That evening, Pei Lan placed his warm, large hand on Zheng Wanwan’s belly. When he said the word “baby,” there was endless tenderness in his gaze.
“Smack—”
“Don’t get fresh.” Zheng Wanwan slapped the back of Pei Lan’s hand.
Pei Lan set his glasses on the nightstand and wrapped one arm around Zheng Wanwan. Before he could even speak, she made a “shh” gesture at him.
Zheng Wanwan reached up and turned off the bedroom light. Because she had severe sleep disorders, the room was extremely soundproof.
Pei Lan’s slender fingers traced a line on Zheng Wanwan’s waist.
The phone cast a faint glow. Zheng Wanwan fumbled under her pillow, put on her earphones, and signaled Pei Lan not to move.
Ever since the wedding room had been renovated, her eldest brother, Pei Kaixin, had installed surveillance cameras—full coverage with no blind spots. He had just updated the system last month.
Pei Lan threw off the covers, intending to get out of bed. Zheng Wanwan rolled over in one swift motion and pinned him down on the mattress. Her fingertip pressed against his chest, signaling him to behave.
There were quite a few bodyguards outside, but Zheng Wanwan didn’t like them getting too close. They only needed to do a routine patrol once every so often.
Pei Lan wrapped his arm around Zheng Wanwan’s waist. Under the glow of the phone, her usually gentle face turned cold, her long lashes casting a row of shadows.
Within the confined space, their breaths intertwined. Zheng Wanwan felt Pei Lan’s heartbeat quicken. She glanced at the surveillance camera, then leaned down and whispered very softly in his ear: “Don’t be afraid.”
Pei Lan froze.
Did she… misunderstand something?
On the video feed, several men wore baseball caps, their faces obscured by masks, making their features impossible to discern.
The bodyguards patrolling outside lay on the ground—whether unconscious or already dead was unclear. Judging by their movements, these men had received professional training. They had daggers strapped to their legs and made hand signals that others couldn’t understand.
Zheng Wanwan analyzed the situation quickly—these people were likely planning to surround them and break in.
She turned swiftly, rising on the balls of her feet as she reached out.
Their fingers interlaced. Pei Lan sat up from the bed, and Zheng Wanwan pointed toward the bathroom. There, she had placed a long blade—something that could save their lives in a critical moment.
The moment Pei Lan stood up, he picked up his glasses from the nightstand and put them on.
Zheng Wanwan opened the bathroom door at the slowest possible speed. “Don’t come out until I call you. Don’t make a sound.”
“Got it, wife.”
Before Zheng Wanwan could react, she was shoved straight into the bathroom. The key was already in the lock, and Pei Lan turned it directly.
Zheng Wanwan tugged hard at the door. She didn’t dare shout, afraid of alerting the people outside. He had only recently returned, and his phone wasn’t yet connected to the external surveillance feed—he didn’t even know how many people they were up against.
And they were all carrying daggers and blades!
“Don’t worry, wife. Protect yourself.” Pei Lan lit a cigarette before stepping out.
Since returning to the country, he had rarely gotten involved in these matters, precisely because he didn’t want to drag Zheng Wanwan into danger. But this time, he had no choice. The paintings had been stolen from the museum—he had to deal with it. He couldn’t just ignore it.
As for bringing Zheng Wanwan along, he had done so deliberately.
Otherwise, if something like this had happened today without her knowing, her worry and other emotions would have been far greater than they were now.
Pei Lan closed the door behind him and exhaled a plume of smoke…
His long eyes behind the lenses carried a cold severity.
They had committed theft, yet refused to admit their wrongdoing. And now they dared to act so brazenly, right under his nose.
The door lock clicked open, and several figures quickly slipped into the villa’s living room. Outside, the wind rattled the flower stands with considerable noise.
Pei Lan moved in a flash, swinging the baseball bat in his hand directly at one man’s temple. Though tall, his movements were exceptionally agile.
The living room was pitch black. A cry of “Ah!” and the sound of a heavy body hitting the floor rang out.
Two of the intruders charged at Pei Lan with short blades in hand, while the remaining two held daggers in a defensive stance.
Pei Lan gripped one man’s wrist with his arm, letting the baseball bat fall to the ground. He delivered a side kick with his long leg, followed immediately by agonized groans. Seizing one of the men’s short blades, he swung it fiercely at the person beside him without a moment’s hesitation.
The man who’d taken a heavy blow to the temple swayed twice before collapsing. The one who’d been kicked clutched his jaw, his mouth full of blood.
Seeing this, the two defensive men crouched low, attempting to attack Pei Lan’s lower body.
Pei Lan leaned back, letting his body fall against the sofa. Before he could counter, a figure darted out from the bedroom—a woman holding a long blade pressed against one man’s neck, her voice cold: “Don’t move.”
Only one remained. Pei Lan flicked his foot, and the baseball bat landed steadily back in his hand. The man tried to get up and run but was sent sprawling by a single swing of the bat.
If they’d been dealing with ordinary people, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Just imagine—falling asleep, then suddenly having five burly men armed with short blades and daggers burst in. You’d probably skip even trying to resist.
From the moment they entered the courtyard to their complete defeat, less than five minutes had passed.
Pei Lan switched on the living room light and glanced over: “Honey, you—”
“You think a flimsy door could keep me trapped for long?” Zheng Wanwan’s long hair cascaded over her shoulders. She wore loose pajamas and held a long blade over a meter in length, its edge glinting coldly under the light.
The man pinned by the blade raised both hands: “Wait—p-please, stay calm. We just came to s-steal something. We never meant to hurt anyone.”
“Who sent you, how much did they pay, which company are you from, and finally—what were you supposed to steal?” Zheng Wanwan applied slight pressure, and a thin line of blood appeared on the man’s neck.
The man winced in pain: “I don’t know who hired us. I just do the job. We each got a million. We’re not a company—just a few guys who trained for a while. We were supposed to steal a silk painting.”
Under these circumstances, if he didn’t talk, the woman in front of him could cut him down and claim self-defense. How could he not be terrified?
Zheng Wanwan narrowed her eyes.
Pei Lan pushed up his glasses. That painting would fetch around twenty million at auction, but his original offer had been a hundred million.
These thieves—shameless as they were—wanted everything but dignity.
Even if Pei Lan had paid for it outright, they would have used the same tactics to take the painting back, leaving him with neither the money nor the goods.
Back then, when the old curator discovered the painting had been swapped, he’d urgently reported it to the police and searched for it. He eventually spotted it at an overseas auction and won it for over ten million.
Just as the old curator was about to bring the painting home, an accident occurred—he was robbed. The group stormed straight into his hotel room, snatched the painting, and fled, tossing a counterfeit back at him.
The incident happened abroad, and the old curator couldn’t prove that the one stolen from him was the genuine piece, nor could he explain why the one in his hands was a fake.
They planned to use the same trick again.
Except this time, they came to the wrong country and provoked the people they should never have provoked.
Zheng Wanwan tossed her phone to Pei Lan. By the time everything was sorted out, dawn had already broken.
Pei Lan, dressed in black pajamas, walked out of the police station with a sleepy-faced Zheng Wanwan in tow.
“By all logic, when someone gets themselves into trouble, they’d think—don’t drag your lover into it, and take the initiative to leave her.” Zheng Wanwan stood on the steps, gazing at Pei Lan with a look of grievance.
Professor Lan always did things in ways that caught people off guard.
Pei Lan leaned close to Zheng Wanwan, his voice low and husky: “There’s always a way to solve trouble, but if I lost my wife, I’m afraid I couldn’t bear it.”
“I don’t want to be dragged into it.” Zheng Wanwan just wanted to get under Pei Lan’s skin, to make him uncomfortable.
Pei Lan straightened up: “I’m sorry, wife. I’ll be more careful next time.”
Zheng Wanwan’s expression was complicated—he’d just been saying such frivolous things, and now he was apologizing in all seriousness…
Forget it. Why bother provoking him anyway.
Pei Lan walked over to Zheng Wanwan and bent down: “Wife, let me carry you on my back to the breakfast place. After you have some porridge, we’ll go home and catch up on sleep together.”
“With your old bones and creaky joints, you’ll strain yourself.” Zheng Wanwan didn’t care—she was being deliberately difficult, even though she was only two years younger than him.
Besides, Pei Lan wasn’t that old. He hadn’t even hit thirty yet.
Pei Lan turned around and scooped Zheng Wanwan up in his arms: “Old bones and creaky joints don’t get in the way.”
“Don’t get in the way of what?” Zheng Wanwan looked at Pei Lan challengingly.
The corner of Pei Lan’s mouth lifted. Since she wanted to hear it…
Zheng Wanwan’s ear grew warm as Pei Lan said the most indecent things in the most proper tone.
Breakfast was had. Pei Lan leaned back in his chair, then remembered: “Wife, I can’t go back to sleep with you—I have to go teach.”
“Almost forgot, Professor Lan…” Zheng Wanwan sometimes genuinely wondered what it was like when Pei Lan taught students…
“How about coming to school with me?” Pei Lan leaned in close to Zheng Wanwan.
Zheng Wanwan was adamantly against it, shaking her head repeatedly. She had an inexplicable fear of schools—she never wanted to set foot in one again for the rest of her life.
She actually wasn’t a good student at all. As a child, she practiced calligraphy morning and night just to show off her beautiful handwriting, all for a single word of praise from Pei Lan.
Later, to get into Aster, she studied so hard she nearly hung herself from the rafters by her hair and jabbed herself with an awl, barely scraping in by the skin of her teeth.
But in front of Pei Lan, she had to pretend it all came easily—that feeling of making it seem like she was a natural genius just like him.
Thinking back on it now, she’d been a complete fool.
When they got home, Pei Lan changed into formal attire, while Zheng Wanwan put on the eye mask her mother-in-law had given her, took her medicine, and lay down on the bed.
She wasn’t actually sleepy at all, but her body was exhausted and her eyes were strained.
Pei Lan stood on the balcony and lit a cigarette. When ordinary people face danger, their first instinct is to save their own skin. Zheng Wanwan had received professional training, yet when faced with five armed thugs with knives—
Her first thought had been to protect him, even knowing he was more than capable of handling himself.
Pei Lan exhaled a plume of smoke.
Zheng Wanwan was in agony. Her pillow moved from one side to the other as she tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep no matter what.
Her eyes and body were tired, but her mind was unnervingly alert. She was about to be driven mad.
Pei Lan entered the bedroom and scooped Zheng Wanwan up from the bed. “Honey, I want to see you the moment class ends. I can’t bear to wait a single minute longer.”
Zheng Wanwan struggled as she was carried out. “Wait—you’re the professor, you have to go. I don’t! I already graduated.”
Pei Lan set her down in the passenger seat. “Be good.”
Zheng Wanwan slumped her head. She had no energy to put up a fight right now—she’d taken her medicine, and her body felt weak. She wanted to sleep, but couldn’t.
Pei Lan played some soothing music as Zheng Wanwan leaned back in the passenger seat.
Who would have thought that Pei Lan enjoyed listening to guzheng music…
After the car stopped at the school, Zheng Wanwan said seriously, “Are you sure I can go into your office?”
“Family members are always welcome, of course.” Pei Lan opened the car door and stepped out.
Zheng Wanwan glanced down at her outfit—hair loose, wearing a wrinkled pinkish-white sleep dress, with Pei Lan’s slippers on her feet.
Meanwhile, he was dressed in a suit and tie…
Pei Lan took off his jacket and draped it over Zheng Wanwan’s shoulders. That looked much better than before.
“Good morning, Professor Lan.”
“Morning, Professor Lan! Want some oden?”
“Professor Lan, how about some milk tea? My treat.”
Pei Lan was fairly well-liked on campus. Though the archaeology department didn’t have many students, plenty of people knew him.
“Professor Lan, want to play basketball tonight?!”
Zheng Wanwan kept her distance from Pei Lan, not wanting to walk alongside him.
Her outfit wasn’t actually that unusual for a university campus—just moments ago, someone had sprinted past wearing pajamas with a sleep mask perched on their head…
Pei Lan responded politely to each greeting.
After going upstairs, faculty advisors and professors began greeting Pei Lan.
“Is this one of your students?” A middle-aged professor around fifty asked, pushing up his glasses.
Before Pei Lan could introduce her, Zheng Wanwan nodded eagerly. “Hello, Professor Lin.” Even though she’d graduated years ago, she still recognized the professors from her alma mater.
Professor Lin gave Zheng Wanwan a once-over and couldn’t help but scold, “Don’t stay up late playing on your phone, and don’t come to class dressed like that. It’s irresponsible of you toward yourself.”
Zheng Wanwan: “…”
Pei Lan’s lips curved upward. Wasn’t being his wife better than being his student?
“Alright, Professor Lan, go ahead and get busy.” Professor Lin shook his head as he left. These students nowadays—you couldn’t control them. They wore all sorts of things.
Once inside the office, Zheng Wanwan flopped directly onto the sofa. She’d used all her energy just to walk here.
Pei Lan’s class wasn’t until ten, so he wasn’t in a hurry. But since they were on campus, he couldn’t exactly sprawl on the sofa like Zheng Wanwan.
“Honey, how about we play a game? I’ll pat you, and you count how many times I pat you. If you get it right, I’ll grant you one—”
Just then, Zheng Wanwan’s phone rang. She looked at it—it was a text from her father.
“Pei Lan…” Zheng Wanwan sat up and looked at the man beside her.
Pei Lan nodded.
“What day is it today?” Zheng Wanwan pointed at her phone screen. “Isn’t this Sunday?”
“…”
Zheng Wanwan watched as Pei Lan’s expression shifted—first a frown, then a sigh.
“Pfft—”
“Hahaha…”
Zheng Wanwan’s eyes curved into crescents as she laughed with pure delight.
Pei Lan pushed up his glasses.
“You—you can’t blame me for this. You—you were the one who said you wanted to come to class.” This was followed by another burst of laughter.
Pei Lan let out a long sigh.
“Good morning.” Pei Kaixin pushed open the office door and walked in. He looked as wilted as ever, his tone carrying a lazy drawl.
Zheng Wanwan was taken aback for a moment when she saw Pei Kaixin, then couldn’t help but collapse onto the sofa, bursting into laughter again.
Pei Lan pressed his thin lips together, the corners of his eyes slightly lowered, his gaze brimming with amusement.