“What are you looking at? Is it a girl?” Ye Ziwei squinted her eyes and leaned in, following Pei Xingyan’s gaze, trying to spot the person who’d caught his attention.
Pei Xingyan’s hair stood on end. He could sense danger, so he simply shook his head lightly, quietly retracting his gaze and explaining casually, “I just think people who shout and run around in the hallway are really lacking in manners.”
“Mhm! Mhm!” She immediately nodded in agreement, using every word she knew to criticize such behavior.
“Let’s go eat first. Last time we said we’d try something new… I think it was Fish Noodles, right…” Pei Xingyan kept walking forward, his hand never forgetting to shield her along the way.
“Fish Noodles sound great!” Ye Ziwei was so pleased she forgot she was still using her cane, waving her hand in the air and shouting with joy, completely forgetting what she’d just said about other girls.
*****
Sometimes, you really have to believe in fate. That fleeting glimpse just now didn’t let Pei Xingyan see Lin Xiaoyu, that simple-hearted girl, but once he sat down in the cafeteria, he heard her name again.
The girls who’d just been chasing and running, along with Lin Xiaoyu herself, were now at the table right next to his.
Pei Xingyan stole a glance over. A girl with perfect posture was sitting just ahead to his side, only a step away from him.
She was the kind of girl who made you think of the word “well-behaved” at first sight. She was pale and slender, with a round face and a delicate, exquisite nose. Her expression was honest, but there was something about her that made people want to protect her.
She sat in the middle of the group, her head held high with elegance, like a swan lost among a flock of ducks. You could tell at a glance she came from a strictly disciplined family. The people around her chatted and joked, but she only nodded gently, graceful and set apart from the rest.
Even without hearing her name, Pei Xingyan would never mistake her. This had to be the generous, yet kind and innocent Lin Xiaoyu.
Seeing his target made him a little happy, but he forgot there was another girl right beside him.
He stared a bit too long, so Ye Ziwei started whispering coldly in his ear like a passing breeze:
“Did you fall for some girl? The one with a mouth big enough to fit a whole cow? Or the one whose face powder and putty could be used to paint a wall? Or maybe the one with a swimming ring around her waist?”
She went down the list, mocking every girl in the direction Pei Xingyan had looked, but deliberately skipped over Lin Xiaoyu—the one who could steal anyone’s attention at a single glance.
Pei Xingyan knew he couldn’t answer along those lines. He absolutely couldn’t say it wasn’t any of the girls Ye Ziwei mentioned—she was just waiting for that.
He had to take a different approach.
“None of them. It’s the girl diagonally across from me.” He admitted honestly, then quickly added before Ye Ziwei could speak, “She kind of reminds me of you, so I glanced a few more times. But honestly, she’s not as pretty as you.”
Ye Ziwei’s face turned red at a visible speed. She held her cheeks, nodding and shaking her head in turn, her words in complete disarray, wavering between “Thanks for the compliment” and “You’re definitely lying.”
Pei Xingyan secretly let out a sigh of relief. This kind of muddled answer was enough to get him through today.
But before he could even catch his breath, Ye Ziwei leaned in again, her voice soft and lingering, “If you really like someone, you have to tell me, okay? I’ll help you out…”
Pei Xingyan gave a perfunctory smile, thinking, What help? Help me get rid of someone and dump the body?
He wasn’t exaggerating. Ye Ziwei was absolutely capable of something like that. They’d known each other for years, living in the same neighborhood even before Pei Xingyan’s family fell on hard times—almost childhood friends, you could say.
So Pei Xingyan would never be fooled by Ye Ziwei’s sickly, pitiful appearance.
If he didn’t have a reason he absolutely couldn’t leave, he’d have run far, far away by now—somewhere Ye Ziwei could never find him.
As he was thinking this, Ye Ziwei, as if reading his mind, suddenly brought up the “reason” he’d just been thinking about.
“By the way, that person you mentioned you were looking for before—I’ve got some leads now~” Her voice was gentle, but there was a deliberate note to it. She was bringing this up on purpose.
She said, “You know, being a detective isn’t exactly a legal job around here. Their methods aren’t exactly aboveboard, and there’s that whole ‘unboxing’ thing involved. Plus, that person isn’t ordinary, so they’re asking for quite a bit in return~”
Ye Ziwei sounded regretful, but her eyes were eerily calm as she kept sneaking glances at Pei Xingyan’s expression.
“I don’t know what kind of part-time job you’re doing now, but it probably won’t be enough, right?” she cautiously suggested. “I could pay up front for you, and you can pay me back when you’re able…”
“No need.” Pei Xingyan shook his head.
This was something he could never compromise on. He could do his best to care for and protect this girl, but he would never take a single cent from her. Ye Ziwei’s money never came free—who knew what it might cost him?
Ye Ziwei paused, then gritted her teeth and named a price, “They said it’d be a million. Not that I think you can’t earn that much, but you’re in a hurry, right? If you miss your chance, that’d be bad, so—”
“A million? That’s nothing.” Pei Xingyan smiled confidently.
An hour ago, he’d still been doubting whether Tang Xin’s new project was reliable. Now, he wasn’t thinking about that at all. Ye Ziwei was clearly trying to pull him in, and he was just glad he still had something to hold onto.
Ye Ziwei was in no mood to be happy. She stared at Pei Xingyan for a long time, her lips trembling. Suddenly, she smacked her own forehead, and the number changed, “Oh, look at me… I’ve been so busy lately I can’t even remember things right. Actually, they want five million… Five million, okay?”
“Five million, then. I’m the one asking for help, after all.” Pei Xingyan still wore a smile.
Now Ye Ziwei was starting to regret not naming a higher price at the start. But she’d already changed it twice—any more and it really wouldn’t look good.
Pei Xingyan turned to glance at the Fish Noodles counter, then sneaked another look at Lin Xiaoyu across the aisle, before lightly tapping Ye Ziwei on the head and ending the topic in a few words:
“Don’t worry, my new job’s actually pretty good. And there’s no way you could just hand over that kind of money yourself, right? Don’t make Uncle and Auntie worry more than they have to… But if I really can’t keep it up, you’ll have to help me then.”
Ye Ziwei finally gave up on what she’d wanted to say. She laughed it off, thumping her chest with bravado, and blurted out things like, “You can count on me, what’s mine is yours!”
But under the table, her hands could no longer stay calm. The metal cane creaked under her grip, while her other hand twisted her skirt, the sound of tearing fabric mixing with the cafeteria’s noise.
What kind of job was it, really?
She wanted to figure this out. Now, she just wanted to figure this out!
If she couldn’t use money as a way to control the boy beside her, how could she keep him tied to her side forever?
She couldn’t allow such a thing to happen.
The person beside her had to be hers, could only be hers, and could only ever pour his gentleness onto her.
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