Bo Ye: “.……”


  “It may be Bo Ye’s first time wearing a dress but it is also our first time seeing a man in one. How about taking a commemorative photo together?” Jiang Yu suggested eagerly.

  Bo Ye rejected JiangYu’s proposal in a heartbeat. “No. You’ve all had your fun. I’m changing back into my clothes.”


  Fu Tingyan grabbed his arm, stopping him before he could hurry off to change into his own clothes. “I think it’s a good idea. Jiang Yu, if you would do the honour.”


  “Fu Tingyan, that’s enough!” shouted Bo Ye, a biting chill lacing his voice.

  “Are you angry?” Fu Tingyan still had a smile on his face. “The four of us can be considered good friends. Let’s take a group photo – for memory’s sake.”


  Bo Ye stopped struggling.

  Fu Tingyan reached out, patting Bo Ye’s short hair amiably. “It’s a pity that we don’t have any wigs.”


  “.……”


  “That’s it! I’m changing out of this dress. We can take a group photo after I’ve put on my own clothes again.”


  Unbeknownst to the struggling duo, Jiang Yu already had his phone out and was aiming its camera towards them. Angling the phone with one hand while the other twined around Ye Xue’s slim waist, Jiang Yu snapped a selfie of the four of them together.

  It happened to capture the moment when Fu Tingyan was patting Bo Ye’s hair.

  “Would you like to see how it looks?” Jiang Yu lowered his outstretched arm for them to view the photo he had taken.

  Ye Xue looked at the photo. She was in Jiang Yu’s arms. “Jiang Yu, send this photo to me.”


  This was their first photo together. They had to preserve by any means necessary.

  “I’ll send it to you later.”


  Fu Tingyan let go of Bo Ye and took a step forward. He leaned over Jiang Yu’s shoulder, peering at the screen of his phone and saw the photo of the four of them together.

  He stared at the photo with a stunned look on his face.

  Bo Ye’s head barely reached his lips. It almost looked like he was being held in his arms. The slight tilting of Bo Ye’s head as Fu Tingyan patted his head lent the photo an air of intimacy.

  The photo was a frozen memory of that one moment in time.

  Nothing had seemed strange while patting Bo Ye’s short hair. It felt natural.

  Yet, why did the photo evoke such a weird feeling in him?

  “Bo Ye, have a look.” Jiang Yu handed the phone to Bo Ye.

  Bo Ye held his clothes in his hands and was about to head upstairs to change his clothes. When he saw the phone being offered to him, he hesitated. In the end, he decided to have a look at the photo.

  His gaze landed on the image of him and Fu Tingyan. It was strange…… for the lack of a better word. It looked as if he was being held in Fu Tingyan’s arms.

  “This photo is not bad, right? I’ll go and get it developed tomorrow. One for each of you.” Jiang Yu felt that he had done a pretty good job taking the photo. “It feels like a photo of two couples.”


  As soon as those words left his lips, Jiang Yu found himself in the crosshairs of two glares.

  “.……”


  “I didn’t say that you are a couple. I simply meant that the two of you looked like one in the photo. If you don’t believe me, you should see for yourself.” Jiang Yu grumbled.

  Fu Tingyan had already seen it. Jiang Yu’s words merely served to identify where the strange feeling originated. The photo really was quite misleading. It did not help that Bo Ye was wearing a dress and just so happened to be leaning into his arms.

  “Let him change in peace.” Fu Tingyan frowned, taking the lead as he walked away.

  “Xiao Xue, let’s go out too.” Jiang Yu tugged at Ye Xue’s wrist.

  Ye Xue followed him obediently.

  Alone, Bo Ye closed the bathroom door and changed.

  Once he was changed, he stepped out of the bathroom with Qin Shu’s black dress in hand and returned to the living room. There, he draped the dress over the sofa.

  “Let’s continue our game. I think Xiao Qi would look good in a woman’s clothes too. After all, he’s rather pretty. “Jiang Yu eyed Fu Tingyan dreamily, imagining him wearing women’s clothes.

  Fu Tingyan stepped on Jiang Yu’s foot. “Get lost.”


  “It’s not like you’ve never worn them before! I remember Auntie used to fill your closet with dozens of dresses when we were young,” Jiang Yu harrumphed.

  Fu Tingyan shuddered at the memory. It was all his mother’s fault. She had wanted a daughter after having had his elder brother.

  Therefore, when she was pregnant, she did not ask Uncle Wen to check if it was a boy or a girl. Instead, she bought many dresses that girls wore, ranging from one to five years old.

  Many of them were gifts from relatives and friends.

  In the end, when she gave birth, she found out that the baby she birthed was a boy. Thus, his formative years were spent being raised as a girl.

  She raised him that way till he was five. No matter how she tried coaxing him into a skirt, he refused.

  Fu Tingyan’s face darkened. “Please shut up before I make you.”


  Bo Ye glanced at Fu Tingyan. He did not expect to hear such a story. Looking at Jiang Yu with intense eyes, he asked, “Do you have any photos?”


  “Yes, Auntie took plenty of photos for her future daughter-in-law to see.”


  Jiang Yu had heard this interesting piece while listening in on a conversation between Auntie and his father.

  Bo Ye replied thoughtfully, “Oh.”.

  Fu Tingyan glared at Jiang Yu coldly. How could he sell him out like that?

  Jiang Yu felt a chill down his spine. “Haha…… I-I’ve said too much, it seems.”


  Fu Tingyan’s frigid smile gave the Antarctic a run for its money. “I seem to recall someone bawling his eyes out when we were young just because he did not have a skirt of his own……”


  That was when Jiang Yu was three years old. He cried and begged for a skirt of his own.

  “Xiao Qi, what nonsense are you spouting?” Jiang Yu shot Fu Tingyan a frantic look.

  “Spouting nonsense?” Fu Tingyan’s grin exposed his pearly white teeth. “You cried until your eyes were red and snot dribbled from your nose. You were so adamant that my mother had no choice but to buy you a skirt of your own to wear. There’s even a photo we took for posterity’s sake.”


  Ye Xue’s curiosity was piqued when she heard that. She directed her big black pearl-like eyes at Jiang Yu hopefully. She really wanted to see that photo.

  Noticing the look in Ye Xue’s eyes, Jiang Yu stubbornly refused to acknowledge the matter. “Don’t listen to his nonsense. How could I have cried and worn a skirt? It’s ridiculous!”


  The more Jiang Yu denied, the more Ye Xue was certain that the photo Fu Tingyan spoke off was real.

  “Jiang Y……” she whined.

  “I’m not playing anymore. Let’s go upstairs.” Jiang Yu pulled Ye Xue by her wrist and glowered at Fu Tingyan who had the nerve to betray his friend. Truly heartless, he was!

  Fu Tingyan smiled. Wasn’t it he who betrayed him first?

  Jiang Yu dragged Ye Xue upstairs with a dark face.

  Ye Xue sent Jiang Yu a pleading look. “Photos……”


  Jiang Yu tilted his head to look at Ye Xue. She ogled him with the curious eyes of a child. The innocent curiosity that shone in her eyes only served to darken his face further. “You really want to see those photos, huh?”


  Ye Xue nodded enthusiastically. “Yes.”


  “I won’t let you see them unless……”


  “Unless what?”


  Jiang Yu glanced at Ye Xue’s innocent form and sighed. He shook his head, deciding against mentioning his thoughts. He simply pulled her along and continued up the stairs.

  “Unless what? Tell me.” Ye Xue pressed on.

  Jiang Yu did not respond. Instead, he gently pushed her into his room.

  “Jiang Yu, what’s going on?” Jiang Yu followed her in and closed the door behind them. Ye Xue could not help but feel a little nervous.

  “I just thought we could sleep together.” Jiang Yu sidled closer to her. “Don’t tell me you were thinking about something else?”


  Ye Xue blushed. She hadn’t been thinking of anything else……

  Fu Tingyan and Bo Ye were the only ones left in the living room. They looked at each other and did not say anything. For the first time, they went to bed with a tacit understanding between them. Neither of them mentioned the photos of them in women’s clothing……

  :30 in the morning……

  Qin Shu listened as the footsteps outside petered into the distance. It was at this moment that she heard the person on the bed speak. He must have torn off the towel around his mouth.

  Didn’t he realize she was trying to save him?