Are All You Straight Men Like This? - Chapter 2

The chaotic night finally passed.

The next morning, Ye Ran had no classes. He heard Shen Shi calling a teacher to ask for leave; after spending the entire night at the hospital, Shen Shi needed rest as well.

The two took a taxi straight back to school. By the time they arrived, it was nearly seven o’clock. The tree-lined paths were filled with the “8:00 AM army” of students, and the cafeteria was a cacophony of voices. The quiet campus had fully awakened in the morning light.

Ye Ran and Shen Shi took a side path back to the dormitory. Along the way, people intermittently greeted Shen Shi—likely classmates from the Financial Management department. They looked at Ye Ran with curious eyes.

“Oh, you’re Shen-ge’s roommate, right?” “Shen-ge, class is about to start. You’re not going?” “Hello, Roommate-classmate. Where did you guys go? Why are you just getting back?”

Ye Ran had been tossed around all night and was too exhausted to greet anyone, but he managed a polite, faint smile.

“Put your hood on,” Shen Shi suddenly said after a few steps.

Ye Ran blanked for a moment, but before he could move, Shen Shi reached out and pulled the loose hood of Ye Ran’s sweatshirt over his head. The drooping brim blocked most of the prying gazes.

For the rest of the walk, Ye Ran remained silent and stopped greeting anyone.

Dorm 211 was on the second floor. The doors and windows were tightly shut. The early autumn morning light wasn’t piercing; filtered through the blue curtains, it cast a quiet shadow over the room.

Xiao Pang and Shu-ge were still asleep; they didn’t have classes this morning either.

Dorm 211 was a “mixed dorm,” and quite unevenly so. Ye Ran was in the Art department, Shen Shi was in Financial Management, Xiao Pang (real name Lin Feipeng) was in Computer Science, and Shu-ge (real name Cheng Shu) was in Literature.

By a twist of fate and the school’s confusing housing system, the four had gathered under one roof, developing a cross-departmental friendship. Because of this, they rarely had time to go out to eat or hang out all together.

The weather was still quite hot. Before they returned, the doctor had instructed Ye Ran not to touch water and to keep warm. Ye Ran found clean clothes in his wardrobe and headed to the bathroom.

“What are you doing?” a voice came from behind.

He turned. Shen Shi was taking off his jacket. In the dim light, his figure was tall and lean. His fingers gripping his sleeve were pale and thin, the knuckles slightly protruding, showing blue veins.

Shen Shi looked at him, his gaze calm beneath his black hair. “Didn’t the doctor say no showers?”

“I didn’t plan to shower. I’m just going to wipe down.” Seeing Shen Shi hadn’t moved, he realized, “Oh… do you want to go first?”

Shen Shi looked at him again and continued undressing. “You go first.”

Ye Ran filled a basin with hot water and wiped himself down twice. During the process, he reaffirmed his vow never to eat “insanely spicy” food again—being sick was such a hassle.

When he emerged from the bathroom, a faint glow lit the room. The light came from Shen Shi’s desk. The boy, wearing only a white short-sleeved shirt, leaned lazily against his chair. His long legs were loosely bent, and he held his phone in one hand, replying to messages.

Ye Ran carried his dirty clothes to the balcony. As he passed Shen Shi, he caught an accidental glimpse of a long list of red notification dots on his WeChat.

He’s really popular, Ye Ran marveled internally.

After setting down his laundry, he tiptoed back from the balcony. He looked up and met Shen Shi’s eyes looking toward him.

Those eyes were dark and narrow, with deep eyelid folds. The corners of the eyes curved slightly; when half-lidded, they held a trace of weariness. Even with an unchanged expression, they appeared affectionate and profound. No wonder the school forums said Shen Shi’s eyes looked deeply in love no matter who he was looking at.

In the silence, Shen Shi spoke first. “Finished?”

“Finished,” Ye Ran snapped out of it, thinking the other was in a hurry. “There was no hot water last night, so I stayed in a bit longer.”

“Mm.” Shen Shi stood up and entered the bathroom.

Ye Ran climbed into his bed. He couldn’t help but make some noise while climbing; Xiao Pang in the neighboring bed fumbled for his phone in a daze, muttering to himself, “Tues… Tuesday… no… no class.” After that, he fell back asleep.

Ye Ran couldn’t help but chuckle. Before sleeping, he specifically set a vibrating alarm. Shen Shi had looked after him at the hospital all night and might not wake up for lunch. When he woke up, he would go buy food—specifically the Duck Leg Rice, the hardest meal to get at the entire school.

In the two months since school started, Ye Ran had only managed to get it five times. Seniors on the school confession wall often lamented: Not a single duck can leave Peking University alive. This proved how delicious it was.

Thinking of the tender, chewy duck leg, Ye Ran couldn’t help but swallow. As for himself… he had to keep drinking plain white porridge.

Being sick is terrible, he thought pained as he closed his eyes.

This sleep was heavy and groggy. When the alarm vibrated, Ye Ran was still a bit dizzy. He sat on the bed for a while before slowly climbing down.

The dorm was silent. Xiao Pang had sent him a text thirty minutes ago:

[Shu-ge and I went to the Student Union interviews. No need to leave the door unlocked at noon.]

The Student Union and clubs at Peking University were recruiting in late October. These days, the small and large plazas were filled with tables and chairs. Seniors enthusiastically handed out flyers, greeting every passing freshman warmly. Xiao Pang and Shu-ge were social butterflies; they had already connected with a senior from the Student Union during military training. As soon as recruitment started, they began preparing.

Ye Ran walked into the cafeteria, met by a blast of cool air. Even though it was only 10:30 AM, the cafeteria was full of people—some eating, some studying, some chatting with partners.

The line for the Duck Leg Rice window was already long. He swiped his card for a ticket and joined the end of the line. Halfway through, his phone rang. It was a message from his childhood friend.

Childhood Friend: [Ranran, you awake?] Ye Ran: [Awake. Haven’t you slept yet? It should be early morning in London, right?] Childhood Friend: [Can’t sleep. Out drinking with my roommate. He invited some guys, not a single one is handsome, and they won’t dress properly. MY EYES! MY EYES!]

Ye Ran laughed. [Don’t stay out too late. Go back and rest.] Childhood Friend: [Already leaving. My roommate is such a weirdo. Since I told him I’m gay, he keeps trying to set me up. Please, I don’t need it, OK! It’s not that I can’t find a man, I just don’t want to! anyway!] Ye Ran: [Then just reject him.] Childhood Friend: [No way, he doesn’t listen. I have to stay here for four years in the same major; I don’t want to make things too awkward… Anyway, enough about him. What about you? How’s your super-handsome roommate?]

Regarding how Shen Shi was as a roommate, no one was more qualified to speak than Ye Ran. Just as he was thinking for a few seconds, a long string of messages popped up from his friend:

[Do strangers still “accidentally” enter your dorm all the time? Let me tell you, they aren’t lost, they’re doing it on purpose!] [Is this the quality of university students nowadays? I don’t understand what kind of education they received—where is the morality! Where is the bottom line! Where are the photos! Where is the WeChat ID!]

Ye Ran: “…?”

Childhood Friend’s Conclusion: [—Quick, let me see how handsome that roommate is!]

Ye Ran: “……”

His friend was overseas, but his heart was with the motherland. On Ye Ran’s first day of school, his friend had somehow heard that a “super-handsome guy” was enrolling at Peking University and sent the news to Ye Ran. Thus, when Ye Ran found out his roommate had the same name, his first reaction wasn’t curiosity, but tension—fearful that his friend would “smell the scent” and swim back to China.

However, the events that followed—candid photos, “accidental” intrusions into the dorm, people trying to get close, asking for WeChat—had been eye-opening.

Ye Ran: [I don’t have a photo of him.] Facing that face every day, with Shen Shi sleeping in the bed opposite him, he had almost developed an immunity after looking at him for so long.

His friend strongly disagreed: [NO! I could look at handsome guys for a lifetime!] Ye Ran laughed again. Childhood Friend: [Is he near you? Take a quick photo for me. I promise to delete it after looking. Won’t share.]

Taking a photo? Ye Ran replied: [He’s not with me. I’ll look for a photo of him on the forum later and send it to you.] Childhood Friend: [Great! Love you baby mwah mwah mwah!]

The chat ended as his friend headed home. Ye Ran put his phone away. While waiting for the food, he accidentally recalled an old memory.

During military training, Shen Shi had been selected as a model soldier and often had to go for extra practice during the lunch break. Once, after Ye Ran finished eating in the dorm, the careless Xiao Pang forgot to close the door. Boys passed by from time to time, laughing and taking candid photos with their phones.

The things they said were quite nasty too: “This is it? How is he handsome? What’s wrong with girls’ eyes nowadays…”

He and Shen Shi were sitting back-to-back. He could clearly hear the sound of camera shutters. From the corner of his eye, he saw Shen Shi stand up, his fingers loosely clenched. An unknown sixth sense told him that what happened next would be hard to resolve.

Ye Ran, who had lived eighteen years as a mild-mannered and lazy person, made his first impulsive move. He rushed past Shen Shi and slammed the door shut.

Clang!

After closing the door, his mind went blank. He swallowed nervously, dazed for a long while before saying to the quietly staring Shen Shi: “…”

Ye Ran had forgotten what he said, but after telling his childhood friend that night, his friend laughed at him for three days. “Hahaha, why were you embarrassed?”

Ye Ran felt both awkward and suffocated, explaining from under his covers, “I don’t know, I just felt that if I didn’t close the door, things wouldn’t end well. I won’t do it again…”

Despite saying that, for the next month, as long as Shen Shi was in the dorm, Ye Ran would silently close the door. He had become the unofficial “spokesperson” for the door of Dorm 211. Xiao Pang and Shu-ge took the hint; several times they almost handed over their keys to him, looking at him with respect.

Ye Ran: “…” Help. That’s really not what I meant.

“Hey, classmate, what meal did you want?” the auntie at the window shouted at him.

Ye Ran snapped out of his crushing embarrassment. The noisy cafeteria sounds filled his ears. He put his phone away, ordered a portion of Duck Leg Rice, then went to the first-floor porridge window to buy a cup of porridge and some vegetarian side dishes.

Returning to the dorm, the room was still dim. Ye Ran tiptoed to turn on his desk lamp, setting it to the lowest brightness. After hesitating for a few seconds, he stood below Shen Shi’s bed and called out: “Shen Shi?”

There was no reaction from within the tightly drawn bed curtains. He raised his voice slightly and called again: “…Shen Shi?”

The next instant, the closed dorm door was suddenly pushed open. Light flooded in.

Xiao Pang and Shu-ge entered one after another, carrying their meals and grumbling: “Aren’t they just playing us? They said they wanted us in the Student Union, but they just wanted us to fill the numbers…”

“Eh? Ye Ran,” Xiao Pang noticed him and greeted: “What are you doing standing under Shen Shi’s bed? Didn’t he leave a long time ago?”

Shu-ge had already opened the curtains. The blue fabric slid to either side, and the room instantly became bright. Outside the window, the sun was at its peak, and the sunlight was dazzling. The small path outside was packed with crowds leaving class, and the fragrance of food wafted through the hallway.

Ye Ran stood dazed for a moment before reacting. “Oh,” he returned to his seat. “He went out?”

“Yeah, left at nine. I think he set an alarm…?” Shu-ge chimed in: “Yeah, a vibrating one. It’s normal you didn’t hear it. I asked him where he was going, and he said the Student Union. Apparently, they’ve been calling him every day, urging him to join.”

“Crap!!” Xiao Pang was unusually furious upon hearing this. “Why does no one want us while Shen Shi is in high demand? It’s not fair!”

“What do you think?” Shu-ge looked at him gloomily. “If I had Shen Shi’s face, would I still be hanging out with you?” “What did you say? I’m not taking the blame for that. You can’t blame me for being ugly!” Xiao Pang said. Shu-ge: “? Who are you calling ugly?”

The two began an endless bicker. Ye Ran had a headache. He touched the warm Duck Leg Rice and spoke up to interrupt them.

“Have you guys eaten?” “About to. Why?” Shu-ge answered.

He smiled and shook the food in his hand. “My stomach isn’t great these past few days; I can’t eat meat. Do either of you want it?”

After a brief silence. Xiao Pang: “Me!” Shu-ge: “Me!”

Ye Ran gave them the food and let them choose for themselves. He opened his cup of white porridge and let out a sigh at the clear, watery soup.

Behind him was a fierce argument; in front of him was a bland meal.

Being sick is so scary. Ye Ran scooped a spoonful of porridge, feeling apprehensive. He never wanted to be sick again.