Online Romance with an Iceberg Professor Backfired - Chapter 4
Chapter 4: Hooked
Ji Pei left A University in a daze. The first thing she did was send a message to Ji Fan.
Ji Pei: “Your Philosophy elective is failed. I’m bringing your book back; remember to retake it next year.”
After sending the message, Ji Pei returned to her car, sitting in the driver’s seat with a gloomy expression, as if someone owed her millions.
Ji Fan didn’t reply, likely not having looked at her phone yet.
Ji Pei opened the Decibel app and saw the messages from Winter Day.
Winter Day: “You are still in school?”
Winter Day: “University?”
Ji Pei placed one hand on the steering wheel and tapped on the voice message sent by Winter Day. After hearing the gentle and soft voice, like flowing water, her entire body felt numb.
Is this really Winter Day’s voice?
Ji Pei had initially imagined a scumbag using a voice changer to pretend to be a woman, but the moment she heard this voice, all her defenses instantly dropped.
A voice this lovely couldn’t possibly be faked with a voice changer.
It seemed she had truly misjudged Winter Day.
Ji Pei typed and sent.
Ji Feng: “Your voice is so nice.”
She wished she could throw her phone into the seat gap and listen to it all afternoon, but she had to drive home now.
Ji Pei had glanced at her home security camera earlier. The two cats and one dog had knocked over their food and water bowls, and were defiantly meowing at the camera.
The house was currently a mess, and she had to rush home to clean it up before the situation got worse.
Her WeChat notifications rang a few times. It was inconvenient for Ji Pei to look at her phone while driving, and since no one called, it wasn’t an urgent matter.
She focused on driving and stopped the car in a nearby vacant spot in front of a flower shop.
Ji Pei bought a fresh bouquet of flowers randomly every day.
The owner of this shop was her university roommate. Ji Pei didn’t need to pre-order; she just came at three o’clock every afternoon to pick up fresh flowers.
Ye Wenzhu sat on a small stool, an popsicle stick dangling from her mouth: “Why are you coming so late today?”
Ji Pei took the Freesia handed to her by the flower shop apprentice.
“I had to go back to school for something. You don’t know, the school cafeteria has expanded again, just waiting for our graduating class to leave.”
Ye Wenzhu opened her WeChat on her phone and showed Ji Pei the university class group chat interface.
“Xie Zhen tagged you in the group. She wants you to attend next month’s class reunion. She’s tagged you several times. What are you going to do about it?”
Ji Pei held the Freesia. The flower buds brushed against her face, cool and refreshing.
“What to do? Nothing.”
Ye Wenzhu looked solemn: “I know you don’t want to go, but she didn’t message you privately. She specifically tagged you in the group to show off to others.”
Seeing Ji Pei’s indifferent expression, Ye Wenzhu sighed.
“I know she has bad intentions. Back in school, she constantly chased after you; I saw it all.”
Ye Wenzhu used scissors to trim the base of a rose without looking up: “You finally moved out of the dorm because of her, too.”
“Wenzhu, that was so long ago. I don’t want to bring it up.”
Ji Pei gently stroked the pink flower buds, her lips curling slightly. “I’ve found a partner now. She’s gentle and has a lovely voice.”
“What? You have a partner? Male or female? What does she do? Is her family rich?”
Ji Pei frowned slightly: “Why are you so excited? Are you trying to check her background?”
“I’m worried about you!”
Ye Wenzhu was shocked to hear this. Among the many beautiful girls in the Art Department, Ji Pei still managed to stand out from thousands.
Whether it was her ID photo or her student network photo, her skin was always glowing white, her features were superior and sharp, perfectly rendered like an AI generation.
Ye Wenzhu recalled the day Ji Pei first moved into the dorm, seeing her sitting cross-legged on a chair playing a video game.
A sliver of light filtered through her thick black hair and fell on her face, making the fine downy hairs on her cheek faintly visible.
At that time, Xie Zhen also walked in. Her bed was right next to Ji Pei’s.
Ye Wenzhu suspected that it was from that moment that Xie Zhen developed an unhealthy interest in Ji Pei.
“She’s a woman.”
Ji Pei was a little embarrassed, a suspicious blush appearing on her cheeks.
“We are still in the online dating phase and haven’t met in person yet.”
“What did you say?”
“Say that again?”
Ye Wenzhu was so shocked her jaw almost dropped to the floor.
Her eyes were fixed on Ji Pei’s prominent nose bridge. She abruptly stood up from the bamboo chair.
“You’re going to play at online dating with that face? You better tell me you’re joking!”
“I’m not joking. It’s real.”
Ji Pei licked her dry lips and sat down on the bamboo chair Ye Wenzhu had left.
“You told me to download that Decibel app to boost your friend’s popularity. I met her there.”
“Wait!”
Ye Wenzhu suddenly realized something important that she had overlooked. She nearly crushed the rosebud in her hand.
“You’re dating a woman?!”
“You’re actually dating a woman!”
Ye Wenzhu almost jumped three feet in the air: “I knew that bastard Xie Zhen was the one who bent you! I must go to the class reunion next month! I need to show her a piece of my mind!”
“Peace brings prosperity, peace brings prosperity.”
Ji Pei pointed at the gilded four-character sign above, saying, “Then I’ll reply in the group that I’m going too.”
Ye Wenzhu pulled Ji Pei up: “Why would you go? She specifically booked a private room at a bar. She might slip you a drug or something. What will you do if she really makes a move on you?”
Ji Pei looked slightly hesitant: “I want to… meet my girlfriend in person and bring her with me.”
Ye Wenzhu’s eyes lit up: “Why didn’t I think of that brilliant idea? Then you can give your girlfriend a passionate French kiss right in front of her face! That’ll infuriate her!”
Ji Pei opened the group chat and replied with an “Understood.”
She had already deleted Xie Zhen’s contact a long time ago.
Before leaving, Ye Wenzhu handed Ji Pei the roughly trimmed bouquet of roses, saying it was a free gift.
Ji Pei held the “dog-chewed” bouquet, feeling both amused and helpless.
She returned to her car, found a nice angle, and took a picture of herself holding the lilies, then sent it to Winter Day.
Before she could even type a message, Winter Day sent one back.
Winter Day: “[Why are there roses in the car? Who gave them to you?”
Ji Pei zoomed in on the large image and saw that she had accidentally photographed a corner of the rose bouquet on the passenger seat.
But it’s just a bouquet of roses.
Ji Feng: “My friend gave them to me.”
After sending this, she belatedly realized the ambiguity of the sentence. It was too late to recall it; two words appeared below the message:
Read.
Ji Feng: “Darling, don’t misunderstand. She owns a flower shop, and I often buy flowers from her. These are her defective products she gave me today.”
Ji Pei quickly picked up the red roses, took a few pictures of the unevenly trimmed stems, and sent them to Winter Day.
Ji Feng: “See? They were really cut badly by her.”
Winter Day wasn’t an unreasonably difficult person, though Ji Pei sometimes felt the person was like a demanding child, fixated on a single point.
For instance, now, the person sent a message.
Winter Day: “She owns a flower shop. She clearly knows what sending red roses means. Why did she insist on giving them to you?”
Ji Pei had asked Winter Day’s age before. The person didn’t say the exact number, only that it started with a three.
Seeing this message, Ji Pei began to doubt her perception.
Was her girlfriend truly a woman in her thirties? Could it be a middle school student deliberately fooling her?
Ji Pei stopped her overthinking.
She decided to find a suitable opportunity to talk to Winter Day about meeting in person. She had to see who this person really was.
Ji Feng: “It’s true. We were college roommates, and our relationship is quite good.”
Winter Day: “Fine, I’ll believe you this time. But I haven’t seen enough of that dress from last time.”
Ji Pei: “…”
She knew this person had impure motives. Sometimes she would ask for pictures, and often hintingly send her some… things.
To distract Winter Day, Ji Pei decided to tell her everything that happened today.
Ji Feng: “I went back to school today to cover a class for my sister, but I got caught by the professor. Not only did I get points deducted, but my sister also failed the course and has to retake it. Don’t you think I’m incredibly unlucky?”
The “Winter Day is typing…” indicator showed up. After a moment, Ji Pei received this message.
Winter Day: “You covered your sister’s class? Where did she go?”
Ji Pei answered truthfully, tapping loudly on her phone screen, seemingly expressing her dissatisfaction.
Ji Feng: “She went to find her partner. She insisted on making me attend the class and offered a bunch of conditions I couldn’t resist. But I’m not an acting major!”
Ji Feng: “The moment I made eye contact with that professor, I knew I was done. She caught me.”
Winter Day quickly replied to her message.
Winter Day: “Then what happened?”
Ji Pei bit her lower lip and furiously typed.
Ji Feng: “Failed the course and has to retake it.”
The more Ji Pei talked, the more resentful she became, and the louder the sound of her fingers tapping the phone keys grew, even acquiring a rhythmic beat.
Ji Feng: “It’s just a lousy elective, so much drama! Good thing I didn’t choose her class when I was in university.”
Ji Feng: “This professor looks so proper, but I didn’t expect her to be so strict in class. She even confiscated my phone, saying no phones are allowed in her class.”
Ji Feng: “I’ve never seen such an arrogant person in my four years of university. The school isn’t hers to run. She acts like what she says goes, she’s more powerful than the Dean.”
After aggressively typing and sending a barrage of messages, Ji Pei finally vented her frustration.
Winter Day hadn’t replied yet. Ji Pei assumed the person was carefully reading her long messages, so she edited a new one and sent it.
Ji Feng: “Right?”
The message instantly turned to Read. Ji Pei saw a reply come in and opened her eyes wide.
Winter Day: “You don’t need to wear the dress tonight.”
Ji Pei: “?”
Winter Day: “I want to see your selfies. No clothes, please.”
Ji Pei: “!”