Chapter 45: Relics of the Warring States Period

Their dormitory was a four-person room. Besides Lin Mo himself, the others were the mature-looking Wang Bo, the muscular fitness enthusiast Zhao Ziyu, and the person standing before him, Li Chuan.

Among the four, Zhao Ziyu was the tallest at 1.85 meters—a big, sturdy guy from Northeast China. However, it had already been confirmed that he wouldn't be returning to school; he was interning directly in the field until graduation.

Wang Bo, referred to as "Manager Wang," had a more mature appearance and a somewhat rounded physique. Despite his young age, he had already developed a beer belly. He was scheduled to return the day after tomorrow.

Lin Mo needed no introduction. Although his features were somewhat delicate, he generally fell into the category of an average person—not outstanding, but not bad either.

Li Chuan was the shortest of the four, standing at about 1.73 meters, but he had a beautiful small face. To put it simply, he had a feminine countenance despite being male. He wasn't an ostentatious person, so the roommates all called him "Chuan-Mei" (Sister Chuan).

It had started as a joke among them, but unexpectedly, the name had become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Had they known he possessed such a talent, their university years wouldn't have been so boring.

"Are you saying that while we were out interning, your family handled your internship certificate, and then you stayed at school to do cross-dressing?"

After a long silence in Dormitory 205, Lin Mo stood before his bed, looking at Chuan-Mei with a face full of disbelief.

At this moment, Li Chuan was wearing a floral maxi dress with long hair cascading over his shoulders. His face was elaborately made up, and he sat in front of the computer, nervously fidgeting with his fingers with a guilty expression.

"It's not 'cross-dressing,' it's content creation for social media. My mom said long ago that she wasn't counting on me to make money; at worst, I'd just go back to my hometown. I didn't want to go back and live off my parents, so I..."

From what Lin Mo knew, Chuan-Mei's family ran a supermarket—not one of those convenience stores at the entrance of a residential complex, but a large-scale supermarket that sold everything from vegetables and fruits to daily necessities.

Although his hometown was a county town, his family's financial situation was quite good. They were "small-scale second-generation wealthy." While they couldn't compare to someone like the eldest Miss Yuan, who casually dropped hundreds of thousands on the latest Xiaomi cars, they were certainly much better off than Lin Mo's ordinary family.

"You said you were livestreaming just now. You're not one of those 'borderline' streamers who specifically tricks big spenders, are you?" Lin Mo asked suspiciously.

"Bullshit! Am I that kind of person? I live off advertisements! I'm maintaining my fan base. I'll be broadcasting for a while just to chat with everyone. I definitely don't do anything suggestive!" Li Chuan said excitedly.

Immediately after, "Little Li" spent over half an hour recounting his "entrepreneurial" journey.

To put it simply, during the second half of their junior year, when the roommates had all gone out for internships, Little Li had originally intended to let his family handle his internship certificate so he could just lie flat.

However, while scrolling through Douyin one day, he saw that some cross-dressing influencers were very popular. Coincidentally, many people had told him since childhood that he looked like a girl. This sparked an idea.

In the end, he went all in. He stayed at the school to begin his grand mission of building an online persona. To that end, he even went on Xiaohongshu to find female bloggers to learn how to apply makeup.

Finally, heaven rewarded his efforts. After several months of trial and error, relying on his innate talent for feminine beauty, he actually broke into the niche. He was now a somewhat famous cross-dressing influencer.

He hadn't originally intended to let his roommates know. He thought he would just stop posting for a while once they returned, but he hadn't expected Lin Mo to return two days early and walk right into this.

Looking at the account on Chuan-Mei's phone, which displayed five hundred thousand followers, Lin Mo narrowed his eyes and spoke with a strange expression

"Your short video account ID is Li Shiya?"

"Yeah, sounds good, right? From the moment I started my account, my online image has been as a girl. No one knows my real identity in private. When you're out in the world, everyone has a few alt accounts, right? Besides, I kept my surname!" Little Li said as if it were perfectly natural.

Hearing this, Lin Mo felt a sense of profound exhaustion. What was happening lately? The people around him were becoming increasingly "abstract."

The fake Li Shiya and the real Liu Ruyan—were they teaming up to finish him off?

Setting aside everything else, knowing these two made him feel embarrassed to even call himself Lin Mo. He felt like he was doing a disservice to his own life if he didn't identify as Makoto Itou.

"Wait, since you've chosen to be a social media creator, are you still afraid of people knowing what you actually look like? It's nothing shameful. Why hide it?"

Lin Mo didn't quite understand. There were countless cross-dressing influencers online making massive amounts of money. Many people wanted to earn that kind of money but couldn't. What was there to be ashamed of?

Upon hearing this, Comrade Li quickly grabbed his arm: "Bro, Brother Lin, you'll help me keep this a secret, right?"

"Heh~ that depends on your performance. As for this secret... I might just feast on it for the rest of your life, *jie jie jie*!" Lin Mo gave a sinister grin. He had to admit, being the villain felt great.

"Wait a minute..." Hearing this, Li Chuan scrambled up, pulled a large box from under his bed, and pushed it toward him. "It's all in here. Snacks, drinks, toilet paper, facial cleanser, skincare products, cross-dressing clothes... actually, forget the clothes. These are all samples sent to me by advertisers. They're all yours, especially this self-heating hotpot—it's incredibly delicious!"

Comrade Li had begun bribing the "old cadre."

Lin Mo raised an eyebrow and smiled. "All to me? Is this voluntary?"

"Who put Brother Lin's things in my box? Everything is in here. I haven't eaten a single one of the recent samples; I wouldn't dare! My family has been fat for generations; I'm terrified of getting fat!" As he spoke, Chuan-Mei grabbed his arm and wailed tearfully.

The way he acted was exactly like Zhao Dehan possessed him; anyone walking in would think he was an anti-corruption officer coming to make an arrest.

Just as Lin Mo was about to let it go, Chuan-Mei suddenly noticed the watch on his wrist.

"Holy crap, a Patek Philippe Nautilus? Did you strike it rich?"

Unlike Lin Mo, who knew nothing about watches, Li Chuan came from a decent background and had some knowledge of such things. He recognized it instantly and knew its value.

"No, a friend gave it to me. Is this a Patek Philippe?" Lin Mo lifted his arm to take a look. He didn't know about the Nautilus, but he had heard of Patek Philippe.

"A... friend... gave it... to you? If I'm not mistaken, this friend is a woman, right?" As he spoke, Chuan-Mei slowly straightened his back.

"How did you know?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Chuan-Mei snatched back the items he had prepared to use as bribes.

"Fine! I was wondering why you had changed so much. Turns out you're living off a woman! 'Soft-Rice Mo'! Now, tell the truth!"

"I am not!" Lin Mo shouted.

"Heh~ 'not living off a woman'? What kind of woman could give you a Nautilus? This specific model is at least 400,000 yuan. Looks like she's a wealthy sugar mommy..."

Lin Mo found it impossible to defend himself, but suddenly something caught his eye, and he smiled

"No matter how rich she is, she's not as rich as you, Chuan-Mei."

"I don't have the ability to give away such an expensive watch," Chuan-Mei countered.

Lin Mo didn't panic in the slightest. "How is that possible? I even found Warring States period artifacts at the head of your bed. Stop pretending!"

"Where are my artifacts?"

"Aren't those a pile of papers from the State of Lu?"

Li Chuan: w(Д)w

(End of Chapter)