13
In an empty corridor, the girl looked calmly at the tall boy across from her. His expression was troubled and conflicted, as if he was brewing some sentence that would ruin their relationship in the next second.
“I don’t hate you. I just don’t…”
To keep Wu Jiao from feeling too humiliated, Pei Jiamu frantically searched for the right adverb.
“I just don’t really like you.”
“…”
Pei Jiamu had grabbed her and, after holding back for ages, managed to say just that.
No kidding.
Didn’t she already know that? It would be a miracle if he actually liked her.
Wu Jiao was speechless. She wanted to leave, but Pei Jiamu’s hand was clamped around her wrist like handcuffs.
“Don’t get me wrong. I really don’t mean anything else,” Pei Jiamu scrambled to explain. “You’re actually a pretty good person. It’s just that you argue really fiercely. If you could be a little gentler in the future, I’m sure a lot of people would like you.”
“We’ve known each other for so many years. If anything ever comes up, you can always find me. If someone bullies you, send me a message or give me a call. I’ll definitely help you.”
Getting this kind of “you’re a nice person” speech was something Wu Jiao had only ever seen happen to people who got rejected after confessing their feelings.
But she hadn’t done anything.
She had even pinched him earlier. That was practically her bullying him.
Wu Jiao treated Pei Jiamu’s neurotic, incomprehensible behavior the same way she’d treat a hyperactive husky.
She gave him a perfunctory smile. “Hehe, that’s great. Thanks a lot.”
“Don’t stand on ceremony with me.”
Seeing that Wu Jiao didn’t seem upset, Pei Jiamu breathed a sigh of relief. “Give me your WeChat. Then you can reach me if something comes up. Oh, and who’s Luo Yihuan? Has he been bullying you?”
“It’s nothing. Just a dog.”
Wu Jiao didn’t want to waste any more time with him. She still had a ton of practice problems to do. She quickly rattled off her WeChat ID to him and shooed him away.
Before he left, Pei Jiamu shoved the bag of snacks he was carrying into her hands.
That evening, after reporting in to Yan Yixin, Wu Jiao had finished half a practice test before she remembered to accept Pei Jiamu’s friend request.
After she accepted, she waited for a while, but there was no response from the other end. So, she turned off her phone and continued writing problems.
On the weekend, besides the homework from school and Si Xiuyuan, she also had tutoring sessions. In addition, she asked Wu Zihui to sign her up for a Sanda class.
Wu Zihui was startled at first and cautiously asked her, “Sweetie, why the sudden interest in Sanda? Did something happen recently? Did someone upset you? You can tell Mom about anything.”
The truth was, Wu Jiao didn’t dislike the sport of Sanda at all. On the contrary, she was very interested in it.
She had been sitting in school for too long and felt like her body was falling behind, running purely on youthful stamina. Signing up for a class would not only help her exercise but also let her learn something practical for self-defense.
Hearing this, Wu Zihui didn’t say another word and signed her up right away.
…
Pei Jiamu turned down the Friday night gathering.
He had gone home early, and after showering, he threw himself onto the bed, clutching his phone.
Every time WeChat chimed with a notification, he immediately switched back to the app.
Not a single message was from Wu Jiao. Ge Cheng’an had messaged him again.
Your Ge Ge: Bro, it’s not that I want to message you. Sister Xiaoya is here. She told me to tell you to come hang out.
Pei: Not going. I’m busy.
Your Ge Ge: Busy with what? You won’t come even when Sister Xiaoya asks?
Pei: Did you put too much salt in your food? Why are you so nosy? Tell her I’m busy.
Your Ge Ge: [I dare not open my eyes, hoping it’s an illusion.jpg]
Your Ge Ge: Got it, bro. You go be busy.
Pei Jiamu wasn’t busy with anything at all. He was just lying on his bed, scrolling through his phone out of boredom.
As he scrolled, his thoughts drifted away and landed on Wu Jiao.
He admitted it—Wu Jiao gave him a feeling he had never had before.
In her eyes, he seemed like a big pervert who thought with his lower body all day long. Yet, even so, she still liked him.
If that wasn’t love, then his parents had probably never loved him.
Why did she like him so much?
He had never been particularly good to her…
Pei Jiamu was starting to regret the things he had said to her during the day.
Would it hurt her pride?
By the time his phone was almost out of battery and he was nearly asleep, that little red dot finally appeared on his chat list.
He glanced at the time: 01:33.
She had only just accepted his request at this hour? What had she been doing all that time before?
Pei Jiamu clicked on Wu Jiao’s Moments. Her posts were visible for three days. The most recent one was from yesterday—a “like to collect” post for English exam prediction papers. Her bio read: “Learning is the ladder of human progress.”
Since when had she become so studious?
She was completely different from the person she used to be!
Pei Jiamu gave her post a like and waited for a while longer. Still, the only message on their chat screen was the default “You are now friends. Start chatting!”
He thought for a moment, then quickly typed out a message.
Pei: Why aren’t you asleep yet? It’s so late.
There was no reply. Pei Jiamu guessed Wu Jiao must have gone to sleep.
He put down his phone and, after a while, fell asleep himself.
Pei Jiamu didn’t sleep soundly. He had always had poor sleep and was often jolted awake by nightmares.
When he was woken up by a notification sound, he groggily opened his eyes and saw—
Wu Yu: Doing homework. You seem to have stayed up pretty late too?
Pei Jiamu was wide awake in an instant.
The time in the top right corner of his phone clearly read “04:44.”
Jeez. What kind of decent person is still doing homework at four in the morning?!
He quickly turned on his small night light, sat up, and immediately sent a reply.
Pei: You’re up this early!
Wu Yu: ?
Wu Yu: I haven’t slept yet. Did you just wake up?
Pei: ???
Pei: Really? Let me see.
Pei Jiamu couldn’t believe it. But the next second—
Wu Yu: [Video Call]
He had been joking, but the person on the other end actually sent a video call!
No way. In the middle of the night, a girl was video calling him…
Pei Jiamu’s mind raced. If he didn’t answer now, it would make him seem boring.
He quickly ran his fingers through his hair a few times and tapped accept.
“Hey, good morning.”
He heard a soft, drowsy voice before he even saw Wu Jiao herself.
Wu Jiao had been completely immersed in doing practice problems ever since she put her phone down.
The problems Si Xiuyuan assigned her were way more interesting than the materials the school issued, so she always did those first. After finishing them, she moved on to the school homework. She only opened her phone because the English test required listening to the audio.
The phone screen showed one unread message from three hours ago—from Pei Jiamu.
She replied to him and switched out of the chat, and the other side immediately responded.
Wasn’t this guy asleep yet?
When Wu Jiao studied, her entire brain was focused solely on studying. She could never simultaneously handle studying and anything else.
So, when it came to reading messages, she could only interpret them literally at the moment. It completely escaped her that Pei Jiamu’s message was just an ordinary joke.
She only realized something felt off after she actually placed the video call.
She immediately called out to Xiao E in her mind, but that unreliable creature seemed to be asleep…
Just as she was about to hang up, a soft chime sounded—the video call had been accepted on the other end.
The phone screen went black for a second, and then suddenly, a huge, handsome face appeared.
Wu Jiao’s breath caught.
There was no denying it—the moment she saw that face, stress drained out of her body like sand, and her mood lightened.
Consort Pei might have a messed-up brain, but his face was truly beautiful.
She propped her phone against a stack of books and smiled at him. “Hey, good morning.”
Pei Jiamu’s memory held very few images of Wu Jiao smiling at him.
Ever since they’d met, she was either laughing loudly behind Yan Yixin or charging ahead of Yan Yixin, shouting ferociously.
Things like “Pei Jiamu, you’re shameless!” “Pei Jiamu, you big jerk, bullying a girl!” “Pei Jiamu, if you’re not crazy, then I’m the Jade Emperor!” … things along those lines.
She had smiled at him before, though.
Pei Jiamu remembered: every time Yan Yixin got her to successfully prank him, she would give him a smug, triumphant smile.
At those moments, Pei Jiamu would get so angry that he forgot the real mastermind was Yan Yixin. He could only see that mischievous little sidekick.
Actually… the two of them were quite alike.
Maybe Wu Jiao was also the one who was always overlooked. She was just using this method to try and get attention from others.
The more Pei Jiamu thought about it, the more he felt sorry for Wu Jiao.
Having grown up interacting more with girls, Pei Jiamu was sensitive. He even considered one possibility.
—Maybe Wu Jiao didn’t actually like him. Maybe it was just that he was the only one who noticed her, and she had mistaken that for liking him.
That made total sense!
So did she like him or not?!
Did that mean the things he said yesterday were just him flattering himself? Damn!
But still, her video calling him at this hour was really intimate. She did like him, right?
Pei Jiamu agonized back and forth on the video call, while Wu Jiao patiently waited for him to reply.
Realizing this, Pei Jiamu quickly spoke up. “…Good morning. Isn’t it a bit too late for you to be studying?”
Wu Jiao nodded and glanced at the time. “A bit later than usual, yeah.”
Later than usual… so she usually studied this late too?
The girl in the video was wearing loungewear covered in pictures of salted fish. There was even one on her head.
Looking closer, he saw it was a headband.
Wu Jiao really wasn’t lying. Her desk was completely covered with study materials and test papers. Sticky notes, red pens, highlighters, and other stationery were also lined up to one side. To her left was a cup of brown liquid—he guessed it was probably coffee.
Now Pei Jiamu no longer thought Wu Jiao was faking it.
She really was studying very hard. She was different from him.
But aside from studying, physical health was also important. He felt he needed to remind her.
Pei Jiamu cleared his throat. “Don’t study too late. Get some rest. It’s pretty scary seeing a panda doing homework in the middle of the night.”
He pointed to his own under-eye area through the video, indicating Wu Jiao’s dark circles.
Following his gesture, Wu Jiao puffed up her cheeks and made a funny face at him, then plugged in her earphones.
“Got it. You hang up. I’m going to keep going.”
Wu Jiao didn’t waste any time. After saying goodbye, she unhesitatingly switched out of the call, opened the listening material, and immediately lowered her head to immerse herself in the problems.
But Pei Jiamu, for some inexplicable reason, didn’t click “end call.”
He had also accidentally hit the shortcut key and saved a screenshot of Wu Jiao making her funny face.
Well… he didn’t think it was cute. He just thought it was funny.
The girl looked very impressive when she was studying intently. Even her silly, goofy loungewear somehow took on the aura of armor at that moment, shining so brightly that he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
He turned off his microphone, flipped over while holding his phone, and lay on his pillow, quietly watching her write.
The rustle of turning test papers, the sound of pen scratching on paper, and the occasional soft sound of her repeating words after the recording all came together to form a lullaby.
Gradually, Pei Jiamu fell asleep.
After finishing one English test paper, Wu Jiao’s head had become a lump of cement, unable to think or function any longer.
Outside the window, the sky was already bright. She put down her pen and stretched. Glancing at her phone, the screen was still on, with a small window at the top.
Her video call with Pei Jiamu hadn’t been disconnected. It had been going on all this time?
She tapped on the video. Sure enough.
Pei Jiamu in the video was sleeping so soundly.
He must have fallen asleep while still holding his phone.
Was he so tired that he didn’t even have time to hang up the call? Wu Jiao found it amusing.
The angle she saw him from was slightly tilted. Pei Jiamu had his head resting on his arm, fast asleep.
His fluffy head, delicate eyebrows, perfectly tall and straight nose, and those pink, pouty lips.
Hadn’t a lot of people said he looked like a mixed-race kid?
Wu Jiao let out a soft laugh.
She had never thought so.
He called her a dog, but he didn’t even realize how much he himself looked like a dog, did he?
This sleeping face, this sleeping position—what difference was there between him and a golden retriever?
He was kind of… cute.
Wu Jiao thought of something, curled the corner of her lips, and pressed the screenshot button.
In the original story, this was the guy who would keep her on a leash like a dog to get back at her for the female lead, making her bark and call him “master.”
Although, judging by the current situation, the probability of that happening in the future was extremely low, Wu Jiao couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t.
This guy cared a lot about his image. He definitely wouldn’t want others to see him like this. Maybe she could use this screenshot later. It might come in handy, and she could get something good out of him.
“Good night, big doggy. Your master is going to sleep too.”
Taking the opportunity to get the upper hand, Wu Jiao whispered softly, then hung up contentedly and went to bed.
…
The light filtering through the curtains was gradually growing brighter. The notification sound of the call ending came from the phone in his hand. Pei Jiamu opened his eyes.
**
The real dog has awakened.