“What! Shengsheng didn’t tell me at all.” Su Yiyi sold Pei Yisheng out completely. “Qin Zhou, you tell me. How did he agree to move to your place?”
Su Yiyi was carrying high-end branded cosmetics. While looking jubilant, he did not give up on getting to the bottom of the matter. His eyes followed Pei Yisheng as if saying: Fine, fine, Pei Yisheng, you big liar.
Pei Yisheng blinked and looked at Qin Zhou as if asking for help, but in the next second, he realized this wasn’t right and let his gaze drift helplessly.
Qin Zhou cherished this opportunity to enter the inner circle. Seeing that Su Yiyi had directly acknowledged his status, he said with a smile, “He felt that waking up early and sleeping late every day was a bit of a disturbance to you. It’s better to go to my place and disturb me instead.”
Su Yiyi turned his gaze to Pei Yisheng. “Is that so?”
“Um, a little bit,” Pei Yisheng murmured.
Su Yiyi immediately said aggrievedly, “But I don’t think you’re disturbing me! My routine is irregular, and I made noise while you were resting or studying, yet you didn’t say anything. You just don’t want to live with me anymore, do you? Men… they are so fickle.”
Pei Yisheng didn’t know how Su Yiyi had suddenly become so dramatic. Feeling his head grow large, he explained, “It’s not like that. Don’t overthink it.”
“Then you live with me on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and live with him on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays,” Su Yiyi hugged Pei Yisheng’s arm and demanded.
However, when making this demand, Su Yiyi did not dare to look at Qin Zhou’s expression.
Pei Yisheng, on the other hand, dared to look and wasn’t afraid. So he patted Su Yiyi’s arm and agreed. “Okay.”
When he carried a large suitcase out the door, Su Yiyi stood at the entrance, waving a tissue and covering his face, calling out miserably, “Shengsheng~ you must come back~”
Qin Zhou asked beside him, “Is your friend always like this?”
Pei Yisheng closed his eyes tightly, not wanting to watch Su Yiyi’s poorly produced performance anymore. “No, he’s been required to write a script for his major course recently. He’s too immersed in it.”
Qin Zhou’s house was in the very next building. It was truly close. Standing on Qin Zhou’s balcony, one could see his own bedroom. With such a unique geographical location, it was no wonder Qin Zhou could catch him every single time.
“Want to see your room?”
Pei Yisheng walked over, his hand held by Qin Zhou as they went to take a look.
“I knocked through two rooms to make the master bedroom. The remaining space was made into a large guest room. Occasionally, when Lin Jiayu comes and doesn’t want to go back, he sleeps on the sofa. No one has lived in this guest room yet.”
Pei Yisheng looked at Qin Zhou. “It doesn’t matter. Anyway, I only live here on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. I can take turns with Lin Jiayu.”
“How can that be? This house has room for you, not him. It’s not like he doesn’t have a place to live. Why should he come and disturb us?” Qin Zhou was the type to prioritize his love interest over his friend; Lin Jiayu was already useless to him.
He introduced things to Pei Yisheng one by one. “You don’t need to do the cleaning. A housekeeper comes every day. You can tell her what dishes you want to eat; she will make lunch and dinner. There is no manual labor at all. If you want to eat breakfast, you can wake me up, and I will make it for you.”
“This is the walk-in closet. I’ve cleared out a space for you. Someone will come tomorrow; keep the clothes you like.”
Qin Zhou knew Pei Yisheng was going to refuse, so he covered his mouth first. “These things aren’t worth mentioning. Just treat it as me pursuing you. These are things I am happy to do.”
“You only need to accept and enjoy it.”
This was completely different from what Pei Yisheng had imagined.
Pei Yisheng thought Qin Zhou would use this chance to be overbearing, or that he couldn’t wait to enter a “not suitable for children” channel like in a manga. He never expected that Qin Zhou could also be serious.
He really seemed to be learning how to pursue someone.
Pei Yisheng sat in the study, unable to learn anything at all.
Qin Zhou was just outside the study. From the sound, he seemed to be installing a coffee machine. Because Pei Yisheng had felt a bit sleepy while reading earlier and mentioned it would be nice to have a cup of coffee right now, Qin Zhou immediately ordered delivery. Arriving along with the delivery was a coffee machine.
Qin Zhou himself didn’t like such things. He liked motorcycles, sports cars, speed, and all sports that could stimulate adrenaline. He was not interested in quiet things like tasting red wine or coffee.
However, the process of installing the coffee machine was unexpectedly interesting. Qin Zhou would occasionally look up at the study. Through the half-open door, he could see Pei Yisheng’s figure. Qin Zhou would look for a few moments, then install for a while, look again, and have the motivation to install more.
After dawdling for an hour, Qin Zhou finished the installation and invited Pei Yisheng to inspect it.
“Try it and see how it is?”
The beans were ready-made and smelled quite fragrant. Pei Yisheng made a latte for both himself and Qin Zhou.
“Thank you, baby.”
Pei Yisheng’s ears turned slightly red. “You’re not allowed to call me baby. You said it yourself you are still pursuing me. You are not allowed to use such intimate titles while pursuing someone.”
“But outsiders all know we live together. If I still call you Shengsheng, it would be too distant. What’s the difference between that and an outsider? I must call you baby.” Qin Zhou spoke with logic and evidence.
Pei Yisheng hesitated to speak, then stopped himself.
“Then you can’t call me that at home. Is that fine?”
Qin Zhou reluctantly agreed, feeling that if he didn’t agree, Pei Yisheng would run into the room and lock himself in. He hadn’t kept a key to Pei Yisheng’s bedroom for himself.
He clinked his cup against Pei Yisheng’s. “Then can you take me out of the blacklist?”
Pei Yisheng thought of the reason he had blacklisted him, gave a dry laugh, and carrying his coffee, decisively went back to the study to review.
Qin Zhou stared at Pei Yisheng’s back, leaning against the bar counter, his lips curling up slightly.
It was several days after the holiday ended that Wen Xiuyun returned to the dormitory.
Thinking about the family affairs gave him a headache. Wen Xiuyun returned to the dormitory wanting to find Pei Yisheng for dinner. He waited from noon until afternoon without receiving a reply to his messages. He waited from afternoon until evening. Looking at Pei Yisheng’s bed, Wen Xiuyun finally realized something was wrong.
It was too flat, too clean.
When he first entered this dormitory, it was also very cold and quiet, with the stale smell of a place lacking human presence. He thought it was because the wind had been strong and the dust thick recently, but he never thought that no one was living in the dormitory.
He was in the same major as Pei Yisheng, so it was very simple to find out about him. After asking around, he found out that Pei Yisheng had applied to move out. The reason was that he had become too popular during the New Year’s Eve gala and was frightened by the students’ enthusiasm.
Wen Xiuyun listened in a daze. He had only been home for a week; how did it feel like a century had passed in terms of developments?
He hung up the phone and clicked into the school forum. Although it had been nearly a week, there were still remnants of the New Year’s Eve gala. People were still occasionally bumping the thread about Pei Yisheng. Wen Xiuyun looked from the top down and, while being stunned by Pei Yisheng’s cross-dressing, he also understood why he wanted to move out.
Looking at Pei Yisheng’s photos, he saved a few in order.
It was impossible for him to give up just because Pei Yisheng moved out. Wen Xiuyun checked his watch; if he set out now to the classroom where Pei Yisheng had his major course to corner him, the timing would be just right.
The lecture hall was crowded with people some napping on desks, some playing games or watching videos with their heads down, and some doing their own things. Only less than half were actually listening. Wen Xiuyun swept his gaze through the glass strip on the door, only able to capture a few frontal faces.
It was impossible to find Pei Yisheng in advance. He simply leaned by the window and waited for Pei Yisheng to finish class.
“Alright, students, remember to submit your assignments in the system in time. Otherwise, if the deadline is reached and the system hasn’t received your work, it will automatically give a zero. In that case, I won’t be able to help even if I want to. Do you understand what I mean?”
Pei Yisheng noted down the time on his phone, planning to finish it early so he could use the remaining time to review other subjects.
He walked out with the flow of people, pondering whether to eat at the cafeteria at noon or go back. The housekeeper Qin Zhou hired was quite good at cooking; after asking about Pei Yisheng’s dietary taboos and preferences because there was one more person to feed, she didn’t say much else.
It made Pei Yisheng a bit unaccustomed to it. Previously, the housekeeper at his home loved to chat.
She would arrange small stews according to different seasons, always have small snacks and fruit platters available, and every time she served him oranges, they were in the shape of little rabbits. Pei Yisheng missed it a little.
Thinking this, Pei Yisheng planned to go back to eat. Even if this housekeeper didn’t like to talk, it didn’t matter.
Since he didn’t have to squeeze into the cafeteria, Pei Yisheng’s pace was not in a hurry. He kept to the side, but after walking a short distance, he felt a pull from behind. He thought his clothes were caught somewhere. He turned back to look, but saw Wen Xiuyun’s hand pulling his clothes!
“Shengsheng.” Wen Xiuyun smiled gently. “Shall we find a place to sit?”
During lunchtime, the coffee shop was not crowded.
Pei Yisheng stirred the sugar cubes in his coffee, waiting for Wen Xiuyun to speak first.
“Since you don’t want to eat a meal, try this small cake. I heard from classmates that it’s a newly released flavor, very good.” Wen Xiuyun gestured for Pei Yisheng to try it. “You can’t focus on talking on an empty stomach.”
Hearing this, Pei Yisheng scooped a spoonful of cake into his mouth. The refreshing lemon aroma improved his mood slightly. He took two more scoops. Seeing that he was satisfied with the food, Wen Xiuyun then spoke cautiously.
“Shengsheng, originally for the New Year’s Eve gala, I wanted to give you a surprise. It’s just that some emergencies happened at home, which resulted in me being unable to come. It’s my loss that I didn’t see you perform in person. Can you forgive me?”
Wen Xiuyun tried to grasp Pei Yisheng’s hand resting on the edge of the table.
Pei Yisheng was prepared and quickly withdrew his hand to hold the coffee cup.
He looked puzzled, as if he couldn’t understand why Wen Xiuyun was saying these things.
“There’s no need for any forgiveness or lack thereof. It’s not a big deal. Many other students went home or went out on dates for the New Year’s Eve gala and didn’t watch it at all. Besides, you didn’t have an appointment with me; whether you come or not is your freedom. I had no expectations and no disappointment. You don’t need to take this matter to heart.”
Wen Xiuyun didn’t expect his sincere apology to receive this answer, and he suddenly felt a bit of difficulty breathing. He tried to curl the corners of his mouth to continue building his gentle persona, but perhaps because he had already exposed his paranoid side before Pei Yisheng, the mask was almost unable to be maintained.
A trace of stubbornness appeared in his eyes. His gaze was heavy, and his voice was like damp mist covering the water’s surface. “But Shengsheng, we are not strangers without any relationship. You ought to have expectations for me, and I should satisfy your expectations. That is how it should be.”
Pei Yisheng would not receive his signal. “Wen Xiuyun, I think you have forgotten the words we said before. I will reiterate it to you: I don’t have time, nor do I have the energy to play with feelings. There are too many things in my life that I need to solve. Maybe when I am able to slow down, I will appreciate the scenery on another path, but definitely not now.”
“You might not be able to understand, but that is the fact.”
Pei Yisheng took a sip of coffee. The ratio of milk and sugar was not right; it tasted like sugared traditional Chinese medicine.
“Thank you for the coffee and cake.” Pei Yisheng stood up. “I won’t be living in the dormitory anymore. The overlap between us will gradually decrease. I sincerely hope you can find a more suitable person. Goodbye.”
When Pei Yisheng passed by him, Wen Xiuyun suddenly grabbed his wrist. He looked up at Pei Yisheng. “I indeed cannot understand.”
He didn’t understand what Pei Yisheng was insisting on. Clearly, as long as he nodded his head, he could let Pei Yisheng have his former life back, even better than before their family went bankrupt.
The Pei family’s company was just an ordinary technology company. Because the core technology was leaked, the Pei family went bankrupt. Even before the core technology was leaked, the Pei family was not an established enterprise in City A. The network of self-proclaimed upper-class individuals had not opened up to the Pei family; otherwise, it would not have collapsed immediately once the Pei family showed weakness.
“A starved camel is still bigger than a horse.” The Pei family could still be pulled up, but no one was willing to spend money or effort.
Wen Xiuyun knew too well what these people were thinking, so he didn’t understand what Pei Yisheng, who had already seen through the rules of this society, was still insisting on.
“You need me, Pei Yisheng.”
“It’s not that I need you.”
“Is the position by my side not good?” After Wen Xiuyun shed his gentleness, his calm eyes shot out a sharp light, scanning Pei Yisheng’s body like a machine. “How much longer can you persist like this? I am very curious. You should know, the flowering period has a time limit. Opportunity will not wait for you forever.”
Pei Yisheng looked down at Wen Xiuyun’s hand holding him. “You don’t need to worry about that. Please let go; you’re blocking my way.”
Pei Yisheng’s impenetrable appearance was truly infuriating. The fire of anger in Wen Xiuyun’s heart flared up, burning fiercely. He originally wanted to let go and leave, but then he remembered that after he left last time, his “peach was stolen” by Qin Zhou, and he became angry again.
He simply refused to let go. “Pei Yisheng, why can’t you just be obedient?”
“If it’s for my own good, I will listen as appropriate. If it’s not for my good, why should I listen?” Seeing that Wen Xiuyun still held his hand and wouldn’t let go, Pei Yisheng directly used his own hand to pry it open. “Don’t blame me if you get hurt later; you’re the one looking for trouble. This restaurant definitely has surveillance.”