Chapter 49 [VIP]

Pei Xingzhi had classes in the afternoon, and before he could reach a conclusion with Chu Ling, he was forced to say goodbye in a hurry.

They can solve other problems, but when it comes to their feelings, there's something they really can't solve.

The afternoon classes were long and complicated. Pei Xingzhi was so engrossed in the experiments that he didn't realize it was already past nine o'clock until he finished his work.

The teacher had already left, leaving only the tireless students. He greeted the other students who were still painstakingly recording data, pointed out a few common mistakes they made, and then retreated to the nearby lounge to catch his breath.

This lounge was converted from a storage room. It was small and windowless, with poor air circulation and a stuffy environment. Apart from a small fan on the ceiling, there were no other cooling devices.

Fortunately, Pei Xingzhi was too exhausted to care about these things. His mental fatigue made him ignore his physical sensations, and his mind automatically stopped thinking as soon as his body touched the bed.

His clothes were completely soaked in the smell of various chemical reagents. Pei Xingzhi was not usually a clean freak, but perhaps because he had spent too much time with Xie Nanyi, he had developed all sorts of picky habits like Xie Nanyi, and now he couldn't stand the smells anymore.

Unconsciously, he thought of that person again. Pei Xingzhi gave a self-deprecating laugh, took off his coat, and tossed it aside. The more he tried to ignore it, the more memories related to that person would surface in his mind.

A hazy memory suddenly surfaced, and he suddenly remembered the dream he had.

He had been separated from Xie Nanyi for a month at that time. He kept telling himself that he didn't really care about Xie Nanyi. The psychological suggestion was probably effective because he thought about Xie Nanyi less and less.

Pei Xingzhi had filled his vacation with activities, and his busy daily routine meant he rarely thought about Xie Nanyi. He considered himself to be very good at managing his emotions, but he didn't realize that the more you care, the more you want to deliberately ignore it.

The dream was blurry, as if filtered through countless layers, everything was hazy. He couldn't see the person in front of him clearly, but he knew it was definitely Xie Nanyi. He knew it was a dream, but he didn't have the thought of waking up.

Upon waking, Pei Xingzhi sat up abruptly. The only sound in the room was his rapid breathing. He covered his face with his hands, trying to recall the dream, but his mind was completely blank.

He had heard a saying before that if you dream of someone you haven't seen in a long time, it means you're going to forget them. He didn't believe in such nonsense, but at this moment, he was a little scared; he didn't want to forget Xie Nanyi.

Pei Xingzhi stared blankly at his empty wrist, a mix of indescribable emotions piling up in his chest. He couldn't express what he was thinking at that moment. Humans are, after all, emotional beings, and no matter how rational he was, he couldn't escape the siege of his emotions.

"Ugh... I'm so tired, can you take a look at the data for me? I'm going to rest for a bit." A voice came from the door of the lounge. Pei Xingzhi quickly composed himself, turned over, and pretended to be asleep with his back to the door.

The person who came in was a Beta from the next class. He originally wanted to sneak in to rest for a while, but seeing that Pei Xingzhi was sleeping, he was afraid that his noise would wake him up, so he only drank some water and sat for a few minutes before leaving.

The sounds around him disappeared, and Pei Xingzhi sat up, somewhat regretting his earlier act of pretending to be asleep. This wasn't his private rest room; his presence was actually disturbing others' rest.

He had completed his task for the day and could have left immediately, but... returning to the dormitory meant continuing to share the same space with Xie Nanyi.

It's all Xie Nanyi's fault.

Xie Nanyi was the one who did wrong, but he's the one caught in the middle.

Pei Xingzhi was torn between going back and staying when his phone alarm went off. He turned it off and then realized he had set his phone to "Do Not Disturb." No wonder it was so quiet tonight; he hadn't received a single message.

He opened the chat software and was immediately bombarded with 99+ messages from Xie Nanyi.

It's that familiar way of chatting again.

Pei Xingzhi rolled his eyes and ignored his message. He scrolled down to reply to other people first before opening Xie Nanyi's chat box.

Xie Nanyi practically live-streamed his "raising" of Wuyun, from feeding it to teaching it to use the toilet and taking it for walks. Pei Xingzhi was almost starting to doubt whether the rebellious little dog next to Xie Nanyi was actually his obedient Wuyun.

[Neurotic]: Xiao Zhi—come back soon! I can't control the dark clouds by myself.

[Neurosis]: [Video]

Pei Xingzhi opened the video. The picture was very shaky at first, and the sounds of Wuyun and Xie Nanyi barking could be faintly heard in the background. After a few seconds of blurring, Wuyun's head suddenly appeared. It barked at the camera a few times and even stuck out its tongue and licked the camera twice.

"Wuyun, say hello to your mother." Xie Nanyi's voice rang out, and a hand with distinct knuckles appeared on Wuyun's head.

"Woof!"

"Why do you call me 'Mom'? Because I'm your dad... Ah—Dark Cloud! Let go of my clothes! Stop biting me!"

The argument between the two gradually subsided, the dark clouds disappeared from the camera's view, and the camera shifted to show Xie Nanyi's mournful face on the screen.

“Xiao Zhi… Wu Yun is naughty; it chewed up my sleeve.” Xie Nanyi said, pouting as she held up the sleeve that Wu Yun had torn into several pieces.

"Serves you right," Pei Xingzhi chuckled.

As if sensing his reply, Xie Nanyi narrowed her eyes and let out a muffled hum through her nose.

"Is Xiaozhi mocking me? Why do you and your son only bully me?!"

"Woof! Woof!"

The sound of dark clouds rang out again, the image shook for a moment, and then the video ended.

Pei Xingzhi continued scrolling down. Xie Nanyi posted a picture of a pair of baring dark clouds, and then a picture of herself hiding under the "threat" of the dark clouds.

[Crazy]: Xiao Zhi—Dark clouds are bullying me!

[Neurosis]: [Image]

In the photo, Xie Nanyi looks like a puppy being bullied by dark clouds, with even her ears drooping.

wrong.

Pei Xingzhi zoomed in on the photo and looked at it again. Xie Nanyi was clearly wearing a dog-ear headband.

It's only been a few months, and this guy has come up with so many new tricks. It seems he really has become the "dog dad" of the clouds.

[Crazy]: I'm going for a walk with the dark clouds.

[Neurotic]: Why is Wuyun so physically strong?

[Crazy]: The dark clouds seem to have disappeared!

[Neurotic]: Thankfully, the dark clouds have returned on their own.

[Neurotic]: Xiao Zhi... I think I understand why the cloud is called a dark cloud.

Pei Xingzhi clicked on the picture Xie Nanyi sent. Wu Yun's originally snow-white fur had been stained with a layer of gray, and the dirty little dog was sticking out its tongue and sticking out a paw at Xie Nanyi. It was obvious what he was going to do next.

"Pfft." Pei Xingzhi laughed out loud. Wuyun was always very obedient to him, but when it met Xie Nanyi, it was like a different dog. It was as if it knew they had a grudge, and it grabbed Xie Nanyi and did a lot of harm.

[Neurotic]: Xiao Zhi—it's already eight o'clock! Aren't you back yet?

[Crazy]: Xiao Zhi, if you don't come back soon, I'm going to come looking for you!

[Crazy]: Xiao Zhi—it's already nine o'clock, why haven't you replied to my message yet?

[Neurotic]: Xiao Zhi, I've arrived.

[Neurotic]: Open the door.

?

Open the door?

Upon seeing those two words, Pei Xingzhi's pupils constricted, and he abruptly turned to look at the door of the lounge. He tiptoed barefoot to the door, pressing his ear against it to listen carefully to the sounds outside.

The soundproofing of the lounge door wasn't very good; you could hear loud noises from outside. But after listening to the door for a long time, he could only hear faint rustling sounds.

The sound was probably someone else cleaning the utensils, but it didn't sound like any outsiders were there.

Seeing it was a false alarm, Pei Xingzhi rubbed his temples and lay back down on the bed. He'd probably been suffering from a bit of a nervous breakdown lately because of Xie Nanyi. Even if Xie Nanyi came, what could he do? Could he carry him back? Besides, this was a laboratory; Xie Nanyi didn't have permission to come in. The noises outside were probably just another experiment going wrong.

As if to confirm his idea, the voices outside grew louder, and Pei Xingzhi recognized several familiar voices—those of his classmates who frequently conducted various supernatural experiments. He had probably added too much reagent and was now wailing and begging another senior to recalculate for him.

The usual noisy sounds sounded like heavenly music to Pei Xingzhi at this moment. As long as it wasn't Xie Nanyi, it didn't matter who it was.

The voices outside grew louder, sounding like another argument, or perhaps a discussion. Pei Xingzhi grew increasingly sleepy as he listened, and soon fell asleep.

Suddenly feeling a cool touch on his face, Pei Xingzhi touched his cheek and subconsciously opened his eyes a crack, only to meet Wu Yun's dark eyes.

"Wu Yun?" Pei Xingzhi was still half asleep when a dog suddenly appeared in front of him. He instinctively stretched out his arms to hug Wu Yun, but all he managed to grab was a muscular bulge.

?

The sensation on his hand suddenly brought Pei Xingzhi back to his senses. He opened his eyes, and the dark cloud on his phone, which had rolled to the side because of his actions, barked twice at him.

"Wuyun, what are you doing in here? Xie Nanyi? What are you doing here?" Pei Xingzhi's body was awake, but his mind was not. He looked at the man and the dog in confusion, unable to understand how they had ended up here.

"Still not awake?" Xie Nanyi picked up her phone and sat down on the edge of the bed, placing "Wuyun" in Pei Xingzhi's hand and gently pinching his cheek. "Why did you sleep here? Are you very tired? Wuyun said it missed you, so I came to pick you up."

"It's alright..." Pei Xingzhi answered truthfully. He glanced at the dark cloud on the screen and virtually patted it on the back. Having appeased the cloud, Pei Xingzhi hung up the video call before remembering to ask Xie Nanyi, "What are you doing here? Wait, how did you get in?"

After chatting for so long, Pei Xingzhi finally came to his senses. After asking the question, he immediately recalled the message Xie Nanyi had sent him not long ago, and he turned his head slightly, feeling a little guilty.

“As Pei Xiaozhi’s lover, it’s my responsibility to pick you up when you don’t come home at night. Besides, have you forgotten that I’m an Alpha? I still have access to this place.” Xie Nanyi seemed oblivious to his little actions, draped the coat she was wearing over her arm over Pei Xingzhi, and made as if to carry him away.

"Wait!" Suddenly losing his balance, Pei Xingzhi grabbed Xie Nanyi's arm to steady himself. Before he could say anything, the door to the lounge was suddenly opened.

A large group of people stood outside the door, frozen in their open-door pose, all with the same look of shock on their faces.

People inside and outside seemed to be frozen in place, maintaining the same posture for a long time.

"Um...did we...disturb you?" Finally, someone stepped forward to break the awkward silence.

"No, no! I didn't mean to bother you!" Pei Xingzhi snapped out of his daze and tried to push Xie Nanyi away. But Xie Nanyi was not someone he could easily move. Seeing that he couldn't clear his name, Pei Xingzhi could only deny it verbally, which only made things worse.

Seeing the same "I understand" expression on the faces of this group of people, Pei Xingzhi felt as if he had returned to the state of confusion and helplessness he felt when faced with rumors last semester.

"Ahem, sorry to bother everyone. The child misses his mother at home, so I'll take him back first." Xie Nanyi covered her mouth and chuckled, then picked up Pei Xingzhi and started to walk out.

Upon hearing the word "child," the group of people at the door widened their eyes and opened their mouths, clearly imagining some earth-shattering gossip.

"He's not talking about a person! He's talking about a dog! My dog!" Pei Xingzhi said through gritted teeth, shoving Xie Nanyi to help him explain.

Xie Nanyi gave a meaningful smile, half helpless and half indulgent, and said, "That's right, it is indeed a puppy."

"Haha, we get it, we get it."

Everyone could see the flirtatious exchange between the two, but they still politely cooperated with their performance.

Pei Xingzhi was powerless to refute, so he could only silently shrink into Xie Nanyi's arms and pretend to be dead, while secretly pinching Xie Nanyi to make him hurry up and get away from this place.

"We'll be going now. We'll treat everyone to dinner another day." Xie Nanyi said, following his gesture, and carried Pei Xingzhi away from the lounge under the watchful eyes of everyone.

"Hey, Xie Nanyi, wait a minute." Just as the two stepped out of the lounge, a voice called out to them from behind.

A boy ran over, holding a small green bottle in his hand.

"By the way, although we don't have the same remarkable effect as the medicine you just mentioned, we do have a cheaper alternative that works very well for scar removal and wound healing."

Xie Nanyi took the bottle and whispered a thank you.

"What are you doing with this? Are you injured?" Pei Xingzhi couldn't resist his curiosity and peeked out from Xie Nanyi's arms to ask.

"Hehe, it's for Xie Nanyi. I think you two will find it useful." The boy scratched his head sheepishly and gave the two of them a knowing look.

"What do you mean? Isn't this for removing scars? How could we possibly need it?" Pei Xingzhi's pupils dilated in shock, feeling as if his reputation had been greatly threatened once again.

"Oh dear, what are you two old folks so shy about? Look what you've done to Xie Nanyi's lips."

...

Pei Xingzhi looked up and saw that Xie Nanyi's lower lip still bore the scar from the bite he had given her the night before.

He glanced innocently at Pei Xingzhi, indicating that it was all just the students' imagination, and didn't say anything more.

So Pei Xingzhi closed his eyes.

His reputation is completely ruined this time.