What’s it like to have an erotic dream about your soon-to-be ex-husband?
Thanks for the question: equal parts terrifying and worth savoring.
Sui Mi propped her chin on her hand, squishing the soft flesh of her cheeks. She appeared to be watching the lecturer at the front of the room teaching foreign art history, but in truth her mind had wandered to the ends of the earth.
The ends of the earth… hmm, that white cloud up there looked a bit like Xi Jianbai’s abs.
She’d never seen the young man’s skin.
But she had touched her soon-to-be ex-husband’s.
The overachiever was always so full of energy.
His schedule was packed so tight that it took three assistants working in rotation just to keep up.
Yet Xi Jianbai always maintained a calm, composed air. Even after finishing work, he still kept up a full daily exercise routine.
Whenever Sui Mi woke up late, Xi Jianbai had either already left for work, or had finished his workout, made breakfast, and was back to handling business.
Not to mention anything else—muscles trained under a professional coach’s guidance really were beautiful and nice to touch.
Xi Jianbai had cool, fair skin, as if he’d been born lacking some melanin compared to others. His irises were a light brown, his lips pale, and even his chest was a faint pink.
Full pecs, clearly defined abs.
When relaxed, they felt warm and resiliently soft under the hand.
If her fingertips slid from his chest down to his waist, tracing lightly along the ridges and lines of his torso, the muscles would instantly tense up, becoming lean and firm.
But Sui Mi had only touched them a few times.
Right after they got married, half out of curiosity, she’d flushed pink and stammered that she wanted to touch.
Xi Jianbai lowered his eyes and looked at her for a few moments, then silently started unbuttoning his pajama top.
Sui Mi shifted up on her knees and, summoning her courage, reached out.
She’d barely poked and prodded a few times when she saw Xi Jianbai’s deeply furrowed brow and the veins standing out from restraint.
His features were deep-set, and his expressionless face seemed extremely cold and stern—when he frowned, the pressure he exuded shot way up.
Sui Mi timidly withdrew her hand and said quietly that she was done touching.
Xi Jianbai immediately turned away, snatched up his pajama top with a vein-bulging hand, and pulled it on.
The very picture of someone fleeing in terror.
Since he so obviously disliked it, Sui Mi of course wouldn’t violate the wishes of such a virtuous, respectable man. After that, she only admired him with her eyes and kept her hands to herself.
—W-wait a second!
Sui Mi suddenly jolted.
Why was she thinking about Xi Jianbai again!
Sui Mi’s head dropped with a clunk, and she rubbed her cheeks with both hands, trying to rub away the faint pink blooming there.
Having thin skin was truly a hassle.
Whenever her emotions got even slightly stirred, she’d blush uncontrollably.
She’d only thought about it a tiny, slight, approximate little bit, and her ears were already burning.
Sui Mi puffed out her cheeks and decided to pin the blame on Xi Jianbai.
It was all his fault!
The phone on her desk lit up.
Sui Mi looked up and saw a group chat notification pop up.
It was her dorm group chat.
From the seat to her left, her roommate Qin Shuangshuang winked and jerked her chin, silently and earnestly gesturing at the phone.
Sui Mi’s lips curved, and she picked up the phone as her roommate wished.
【This School Is Making Me Want To (4)】
【Qin Shuangshuang: Girls, want to hit up that new dry pot chicken place at Cafeteria 1 for lunch!】
【Qin Shuangshuang: Their portions are pretty big, so we can order two pots to share—tasty and cheap~】
【Wen Tian: 1.】
【Yu Qingxian: Sure.】
【Qin Shuangshuang: Great, that just leaves Manman.】
【Qin Shuangshuang: What’s that girl doing? She’s been staring out the window in a daze forever.】
【”Qin Shuangshuang” patted “It is Mi not Mi”】
Manman was Sui Mi’s childhood nickname.
Mi means “full” or “complete.”
When her parents named Sui Mi, they hoped her life would be one of happiness and fulfillment.
Sui Mi curved her lips and replied to the group chat with a little cat nodding sticker.
Having agreed to go eat dry pot chicken after class, Qin Shuangshuang continued her outlook—her plans: 【After we eat, we can grab a box of cut fruit from the fruit shop by the entrance. Their fruit is always really fresh—perfect for cleansing the palate.】
【Qin Shuangshuang: The watermelon is crisp and sweet, the peaches are juicy soft ones, and the cantaloupe and mango are big chunks of pure sweetness without a hint of sourness.】
【Qin Shuangshuang: That’s it, I’ve made myself hungry. Just waiting for class to end—Galaxy Stomach Protection Squad [raises white flag]】
【Yu Qingxian: I’m hungry too…】
【Wen Tian: +1.】
Sui Mi wasn’t all that hungry.
She’d gotten back to the dorm at dusk yesterday. As a low-energy person, her battery had drained to the last bar—she’d skipped dinner and gone straight to sleep, then this morning she’d wolfed down a whole basket of xiaolongbao at the dining hall.
Reborn and sent back in time, of all the things she could have brought with her, why did she have to bring back that awful schedule from her deadline-crunching days—working through days and nights with no time to eat or sleep, then crashing hard and eating like a beast afterward?
Sui Mi repented ceremoniously for one second, then posted an excited sticker in the group chat.
At the podium, the professor suddenly changed tack. “For this question, let me find a student to answer it.”
Everyone below hastily pocketed their phones and ducked their heads.
Fortunately, there were always the class enthusiasts, eagerly raising their hands and sparing everyone else the terror of being called on.
When Sui Mi put her phone away, her fingertip brushed across the screen.
Now that the roll-call crisis had passed, she took it out again and saw that WeChat had already exited back to the chat list on the home page.
Below the dorm group chat they’d just been chatting in, that snowfield profile picture lying quietly in the list had been pushed down to the very bottom of the screen by WeChat Pay, WeChat Sports, official accounts, and the like.
Only a line of faint gray text showed—
The only content in their conversation was still the system’s automatic friend-request greeting message.
“…”
—”Why did you add me on WeChat and never message me?”
—”Baby is a bad baby.”
Sui Mi could almost hear the young man’s hoarse breath brushing past her ear again, his low, accusing voice.
As if possessed, Sui Mi’s fingertip moved, opening her chat with Xi Jianbai.
She swore.
She had just thought of the dream, of those two lines, and tapped in absentmindedly.
Her fingertip had just moved to that snowfield profile picture, about to open it full-size for another look—
Qin Shuangshuang suddenly smacked her arm, suppressing a gasp, and whispered, “Manman, something huge just happened—police went into the administration building! Someone in the comments said it looks like they went up to our department’s floor!”
Sui Mi glanced at the photos on her phone.
It was a post on Jing University’s internal forum, with several pictures of police cars parked outside the administration building and officers walking inside.
Speculation was running wild in the comments.
Sui Mi could roughly guess what it was about.
“It’s fine,” she said calmly. “What does the sky falling have to do with ordinary students like us?”
Qin Shuangshuang frantically scrolled the forum behind the cover of her textbook. “Fair enough…”
Sui Mi looked away.
Looked down.
“…”
On her phone screen, a system notification was glaringly displayed.
【You patted “X.”】
Damn the pat feature.
Who on earth designed this double-tap-to-pat thing? Did they ever consider people with slippery fingers?
Sui Mi was just about to recall it.
【X.: ?】
Sui Mi: “…”
How is he responding so fast? Does he live inside his phone?
Sui Mi pressed her lips together. Remembering her plan to build a friendly relationship with him, she hesitated a moment, then sent the message anyway.
【It is Mi not Mi: Thanks for backing me up yesterday. Let me treat you to a meal [kitten peeking]】
Xi Jianbai replied quickly.
【X.: Mm.】
【It is Mi not Mi: Do you have any restaurants you like?】
【X.: Up to you.】
【It is Mi not Mi: Then when are you free?】
【X.: Anytime.】
Sui Mi: “…”
I knew it!
That dream really was just! a! dream!
In real life, Xi Jianbai was just a cold-faced, stiff stick-in-the-mud!
Sui Mi typed furiously.
【It is Mi not Mi: Then let’s meet at six tonight, at the Cantonese restaurant off campus [kitten nodding]】
The “the other person is typing” indicator at the top flickered several times.
Only then did Xi Jianbai deign to reply with a single word.
【X.: Okay.】