After the Straight Male Incubus Became a Heartthrob - Chapter 11

The moment he heard there was money to be made, Ye Lin scrambled out of bed to wash up and change. For the sake of a million yuan, he could entirely ignore his physical discomfort.

Outside, the sky was a vast expanse of clear blue, dotted with the occasional drifting white cloud. The ultraviolet rays were intense, prompting almost everyone to carry umbrellas. Ye Lin shielded his eyes with his hand and ran quickly into a shaded path, heading toward the university.

Before long, his phone began to ring. The screen lit up with Gu Jiazhi’s name.

That is strange, Ye Lin thought. Hasn’t he gone to class? Why is he calling at this hour?

Ye Lin answered the phone, but before he could speak, Gu Jiazhi launched into an urgent tirade.

“You are not feeling well, yet you are running around outside!”

“I have things to do. Why do you sound like you have swallowed a stick of dynamite?”

It was indeed dynamite. Gu Jiazhi had rushed to the hospital to buy medicine, hoping to see Ye Lin the moment he got home. Finding him gone had naturally soured his mood.

“What could you possibly have to do?”

“I have to accompany Liang Wenle, so I am out.”

“Is accompanying him that important? Important enough to skip resting and run out?”

“Of course. He is my boyfriend now, after all. I have to hang up; I am in a hurry. He has a bad temper, and he will definitely be angry if I am late.”

“You…” Before Gu Jiazhi could finish, the line went dead.

He suddenly remembered that, on paper, Ye Lin and Liang Wenle were an inseparable, intimate couple. It was perfectly normal for Ye Lin to accompany him. Gu Jiazhi was merely Ye Lin’s friend; he could not even find a reasonable angle from which to complain.

For some reason, he felt incredibly frustrated. Gu Jiazhi gripped his phone tightly and cursed Liang Wenle under his breath several times. He had always looked down on his childhood friend. Liang Wenle had been pampered since birth and was as thick-headed as a pig. Why did he have to call Ye Lin out right now?

In truth, he wanted to call back and find an excuse to lure Ye Lin home. However, he felt that doing so would make him seem far too concerned about Ye Lin, which would be laughable. He ultimately decided against it.

Meanwhile, Ye Lin had entered the teaching building. Several buildings were connected by long corridors that branched out in all directions, looking like a giant labyrinth. There were too many classrooms, and the room numbers were confusingly similar. Finding Liang Wenle was proving to be a challenge.

Ye Lin had no choice but to message Liang Wenle to express his helplessness.

Ye Lin: Wenle, where are you? I really cannot find it.

Liang Wenle: You are so stupid. You do not even know how to find a classroom!

Ye Lin: That is right. I am very stupid. I am not even half as smart as Wenle. Please teach me, Wenle.

Liang Wenle had intended to give Ye Lin a harsh scolding, but seeing the text, he imagined a pathetic large dog with its ears drooping. Coincidentally, his dog, Yuanyuan, had not seen Ye Lin for a few days and had barely eaten, looking quite listless.

Fine, he thought. As a generous person, I cannot hold a grudge against an idiot.

During the break between classes, Liang Wenle left the room to find Ye Lin. When he spotted him, he found him chatting and laughing with several girls, looking not at all like someone lost or anxious.

He has the nerve to act pitiful online? How hypocritical!

Liang Wenle hurried over and pressed down heavily on Ye Lin’s shoulder from behind, his expression as dark as a ghost’s. The girls saw his face and quickly hurried away; none of them dared to provoke the infamously ill-tempered Young Master Liang.

Noticing the girls’ reaction, Ye Lin turned around. Seeing Liang Wenle, he cried out in pleasant surprise, “Wenle, you are amazing! You found me so quickly!”

Liang Wenle leaned into his ear and whispered, “I am telling you, do you have any professional ethics at all? You signed a contract with me, yet you are hitting on girls. This is too much!”

Ye Lin shrugged helplessly. “I did not think you would mind. Since we are a fake couple and you do not actually like me, it should be fine.”

The logic was sound, yet hearing it still made Liang Wenle angry. What is wrong with me?

Liang Wenle asked crossly, “Oh? If someone made it look like you were being cheated on, would you be happy?”

Ye Lin nodded, thinking that made sense, and quickly apologized. “I am sorry, Wenle. You are right. I will definitely keep my distance from others from now on and stop chatting and laughing.”

Mollified, Liang Wenle dragged him into the lecture hall. Since it was a public elective course, the room was packed with over a hundred people. Only the students in the front were actually studying; everyone in the back was playing on their phones.

Liang Wenle kept his head down, scrolling through his phone while grumbling that the teacher was just wasting time with a boring lecture. Ye Lin, however, looked around with wide eyes. Having never made it to university himself, he had never attended a class in such a large lecture hall and was full of curiosity.

As he looked around, his eyes met the teacher’s. He instinctively ducked his head and whispered, “What should I do? I think I just made eye contact with the teacher.”

Liang Wenle whispered back, “Who told you to look around? I remember this teacher loves calling on people to answer questions.”

Ye Lin was terrified of being called on. He grabbed Liang Wenle’s hand in a panic and asked nervously, “Then what do I do, Wenle? I do not know anything!”

Liang Wenle looked up, only to see the teacher pointing straight at their spot. “The student in the white shirt, please stand up and answer.”

Ye Lin was wearing a white shirt. As a poor student, his greatest fear was answering questions. A cold sweat broke out as he pointed to the person next to him. “Teacher, I did not enroll in this class. I just came to accompany my boyfriend. Please let him answer the question instead.”

With those words, Liang Wenle became the center of attention. He instantly became the “hot topic” character who was so inseparable from his boyfriend that he brought him to a public elective.

The teacher laughed. Seeing that Ye Lin looked well-behaved and earnest, the teacher did not make things difficult for him and pointed to Liang Wenle instead. “Hahaha! I am not an old-fashioned person. I understand young people today; it is normal to bring a boyfriend to class. However, since your boyfriend is so shy, you answer it.”

Liang Wenle truly wanted to punch Ye Lin. He felt the surrounding stares turning into physical daggers piercing through him. He could already imagine how the other students would gossip about him.

However, he was trapped. He had to stand up and answer the question as best he could.

For those few minutes, Ye Lin did not dare to lift his head. Only when he heard the teacher tell Liang Wenle to sit down did he breathe a sigh of relief, whispering about his narrow escape. But before he could turn his head, he felt an icy gaze from Liang Wenle, like a sharp blade ready to cut him into a thousand pieces.

Liang Wenle’s complaining tone drifted over like a ghost. “When you were asked a question, you suddenly remembered I was your boyfriend?”

Ye Lin knew that selling out his employer was bad form. He leaned in and whispered an apology. “Wenle, I was just so desperate. Please forgive me.”

Liang Wenle did not push him away, but his tone was chilling. “I want to kill you.”

Ye Lin could only hold onto his arm and shake it gently, his tone humble. “I am sorry. I should not have pushed you out there, but I was really too scared to answer. I am so stupid that if people laughed at me, I would be embarrassing you. We are a couple, after all; my face is your face.”

Ye Lin had a faint scent and a slender build. Leaning in like that made him look small and helpless, which, paired with his handsome face, made it easy for people to soften their hearts.

Liang Wenle was successfully coaxed. Just as he was about to say something else, the teacher’s voice rang out loudly.

“That couple down there! I understand you are attending class together, but please be careful not to be too intimate. This is a public place, after all.”

Everyone looked at them again, and laughter flooded the room. Liang Wenle suddenly realized that Ye Lin was leaning far too close, looking exactly like a little boyfriend seeking comfort. He pushed him away quickly and hissed, “It is all the fault of an idiot like you!”

Ye Lin felt embarrassed. He let go of his hand and looked down at the floor. “How was I supposed to know the teacher had such sharp eyes?”

Seeing them separate, the teacher laughed again. “You are young; it is normal to be clingy during the honeymoon phase. Just be mindful next time. Now, let us continue discussing the requirements for regional governance…”

Throughout the rest of the class, Liang Wenle was restless. He did not understand. He had only signed a relationship contract with Ye Lin, so why did it feel like they were actually dating? He was softening at Ye Lin’s acting, worrying about being caught by the teacher, and caring about what other students thought.

Moreover, this idiot Ye Lin loved to say whatever came to mind. Before, he said, “Wenle is my money and my power,” and now he said, “My face is your face.”

Does he really think we are dating?

There was no way a person like Liang Wenle would ever date someone so nonsensical and stupid!

The more Liang Wenle thought about it, the angrier he became, and his heart began to race. Usually, he could pass the time by playing on his phone, but now he could not focus. His mind was filled with the stupid things Ye Lin had done.

Beside him, Ye Lin was leisurely playing on his phone. Having been scolded by teachers since he was a child, he was very thick-skinned. Within ten minutes, he had completely forgotten the incident and was focused on his game.

After class, many people glanced at them as they passed. Several girls covered their mouths and giggled, likely having never seen such a bold same-sex couple. Liang Wenle hurriedly pulled Ye Lin out of the building and toward the parking lot, not wanting to stay and be gossiped about.

It was evening, and the sky was streaked with pale pink sunset clouds. The clouds were strangely shaped and interconnected; from a distance, they looked like a phoenix about to descend. Passersby were taking photos of the sky.

Ye Lin was no exception, but he felt his phone could not capture the magnificence of the sunset. He reached out to Liang Wenle. “Wenle, your phone is definitely higher-end than mine. Let me borrow it to take a photo.”

Liang Wenle tutted, mocking him in his heart for being so unrefined as to be amazed by a sunset. “Why should I lend it to you?”

After acting for so long, many gestures had become second nature. Ye Lin naturally linked his arm through Liang Wenle’s and said smoothly, “Because you are my boyfriend. Let me borrow it.”

Liang Wenle pressed the phone hard against Ye Lin’s face and said with disgust, “That is disgusting. Try to act more natural next time!”

Ye Lin cried out as the phone hit him, but he still took it and began photographing the sunset. “Wenle, such violence is not good. Shen Shao probably likes gentle people.”

Liang Wenle suddenly realized he hadn’t mentioned Shen Shao for several days, which felt strange.

“Wow, this phone takes such beautiful photos.”

Ye Lin used the phone to take a photo of him and Liang Wenle leaning together. He copied a random caption from the internet and posted it to his social media feed. “I see other couples posting official announcements. You should post one too. That way, when Shen Shao sees it, he will come looking for you.”

Liang Wenle was very concerned about his public image and feared Ye Lin would post an ugly photo. He snatched the phone back, grumbling, “What are you posting? If you make me look ugly, I will kill you!”

Ye Lin said confidently, “I took a great photo.”

As soon as the official announcement post went out, many of Liang Wenle’s hangers-on left comments of congratulations. However, one person was missing from the usual crowd: his best friend, Gu Jiazhi.