"I think you’ve misunderstood. I’m Yan Ruxu. Brother Gao, Brother Lu, don’t you remember me?" Yan Yifei put on an extremely wronged expression. "You guys are dressed up like this today, so I didn’t recognize you at first. I actually came here looking for my brother, but since I couldn’t find him, I was thinking of heading back first~"
The two men gripping the hem of his red dress exchanged a doubtful glance. They did know of someone named Yan Ruxu; she was the daughter of Yan Yifei’s uncle. However, because of her poor health, she rarely visited Mingyang Star. Instead, she spent most of her time recuperating on Xianmei Star.
It was highly possible that she bore a resemblance to Yan Yifei. Although neither of them had ever met her in person, her words made them subconsciously loosen their grip on the dress. Had they really mistaken her for someone else?
Watching their bewildered exchange, the corners of Yan Yifei’s mouth turned up slightly. He felt secretly smug.
"Then... Brother Gao, Brother Lu, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving first. You two should hurry up and go heal." Yan Yifei put on another fake display of gentleness. He took a small step back, fully freeing his dress from their grasp, and offered a soft smile. "Goodbye."
The moment he turned around, Yan Yifei breathed a sigh of relief. As for the video recording, he would find an opportunity to get it back later; for now, he’d just let Lu Ziyu hold onto it.
Besides, Yan Ruxu was indeed his cousin, and they did look somewhat alike. Right now, the most important thing was to go check Gan Lan’s surveillance feed. He hadn’t seen her for a whole day. This disguise was the price he had paid for that privilege, and he had to cherish it.
He could even watch the feed and fall asleep with her. This punishment was completely worth it, even if it was only one part of his ordeal. Don’t be fooled by his current flawless appearance; before leaving the training room, he had been beaten into a genuinely tragic state. It was only because he looked so pitiful that his uncle and mother made a special exception for him to use a Treatment Chamber so he could stay pretty.
Despite feeling incredibly stifled, seeing Gan Lan maintain her optimism in such a harsh environment made everything feel worthwhile. Furthermore, he would definitely dare to skip class again! Skipping class just once had earned him a full shrimp feast, a hug from Gan Lan, and even hand-holding?
Whatever, that definitely counted as holding hands!
Initially, Yan Yifei walked slowly, afraid that moving too fast would expose a flaw to the two men behind him. But the burning desire to see Gan Lan as soon as possible caused his pace to steadily quicken.
Unable to bear his heavy injuries any longer, Gao Haiyang dropped from a standing position to his stomach. Lying flat on his stomach or back helped alleviate some of the physical pain. He lay side by side with Lu Ziyu, his eyes glued to Yan Yifei’s retreating figure.
The longer they looked, the more suspicious things seemed. Staring at that graceful back, a strong sense of familiarity washed over them. At the exact same moment, they both realized they had been fooled. The height of that figure was identical to Yan Yifei’s, and despite the dress, their physiques were strikingly similar.
Unable to stay down any longer, the two of them summoned every last ounce of remaining strength in their bodies and broke into a mad dash.
Just as Yan Yifei was about to step out of the training area doors, the two heavily injured men finally caught up. They reached out to grab him, only for Yan Yifei to dodge them with effortless ease.
Figuring his cover was already blown, Yan Yifei decided to throw caution to the wind. He didn’t have time to play with these two battered invalids; he was in a hurry.
However, considering how genuinely worried they were about Gan Lan, he shot them a look of disgust before gracing them with a response. "You two idiots! Gan Lan is fine. Also, if word of my current appearance gets out, don’t even think about ever standing up again~" With that, he swaggered away.
"It really is the Captain..." Gao Haiyang muttered to himself. He had harbored a trace of doubt just moments ago, but now the Captain had directly admitted it. It was still somewhat unbelievable. After all, the Captain hadn’t lost any of his childhood charm; in fact, he had grown into his features so well that his female disguise was genuinely stunning. If they weren’t intimately familiar with him, they really would have been completely fooled.
Lu Ziyu remained dead silent, his heart a turbulent mess of shock and complex emotions. When he had first seen the Captain dressed as a girl, he had thought he looked pretty, but mostly just wanted to laugh.
But when the Captain claimed to be Yan Ruxu instead of Yan Yifei, his expression and tone had been so convincing that Lu Ziyu had believed him eighty percent. Deep down, he had felt a surge of joy.
So it was the Captain’s cousin! She had a beautiful voice, a gorgeous face, and a gentle demeanor—she was exactly his ideal type. He had even been plotting to ask the Captain for a formal introduction. He was too battered and pathetic right now, but once he recovered his handsome looks, he planned to properly introduce himself to Yan Ruxu.
For a fleeting moment, his heart had fluttered. He really liked that kind of girl.
But reality was cruel. He had been tricked by Yan Yifei yet again. The kindergarten incident could be chalked up to youthful ignorance, but now? Tricked again! He was furious!
His romance had ended before it even began. No, he refused to accept this! He was going to meet the real Yan Ruxu! He would use that video recording to extort her contact information from the Captain!
Lying beside him, Gao Haiyang noticed that something was wrong with Lu Ziyu. Lu Ziyu had violently slammed his fractured hand against the ground, his eyes welling up with tears and a trace of utter despair flashing in his gaze.
However, Gao Haiyang didn’t think much of it. He assumed Lu Ziyu was just angry, and the sudden exertion of force had probably brought tears of pain to his eyes.
"Lu the Gossiper, how about we send that video you recorded to our junior? Let her see just how cunning this guy really is!" Gao Haiyang struggled to crawl closer to Lu Ziyu, then nudged him with his shoulder, speaking with excitement.
"Hiss..." Lu Ziyu quickly rolled away. "Don’t touch me, I’m a severely injured patient right now. I still have a use for this video. I’ll send it to our junior after I’m done with it~"
He absolutely wouldn’t let Yan Yifei court Junior Gan Lan so easily. He was now an avenger; he was going to make that dog Yan Yifei experience the exact same feeling of having his heart broken before a relationship even started.
But that would have to wait until he got Yan Ruxu’s contact info from Yan Yifei. Revenge was nowhere near as important as meeting his dream girl.
***
Over on Gan Lan’s side, she and the Guos—making up a group of five—had already devoured four massive plates of shrimp. The legendary five people who were supposed to show up to support her still hadn’t arrived, and it was almost afternoon.
Unable to hold back, she complained to Guo Daixuan again, "Are your legendary five people coming or not? I’ve prepped so many Ugly Shrimp today, and I have two more pots boiling right now. They’ll be ready soon. Can you guys even eat any more?" she asked, turning to the rest of the Guos who were still eagerly eating shrimp.
Guo Dacheng was the first to speak up. "Give me another five huge plates and I can still finish them. I’m booking the whole place today!" He was incredibly satisfied with his meal, but peeling the shrimp was just too tedious, significantly slowing down his eating speed. Furthermore, this spicy shrimp was so hot that it left him completely unable to maintain his cool, handsome image, which was a great pity.
"It’s fine, Gan Lan, just cook some more. We can definitely eat it. Get us another two cases of iced beer, too; we’re staying here for good today!" Mr. Guo let out a hearty laugh. If his eyes and lips weren’t swollen and bright red, he would have looked like a perfectly suave middle-aged gentleman. What a pity...