Online Romance with an Iceberg Professor Backfired - Chapter 5
Chapter 5: Flirting
The moment Ji Pei arrived home, she started cleaning up the mess on the floor, sighing as she worked.
Xue Meinang (the cat), having done wrong, showed absolutely no remorse. It jumped onto Ji Pei’s back and rubbed its furry head against her chin.
Half of Ji Pei’s anger instantly dissipated.
She coldly snorted, feeling she couldn’t give in to the feline so quickly, or her role as the litter-scooper would be too pathetic.
“Hmph, don’t think I’ll fall for your charms just because you use your beauty to tempt me.”
Ji Pei squatted down, carefully picking up pieces of blue and white porcelain. She had brought this vase back from Jingdezhen a few days ago, and it had gloriously broken before even lasting a week.
Winter Day: “Are you home yet?”
Ji Pei always kept her phone ringer on at home. The moment she heard that distinctive ‘ding-dong,’ she knew it was a message from Winter Day.
But Ji Pei didn’t want to reply to Winter Day right now. She knew that if she said she was home, the other person would definitely send some inappropriate messages.
In the beginning of their relationship, Ji Pei felt that Winter Day was secure and very proper.
She hadn’t expected the person to change completely as they dated.
Ji Pei cleaned the house, locked the two cats and one dog into separate rooms, and finally took off her clothes to enter the bathroom for a shower.
Winter Day had said even more outrageous things before, asking for photos of her in the bathroom.
Ji Pei had been so dizzied by lust that she almost agreed to the absurd request, but she ultimately took a cold shower and refused.
Warm droplets of water sprinkled down, sliding over Ji Pei’s soft, fair skin, dripping down her calves and ankles.
Ji Pei sat in the bathtub. She had picked a few roses earlier, scattered the scarlet petals into the water, and prepared a plate of fruit placed next to the tub.
Music was playing from the bathroom speaker. Ji Pei ate a slice of orange, wiped her hands dry, picked up her phone, and replied to Winter Day.
Ji Feng: “Darling, I’m busy right now. I’ll message you later.”
Ji Feng: “Kiss.JPG”
Putting her phone down, Ji Pei closed her eyes, enjoying her relaxing solitude.
Her WeChat notification suddenly rang. Ji Pei squinted, reached for her phone, and focused on the screen. A red dot appeared in her Contacts list.
Ji Pei tapped it and saw that familiar name.
“Long time no see, I’m Xie Zhen.”
Ji Pei threw the phone back.
In her freshman year, Ji Pei was a naive and clueless newcomer.
Xie Zhen was her roommate, and their beds were next to each other.
Xie Zhen was a year older than Ji Pei and often looked after her, always volunteering to help Ji Pei buy food or fetch water.
Ji Pei felt she shouldn’t impose, so she stayed close to Xie Zhen at all times; the two were practically inseparable.
Her female dorm was a quad room, with light-blocking curtains hung on every bed, including Ji Pei’s.
Someone had once joked that Ye Wenzhu’s curtains looked like funeral coffin lids, which scared her into replacing them with a pink set overnight.
One late night, Ji Pei was playing a tablet game in bed. She rubbed her eyes and casually glanced over, her sight falling right on the corner of the curtain. It scared her so badly she almost dropped the tablet.
It was Xie Zhen’s eyes, shining brightly in the darkness.
Ji Pei clutched her chest, panting heavily. Xie Zhen, however, peered over from the curtain as if nothing had happened, asking Ji Pei if she had any tissues.
After that incident, Ji Pei got a new set of curtains.
But later, Xie Zhen took advantage of Ji Pei’s good temper and grew even more outrageous.
Ye Wenzhu saw all of this. She couldn’t help but warn Ji Pei, but she was then ostracized by the entire class.
Xie Zhen was the class monitor, good at maneuvering, and somewhat manipulative. She had good relationships with the instructor and other teachers. Many in the class sided with her.
Later, a rumor somehow started in the class that Ji Pei and Xie Zhen were in that kind of relationship, and even Ji Pei’s scholarship every semester was obtained with Xie Zhen’s help.
The thought of this made Ji Pei roll her eyes. She stared at Xie Zhen’s profile picture for a while and realized it was a photo she had posted on her Moments four years ago.
Xie Zhen also painted. Before the “window paper” was broken, the two often sat together studying human anatomy.
Ji Pei guessed that Xie Zhen had redrawn the picture based on her photo because it was eerily similar from certain angles.
Ji Pei closed her eyes, thinking about instantly blocking Xie Zhen, but stopped the action.
She remembered what Ye Wenzhu had said earlier.
At the class reunion, Ji Pei would hold her girlfriend and share a passionate kiss in front of Xie Zhen’s face.
But… she still didn’t know what Winter Day looked like yet.
After showering and drying her hair, Ji Pei sat on the bed contemplating life. She opened Decibel and sent a message.
Ji Feng: Darling, I really want to know what you look like.”
Winter Day replied quickly.
Winter Day: “What if I’m hideously ugly, would you stop loving me?”
Ji Pei hadn’t expected Winter Day to reply like this. She was impatient to know the other person’s true face, her heart aching with curiosity.
Ji Feng: “Never! I love you so much, you are the most beautiful person in my heart.”
Ji Pei thought: With a voice that beautiful, her face probably won’t be too bad.
Suddenly, a rapid ringing sound startled Ji Pei, and she almost dropped her phone.
The pink call interface showed Winter Day’s profile picture. Ji Pei was shocked, then belatedly realized that Winter Day had called her.
Ji Pei’s fingers were still slightly trembling. She pressed the answer button with her fingertip, and then Winter Day’s soft, warm voice came through the receiver.
“It’s my first time using this app; I’m not very skilled.”
The woman’s voice sounded slightly hoarse, like a lover’s soft whisper near her ear.
Ji Pei’s ears felt both itchy and hot. She held the phone far away, her entire body tingling and trembling as if touched by a fine electrical current.
Her chest rose and fell slightly. She stared at the profile picture, her cheeks instantly turning red.
Winter Day’s voice is too much of a violation.
“Why aren’t you speaking?”
The voice carried a hint of confusion, like the tip of a feather gently teasing Ji Pei’s ear, bringing a subtle, hard-to-ignore itchiness.
“I…”
Ji Pei was instantly defenseless the moment she spoke. She felt her throat tighten, and she bit her lower lip, embarrassed to make a sound.
“What’s wrong? Shy?”
Winter Day chuckled, every word impacting Ji Pei’s eardrums.
Ji Pei wanted to cover her ears. She opened her mouth, her voice slightly nasal.
“Of course not… I just… had something to do just now.”
Ji Pei heard Winter Day hum, then ask: “Why did you suddenly call me? I’ve never seen you so proactive.”
Winter Day’s voice carried a hint of doubt: “You don’t like talking on the phone?”
Ji Pei hugged a doll in her arms and said, “No, I just feel a little overwhelmed.”
Winter Day’s voice softened considerably, as if speaking right next to Ji Pei’s ear.
Ji Pei scratched her ear. She stood up and walked to the full-length mirror, discovering her ears were red, let alone her entire face.
“About that…”
Ji Pei hesitated, stammering: “Let’s skip the photos today, okay? I’m a little tired, and I’m stressed about a lot of things.”
Ji Pei didn’t realize her tone carried a hint of pleading. Her voice was still quite nasal, sounding a bit hoarse.
But transmitted through the phone receiver, it sounded sexy and suggestive.
This was something she was unaware of.
“What happened? Can you tell me about it?”
Hearing Winter Day’s words, Ji Pei finally found a place to pour out all her bitterness.
“I’m telling you, you absolutely cannot tell anyone else.”
Winter Day’s voice was soothing and gentle: “Mm, I promise.”
That “Mm” carried a tone of comfort. Ji Pei took a breath, calming down as she listened to Winter Day’s voice.
“When I was in university, there was this female class monitor who harassed me. She messaged me in the class group today, asking me to attend next month’s class reunion.”
Speaking plainly, Ji Pei rested her cheeks in her hands in distress, sighing.
“Seriously, why can’t she just leave me alone?”
“I specially moved out of the dorm and rented a place outside for three years just to avoid her.”
Ji Pei’s voice was filled with deep resentment. She hugged her phone and sniffled, saying, “I always treated her as a good friend, but I didn’t expect her to have such intentions towards me, and even…”
Winter Day noticed the person’s sudden stop and felt a subtle premonition of unease in her heart.
“What is it?”
Goosebumps rose all over Ji Pei’s body. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. She rubbed her arm and continued.
“I used to constantly lose my underwear and panties. They were always washed and hung on the balcony to dry, but they would disappear for no reason.”
Ji Pei’s nails unconsciously gripped the bed sheet, pulling it into an irregular crease, then smoothing it out with her palm.
“My roommate told me that the underwear and panties that disappeared from the balcony were stolen by her.”
Ji Pei’s scalp tingled. She hadn’t believed Ye Wenzhu when she said this years ago, thinking such a horrific thing couldn’t possibly happen to her and Xie Zhen.
Until Ye Wenzhu, while Xie Zhen was out, found Ji Pei’s long-lost underwear hidden under Xie Zhen’s pillow.
Before that, Ji Pei had always thought her underwear was blown away by the wind.
The moment she saw those wrinkled fabrics, Ji Pei felt struck by lightning, doubting her perception for the first time.
In an instant, years of suppressed resentment poured out.
Ji Pei had never mentioned these things to anyone else.
Listening to Winter Day’s voice, she felt as if she had suddenly found a haven, someone she could lean on.
“Don’t be afraid. I’m here. What’s her name?”
Ji Pei lay on the bed, casually turning off the bedroom light, then turning on the strawberry-shaped bedside lamp, bathing her entire body in a warm, yellow light.
“That… it’s actually been a long time, and I’ve already let it go, but…”
Ji Pei felt she was being a bit overly sentimental. While saying she had let it go, she secretly wanted to add fuel to the fire and complain to Winter Day.
“I just wanted to tell you; I didn’t mean anything else.”
Hearing Winter Day softly “Mm,” Ji Pei yawned, squinting and muttering.
“Don’t think about finding some tough guys to retaliate against her… you could end up in jail…”
Under the dim desk lamp, half of Jiang Xianhan’s profile was hidden in the darkness, the light and shadow distinctly divided by her prominent nose bridge.
She listened to the steady, regular breathing coming from the receiver, a slight curve on her lips, her eyes flashing with a tenderness she had never shown before.
Jiang Xianhan listened reluctantly for a while, then softly said goodnight to the person on the other end.
She did not hang up the voice call but put on her Bluetooth headphones, collecting Ji Pei’s soft breathing.
A string of code lit up. Jiang Xianhan adjusted the glasses on her nose bridge, and her eyes suddenly turned cold.
A photo of a girl’s ID appeared on the computer screen: fox eyes, smiling lips, shoulder-length hair.
Very familiar.
Her name was Xie Zhen.
Jiang Xianhan slightly bent her knuckles, tapping lightly on the desk.
She didn’t expect it to be this person.