Online Romance with an Iceberg Professor Backfired - Chapter 1
Chapter 1: Online Romance
“Meow—”
A large, pure white cat jumped off the bed onto Ji Pei, kneading her smooth, delicate back with its pink paw pads.
“Hiss…”
It was both painful and ticklish. This fat cat had gained weight again recently.
Ji Pei had just finished adjusting the ribbon tie at her waist when she heard the sound of the door opening from outside.
“Sis, are you in your room? I need to talk to you.”
Ji Fan pouted, looking pitiful. After pushing the door open, she saw Ji Pei in a low-cut, tight-waisted red dress, slightly leaning forward with her side facing the door.
Ji Fan was a little curious and asked softly, “Sis? What are you doing?”
The moment she heard the voice, Ji Pei straightened up. She was still holding her phone, and if one looked closely, they could see her knuckles trembling slightly.
However, Ji Fan was typically oblivious, and all her attention was focused on Ji Pei’s smooth, bare back. She didn’t think she had ever seen Ji Pei dressed so seductively and revealingly.
But it truly did look good. Dressed so elaborately, was she going to walk a red carpet or something?
Ji Pei put down her phone, exited the camera app, turned around, and frowned, saying, “Why didn’t you knock before coming in?”
“When have I ever knocked before entering your room?” Ji Fan stared at the large expanse of white skin on Ji Pei’s chest, couldn’t help but look a few times more, and cautiously asked, “Sis, are you dressed up so pretty because you have a boyfriend?”
Ji Pei’s figure was top-notch, at least the best among everyone Ji Fan knew.
In all her life, besides those Victoria’s Secret supermodels, she had never seen a woman with a better figure than her sister.
If Ji Pei hadn’t chosen to paint, she might have been a model for Victoria’s Secret right now.
Since childhood, Ji Pei had fair skin, a beautiful face, and a great figure. The number of people chasing her was countless.
But Ji Fan rarely saw Ji Pei dress up, especially not in such a sexy and glamorous red dress. This was the first time she had seen it.
“No. Who says you have to have a boyfriend to dress up?”
Ji Pei subtly adjusted the strap, explaining, “I was just trying on… this newly bought dress.”
“It looks great, absolutely great.”
Ji Fan leaned against the wall, admiring the dress for a while, then belatedly remembered why she had come, and opened her mouth with a fawning expression: “Sister, my dear sister.”
Ji Pei opened her phone, transferred 100,000 yuan from Alipay to Ji Fan’s account, and said expressionlessly, “I’ve transferred your allowance. Now, get out of my room immediately, and from now on, you must knock before coming in.”
“I…”
Ji Fan hadn’t come for the allowance. This matter was a little embarrassing for her to bring up, but only Ji Pei could help her now.
“Sister, I have to go to S City this afternoon to see my partner. Are you free today? Could you cover my classes for half a day?”
Ji Pei’s eyes narrowed slightly. She hugged her arms and looked down at the nervous Ji Fan, hooking a finger around a lock of her long hair and curling it. She said, “You want me to cover your class?”
“Just this once!” Ji Fan raised her right hand and swore, “I’ll do a year’s worth of chores! I’ll cook for you every day!”
Ji Pei scoffed, “You cook for me, and I’ll be close to an untimely death.”
Her sister’s tongue was always laced with venom, something Ji Fan was long accustomed to.
Ji Fan clasped her hands together, her voice thin and quiet, saying, “Then I’ll clean the house for you, fetch water, feed the cats and dogs, and scoop litter every day, won’t that work…?”
Ji Pei’s lips curled up at the sound of this. “Deal.”
Ji Fan happily packed her suitcase and flew to S City that afternoon, leaving Ji Pei alone at home to face two cats and one dog.
These three little creatures had all been rescued by Ji Fan from outside. They didn’t do anything proper all day, just enjoyed picking up cats and dogs and bringing them home.
When Ji Fan went to school, she only returned home at night to eat and sleep, so Ji Pei was the one who had always looked after the stray cats and dogs she brought back.
The fur of these three little ones was increasingly nourished and beautiful, even developing soft, velvet-like coats.
Her phone vibrated twice. Ji Pei checked the screen and saw a message from the light pink app.
The app was called Decibel. Ji Pei initially thought it was a singing app, but after being tricked into downloading it by her friend, she realized it was entirely different from what she had imagined.
It was a vast lesbian dating site!
Ji Pei was not naturally straight. She registered an account on a whim and used a picture of her cat as her profile picture.
Ever since Ji Pei downloaded the app, she had constantly received inexplicable harassment.
The reason was simple: she really didn’t want to upload a half-body photo of herself, so she just took a picture of her hand, but this had the opposite effect.
It was truly terrifying.
After filling in all her zodiac sign, age, and personal signature details, Ji Pei was automatically matched with a netizen named “Winter Day.”
She swore that the successful match was not her own mischievous doing. At the time, Ji Pei had just gotten out of the shower when her cat jumped onto the bed and randomly pawed the brightly lit screen with its pink pads.
As a result, the two were inexplicably paired and quickly sped through the stages, upgrading to “Soulmates.”
Ji Pei opened the app. Sure enough, it was a message from Winter Day, urging her why she hadn’t sent the photo yet.
The dress felt exquisite. Ji Pei gently stroked the hem with her finger, took out her phone, and did an image search on her usual shopping app, but couldn’t find a match.
It must have been purely handmade. Winter Day had asked for her measurements and height before.
Ji Pei tapped on her phone screen, sending a message.
Ji Feng: “This dress you bought me has such a low neckline, how am I supposed to wear this out?”
The other party quickly replied to Ji Pei’s message.
Winter Day: “You can only wear it for me to see”
Quite possessive, isn’t she?
Ji Pei paused slightly, holding her phone, and smiled, pursing her lips. She really, really wanted to know the person’s true face.
They had been dating online for about half a month, and it was Ji Pei who first suggested exchanging gifts.
According to the app’s distance tracker, the other person lived over two hundred kilometers away from her.
Ji Pei tapped the pinned location on the page. The distance was still over two hundred kilometers away.
Ji Pei still really wanted to meet her, but they had only been dating online for a short time. Was meeting so soon a little too early?
A moment ago, she had twisted her body and taken a few selfies in the low-cut dress. Her full chest was barely contained, making Ji Pei blush a little herself.
These kinds of pictures… they’re too embarrassing to send.
However, her hand moved faster than her brain. Before her mind could even issue a command, Ji Pei had already sent the photos.
“…”
Ah ah ah ah ah, so shameful!
Ji Pei screamed powerlessly in her heart, wishing she could jump up and spin around on the floor. She turned off her phone and put it aside, not daring to open it even when she felt it vibrate.
Winter Day must have sent some more embarrassing words. She absolutely did not want to look.
The thought of going to school this afternoon to cover Ji Fan’s class gave Ji Pei a headache. She had never done such a thing before and wasn’t sure if the school gate’s facial recognition would still let her in.
Ji Pei had only graduated last year. Since she frequently entered and exited the campus, she was quite familiar with the security guard at the North Gate. Sometimes, if the face scan failed, he would specially give her a pass.
When she graduated, the banner read, “The school gates will always be open for you.” If Ji Pei believed that, it would truly be haunting.
Ji Pei took off the long dress, went to her walk-in closet, and opened the most hidden door inside.
The moment the cabinet door opened, Ji Pei bit her lower lip, completely speechless, a faint pink color rising on her pale cheeks.
The contents of this cabinet were truly blush-inducing. Every time Ji Pei entered the closet, she felt a wave of guilt and didn’t dare to open it.
These clothes were all gifts from Winter Day: a sexy rabbit-ear black-stocking maid outfit, half-bare lace bras and panties, and the rest…
Ji Pei slammed the cabinet door shut and chose a more casual outfit: a pink shirt and dark blue jeans.
She habitually tucked the shirt’s hem into her waistband, making her legs look straight and long, and her waist lean and slender yet powerful.
Before leaving, Ji Pei grabbed a baseball cap and put it on, along with a black mask.
She quickly took the hat off, though. Her freshly washed hair looked terrible flattened by the cap. She fluffed up her soft hair, creating a lazy, casual style.
Class started at two in the afternoon, so she needed to be on campus before one-thirty and find a discreet spot in the classroom to hide herself.
Having attended school for so many years, Ji Pei knew this much: as long as she didn’t wear weird clothing or dye her hair an attention-grabbing color, the teacher would almost certainly not call on her.
Relying on her four years of “comradeship” with the security guard uncle, Ji Pei successfully slipped into the school. Seeing the youthful, vibrant faces of the students, she couldn’t help but sigh.
Indeed, once a person leaves campus and enters the workforce, their essence is drained.
People were still chatting in her university WeChat group. Opening it, she saw her former female class monitor tagging people to attend a class reunion.
Ji Pei was tagged as well.
She didn’t want to go. She hadn’t even recognized all her classmates during university, and as for the class monitor…
Ji Pei decided not to elaborate.
After entering the school gate, Ji Pei was about to head toward the teaching building when she realized that Ji Fan hadn’t sent her the afternoon schedule yet.
Ji Pei: “Send the class schedule”
She had studied at A University for four years and was familiar with the location of most buildings.
Ji Fan was probably still on the plane and hadn’t received the message Ji Pei sent.
Since it wasn’t one-thirty yet, Ji Pei wasn’t in a rush and strolled to the cafeteria to buy an ice cream cone.
Her height was around 176 centimeters, making her taller than many boys even in flat shoes, and she stood out from the crowd.
The cafeteria was not crowded at this time. Ji Pei held her ice cream cone and sat down at a random spot in the cafeteria.
Just then, a shadow fell over her. Ji Pei looked up and met the gaze of a tall, handsome young man.
His eyes looked very shy, his lips slightly pursed. He held his phone and said nervously, “Hello, sister. Could I add your WeChat?”
Ji Pei smiled faintly at him, and the four words that left her mouth completely dashed his hopes.
“I’m a lesbian.”
The young man left, crestfallen.
When she had eaten half the cone, she received a message from Ji Fan.
Ji Fan had two classes that afternoon: one specialized course and one elective.
Pretty easy to cover.
—Wait a minute!
Ji Pei’s eyes froze. She zoomed in on the screenshot of the class schedule on her phone and nearly crushed the ice cream cone in her hand the moment she looked at the Philosophy elective.
What?
Jiang Xianhan?
That super-duper cold-blooded, ruthless, unfeeling demon king?
This is it. I’m done.
Ji Pei had heard the name Jiang Xianhan long ago. She had heard from her former roommates that they were lucky not to have chosen her Philosophy elective, or failing the final exam and retaking it would have been a regular occurrence.
If an elective was that strict, a specialized course would surely be even more brutal. Ji Pei couldn’t imagine how tense her nerves would be in her class.
She also heard that no one dared to skip Jiang Xianhan’s class. If caught even once, the student would be forced to retake the course the following year, with no chance for a makeup exam.
If Ji Pei had known that Ji Fan was skipping Jiang Xianhan’s class, she would never have agreed. Even if she had to abandon love, she wouldn’t miss a minute of that class. She would have tied Ji Fan up and transported her to the classroom herself.
Now, with only twenty-three minutes until class, Ji Pei had to hurry and secure a spot in the classroom. She couldn’t help but call Ji Fan and give her a good dressing down.
“Why didn’t you tell me it was Jiang Xianhan’s class earlier?”
“What’s wrong with her class? It’s just an elective! I heard people say electives are easy classes. Don’t worry, sis, just go.”
Hearing Ji Fan’s indifferent attitude through the phone, Ji Pei almost pinched the pressure point on her face. “But you’re skipping Jiang Xianhan’s class…”
Ji Pei lowered her voice, standing under a tree and glancing around, looking down and kicking a small pebble with her foot.
“You just started university; you don’t know how strict her class is. Skip once, and you have to retake the whole course, with no chance for a makeup exam.”
“No way. It’s just an elective. She doesn’t even know me. Just try to disguise yourself a little better, sis.”
Ji Pei desperately wanted to drag Ji Fan out of the phone line, beat her up, and then shove her back in. She laid out the terms clearly, “If you really have to retake the course, don’t blame me.”
“I know, I know.”
Ji Pei talked with Ji Fan for a few minutes and forgot the time. When she checked her watch again, she realized class was starting in fifteen minutes. She quickly grabbed the books she was holding and rushed off.
“Student, you dropped your book.”
Someone called out to her from behind, their voice like a clear, cold mountain spring in early spring. Ji Pei turned around on an impulse.
She subconsciously glanced at the book she was holding; only one remained. The other was held by a fair, slender hand, being offered to her.
“Thank you…”
The second word almost disappeared the moment Ji Pei looked up.
The woman standing before her was tall and mature, wearing a dark blue pinstriped shirt and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses on her nose. She looked cold and distant.
Ji Pei held her breath, her pupils slightly shrinking. The woman from those blurry, secretly taken photos was standing right in front of her.
It was Jiang Xianhan!
She flinched and failed to catch the book smoothly. It fell vertically, and both their hands reached for it simultaneously, ending up grasping each other’s in an interlocking gesture.
Soft, warm, distinctly bony, their fingertips lightly brushed together, bringing a faint, almost imperceptible tingle.
Ji Pei’s mind went blank. Only two words were racing through her head at that moment.
I’m finished.
She instantly pulled her hand back, quickly picked up the fallen book, murmured a thank you with her gaze lowered, turned around, and rushed off with the two books, joining the stream of students heading to class nearby.
Jiang Xianhan watched Ji Pei’s hurried back as she rushed toward the teaching building, standing in place deep in thought.