Transmigrating Into a Book: After My Online Dating Identity Was Exposed, I Was Ruthlessly Retaliated Against by the Male Lead - Chapter 4

Lin Qing’an stepped into a restaurant, where the rushing wave of cool air instantly refreshed him. He chose a table right by the floor-to-ceiling window. Although this spot tended to be a bit warmer than the others, Lin Qing’an preferred seats with an open view.

Ordering a casual meal, Lin Qing’an pulled his phone out of his pocket and was surprised to find that he had somehow switched it to silent mode earlier it must have been an accidental touch.

At the top of his pinned WeChat chats was a new message. Lin Qing’an tapped open the chat box with the “big boss.” Right, it was just a message checking in on him.

Little Green Tangerine: [I’m already at the restaurant. A-Chuan, you should go get something to eat too.]

The waiter placed the seafood noodles Lin Qing’an had ordered right in front of him. The rich broth completely submerged the noodles, and an enticing aroma wafted into the air. Lin Qing’an grabbed his phone, snapped a photo, sent it to the “big boss,” and then dug in with gusto.

Staring at the photo sent by the other person, Xie Tingchuan thought it actually looked pretty good; color, aroma, and taste at least hit the mark on appearance.

Ding-dong.

Xie Tingchuan: [Is it delicious?]

Little Green Tangerine: [Mhm, mhm, delicious! This place has great flavor, I’m definitely giving them a five-star review later.]

While eating his noodles, Lin Qing’an casually replied to Xie Tingchuan with a voice message. The very next second, he heard a familiar ding-dong sound ring out not far behind him.

Lin Qing’an instinctively turned his head and saw a customer just being seated diagonally behind him. Judging by that familiar outfit, it looked remarkably like the man he had run into in the elevator.

The other person had also ordered a bowl of seafood noodles. Lin Qing’an only glanced at him briefly before pulling back his gaze, slipping his phone into his pocket, slurping down the remaining noodle broth in two or three quick bites, and walking up to the front counter to pay.

A single bowl of seafood noodles like that cost him four hundred and sixty-nine big ones.

Lin Qing’an opened WeChat to check his balance. The long string of digits made him beam with joy as he stepped lightly out of the shop.

Just as he walked out, his phone chimed with a ding-dong.

“Huh?”

Glancing at the photo sent by the “big boss,” Lin Qing’an instinctively looked back over his shoulder. It couldn’t be such a huge coincidence, right?

Could the male lead, Xie Tingchuan, who also studied at University A, really be eating at this exact same restaurant by such a stroke of luck?

Lin Qing’an scanned the customers inside the shop, but didn’t spot any suspicious targets. Although he had never met this Xie Tingchuan in person, none of the customers here possessed that quintessential “male lead vibe.” He must be overthinking things.

That guy in black looked handsome enough, but didn’t the book state that the male lead Xie Tingchuan always stayed in the school dorms?

Lin Qing’an comforted himself. After all, looking down the street, there were several seafood restaurants in this vicinity alone, even some chain locations. Besides, there was no way he could be that unlucky.

After pondering for a moment, Lin Qing’an sent a voice message back to Xie Tingchuan.

Little Green Tangerine: [Is A-Chuan eating seafood noodles too? How’s the flavor, is it good?]

Xie Tingchuan: [The flavor’s pretty good.]

Little Green Tangerine: [Then take your time eating, A-Chuan. I have classes this afternoon, so I won’t chat anymore. Bye-bye, I’m off to find my friends now.]

After sending the voice message, Lin Qing’an directly enabled Do Not Disturb for Xie Tingchuan and shoved his phone back into his pocket.

Lin Qing’an wasn’t lying; he really did have classes in the afternoon—and major-specific ones at that, courtesy of Professor Gao, the legendary roll-call tyrant.

Who knew how a professor well past sixty managed to remember the names of so many students, let alone match every name to a face? He called roll every single class, and it was entirely impossible for anyone to answer on someone else’s behalf.

Returning to his dorm, Lin Qing’an grabbed his major textbooks and headed straight to campus. The large lecture hall was already sparsely populated with students. Entering through the back door, Lin Qing’an walked straight to his favorite window seat.

Seeing him arrive, the yellow-haired guy next to him chuckled and complained, “Qing’an, you’re finally here. If you hadn’t shown up, I wouldn’t have been able to hold this golden spot much longer.”

Lin Qing’an gave a perfunctory nod. “You guys had it tough. Dinner’s on me tonight, what do you want to eat?”

“In this ghost of a heat, I don’t want to eat anything.” Duan Xuan, the yellow-haired guy, slumped lazily across the desk while his phone kept firing off gunshots, clearly deep into a mobile game.

As he spoke, Duan Xuan reached out to poke Qin Zhiyi, who was quietly reading a book beside him, asking without raising his head, “Zhiyi, what do you want to eat? Brother Lin is treating, don’t hold back on him.”

Qin Zhiyi looked up at Duan Xuan, his eyes shining brightly behind his lenses, and said, “I want to drink juice.”

“What kind of juice?” Duan Xuan clicked his tongue. “My treat tonight, let’s hit the bar.”

“Ah!” Duan Xuan slapped his hand down, flipping his phone face-down on the desk. “Lost another match.”

Duan Xuan looked at Lin Qing’an in confusion. “Why is your neck all red?”

“Where?” Lin Qing’an pulled up his phone’s camera app and saw that the skin right around his Adam’s apple indeed looked a bit red. It must have been chafed by that lace choker, but he certainly couldn’t explain that to Duan Xuan and Qin Zhiyi.

Lin Qing’an casually fished up an excuse. “I probably scratched it myself. A mosquito bit me today, it’s pretty itchy.”

Duan Xuan had only asked out of casual curiosity. Seeing Lin Qing’an’s explanation, he nodded and urged, “You’ve got to come with us tonight. Ever since you moved out of the dorms, how long has it been since we all had a group meal together? Our bond is getting rusty.”

“Alright, got it.” Lin Qing’an let out a yawn, pocketed his phone, and said to Qin Zhiyi, “Zhiyi, I’m going to grab a nap. Wake me up when the professor gets here.”

Qin Zhiyi adjusted his glasses, smiled shyly, and nodded.

“And me, remember to wake me up too.” Right as those words fell, Duan Xuan had already flopped facedown onto the desk, burying his entire head inside his jacket.

Watching the two sleeping figures, Qin Zhiyi smiled with helpless amusement, then lowered his head to continue reading his book intently.

Lin Qing’an hadn’t slept well the previous night, and within two or three minutes, he drifted off to dreamland. Yet today’s dream clearly wasn’t carrying any good omens.

Either he was being chased by a dog, bitten by a wolf, or thrown into a river by someone. Lin Qing’an swam and swam with all his might, finally reaching the bank, only to be kicked right back into the water by a man.

Lin Qing’an snapped awake with a start, the terror and panic from the dream still lingering in his heart. The man in his dream had actually possessed a flat profile picture—a capital white letter “X” against a pitch-black background.

Lin Qing’an let out a disdainful scoff. Truly speechless and ridiculous.

“Qing’an, wipe it off. You’re sweating a lot.”

Qin Zhiyi handed Lin Qing’an two sheets of tissue paper. Lin Qing’an took them, wiped casually, and looked up. The classroom was packed tight with heads—evidently, all the students had arrived.

Lin Qing’an checked his phone. Five minutes had already passed since class was supposed to start. For Professor Gao, who was always strictly punctual, this was nothing short of miraculous. He couldn’t help asking, “Why hasn’t Professor Gao shown up yet?”

“I don’t know, no notice has been given.” Qin Zhiyi replied before lowering his head back to his book.

Seeing how intensely focused he was, Lin Qing’an didn’t bother him further and opened his own textbook to review.

Lin Qing’an’s dream was to pursue a joint master’s and doctoral program, ideally staying on as faculty right after graduation. That required maintaining a flawless academic record to prove his excellence.

Five minutes later, Professor Gao finally made his appearance in the lecture hall.

The professor looked positively beaming, clearly having run into something delightful; even his lecturing pace was a couple of notches livelier than usual.

With two consecutive class periods back-to-back, aside from the ten-minute break in the middle, Lin Qing’an had to keep his concentration dialed to the maximum. Professor Gao lectured at a blistering speed, and getting distracted even for a second meant falling completely out of rhythm.

Once class ended, Lin Qing’an and Qin Zhiyi exchanged glances and hauled a half-asleep Duan Xuan out of the classroom.

“Don’t pull me, let me recover for a sec.”

Duan Xuan leaned dazedly against the wall, the blinding glare making him instinctively squint while his eyes watered from strain and exhaustion.

“No more classes this afternoon. We’re heading out right now—to the bar.”

“This is a bar?”

Lin Qing’an looked up at the sign: Charm Night Bar? Was that even a respectable name?

Qin Zhiyi awkwardly straightened his clothes and hesitated, “It says ‘bar’ right on it, so it has to be a bar, right?”

“This is my first time coming to one too.” Duan Xuan scratched his head sheepishly. “My family is super strict and never let me come to places like this. But I’m an adult this year, so I can finally go.”

“I have a question.” Lin Qing’an stared at the tightly shut front doors, his mouth twitching speechlessly. “Is a bar even open for business right now?”

“Obviously not.” Qin Zhiyi checked his phone. “It’s only five o’clock. The sign says it opens at seven in the evening.”

“Then… shall we grab some food first?”

Duan Xuan’s suggestion was unanimously approved by Lin Qing’an and Qin Zhiyi. The three of them changed direction and headed toward a nearby restaurant.

Just after walking a few steps, Duan Xuan casually glanced back and noticed the bar’s main doors swinging open.

“Hey, the bar’s open!”

Lin Qing’an looked back and stared at the guy in the black hat for a couple of seconds. He looked a bit like the guy they had bumped into in the elevator earlier today.

“Should we…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Duan Xuan had already bolted over, intercepting a staff member who was about to close the doors.

“Excuse me, can we go inside right now?”

The staff member gave Duan Xuan a remarkably subtle head-to-toe evaluation before politely curving his lips into a smile. “Apologies, the bar opens for business at seven. You can’t go in right now.”

“Then how come he got in?” Duan Xuan pointed at Xie Tingchuan, who had already walked inside.

The staff member’s smile widened. “That’s our boss.”

Duan Xuan awkwardly retracted his hand, let out a couple of nervous “heh-heh” laughs, and then strode back to Lin Qing’an and Qin Zhiyi with an instantly deflated expression.

“They won’t let us in.”

Lin Qing’an: “…”

Qin Zhiyi: “…”

Time finally ticked over to 7:00 PM. Lin Qing’an and his two companions appeared right on schedule outside Charm Night Bar. As they passed the staff member at the entrance, Duan Xuan struck what he fancied to be a cool pose, freezing in place by the doorway.

Lin Qing’an and Qin Zhiyi exchanged glances and swiftly sidestepped away, trying to pretend they had zero connection to Duan Xuan. Naturally, Duan Xuan refused to give them the chance.

“Qing’an, Zhiyi, wait for me!”

A loud shout echoed clearly through the currently sparse bar. The next second, Duan Xuan appeared right behind them, throwing an arm around each of their shoulders.

“Waiter, get us a booth!”