Chapter 4
That voice appeared briefly by his ear, then vanished.
As if everything had just been Xie Ning’s hallucination.
Gu Nian and Chen Xi dried their hands and pushed open the balcony door. A step ahead of them, Pei Zhi draped a large coat over Xie Ning’s shoulders.
Xie Ning had been seriously thinking about where that voice had come from. By the time he came back to himself, Pei Zhi’s coat was already on him.
His cleanliness obsession made him hate being touched by others, and he was especially disgusted by using other people’s things…
Pei Zhi said, “Your clothes are a little see-through.”
Xie Ning’s hand, which had instinctively moved to take the coat off, stopped at the collar.
He lowered his head and looked. His shirt was made of thin fabric, and after getting wet, it clung to his body, clearly outlining the color of his skin beneath it, along with the faint lines of his waist.
Pei Zhi added, “The coat is new. I haven’t worn it before. I just picked it up from the dry cleaners today. It’s not dirty.”
Xie Ning’s mental cleanliness obsession was severe. The fact that it was “someone else’s thing” alone was enough to make him uncomfortable. But his clothes really were a little too revealing right now, and his shirt was still dripping. Having a coat over himself would make the situation much better.
“Thank you,” Xie Ning said. “I’ll have it dry-cleaned before I return it to you.”
Pei Zhi said, “Mm.”
Then Pei Zhi returned to the cold, distant demeanor Xie Ning was familiar with.
Pei Zhi was the campus heartthrob of the PE department. His looks and physique were flawless, and with the internet being so developed now, attractive people naturally drew attention wherever they went.
But what Pei Zhi was most famous for was his straight-guy personality. His aloofness and his homophobia were both well known. Quite a few male students disliked him intensely and thought he was pretentious.
Xie Ning’s impression of Pei Zhi was very simple. Only two words: cold, handsome.
Beyond that, they had no other connection.
Maybe Xie Ning had misheard. Or maybe someone had forgotten to turn off a livestream on their phone. In any case, that should not have been Pei Zhi’s voice, and it definitely could not have been something Pei Zhi had said to him.
At home, Xie Ning could stay in the bathroom for an hour.
But this was the dorm, and the dorm bathroom counted as a shared area. He tried to keep his time inside to under twenty minutes.
Not wanting others to be inconvenienced by him also meant he did not want to inconvenience others.
Xie Ning washed his hair as well, and that added another ten minutes beyond what he had planned.
When he pushed open the bathroom door, steam and the scent of body wash spread through the dorm room. Pei Zhi’s spot was closest to the door, so he was the first to smell it.
Instinctively, he looked in Xie Ning’s direction.
A slim, bony ankle showed beneath the hem, pale fingers brushed over the towel, and Xie Ning lowered his head slightly as he dried the ends of his hair. His expression was cool as a clear spring. Beneath the warm light, moisture clung to his long lashes, giving him a faint softness.
Sensing someone watching him, Xie Ning instinctively glanced toward Pei Zhi. The moment their eyes met, Xie Ning heard a voice.
[Wife smells so good.]
Xie Ning’s expression changed to one of shock in an instant. He looked away at once, and the skin that had already been warmed by the hot water flushed red at a speed visible to the naked eye.
That voice again—eerily similar to Pei Zhi’s.
But Xie Ning was sure Pei Zhi had not spoken just now, because his lips had not moved at all, and his face was as expressionless as ever.
And there was no way Pei Zhi would call him “wife.”
Xie Ning cautiously looked at Pei Zhi again. Pei Zhi still wore that arrogant, icy expression, his whole body giving off the same cold aura that warned strangers to stay away.
But the second time their eyes met, the strange voice sounded again.
[Wife looked at me?]
[Wife is seriously so beautiful… so fragrant, so fair. Want to kiss him.]
[Why is he suddenly looking at me? Is there something dirty on me? Or do I smell like sweat? No, I showered. I even washed several times… Did I not get clean enough?]
[I’ll shower again later.]
The repeated “wife” left Xie Ning a little dizzy.
He observed for a moment. None of his roommates seemed to be watching a livestream.
So where exactly was this voice coming from?
Xie Ning rarely stayed in the dorm. There was almost nothing on his desk, and not many clothes in his wardrobe either—just one extra set of clothes and several gift boxes.
He took out the gift boxes and set them on the empty desk beside him. “The weather’s getting colder lately. Do you guys want scarves? I happen to have extras.”
Gu Nian and Chen Xi saw the logo on the gift boxes. “These are too expensive…”
“They were given to me by a sponsor. I can’t wear them all by myself anyway. If you’re willing to take them,” Xie Ning said, “then I should actually be thanking you for helping me declutter.”
Since Xie Ning had already put it that way, it was hard for them to keep refusing. They gathered around.
Xie Ning said, “The style is the same for all of them, just different colors.”
Gu Nian asked, “Do you have one too?”
“Yes.”
Chen Xi asked, “What color is yours?”
“I kept the navy one. The plaid version only comes in three colors: dark red, navy, and dark green…”
Chen Xi turned to Pei Zhi. “Brother Pei, you pick first. What color do you like?”
Pei Zhi said, “Navy.”
Xie Ning glanced at him.
Pei Zhi said, “Thank you.”
Even while thanking him, he still looked extremely cold. His sharp, deep-set eyes carried a natural arrogance, and his whole presence radiated a stern, commanding air.
The next second, Xie Ning heard it again.
[Matching couple scarves with wife now.]
Xie Ning: “…”
He put in his earplugs and got ready to go to bed. “You’re welcome. As long as you like them. I have class tomorrow morning, so I’m going to sleep first.”
He always wore earplugs and an eye mask when sleeping. The strange voice that had appeared today had already made him do several things out of character. For example, he could not help glancing at Pei Zhi again.
Pei Zhi also seemed to be getting ready for bed, but Xie Ning remembered that Pei Zhi usually stayed up late. It was not even eleven yet, so why was he suddenly sleeping early?
[Following wife’s healthy early-to-bed, early-to-rise schedule. Wife is heaven, wife is earth. Listen to wife and go to sleep with wife.]
[Good night, wife.]
Too noisy.
Xie Ning drew the bed curtain closed and lay down.
Because of the earplugs and eye mask, he was able to sink into a deeper level of thought.
Xie Ning had figured it out. That voice was coming from Pei Zhi’s side.
The very first person he had ruled out was Pei Zhi.
At first, Xie Ning had assumed it was audio from some prank livestream video.
Even though the voice sounded a lot like Pei Zhi, Pei Zhi did not seem remotely like that kind of lovestruck creep, saying bizarre things and calling him “wife.”
The other two roommates had lively personalities. They liked joking around and roughhousing with each other. If they watched weird prank livestreams for fun, that would fit them perfectly.
But Pei Zhi always had a cold face, always wearing the look of a cool guy, appearing impatient and annoyed with everyone.
Everything Xie Ning heard was completely opposite to the cold exterior Pei Zhi showed.
Pei Zhi did not seem like someone who would talk like that.
Xie Ning simply could not believe Pei Zhi would say those strange things.
Especially since whenever he heard them, Pei Zhi still looked as expressionless and cold as ever.
It was hard to believe that someone could wear such an icy face and yet say such wildly out-of-character nonsense.
Just now, Xie Ning had used the excuse of giving out gifts to gather the three of them together, and they had stood very close.
He was sure the voice had come from Pei Zhi. Even if Pei Zhi had not opened his mouth, Xie Ning could still hear it.
But only when he made eye contact with Pei Zhi.
Was it a hallucination?
Or some kind of superpower?
Xie Ning leaned more toward the former. He thought maybe he had just been too busy today, so busy that he had gotten muddled and started hearing things.
Maybe one night’s sleep would fix it.
By tomorrow morning, all the hallucinations would be gone.
…
The next day, Xie Ning was jolted awake by his alarm.
When he woke up, his head was still buzzing a little. Maybe because he had gotten caught in the rain yesterday, he had slept especially deeply.
Slowly, he sat up. Still not fully awake, he heard movement below and instinctively raised a hand to pull open the bed curtain.
His eyes met Pei Zhi’s across from him.
[Hey! Wife!]
Xie Ning woke up instantly.
[Is wife still half asleep? So cute, all drowsy and confused.]
[Want to catch wife and @*%O&%?……]
Xie Ning cut in, “Pei Zhi.”
Pei Zhi looked more like the one who was not fully awake. His hair was sticking up messily, and his youthful, handsome face carried a trace of confusion. Still, he maintained his cool-guy image and said coldly, “Hm?”
This was the Pei Zhi Xie Ning knew: aloof, cold, sparing with words.
Having been forcibly dragged awake by the alarm, Xie Ning had a slight headache. He rubbed his temple, his voice a little hoarse. “Nothing.”
At first, Xie Ning had still been able to write it off as a hallucination.
But now he had no choice but to face reality.
He was not hearing things.
What Xie Ning was hearing… was Pei Zhi’s inner voice.
