8
The princess found out the very same night that Wu Jiao had formed a study group with Si Xiuyuan.
She called Wu Jiao. Wu Jiao braced herself for a scolding, but the princess wasn’t angry.
She said, “Not bad.”
“Brother Xiuyuan lent you his jacket last time out of kindness. I know that, he would do that for anyone. Don’t read too much into it.”
She added, “And of course, I won’t read too much into it either. Let me be direct: Brother Xiuyuan would never be interested in someone like you. That’s why I don’t mind you being in the same class as him. Next time, if there’s any situation where some other girl might take advantage of him, I don’t care what you have to do, I won’t allow any girl other than you to get close to him. Got it?”
Wu Jiao had transferred to No. 1 High and ended up in the same class as Si Xiuyuan all thanks to the princess’s family connections.
The princess was destined to study abroad, but Si Xiuyuan had chosen to stay in the country. The fact that they weren’t in the same class drove her crazy.
Class 7 was a science track class, with more boys than girls. The princess knew the personal details of all eleven girls in the class like the back of her hand.
But she still wasn’t at ease. She wished Class 7 could be all boys—hell, she wished even the subject teachers were male.
In her eyes, apart from Wu Jiao, any other female was a potential rival, especially Mo Li.
At 11:30 PM, Wu Jiao had just stepped out of the shower when her phone rang.
It was the princess.
The princess must have called her right after finishing her piano practice.
This time every day was reporting time. Wu Jiao had to give the princess a detailed account: Which girls had talked to Si Xiuyuan today? What did they say? Did Si Xiuyuan smile at any girls? Did any girls try to curry favor with Si Xiuyuan?
Wu Jiao didn’t have nearly enough time to keep track of all that.
The past few days, she had just half-assed her way through the reports. But today, the princess was a bit angry.
“Wu Jiao, what’s wrong with you lately? I’m very dissatisfied with your performance these days. Do you know what you did wrong?”
Wu Jiao thought she had been caught for slacking off.
But that didn’t make sense.
These past few days, Si Xiuyuan had practically become her personal tutor-on-demand.
Whenever she didn’t understand something, he would immediately appear, breaking down the knowledge points into bite-sized pieces, feed them into her brain, and then casually toss her a few practice questions.
Si Xiuyuan hadn’t stopped helping Wu Jiao with her studies.
And of course, Wu Jiao had been studying like a spinning top, having long forgotten all about rewarding herself.
Before Wu Jiao could speak, the princess answered for her:
“Don’t think I haven’t noticed, both of you have your minds on Pei Jiamu.”
Both of you?
“The other day, I told you to spill something on his precious shoes. Not only did you not do it, but you ended up hugging and hanging all over him? Don’t ask me how I know. In this school, I know everything. I also know that he comes looking for you every chance he gets now.”
Wait—he comes looking for her?
How come she herself didn’t know about this?
“I’ve already talked to Li Rongrong. And I’m warning you too—Pei Jiamu is no good. Anyone who likes him is out of their mind. Besides, he wouldn’t be interested in you anyway. He’s probably just messing around with you.”
Li Rongrong likes Pei Jiamu?
She also likes Pei Jiamu?
What kind of parallel structure was this?
No way.
Even if she actually turned into a dog, she would never like that guy Pei Jiamu.
She could swear on that.
“It’s fine. After I get together with Brother Xiuyuan, I’ll set you up with someone too. Of course, he won’t be as good as Brother Xiuyuan, but he’ll definitely be a match for you. Don’t worry too much about it.”
The princess was actually pretty nice—she wasn’t going to forget about Wu Jiao even after she got her own man.
“Alright, I’ve got things to do. Bye.”
Wu Jiao didn’t dwell on that matter. But there was something else…
She asked Xiao E, “Don’t you think Si Xiuyuan has been giving me more and more study tasks?”
Xiao E: “Not really. This is normal for a senior high student. And with the monthly exam coming up soon, he probably wants to see your progress quickly.”
Wu Jiao, whose dark circles were getting worse: “Fine. Hope it’s just my imagination.”
The next day, during the long break.
The hallways outside the classrooms were packed with people.
Aside from those passing by and chatting, there were also restless boys piled on top of each other, bursting into enthusiastic laughter.
Outside Classroom 7.
A boy with chestnut-colored curly hair rested his arms on the railing, squinting lazily in the sun.
The boy next to him wore a pained expression. “Bro, you come find me every day, but you don’t talk to me, and you won’t let me leave. The girls in our class and the next class keep asking me what you’re doing here. Just tell me what you need from your little brother, okay?”
“I told you, you can’t help.”
“Just say it.”
“Can you hear someone’s thoughts?”
Chen Zhou let out an “Ah,” clearly not believing it. “What kind of sci-fi movie is this?”
“See? I told you, you couldn’t help.”
“No, no, I believe you! So, bro, what did you hear that person say?”
“Well—”
Pei Jiamu started to speak but stopped.
What had Wu Jiao said?
She called him a pervert, said he was watching porn in public, called him a masochist, said he seduced someone else’s girlfriend.
If he repeated any of that, would his own innocence as a pure young man still be intact?
Pei Jiamu looked constipated. His eyes locked onto a spot inside the classroom. “You can’t help. Just stand there.”
Chen Zhou followed his gaze. On the girl’s desk was a huge pile of study materials, and she was curled up in a ball, napping in the crook of her arm.
From this angle, all he could see was half of her sleeping face. She didn’t look peaceful—her brows were furrowed.
A lightbulb went off in Chen Zhou’s head. “Bro… you’ve changed your type?”
“Scram.” Pei Jiamu clicked his tongue. “I don’t like girls who bite.”
Like Wu Jiao?
That would be asking for trouble. He wasn’t that much of a masochist.
“As long as you don’t like her, just so you know—Cao Haotian from our class seems kinda interested in Wu Jiao.”
Pei Jiamu raised an eyebrow. “Huh? Someone actually likes her? Did he say that himself?”
“We’re both guys—I can tell when a guy’s got a little thing for a girl. Cao Haotian hasn’t played games at night for days. He wakes up early every morning to bring her breakfast. I asked him to bring me some too, and he wouldn’t. When I asked if he liked Wu Jiao, the guy actually blushed.”
Pei Jiamu grunted and didn’t say anything.
Bringing breakfast meant he liked her? They didn’t know shit.
Blushing? That was definitely from the sun!
“Bro, I gotta go to the bathroom. Be right back.”
“Then hurry back.”
If no one was there to keep him company, it would be too obvious.
Pei Jiamu had been coming over every chance he got these days—not because he had nothing better to do, but because he had something important to figure out.
He had discovered that if he got too far away from Wu Jiao, he couldn’t hear her thoughts.
But he couldn’t just ask her outright either. Given her personality, he was afraid she’d bite him again, call him crazy, and sink her teeth into him.
And he wanted to know—if she called him a male lead, then who was the female lead?
But these past few days, all he’d heard from her thoughts was either trigonometry or “abandon.” Nothing he actually wanted to hear.
After the morning exercises, Wu Jiao had gone straight back to the classroom to study.
She had been severely sleep-deprived these days and had been sleeping through most of her breaks.
Sure enough, she had barely read one page before her eyelids gave in and closed.
Right before she lost consciousness, she vaguely heard Pei Jiamu’s voice.
And then she dreamed about him.
In the dream, Pei Jiamu had her leashed like a dog.
Hey, why was there a chain around her neck?
Oh, she had actually turned into a dog!
She called out to him anxiously, but all that came out of her mouth was “woof woof woof”—and it sounded squeaky.
Pei Jiamu wore a nasty grin. He deliberately tripped her little legs and cruelly pinned her under his foot, playing with her.
“Little thing, you sound pretty good. Bark a few more times.”
Not only that, but he also grabbed her by the neck, keeping her from flipping over and escaping his clutches.
“…Let go of me!”
Wu Jiao jolted awake and immediately checked herself over.
No paws.
Thank goodness. It was just a dream.
She looked up and locked eyes with someone outside the window.
It was Pei Jiamu.
Wu Jiao froze.
From what she knew, the international division was separated from here by a long hallway—you had to go way around. What was he doing here?
Wu Jiao suddenly remembered what the princess had said last night.
She said: I know you like Pei Jiamu.
She also said: Pei Jiamu comes looking for you every chance he gets.
Wu Jiao asked Xiao E, “Is that true?”
Xiao E said, “Pei Jiamu has indeed been showing up outside Classroom 7 often these days, staring at you.”
“Then why didn’t you wake me up? He’s obviously trying to get back at me for last time while I’m not paying attention.”
“Host, you’ve been studying too late at night and using your breaks to catch up on sleep. Xiao E saw how tired you were and couldn’t bear to wake you. Besides, every time Pei Jiamu comes over, a bunch of people scream and shout and run over to say hi to him. It’s super loud, but you’ve never once woken up.”
Wu Jiao: “…”
She looked out the window, her expression complicated.
The moment their eyes met, Pei Jiamu immediately looked away.
But soon, he turned back and flashed her a cheeky, annoying grin.
Last time, Wu Jiao had said she was never talking to him again.
So, she pretended not to see him and ignored him.
But that only made him more enthusiastic.
It was passing period. Quite a few people inside and outside the classroom were openly or secretly watching Pei Jiamu.
But Pei Jiamu seemed used to the attention. He bothered Wu Jiao as if no one else was there.
He leaned in, pressed himself against the window, and made a face at her.
On top of that, he breathed on the glass and quickly drew a few strokes.
A ridiculously ugly stick-figure dog. Next to it was an arrow pointing to two letters: W J.
Wu Jiao: “…”
Childish idiot.
She really wanted to punch him and teach him a lesson about what happens when you’re a grown-up who still draws childish pictures.
But Wu Jiao held back. She pretended she didn’t see it.
But Pei Jiamu was truly childish. He kept drawing little dogs on the window, each one more abstract than the last.
The sunlight poured in, and that restless shadow kept bouncing around on her homework.
It was so noisy it hurt her eyes.
Wu Jiao couldn’t take it anymore. She tore off a piece of paper, quickly wrote a single character, and taped it to the window.
[Crawl.]
Seeing that word, Pei Jiamu couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
After all that fussing, seeing Wu Jiao annoyed and miserable made Pei Jiamu extremely satisfied. He had achieved his goal.
“I’m leaving,” he said to his little brother, who had just come back from the bathroom.
“Later, bro!”
The figure outside the window disappeared, and only then did Wu Jiao tear the paper off.
On the glass, a line was written:
[I’ll be back. :p]
Wu Jiao: “…”
**