My Ex-Boyfriend is Chasing Me Again - Chapter 4

On the first day Xu Yan and Ji Ran became desk mates, he felt a bit excited, but not too much, because his new desk mate didn’t seem to like talking much.

Bored, he propped his chin on his hand and stared blankly at Ji Ran, who was bent over solving problems.

Page after page.

He solved them so fast—was Ji Ran some kind of human problem-solving machine? Did all those messy formulas just automatically print themselves in his brain?

“Something wrong?” Ji Ran put down his pen and looked up at Xu Yan, who was staring at him in a daze.

Only then did Xu Yan snap back to reality.

“Nothing,” Xu Yan smiled. “I just like watching you solve problems.”

Sunlight streamed through the window, half of it falling on Ji Ran.

Ji Ran chuckled softly.

Who in the world likes watching someone solve problems?

But it was that chuckle that left Xu Yan speechless in shock. This seemed to be the first time he’d seen Ji Ran smile since the start of the school year. Was he really that funny?

“Did you just smile?” Xu Yan suddenly leaned in close to Ji Ran, wanting to confirm whether he’d seen correctly. But he ended up leaning too close—close enough to see Ji Ran’s thick eyelashes clearly.

Was he crossing a line like this?

“Mm.” Ji Ran nodded, admitting, “I smiled.”

“Am I that funny?” Xu Yan muttered quietly, then buried his head in his arms on the desk to hide his already reddening ears.

He’d leaned in too close just now—so close it felt strange even to himself.

But luckily, Ji Ran probably didn’t mind too much.

“Scratch, scratch, scratch.” Even with his head buried, Xu Yan could hear the sound of pen tip rubbing against paper beside him.

He thought, Ji Ran was probably some kind of problem-solving machine released into Linlin No. 3 High School by a factory—a machine that didn’t bother with people.

“It’s not because you’re funny.” The problem-solving machine responded.

“Because…”

“Because what?” Xu Yan immediately lifted his head, asking sincerely.

“Nothing.” As he spoke, Ji Ran seemed to think of something, the corners of his mouth lifting in a barely noticeable curve.

Because you’re cute.

“Our class needs to sign up for the Arts Festival! Anyone who wants to perform, come to me now! We have to submit the list the day after tomorrow!”

On Sunday evening, right after the monthly break, Qiu Muyang seemed to have just remembered the Arts Festival performances. He hurriedly ran up to the podium and shouted at the class below.

The class fell silent for a few seconds before instantly returning to its noisy, chattering atmosphere, completely ignoring what Qiu Muyang had said.

Just then, a round-faced girl with short hair quietly walked up to the podium and calmly said to Qiu Muyang, “The girls in our class have already signed up with me for a dance medley. The boys can put together a play.”

“As for how to arrange it, that’s up to you. You don’t have to do it, but then you’ll have to explain it to Old Du.”

Qiu Muyang looked down at the girl standing a head shorter than him. With such a cute, sweet face, how could she say something so cold?

Seeing the girl turn to leave the podium after speaking, Qiu Muyang quickly followed her.

“Come on, Shu Ning, Ning-jie! They won’t listen to me.”

“Then beg them.” Shu Ning said, tossing a notebook at Qiu Muyang. “Script.”

“I’ve written the script. I’ve already arranged most of the female roles, but there aren’t many girls in our class, so one female role is still empty—a boy will have to play it. As for the other male roles, you arrange them.”

Qiu Muyang took the script and paused for a moment before exclaiming, “Damn, sis! You’re reliable! I’ll go arrange it right away.”

“Mm,” Shu Ning nodded, muttering quietly, “If you wait for people to sign up like you did before, you’ll probably just get scolded.”

But Qiu Muyang ran off too quickly, excitedly clutching the script as he dashed back to his seat, eagerly assigning roles to the guys around him.

“Yanzi, for the arts festival, our class is doing a play. Wanna join?” Qiu Muyang asked Xu Yan, who was sitting diagonally behind him, shaking the script in his hand as he spoke.

“Ask someone else first. If there aren’t enough people, I’ll step in,” Xu Yan glanced briefly before lowering his head again, continuing to half-heartedly work on his problems.

Qiu Muyang fell silent as he looked at the two people behind him, both buried in their work.

No wonder they were top students—even Xu Yan had started loving studying.

At that moment, Xu Yan, who seemed engrossed in his problems, was actually just venting his frustration on them.

He didn’t even know what he was angry about—he just was.

Maybe it was because he had proactively given his WeChat ID to Ji Ran on the day of the monthly break. During his two days off, he had been constantly checking his WeChat interface, hoping for a new friend request.

But there was none.

Two days passed, and the only people who added him were asking if he took paid gaming gigs.

So annoying—why didn’t he add him? Lost in thought, Xu Yan unconsciously scribbled on his scratch paper. Suddenly, a piece of scratch paper slid over to his hand, its handwriting elegant, strong, clear, and neat—nothing like the messy, illegible scrawl from before.

It was from Ji Ran.

What was this about? Xu Yan was full of confusion.

But he took it and looked anyway. On it was… the solution steps to the problem he was currently working on.

It was surprisingly easy to understand. The math formulas he usually struggled to grasp suddenly became clear, and he felt as if his foggy mind had never been this sharp before.

He picked up his pen and smoothly solved the problem.

Seeing this, Ji Ran smiled gently.

And this scene happened to be witnessed by Qiu Muyang, who had turned around to look for Xu Yan.

Why did it feel like the top student was looking at Xu Yan with an especially doting gaze? Probably just overthinking it. Qiu Muyang shook his head, trying to rid himself of the ridiculous thought.

“Yanzi, I need to ask you a favor,” Qiu Muyang crouched in front of Xu Yan’s desk, pleading in a low voice.

Xu Yan looked up, then silently went back to his problems.

Thinking to himself, this definitely wasn’t going to be good.

“Yanzi, please! This role can only be played by you—no one else can do it!”

A role only he could play? Was he really that special?

“What role? Let’s hear it,” Xu Yan put down his pen, propped his elbow on the desk, and asked with a smile.

Qiu Muyang: “You’ll need to make a tiny sacrifice.”

Hmm, needing to make a sacrifice meant the role was pretty significant.

“And you might need to wear a little makeup.”

Hmm, makeup too—stage effects, understandable.

“And maybe… you’ll need to wear women’s clothing.”

What? Women’s clothing!

“Get lost,” Xu Yan immediately flared up. He would never wear women’s clothing in this lifetime! Absolutely never!

“No, bro, listen to me. Our class has too few girls, and we can’t fill this female role. We have to find a guy.”

“If you can’t fill it, why not just change the female role to a male one?” Xu Yan said, exasperated.

“Well,” Qiu Muyang hesitated, “if we change this female role to a male one, half of her charm would be lost.”

Xu Yan didn’t want to deal with him anymore. He tilted his head and pointed at Ji Ran: “Ask him to do it. I think he’d be perfect for it.”

“No.” Before Qiu Muyang could even ask, Ji Ran flat-out refused, his demeanor as distant as if he were a thousand miles away.

Xu Yan: “…”

Qiu Muyang: “…”

“See, the top student isn’t willing. You’re the only one who can save me, Brother Xu.”

“Calling me ‘brother’ won’t help.” Xu Yan remained cold and resolute, refusing outright.

“Good dad, please, I’m begging you. No one else in our class can take on this role except you.”

Qiu Muyang immediately started pestering him, even going so far as to call Xu Yan “dad,” showing he could bend and stretch as needed.

“Dad, you promised—if we were short on people, you’d step in. My kind-hearted, helpful dad Xu, I’m begging you.”

Xu Yan felt a bit soft-hearted, thinking maybe he should just give in. Unexpectedly, Ji Ran beside him suddenly spoke up: “He doesn’t want to go.”

“Huh?” Qiu Muyang, who had been tugging at Xu Yan’s school uniform and pestering him relentlessly, froze in an instant.

Seriously, top student, I was just about to succeed in begging him.

“If he doesn’t want to go, don’t force him.” Ji Ran glanced at Qiu Muyang and said coolly.

“Oh… Bro, do you… do you actually want to go or not?” Qiu Muyang cautiously avoided Ji Ran’s gaze and stammered as he asked Xu Yan.

For some reason, the moment his thoughts were exposed by Ji Ran, Xu Yan felt a small sense of pride, but it was quickly followed by an inexplicable rebellious impulse.

Does he really understand me? Are we that close? He won’t even add me on WeChat. What gives him the right to act like we’re so familiar?

“I’ll go!” Xu Yan responded loudly, almost defiantly.

“Great! You’re truly my good buddy.”

Qiu Muyang immediately grabbed the sign-up sheet and wrote Xu Yan’s name with a flourish, adding a note:

Xu Yan—cross-dressing version.

After evening self-study ended, the boarding students gradually headed back to their dormitories. The classroom emptied out quickly, leaving only Xu Yan and Ji Ran, who were on duty for cleaning.

Xu Yan silently wiped the blackboard, completely unaware that Ji Ran had already come to stand beside him.

“Why did you agree?” Ji Ran’s clear, cool voice echoed distinctly in the empty classroom.

Xu Yan played dumb. “Agree to what?”

“Cross-dressing.” Ji Ran paused, then said, “If you don’t like it, why did you agree?”

Ji Ran seemed puzzled, sensing that Xu Yan was upset.

“And why are you angry?”

Xu Yan’s hand, wiping the blackboard, suddenly froze mid-air. Right, why was he angry?

Was it just because Ji Ran hadn’t added him on WeChat? Was he really that petty? And now, out of some inexplicable defiance, he’d signed up for the arts festival performance.

He was acting strange. But ever since meeting Ji Ran, it seemed like he’d been getting angry more often. He’d never gotten upset with any of his friends before.

Because he was afraid—afraid that after an argument, no one would ever get close to him again.

But Ji Ran… he seemed different.

Xu Yan, who had always kept his feelings tightly wrapped up, felt as if he were slowly peeling himself open, laying himself bare before Ji Ran.

He wanted to become good friends with Ji Ran—really, really good friends.

“I’m not angry, and I’m not unwilling. Friends help each other out, and I’m just doing Qiu Muyang a favor.” Xu Yan thought for a long time before answering.

“Mm, don’t be angry,” Ji Ran said after a moment of thought. Then, suddenly, he added, “If you really don’t like it, I can cross-dress with you.”

“Ji Ran, are we that close?”

Close enough to cross-dress together?

Xu Yan was taken aback. A gust of wind suddenly swept through the hallway beside him, the sound filling his ears, but Ji Ran’s reply was firm and clear:

“Aren’t we?”

“Desk mate in front, desk mate beside, and friends—I thought we were already quite close.”

“Then, let’s get even closer. Xu Yan, can I sign up for a performance with you and wear women’s clothing together?”

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