The moment Lin Yuan heard Exusiai's answer, his face immediately took on an expression that screamed I knew it.
Meanwhile, Exusiai tilted her head back and stared at the ceiling in utter despair.
It was the kind of helplessness you felt when your spotless innocence had been completely wiped off the face of the earth.
"It's fine. It's just cross-dressing," Lin Yuan said gently, patting Exusiai on the back as he tried to comfort her. "You don't have to worry so much, okay? Sure, people with that hobby aren't common… but it's not like they don't exist."
"Everyone likes looking good. It's your hobby—there's nothing shameful about it. I don't mind."
The problem is I'm literally a woman, Exusiai screamed internally, her head throbbing with frustration, her heart full of melancholy.
But in Lin Yuan's eyes, her gloom carried a completely different meaning.
So he thought for a moment and continued, very earnestly:
"Also… I think I get what you're worried about. You're afraid that if you cross-dress, it'll trigger my gynophobia, right?"
"But there's really no need to stress about it. No matter how your appearance changes—makeup, skirts, whatever—I just have to know in my heart that you're still my bro with a normal orientation, and we're good. I mean… it's you. How could I not recognize you?"
Am I worried about that? Exusiai's mind flashed blankly for an instant.
Then she snapped back—and her eyes practically lit up. She started nodding so hard it looked like her neck was about to come loose.
"You're seriously the best, Lin Yuan," she said, her voice trembling, suddenly fighting the urge to cry.
Yes. That was exactly what she was worried about. Absolutely.
No one in this world was more worried about that than she was.
"But… are you really okay with it?" Exusiai asked again. "From what I remember, your gynophobia is pretty severe. If I really dressed up like a girl… I'm not sure you could handle it."
"Yeah," Lin Yuan admitted with a sigh, shrugging. "It won't be easy."
"But I'll try to adapt. If my personal issues end up getting in your way… that'd be awful."
"You're already letting me live here, and I've already caused you enough trouble. If it gets worse, cooking and housework won't even come close to repaying what I owe you."
"So… even if I'm probably going to be scared, if I work at it, maybe I can manage. Besides, you're not actually a woman."
"I'll do my best. So, Exu—just be yourself. Don't worry about me too much."
The words sounded a little weird in places, but Exusiai still nodded with all her strength.
And at the same time, she felt something like hope.
Like she'd just caught a glimpse of a possible turning point in their relationship.
Next step: hang on until tomorrow, get to work, and immediately find Texas to discuss the next strategy!
It was practically a gift from the heavens—this whole incident hadn't pushed her relationship with Lin Yuan backward at all. If anything, it might actually let them move forward.
Cross-dressing sounded bizarre, but Exusiai could almost instinctively smell "opportunity" in it.
Lin Yuan's lips also curved into a faint smile.
This is good…
Feels like a weight off my chest.
These past two days, this whole thing had dragged his mind around far too much. Now that it was resolved, he finally felt himself loosen up.
At least the ending wasn't bad.
Tomorrow, everything could go back to its usual rhythm. Because of all this, he'd paused a lot of what he'd been doing.
Tomorrow, he'd pick it up again.
Good. Really good.
Thinking that, Lin Yuan stretched.
And so time drifted onward. The night passed quietly, and the next day arrived.
…
Early the next morning, Lin Yuan got up, poured two bowls of the extra tremella soup he'd made last night, sliced up some marinated cold cuts from a couple days ago, reheated them, and called it breakfast.
Exusiai ate in a hurry, then headed straight to Penguin Logistics for work.
In an instant, the rented apartment was left with only Lin Yuan again.
After finishing his chores as usual, Lin Yuan opened his laptop and began another day of being busy—
Or rather, making a little money.
As he skimmed through the backlog of messages that had piled up over the last couple days, he found his thoughts drifting.
He'd been in this world for a long time now. And during that time, he'd been living in Exusiai's place.
Aside from taking care of her daily life—meals, housekeeping—he was basically freeloading.
Even if Exusiai didn't say anything out of politeness, Lin Yuan still felt embarrassed.
So he'd been trying to earn money—enough to become financially independent as soon as possible. If he could trouble Exusiai a little less, that would be good.
But because of his gynophobia, he'd basically had to give up most kinds of jobs.
In the end, after going around in circles, it was with MSR's help that he'd found an online part-time gig.
It was basically outsourced work—some leftover scraps from idol-company outsourcing. Things like editing videos, cutting livestream clips for idols, and occasionally doing some basic processing work on music tracks.
He hadn't done this kind of work before, but it didn't matter.
Lin Yuan could learn.
It didn't take long before he was doing it as well as everyone else—so well that no one would've guessed that just two or three weeks ago, he'd been a complete beginner.
His learning efficiency had always been high.
The pay from this part-time job wasn't amazing, but it wasn't terrible either. Over time, it had let Lin Yuan save up a bit.
"I'm still a ways off from being truly independent," he murmured after thinking it over, then sighed.
He needed to take on more work. If he increased his workload by about thirty percent, it should be enough. With his ability, he could handle it.
Later, he'd ask MSR about it.
I swear this debt keeps getting bigger and bigger…
In every sense of the word, Lin Yuan was deeply grateful to his pen pal.
But even if he still wasn't fully independent yet, the money he had was enough to do one thing.
He wanted to buy a cello.
Even if he didn't have much, he still wanted to spend it this way. A hobby was different from everything else.
Of course, choosing the instrument meant he needed to be careful.
He'd ask MSR about that too. MSR probably knew more than he did.
With that thought, Lin Yuan sped up his work. The pile of tasks on his desk shrank rapidly.
That afternoon, after finishing, he sent MSR an email.
He thanked MSR for the help, and said that his friend's issue had been resolved.
At the end of the message, he mentioned increasing his workload—and buying a cello.
Then he finished editing and clicked send.
Not long after, while Lin Yuan was browsing new recipes online, he received a reply from MSR.
He opened it, read through it—
—and his hand on the mouse paused.
In the email, MSR asked:
"Yeah, those things are all easy enough to deal with, but explaining it clearly online might be a bit of a hassle."
"How about we meet in person? I can also help you get everything straightened out while we're at it."
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