“Damn it, Pei! You really are an animal!” Several guys under Pei Xingyan’s bed cried out in anguish.
They had just witnessed Pei Xingyan calling two different girls back-to-back, and his tone was ambiguous with both of them. It was obvious this guy was planning to play both sides.
“Yeah, yeah, I think so too.” But Pei Xingyan had a face as thick as a city wall; he nodded in approval and then made a request, “But I still need to make a video call now. Please don’t cause any trouble~”
He closed the balcony door again, isolating his roommates outside.
“Damn! You’re gonna crash and burn sooner or later!” The guys cursed and scattered, making exaggerated bird and beast noises as they left.
Only then did Pei Xingyan calmly connect the video call to Ye Ziwei.
“Xingyan gege~” she called sweetly.
But Pei Xingyan forgot to put on his headphones, so everyone else could hear.
“Eww—” Yang Zijie, sitting diagonally opposite, kept retching uncontrollably and mockingly imitated the tone. His face twisted in disgust, but he still managed to squeeze out, “Xingyan geigei~”
Pei Xingyan ignored them, pulling the curtain on the balcony bed and sitting on a small stool.
“Who’s talking?” Ye Ziwei asked warily, her eyes flicking around as if trying to find out if Pei Xingyan was with someone else.
“They’re just my roommates. They’re jealous that I get to talk to such a pretty girl like you,” Pei Xingyan said with smooth talk.
He had his own tricks—when talking to Ye Ziwei, he had to use this slick tongue. Her only weakness was that when she was happy and excited, she became a little less sharp.
And at this critical moment, when he was about to attend a banquet with another girl, he had to soothe Ye Ziwei even more.
“Hmmm~” Ye Ziwei nodded and shook her head at the same time, responding like a spoiled child, “I’m jealous they get to live with you~”
Of course, she wasn’t using slick talk—she was genuinely jealous. Ye Ziwei was one of those rare girls who even got jealous over boys.
“Ziwei…” Pei Xingyan called her name.
“What is it?”
“Have you… had any events recently?” Pei Xingyan carefully asked. Although he thought it unlikely, he was secretly afraid of some strange coincidence—what if Ye Ziwei was also at that banquet? That would really be bad for him.
But he couldn’t ask too directly; Ye Ziwei was smart and would get suspicious.
“Events?” Ye Ziwei held her phone and lay back on her bed, thinking for a long moment before slowly shaking her head.
Pei Xingyan felt a bit relieved. Ye Ziwei never lied to him; if she said no, then it was true.
“But who knows? Things keep changing, no one can say for sure.” She asked, “Why are you asking me this, Xingyan gege?”
“Nothing, just casually asking.”
“That’s not casual, is it?” Ye Ziwei suddenly sat up, her eyes becoming suspicious, “Xingyan gege, you’re hiding something from me, aren’t you? You don’t want me to know, right?”
Pei Xingyan’s alarm bells rang loudly inside. He quickly shook his head, “No way. Why would I hide anything from you?”
“Then it’s weird, isn’t it? Why ask Ziwei about events? You know Ziwei doesn’t like going out much.” Ye Ziwei smirked, her smile dark and elusive. “Could it be you’re making sure Ziwei won’t go out, so you asked?”
No matter how many times, Pei Xingyan always felt Ye Ziwei’s intelligence and intuition were a little too sharp. He’d tried his best to act like he was just casually asking, but she still caught on.
He could only firmly deny, “Ziwei, have you been watching too many detective shows? How did you come up with such a strange idea?”
“I wish I were just overthinking~” Ye Ziwei’s tone turned playful. “But you’ve been hiding things from me, making me worried. I’ve sent you several video calls, and you said you were working, said you were busy, but you don’t want to tell me what you’re doing. I can’t help but imagine things~”
Her face only wore a smile, but it carried a hint of danger.
Though she never outright said it, Pei Xingyan knew this girl would dig deep for the truth. If she grew even more suspicious, there would be no hiding it.
He had to cover for himself, doing his best to sound casual as he added, “Actually, I wanted to take you to see Mom. I just needed to check if you had the time, right?”
“Really?” Ye Ziwei immediately reverted to an innocent, happy girl. She jumped off her bed and excitedly asked, “Really? Are you really going to take me to meet Mom?”
She even dropped the “auntie” and used a more familiar way of speaking, like she was already married into the family.
“Do you think I’d lie to you?” Pei Xingyan feigned anger and scolded her, “I was planning to surprise you, but you’re so suspicious you ruined my plan.”
“Sorry~” She coquettishly apologized through the screen, rolling on the bed, “I’m sorry, Xingyan gege. When I see you next time, you have to punish me~”
“I can’t bear to.”
“Hehe, then let Ziwei reward you instead~” Ye Ziwei stuck out her tongue, even happier now. Her eyes squinted shut, and she no longer cared about her posture.
She rolled around, messing up her nightdress, exposing her collarbone and chest.
Pei Xingyan cleared his throat as a reminder.
Ye Ziwei noticed her slip and went even further, pulling at her neckline and twirling in front of the screen.
“Looking somewhere, huh… Want to see here? Ziwei will show you~” She showed off her charms in the most flirtatious way she could think of, teasing the man on the other side of the phone.
Pei Xingyan pretended to be shy and quickly hung up.
The large room fell silent, except for Ye Ziwei’s motion frozen halfway.
Her expression instantly returned to calm—neither positive nor negative.
She lay back on her bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Ye Ziwei hadn’t said everything. She already knew what Pei Xingyan’s job was—she’d sent someone to find out. It seemed to be something like a psychologist.
These were all uncovered things that were easy to find out.
She hadn’t exposed it because being a psychologist didn’t seem risky, at least not for her. It didn’t risk her losing the person she loved most.
Ye Ziwei deeply understood that to be a good lover, you had to leave some space for your partner. No one liked feeling tied down.
She truly loved her Xingyan gege and didn’t want him to feel even the slightest discomfort.
But she also knew Pei Xingyan’s patients were two girls.
Though she didn’t know what his treatment methods were like, Ye Ziwei still worried. She worried he might fall for someone else.
It wasn’t that she lacked confidence in herself, but she feared some lowly woman using dirty tricks to seduce him. She really wasn’t good at those tactics. Even though she tried hard to learn, it was still ineffective.
But Ye Ziwei also knew she couldn’t go too far or cause a repeat of the incident that once scared Pei Xingyan away. That would truly mean losing him.
Especially since he had already promised to be with her. Ye Ziwei felt all she needed was patience. She fully understood the truth of “stillness leads to no fault.”
So now, before he confessed everything, it was best to pretend she didn’t know…
Besides, he was even going to take her to meet Mom~
……
Thinking about going to see Mom with Pei Xingyan, Ye Ziwei’s lips curved slightly as she gradually drifted off to sleep.