“It can be said… he’s my type,” Mu Nianwen said.
“No, but… him giving those things… it’s just…” Xiao Can’s eyebrows furrowed together, “too much, right?”
“At first, when I opened the bagged gifts, I was actually quite touched,” Mu Nianwen said, sighing slightly with a hint of regret, “I felt that he was really thoughtful.”
“Are they all big brands? Expensive?” Xiao Can asked.
“That’s not the point,” Mu Nianwen said, “The watch is quite expensive, and although the earphones are average in price… the key is, they are all things I’ve mentioned during my broadcasts. I joked about the watch before in the live room, saying it looked nice but was too expensive for me to casually like. The earphones were a brand and model I used to use, but they are discontinued now, and I mentioned in the broadcast that I wasn’t used to the new ones I bought. And the necklace is an equipment from a game I played before on the live stream, which I never got, and he had it customized according to that design.”
“And the chocolate puffs too?”
“Yeah,” Mu Nianwen said, “It’s the same one I gave you to try last time, it’s hard to buy domestically.”
Xiao Can somewhat understood his meaning.
Simply being generous with gifts might just be because someone is wealthy, but all these gifts were carefully chosen.
Moreover, Mu Nianwen’s invitation to meet was spontaneous, yet the other party could immediately produce these gifts, undoubtedly indicating they had been prepared in advance.
Generous and considerate, good-looking, it was normal to have some ripples in the heart.
“But the problem is the remaining item,” Xiao Can still couldn’t let it go, “It’s really creepy.”
“So I’m annoyed,” Mu Nianwen said, “Do you think maybe he wanted to give me a pair of gloves to make it easier to eat the chocolate puffs and got it wrong?”
“You’re starting to deceive yourself,” Xiao Can said, “And if it really was a mistake, it means he keeps condoms on hand, which is not a reliable sign.”
“Sigh,” Mu Nianwen sighed, “These Alphas, they all seem decent, but they have to do something unsettling like this.”
“What are you going to do now?” Xiao Can asked.
“Nothing much, anyway, he’s still the same, I’ll just play dumb,” Mu Nianwen said, “It wasn’t a big deal to begin with, and if there were any real problems, how could I not tell you?”
“You better throw away that thing,” Xiao Can reminded him, “Today seems to have stirred up some trouble, hasn’t it?”
“Isn’t it all because you deliberately scared me!” Mu Nianwen complained, then suddenly changed the subject, “Forget about me, have you had any contact with He Xingzhou recently?”
Xiao Can’s face suddenly turned red, “He… uh, he came to the set a few days ago.”
“Wow… did he specifically come to visit your set?” Mu Nianwen was very excited, “Aren’t you afraid of being seen by others?”
“He’s collaborating with the crew, so he came to cameo,” Xiao Can said.
“He’s collaborating with such a small web series? And he came specifically to cameo?” Mu Nianwen was skeptical, “I feel like, he’s starting to take you seriously.”
Xiao Can thought to himself, I feel the same way.
Coming from Mu Nianwen, who had previously had some criticisms of He Xingzhou, this statement carried much more credibility and felt really good.
“And then something happened. I was upset with him for some reason, so I ignored him. To apologize, he bought a big bouquet of flowers for me,” Xiao Can said.
“Wow…” Mu Nianwen asked, “What kind of flowers? Roses?”
“Lilies.”
“… Lilies?” Mu Nianwen was very puzzled, “Why lilies as an apology?”
“He… he said I resemble them, …,” Xiao Can squirmed uncomfortably, lying on the bed drawing circles with his toes on the bed sheet, “He said I resemble… lilies.”
“Wow,” Mu Nianwen gasped.
Xiao Can pulled the nearby blanket over his head, “I don’t understand either.”
“I feel a little uncomfortable,” Mu Nianwen said, “Maybe I ate too much for dinner.”
Xiao Can felt even more embarrassed, pursing his lips without saying a word.
“This person, either he’s slick in romance, or he’s genuinely clueless,” Mu Nianwen said, then asked again, “You tell me, have you…done anything with him this time he came over?”
“W-what…what do you mean?” Xiao Can asked.
“Don’t play dumb,” Mu Nianwen said, “You know what I mean.”
“… A little bit,” Xiao Can said.
“What do you mean, ‘a little bit’? That means you did?” Mu Nianwen clicked his tongue twice, “You don’t need to mark to relieve discomfort now, right? Isn’t that…”
Xiao Can chuckled nervously, “The atmosphere suddenly became right, and it just happened…”
“What’s your relationship now?” Mu Nianwen asked.
“We…,” Xiao Can thought for a moment, “We should be… a bit ambiguous?”
“A bit ambiguous?” Mu Nianwen looked very speechless, “I really don’t know if you’re too open-minded or too conservative. You’ve slept together a few times, and you’re saying ‘a bit ambiguous’?”
“He said he wants to officially date, but I didn’t agree,” Xiao Can said.
Mu Nianwen couldn’t understand, “Why not? Don’t you like him? Did you find out he’s not reliable?”
“I feel like…he doesn’t like me in that way,” Xiao Can said, his originally elated mood sinking, he pulled his head out from the stuffy blanket, “He’s very rigid. The other day when we were about to do it, it was actually because I lied to him, saying I wasn’t feeling well…but the reason didn’t hold the next night, and he refused, saying we couldn’t do it unless we were together.”
“Is there really such an Alpha?” Mu Nianwen couldn’t believe it, “Could this be some high-level seduction technique?”
Xiao Can’s tone was firm for the first time tonight, “Absolutely impossible.”
Mu Nianwen tried to analyze, “So your current status is, he doesn’t like you but is willing to date you. You like him, but don’t want to date him?”
“It seems like it.”
“I don’t agree with you being together casually,” Mu Nianwen said, “But honestly, your attitude is a bit too weird.”
“He doesn’t really like me, so there’s no point in this kind of relationship,” Xiao Can muttered, “It’s better not to have expectations from the beginning.”
“If you truly have no expectations, what you should do is keep your distance from him, cut ties cleanly, and stop dragging things out,” Mu Nianwen spoke rationally and coldly, “Right now, you’re just hoping.”
Xiao Can couldn’t refute and rubbed his nose, whispering, “How should an Alpha be flirted with to make them fall for you? Can you teach me?”
Although Mu Nianwen’s romantic experiences were not particularly rich, as a successful streamer who had captured the wallets of countless Alphas, he still had some skills in this regard.
“Um…” Mu Nianwen thought for a moment, “Firstly, you have to sweet-talk him.”
Xiao Can thought to himself that he was good at that, but for some reason, his skills always failed in front of He Xingzhou, and he ended up doing the opposite.
“Don’t be too aloof,” Mu Nianwen continued, “The main thing is not to be aloof, but you can be charming.”
“What does being aloof mean?” Xiao Can asked.
He only vaguely understood such second-dimensional terms.
“It means obviously liking someone but always pretending not to care,” Mu Nianwen said, “You can’t say anything nice, only know how to attack, don’t know how to act cute, act all reluctant, and show affection like it’s disgust, always bristling. This character may seem cute in novels and anime, but in reality, anyone who encounters it will be frustrated, not likable at all.”
Xiao Can’s heart skipped a beat.
“But you definitely won’t be like that,” Mu Nianwen smiled, “Your little mouth is so sweet.”
Xiao Can dared not respond and nervously bit his nails.
“Other than that… praise him more, care for him more, give him some small favors, but also give him a little sense of crisis to keep him on his toes, occasionally show your cute and sexy side as an Omega… stuff like that,” Mu Nianwen said, “But I think… if you really want to be with someone for a long time, it’s better to stay true to yourself, otherwise, it’ll just be tiring.”
“Why are you suddenly not against it?” Xiao Can asked, “You used to criticize him so harshly.”
“You like him, can I stop you from doing that?” Mu Nianwen sighed, “And… the shrimp cakes he made were really delicious, ask for some more next time.”
Xiao Can chuckled, “The drunken prawns he made were also delicious, I’ll make sure you taste them next time!”
After hanging up the phone, Xiao Can solemnly pondered over his phone for half an hour, then did three things.
Ordered a high-quality raspberry dessert and filled in He Xingzhou’s address for delivery.
Took a selfie in pajamas with an open neckline, oozing with seduction.
Sent the pajama photo to He Xingzhou, then immediately added: Oops, sent to the wrong person!
He Xingzhou replied thirty seconds later.
- Who did you want to send it to???
Xiao Can was satisfied and deleted the photo, starting to think about how to show his sweet side.
Before he could figure it out, He Xingzhou called.
“Are you busy?” He Xingzhou’s tone was serious, “Why didn’t you reply to my messages?”
It had only been a couple of minutes since Xiao Can deleted the photo, and he wanted to retort, but remembering the teachings of the wise, he held his tongue.
“It’s a friend you don’t know,” he pretended to be clueless, “What’s up?”
“Dressed improperly,” He Xingzhou said, “Inappropriate.”
“Really?” Xiao Can asked, “I took a series of them, do you want to see?”
He Xingzhou was silent for a few seconds, “…Okay.”
“I’m kidding,” Xiao Can said, “You’re such a pervert.”
After saying that, he reflected inwardly that attacking He Xingzhou seemed to have become an instinct, it was too difficult to control.
“Who were you planning to send it to?” He Xingzhou questioned.
“My roommate,” Xiao Can said, “We exchange photos with each other and compliment each other.”
Although this photo wasn’t for that purpose, this was indeed something he and Mu Nianwen did regularly.
He Xingzhou recalled for a moment, “The one you mentioned before?”
“Yeah.”
“@Mu Nianwen, right?” He Xingzhou said.
He was referring to Mu Nianwen’s username. Xiao Can was about to ask “How did you know,” but quickly realized that He Xingzhou had seen all of his videos, even knew Fei Zi, and naturally would have an impression of “Mu Nianwen” with whom he had collaborated with more times.
“That’s him,” Xiao Can nodded.
He Xingzhou seemed to relax a bit, then said, “You can share with me too.”
“No, he would compliment me, you’d only say I’m inappropriate,” Xiao Can said.
“…It actually looks pretty good,” He Xingzhou said, “Send it again.”
Xiao Can’s persona today was sweet, so he suppressed the sarcasm and said, “Okay.”
After sending it again, he asked, “does it really look good?”
“It’s like this,” He Xingzhou said, “it looks good, but it’s not suitable for casual sharing with others, these two things aren’t contradictory.”
“Are you saying it’s not suitable to share with you?” Xiao Can couldn’t help but want to argue.
“It’s fine with me, after all, I’ve seen you wear even less,” He Xingzhou said.
Xiao Can took a deep breath and told himself, don’t argue, stay calm, show your cute and sweet side.
“Oh, okay,” he tried to be coy despite the embarrassment, “Can I send more in the future?”
“Sure,” He Xingzhou said, then paused for a moment, a hint of unease in his tone, “Are you okay today? Did you drink too much?”
“No,” Xiao Can said.
“Then… did you… take the wrong medicine?” He Xingzhou asked cautiously.
