Chapter 31: Pei Jing

In the living room, Jian Ruo Ci told Pei Yan Zhou to make himself at home. She went upstairs to the bathroom.

Her hair was still wet, and her clothes weren’t particularly wet, but they were damp. She couldn’t stand it.

Ten minutes later, in the bathroom.

Jian Ruo Ci had finished showering. She looked at the shelf and was dumbfounded.

Where were her clothes?

She had a habit of finding clean pajamas and placing them on the shelf in the bathroom after showering. Sometimes, when she came home from outside, she would go straight to the bathroom.

She had been too tired yesterday. After showering, she went to bed and fell asleep.

So, this was the situation now. She was standing in the bathroom with no clothes to wear.

She had some old clothes she could wear, but her gaze fell on the basin in the corner. She stared at the clothes soaked in detergent.

What should she do?

Pei Yan Zhou was downstairs. She couldn’t stay in the bathroom until he left.

What if he left? What if he didn’t leave and came looking for her?

If he was in the kitchen downstairs, she could go out now. If she was quick, he wouldn’t see anything.

But what if he was in the living room? Then she would be in front of him…

She couldn’t take that risk. If he saw her, she wouldn’t have the face to live on Earth anymore.

She leaned against the sink and sighed. Her gaze fell on the phone on the sink. It was her phone.

She liked to bring her phone with her when she washed up. She would brush her teeth and scroll through her phone at the same time. She had forgotten it in the bathroom after washing up this morning.

This was a good thing for her. She turned on her phone, clicked on Pei Yan Zhou’s chat box, and wondered if he would see her message now.

She would try anyway.

Jian Ruo Ci: [Are you there?]

She hoped he would see the message and reply instantly.

Pei Yan Zhou: [?]

She was a little embarrassed to say it out loud. Jian Ruo Ci took a deep breath. It was better than going out directly.

Jian Ruo Ci: [Can you go to my room and get me a change of clothes?]

[I’m in the bathroom…]

Pei Yan Zhou didn’t reply to her message for a long time. Was he not going to help her?

She stared at the bathroom door for a few seconds. It was better to help herself than to rely on others. She turned the bathroom door handle and opened a crack. She looked at the sofa. Pei Yan Zhou wasn’t there. She used the bath towel to cover herself and ran back to her room.

Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of her. She was startled and slammed the bathroom door shut.

Pei Yan Zhou’s deep voice came from outside the door. “Clothes.”

Pei Yan Zhou had come to bring her clothes.

She slowly turned the bathroom door handle and opened a crack. She reached out her hand. Pei Yan Zhou placed the clothes in her hand. She retracted her hand and thanked him.

She locked the bathroom door and looked at the clothes in her hand. There was more than one piece of clothing. There was a set of pajamas and…

A bra…

Underwear…

Pei Yan Zhou had brought them. This was too embarrassing.

Her cheeks burned. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her cheeks and ears were flushed. Anyone would blush if this happened to them.

Jian Ruo Ci splashed some cold water on her face. “Jian Ruo Ci, you’re a woman of the new era. Don’t worry about these details.”

She did some mental work in the bathroom before changing into the clothes Pei Yan Zhou had brought and leaving the bathroom.

After leaving the bathroom, she went straight to her room. She opened the closet. It was full of clothes she had thrown in there. It was messy, but all the clothes were clean. In the corner, there was also underwear. She was speechless.

Pei Yan Zhou had to open this closet to get her clothes. Now, in Pei Yan Zhou’s mind, she must be a slob.

Is there any way to salvage what little image she has left?

She took a while to come downstairs.

When she got downstairs, Pei Yan Zhou was putting away the things he had bought from the mall, putting them in the refrigerator.

When he saw her come down, his gaze lingered on her for a few seconds. He seemed to sense her discomfort and looked away.

She, Jian Ruo Ci, was a person who repaid kindness and avenged wrongs. Pei Yan Zhou had brought her clothes at a crucial moment. She should thank him. She said, “Thank you.”

“Hmm.”

Pei Yan Zhou came out of the kitchen, holding a cup of brown sugar ginger tea. He placed the cup in her hand. “Drink it.”

“To ward off the cold.”

“Thank you.” She stared at the brown sugar ginger tea in her hand, a warm feeling spreading through her heart.

There was no heater in the bathroom. She had gotten a little wet in the rain and had been in the bathroom for so long. She was indeed very cold. Her whole body was freezing.

Thinking about her messy closet, she stammered, “Actually, my closet isn’t messy.”

“You know, this is an old villa district. There aren’t many people around.”

“Before, the people who lived here were all wealthy families. Even if they moved out, they would leave some valuable things behind.”

“It must have been a thief. My closet must have been ransacked by a thief.”

This reason was simply too good. He should believe it, right?

She carefully observed Pei Yan Zhou’s expression. He seemed to believe it.

To make Pei Yan Zhou believe her without a doubt, she continued, “I could hear things being rummaged through every night. I’m a weak woman, and I was terrified. I didn’t dare to breathe at night.”

“Everything I said is true.”

“Hmm.” Pei Yan Zhou said. “If you believe me, then I believe you.”

Jian Ruo Ci: “…”

If you believe me, then I believe you?

Did he mean that he knew the truth and was just letting her save face by not exposing her?

The story she had just made up was quite believable. There were no loopholes. Why couldn’t she fool him?

She said, “I believe you.”

Pei Yan Zhou: “Then I believe you too.”

Jian Ruo Ci: “…”

She couldn’t make up any more lies. In front of Pei Yan Zhou, she was like a clown.

She didn’t know it, but there were a few people in this old villa district who were protecting her safety, people she couldn’t detect.

“Drink it.” Pei Yan Zhou said. “If you don’t finish it, you won’t get any of the dishes you ordered for lunch. You’ll only get vegetables.”

Vegetables…

She hated vegetables the most. She saw the shadow of that young man in Pei Yan Zhou again.

When she was a child, she got sick and had a fever. Her little uncle only gave her vegetables to punish her for not taking care of herself.

She placed the brown sugar ginger tea on the coffee table. Pei Yan Zhou lowered his gaze and sat on the sofa next to her. There was some distance between them. She turned her head to look at him. “Pei Jing.”

A flicker of complexity flashed in Pei Yan Zhou’s eyes, fleeting. He looked up at her, his expression as indifferent as ever. His cold face showed no emotion.

It wasn’t him. It wasn’t her little uncle. It wasn’t Pei Jing. It wasn’t that young man.

She had overthought it. How could Pei Yan Zhou be Pei Jing?

It was just that he was similar in some ways, but he wasn’t him.

Jian Ruo Ci lowered her gaze. The disappointment in her eyes was undeniable. “Sorry, you look a lot like my little uncle. I can see his shadow in you a lot of the time.”

“Lychee-flavored candy, not liking vegetables, putting green beans in soup. These are all memories I have with him. And they happened to happen between you and me. I overthought it.”

“I really hope he’s alive, even though he doesn’t want to see me.”

“I’m sorry for mistaking you for someone else.”