My Roommate Is a Dirty Talker (GL) - Chapter 39

The agreed-upon meeting place was a café called Lianyan. The first floor housed a circular bookstore, its shelves reaching the ceiling and overflowing with new books from China and abroad.

This was Shen Weixiao’s first time in such a place. After being led to a sofa in the back by a server, she barely moved, sitting primly like someone on a first date, occasionally glancing at herself in the bathroom mirror.

Time flew by as she waited, her heart filled with anticipation. The antique clock on the wall chimed on the hour, and Shen Weixiao finally couldn’t resist putting away her phone and standing up.

Nearly an hour late—why hadn’t Lao Xue arrived yet? Shen Weixiao walked over to the bookshelves, her anxiety growing. Would she stand me up again? She wandered along the shelves, idly flipping through a manga. Her gaze landed on its orange cover, and she slowly exhaled, returning to her seat, though her heart refused to calm.

At 148 PM, her phone finally buzzed.

Shen Weixiao opened the notification bar and saw a text message. She froze, then repeatedly checked the sender’s name, her heart pounding with an indescribable mix of emotions.

Lemon-Strawberry-Chili-Durian Candy!

The message on her phone was concise and to the point, just like its sender.

Xuanxuan Something came up. I’ll be late. Wait for me.

Suddenly dazed, Shen Weixiao slumped against the corner of the sofa as if her body had gone limp. The man beside her startled, his face filled with concern as he glanced at her, noticing her sudden discomfort. Regaining her composure, Shen Weixiao blushed with embarrassment, straightened up, and mumbled a hasty apology.

The man nodded and turned back to his book, but inside Shen Weixiao’s mind, chaos raged like a rampaging beast. Even a battlefield couldn’t capture a hundredth of the turmoil in her heart.

Why is Shi Xuan texting me when I was supposed to meet Lao Xue here? She couldn’t make sense of it.

Lao Xue, Shi Xuan… Shi Xuan, Lao Xue… Shen Weixiao suddenly realized their names shared similar pronunciations. Oh my god! I’ve been so dense, so utterly clueless!

With this realization, Shi Xuan’s every action fell into place her formal attire, her absence from the awards ceremony, their shared interests and majors, and even the special care she had shown Shen Weixiao. The warmth of Shi Xuan’s unconscious affection from their first meeting finally dawned on her.

No wonder! No wonder!

So, Lao Xue is Shi Xuan? Lao Xue is Shi Xuan.

Oh my god! Shen Weixiao nearly jumped out of her seat with excitement. But then she paused to think. They had been together for so long, and Shi Xuan had always known who she was, yet she had still moved out to live with her. Meanwhile, Shen Weixiao had remained completely clueless, naively believing their meeting was just a coincidence.

How terrifying! This is utterly unbelievable.

Forcing herself to calm down, Shen Weixiao tried to organize her thoughts. She realized that while Lao Xue had been kind to her, she had deceived her in the most crucial way. Even after they… well, were they even together? Shi Xuan had never confessed her feelings or said she liked her, but… their feelings must have been mutual, right?

Shen Weixiao felt a pang of guilt, tinged with inexplicable sadness.

If she had known from the start that Shi Xuan was her OTP from the second dimension, she would have been with her without hesitation. There would have been none of this doubt and confusion.

After all, Lao Xue held such a special place in her heart. But why had Lao Xue kept this secret? How long had she planned to hide it? Was it all some kind of test?

The word deception echoed in Shen Weixiao’s mind, but gradually, she realized that the joy and warmth Shi Xuan had brought her had made this deception seem insignificant.

That video… she must have stayed up all night to make it, right? Shen Weixiao recalled the memory, her eyes instantly welling up. Back when she first joined the company, she had asked Lao Xue to create a video for her, and Lao Xue had delivered two versions in completely different styles. She remembered how she had even scolded Shi Xuan that night for disturbing her rest.

Shi Xuan must have caught a cold from staying up all night that day.

In just half a year, memories of Shi Xuan kept flooding Shen Weixiao’s mind, gurgling into her heart. These fleeting moments felt deeper and more enduring than the accumulated experiences of the previous three years.

Shen Weixiao slowly calmed down. She no longer blamed Shi Xuan, but the thought of being stood up today still infuriated her.

Glancing at the text message again, she sighed and muttered to herself, She probably sent it by accident, didn’t she? Hmph!

Most of the patrons on the first floor of the café were absorbed in their books, and even as afternoon approached, few had left. The self-serve lemon water had been refilled for the seventh time. Shen Weixiao stood up, exchanged her book, and glanced toward the entrance again.

Is she not coming?

Her stomach rumbled with hunger. Shen Weixiao looked outside, torn between leaving and worrying that Shi Xuan would arrive and not find her. After a moment’s hesitation, she obediently remained seated and ordered another cup of coffee.

She took a sip—bitter.

Emerging from the bathroom, Shen Weixiao felt unusually unwell. Even the morning’s finger wound began to throb and itch again. She repeatedly opened her contacts, scrolling from top to bottom and back, staring at Shi Xuan’s number for an agonizingly long time before finally suppressing the question she wanted to ask.

Opening Penguin, Shen Weixiao felt a wave of frustration, unsure whether she was sad or happy, hopeful or afraid. She didn’t even know what to do next. Her bestie’s avatar lit up brightly.

Chunmian Tantan!

Tanxin Bujue What’s up, darling?

Chunmian Tantan

Tanxin Bujue Yeah? What’s wrong?

Chunmian …Tantan!!!!!!!!

Tanxin Bujue …Speak like a normal person!

Chunmian I think my roommate is actually Lao Xue herself! She escaped from the second dimension! I’m freaking out! I don’t know what to do! She asked me out today, but it seems like she sent the message to the wrong person! I’m too scared to go home and face her! She definitely doesn’t know I found out! Oh my god, I’m going crazy! What do I do?!

Tanxin Bujue Use punctuation, damn it! What’s this about your roommate being Lao Xue? I can’t understand a word!

Shen Weixiao’s fingers trembled slightly as she finally typed, I suspect my roommate is Lao Xue!

Tanxin Bujue didn’t react for a while. Then, suddenly, a flurry of garbled characters flooded in, followed by a 40-second voice message Holy sh1t! This is definitely true love! Pale skin and stunning beauty? That’s your Lao Xue? 天啊! Even with such a cliché setup, you’re the one who stumbled into it? I refuse to believe it!

Shen Weixiao and her bestie’s brains worked on different wavelengths. Seeing how excited the other seemed, she opened the voice chat and said, each word dripping with disappointment, But… if that’s true, she’s been deceiving me all along.

Deceiving you? Bullshit! She never denied being Lao Xue, did she? Maybe she just wanted to surprise you! Besides, you’re such a pig-headed idiot! Living with her for so long and you never realized she was your true love? You never even asked! Aaaah! I can’t take it anymore! I’m so hyped! 春 Wake me up! This melodrama has fried my brain and unleashed my wildest fantasies! Aaaah!

Across the dimensional divide, Shen Weixiao bit her lower lip, feeling utterly dejected. Tanxin clearly didn’t understand how she was feeling. Why did she sound so ridiculously happy?

The clock chimed. Shen Weixiao looked up—it was already five o’clock. No further messages had arrived on her phone. Frowning, she paid her bill and left the café.

Although it was just one subway transfer away, it was rush hour, and even on a weekend, the crowds surged like a tidal wave. At one of B City’s most congested transportation hubs, Shen Weixiao finally managed to get through security after a long wait, only to realize she’d taken the wrong exit and had to push her way against the crowd to backtrack.

The elevator entrance was packed, with young people dragging suitcases that blocked the subway like a dam. Shen Weixiao paused, realizing it was almost Chinese New Year, and many migrant workers were heading home for the holidays.

Perhaps it was wishful thinking, but Shen Weixiao kept feeling like someone was calling her name from behind. Yet when she turned around, she couldn’t spot a familiar face in the noisy crowd.

After finding her subway line, Shen Weixiao checked her phone and saw three missed calls from Shi Xuan. She instinctively glanced back, and a familiar splash of color caught her eye.

As the train pulled into the station, the crowd surged forward, pushing Shen Weixiao all the way to the back of the car before she could even step off. Sure enough, she saw Shi Xuan rushing toward her, then darting to another door when she realized she couldn’t reach her.

Shen Weixiao’s heart tightened as her gaze remained fixed on Shi Xuan’s retreating figure. The moment the train began to move, she involuntarily stood on tiptoe, straining to catch one last glimpse of Shi Xuan. Realizing her impulsive action, she awkwardly lowered her head and tried to blend into the corner of the crowd.