Weird...

Why is there a tear mole at the corner of my eye?

Wasn’t that only there when he turned into a girl?

Xuye Cheng couldn’t figure it out. But one tear mole didn’t change much; it just gave his face a different vibe.

Maybe that’s a blessing. A tear mole is a memorable marker, too.

Maybe he just rarely looked in the mirror, so he never noticed it. Put on a mask, caught it by accident... and now he can’t unsee it.

Thinking that, Xuye Cheng stepped out of the bathroom.

Not much changed. Paler or whatever—how could you even tell?

He figured it was because he brought them milk tea, so those two teamed up to flatter him.

As for Liu Xianlin, maybe he meant it. Tastes differ, after all.

Plainly put, Xuye Cheng didn’t think he was handsome.

As for why Ji Qingying ended up with him, even he wasn’t sure. They met at an event. Then bumped into each other again at a campus lecture. Ji Qingying asked for his WeChat first. As they got familiar, Xuye Cheng did fall for how well they clicked...

Too bad it’s all in the past.

Thinking that, he stepped out and ran into He Xiaohan, milk tea in hand, heading out.

Xuye Cheng frowned, and naturally assumed He Xiaohan was off to find Ji Qingying.

His mood dipped without him noticing. Poor single guy that he was, he could only curl up in a corner and lick his wounds in silence.

No one knew he’d had that thing with Ji Qingying.

He had wanted to brag about it, honestly.

After all, his girlfriend was the department beauty. What a flex in front of the bros.

Luckily he hadn’t made it public. Otherwise, with He Xiaohan dating Ji Qingying now, the dorm would be painfully awkward.

The downside? He was that stray licking his wounds by the curb. Seeing He Xiaohan go find Ji Qingying felt like getting kicked for no reason.

“I’m gonna nap. Wake me at dinner.” Xuye Cheng stepped onto the ladder, then turned to the battling duo, Zheng Wenxuan and Liu Xianlin.

“’Kay,” Liu Xianlin replied, voice steady.

He pushed off, felt something drop from his pocket, then a loud crack snapped through the room.

Right then, Zheng Wenxuan shouted, “It’s blown! Charge!”

A bad feeling surged up. He turned back and saw his phone on the floor, its camera reflecting a burst of iridescent light.

His heart tightened.

The drop wasn’t high, but it landed face-first...

He climbed down, careful. He bent slowly, hands shaking as he picked it up. The screen was shattered, moss-like. His heart went half cold.

He took a deep breath and pressed the lock key. The screen lit up. Relief washed in.

Then half the screen went dark.

“Holy crap, it really blew!”

Zheng Wenxuan yelled again.

Xuye Cheng’s heart sank completely.

The inner display was gone too...

He poked it. The bright half went dark as well...

“All blown! Sick, bro!” Zheng cried with feeling, then whooped. “Holy crap, we’ve sieged this city for half a month—one hit and it blew. So satisfying.”

He’d just fixed the phone over summer, and now it all blew at once. Too rough...

Xuye Cheng’s face turned stormy.

Liu Xianlin had headphones on, watching anime, so he didn’t notice.

“Eh? Buddy Cheng, what’s up?” Seeing storm clouds on his face, Zheng Wenxuan asked, a bit worried.

“It’s blown to hell—thanks to you,” Xuye Cheng said, taking a deep breath.

“Huh?” Zheng Wenxuan looked blank.

Xuye Cheng covered his face in pain, looking like life hurt.

“Phone’s busted.” He sighed, sat down, fiddled a bit, and realized it was beyond saving.

Irritation spiked.

A dead phone in college is lethal...

He drew a deep breath and let it out. Then he slipped straight into emo.

Zheng Wenxuan climbed down, saw the severely injured phone, and felt a wave of pity.

He sighed. “That’s a brutal drop.”

Xuye Cheng turned the phone over and swallowed. Behind him, Zheng picked up a phone from the desk. “Here. My spare—use it for now. Xiaomi 11. Pretty decent.”

Xuye Cheng was genuinely moved. He took it. “Thanks.”

“What’s up?” Only now did Liu Xianlin notice. He took off his headphones, saw the phone, and immediately got it. “Xuye, your phone’s toast?”

“Yeah, toast.” Xuye Cheng tossed his phone on the desk, then popped out both SIMs.

“Uh... about that...” Zheng Wenxuan looked a bit awkward.

“What?” Xuye asked, unlocking the phone—only to see a full page of adult apps.

“Ahem, I’m planning to quit. You can use the phone,” Zheng hurried to explain.

Liu Xianlin leaned in. Seeing the screen full of adult apps, his eyes lit up.

“Holy—so many resources and you don’t share?” He threw an arm over Xuye’s shoulder. “So damn selfish.”

Zheng snatched the phone back. “This stuff ruins you. You should quit too. Thinking about this trash all day leads nowhere.”

He finished and got ready to delete it all.

“Don’t! What a waste. You must’ve spent ages finding these!”

“Quit when you should.” Zheng looked deadly serious, then started wiping out his former little kingdom of joy.

Saying he didn’t hurt would be a lie. His heartache was so obvious Xuye felt his eyeballs might pop out.

“Why’d you hesitate?”

Zheng paused mid-delete on one app.

Pain. Too much pain.

That rare find—free, ultra-HD, no VPN—had to die by his own hand.

But once he said it, there was no taking it back.

With tears in his eyes, Zheng deleted a whole page of joy, then secretly wiped at his tears.

Liu Xianlin was misty-eyed too. He patted Zheng’s shoulder. “I salute you as a real man...”

Xuye Cheng blinked. Seeing the two like that, guilt pricked at him.