The real young master thought he was hated by everyone

“Love has made him more cheerful,” Xie Duzhi summarized.

“Yes!” Li Heng nodded. “Although there’s no concrete evidence yet, that’s what we think!”

The lack of evidence was because Lin Mo was still essentially introverted. That day, when Wei Zhuowei read out the contents of the campus confession wall and went on and on about his views on love, he had barely reacted, offering nothing but silence.

However, Li Heng noticed that his ears had turned slightly red, which probably meant he was thinking about something and feeling shy or embarrassed.

“We and Wei are just waiting for him to confess on his own,” Li Heng casually said, quickly reaching over to take the last piece of spicy chicken from Xie Duzhi’s box as if nothing had happened.

Xie Duzhi saw it but pretended not to notice.

His gaze turned thoughtful, not wanting to dampen the mood right now.

But in the end, he decided to give a little warning to prevent Li Heng from getting too excited about his roommate’s love life: “Online relationships are riskier.”

There are certainly risks with online relationships. However, if it were just a simple online romance, Xie Duzhi wouldn’t have taken such a negative, unsupportive stance, trying to shift Li Heng from being purely happy for his friend to also feeling worried.

He had an impression of Lin Mo, having profiled him based on Li Heng’s descriptions. He knew that someone who had been bullied and excluded since childhood would have deep-rooted scars and couldn’t easily become cheerful in a short time, even with love as a motivator.

Unless that relationship—or connection—was something Lin Mo saw as so important that it outweighed everything else, something he would do anything to maintain, even at the expense of himself.

Although he couldn’t be certain, Xie Duzhi was fairly confident that the improvements Li Heng described in Lin Mo, and the positivity he was showing, weren’t because he had overcome his fears.

Instead, he was using love to mask his issues, with no real change. It was like a contradictory diversion.

He felt puzzled.

Once he realized his feelings, instead of doing anything, he just waited.

He had never been in love, and when the concept of love became something he could actually act on, his first thought was to study it.

Understanding love, learning how to love, judging what was right and wrong in love.

To do this, he specifically created a new account, followed many emotional advice pages, and read every comment carefully.

He had seen many examples, and some of the descriptions from the posts felt quite similar to Lin Mo’s situation.

He hoped that he was just overthinking out of caution, and that reality and his assumptions were completely different.

He didn’t want to see Li Heng angry or sad because of some awful possibility.

“I know online relationships are risky, but relationships in general are risky,” Li Heng said confidently, thinking he understood Xie Duzhi’s concern, then playfully waved his fist at him.

“But no matter what, it’s proof that Mo Mo is trying to get better and doing things he wouldn’t have dared before. I’ve already decided—if he really gets dumped for some reason—”

He intentionally trailed off.

Xie Duzhi sighed but went along with it. “—Then you’ll?”

“I’ll take him to drink,” Li Heng said. “I’ll take him to the bar that Second Brother took me to. I have a membership.”

After being rejected by his crush for the second time, Xie Sizhi had spent several days at the bar. When he came out, he was back to his usual playful, energetic, and healthy self, just like the carefree Second Young Master of the Xie family.

Clearly, alcohol did have some effect on easing worries.

“…Drink?”

Xie Duzhi unconsciously furrowed his brows, then quickly relaxed.

It seemed necessary to find some time to talk to the second brother about matters their parents didn’t know, and warn him.

He blamed the second brother for leading Li Heng astray.

“Alcohol is bad for your health,” he said, unconsciously giving a reminder.

“Excessive drinking is harmful,” Li Heng immediately responded in a precise, broadcast-like tone, a style he had just learned, before laughing at himself.

“I know—this is just a thought,” he tried to act cute. “I think Mo Mo won’t get dumped. He’s so great, so outstanding.”

“Even if he really gets dumped, I’ll take him to drink, and it’s okay if I tell you, right?”

Li Heng looked at him with pleading eyes. “Just in case—just in case—you won’t tell Mom, right?”

But Xie Duzhi didn’t actually approve of drinking; he knew Li Heng had a very low tolerance.

He found himself in a strange internal struggle. Reason and emotions were pulling him in opposite directions, but in the end, the temptation of a shared secret won out.

“Call me before you go.”

Finally, the young man reluctantly agreed. “…I’ll come pick you up then.”

Li Heng gave him a victorious “Yay” gesture.

Despite all the gossip with Xie Duzhi, once back at school, Li Heng didn’t constantly monitor Lin Mo or worry about his feelings.

There were plenty of assignments and surveys to keep him busy, and he also had club activities to attend.

How could he get credits without participating in club activities?

He was in two clubs.

One was the photography club, where the upperclassmen were overly enthusiastic, always pulling him into activities and placing great trust in his editing skills.

The other was the astronomy club.

Strictly speaking, it was a club he and Wei Zhuowei had dragged Lin Mo into because there weren’t many activities, but it offered credits easily.

Even after posting and getting many enthusiastic recommendations, Lin Mo still didn’t dare to join a club.

His application was buried under his textbooks, and he only submitted it in the final hours before the club recruitment deadline.

Wei Zhuowei, being keen-eyed, noticed this.

Originally, he wanted to drag Lin Mo into his own anime club, where they could joke around with their anime-loving friends, but Lin Mo stopped him.

The messages in the anime club’s group chat were always scrolling so fast, with four or five different topics being discussed at once. Most of the members responded only to what interested them.

Though the atmosphere was lively, it would make Lin Mo feel burdened.

He and Wei Zhuowei discussed for nearly an hour before finally deciding to take Lin Mo to the astronomy club instead.

Since the start of the semester, aside from paying the activity fee once, the astronomy club’s group chat had been eerily silent. The president and all the department heads rarely even showed up.

Every time Li Heng saw the astronomy group chat, aside from worrying about Lin Mo’s credits for the semester, he also felt a little sorry for the fifty yuan activity fee he’d paid.

He hadn’t expected the astronomy club to suddenly organize an event.

What he also hadn’t expected was for Lin Mo to carefully confess to him and Wei Zhuowei when the astronomy club finally held an event.

The club, which had been silent for so long, suddenly took a big step.

The president had booked a row of villas in a scenic area for two days and even prepared telescopes, saying they would take the new members to experience stargazing.

The event was scheduled for the weekend after the sports meet.

Li Heng had already earned enough credits for the semester. However, since Wei Zhuowei wanted to go and Lin Mo seemed eager, he decided not to go home and joined them for the activity.

With the recent addition of first-year students, the Club had no more than forty members, so one bus was too small to fit everyone. Two buses would seem excessive, so the president let everyone choose their own mode of transportation and promised to reimburse the travel expenses for those who gathered by noon.

Perhaps because this was the club’s first event of the semester, and the president had made grand promises in the club’s group chat—such as outdoor barbecues, unlimited snacks and drinks, and exciting games like “murder mystery”—everyone seemed quite enthusiastic.

By the time the three of them from the dorm arrived at the villa, most of the group had already set up the barbecue grills and were busy preparing the food. Despite having already eaten before coming, the tempting smells of cumin and other spices mixed with the sizzling lamb skewers immediately made Li Heng feel hungry.

Barbecue is a food best enjoyed with the right atmosphere.

He shyly asked the president, who was brushing oil and seasoning on the skewers, for a freshly grilled lamb skewer. As soon as he bit into it, the spicy chili pepper caught him off guard, making him cough. Lin Mo quickly grabbed a drink to give him.

“Is it very spicy?” the president asked, not quite understanding. He took a skewer for himself, and after a few bites, he too started coughing violently.

Li Heng silently passed his un-drunk cola to the president.

“Who bought the spicy barbecue seasoning?” the president said, finally recovering and looking around for the culprit. “Come forward, we can still discuss this.”

“Otherwise, I’ll kick you out of the club,” he joked.

The awkward part was that no one responded.

The new first-year members, not responsible for the purchase, were confused, while the senior members, both second and third-year students, didn’t seem to care.

“This isn’t your fault,” one senior said with a dismissive eye roll, irritated by the president’s outburst. “You put too much chili on it. It was supposed to be a seasoning, not the main ingredient!”

Annoyed, the president tossed his apron aside and muttered, “Fine, then. If you all want to cook, do it yourselves.”

Li Heng thought the president might have been hoping for someone to stop him, to help him save face, but no one responded.

As the self-catering began, the atmosphere at the event became much livelier.

He sat nearby and sent a message to Xie Duzhi, occasionally joining in the conversation. He noticed that Lin Mo, like him, was often looking down at his phone, typing away, occasionally showing a shy but happy smile.

Although Lin Mo’s expression didn’t change much, Li Heng could feel an inner joy building up in his heart. He was so happy for him that it felt like a little cheerleader inside him was clapping and jumping for joy.

But something puzzled him. Whenever Lin Mo glanced over at him and Wei Zhuowei, his joy seemed to turn into hesitation, like there was something unsaid, a worry lingering in his expression.

Li Heng wanted to ask, but it felt awkward to directly inquire, especially when it seemed like Lin Mo might be considering sharing something with them, but wasn’t ready yet.

His heart felt uneasy with this uncertainty, and what made it more confusing was that Wei Zhuowei appeared completely oblivious to all of this.

Wei Zhuowei was eagerly discussing Gundam with the president, completely ignoring their side of the conversation.

Later in the evening, the senior members took over cooking. They borrowed the villa’s kitchen, and the drinks available included Sprite, Coke, and some fruit-flavored cocktails that tasted almost like juice.

As for the original plan to observe the stars of the northern hemisphere in autumn and winter, it was quickly forgotten when the president, in a mysterious manner, took out a DVD and asked everyone if they wanted to watch something exciting.

Everyone was too eager to stay inside in the warmth of the air-conditioned house, so they gathered to watch instead.

The “exciting” thing, however, turned out to be far from what they had imagined.

Li Heng had assumed “exciting” meant thrilling suspense with blood and a tight plot. Others thought it might be an adult drama with a bit more mature content.

But when cheerful music began to play and a bunch of colorful little animals appeared on the screen, the room fell into an awkward silence—except for the president, who was clearly enjoying it.

“What’s wrong with you guys?” the president asked, standing up and turning off the lights in the villa. “I told you this would be exciting!”

The next few minutes were filled with the little animals meeting various gruesome fates.

It had blood, and the story moved fast, but the only person enjoying it was the president.

A loud thud echoed as the vice president kicked the president off the couch, and the event was quickly called off. It was changed to a round of “King’s Game” and “Truth or Dare” instead, with players drawing cards to decide the actions.

However, the rules changed from the usual “choose one” to allowing players to opt for a punishment of drinking a whole bottle of cocktail if they couldn’t answer the question or couldn’t complete the dare.

Li Heng, with his laid-back attitude, didn’t expect to draw a bad card. But in the sixth round, he picked up a “Joker” card.

“Truth or dare?” The person holding the King card looked somewhat awkward, their voice a bit stiff.

It seemed like his “reputation” on the school forum had preceded him.

“…I’ll go with the dare,” he hesitated for a moment before choosing the dare.

If he had chosen “truth,” he thought the person who drew the King card might ask him an awkward question, and that could kill the atmosphere, especially after it had just started to get lively.

It was better to just pick something from the pre-set dare list and go with whatever came up.

When he reached into the box filled with various challenges, he noticed the person seemed to visibly relax.

There had been others who chose dares before him.

He thought that dares like “Choose someone of the opposite gender and have a deep stare while reciting ‘Goose, Goose, Goose'” or “Add your ex back on social media (if you have one) and send them your cutest photo” weren’t too difficult to pull off.

However, when he pulled out the slip of paper with his chosen dare, he suddenly understood why the others had looked so awkward when they chose a dare earlier.

The topic he drew was: [Call the first person in your recent contact list and say Mr. Hong’s famous line, “You are so sexy.”]

His first recent contact was Xie Duzhi. For a moment, Li Heng wanted to just give up and get a cocktail. He was so embarrassed that his scalp felt numb. But that was not in accordance with the rules.

According to the rules, only punishments that could not be completed due to lack of time or conditions—such as “going to the door of a milk tea shop and yelling at the clerk in front of everyone, You are a heartless man!“—could be replaced by drinking. The dare he drew, however, only required him to make a phone call and say four words. There was no valid reason to use “I can’t do it” as an excuse.

He took a deep breath, suppressing the embarrassment that threatened to overwhelm him, and pressed the call button.

After a single beep, Xie Duzhi answered the call before it could even ring.
“What’s wrong?” He asked.

The moment he spoke, Li Heng froze, completely forgetting what he was supposed to say. His mouth opened, but the four words refused to come out.

Xie Duzhi didn’t urge him or hang up but instead waited quietly. The phone remained connected.

Following the rules of the game, Li Heng had turned on the speakerphone when he made the call. Now, with the sound amplified, Xie Duzhi’s steady breathing seemed unusually loud, almost as if it were resonating directly in Li Heng’s ear.

He felt his face heat up inexplicably, and speaking became even more difficult.

Finally, those words were almost forced out of him with his eyes shut tight. Before the words even fully left his mouth, he was already fumbling to hang up the call in a panic.

Unfortunately, in his haste, his actions were not as quick or smooth as usual.

Xie Duzhi reacted swiftly.

He was the first person in the family to know about Li Heng staying back for club activities this week instead of going home.

“Playing a game?” He asked calmly.

“…It’s a dare,” Li Heng answered in a small voice. He wasn’t even sure why he felt the need to explain. “That line was something a famous scumbag said when he was caught cheating.”

It wasn’t what he wanted to say.

His third brother was upright and disciplined, a man of integrity.

Xie Duzhi made a soft sound of acknowledgment and didn’t ask any further questions.

His tone was as warm as ever. “Have fun. Call me if you need anything.”

Li Heng obediently replied, “Okay,” and hung up. Only then did he realize that almost everyone’s eyes were glued to him.

“Junior, you’re really good at acting all cute!”

The club president whistled with a playful, rogue-like expression. “How about this? Call me ‘big bro,’ too, and I’ll hand over the vice-president position to you— Ow! Ow! Ow!”

Before he could finish, one of the senior club members grabbed his ear, causing him to yelp.

Li Heng, however, no longer had the energy to think about anything else. During the call, he had been so nervous that his palms had started to sweat.

Now he felt like he had entered some sort of mental clarity, unable to understand why he had reacted so strongly earlier.

What if the person he had called just now wasn’t Xie Duzhi, but Xie Sizhi instead?

He felt that if it had been Xie Sizhi, he definitely wouldn’t have been so nervous or embarrassed.

For the next few rounds, he was on edge, terrified he might draw that cursed card again.

Fortunately, luck returned to him, and for the rest of the game, he went back to being a spectator, diligently playing his role as part of the group keeping the atmosphere lively.

In the final round, it was Lin Mo’s turn to be chosen.

After a moment of hesitation, he chose “truth.”

The person who drew the King card didn’t ask anything too tricky, but the question was perfect for stirring things up.

They asked, “Do you have someone you like, or a partner? What kind of person are they?”

Lin Mo seemed startled by the question, his eyes widening like a frightened fawn.

It took him a long time before he nervously murmured, “…I have a partner.”

When he spoke, his gaze seemed to flicker, as if he were deliberately avoiding looking at someone.

“What kind of person?”

“Are they good-looking?”

“How did you two meet?”

“Who confessed first?”

…

No matter the occasion, relationships were always a topic everyone found fascinating.

Amid the good-natured or teasing questions from the group, Lin Mo’s face grew increasingly red, and his head gradually lowered in embarrassment.

“…He’s incredibly, incredibly, incredibly amazing. To me, he’s like a god,” he said shyly.

As if compelled by some unseen force, he went on to answer the group’s other questions.

“…It… it was him who pursued me.”

Back then, Lin Mo had never imagined that someone like him could be interested. He even thought it was a prank—just like today’s truth-or-dare game.

Even now, after the two of them had officially entered a relationship, he sometimes still felt a deep sense of unreality, as if it were all a dream.

But now was clearly not the time to reminisce about the little moments they shared.

He had fallen in love. According to the bond he shared with his dormmates, he should have shared this good news with them, relishing in his happiness and joy.

However, he didn’t dare to.

Every time the thought crossed his mind, he was overcome by anxiety and unease.

He feared he wouldn’t receive blessings but instead strange looks tinged with disdain and rejection.

He liked someone of the same gender.