lie to me,” he could only dryly say. “That day when that man drove us here, Zou Shun looked at him with a sparkle in his eyes. He definitely wasn’t acting. He also didn’t work that hard to hide that from me, did he?”

Xu Xiran slowly nodded, but still looked pensive.

“Stop getting all these ideas!” Fang Mo couldn’t take it anymore.

“Why don’t we try it again.” Xu Xiran said.

“Ah?” Fang Mo was at a loss, “Try what?”

Before Fang Mo could continue, Xu Xiran suddenly leaned over, bumped his shoulder against him, moved his cheeks close, and held his hand as he interlaced his fingers.

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