SBAB Chapter 13

As the sky darkened, the student council began notifying all clubs to wrap up their activities, especially the Ghost Club, which was seeing a surge in business.

The agreed end time for club displays was 8 PM, set during a previous school meeting. While it might be a bit of a disadvantage for the Ghost Club since their peak was supposed to start when the sun went down, school officials prioritized student safety. After some pleading, the Ghost Club could only stay open half an hour later than the other clubs.

Everyone understood—that mistakes were inevitable in the first campus festival.

As the student council president, Gu Nian spent most of the day outside his official duties. He made a brief appearance backstage at the morning performance in the auditorium, then went to help out at the cosplay club and even played a creepy role in the Ghost Club. Finally, he remained as a “poster boy” at the Culinary Club, not attending any student council duties.

The student council chat was buzzing with complaints; if Gu Nian didn’t show up at the evening celebration, they were considering posting “missing person” notices all over the school.

Faced with this kind of pressure, Gu Nian could only tug at Cheng Shiyin’s sleeve and use his “pretty boy charm” to hope his dear girlfriend would forgive him for missing this small date. Though today, he’d spent more time with Lin Xin—someone he just met—than with Cheng Shiyin.

Cheng Shiyin understood the effort that went into organizing large events at the school, but she couldn’t help but wonder, “Who will take me home?” She had been so preoccupied with teasing Gu Nian this morning that she hadn’t remembered the route at all.

Gu Nian was quickly scanning for someone who was familiar with the area and had nothing better to do. Lin Xin suddenly chimed in, “I… I don’t have anything to do. I can take her home.”

With someone volunteering, Gu Nian didn’t have to ask around for help, and he wouldn’t owe any favors.

So, he took Lin Xin’s hand and then Cheng Shiyin’s, placing their hands together like a father marrying off his daughters. He said to Lin Xin, “Then I’ll trust you with my girlfriend.”

Cheng Shiyin smiled gratefully at Lin Xin and said, “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Lin Xin’s cheeks flushed red. She wasn’t sure why she’d taken on this task as a hopeless direction-challenged person, but feeling Cheng Shiyin’s soft grip made it all seem worthwhile.

Even if it meant she led them in the wrong direction four times.

After four failed attempts, Cheng Shiyin grabbed Lin Xin, who was about to march forward again, and said, “Let me see the GPS.”

Lin Xin felt relieved when she heard Cheng Shiyin’s words. She quickly handed over her phone.

Cheng Shiyin glanced at it for a moment. Though she didn’t say anything, a hidden smile played on her lips.

It was quite funny.

Cheng Shiyin finally understood why a three-way intersection could be taken wrong four times—they shouldn’t even have gone to that intersection!

As Lin Xin tried to use the smartphone’s predictive text input, she realized her mistake. Just looking at the map didn’t require typing unless the initial location was incorrect and needed a new address.

Eventually, Cheng Shiyin took the lead.

Cheng Shiyin used Lin Xin’s phone to guide them back to the starting point, and from the university gate, it took just 45 minutes to get Lin Xin to her doorstep.

Once they were downstairs at Cheng Shiyin’s apartment building, she handed the phone back to Lin Xin, said goodbye, and sprinted home quickly, leaving barely any time for Lin Xin to get a proper view of her departure.

Lin Xin stood at the bottom, feeling a pang of emptiness, not wanting to leave immediately. He looked up at each floor’s windows as if watching Cheng Shiyin go up, though he couldn’t see anything.

Suddenly, Lin Xin’s phone buzzed. He instinctively gripped it tightly, preventing it from dropping.

On the screen, a message flashed: “Why are you still standing there like a doorman?”

“Cheng Shiyin?” Lin Xin quickly checked the floors again, scanning for any sign of Cheng Shiyin peeking at him.

It was a bit unbelievable; when had Cheng Shiyin added him? Did she see him adjusting the GPS? Turns out, she was just entering her WeChat ID instead of correcting the location.

Cheng Shiyin seemed to read minds. Lin Xin thought this, and then she sent another message: “You messed up the GPS today, didn’t you? Don’t be sneaky. Now go back to the dorm, or they’ll close the doors.”

“Got it,” Lin Xin replied, pleased to be cared for and a bit more obedient now.

Cheng Shiyin hadn’t taken the elevator—she was watching Lin Xin’s every move from behind the glass door until he obediently walked away. By the time Lin Xin reached home, it was quite late, time to wash up and get ready for bed.

When Cheng Shiyin went to wash her face, she noticed the fake eyelashes the cosplay club president had glued to her were missing. Thinking back to Lin Xin’s expression when he plucked them off, Cheng Shiyin felt he looked like a clueless little puppy, expressing concern in such a clumsy way.

After getting ready for bed and changing into her pajamas, Cheng Shiyin was scrolling through QQ when she discovered Lin Xin’s QQ and WeChat nicknames were the same. She recalled seeing he had downloaded Weibo on his phone earlier.

Feeling a bit adventurous, Cheng Shiyin searched for Lin Xin’s Weibo using his WeChat nickname, and sure enough, she found his account.

Lin Xin’s Weibo feed looked like a real-time barrage of thoughts—anything he thought, he posted instantly, whether anyone could understand it or not. It was like an anonymous confessional, dumping all his inner musings.

But now, Cheng Shiyin had found it.

For instance, today he’d posted two messages: “People can’t possibly be this beautiful,” and “Sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

Cheng Shiyin wasn’t sure which beauty he was referring to, but the apology was likely from when Lin Xin hadn’t apologized earlier at the haunted house.

Scrolling further, most of the posts were generic ones like “Ah, so handsome!” without naming names, but Cheng Shiyin knew who Lin Xin was talking about—Gu Nian, her boyfriend.

Just as Cheng Shiyin was about to close the Weibo, a new notification popped up: [Your friend has a new post]. The habit made her swipe down to refresh, revealing the updated feed.

“I’m really happy. This isn’t the last time I’ll see her.” This was Lin Xin’s first tweet over fifteen words long. Cheng Shiyin saw it and realized that all of Lin Xin’s tweets today were about her—particularly her beauty.

After getting back to his dorm, Lin Xin lay in bed, hoping he might chat with Cheng Shiyin for a while. So, he sent her a “goodnight” message on WeChat.

He also received a goodnight from Cheng Shiyin, along with a smiley face emoji.

But Lin Xin didn’t drift off to sleep contentedly. His desire grew again—now, he was starting to wish for a second meeting with Cheng Shiyin.

So, he sent another message: “Um, do you have time next Sunday?”

A long while passed before Lin Xin got a reply. He sighed on Weibo: “Sad.”

As soon as he posted it, Cheng Shiyin replied, apologetically, “I’m sorry, but I already have plans next Sunday. If you don’t mind, you can join us for swimming.”

“Okay, okay, fine,” Lin Xin quickly agreed but added a second tweet a second later: “Actually, I don’t know how to swim.”

Cheng Shiyin saw the tweet and thought, “What a little dummy.”

I stood in total darkness, a single beam of light suddenly illuminating her. She slowly unbuttoned her top one by one, revealing the real her, trapped beneath the fabric.

What I saw was a bottomless abyss known as Hell. I couldn’t resist my desire to get closer to her, to let myself be consumed.

My hands wanted to reach for her, but I felt too rude. So, I inched closer with my eyes, pretending I could possess her with just my gaze.

But she looked at me with a mocking expression, a small smile on her lips. Her back sprouted wings, wrapping me in an instant.

I was lost in her embrace, even willing to be drained dry by her body, never wanting to pull away.

“Hah…” Lin Xin gasped for breath as he jolted awake from the dream. The sensation of drowning was too real like his pants had soaked through with water.

He checked his pants, realizing it wasn’t sweat—it was a wet dream.

Lin Xin knew from past research that wet dreams were a normal male physiological response, but he was surprised that the dream’s subject was her.

Lin Xin covered his face, berating himself for treating someone he’d just met as a sexual object. He felt guilty toward his longtime crush, Gu Nian, and felt he no longer deserved to be part of his fan club. So, Lin Xin’s crush on her ended today.

Suddenly, Lin Xin noticed through the gaps in his fingers that Shang Xiaxia was changing clothes—her upper body was bare, with no cover at all. He quickly checked his “buddy” to make sure nothing was reacting.

Good, no reaction. You’re a big kid now; you can control yourself.

Wait, maybe it’s because Shang Xiaxia is flat-chested—so your buddy just doesn’t see her as a girl.

Lin Xin ran the numbers in his head, calculating how many medical expenses he’d rack up if Zhang Yun gave him a beating. He nervously climbed onto Zhang Yun’s bed, yanked off the covers, and sure enough, Zhang Yun’s figure was curvy and healthy. But his “buddy” was as dead as a doornail.

Even as Zhang Yun was pounding on Lin Xin, he had a terrible realization: not only had he turned into a man, but now he was an impotent one too. He didn’t even know if that was good or bad.

Lin Xin wasn’t sure if impotent men had wet dreams, but just thinking about dreams brought back memories of that incredibly provocative dream this morning.

“Bang!” The notion of impotence failed spectacularly.

When a shocking piece of news spread like wildfire through every school chat group, Zhang Yun finally stopped hitting Lin Xin, checking what the message was about.

[Attention all classes]:

A perverted exhibitionist was spotted running around the campus yesterday. Please be cautious and return to your dorms early in the evening, and avoid staying outside.

Zhang Yun quickly opened the blurry surveillance photo below the message. Lin Xin took a look and saw that familiar curve in the buttocks.

Damn!

It’s not the guy in the flesh-colored tights, is it?!

I forgot about him!