Be Strict on Honesty - Chapter 1

Summer had obviously started, yet the temperature was almost as hot as the first signs of August.

Outside the dormitory, the sun was shining brightly and the old wall mounted air conditioner was humming. Yang Juan bit into his popsicle, sitting in front of his desk and waiting for Zhuo Lan to get online.

On his computer was the game client of ‘Epic of Prosperity Online’, in which stood a dancer with black hair reaching down her waist, plum blossom makeup and a black tear mole at the corner of her eyes. She was dressed in a plain-white beginner clothes, and she carried an umbrella with a goldfish pattern.

Zhuo Lan spent a great deal of time customizing this game character’s facial features and figures.

This account also belonged to Zhuo Lan, who was his current graduate roommate.

Both of them are in their second year, but with different majors.

Following the wishes of his family, Yuan Juan chose the science and engineering major offered by A University, known to be a great career field. In his senior year of university, he enrolled in a graduate program related to botany.

After graduation, he was the only one of the four people in his undergraduate dormitory who continued their education.

During his first year of graduate school, he had a roommate in the same major. In the following year, his roommate, Chen Jingcheng, moved out of the campus to live with his girlfriend. Not long after the bed was vacant, the professor in charge of the dormitory assignment allocated him a new roommate.

His new roommate, Zhuo Lan, majored in clothing and design. Zhuo Lan’s reason for changing his dormitory was that he could not get along with his former roommate.

The professor asked Yang Juan to do some homework in advance, hoping that he would be more tolerant of his new roommate.

On the day Zhuo Lan moved in, he casually filled his whole desk with cosmetics and skin care products in front of Yang Juan, as well as saying without hesitation, “I am gay.”

“Oh.” The experienced Yang Juan on this was able to smoothly reply, “My undergraduate roommate is also gay.”

Zhuo Lan misunderstood his intention and happily held his hands, asking, “Are you trying to hook me up with someone?”

Yang Juan’s ears were blushing slightly. He pulled his hands out and mumbled, “He already has someone he likes.”

“That is too bad.” Not noticing the color change on his roommate’s ears, Zhuo Lan absent-mindedly fiddled with his newly permed curls. “Missing a chance with me must be the most regretful thing in his life.” After that, he could not stop himself from feeling Yang Juan’s curly short hair, and then exclaimed, “Your hair is beautiful, where did you get it done?”

Yang Juan turned his head away and looked at the other. “This is my natural hair.”

After a moment of pause, Zhuo Lan smiled and pinched his cheek. “You are so cute.”

Failing to escape the hand, Yang Juan’s face turned beet red.

Zhuo Lan looked even more surprised when he saw this, pinching on the cheek more. “Is your blushing also natural?”

The blushing Yang Juan pursed his lips and finally whispered out a reply, “Yes.”

He and Zhuo Lan have been roommates for a semester and got along very well.

Zhuo Lan had been playing Epic and only female characters.

He called his main character his first daughter, his alt character second and third daughters. Sometimes when the game launched limited outfits during the holiday, he would ask Yang Juan which set looks the best.

Yang Juan was the opposite of him. The extent of his daily activities was working in the lab, staying in the library and resting in the dorm. He was one to eat three meals a day, go through his day quite regularly, and not play games or chase drama.

Two days ago, Zhuo Lan borrowed his phone number to register a new account, which he agreed to.

Yesterday when they were eating in the canteen, Zhuo Lan asked him to play on his new account for a while.

At that time, the other party stormed in and sat down opposite him, slapping the table and swearing, “I suspect my husband is flirting around behind my back.”

Yang Juan knew that Zhuo Lan was dating someone with a female account.

Because of how difficult it was to find a relationship reality, most of the online romances were only for fun and passing the time. Few people would give out their hearts for pixels, so Zhuo Lan was able to play as a female with peace of mind.

“I want to expose him in the forum but I have no evidence.” Zhuo Lan could not hide his anger.

Although Yang Juan was naive, he was not stupid. “You want to use the new account to approach him and get the evidence?”

Zhuo Lan nodded and showed a pitiful and frustrated expression. “We have been dating for several months. After thinking it over, I still think it is the easiest way to expose him if I do this myself, so—”

He abruptly trailed off and looked straight at Yang Juan. The rest was not needed in words.

Yang Juan looked down, picked out the beef from the pepper on his plate and honestly stated, “I will not do anything that deceives people.”

Without a word, the man across the table handed him all the beef on his plate. “Juan Juan—”

Yang Juan’s head was lowered even more, and his voice was so low that it was almost a mutter, “You should look for someone else.”

Iteb Ojc qifjvfv lc j nblmf gjlrfv lc qlamt, “Aejc Aejc vfjgfra?”

Tjcu Aejc wjvf j riluta qjerf, mifcmtfv tlr mtbqralmxr jcv obgmfv tlwrfio ab mjiw vbkc. Lf raeaafgfv lc jmmerjalbc, “Tb-sbe fjnfrvgbqqfv bc ws qtbcf mjii klat ws ygbatfg.”

Ktf ijaafg kjr cba fnfc j yla jrtjwfv, jcv fnfc klcxfv ja tlw. “Qtja? Tbeg ygbatfg mjc mjii sbe atja, yea cba sbeg gbbwwjaf?”

Yang Juan: “…”

Having known him for so long and knowing his soft-hearted personality when it came to his acquaintances, Zhuo Lan quickly persuaded Yang Juan to agree in exchange for holding a library spot for a month.

In the evening, when Yang Juan came back from the lab, Zhuo Lan quickly sent him a sizable chat history.

It was packed with lovey-dovey daily interaction between himself and his online romance. He asked Yang Juan to read it twice before bed as well as putting it into practice.

Yang Juan reviewed carefully, and when he encountered unknown terms or abbreviations from the chat, he would humbly seek Zhuo Lan’s knowledge.

The latter was very pleased with this.

The dancer with the name, Sheep Curls, was standing at the beginner village’s gate, and her level was just barely enough to leave the village. The entrance of the village is a transportation array between players and a new map. From time to time, someone would appear from the transportation array and dash past him.

Her level: Author is pretty bad at using pronouns or is very inconsistent with it. If there is none in the original, I will determine one based on the point of view or subject. There will be some scatter notes from me about odd pronouns the author uses.

Having been informed the name of Zhuo Lan’s character as well as his guild in advance, Yang Juan carefully read the names displayed on the players’ heads.

After savoring two-thirds of the popsicle, he saw a group of players come out of the array.

A group of four or five as it was hard to tell with them standing on top of each other, making their names overlap.

Among them was a female bard. The first few words of her name just happened to be covered by others, revealing only the last word, [Dear]. He unconsciously took two steps in the bard’s direction.

Seeing his movement, that group of people walked towards him without saying a word.

When they nearly met in the middle, Yang Juan could finally see the full name of the bard. It was [Jingling Bells Dear], not [Willow Tree Dear].

He stopped dead in his tracks.

Those people had stopped in front of him, and the chat channel for [Local] was soon filled with a message.

[(Local) Crush Pick This Sweet One: Is the little miss waiting on someone from Smoke Beacon?]

Smoke Beacon?

That was Zhuo Lan’s guild no doubt.

He typed out his next word slowly.

—[Are you talking to me?]

Before he sent out his message, he surveyed around and it seemed it was directed at him as he was the only player here.

He deleted this sentence again, leaving a [Yes] word in the message input before pressing enter.

Two lines popped up in the local chat at the same time. Yang Juan’s reply was slower by half a second, squeezing down as the newest message.

[(Local) Jingling Bells Dear: Is that you, sister-in-law?]

[(Local) Sheep Curls: Yes.]

Yang Juan was stunned.

The others sent messages one after another, quickly pushing out Yang Juan’s reply.

[(Local) Crush Pick This Sweet One: Hello, sister-in-law!]

[(Local) Jingling Bells Dear: Hello, sister-in-law!]

[(Local) Whiff of Rose: Hello, sister-in-law!]

[(Local) Whiff of Rose: We are here to pick you up.]

Yang Juan quickly came back to his senses as he hurriedly lowered his head to type an explanation. Unexpectedly, he was half a beat slower than the other again.

[(Local) Crush Pick This Sweet One: Why did the sister-in-law create a new account? You want to try out a new job class?]

[(Local) Sheep Curls: No.]

Instead of talking, Sweet One directly sent a party invite.

Yang Juan continued to type—

—[You are mistaken. I am not your sister-in-law.]

As he was about to press enter, a figure appeared out from the transportation array from ahead.

Yang Juan stopped his finger and looked up at the newcomer.

A handsome swordsman in a black outfit approached in front of the group on his horse, stopped and looked down on them.

The players from the Smoke Beacon guild were shocked.

[(Local) Crush Pick This Sweet One: Lang–ge, you are done with your instance dungeon so soon?]

[(Local) Errant Wolf: I left the dungeon.]

The group standing in front of Yang Juan stepped aside, revealing the beginner dancer standing at the end of the line.

The swordsman on the horse glanced at the dancer from above.

[(Local) Errant Wolf: Wife (kiss)]

Yang Juan was somewhat in a daze.

It was understandable that other people had mistaken his identity as sister-in-law, and it was unlikely that the party in question could have mistaken his own wife.

Is this Zhuo Lan’s cheating online romance?

With this surprisingly rapid development between the target and Zhuo Lan’s alt account, to be on the safe side, he grabbed his phone to give Zhuo Lan a call first.

No one picked up on the other end. He hung up once he reached voicemail.

Yang Juan hesitantly put down his phone.

[(Local) Sheep Curls: Husband.]

The swordsman on the horse held out a hand towards him.

Yang Juan saw a mount request from the other party.

He clicked [Accept].

The dancer put her hand in the swordsman’s palm, with the help from the other party, she easily got up on the horse and into the swordsman’s arms. The dancer was embraced affectionately by the party in the back.

The two added each other as friends, and the other party went straight to messaging him in private.

[(Friend) Errant Wolf: Level or sightseeing?]

Yang Juan saw the message and looked at the swordsman on the game screen.

He was not sure it was all in his head or not, but he felt that the other person seemed much colder than chatting in the local chat.

Not comprehending the change, he frowned and began to wonder if the other party was unhappy because he did not respond to the kiss emoji from before.

He added nervously.

[(Friend) Sheep Curls: (kiss)]

[(Friend) Errant Wolf: ?]

[(Friend) Errant Wolf: I asked you what do you want to do, what are you sending emoji for?]

[(Friend) Sheep Curls: I forgot to send it earlier.]

[(Friend) Errant Wolf: …]

Errant Wolf had been together with Apricot Sprig for so long, why did he never notice how single-minded the other person was?

[(Friend) Sheep Curls: ?]

Confusion covered Yang Juan’s face.

Errant Wolf sent this message, half sarcastic and half joking.

[(Friend) Errant Wolf: You did not send it yesterday or the day before, two kisses per day. Does that not mean you owe me four more times?]

[(Friend) Sheep Curls: (kiss) (kiss) (kiss) (kiss)]

[(Friend) Errant Wolf: …]

He was suddenly moved by the cuteness. He began to take a good look at the dancer sitting in his arms and wondered if he mistaken her for Apricot Sprig.

Apricot Sprig usually types in a cutesy manner, which was his least favorite type.

Suddenly, an angry dancer sprinted from the side.

[(Local) Sheep Babe: Hubby! Why are you holding another woman behind my back! (rage)]

[(Local) Errant Wolf: ?]

[(Local) Sheep Babe: I am Sprig! (grievance) (grievance) (grievance)]

[(Local) Crush Pick This Sweet One: …]

[(Local) Jingling Bells Dear: …]

[(Local) Whiff of Rose: …]

Yang Juan…was staying silent.

He sat in front of the computer with a full-on blush from the shame.

The author has something to say:

A’Ruan has Wine:

Reading tips:

Night Ferry is the gong. For anyone that does not understand and wants to understand, please visit chapter 11.

This novel has no logic, no logic at all, illogical. Thank you.

This novel is written with an old-fashioned feel, novel style from the past, past as in a decade ago. Thank you.

The main characters have flaws, they are not perfect characters. Thank you.

Friendly tip:

The honest person will blush in nearly all the chapters, he will blush with anyone. Thank you.

The translator has something to add:

Teo: This translator finished the book in two days and had a blast. The gaming part of this novel is not very serious, but the main character is so precious that this translator had to pick it up (also bonus genre in extra)! This novel is not for everyone, please read the warning on the main novel page. (Looks like I already got one unhappy reader. I hope they heed my warnings and don’t read)

Housekeeping:

Will be borrowing terms and style from a mmo called Mabinogi, and in-game formats and terms from Mutated Pheromones.

Character ID will be kept under 25 characters (not including space) and comprehensible in English if possible. The translator will break grammar to get this done. Shorthand names not used in the novel will be used in translation to make this translator’s life easier (please refer to character list in chapter 0).

Will not change to the same terms and names in manhua if a different one was used. This project was started before the English manhua was released and this translator took careful consideration in each of their names.