CH 14

After deciding to help the demon king roommate survive this life-threatening crisis (1), Peijin couldn’t help but glance admiringly in the direction Xia Ying had gone.

(1) In Taoism, there is a saying that explicates a certain amount of misfortune, difficulties, and disasters a person will face in their life, the greatest one is said to be the ‘robbery of life’, which is what is mentioned here.

The female lead, Xia Ying, was just like her name suggested, heroic and dashing. (1) Just like the story had written, within a short period of time, she had successfully integrated herself with her surrounding classmates. Looking back on herself, Peijin had just clashed with the demon king’s good brother.

(1) The ‘ying’ in Xia Ying’s name means hero (英).

Peijin asked herself, was there something she wasn’t doing good enough. Earlier, was she being too impulsive.

Noticing Peijin lost in her thoughts, He Xun raised his hand and pinching her shoulder, unhappily asking, “What are you thinking about?”

Biting her lip, her mind in momentary turmoil, Peijin asked, “Brother Xun, how do you feel I am as a person?”

He Xun eyes raised in surprise. Peijin was afraid that He Xun would misunderstand and quickly added on, “That is, is there anything I’m lacking in? If there is, you can tell me.”

He looked Peijin up and down, crossing his arms and replying, “Besides sometimes being girly (1), you’re pretty alright.”

(1) To be clear, this refers to a guy who acts womanly (effeminate), something more derogatory and outdated would be “sissy”.

Girly!

Peijin didn’t dare argue against, “girly”, she had always been a girl, and being girly was normal. If she were to speak further on this topic, it would inevitably rouse He Xun’s suspicion.

She rushed to flatter him, “When it comes to being manly, how could I compare to you, Brother Xun.”

He Xun clicked his tongue.

Peijin couldn’t resist going back to the topic at hand, “Brother Xun, then you feel like I’m okay, right?”

He Xun made a sound of agreement, “Why?”

Peijin set her lips into a line and smiled, “It’s nothing. Brother Xun, I’m just really happy that you accept me.”

Once she was finished, Peijin hesitated for a few seconds before opening her mouth to say, “But Brother Xun, I have something important that I’ve been hiding from you.”

He Xun’s interest piqued, “Oh? What is it?”

Peijin tightly pressed her lips together, internally struggling between reason and desire.

Should she be honest or continue to hide it?

Should she tell her demon king roommate that she was a girl after all?

Maybe it was because he noticed Peijin’s internal struggle and reluctance, He Xun lightly said, “Don’t force yourself to say it if you don’t want to.”

Peijin lowered her head like an elementary student who had done something wrong, now incredibly depressed.

She still fought against herself “Brother Xun, I really don’t know how to tell you.”

After she told him that she was a girl, it could possibly cause several subsequent problems to arise.

Such as, why did she want to attend an all boys’ highschool, she was a girl, wasn’t it weird of her to want to hang out among a group of boys?

She seriously didn’t want for the demon king roommate to mistake her as a pervert. Even though this was an assumption and He Xun might not even care, Peijin didn’t dare take this gamble.

He Xun rather laid-back as he told her in a carefree manner, “Then don’t.”

Peijin had been wracking her brains trying to figure out what to say, but when she heard this, she violently choked up.

No wonder why Brother Xun was Brother Xun, he would never push and probe.

Peijin raised her hand and lifted three fingers(1), solemnly swearing, “Brother Xun, although I’m keeping something from you, I will never lie to you on anything else, nor will I ever harm you.”

(1) Three finger scouts honor swear.

“Alright.” He Xun pulled down the hand Peijin had been pledging with, indifferently saying, “Who doesn’t hold a few small secrets in their heart?”

He Xun didn’t blame her for keeping this secret from him!

With this thought, Peijin said a bit emotionally, “Brother Xun, you’re really understanding.”

He Xun playfully grinned, “Hey, compared to understanding people, I understand their clothes more.” (1)

(1) “understand clothes” is a sexual innuendo for being very good at removing clothes.

Peijin was stunned.

By now she had figured out a feel for He Xun’s routine.

A vast majority of the time he wasn’t much different from most eighteen-nineteen year old boys, as he liked to make a few colorful, obscene remarks.

However he had a sense of decency and wouldn’t go overboard when he spoke or make others disgusted. He would only occasionally say something when he was talking.

Peijin inwardly rolled her eyes in distaste, “Whose clothes can a single dog understand?”

He Xun laughed aloud, “For the time being, I can only think of this stick here.” (1)

(1) referring to Peijin

She retorted with a ‘what’.

Maybe because he noticed that Peijin wasn’t in a great mood, the two arrived back at the dorm not after long.

He Xun lied back in his leather chair, his long legs propped on a desk as he played games on his phone.

Peijin also took out her phone to play for a while.

She opened Wechat and found the group chat, Gathering Place of Handsome Forces to be extremely quiet. No one had said a word, it made her feel a bit sad.

Just as Peijin was about to close Wechat, she discovered that she had a new friend in her contacts. She opened up the notification and found that Meng Meng had added her.

Peijin paused for a few seconds, she might as well accept her as a mutual friend.

Once Peijin verified her as a friend, Meng Meng’s messages were sent over.

[ Meng Meng: Little Elder Brother, I’m here to thank you. ]

[ Little Five: Ah? ]

[ Meng Meng: Luckily you told me the truth today, or I would’ve been tricked.]

After sending this message Meng Meng also sent a screenshot. The screenshot displayed the chat history between her and someone else.

[ Meng Meng: After you said they were lying, I asked an old classmate to look into Zhang Chen. Zhang Chen used to go to Middle School No.16, I have younger classmates who also went there. If I hadn’t asked, I wouldn’t have known, but once I did I was shocked. I didn’t know that from middle school on his name was pretty well known. A lot of people knew about him. ]

[ Meng Meng: He didn’t have a great reputation during middle school and several girls had abortions because of him. He’s a scumbag who plays with girls’ feelings, the type who doesn’t take responsibility once he’s done. ]

[ Meng Meng: I had thought he really was a pure-hearted guy, who would’ve thought I’d been kept in the dark the entire time. ]

[ Meng Meng: I’m sorry you even got into a fight with your friends today, but I’m very grateful. ]

Peijin looked at Meng Meng’s thankful words and for a long time, she didn’t answer.

If she had said prior she still doubted herself, or even had questioned if her actions were too impulsive, then now she didn’t have an ounce of regret for telling the truth.

Perhaps her methods truly were improper and risky, but during that situation she didn’t have any time to think about it more. She just didn’t wish for an innocent girl to be deceived.

Yes, she could’ve discussed this in private with Zhang Chen, but she was a wallflower (1), what use was talking? Would he give a shit about what she said? Feel compelled to change?

(1) The actual word is Xia Touming, which means someone introverted/quiet with not much presence. It’s similar to a wallflower because they avoid attention and easily blend into the background.

He wouldn’t. He completely would not.

Peijin tightly grasped the phone in her hands.

Yes, she did want to integrate into the boys’ clique as quickly as possible. There was nothing wrong with that. However, did being a good brother mean that we should unconditionally tolerate the other party and support them? Even if they knew that the other party ways were actually wrong?

This wasn’t being a good brother at all.

Good brothers should push both parties to become better, more responsible, more loyal and righteous men. Not take the side of the wicked and let their brother act recklessly, reducing themselves to be an even trashier scumbag.

Peijin let out a long sigh of relief.

Finally, she wasn’t struggling any longer. She had done nothing wrong and had nothing to be ashamed of.

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(Author) Her downfall won’t come so quickly…