Online Romance with an Iceberg Professor Backfired - Chapter 16
Chapter 16: Double Standards
Ji Pei drove home, opened the door, and collapsed onto the sofa. She was starving but too lazy to get up and make food. However, a grilled sausage was quickly offered to her mouth.
Ye Wenzhu handed her the bamboo skewer. “Ji Fan and I went out and bought it.”
Ji Pei took the sausage. Ye Wenzhu noticed her slightly vacant expression and couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong? Did Jiang Xianhan trick you? Is she making you pay for her medical expenses and emotional damages?”
“Nothing like that. I just… feel a bit guilty.”
Ye Wenzhu and Ji Pei’s five-year friendship meant she knew her friend’s personality well. Ji Pei had a strong moral compass but wasn’t overly rigid; in fact, her mind was quite flexible.
“But what’s done is done. You can’t change anything.”
Ye Wenzhu hugged Coal Ball, inhaled deeply, and spat out a mouthful of cat hair. “Ptooey, if you ask me, you’ve done your duty. You didn’t do it on purpose. Besides, Jiang Xianhan didn’t say anything, so stop stressing yourself out.”
Ji Pei took a big bite of the juicy sausage and nodded. “You’re right. Jiang Xianhan has a really good temper. I was secretly talking badly about her before. It shouldn’t be too late to apologize to her now.”
“You mean that time she called you out?”
Ye Wenzhu wanted to laugh every time she thought of that mix-up. In the end, Ji Fan was the one who suffered. No one expected an elective course to require a retake, but it was perfectly normal for it to happen in Jiang Xianhan’s class.
“Yeah. I complained to my partner about her for a while, but taking the class for Ji Fan was our problem, to be fair.”
Ye Wenzhu noticed Ji Pei was still a bit down, so she changed the subject to gossip.
“Jiang Xianhan, the ‘Ice Queen’ of our A University, right? Not long after we graduated, there was a female student from the Architecture Department who had bad intentions toward Jiang Xianhan. She secretly drugged her water cup but was eventually arrested by the police.”
Ji Pei instantly perked up. Her previous gloomy mood vanished, replaced by shock in her eyes. “When was this? Why didn’t I know? Why didn’t you tell me? Did she succeed?”
“No, she didn’t succeed. I heard this a few days ago from an upperclassman in the Architecture Department. It caused a huge scandal. The whole school knew.”
Ji Pei was perplexed, but upon realizing it was about Jiang Xianhan, she wasn’t surprised. After all, Jiang Xianhan’s looks were undeniable. Her figure, education, and appearance—any one of them alone was peerless. She was the ultimate catch.
But this was too dangerous. Compared to what Xie Zhen had done to her, this was a massive difference.
Jiang Xianhan sat quietly on the sofa, her gaze fixed on the two food containers Ji Pei had brought. Ji Pei had told her to eat while it was hot. Jiang Xianhan’s left leg supported her body and hung down, touching the floor, while her right leg remained in the same elevated position. Before leaving, Ji Pei had secured the ice pack on her ankle with a towel and specifically told her not to walk around carelessly.
Now, washing her hair and taking a bath would be difficult.
Jiang Xianhan opened the lid of the small food container, which held a light yellow steamed egg. She opened the other container, which held soup noodles. The person who cooked had thoughtfully separated the two. When the containers were opened, a rich, savory aroma wafted out. Ji Pei was very considerate and hadn’t added any chili. She remembered Ji Pei was someone who loved spicy food, yet she could still make such mild food.
Jiang Xianhan took out her chopsticks and spoon and tasted the golden steamed egg. It melted in her mouth, filling her with a rich, eggy aroma, seemingly with a hint of sweetness.
Jiang Xianhan’s gaze fell on the flickering phone screen. She opened it and saw the messages Ji Pei had sent. These were all messages sent to Winter Sun.
Seasonal Wind: “Wifey, I was wrong.”
Jiang Xianhan put down her chopsticks and sipped the golden chicken soup. It was as good as those made by the top chefs in the country. But this bowl of noodles was made by Ji Pei for Jiang Xianhan, not for Winter Sun.
Jiang Xianhan seemed to be in a slight dilemma. She began to question her own actions and worried about potential future events. She ate all the steamed egg and soup noodles, not leaving a single drop of broth.
Just as she was about to stand on one foot to go to the kitchen to wash the dishes, the villa door opened, and a plainly dressed housekeeper walked in, smiling at Jiang Xianhan.
“Hello, you must be Professor Jiang. I’m the housekeeper Ms. Ji hired to take care of you. Just call me Wang Ma.”
Jiang Xianhan nodded. Wang Ma immediately cleaned up the food containers in front of her and began tidying up the room. Although the villa had been unoccupied for a few months, a dedicated person came to clean it every week, so Jiang Xianhan could stay in it immediately. However, Ji Pei hadn’t told her which room to sleep in before leaving.
Wang Ma put the wheelchair away in the corner. Seeing the ice pack wrapped around Jiang Xianhan’s foot had melted, she reached out to remove it and replace it with a new one.
As the hand was about to touch Jiang Xianhan’s foot, she quickly stopped her. “Thank you, I can do this myself.”
She disliked physical contact with strangers and even resisted contact with acquaintances. Her old friends always called her overly sensitive, saying that maybe one day she would meet someone she truly liked and cling to them so tightly she wouldn’t let go.
It seemed that statement was indeed coming true. She felt her mind was no longer under the control of her body, attempting to fly towards that person. In simple terms, she missed Ji Pei.
Jiang Xianhan took a deep breath, removed the towel, took the ice pack Wang Ma offered, and, mimicking Ji Pei’s earlier action, wrapped the ice pack in a towel. When Ji Pei had wrapped the towel, she had made it quite ceremonial, somehow producing a pink ribbon to tie the towel around her ankle with a beautiful bow. Jiang Xianhan hadn’t seen clearly how Ji Pei tied the bow. She tried for a while but found it didn’t look good. Her right leg even became numb.
Wang Ma had been hired by Ji Pei specifically to care for Jiang Xianhan. Hearing that she was a professor at A University, an incredibly accomplished person, Wang Ma held her in high esteem.
“Professor Jiang, are you going to wash up now? I’ll help you over.”
“Wait a little longer. You can go rest first. I’ll call you if I need anything.”
Wang Ma hesitated, looking at Jiang Xianhan’s foot. “Professor Jiang, a sprained ankle is not a minor thing. Carelessness can lead to long-term issues. What if you twist it again when I’m not around?”
Jiang Xianhan: “…”
After washing up, Jiang Xianhan followed Wang Ma’s advice and slept in the cleaned master bedroom on the first floor. The master bedroom had a large floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the vibrant red maple forest, though it was too dark to see clearly now. Jiang Xianhan leaned against the soft headboard, examining the master bedroom.
It must be Ji Pei’s bedroom. Jiang Xianhan saw a photo of a cute, innocent little girl on the bedside table. From the facial features, it was clearly Ji Pei. She realized Ji Pei had grown up to match her childhood beauty. The little girl in the photo had rosy lips, white teeth, a high nose bridge, and large, round eyes, along with baby fat. Without the baby fat, there wasn’t much difference between her and the current Ji Pei in her twenties—she was a beauty from childhood.
Jiang Xianhan used a handkerchief to wipe away the dust on the photo, then took a picture with her phone.
She was engrossed in admiring young Ji Pei, musing over the photo, when she received a message from Seasonal Wind.
Seasonal Wind: “My dear wife, I’m going to tell you a secret.”
Jiang Xianhan placed the photo on her lap and began to type.
Winter Sun: “Tell me.”
Seasonal Wind: “That female professor I told you about last time, the really impressive one, she’s so unlucky. I can’t believe a student actually drugged her!”
Jiang Xianhan: “…”
How did I not know about this myself?