Guide on How to Fail at Online Dating

Chapter 94 - Merry Christmas

Edited by Divetus

On the cellphone, Mama Jing said without hesitation, “Xiao Ran insisted on surprising you and wouldn’t let me tell you. You know how that girl is, she always likes to do things grandly. I was worried she’d get lost…You found her?”

Afraid of Liang Ran tripping and falling, Jing Huan instinctively reached out to steady her, carrying the plushie with him to touch her back. “En, she’s next to me.”

Mama Jing was relieved. “That’s good.”

Liang Ran felt like something was wrong and asked, “Huanhuan, who are you calling?”

“My mom.” Jing Huan hung up the phone.

“Ah?” Liang Ran pouted. “I told auntie not to tell you… Then, you already knew I was coming?”

Before Jing Huan could say anything, Liang Ran’s hand went back and grabbed the small Xiao Xiangjing plush in Jing Huan’s hand.

“So is this my Christmas present?” Her disappointed expression only lasted for two seconds before she smiled sweetly again. “NCH’s devil child plushie?”

Jing Huan subconsciously looked at the person next to him.

It wasn’t like he could say that he had wanted to give it to the male classmate next to him.

However you looked at it, male students giving each other plushies was quite strange.

Compared to him, Xiang Huaizhi was very calm.

He looked down at the plushie in Liang Ran’s hand, and in one glance he backed off without his mouth changing or moving at all.

Liang Ran held Jing Huan for a while before finally releasing him. Seeing the person next to Jing Huan, her smile became more polite. “Hello, I’m Jing Huan’s Jiejie.”

“Hello,” Xiang Huaizhi nodded at her. “Xiang Huaizhi, his senior.”

Liang Ran’s brow nearly imperceptively wrinkled, but it quickly smoothed out. She looked at Jing Huan and said, “Picking me up by yourself would’ve been fine, why did you make your friend accompany you?”

Jing Huan licked his lips. Although Xiang Huaizhi had already known about Liang Ran for a long time, he still felt a subtle embarrassment when they stood together.

But apparently, he was the only one who felt that way.

“It’s okay,” Xiang Huaizhi said. “I just so happened to be free.”

Jing Huan’s mouth opened and closed, but in the end, he didn’t say anything.

In this way, the Christmas confession date had become a welcoming reception dinner.

Jing Huan even suspected that Xiang Huaizhi thought that he had asked him out to pick up Liang Ran.

“Then, where shall we go now?” Liang Ran blinked.

Naturally, Jing Huan couldn’t just cast his Jie aside.

He glanced at the Xiao Xiangjing plushie in the woman’s hand and thought that well, she did already count as half your aunt, so just take it ba.

He sighed and said, “Go eat dinner.”

On the way there, Jing Huan kept looking for an opportunity to send a text message to Xiang Huaizhi, explaining that Liang Ran’s arrival was an unexpected event.

But Liang Ran and him hadn’t seen each other for a long time, so she excitedly hung onto his arm and chatted with him the entire way.

“I still like our domestic food best, foreign food is all fast food,” Liang Ran pinched her own face, her delicate skin pinched out in an arc. “You see, I’m fat now.”

Jing Huan coaxed her, “Not fat, who dares to say you’re fat?”

They carried on like that until they got to the restaurant, and Liang Ran smiled as soon as she entered it. “Hello Kitty was my thing from all the way back in high school, how could you still remember that?”

Jing Huan: “…”

It was truly a coincidence.

He looked at Xiang Huaizhi, and the other boy was smiling with half-lidded eyes. He didn’t know what he was thinking.

The three of them sat down. Liang Ran sat right beside Jing Huan, so he had no chance to send Xiang Huaizhi a message.

Liang Ran’s personality was very girly. Whether it was in looks or the way she talked, it was all very gentle and soft. The restaurant’s menu was printed with a lot of cute cartoon characters, cuddly and adorable. She liked it so much that she wouldn’t let it go and stared at it for a long time. If it wasn’t for Jing Huan stopping her, she even wanted to buy the shop’s menu.

After taking pictures of the menu, the restaurant, and the dishes, at the end, she held her cellphone in her hands and looked earnestly at Xiang Huaizhi who was sitting opposite her.

“Um…” She asked, “Could you take a picture of me and Huanhuan?”

Xiang Huaizhi put down his chopsticks. “Okay.”

Liang Ran smiled and was about to hand over her cellphone when she saw that the person opposite had already raised his cellphone..

Liang Ran quickly put down her cellphone and leaned her face slightly onto Jing Huan’s shoulder. Jing Huan seemed to be used to this kind of action, and he didn’t duck or anything but just pursed his lips..

“Smile Huanhuan, don’t purse your lips again.” Liang Ran said without raising her head.

Jing Huan replied, “I’m smiling… Not pursing them.”

Xiang Huaizhi took a few photos and lowered his cellphone to send them over while saying, “You two seem to have a good relationship.”

“Yep,” Liang Ran said with a smile after taking a sip of lemonade, “Having so many people spoil me, I can’t even get married.”

Jing Huan said, “You don’t need to get married, you can just stay home. It’s not like auntie and uncle can’t support you.”

“Forget about it.” Liang Ran smiled, “Although I was tricked once, I still believe in love.”

Jing Huan’s expression was stiff for a moment, and he immediately looked up at Xiang Huaizhi.

Xiang Huaizhi’s smile was very slight, a very weak response.

Jing Huan was quietly relieved, but his back was still stiff.

“I sent the photos to your WeChat.” Xiang Huaizhi said, putting his cellphone away.

Jing Huan let out an “en”, put down his water glass, unlocked his cellphone, and forwarded them to Liang Ran.

Liang Ran already had her phone out, waiting for Jing Huan to send the pictures over.

The moment he unlocked his cellphone, she saw a particularly familiar app icon on the screen. Liang Ran’s willow-shaped eyebrows raised, and she asked, “Huanhuan, did you start playing NCH again?”

The other two at the table very obviously froze.

Jing Huan was stupefied, quickly opened WeChat and vaguely asked, “What?”

“Nine Chivalrous Heroes ah.” Liang Ran said, “I saw that you have the NCH exchange app downloaded.”

Jing Huan: “…”

Jing Huan instinctively didn’t want to mention anything about the game. He opened the pictures and showed them to Liang Ran. “Which one do you want, or do you want them all?”

Immediately, Liang Ran’s eyes only held these photos.

She took the phone with a smile and looked through them one by one. The more she looked at them, the more her smile disappeared.

To tell the truth.

Even her ID photos were better than these.

And&#k2026; How did this Didi manage to preserve Huanhuan’s high face value when she looked so ugly in these pictures?

After a long time, Liang Ran asked, “Huanhuan… Which one do you think I look better in?”

She was too embarrassed to ask for a retake and could only gently ask for help from the people around her.

Who knew that Jing Huan would glance down and just take his cellphone back. “You look good in all of them, I’ll send all of them to you.”

Liang Ran: “…”

She curled her mouth and whispered, “Okay.”

Worst comes to worst, they could just take more.

Jing Huan moved his fingers to forward the photo. As soon as he wanted to lock the screen, his cellphone gently vibrated.

Instinctively, he angled the screen of his cellphone so that his Jie couldn’t see it.

Xiang: [Snowman]

Something that wouldn’t leave any clues, and looked like someone had accidentally sent the wrong emoticon.

Jing Huan stared at the snowman for a while, then slowly opened up the emoticon choices.

Xiao Jing ya: [Santa]

When the food arrived, and the soup was served, out of habit, Jing Huan helped serve Liang Ran a bowl.

“Thank you.” Liang Ran took the bowl of soup and suddenly said, “In fact, the more I think about it, the more I regret it.”

Jing Huan looked down and drank some soup. “Regret what?”

“I shouldn’t have gotten rid of my account back then.” Liang Ran said.

Jing Huan nearly spat out a mouthful of soup.

“It’s not that I couldn’t bear to part with it. Actually, it didn’t cost much, it’s just giving it away because of some… It wasn’t worth it.” Liang Ran wiped her hands with a wet towel and then began to tidy her hair, not noticing the expression of the person next to her. “And also, I actually really liked playing NCH.”

Xiang Huaizhi was holding his cellphone to look for an emoticon, but when he heard their conversation, he paused a bit.

Jing Huan rapidly blinked, and made some random noises. “Did we order enough food? Should we order some more?”

“I can’t finish it la.” Liang Ran whispered, “Ask your friend, and if there’s not enough, order more.”

Although her voice was quiet, Xiang Huaizhi was listening carefully and said, “I also have enough.”

So Liang Ran, twirling a strand of hair by her ear with her little finger, asked, “Huanhuan, how about we both start playing NCH again?”

Jing Huan: “…”

“I’ve already thought it through; I’ll play a female swordsman, and you… You play a male healer,” Liang Ran said with a smile, “Then it’d be easier to protect me!”

The waiter brought up the coffee, and Xiang Huaizhi gave it a try. It was very bitter.

He picked up the creamer beside the cup.

Jing Huan said, “Forget it, you’re too easily tricked.”

He just didn’t understand.

Didn’t they all say that once bitten by a snake, be afraid of ropes for ten years?

Why was his Jie different from others?

“That’s why I want you to accompany me,” Liang Ran said. “We’ll restart our accounts and go to other servers to play, instead of spending time in Illusion server.”

Xiang Huaizhi paused in his action of opening the creamer. “Illusion server?”

“Yeah, I used to play in Illusion server before,” Liang Ran looked at him. “What’s the matter, do you play NCH too?”

Thinking of the couple’s title between Jing Huan and himself, he kept silent for a few seconds and then said, “En, although not on that server. You just said you got rid of your account? Why?”

?

Jing Huan was a bit confused.

Why was Xiang Huaizhi… bringing up this topic on his own?

Liang Ran was also stunned, but she had been cursed out so badly by people in the forum at that time that she didn’t want to elaborate.

She smiled and said in a casual voice, “Nothing much, just encountered a slag guy.”

Everyone knew that NCH was considered half a large-scale online dating game. Just the official forum could produce four or five 818 posts in a week, so it could be seen that there were many slag men and slag women playing it. Xiang Huaizhi could guess some things based on what she said and wasn’t that surprised.

But for some reason, there was an indescribable strangeness in his heart.

Liang Ran said with a sweet smile, “Speaking of that, that slag man’s username was kind of like your name.”

Xiang Huaizhi’s hand lost control of its strength, and he poured in most of the creamer.

Jing Huan hurriedly said, “Wasn’t that the booster… What does it have to do with the original owner of that account?”

“I’m joking,” Liang Ran seemed to also feel that her joke was inappropriate and asked Xiang Huaizhi, “You don’t mind ba?”

Xiang Huaizhi set down the creamer and looked at the coffee that was swimming with cream and suddenly had no appetite.

After a while, he finally said, “Don’t mind.”

Seeing the empty creamer, Jing Huan pushed his coffee over without hesitation. “Gege, drink mine ba?”

Looking up at him, Xiang Huaizhi’s expression remained unchanged.

Jing Huan looked at him for a few seconds. Somehow, the previous fear of being found out spread up from the bottom of his feet and made his back feel numb.

“What’s the matter?” He asked.

Xiang Huaizhi shook his head. “Nothing.”

He took up his coffee and took a sip. It really was too sweet.

After that, Xiang Huaizhi didn’t listen that carefully to the conversation between those two people.

His face didn’t change at all, but his fingertips kept unconsciously rubbing against the coffee cup, and until the bill came, he didn’t take a second sip.

When the bill came and they had to go to the front desk to pay, Jing Huan stood up and said, “Then I’ll go pay first.”

It wasn’t much money, so Liang Ran didn’t hurry to try and grab the bill to pay first.

When Jing Huan got up, his arm accidentally knocked into the paper bag behind him. The paper bag fell to the ground and made a small thud.

He reflexively bent down to pick it up, but accidentally tore the bag’s opening. The bag had been knocked around by him on the way to dinner, so with that tear, the opening gave way, and the bag opened with a “bang”.

Amaretto roses were revealed.

The table was quiet for a few seconds, and Jing Huan closed the bag.

It was strange for boys to give each other plushies, and even stranger for them to give each other roses.

So when Liang Ran’s puzzled eyes fell onto him, his first reaction was to hand her the flowers.

“…”

At that moment he offered it to her, Jing Huan began to regret it.

He could’ve completely said that he was helping Lu Wenhao and them buy the flowers ah!

He nearly wanted to knock on his head to hear if there was a hollow noise.

After seeing what was in the bag, Liang Ran very lightly frowned, and without looking too carefully at it, she took the bag and put it behind her. “You prepared so much?”

Jing Huan gave a low “en” sound and gave a ghostly glance towards Xiang Huaizhi.

Xiang Huaizhi’s eyelids were half-lidded. He swept a glance at the roses, looked away, raised his hand and then threw away the creamer packaging next to his cup.

Jing Huan went to pay the bill, and there were only two people left at the table.

Liang Ran took out the roses from the bag, slightly lowered her head, took a sniff, and happily took out her cellphone to take some photos.

Just as she was putting a filter on the picture, the person opposite of her suddenly spoke.

“It might be presumptuous of me to ask,” Xiang Huaizhi looked up at her, with the corners of his mouth carrying a smile. “Could you tell me your account ID on Illusion server?”

……

After settling the bill, Jing Huan went back to the table and helped Liang Rang carry the bag. “Did you already book a hotel?”

“Yes, it’s on the other side of the street,” said Liang Ran. “Give me the baggy, I’ll go there myself.”

“I’ll see you off.” Jing Huan insisted.

Liang Ran retorted, “I’m not a child!”

Jing Huan asked, “Who lost her room card last time while on the way from the hall to the room?”

When he finished speaking, Jing Huan turned his head and blinked at Xiang Huaizhi. “I have to take my Jie to the hotel, you…”

Xiang Huaizhi had lowered his head to play on his cellphone and didn’t look at him. “Together.”

Jing Huan’s lips curved up. “Okay.”

Jing Huan sent Liang Ran back to the hotel and repeatedly told her to lock the door ten times before starting to walk back to school with Xiang Huaizhi.

It was already nearly ten o’clock. It was cold during this period of time, and at this point in the night, there were usually no people on the street.

But today was different; today was a holiday, and this time was the most lively. The entire snack street was still open and doing business.

Jing Huan pulled his scarf up a bit, wondering if he would have time to rush back to the flower shop to buy another bouquet of flowers.

The cellphone in his pocket kept buzzing. Jing Huan took it out and looked at it. It was the dorm group chat that kept @him.

He looked at it and smiled. “Lu Wenhao is drunk and is acting crazy drunk. Drunk at 10 o’clock, really useless.”

“You’re also a poor drinker,” Xiang Huaizhi said.

“Not really…” Jing Huan said.

“Drink less in the future.” Xiang Huaizhi said, “If you can avoid it, then don’t touch it.”

Jing Huan didn’t retort. He threw his cellphone back into his pocket, put his hands in his pocket, and whispered, “Well… You’re going to help me drink it anyway.”

Xiang Huaizhi’s lips moved, but he didn’t speak.

Jing Huan said, “I’m kidding.”

There was silence between the two of them again.

The closer they got to the school, the more Jing Huan felt that something was wrong.

After a moment, he turned his head slightly and snuck a look at Xiang Huaizhi.

The boy’s face was as usual. Besides the fact that he wasn’t talking, he couldn’t see any emotions on his face.

Was he just imagining things?

For some reason he felt like Xiang Huaizhi didn’t seem very happy.

This silence directly smothered his idea of going back to the flower shop, dead in the cradle.

As they were approaching the back gate, Jing Huan’s pace unconsciously slowed down a lot.

He looked at the old man sitting in the security booth and said, “Thankfully it didn’t snow today.”

Xiang Huaizhi replied, “En.”

“That restaurant was so-so, won’t go again.” Jing Huan said.

“Okay.”

Jing Huan sighed.

Fuck.

The confession that he had been brewing for so long… had been ruined just like that.

“Then, you go in ba.” Jing Huan said.

Xiang Huaizhi’s footsteps didn’t stop. “Go to your place first.”

The little fire that was about to go out came back to life.

Jing Huan secretly clenched his fist in his pocket, pretending to calmly nod. “Okay.”

Forget it.

Two big men, why do so many flowery and showy things!

No fresh flowers, no plushies, daddy can still confess!!!

As soon as they got to the apartment area, the festive atmosphere disappeared. As always, there was no one around, and only a Santa Claus on the door of the apartment.

The design was ugly.

When they arrived at the place where they said goodbye last time, they stopped with a great tacit understanding.

So here came the question.

Should he invite Xiang Huaizhi upstairs ah?

After all, if he succeeded, and they were alone, he couldn’t guarantee what he would do.

Jing Huan’s thoughts instantly went a bit crooked, and he quickly pulled them back.

“So then, Gege…”

“Your Jie is Ran Xin.” Xiang Huaizhi interrupted him.

This sentence was like a cold wind that directly extinguished Jing Huan’s disorderly ideas.

He raised his head in a daze, and met Xiang Huaizhi’s gaze. “Ah… Yes.”

Xiang Huaizhi’s hand hung at his side, it became a little cold from the blowing wind. After who knew how long, he asked, “When did you learn that my account wasn’t being used by the original owner?”

A sense of unease wormed up into Jing Huan’s heart.

What was the meaning of this?

Do you want to settle accounts again? Right now?

“Just,” Jing Huan’s voice grew a little quieter, “At the wedding.”

Xiang Huaizhi’s eyes became half-lidded, and he declared, “So, before that, you always thought I was the slag man who had tricked your Jie?”

Jing Huan was thoroughly blindsided by this. “I… Yes, in the past I really did think that…”

All night, Xiang Huaizhi only had half a glass of lemonade. There was too much milk in the coffee, and it had been too sweet for him to drink.

So now, he felt his voice was a little dry. “Then, you bought a female account and came to find me, for your Jiejie.”

Jing Huan’s heart sank.

He had a bad premonition.

He clenched his teeth and said, “Yes, but when I was trying to confess to you about it before, you said you already knew—”

Jing Huan didn’t go on, and Xiang Huaizhi didn’t answer.

It took a long time before Xiang Huaizhi finally said, “It’s my misunderstanding, I thought…”

Thought what?

Thought that Jing Huan had really liked him, and because of his gender, didn’t dare to pursue him directly and only then came up with such a stupid plan.

Jing Huan managed to vaguely guess some of this, and his face gradually grew pale. Only now did he realize how optimistic he had been during this period of time.

Optimistic enough to think that concealing his gender and cheating others’ feelings were matters that were easily forgiven.

In fact, when Liang Ran had reported her ID, Xiang Huaizhi had completely understood it.

In spite of all that, he still hadn’t completely given up.

Thinking back carefully, the two times that he had kissed him before, the boy’s face had been full of surprise and consternation.

What was all of that? Shame? Guilt? Not daring to refuse?

Xiang Huaizhi suddenly felt that it was kind of funny, no matter if it was him or Jing Huan.

Jing Huan’s head was blank. The draft that he had made on the way back was completely forgotten now. His lips moved, “Gege…”

“En.” Xiang Huaizhi interrupted him again.

But in a few seconds, his expression had been completely tidied up. He said, “These past few times were my misunderstanding, I wasn’t deliberately trying to take advantage of you.”

Jing Huan: “…”

What ah?

Xiang Huaizhi continued, “Also, all the things I said before, you don’t have to pay any attention to them.”

Jing Huan was about to expire from anger at himself.

He wanted to talk, but his mouth seemed to be sewn shut with a needle, and even his breathing had gotten more shallow.

“Go back ba,” he finally heard Xiang Huaizhi say, “Merry Christmas.”

When Jing Huan had snapped out of it, Xiang Huaizhi had already walked far away.

After what felt like aeons, Jing Huan took a few deep breaths. White mist came out of his mouth and nose and soon disappeared into the air.

He knew it.

Starting in such muddled circumstances, in the end, there could only be an ambiguous ending.

Jing Huan stood at the door of the apartment complex for a long time. When the security guard came out to inquire about him, he slowly shook his head and turned to go home.

Entering the elevator, Jing Huan looked at himself in the elevator door reflection and found that he had a lot to say.

Like Merry Christmas.

Like, Hello Kitty was booked for you, the Xiao Xiangjing plush was hooked for you, and the roses were for confessing to you.

But he didn’t have the right to say any of that, because from beginning to end, he was a liar.

Jing Huan stood there quietly for a while, until he had to address the concerned security guard on the intercom. He raised his hand and harshly wiped at his eyes.

—

Juurensha: QAQ I was really upset when this chapter first came out! Huanhuan why didn’t you say something?????? But never fear, this is why we’re doing a mass release. (Also, I know Jiejie got a lot of hate in the jjwxc comments on this chapter, but really, Jiejie didn’t mean to crash their date! And it’s understandable she had no idea it was even a date! She’s a little oblivious, but Jiejie isn’t bad.) Thank you to quivo for the ko-fis to make the mass release all happen on Monday!

Divi: Oh man… Huanhuan, did you forget that you said you’d meet Jiejie at Christmas? Also, I can understand his perspective. It’s hard enough to come out to yourself, but to have to admit this to your family when you’re completely unsure of the outcome, that’s also hard to say. I’m sure XHZ also understood, but it’s still super sad nonetheless. Jiejie also didn’t do anything wrong, because she didn’t know and no one told her. I just hope that Huanhuan can learn from this and get his feelings properly out. You started wrong, but you ended up falling in love! Dying while editing this.

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