Online Romance with an Iceberg Professor Backfired - Chapter 7
Chapter 7: Stubborn
Ji Pei finally fell asleep after 6:00 AM and woke up around 3:00 PM.
She expected her two cats and one dog to scratch at the door because they were hungry, but when she opened the door, Ji Fan was sitting on the floor, playing a hand-clapping game with their rescue Golden Retriever.
Ji Pei was surprised. “Why aren’t you in class? Don’t your professors take attendance?”
Ji Fan tugged at the puppy’s ear, then looked at Ji Pei’s chest and made a gesture of pulling a zipper up.
“I don’t have class this afternoon.”
Ji Pei rubbed her eyes and adjusted her pajama collar. Seeing Ji Fan acting normal, she couldn’t help but ask, “Did you… resolve what happened yesterday?”
At the mention of yesterday, the placid expression on Ji Fan’s face shifted slightly.
“It’s all sorted out.”
Ji Fan changed the subject. “Sister, why did you sleep until the afternoon? Didn’t you say you were going to develop good habits?”
Ji Pei walked to the kitchen, poured herself a glass of iced water, took a sip, and sighed, “Who was the one who ran into my room crying in the middle of the night yesterday? I worried about you all night, you ungrateful little thing.”
Ji Fan rubbed her nose guiltily. “I made you bird’s nest and white fungus congee. It’s warming in the pot. Go drink it.”
“Bird’s nest? Where did you get that?”
Ji Fan didn’t look like the type to care about health. Ji Pei never saw her taking care of herself; she stayed up until the early hours every day.
“Mom sent it from Switzerland. She called it a great item. When I opened it, it was full of hair. It took me all morning to clean it.”
Since Liu Yanfen sent it, it was either something she couldn’t finish and didn’t want to waste, or something expensive and horrible tasting—an unpalatable supplement. It seemed the bird’s nest was the latter.
Ji Pei gasped at the thought of bird saliva. She walked to the kitchen, opened the steamer, and took out a small bowl of the congee. She sniffed it at the tip of her nose. There was a faint fragrance of osmanthus and a sweet taste of honey. She stirred it with a spoon; it looked sticky and stringy.
Ji Pei ultimately put the bowl down, put on a coat, walked to the entrance, and quickly slipped out the door before Ji Fan could speak.
She would only eat bird saliva if a knife were held to her throat.
“I have plans tonight, so I won’t be back for dinner. Just get by on your own.”
Once outside, Ji Pei realized that she hadn’t opened “Decibel” since waking up.
The app hadn’t sent any updates. Winter Sun hadn’t messaged her all day, which was unprecedented. Could she have also slept until now, just like Ji Pei? But that wasn’t very likely.
Ji Pei sat on a bench in the neighborhood garden, resting her cheeks in her hands, feeling depressed. She opened the social app and started browsing Winter Sun‘s profile.
The profile was very clean and simple. The personalized signature was a quote from Kafka.
Any misery can defeat me.
Ji Pei mentally recited the quote, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly. But she quickly stopped smiling when she realized a coincidence. She felt she had seen this signature somewhere else.
Driven by curiosity and doubt, Ji Pei opened WeChat, clicked on Jiang Xianhan’s profile, and went to her homepage.
Jiang Xianhan, that great demon, also had that exact quote as her personalized signature!
Most geniuses are alike. Ji Pei couldn’t remember where she had heard that quote before. She never expected Winter Sun and Jiang Xianhan to both like Kafka and use the same quote as their signature. It must be a coincidence.
Ji Pei yawned, stood up from the bench, stretched, and another famous Kafka quote popped into her mind. She took out her phone and wrote a post for her Moments.
“Waking up so early makes one stupid. People need sleep.”
After posting it, Ji Pei scanned a shared bicycle and pedaled around until she reached the east gate of A University.
Ji Pei stopped the bike, suddenly remembering her firm resolve from yesterday to eat the braised chicken and rice at the student cafeteria. She had been so unlucky and depressed that day that she left the campus without looking back, completely forgetting about it.
Ji Pei opened WeChat, found Ye Wenzhu’s chat box, and sent a long voice message.
In the flower shop, Ye Wenzhu was busy pulling thorns out of a customer’s hand who had accidentally slapped a pot of cactus. She opened the voice message while quickly pulling out all the thorns from the customer’s palm, then gave them the cactus for free.
Ji Pei’s voice message: “I’m at the school gate. It’s almost dinner time. Hurry up and come eat with me. We’re going to the newly built East Cafeteria for braised chicken and rice.”
Ye Wenzhu hadn’t been back to the university in a long time. Just hearing about the braised chicken and rice made her mouth water.
Everything about A University was top-notch in the country, especially the student cafeterias—they were cheap, portions were large, and the food was delicious. In her four years of college, she barely ordered takeout, and she gained nearly twenty pounds eating at the cafeteria.
Her flower shop wasn’t far from the university. Ye Wenzhu rode her electric scooter over.
“Good afternoon.”
When Ye Wenzhu saw the dark circles under Ji Pei’s eyes, her face showed a scrutinizing expression. “Did you not sleep well yesterday? Did you and your date, um, stay up too late…”
“Just shut up. Nothing of the sort happened.”
Entering the school required facial recognition. Ji Pei saw the familiar security guard, leaned toward the guard booth, and “flirted” with him for a while. The guard uncle then opened the side gate to let them in.
Ye Wenzhu smiled knowingly. “I don’t believe you. We’re adults; there’s nothing embarrassing about this.”
Ji Pei was utterly exasperated. “Why would I lie to you? I haven’t even met her in person yet. Maybe when we do meet in person…”
Ye Wenzhu remembered the air-freighted rose order from yesterday afternoon and probed, “By the way, what was your online date’s name again?”
“Are you asking for her online name or her real name?” Winter Sun didn’t sound like a real name.
Ye Wenzhu: “Online name.”
“She’s called Winter Sun.”
It is true!
Seeing Ye Wenzhu’s sly smile, Ji Pei couldn’t help but ask, “Why are you making that face?”
“No, no, that name has a lot of meaning.”
Ye Wenzhu turned her head, pursed her lips, and smiled twice, then quickly restored her normal expression.
The two crossed the stone bridge. Ye Wenzhu was starting to get tired. She looked at her watch; it was past 4:00 PM, and school would be dismissed in less than half an hour.
“The campus is too big. It’s inconvenient, and we can’t swipe for the bus, so we have to walk.”
Ji Pei turned to look at the bicycles parked on the side of the road. “There are bikes. Take one.”
Ye Wenzhu shook her head, clearly terrified. “No way. You know what happened before. Some anti-social psychopath hid a toothpick in the bike seat, and it nearly pierced my butt.”
Hearing this, Ji Pei also rubbed the goosebumps on her arm. “You should be glad it wasn’t a needle or something.”
The tree-lined road was coming to an end. Around the corner, Ji Pei ran into a familiar uninvited guest—the Philosophy Professor she had categorized as an anti-human organism in her WeChat notes.
Jiang Xianhan seemed to have just finished class. Beside her was the teaching assistant who had comforted her yesterday, who she thought was named Bai Yin.
Upon seeing Ji Pei, Bai Yin’s eyes curved, and she smiled as she greeted her. “What a coincidence, Ji Pei. We meet again today.”
Ji Pei felt guilty hearing that and politely nodded. “Yes, what a coincidence. I didn’t expect to run into you here.”
She felt a chill down her spine and secretly glanced at Jiang Xianhan beside Bai Yin, feeling a layer of coldness surrounding the professor. Since she had greeted Bai Yin, it would be rude to ignore Jiang Xianhan.
Ji Pei curved her lips slightly and nodded toward Jiang Xianhan. “We meet again, Professor Jiang.”
Ye Wenzhu also quickly greeted her. “Hello, Professor Jiang.”
From the moment she saw Jiang Xianhan, she felt the person looked familiar—very beautiful, very aloof, yet she felt she had seen her elsewhere. Jiang… could it be the famous Jiang Xianhan?
Ye Wenzhu turned to look at Ji Pei. How did this person know Jiang Xianhan, and why was Jiang Xianhan’s teaching assistant actively greeting her?
Jiang Xianhan’s strained expression gradually softened. She looked into Ji Pei’s eyes and said in front of the other two, “What happened yesterday was just me doing my job. How is Ji Fan? Is she home now?”
The shock on Ye Wenzhu’s face grew. She blinked, stared at Ji Pei’s profile, and remained silent. How did these two know each other? And why were they talking about Ji Pei’s sister? Were they relatives? But she had never heard Ji Pei mention it.
Ji Pei smiled faintly. “Thank you for your concern, Professor Jiang. My sister is home now. She’s feeding the dog.”
The four people standing together looked completely out of place.
Bai Yin sensed the awkwardness and quickly introduced a new topic. “Ji Pei, what are you two doing back here? Are you promoting our school?”
Ji Pei laughed. “Senior, our school is top three in national recognition; I don’t think I need to do any promoting.”
Bai Yin adjusted her backpack and blinked at Ji Pei. “Then what are you doing back? Don’t tell me…”
“No, we just got a craving and wanted to come back and eat at the cafeteria. They said there’s a new building, so my friend and I came back to try the food.”
Bai Yin finally found a kindred spirit. “The new cafeteria! They hired professional chefs from all over the country. They have every cuisine, and it’s all incredibly delicious.”
Ji Pei’s eyes lit up when she heard this. “Then let’s all go together.”
She subtly turned her head, meeting Jiang Xianhan’s light gaze. The professor was also looking at her.
The moment their eyes met, Ji Pei swallowed, and cautiously asked, “Professor Jiang, we’re going to the cafeteria for dinner. Would you like to join us?”
The wind in B City was a bit dry on the face. Yellowing leaves rustled, and a golden leaf drifted down to land on Ji Pei’s shoe.
Jiang Xianhan looked down at the leaf, then nodded. “Yes, I haven’t eaten at the cafeteria in a long time. It’s a good chance to try the new dishes.”
Bai Yin almost snapped to attention. A rare look of shock appeared on her face. “Professor Jiang, don’t you never eat outside?”
Ji Pei: “…”
Ye Wenzhu: “…”
Jiang Xianhan and Ji Pei exchanged a glance. She calmly said, “That’s not true.”