CH 23

He Xun nonchalantly replied, “What’re you thanking me for, come on, let’s go warm up.”

Having said that, Peijin was lugged away by He Xun.

While warming up in PE class, Peijin looked at the crowd of boys who had taken off their shirts and were only wearing their shorts. For some reason, she suddenly remembered the lamenting sigh her past roommate had given while watching a short video. She said, she only hated herself for not being a wealthy woman. (1)

(1) 富婆 is the term her roommate is referring to, in this context she’s referring to rich women, particularly those who have the fortune to indulge in having a handsome sugar baby.

Before her transmigration, a specially released app for short videos had been trending. Within this app, a lot of the videos were of young, attractive guys (1) showing off their physique. It went without saying that these types of videos attracted a lot of fans. Her roommate had licked the screen and said, “Hnn, I just know you’re teasing me with your abs.” Having said that, her roommate’s eyes never left her phone screen, her hands continuing to tap like in a frenzy.

(1) The term being used here is “fresh hunks of meat” or in literal translation: Small, fresh meat. It refers to young men, usually in their early 20s who are handsome and have an athletic physique.

At that time, she would be solving homework problems and laughed at her roommate, “Right now, work hard, then for all we know, later on you might actually become a sugar mommy? Until then would you still be afraid of not having enough fresh hunks of meat?”

Actually when she had said those words, she had also been joking. She had never expected that one day she would transmigrate into a book. She hadn’t become a wealthy woman herself, yet heaps of fresh hunks had appeared around her.

However, Peijin’s gaze was very proper, a majority of the time her eyes were fixed on her own feet and she never looked at other people for long. For one, if she saw much of He Xun’s muscles, then it would be very hard for other guys to pursue and charm her. Two, because she was a woman and although it had never been her original intention to attend an all boy’s school, the one going here right now was her and she didn’t want to do anything that would make people uncomfortable.

For most of the time, the senior’s PE class was made up of all free time. He Xun and a crowd were playing basketball, while Peijin sat at the sidelines and watched them play.

Forty-five minutes passed by quickly. After the dismissal bell rang, Peijin grabbed a clean towel and bottle of mineral spring water, walking over to the now sweat-soaked He Xun. On one side, Zheng Li finished the game, so thirsty his entire body was on the verge of ascending to the heavens. He couldn’t wait to get a bottle of water and chug it all. Seeing He Xun exclusively with his own mineral water and towel, he couldn’t help but enigmatically say “Yo, yo, yo” without pause.

From what he could tell, he had been worried so much yesterday for nothing. Even if he were willing to offer himself as tribute to someone so nitpicky as He Xun, He Xun would still turn his nose up at him.

Peijin was so thoughtful that even he got a little envious, okay!

Zheng Li flippantly called out ‘hey’, “He Xun, give me some.”

He Xun hadn’t completely forgotten about his bros, he held high the mineral water and drank a few mouthfuls without touching the bottle’s rim, and then he gave the rest of it to Zheng Li.

Zheng Li slapped his shoulder, “My good bro,” After he finished he drank all of the remaining water in the half-full bottle.

After he finished, he let out a satisfied sigh, “Feels great!”

He Xun didn’t pay Zheng Li any mind any longer. He grabbed the towel and wiped the sweat from his face, resting his hand on Peijin’s shoulder he said, “Come on, back to class.”

Having just finished working out, He Xun’s body was like the sun, sheer heat and a steady stream of hot gas came off from him. Peijin only felt that part of her shoulder He Xun had touched seemed to be on fire.

He Xun smelled of sweat, though it seemed to be a very manly scent, in actuality it disgusted her a bit. Right as she was going to nonchalantly set down He Xun’s hand that was dripping with sweat, he abruptly neared her neck and sniffed.

As the tepid breath continually flushed against her nape, Peijin just about jumped out of her skin from He Xun’s actions.

She appeared to be so stiff that she couldn’t even walk.

He Xun took one sniff and then straightened up, he ‘tch’ed’, “Peipei, why does your body smell so nice?” He Xun recalled that Peijin always smelled cool and crisp, not like him, whose body was always mingled with the smell of smoke and sweat.

After careful observation did he realize, Peijin’s body always had a pleasant scent. He couldn’t exactly say as to what it smelled like, but it inexplicably drew people in.

Peijin “ah’ed”, stammering out an explanation, “I take a bath every night, it’s probably the smell of soap.”

He Xun gave her a funny look, “You’re saying it as if I don’t shower every night.”

Only then did Peijin realize what she had said made absolutely no sense.

He Xun loved cleanliness and took showers nightly.

She hastily added, “I like not moving, so I don’t really sweat, so that’s why it smells a bit nice to you.”

After saying that, Peijin’s heart was rather uneasy. However against her expectations, He Xun didn’t continue talking about this.

She gave a faint sigh in relief.

Once they arrived in class, Peijin found the time to take a look at her phone.

She discovered that Meng Meng was messaging her again.

After she had explicitly told Meng Meng she liked boys prior, for two days, Meng Meng didn’t talk to her. Peijin didn’t take the affair with Meng Meng to heart. However two days later, Meng Meng seemed to have accepted the reality of “her liking men” and started to treat her as a “Gaymi.” (1)

(1) The term is “Gay蜜”, (“Gay Honey”) it refers to the platonically intimate friendship between girls and gay guys. As defined by this article, “The word “Gaymi,” referring to homosexual men who form close friendships with straight women, is a portmanteau of “gay” and the Chinese word guimi or “(female) best friend.”

Whenever something happened to Meng Meng or if there was anything bothering her, she would tell it all to Peijin. At the start Peijin wasn’t a bit bashful and didn’t reply, but slowly, she felt that it wasn’t bad having more girlfriends she could chat with. Although they took her as a “Gaymi”.

She had only been surrounded by boys after she came to this world and didn’t even have one close friend.

She saw Meng Meng as a simple person, who didn’t have a lot of underhanded thoughts, so she resolved to make her a friend.

Peijin took a look at the news Meng Meng had sent, she found that over the short period of a single PE class, Meng Meng had sent quite a few messages.

[ Meng Meng: my god, so annoying, so annoyinggg. ]

[ Meng Meng: seriously annoyed to death. ]

[ Meng Meng: small brother, are you there? class clearly hasn’t started yet, reply once you see this. ]

[ Little Five: what’s annoying? ]

[ Meng Meng: A lot of people around me all are taken, this an unlucky year for me, I’ve been met with Waterloos two times in a row. ]

(1) This is a internet term referring to a “great loss” or “critical defeat”, derived from the context of the Battle of Waterloo, where the expansion of French military leader, Napoleon Bonaparte’s Empire was halted and defeated.

Peijin fell silent after seeing the two words “two times.”

The first Waterloo should be that time with Zhang Chen. Meng Meng had thought Zhang Chen to be a pure guy and hadn’t expected him to have been a veteran. She had nearly been cheated of her feelings.

The second Waterloo should be her. Meng Meng had thought she was a good person and wanted to develop something with her, yet hadn’t thought that she would like men. However if Meng Meng had known she was a girl, then she wouldn’t have been surprised.

Peijin thought about how to phrase her words and sent Meng Meng an answer. [ Little Five: We’re already seniors, don’t think about it too much, study hard and focus on school. ]

[ Meng Meng: exactly because it’s senior year, we’re just about to graduate, so there’s more the reason to fall in love. ]

Peijin couldn’t figure out Meng Meng’s logic, and momentarily didn’t know how to reply.

[ Meng Meng: right, small brother, wanna hang out tonight? ]

[ Little Five: what’re we doing? ]

[ Meng Meng: there’s a new bookshop that’s opened by our school, their ambience is really nice, I want to treat you to a cup of coffee and cake tonight.]

Bookstore? That sounded great.

Peijin pictured herself being able to go by herself to read at a bookstore in the future. Tonight she could go and check out the bookstore’s environment. So she agreed.

[ Little Five: Okay. ]

[ Meng Meng: then it’s settled, tonight at 6, be there or be square. ]

Just as Peijin put down her phone, Meng Meng suddenly sent another message.

[ Meng Meng: Right, it would be best if you brought your roommate, Brother Xun. ]

Peijin didn’t think much of it, and replied directly with an okay.

After school, Peijin told He Xun she was going to a bookstore nearby. He Xun had always treated these kinds of things as something he could live with or without, however when he saw Peijin’s seemingly great interest in the bookstore, he didn’t turn her down.

By the time they arrived at the bookstore, Meng Meng and her friend were already there.

After Peijin sat down she realized that Meng Meng’s friend was the Campus Belle that Zheng Li had mentioned before, her name was called something like Xu Yi, She had heard that this Campus Belle was not only attractive, but moreover had numerous accomplishments and talents. At their school, she had several admirers and was very popular.

Peijin took a closer look at Xu Yi.

In the past under the ktv box’s dim lighting, she never got a good look at Xu Yi’s face. Right now under the beaming lights, she found that the reputation of their Campus Belle really wasn’t an understatement.

Xu Yi had very delicate looks, light makeup painted on her face and glossy, black hair. The right side of her hair pinned up with the pearl hairpin that had been all the rage as of recently, she looked very much like a model goddess.

Peijin had originally been sitting with He Xun, but at this moment, Meng Meng looked at her and waved her hand, saying cheerfully, “Small brother, come over to my side, let’s order our food together.”

Peijin blinked, “It’s alright, order as you please, I like everything.”

Listening to Peijin’s words, Meng Meng and Xu Yi revealed a slight smile.

Meng Meng smiled as she said, “You truly aren’t picky. But are you seriously not going to come over and take a look at the menu?”

To be honest, Peijin actually wasn’t very curious about the types of drinks and cake the bookstore offered, because in her opinion, it shouldn’t be anything too out of the ordinary. However seeing Meng Meng invite her with such enthusiasm, she sat with her.

There really was a wide variety of items on the menu, but they were the kinds that were very commonplace.

Peijin offhandedly ordered herself a cup of coffee, a piece of cake, and then based off of what she recently found out about He Xun’s taste, she ordered him a sugar-free coffee.

He Xun didn’t like to eat foods that were too sweet.

Once she finished ordering, she discovered that her previous seat had already been occupied by Xu Yi.

Peijin was a bit unhappy, she didn’t know where her unhappiness was coming from. Suddenly, she thought of what Zheng Li had seemed to say in the past, that the Campus Belle Xu Yi was very interested in He Xun.

So, Xu Yi was going to start making moves on him?

Peijin pursed her lips.

She didn’t even have the time to avert her eyes before He Xun was already getting up from his seat, and then with one hand he pulled her up.

Peijin eyes widened in bewilderment, sounding lost, “Brother Xun… … what’s wrong?”

He Xun gave a cold laugh, “What’s wrong, shouldn’t I be asking this instead?”

Previously Peijin had said that they had talked it out clearly with Meng Meng and that Meng Meng would never look for them again so he didn’t pay any more mind to this matter.

Against his expectations when Peijin talked about coming to the bookstore, they were actually coming together with Meng Meng. That was fine too. He wouldn’t stop them from having normal friends.

However as soon as they had arrived, Peijin was called away by Meng Meng. At this point He Xun was already starting to get impatient. Little did he know what was even more out of line would occur later. Not long after Peijin had left, Xu Yi came over and confessed to him.

So, before he could even begin to start doing something, Peijin wanted to start pushing him away?

Actually, Peijin felt very aggrieved as well. She had believed tonight she had simply come to the bookstore to drink coffee and experience this newly opened arts and literature bookstore. Unexpectedly Meng Meng had bought their Campus Belle Xu Yi and Xu Yi had even taken the initiative to steal her seat.

She hadn’t expected it to be like this and felt very resigned.

Peijin depressingly lowered her eyes.

At that moment, Meng Meng quickly stood up and came to mediate, “What is it? What is it? Everyone all came out to have coffee and meet each other.”

He Xun gave a grim laugh and ignored Meng Meng.

Xu Yi’s face turned white and red. She had wholly never thought that confessing by her own accord would actually lead to such an outcome.

He Xun didn’t give her a reply at all and got straight up to interrogate Peijin. In Xu Yi’s eyes, He Xun must’ve been tricked to come here by Peijin.

Xu Yi slowly stood up, her face completely pallid, “He Xun, it was me who bought up the idea of asking Peijin to bring you here. Don’t blame them or Meng Meng either. It was all my idea.“

He Xun hadn’t paid Xu Yi any attention since the start. To him, Xu Yi wasn’t the focus here. The focus was Peijin.

He faintly lowered his head, in a blink of an eye, his eyes were pinned onto Peijin.

This sort of gaze was too aggressive and too feral, for an instant Peijin’s heart was in an unrivalled state of panic.

She thought He Xun was going to scold her and quickly put her all into saving herself, “Brother Xun, Meng Meng and all of them are still here, if you want to do anything let’s talk about it when we go back, okay?” What had happened tonight truly had been her fault. She had called He Xun to come to the bookstore, yet didn’t explain to him what was actually going on. Although she hadn’t been clearly aware Meng Meng would call over Xu Yi, He Xun’s anger wasn’t unjustified.

He Xun unhurriedly repeated her words, “Meng Meng and them are still here?”

Peijin fiercely nodded.

Meng Meng and her were already so close, if He Xun were to scold her before Meng Meng, then did she still want face? She would be really embarrassed, ok! So even if he was going to scold her, then go back and do it.

He Xun’s lips silently curved up. He effortlessly took off his coat and then flung it, flinging the coat over Meng Meng’s head.

He spoke in a casual voice, “Alright, now she can’t see it.”

Can’t see it?

What did he want to do?

Peijin didn’t even have the time to ask before He Xun had already lowered his head and lightly kissed her forehead.