Standing in the pavilion where the two of them often met, Pei Xingyan felt a bit uneasy.
He had placed a thick book against his chest, just in case Su Shanshan really had brought a knife and intended to stab him—this would serve as his makeshift stab-proof vest.
But judging by the cute tone she used when replying to his messages, Pei Xingyan thought… something like getting stabbed probably wouldn’t happen.
He sat on the stone bench and waited only a short while before seeing a figure sprinting wildly toward him.
Although she wore a youthful and lively sailor uniform and pleated skirt, her face showed no vitality, and her dark circles were quite obvious. Still, she ran hard, as if afraid her target would escape the next second.
When she saw Pei Xingyan, she finally let out a relieved breath, then ran even faster, leaping up several flights of steps at once, her skirt fluttering wildly as she dashed to his side.
Pei Xingyan quickly opened his arms, wanting to protect this fearless girl—everything around here was made of stone, so getting hurt wouldn’t be a joke.
Su Shanshan landed precisely in his embrace, naturally breaking into a radiant smile. She pouted and coquettishly tried to press her head against his chest.
But she bumped into something hard.
“Baby, why is your chest so hard?” she asked curiously. “Is that your muscle?”
She reached out to touch it, but Pei Xingyan didn’t dare let her touch his makeshift armor. Hastily, he pulled her out of his arms, his face wearing a fake expression of embarrassment and shyness.
“Oh, oh,” Su Shanshan realized belatedly, apologizing in a tone that clearly showed she didn’t think she was wrong, “Sorry, baby. I just got so excited when I saw you. I didn’t mean to get so close, teehee~”
But she was clearly sticking her tongue out and laughing—there was no way she wasn’t doing it on purpose. It was completely intentional, deliberate, and resolute.
However, Pei Xingyan’s mind wasn’t on this matter; he had other things he needed to clarify.
“Let’s rest here for a while, then go eat, how about that?”
“Mm!” Su Shanshan nodded vigorously. “I’ll do whatever you say, baby~”
Her smile was genuine, with no hint of pretense, but the dark circles under her eyes were glaringly obvious—the evidence of her staying up late last night sending threatening messages to Pei Xingyan.
Pei Xingyan was a little confused; he couldn’t figure out exactly what was going on with Su Shanshan.
“Baby~” Su Shanshan sat down beside him, tugging at his sleeve as she started to act cute. “I didn’t see you for so long yesterday. I really missed you, missed you so much I was about to go crazy~”
It was basically close to going crazy…
Pei Xingyan thought to himself, then asked aloud, “Yeah, I saw your messages—there were a lot of them.”
“Heehee, you don’t think I’m annoying, do you?” Su Shanshan was both acting cute and a little nervous. She glanced at Pei Xingyan’s face to make sure he didn’t look annoyed before continuing, “I really missed you so much. You didn’t reply, so I felt awful, and the only way I could feel a bit better was by sending more messages.”
“It’s fine, just keep sending,” Pei Xingyan said, acting indifferent, but then he asked, “So what time did you go to sleep last night?”
“About midnight?” Su Shanshan pouted, thinking hard. “I kept sending you messages and gradually got sleepy. I can’t really say exactly when I fell asleep…”
“Sounds like it wasn’t very early… look at those dark circles under your eyes.”
“What?!” Su Shanshan covered her face in horror. “I really have dark circles?”
“Mm.”
“Ugh~” she wailed sadly. “How did this happen?! I didn’t even notice…”
“Don’t worry—”
“Wait, baby, let me cover up the flaws.” She bent down to dig through the makeup tools in the shoulder bag hanging by her side.
Actually, you couldn’t tell she had any makeup on besides some lipstick, and most of the time she was bare-faced when with Pei Xingyan. But since her work often required contact with these things, she had all the tools ready.
“Wait a sec, baby, I’ll fix it quickly.” She started working fast.
“So, what did you do after sending those messages?” Pei Xingyan nodded and picked up the conversation again.
“Nothing much?” She was dabbing something under her eyes, then suddenly brightened and said hurriedly, “No, no, baby, I was thinking of you in my dreams~”
Pei Xingyan was speechless in his heart. Probably she was cursing him in her dreams…
“But I saw your reply first thing this morning, so I guess we’re really in sync, right?” She kept talking, her happy smile not in the slightest bit fake.
“I was just worried you’d overthink things since the tone in your messages was kind of off. I even feared you might suddenly hate me,” Pei Xingyan said vaguely.
Then, he saw Su Shanshan’s eyelids twitch ever so slightly. Though subtle, he definitely noticed.
It was a sign of guilt.
But she immediately shook her head with determination, stopping what she was doing for a moment. “Baby! Did I say something unclear, and you misunderstood? How could I ever say anything about hating you?”
Pei Xingyan originally wanted to find those unsettling messages in the chat records to show her, but then he remembered last time—he couldn’t afford to push things to an extreme.
It wouldn’t be good to upset her.
So he shrugged and said, “Maybe I was the one who misunderstood~”
“Right! Right!” Su Shanshan said. “Don’t worry. I might be a little annoying sometimes, but it’s all because I miss you~”
“Mm.” He nodded.
Su Shanshan’s cheerful expression returned, and she resumed what she was doing.
Pei Xingyan’s face remained calm as he suddenly asked another question, “Can I see your phone?”
“Sure~” Without a hint of hesitation, Su Shanshan casually handed over her phone. “I’ll add your fingerprint later, so you can use it whenever you want~”
This kind of trust was rare. There’s a saying that nowadays, people would rather die for someone than let others see their phones.
Who knew what kind of chats or browsing histories were hidden in those corners, capable of utterly destroying one’s social reputation?
But Su Shanshan obviously wasn’t afraid of that; she handed her phone over easily.
Pei Xingyan took the phone in hand and silently swiped through it until he found the “Sugar” app marked with the character 糖.
He wondered if Su Shanshan had ever been given that “I get it” look by people around her…
With that thought, he opened the chat page.
Even though it was somewhat expected, it was still surprising. Although Pei Xingyan’s memory wasn’t perfect enough to recall every detail, he immediately noticed:
The chat records on Su Shanshan’s phone didn’t match what he had received; it was obvious at a glance that many parts were missing.