Chapter 5
The machine knitting elective was a very popular course. Every semester, many students from other majors tried to enroll in it.
The moment Qi Ning walked into the classroom, she immediately spotted Xie Ning. As soon as she sat down, she started complaining, “No wonder my friend said she couldn’t get into this elective. Turns out all the spots were snatched up by sports majors.”
“Sports majors?” Xie Ning repeated.
Some electives were open to the whole university. You only needed to switch departments in the course selection system to register. But why would sports majors sign up for machine knitting?
Qi Ning said, “Who knows. I almost died of fright in the elevator just now. There were five huge, double-door-refrigerator-built, dark-skinned sports guys right in front of me, all smelling like sweat. I swear they must have come straight from training without showering. Seriously, can they not wash up first? And why are they even taking this class? Did they come as a group to knit scarves for their partners or what?”
The major assignment for machine knitting class was a scarf, a sweater, and a bag. The teacher would grade based on those final projects. A lot of students from other departments fought to get this course because they found it interesting, and also for the reason Qi Ning mentioned—they wanted to knit scarves and sweaters for someone they liked.
“I still feel like I smell weird now,” Qi Ning said. She especially hated people who were unhygienic, so she understood Xie Ning’s germaphobia quite well. She asked carefully, “I didn’t end up smelling bad to you, did I? If I do, I’ll sit on the other side.”
Xie Ning answered honestly, “You don’t smell like anything.”
Class had not started yet, and a burst of noise came from the hallway.
Xie Ning was not disturbed by the commotion outside. Instead, he kept his eyes on the computer, taking advantage of the break to adjust his work.
It was as though he had the ability to automatically block out the outside world. Even with voices roaring all around him, he could still remain calm and focus on what he was doing.
Through the noise, Xie Ning thought he heard someone calling Pei Zhi’s name.
Subconsciously, Xie Ning turned his head—and as if sensing something, Pei Zhi in the hallway looked over too. Through the glass window, their eyes met.
[My wife. Want to fuck him.]
Xie Ning: “…”
Expressionless, he looked away and turned back to the computer screen.
Xie Ning suddenly realized that his cold, straight-laced roommate did not seem quite like what he had imagined.
Not only was he not as aloof and taciturn as he appeared, he was actually rather… lively and enthusiastic?
Xie Ning was not surprised by the contrast at all.
The self a person showed to the outside world was merely the self they wanted others to see, like wearing a social mask. As for what their true self was really like, perhaps not even they could say for sure.
After confirming that making eye contact with Pei Zhi allowed him to hear Pei Zhi’s inner thoughts, Xie Ning tried his best to reduce the frequency of their eye contact. He had no interest whatsoever in peeking into other people’s minds, nor did he want to know anything about Pei Zhi’s inner world.
However, many actions were subconscious and uncontrollable. By the time their eyes met and he heard the thoughts, it was already too late.
“Xie Ning!” Chen Xi stuck his head in through the front door of the classroom. “Do you have a moment to come out?” He waved a bag in his hand, though it was unclear what was inside.
In the water room, Chen Xi and Gu Nian introduced the contents of the bag.
“You didn’t eat breakfast, right? We bought some for you too while we were at it, though we weren’t sure what you liked… There’s fruit and milk too, nutritionally balanced.”
Xie Ning usually had little appetite after waking up and normally just ate a bit of cereal. He took the bag. “Thank you. I like it very much.”
Xie Ning knew that his roommates were trying to close the distance between them, trying to help him integrate into the dorm as a group. But he did not really need that.
A lot of people thought the more friends you had, the better, and that more friends meant less loneliness. But Xie Ning did not like liveliness, nor did he like making friends. Compared to gathering with friends and chatting, he much preferred being alone.
To his surprise, Xie Ning found two tickets in the bag.
It was for a design exhibition by a famous foreign master. At the moment, tickets could only be obtained through internal channels, and they were nearly impossible to get.
Xie Ning looked up in astonishment. Pei Zhi stayed silent, while Chen Xi acted like a messenger between them and explained, “Brother Pei got those for you. He just looks like he has a bad temper, but actually he’s pretty warm-hearted. Yesterday you gave him a scarf, so he wanted to return the favor. He’s not as hard to get along with as he looks…”
But the important thing was, ticket sales had ended long ago. Back then, Xie Ning had simply accepted that he had failed to get one.
When had Pei Zhi bought them?
Xie Ning lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, then said, “Thank you.”
Pei Zhi said, “It’s nothing.”
Chen Xi sized up the atmosphere between the two of them.
Both Pei Zhi and Xie Ning had rather cold personalities. In his view, Xie Ning’s coldness felt more like introversion? Anyway, it was not the same as Pei Zhi’s.
Xie Ning’s coldness was a polite kind of distance, while Pei Zhi radiated an openly forceful, chilly aura without the slightest attempt to hide it. Everything about him seemed to say one thing: get lost.
As class time approached, Chen Xi asked curiously before Xie Ning left, “Is the girl sitting next to you your classmate? She’s really pretty. At first glance just now, I thought you two were on a date.”
A burning-hot gaze landed on the back of his head, impossible to ignore.
Xie Ning turned around and, sure enough, met a pair of deep-set eyes.
Pei Zhi’s expression was still as arrogant as ever. Today he was dressed in a black tracksuit, standing there tall and handsome. His gaze was cold and indifferent, as if the whole world had nothing to do with him.
[Huh? My wife is on a date with someone else?]
[Wife, are you really on a date with someone else? Then what am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do? Am I the discarded ex-wife now?]
[Forget it. Behind every successful person, there is always a man who endures in silence. I’ll bear it.]
[Wife, after you start dating, you’ll still come back to see me, right? T.T]
[My wife and I are taking class in neighboring classrooms. Rounded up, doesn’t that mean my wife is basically sitting on my lap during class? My wife smells so good. Wanna kiss him.]
Those inner thoughts, like some kind of split personality episode, truly shocked Xie Ning.
“…” Xie Ning said helplessly, “It’s not a date, and it’s not what you think.”
“We’re just classmates. She’s very capable professionally, and we’re going to team up for assignments. That’s all.”
Out of habit, Xie Ning glanced at Pei Zhi. Pei Zhi’s expression did not change.
[(^?^)]
Pei Zhi’s inner voice was incredibly advanced. Not only did it have sound, it also let Xie Ning somehow feel the accompanying expression.
After returning to the classroom, Xie Ning slowly drank his milk and fell into thought.
Why did Pei Zhi keep calling him wife? That was something he had never been able to figure out.
Xie Ning could not make sense of it, so he decided to seek outside help. Turning his head slightly, he asked softly, “Can I ask you a question?”
Qi Ning said, “What question?”
At first, Xie Ning had wanted to directly ask, “What does it mean when one guy calls another guy ‘wife’?” But that was too blunt, and he was afraid she would misunderstand right away, so he changed the phrasing.
“If a girl calls you ‘wife,’ what does that mean?” Xie Ning asked.
Qi Ning said, “If a girl calls me wife, it means she really likes me and is very satisfied with me as a friend.”
“Then what if she says it to a guy?”
“A girl calling a guy wife? Then that’s basically the highest degree of praise for that guy. It’s just a way of expressing affection.”
Xie Ning felt like he understood a little, but not completely.
Qi Ning gave an example. “Actually, this is super normal now. Times change, and words get new meanings. When I see a girl I like, I’ll call her wife or husband too. It’s just a way of expressing admiration and affection. Look at this video—”
Qi Ning casually opened a coser’s video. The comments below were basically all things like:
— Husband, it really feels like you only posted this to chase me. hooks finger
— Tears are unconsciously flowing from the corner of my mouth. Sister is too handsome!
— Wife! Wife!!! Fuck me!!!
— …
Going further down got a little too outrageous, so Qi Ning coughed lightly. “Anyway, that’s how it is. Did someone online call you wife or husband or something? If so, that’s totally normal. I have an art account, and a lot of my clients love calling me wife and showering me with compliments, and they’re all cute girls too. It’s just a simple way of expressing their liking, admiration, and encouragement toward me.”
Xie Ning suddenly understood.
So it was perfectly normal for people of the same sex to call each other husband or wife.
Which meant that when Pei Zhi said he wanted to fuck him, he did not literally mean he wanted to fuck him.
Doing him was not actually doing him—it just meant admiring him.
And that “wife” should also be a kind of praise?
Looking at it this way, Pei Zhi really was, just as his roommates had said, cold on the outside but warm on the inside.
Looking at the two tickets in the bag, Xie Ning fell into thought. The exhibition would end tonight at 8:30, and he had no one he could find to go with on such short notice.
Why not invite Pei Zhi?
It would also be a good chance to ask what Pei Zhi had decided, and observe a bit more about why he could hear Pei Zhi’s inner thoughts.
…
In class, the teacher was explaining some basic concepts.
Chen Xi and Gu Nian only listened for a little while before losing interest. They had chosen this course because they heard it was fun, and afterward they had even dragged Pei Zhi into taking it with them.
The actual process sounded troublesome, and Pei Zhi hated trouble more than anything. He must be feeling annoyed right now too.
Half asleep, the two of them turned their heads—only to see Pei Zhi sitting upright, listening with extreme seriousness and concentration, even taking notes with his head lowered.
Chen Xi: “…”
Gu Nian: “…”
They were stunned.
They were not sitting together. Chen Xi and Gu Nian were in the back row, while Pei Zhi was in the front. Gu Nian felt like skipping class, so he secretly took out his phone and sent Pei Zhi a private message.
[Rice Cake: Brother Pei, ditch?]
Gu Nian clearly saw Pei Zhi glance at his phone, but he did not reply. He was probably pretending not to have seen it.
So Gu Nian sent another message.
[Rice Cake: Holy shit, Brother Pei! Beauty Xie liked my Moments post—the team group photo I secretly took the other day. He even said you were handsome!]
[Z: Really?]
[Rice Cake: Of course not. I just wanted to check if you were there.]
Pei Zhi did not reply.
Gu Nian cautiously sent a “1.” Sure enough, he got blocked.
Pei Zhi looked irritated and impatient, but he still clicked into Gu Nian’s Moments to verify it.
Then he switched back to his chat with Xie Ning. He had replied with that single “Pei Zhi,” but after they exchanged contact names, Xie Ning had not messaged him again.
Xie Ning’s Moments were very clean. There were no nine-photo lifestyle collages. Post after post was just reposted lectures and academic updates. Occasionally, he shared some of his own design work, but very rarely.
Such a dry and boring Moments feed somehow held Pei Zhi completely captivated.
He quickly scrolled all the way to the bottom. After backing out, he slowly ran his tongue over his canine teeth, oddly savoring it, then, as if possessed, clicked back in again. Later, in one accidental moment, his hand moved too quickly, and he tapped Xie Ning’s profile picture one too many times.
A notification appeared: I patted “Ning.”
Pei Zhi: “…”
It felt like being caught red-handed doing something bad. He instantly became flustered.
In his entire life, Pei Zhi had never experienced anything this embarrassing. The first time he secretly looked through someone else’s Moments, and the first time his hand had slipped and triggered that “pat” function.
His expression tightened at once, making the cold seriousness on his face seem even more severe.
But very soon, the tension in his brow eased.
Xie Ning had sent him a message.
[Ning: I’ve really wanted to go to this exhibition, but I couldn’t get tickets before. Thank you for the tickets. But I saw there are two inside the bag, and I don’t have anyone to go with. If you’re free after class later, would you like to go see the exhibition with me? If you’re busy, that’s okay too. I just think it would be a pity to waste one ticket.]
The system message showed: “Ning” patted me.
[Z: Whatever.]
What did “whatever” mean? Did that mean he agreed? Xie Ning thought it probably meant yes.
[Ning: Then should we meet around 12:00? I still have class later, and it ends at 11:40. Or you don’t have to wait for me—I can send you the location, and you can go ahead first. We can just meet at the entrance.]
[Z: Let’s go together.]
[Z: Which teaching building?]
[Ning: Still this one, just a different classroom.]
[Z: Mm.]
[Ning: Then I’ll trouble you to wait for me after class, Student Pei Zhi.]
A long time passed before Pei Zhi finally replied.
[Z: Okay.]
After typing the last word, Pei Zhi quickly locked his screen. He took a drink of cold mineral water, finally feeling a little less awkward.
He had accidentally triggered the “pat,” and Xie Ning had simply ignored it, defusing his embarrassment, and then even invited him out.
Machine knitting only had two periods. As soon as class ended, Chen Xi and the others arranged to go play basketball. Pei Zhi said, “You guys go.”
“You’re not playing? Where are you going?” Chen Xi asked in confusion.
Pei Zhi said, “Back to the dorm.”
The weather in early autumn was still somewhat muggy. Although the classroom had air-conditioning on, the old antique unit might as well have been off. The room was stuffy and hot, and since Pei Zhi naturally ran hot, he had worked up a full-body sweat.
He needed to go back and shower.
…
Xie Ning never checked his phone during class. After class, instead of taking the crowded elevator, he chose the staircase in the corner.
As he walked down the stairs, he opened WeChat.
The group chat titled “The Temptation of Returning to Dorm 505” kept popping up with notifications.
Chen Xi and Gu Nian were spamming the chat, most of it just question marks.
[Rice Cake: ??? What’s going on? Brother Pei, why did you suddenly change your WeChat name? You’ve used Z for years, haven’t you? Why did you suddenly change it to ‘Willing’? Does it have some special meaning?]
[Morning Light: Willing? What exactly are you willing about?]
[Morning Light: Brother Pei, don’t tell me something’s going on with you?! (Didn’t we agree to stay single together? gif.) (This hurts more than death.jpg)]
[Rice Cake: And Brother Pei is also sharing songs on Moments… Most people only start getting emo in the middle of the night. What time is it now?]
[Morning Light: Brother Pei, say something. Why did you suddenly change your WeChat name, and why are you suddenly sharing songs on Moments? Explain yourself honestly!]
Changed his WeChat name? Shared a song? What did that mean?
The automatic glass doors slid open. To the left of the steps stood the white-walled, pointed-roof art museum. Beneath the dense pine trees, a tall, lean figure was half-hidden in the mottled shadows, as if waiting for something.
It was Pei Zhi.
As Xie Ning walked down the steps, he opened his chat window with Pei Zhi. He had not yet changed Pei Zhi’s contact name, and whereas Pei Zhi’s WeChat nickname had originally been “Z,” it was now “Willing.”
He stepped down the last stair, his finger tapping into Pei Zhi’s Moments.
Half an hour earlier, “Willing” had shared a song:
“Waiting for You After Class.”
