Chapter 13

Wen Jiuze didn’t care about anyone and wasn’t interested in the tedious commotion.

He unintentionally stumbled upon a scene where Xue Ling was being confessed to. He stopped with mild interest when he realized the drama’s protagonist was the girl his annoying cousin liked. He leaned against the wall with his hands in his pockets, lazily watching the commotion.

Embarrassment and awkwardness were clearly written on Xue Ling’s face. She looked like she wanted to interrupt and reject the confession but remained silent, awkwardly smiling as she waited for the boy to finish his foolish speech.

What an absurdly good temper she had.

Suddenly, she caught sight of him in the crowd, her gaze flickering for a moment.

Wen Jiuze actually enjoyed watching her squirm in embarrassment and secretly relished the moment.

He thought, she deserves it. In a situation like this, if you don’t stand firm, do you expect someone to come to your rescue?

In his nineteen years of life, the one thing Wen Jiuze understood was that no one would save you. You could only save yourself.

There was a flicker of desperation in her eyes as she unconsciously glanced around, but it seemed like no one received her faint signal for help.

Finally, her gaze met Wen Jiuze’s.

He thought of it as a way to repay her for that bread she had brought him earlier. Wen Jiuze stepped forward, kicked away a cup of milk tea, and forcefully interrupted the confession.

After watching the commotion, he initially planned to blend into the crowd as they dispersed. However, when Xue Ling was cleaning up the area, she frequently looked up at him, as if wanting to say something.

Curious about what she wanted to express, Wen Jiuze sat there idly waiting.

Eventually, he received a dull thank-you. Although he smiled, he felt a twinge of impatience.

When he jokingly suggested, “Be my girlfriend,” he intended it as a way to annoy her. However, to his surprise, she paused for a moment and actually nodded.

Wen Jiuze stared at her for a moment, thinking she looked rather foolish, as if her brain had momentarily stalled.

It was something said casually and shouldn’t have been taken seriously. Yet, looking at Xue Ling’s clueless face, a dark thought crept into Wen Jiuze’s mind.

Didn’t Wen Xuan like her?

If Wen Xuan found out that Xue Ling was with him, he would surely go crazy with anger.

So he smiled, thinking to himself: you agreed, so consider yourself unlucky.

Having me as your boyfriend is troublesome for you.

He wasn’t serious about being her boyfriend. At first, he only found her irritating and was deliberately trying to provoke her.

Xue Ling wasn’t the type to be easily angered. She simply pretended not to be upset, bottling up her feelings instead.

Wen Jiuze watched her, curious about what would happen if she reached her breaking point and truly got angry.

That would be interesting.

While he generally lacked interest in everything, he gradually became very intrigued by the idea of provoking Xue Ling into a fit of anger.

His persistence paid off, but he didn’t expect that the first time he saw Xue Ling angry would be because of him.

When Wen Xuan learned about Xue Ling being with Wen Jiuze, he indeed flew into a rage, unleashing his fury on him.

The injuries on Wen Jiuze’s face were visible to Xue Ling, but she said nothing at that moment. Later, she approached their school and sought out Wen Xuan for a conversation.

“You hit Wen Jiuze again, didn’t you? If you’re doing this because of his status as a bastard child, I think your reasoning is flawed.”

“Shouldn’t you be more upset with your uncle? Why don’t you confront your morally corrupt uncle? Are you afraid? Besides, you’re just his cousin, not his brother. What does it have to do with you?”

“Why should I be with Wen Jiuze?”

“I’ve heard you talk about me to others, claiming I’m virtuous and understanding. Is your standard for women being virtuous and understanding? Well, my standard for men is that they should act like men. Wen Jiuze meets my requirements better than you, so I chose him.”

“You better not bully Wen Jiuze again. I filmed you hitting him in the woods last time.”

“If I find out you hit him again, I’ll post the video on the forums of several nearby schools and send it to your classmates and friends in the student council. Everyone will see how ugly it looks when you hit someone.”

“…”

They were standing under a big tree next to the library, and coincidentally, Wen Jiuze was sitting by the window in the corridor above, smoking and listening to the entire conversation.

He watched his cousin, who usually displayed an intimidating demeanor, turn the color of a pig’s liver, red then black, then greenish, as Xue Ling cornered him.

He almost couldn’t hold back his laughter, feeling it was a bit absurd. He had thought that Xue Ling wouldn’t dare say anything harsh to anyone, yet she was surprisingly good at sarcasm.

He stood by the window, watching Wen Xuan tremble in anger. He also saw Xue Ling walk a short distance away, suddenly unable to hold back her emotions. She raised her hand to her chest, looking as if she were still shaken, glancing back as if afraid Wen Xuan would chase after her to hit her.

So afraid, yet she dared to come over and make threats?

Xue Ling continuously broke his initial impression of her.

Not long after the two confirmed their relationship, Xue Ling took the initiative to propose living together.

Wen Jiuze did not expect her to make such a request, especially since they had barely held hands twice.

She seemed like the kind of person who was reserved and conservative, certainly unable to accept a rapid progression in their relationship.

Yet she approached him and said, “I’m renting a place nearby, and I have an extra room. Would you like to stay there?”

“Why?” Wen Jiuze did not understand why she would suddenly ask this.

“Because… I don’t feel safe living alone. Recently, strangers have been loitering outside my door, and I’m a bit scared.”

After returning to his dorm, his roommate, Fang Xianwen, came over proudly, boasting, “Yesterday, a girl came looking for you. It was the girl my cousin Wen Xuan likes. She even asked about you. I think she was sent by my cousin to check on you.”

“So I told her that you’re living a miserable life, being ostracized by everyone in the dorm. I mentioned that all your things were thrown out, and you’re not allowed back to sleep, which makes you often sleep on the streets. That way, when she tells my cousin, we won’t be exposed.”

Wen Jiuze: “…”

Now he understood why Xue Ling had invited him to live together.

“Good point. Next time, just don’t talk. Let’s pretend you’re mute.”

Wen Jiuze patted Fang Xianwen on the shoulder, adding, “And by the way, she’s my girlfriend now.”

Fang Xianwen was stunned: “Huh? What?”

Even though it was a misunderstanding, Wen Jiuze moved in to live with Xue Ling.

He did not see the stranger loitering outside, but he did have to deal with a middle-aged man who always tried to flirt with her in the elevator.

The other guys in the dorm were terrified of him. Whenever he was around, they didn’t dare speak loudly. Especially when he returned injured, they wouldn’t stay in the dorm, preferring to sleep outside and leave the room for him.

In contrast to these timid boys, Xue Ling was surprisingly unafraid of him, even though he was tall and had an intimidating aura.

She seemed to think of him as someone who needed care and protection.

Though she was shorter than him, she had an inexplicable desire to protect him.

At the same time, she became more adept at getting angry with him.

The loudest argument they had was on his birthday when he ate an eight-inch cake she had brought back, causing a rash to break out on his arm.

Unable to hold back any longer, she yelled at him, “Why didn’t you tell me you were allergic to eggs? Knowing you were allergic, how could you eat so much?!”

“Didn’t you say I had to finish it?” Wen Jiuze retorted from the couch.

“I didn’t know you were allergic to eggs! Why didn’t you say anything? Are you an idiot?!”

“What’s there to say? It’s just a little allergy. It’ll be fine soon.” Wen Jiuze didn’t understand why she was so angry, feeling it was excessive.

He had been allergic to eggs since childhood. His family was poor, and his mother would always save the eggs for him.

When he was younger, the allergy was worse. Eating eggs would cause him to have trouble breathing, but his mother didn’t know about the allergy. Like many parents, she believed eggs were nutritious and good, so how could they be harmful?

As he grew older, the allergy improved a lot. Now, eating products containing eggs would only give him a small rash.

For someone like Wen Jiuze, who often returned with injuries, this little rash was hardly worth paying attention to.

He never cared about it growing up. He ate eggs without a second thought and was just fine. Others didn’t mind, so neither did he. Bread and eggs, he would eat whatever was available.

But on the day Xue Ling discovered his egg allergy, she scolded him and then went out to buy allergy medicine, insisting he take it.

She held onto his arm, frowning as she examined his rash.

“Is it still itchy?”

Before he hadn’t felt anything, but when she poked at his skin, it suddenly started to itch.

Her fingers were cool, her touch gentle, awakening some feelings he hadn’t noticed before.

That night, he found himself unconsciously scratching his arm, leaving long red marks as he tried to alleviate the itch.

Afterward, Xue Ling never bought bread or cake again. Even when she went to the supermarket to buy noodles, she made sure they weren’t egg noodles.

“… Is it really necessary to be this careful?”

She flipped through the ingredient list without looking up. “Of course it is.”

Wen Jiuze silently followed her, holding a heavy shopping basket with a strange feeling in his heart.

“Xue Ling.”

“Hmm?”

“Caring for men makes for a miserable life.” Just like his mother.

Xue Ling turned back, glaring at him. “Are you starting again? Can’t go a day without seeing me angry, huh?”

“Xue Ling.”

“What now?”

“Please don’t ever be a virtuous wife and mother for anyone else.”

Wen Jiuze thought that if she cared for someone like this, she would end up raising a childish, useless man and have to endure a tough life.

Just the thought of it made him uneasy.

Xue Ling rolled her eyes at the spices on the shelf, her tone apathetic. “Fine, I won’t be a virtuous wife and mother. You can take that role instead and be the virtuous wife and mother.”

Every day was filled with annoying dog barks.

Wen Jiuze didn’t know when his feelings for Xue Ling shifted from dislike to fondness. By the time he noticed, he found himself hating Wen Xuan even more.

Because Wen Xuan liked Xue Ling, Wen Jiuze found it increasingly intolerable to be around him.

Why should someone like Wen Xuan have feelings for Xue Ling?

On the first day of their relationship, Wen Jiuze thought: I don’t like her being so weak and submissive, letting others bully her.

On the hundredth day of his relationship with Xue Ling, Wen Jiuze thought: I don’t like her this way. She should become hot-tempered and unruly so that no one can take advantage of her and she won’t attract worthless men.

He knew he was also one of those worthless men.

…

As the smoke dwindled, the sun began to rise, illuminating the fields.

Wen Jiuze snapped out of his reverie.

He finally got back on his bike and returned to the courtyard where he parked it.

The courtyard gate was securely locked. He opened it, and as he approached the car, he felt his heart racing, heavy and thumping in his chest.

It was as if he was finally about to reunite with someone he had missed for a long time.

He paused in front of the car door for a moment before pulling open the back door.

Xue Ling was curled up in the corner, completely still.

Wen Jiuze stared at her, unsure how to begin.

Suddenly, his gaze landed on a small box on the seat, containing allergy medication.

He remembered clearly that it hadn’t been there before.