Winning the male lead

Ling Fei passed by Le Tian’s desk, knocked on it, and gave him a knowing look. Le Tian nodded to show he understood.

Soon after, Zhang Qingning also came over, frowning. “Are they giving you trouble?” Ling Fei hadn’t bothered her today, so she suspected she had shifted her target to bullying Ding Le Tian.

Le Tian shook his head. “N-no.”

Zhang Qingning asked, “Then what did she say to you?”

Le Tian hesitated. “S-something else.” Daughter, it’s better if you don’t know.

Zhang Qingning paused for a moment and said, “I don’t like owing people favors. If they bully you, tell me.”

Le Tian was so touched he nearly cried and nodded frantically. My dear daughter, you’re the best!

That evening, when he returned to the dorm, Jiang Qu hadn’t come back yet. He let out a sigh of relief. He was just about to play some mobile games when he remembered his phone screen was shattered. He still needed to log into Weibo and follow that super topic.

He told the system, “Guess I’ll have to wait until the holiday to buy a new phone.”

The system asked, “Do you really have to do this?”

Le Tian replied solemnly, “It’s about dignity.”

The system really didn’t understand what kind of dignity this was or what purpose it served.

Just then, he heard the sound of keys turning in the lock. Le Tian quickly sprang up like a carp, sitting at his desk and pretending to study.

Jiang Qu entered and asked, “Why is the light off?”

Le Tian thought, Crap, I forgot. He decided to stay silent.

Jiang Qu turned on the light and saw Le Tian sitting at his desk holding a book. He walked over, pulled a box from his bag, and tossed it onto his lap. “Phone.”

Le Tian was overjoyed—just like that, his wish had come true! He grabbed the box and exclaimed, “Thanks!” He was so happy that he didn’t even stutter.

Jiang Qu raised an eyebrow, looking like he wanted to laugh. In the end, he didn’t, only saying indifferently, “Have you finished correcting your test papers?”

Le Tian froze.

Jiang Qu took the box back. “Finish them first, then I’ll give it to you.”

“H-how much does it cost?” Le Tian asked.

Jiang Qu casually tossed the phone box onto his bed and started unbuttoning his shirt. “Just finish your test papers tonight.”

Le Tian felt like crying. Why is Jiang Qu so determined to force me to study? Can’t we just be ordinary roommates?

The system: If you just want to be ordinary roommates, then stop staring at him changing clothes.

Le Tian whispered, “C-could you p-put on a shirt?” If this continued, he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to control himself.

Jiang Qu snorted, “We’re both guys. Stop being so fussy.” But he still walked to the wardrobe, grabbed a tank top, and put it on. The white fabric contrasted against his tanned skin, exposing his toned shoulders and arms.

Le Tian took one look and nearly suffocated. Bro, this is even more tempting than not wearing a shirt.

Jiang Qu noticed his wandering gaze, his cheeks flushed. It felt a little strange, but he brushed it off, assuming Le Tian was just naturally shy—after all, he was always timid and easily brought to tears. So he didn’t think much of it and just shot him a glare. “If you don’t start writing, I’ll really beat you up.”

Le Tian quickly turned back to his physics test paper. After a few seconds, he felt utterly defeated. Damn physics.

When he finally finished, Jiang Qu skimmed through the paper and, feeling like he had successfully tamed this stubborn stuttering fool, tossed the phone back at him. “Play less, study more.”

Le Tian ignored him, happily tearing open the box, transferring his SIM card, and immediately lying on the bed to play with his new phone.

Jiang Qu rolled his eyes. “Idiot.”

Le Tian pretended not to hear, following the system’s instructions to log into Weibo and join the “Water Flows Naturally” super topic. As expected, it was a whole new world.

There were quite a few people—892 followers, according to the display. The feed was full of photos of Jiang Qu and Jiang Yue, mostly taken secretly or cropped from class photos. Even so, the two of them were exceptionally good-looking.

Then he saw some posts with images full of dense text. When he enlarged one to read, he nearly screamed. His heart pounded. “What kind of wild stuff is this? Are girls really this bold these days?”

The system: “…I believe you’ll do even better than them.”

Le Tian thought, I can definitely come up with better ideas than them… writing them down is another story.

Skipping past the text-filled posts, he focused on browsing the photos of Jiang Qu and Jiang Yue. Most were candid shots, but no matter how blurry or grainy, they still stood out as striking young men.

System: “…Even if you turn eighteen, that doesn’t mean they’ll acknowledge you.”

Le Tian snorted, “Just wait and see.”

Those three simple words sent chills down the system’s spine, making it almost want to beg for mercy.

He pulled open the bedside drawer, took out a hard fruit candy, and popped it into his mouth before opening an English learning app on his phone to start memorizing vocabulary words.

Jiang Qu was in a group chat discussing the next round of competition when he suddenly heard a strange sound. He glanced to the side.

Ding Le Tian was half-lying on the bed in his school uniform, looking rather obedient. He was holding his phone while muttering to himself, with a candy in his mouth, occasionally making a “click” sound as his teeth hit it.

Jiang Qu asked, “What are you doing?”

Le Tian turned to him, struggling to speak with the candy in his mouth, “Mem-memorizing words.”

Jiang Qu frowned, “If you’re memorizing words, just do it properly. What’s in your mouth? It sounds awful.”

Le Tian stuck out his tongue at him, showing him the red candy rolling around inside. Just as it was about to slip down his throat, he skillfully licked it back, “I-I’m exercising m-my mouth.”

He spoke slowly, a bit of drool slipping from the corner of his mouth. He quickly sucked the candy back, making a “pop” sound.

Jiang Qu felt more and more uncomfortable watching him. “Eat it properly or spit it out!”

Le Tian shut his mouth but didn’t listen, continuing to roll the candy around.

Jiang Qu tightened his jaw muscles. He thought, This Ding Le Tian just has to be put in his place every day, or he feels uncomfortable. He got up, strode over to Le Tian’s bed, and grabbed his cheeks.

Le Tian was stunned, staring at him blankly.

Jiang Qu applied a bit of pressure, “Open your mouth.”

Le Tian obediently opened his mouth. Jiang Qu grabbed a tissue from the bedside table and used it to pull the candy off his tongue. The bright red candy was covered in saliva. Jiang Qu let go of him, disgustedly tossed the candy into the trash can, and warned, “Do that again, and I’ll beat you.”

Le Tian felt wronged, “I-I’m tr-trying to c-cure my st-stutter.”

Because of Jiang Qu’s rough handling, there was still a thin layer of moisture on Le Tian’s lips, making them look glossy, as if coated with glaze.

Jiang Qu turned his head away and scolded, “You believe in all kinds of nonsense. If you want to fix it, go see a doctor.”

Le Tian didn’t say anything and just stared at his phone in a daze.

After a while, Jiang Qu asked, “Does it really work?”

Le Tian replied softly, “I-I looked it up. It c-can help.”

Jiang Qu clicked his tongue in annoyance, grabbed another piece of candy from the drawer, and threw it at him. “Keep your voice down!”

Le Tian took the candy but put it back in the drawer.

Jiang Qu snapped, “What now?!”

Le Tian mumbled that he didn’t like that flavor.

Jiang Qu was so furious that he laughed. “Wow, you really act like a little prince.”

Le Tian silently accepted the scolding, then grabbed a strawberry-flavored candy instead.

Jiang Qu watched him and thought that he was really quite something.

That night, Le Tian seriously memorized vocabulary words with such dedication that even the system was surprised. “Are you really determined to work hard now?”

Le Tian responded, “Yes. I need to study hard. Even if I can’t reach the top three in the grade, I have to at least make it into the top ten in the class.” Ding Le Tian’s foundation was weak, and his brain didn’t work fast enough, so this was already an ambitious goal.

The system felt so gratified that it almost didn’t feel real. It asked, “What made you change your mind?”

Le Tian sighed, “Because I realized I couldn’t pass the review process…” His plan to infiltrate enemy territory had completely failed after encountering just one spicy fanfiction.

The system didn’t understand. “Aren’t you really good at drawing NSFW art?”

“That’s different!” Le Tian shuddered. After reading those fics, my brain is now filled with images…

System: …Thank you, fangirls, for saving my life.

Le Tian turned to Jiang Qu. “I-I’m going to t-take a s-shower.”

Jiang Qu didn’t even look up. “No need to report that.”

Le Tian really wanted to joke, Want to join me? but feared he’d get his legs broken, so he held back.

The dormitory bathroom was nice. He turned the water up to the maximum and even sang two songs under the stream. He really wanted to cure his stutter—otherwise, how was he supposed to flirt in bed in the future? It would severely limit his ability to talk dirty.

After showering, he put on his light-yellow pajamas with white cloud patterns and stepped out, only to feel that the room was a little cold. He looked at the central air conditioning vent in confusion.

“You’re done?” Jiang Qu asked, sitting on his bed with a dark expression.

Le Tian looked at him, nodded, and suddenly felt like there were two little flames burning in Jiang Qu’s eyes.

“Come here,” Jiang Qu ordered.

Le Tian instinctively sensed danger. Instead of moving forward, he took a step back, thinking: Dude, we’re both underage. If anything happens, you’ll be fine, but I’ll get electrocuted by the interstellar alliance!

Jiang Qu let out a cold laugh and got up. He was a full head taller than him and took slow, deliberate steps forward, cornering him against the wall.

Le Tian thought bitterly, Damn it, why am I so short? I keep getting trapped against the wall!

Jiang Qu stared at him coldly, raised his phone, and gritted his teeth. “What is this?”

Le Tian glanced at the screen and almost peed himself—It was a super-topic community called “Water Flows naturally“.

Jiang Qu said icily, “Your dad called you three times.” At first, he hadn’t wanted to answer, but the ringing was annoying, so he went over to silence the phone. That was when he saw a notification for a featured post in the “Water Flows naturally” forum.

And right at the top of the post, it said—”Jiang Qu pinned Jiang Yue down hard on the floor.”

The rest of the sentence? Just thinking about it made Jiang Qu want to kill someone.

Le Tian nearly cried. Dad, why are you doing this to me? Are you in cahoots with Mom?

He stammered, “I-I d-didn’t—I…”

He had no excuse. He curled up, hugging his head, thinking: Please don’t hit my face!

Jiang Qu slammed the phone onto the bed with a loud thud. “Wow, Ding Le Tian, you can’t even write a proper essay, but you sure enjoy reading this kind of stuff.”

Le Tian clutched his head and weakly defended himself, “I-it was my f-f-first time reading it.”

Jiang Qu shouted, “So how many more times do you want to read it?!”

Le Tian shrank back. “N-not anymore…”

“Put your hands down.”

Le Tian didn’t move.

“I said, put your hands down.”

Still, Le Tian refused. “N-next time, I-I won’t d-do it…”

Spare me! I swear I don’t ship you guys! I swear on my conscience!

Then Jiang Qu forcibly pulled his hands away. Le Tian felt utterly powerless against him. He was easily pinned onto the bed.

Jiang Qu growled, “Today, I’m going to teach you a lesson!”