Chapter 2
In class, the teacher began calling on students at random to answer questions.
A girl sitting near Xie Ning was caught completely off guard when her name was called. Red-faced, she stood up and stammered. She knew this point of knowledge, but the roll call had come so suddenly that her mind had gone blank and she could not remember how to answer.
A professional textbook was slowly pushed over to her, with clear notes written on it. The girl only needed to glance at the beginning before all the key points came back to her, and she smoothly finished answering the whole question.
The bell for break rang.
Qi Ning let out a sigh of relief. She looked at Xie Ning, who was sitting with one seat between them, and quietly moved closer.
“Thank you. If it weren’t for you, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to answer,” Qi Ning said softly. “Professor Xu is way too strict. If you can’t answer, he deducts a lot from your usual participation grade… I was too nervous.”
Xie Ning said, “It’s fine.”
Their major courses were all taught in small classes, and people usually sat in clusters. Xie Ning sat in the first row by the window and against the wall. In that row, there were only two people: him and Qi Ning.
The reason was simple. Xie Ning looked too cold and distant. Even though the class was made up mostly of students from the same major and same cohort, he hardly interacted with any of them and had only added a handful as friends.
If Qi Ning had not arrived too late and found no other seats, she would never have sat with Xie Ning in the first place.
Even so, though they sat in the same row, she still tried to keep her distance from him… She knew Xie Ning had a serious obsession with cleanliness, and that he was very aloof.
Qi Ning secretly glanced at him. Even under the strong backlighting from the window, his features were still strikingly delicate, without a single flaw to pick at.
He did not seem quite as hard to approach as the rumors said.
Qi Ning developed a bit of fondness for Xie Ning. Instead of moving her seat back, she stayed beside him. “My name is Qi Ning. Look, both our names have Ning in them. What a coincidence. This afternoon we have that organic weaving elective, and there’ll be a lot of students from other majors mixed in. If the teacher makes us form groups, it’ll be easy for our GPA to get dragged down… If we have to team up, do you want to pair together?”
“My grades in the major are pretty good. Last year I ranked third in GPA in the department, and second in overall evaluation.”
Actually, Xie Ning did not like teaming up with other people. In his view, group work was far less efficient than working alone.
Groups needed discussion, and the ideas that came out of discussions were always all over the place, making them hard to integrate. Even when tasks were split up, the person collecting materials might not find anything useful, and in the end the person doing the summary would still have to search all over again.
But Xie Ning knew Qi Ning. She really was talented, and just like him, she often did group assignments alone and still earned excellent grades. They would also be participating in a competition together soon.
If he worked with someone as capable as Qi Ning, it should save more time and let him put more energy into the competition.
So Xie Ning agreed.
Qi Ning already admired Xie Ning to begin with, and now that she had the chance to interact with him up close, she found it a little hard to stop talking. “Did you take pictures of Professor Lin’s assignment? I’m dying here. Professor Lin sent mine back, so I have to redo it.”
Xie Ning opened his laptop and showed Qi Ning photos of his assignment. Just the white mock-up stage alone made her eyes light up.
“OMG… a master really is a master.” In the later photos was an upper-body shot of the model, who looked a little familiar to her. “Isn’t this that Shen Ye from the School of Computer Science?”
“Yes.”
“For the competition later, are you planning to use him too?”
“He’s not suitable.” Xie Ning paused for a moment. “I’m hesitating.”
At first, Qi Ning did not understand what he meant, but after looking at the later photos, she got it.
This was Xie Ning’s first version of the design. In the photos, Shen Ye was wearing clothing with ethnic-inspired patterns. The design was bold and innovative, but it looked a little strange on him.
Qi Ning said, “Hmm… how should I put it? Shen Ye looks like the fresh, sunny type. But the elements in your design feel mysterious and dangerous. He really doesn’t suit it.”
“He can’t bring out that most primal kind of wild arrogance.”
Qi Ning was smart, and professional too.
Xie Ning thought the same.
They were fashion design majors. An excellent design needed an excellent model to help present it. Shen Ye was Xie Ning’s model.
A model’s overall qualities would, to a certain extent, affect the expressive power and sense of sophistication in a design. Shen Ye was neither the most professional nor the most perfect.
To Xie Ning, Shen Ye’s looks and figure could only be considered fairly good. That did not really fit Xie Ning’s perfectionist standards, but Shen Ye had a strong sense for the camera, and after careful selection, he was the one Xie Ning was most satisfied with.
Qi Ning also showed Xie Ning her portfolio. Xie Ning studied it very seriously and discussed it with her, and both of their ideas and inspiration broadened at the same time. Qi Ning felt as though she had met him too late. “Let’s add each other on WeChat?”
Then she suddenly remembered that Xie Ning did not seem to like adding people on WeChat.
She realized she had done something rather awkward, but Xie Ning had already taken out his phone and was scanning her contact code.
Xie Ning really did not like adding other people on WeChat, and he rarely accepted friend requests.
Before, someone had sold his contact information on the campus forum, and later his contact details were exposed publicly. A crowd of unfamiliar schoolmates and netizens added him after that. Since then, he no longer looked at friend requests at all.
If there was really something important, he would add the other person himself, or communicate by email.
Seeing the notification that the friend request had gone through, Qi Ning was a little excited. “If you ever need a mutual-help photoshoot, you can come to me anytime. Or I can be a model too. My height is pretty good, and photography is also one of my strengths!”
…
Pei Zhi had just finished training for the day and was bent over on a bench, resting.
Bright lights cast a shadow along the bridge of his high nose, deepening the lines of his face. Sweat had glued part of his black hair to his forehead, and even in his casual posture, he gave off a cold, forbidding aura that kept strangers away.
“Brother Pei, water.” Gu Nian and Chen Xi came back after buying drinks, sat down on the other end of the bench, and pulled out their phones to scroll through messages. “Whoa, someone asked Beauty Xie for his contact info, and he actually gave it!”
Pei Zhi’s hand paused slightly as he drank.
“Old Song found someone to cover class for him so he could sneak off on a date with his girlfriend. This was caught by the substitute teacher while taking a classroom photo… I zoomed in and checked. They were definitely adding each other on WeChat, and Beauty Xie was even the one who scanned first!” Chen Xi muttered. “Beauty Xie rarely gives out his contact info.”
Even though they were in the same dorm room, back then they had only joined the dorm group chat face-to-face. They had not added each other privately, because Xie Ning had even disabled the setting that allowed people to add him through group chats.
For Xie Ning, it was simply that he forgot about adding friends, and in his mind, adding friends was not important anyway. If something came up, they could just say it in the group.
But for the others, it only reinforced the impression that Xie Ning was cold and distant.
“I really wonder what Beauty Xie would be like in a relationship. Would he still be this aloof? Or would he get clingy?” Gu Nian said. “Not just Beauty Xie, I’m curious about Brother Pei too. You two cold types in one dorm—good thing Chen Xi and I are here, or there’d be no need to turn on the air conditioner.”
“Brother Pei, you seriously don’t plan on dating? What kind of person do you like?”
Pei Zhi said, “I don’t plan to.”
He tightened the cap on the bottle of mineral water, holding the bottle in one hand so tightly that it made a crisp plastic crackling sound.
Though his expression remained indifferent, his thoughts drifted uncontrollably back to last night.
That face of Xie Ning’s—always so cool and elegant—had been flushed with a color Pei Zhi had never seen before. His lips and the corners of his eyes had both been damp and red. His expression had been restrained and self-controlled, yet also somewhat lost, the contrast with his usual self intense.
Like a startled little deer in the jungle, forcing itself to stay calm.
He had looked a bit pitiful.
“Brother Pei definitely isn’t going to date. It’s more realistic to expect Beauty Xie to be the first one in our dorm to get into a relationship. Before, he and that guy from Computer Science… Shen Ye. When he and Shen Ye walked together, a lot of people thought they were together, but Shen Ye was just his model,” Chen Xi said. “Still, being a model is great too. You get to interact up close…”
“Holy crap, isn’t that Shen Ye?”
There was a basketball court inside the training gym. Shen Ye came hurrying in from the entrance, drenched in sweat. As soon as he reached the court, he quickly took out his phone and snapped a picture, then started sending voice messages.
“I’m sorry. The past couple of days I’ve been too busy with classes, and I had a lot of assignments too… so I didn’t go to the gym. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I let you down,” Shen Ye said. “I’ll strictly keep up my figure.”
No one knew who Shen Ye was explaining himself to, but after sending those messages, the other party did not reply immediately.
He could only panic and keep sending voice notes and long messages.
Shen Ye had gotten lucky. He happened to fit Xie Ning’s eye and became his model. Xie Ning paid very well, and had even signed him up for a gym, hoping he could build more muscle.
Xie Ning was not particularly satisfied with his current physique.
Shen Ye had always trained strictly, but recently he had been too busy and slacked off for a few days. Xie Ning had asked his personal trainer about it, learned that he had not been going to the gym, and sent him a calm message.
—Have you been very busy lately?
A single sentence, carrying no emotion at all, had thrown Shen Ye into complete panic.
When Shen Ye saw people inside the gym, he casually called out, “Hey, bros, are you guys playing later? Can I join? Also, can I use your equipment for a bit? Please!”
Chen Xi and Gu Nian did not mind. The two of them had become close by playing basketball in the first place, and for guys, basketball counted as a kind of social activity.
“Sure, play with us. We haven’t even got enough people yet anyway. Do you have any friends who play? You can call them over too,” Chen Xi said curiously. “Were you just talking to Beauty Xie… Xie Ning?”
Shen Ye said, “Yeah. I haven’t gone to the gym lately, and Ning Ning is a little mad, so I’m trying to figure out how to coax him.”
Chen Xi said, “Huh? Coax him? Aren’t you just his model?”
A bit of shyness appeared on Shen Ye’s face. “Right now I’m his model, yes. But I like him. I’m looking for a chance to confess.”
Ning Ning.
Confess.
Expressionless, Pei Zhi tightened his grip on the water bottle and threw it hard toward the distant trash can with one hand.
With a loud clang, it went straight in.
Pei Zhi was very tall. When he stood up, his height cast a shadow across the ground. He picked up his jacket with one hand, his gaze never landing on them. “You guys have fun.”
…
While waiting for the elevator, Xie Ning habitually glanced at his phone.
Shen Ye had sent him a flood of messages. He skimmed them, extracted the key information, and confirmed that Shen Ye had already started going back to the gym.
Xie Ning locked his phone screen. As the elevator rose, he fell into thought.
Should he keep using Shen Ye or not?
Xie Ning had a picky eye. Just having a good body and a handsome face was not enough. He also pursued a certain feeling.
Shen Ye had a kind of youthful vitality that had not yet been polished. His face and figure stood out among his peers, but they had not reached the point of being so perfect that he could not be replaced.
But if Xie Ning started looking for someone else, it would take a lot of his time and energy again. He wanted to focus on the competition a month and a half away, not let trivial matters distract him.
Ding—
The elevator reached the designated floor.
The men’s dorm for the Physical Education Department required a card to enter and exit. Xie Ning swiped his student card and entered. After taking only two steps inside, he paused for a moment, then thoughtfully closed the door behind him.
Ahead of him, Pei Zhi had nothing on but a towel casually tied around his waist, standing with his back to Xie Ning. Gu Nian and Chen Xi were both out playing basketball, so who else could have come back?
The answer was obvious.
When Pei Zhi turned around, he saw Xie Ning, just as expected.
Pei Zhi had just finished showering. He was holding the sweatshirt he had been about to put on, and with that turn, his lean, powerful body was revealed in full. A damp haze still clung to his chest, and every line of muscle looked as though it had been carved with deliberate perfection.
A droplet of water slid down from his long, sharp brows and fell along the line of his jaw.
Even with the mist of moisture over his body, Pei Zhi still looked cold. One arm hung naturally at his side, the veins standing out clearly, the bones of his hand obvious and strong.
The wave of heat and male pheromones coming straight at him made Xie Ning go still for a moment. Compared with Xie Ning’s own slim and cool presence, Pei Zhi looked like some enormous creature radiating wild, untamed force.
Pei Zhi had meant to get dressed. But Xie Ning was staring at him with a gaze that was so direct and undisguised that it gave him a strange feeling.
Putting on clothes felt wrong. Not putting them on also felt wrong.
Those calm eyes, clear as still water, held no obvious emotion, but on that elegant face, they became unusually hard to interpret.
The veins on the back of Pei Zhi’s hand slowly stood out, and even the lines of his knuckles became sharper. His fingers tightened, crumpling the sweatshirt in his hand.
Why was Xie Ning looking at him like that?
Was there something dirty on him?
Or did he smell sweaty, and was that bothering Xie Ning?
But he had already showered for a long time, and he knew he had washed himself clean. There was no way he still smelled of sweat…
Pei Zhi averted his gaze from Xie Ning’s, his thoughts racing as he considered whether he should put his clothes on.
Even though they were dormmates and both men, this person was Xie Ning. Pei Zhi somehow felt that standing in front of Xie Ning half-dressed was rude.
Even with his back turned, Pei Zhi could still feel Xie Ning’s focused gaze. Being looked at like that by Xie Ning, it was truly hard for him to stay calm.
Pei Zhi turned around again. The sudden eye contact seemed to make Xie Ning pause for a moment, but he still did not immediately look away.
Xie Ning’s eyelashes were very long, and faint bluish veins curved under the thin skin of his eyelids. His gaze moved from Pei Zhi’s chest muscles to his sharply defined abs, and finally to the faint V-line disappearing beneath the towel.
He asked, “You’re a PE student, right?”
That was almost a pointless question, but Pei Zhi still answered, “Yeah.”
Xie Ning said, “You have a very good physique.”
Pei Zhi’s jawline seemed to tighten slightly, and a brief flash of surprise crossed his cold, narrow eyes. He said, “Maybe because I’ve trained since I was little.”
He had always followed the path of sports specialization.
“I see,” Xie Ning said.
Xie Ning was not particularly fond of exaggeratedly bulky bodies. He preferred lean muscle in just the right amount. Pei Zhi’s build was neither overdone nor thin. His body proportions were exceptionally good, making Xie Ning think of the idealized physique of ancient Greece.
A broad frame, wide shoulders, a narrow waist, and tremendous explosive power contained beneath it all.
Very perfect.
Here it came again.
Xie Ning was once again looking at Pei Zhi with that cool, unreserved gaze. And yet Pei Zhi felt no offense from it, no discomfort at all. It was almost as though… Xie Ning was admiring him.
Xie Ning said, “Sorry, am I being a little rude?”
Pei Zhi said, “…No.”
“What kinds of classes do you usually take?” Xie Ning asked. “Is it all training?”
“Mostly training,” Pei Zhi said. “There are theory classes too, but training is the main thing.”
No wonder.
No wonder Pei Zhi’s body was so good. Besides natural talent, later training was indispensable too.
Pei Zhi was much taller than Xie Ning. Xie Ning lifted his chin slightly to look at him and made a polite invitation. “Next month I’ll have a competition. I’d like to invite you to be my model. If you have time, would you consider it?”
“As for payment, we can discuss it.”
Xie Ning knew this was somewhat abrupt, but he pursued perfection. A perfect body—one that seemed to fit his design so well—was standing right in front of him. He did not want to miss it.
Pei Zhi seemed to freeze for a moment, so Xie Ning explained, “Our major’s work needs models to help present it. A good model can make the work much more expressive. A lot of people prefer professional models, but I prefer using amateurs.”
“You don’t have to give me an answer right away. You can think about it slowly.”
Xie Ning knew Pei Zhi was very busy. His daily training load was not light, and Pei Zhi would definitely put his studies first. Xie Ning could understand that.
Besides, Pei Zhi did not look like someone short of money.
Pei Zhi looked at him. “I’ll think about it seriously.”
Xie Ning had only come back to get something. Turning away, he reached up toward the top shelf of the bookcase. As he raised his arm, the hem of his shirt lifted, revealing a narrow stretch of slender waist.
After finding his keys, Xie Ning prepared to leave.
Pei Zhi looked at Xie Ning’s back, then glanced at Xie Ning’s empty desk. It seemed to be raining outside. The sound of raindrops tapping against the window could not drown out the sound of Xie Ning’s footsteps leaving.
Suddenly, Pei Zhi called out, “Xie Ning.”
“Mm?” Xie Ning had only half turned around when Pei Zhi strode toward him.
The distance between them closed quickly, and Xie Ning reflexively took a step back.
He was not used to standing this close to other people, and Pei Zhi’s body was hot, burning almost. He was afraid it might trigger his skin hunger again.
“Let’s add each other on WeChat.” Pei Zhi sounded very unused to saying such words. It was the first time he had ever asked someone for their contact info in a way that felt like flirting, and his tone was extremely stiff. His expression was tense, everything about him unnatural. Under Xie Ning’s calm gaze, he seemed to be trying to patch things up, and added politely, “If it’s convenient for you.”
