Su Yiyi let out an “oh-ho,” making a trendy Loopy-the-beaver meme face as she spoke in a snide, mocking tone. “‘No energy, not considering it’ Pei Yisheng, you better mean what you say. Otherwise, I’m going to play that sentence on a loop through a megaphone right in your ear.”
“You’re basically setting up a huge flag for yourself. You’ll fall in love sooner or later, mark my words!”
“I won’t,” Pei Yisheng replied, blinking innocently in an attempt to act cute and brush it off.
Su Yiyi waved her hand dismissively; people who had never been in a relationship were always so confident. “Believe what you want we’ll just wait and see.”
Moving house was still something worth celebrating. Since the two of them were too exhausted to fuss around at home, they simply hailed a taxi to go out for hotpot.
On the way, Pei Yisheng messaged his senior, telling her he had moved out and would come to pick up Mibao once the things he’d ordered arrived.
Suddenly, Su Yiyi nudged his arm. “Hey, look at that figure. It looks like Fang Xin. Is he sick? Why is he going to a small clinic alone? I heard everyone say that clinic is super shady as long as you give them money, they’ll do anything.”
“It couldn’t be him, right? This place is quite a distance from the school.”
Su Yiyi gave him a look that said you clearly don’t understand. “It’s precisely because it’s a bit far that people go there for problems that aren’t easy to solve. The school hospital can only handle things like fevers and colds.”
She curled her lip and pressed against the car window to look back.
Pei Yisheng looked over as well. Watching the figure gradually shrink into a small black dot, he still felt Su Yiyi must have been mistaken. He remembered that in the original plot, Fang Xin should be at home at this time.
As the protagonist “shou” (submissive) of an adult manga, Fang Xin naturally had a broken family waiting for him to save them. Pei Yisheng remembered that in the manga, Fang Xin received a phone call and turned pale with shock. After a night of wild partying with Song Wen and the others, he had taken a train back to his hometown with an exhausted body, rattling all the way home like a tattered ragdoll.
Upon arriving home, Fang Xin discovered that the house which had provided shelter before he left for school was now completely bare. Under interrogation, he learned that his father had developed a gambling addiction and had gambled everything away behind his back. The debt collectors told him to sell his body to repay the debt, or else they would take both of his father’s hands.
How could that be allowed? A provider’s hands were his livelihood. Even if Fang Xin’s mother couldn’t bear to let go of her child, she still called Fang Xin back from school.
The news hit Fang Xin like a bolt from the blue. He immediately thought of asking Song Wen and the others for help; if they were willing to step in, his family’s small troubles wouldn’t take them even a minute to resolve.
Originally, the three men had been displeased that Fang Xin had run away and planned to lock him up to break his spirit once they found him. Now that Fang Xin had delivered himself to their door, it was the perfect opportunity for them to start “new ways to play.”
Recalling the content, Pei Yisheng felt a wave of discomfort. When reading it as a book, it could be seen as “kink,” but when these things actually played out in reality, it was far beyond what Pei Yisheng could accept.
He thought about it for a long time, even after they finished dinner and returned home. By the time Su Yiyi had showered and gone to sleep, Pei Yisheng was still thinking. Perhaps the deep night brings unease; the shadows of the trees outside the window made him feel hesitant. After much deliberation, he found a number and dialed it.
“Little Pei, how do you have time to call me?”
The call connected quickly. Pei Yisheng’s eyes curved into a slight smile. “I’m not disturbing your rest, am I?”
“No, I’m on duty, just hanging around. If you need anything, just say it. If your brother can help, I definitely will.” Qi Yu stood up, walked around his desk, and headed outside. He habitually pulled a cigarette from the desk and stood by a cluster of green bamboo, waiting for Pei Yisheng to speak.
“It’s like this: I have a friend whose family isn’t particularly good to him. They suddenly called him back very urgently, and I’m worried something happened. Could you help me check if he actually went home?”
“Check ticketing information?” Qi Yu narrowed his eyes. “Do you have your friend’s ID number?”
Yes.”
That kind of information was practically public within the grade level; if someone put in the effort, it was easy to find.
Qi Yu hummed. “Alright, you’re quite prepared. However, I don’t suggest you intervene. Since he knows what his family is like and still chose to go home, he has to bear the consequences.”
“His father seems to have a gambling problem, so that’s why…” Pei Yisheng defended in a small voice.
Qi Yu frowned as countless cases flashed through his mind; he no longer blamed Pei Yisheng for meddling. He pondered for a moment and said, “I’ll check for you in a bit, but I can only tell you whether or not he bought a ticket.”
“Okay, thank you, Brother.” Pei Yisheng hung up, let out a long sigh of relief, and quietly watched the window while waiting.
It didn’t take long for Qi Yu’s message to arrive. The information showed that Fang Xin hadn’t bought a ticket at all and was currently still in City A.
Pei Yisheng silently replied with a “thank you.”
You’re just worried. When do you have time? Your brother will treat you to a ‘pretty meal.’
Pei Yisheng used to share food photos on his Moments frequently. Qi Yu would “like” every single one, saying he ate with sophistication and that they were “pretty meals.”
Now, Pei Yisheng hadn’t eaten like that in a long time. First, he didn’t have the spare cash; second, he didn’t have the time; and third, he didn’t have the interest.
He had already asked Qi Yu for a favor, so how could he let Qi Yu pay for a meal? Just as he was about to reply to Qi Yu saying he would be the one to treat, Qin Zhou’s call came in.
Pei Yisheng felt a bit guilty seeing the name “Qin Zhou” in large letters and hesitated to answer. Qin Zhou hung up and called again. On the third time, Pei Yisheng finally picked up.
“Baby, why aren’t you answering my calls? What are you doing? It’s almost ten o’clock—why aren’t you back yet? The oden is getting cold.”
It was as if Qin Zhou was afraid Pei Yisheng would hang up the moment he answered, so he fired off all his concerns in a rapid burst.
Pei Yisheng’s ears felt numb, and he automatically filtered out the term Qin Zhou used for him. “I’m not coming back. Eat the oden yourself.”
“Why aren’t you coming back? Staying out all night will result in point deductions during room inspections.” Qin Zhou frowned, his eyes scanning Pei Yisheng’s bed like a searchlight.
The bedding was still neatly made, and the desk items…
Qin Zhou couldn’t quite remember was Pei Yisheng’s desk always this empty? It looked just like his own desk.
Pei Yisheng grumbled internally; that sentence would be more convincing coming from anyone else but you. He replied righteously, “If you don’t say anything, who will know? If I lose points and can’t get my scholarship, I’m blaming you.”
“Fine, blame me.” That was exactly what Qin Zhou wanted. “I’ll give Baby a scholarship; I’ll pay it to Baby every month.”
In all his years, this was the first time Pei Yisheng had been chased around and called “Baby.” It was so cheesy he couldn’t even think straight. Gritting his teeth, he commanded, “Don’t call me Baby!”
“If I don’t call you Baby, what should I call you? Is ‘Wife’ okay? Wife, Wife.” Qin Zhou took advantage of the fact that Pei Yisheng couldn’t reach him through the phone and indulged himself.
Pei Yisheng was mortified and flew into a rage, laughing out of sheer anger. “Go to hell!”
He hung up, blacklisted, and blocked him in one smooth motion.
Qin Zhou was incredibly amused. Even though he knew he had been blacklisted, he felt wonderful. After all, changing a phone number was easy, but the chance to call him “Wife” didn’t come often.
He looked cheerful. When he called Lin Jiahu, he was still smiling, making Lin Jiahu think he had gone mad.
“What’s wrong with you in the middle of the night? Do you know your smile is creepy?”
Qin Zhou wouldn’t lower himself to the level of someone without a wife. He stroked Pei Yisheng’s desk, the corners of his lips curling up slightly. “Go ask your department head if Pei Yisheng has applied to move out of the dorms.”