Chapter 32 [VIP]
Pei Xingzhi's considerate departure without saying goodbye didn't seem to cause any ripples in Pei's blind date. Even after he returned to his dormitory and finished dinner, the messages he sent were still marked as unread.
Pei Xingzhi laughed at Xie Nanyi, saying that his brother had forgotten his younger brother now that he had a wife. Xie Nanyi glanced at his screen, smiled, and said nothing.
He wanted to apologize for questioning whether Pei Yuan and Pei Xingzhi were actually brothers. As for not replying to messages, the two were clearly brothers.
It's always a bit strange to talk about your brother with others, especially since they had such a misunderstanding not long ago. Pei Xingzhi made up some random things, and the two of them quickly moved on from the matter.
Several days had passed since that meal, and Pei Xingzhi sent Pei Yuan several more messages, both previous and new, all marked as unread.
Pei Yuan's work was rather special, and they often encountered similar situations in the past. Pei Xingzhi simply assumed that he had been sent on some mission again and didn't think much of it before putting it out of his mind and continuing to struggle with his own work.
His major had significantly more courses than other majors. Pei Xingzhi wasn't a diligent person, but the demands of his major forced him to be diligent. The excessive coursework forced Pei Xingzhi to force himself into a fully automatic state, devoting himself wholeheartedly to his research.
People under pressure are prone to resentment. Xie Nanyi often saw Pei Xingzhi with his hair down and wearing a long coat walking back and forth between the balcony and the living room when she went to the bathroom. Sometimes he would even sneak into the dining room to eat. In just two weeks, Pei Xingzhi had clearly lost weight.
Xie Nanyi hesitated many times about whether to speak up, but Pei Xingzhi had made an agreement with him before going into seclusion that he was not allowed to interfere with his learning inspiration. If he dared to disrupt Pei Xingzhi's learning plan, Pei Xingzhi would immediately move out of the dormitory.
On one hand, there's the promise she made to Pei Xingzhi; on the other, there's Pei Xingzhi's mental health...
How have you been lately?
When Xie Nanyi finally couldn't resist knocking on Pei Xingzhi's door and went inside, Pei Xingzhi was sitting in a chair, staring at the screen with a lifeless expression. The pen in his hand was clearly being used as a chew toy, its surface worn and uneven from chewing. Seeing Xie Nanyi enter, Pei Xingzhi forced a stiff smile at him.
"Hi..." Even his voice sounded so weak and listless.
"You've stayed up late again." Xie Nanyi frowned, took a few steps forward, picked up Pei Xingzhi, and put him on the bed. "I'll help you write, you get some sleep."
"I..." Pei Xingzhi was not in a good mental state and his reaction was a bit slow. It took him a long time to remember to answer Xie Nanyi. "I'm fine."
"Nothing wrong? Pei Xingzhi, have you looked in the mirror these past few days? Do you even know what you look like?!" Hearing Pei Xingzhi's words, Xie Nanyi's pent-up anger flared up instantly. He pressed Pei Xingzhi, who was trying to get up, back onto the bed and had the home robot bring a mirror to Pei Xingzhi's face. "Look at yourself!"
Pei Xingzhi has been working non-stop for several weeks, and his workload has been increasing recently. He only gets an average of three hours of sleep a day. If it weren't for the IV drip, he would probably be in the hospital by now.
However, he didn't look much better now. He looked at himself in the mirror. His once well-proportioned face had become so thin that he looked unrecognizable. His tired eyes were bloodshot, and his large dark circles were very obvious on his pale face. He looked like someone who could be sent to a haunted house as an NPC without makeup.
"He's quite handsome, but he looks a bit like a wronged ghost." Pei Xingzhi knew Xie Nanyi was concerned about him, so he stuck out his tongue and made a not-so-funny joke to ease the atmosphere.
Xie Nanyi remained expressionless, completely unmoved by his joke.
"Okay, I know I was wrong, but this is a special case. I'm almost finished. Let's rest as soon as I'm done, okay? I'm a medical student, don't I know more about this than you? I said it's okay, and I mean it." Seeing Xie Nanyi unmoved, Pei Xingzhi softened his tone and pleaded for forgiveness. "You don't understand my assignment requirements. We're from different majors, how can you help me? This assignment is very important. Let's rest after I finish this, okay?"
"Rest after you finish this." Xie Nanyi couldn't refuse him, so she had to agree to his request. "I'll watch you sleep."
"Okay!"
Having received the promise, Pei Xingzhi immediately jumped out of bed as if he'd been injected with adrenaline, and pounced on the computer screen to continue writing and drawing. Xie Nanyi sat on the edge of the bed, her face grim as she stared at the message that had just been sent to her on the screen.
As the logistics department, the medical school primarily consists of Omegas, followed by Alphas, and lastly a few Betas. The saying "scarcity makes things valuable" clearly doesn't apply here. Betas don't receive preferential treatment because they are rare. On the contrary, because they don't have a fertile period or heat cycle, they are extremely useful free labor for Alphas and Omegas who have received preferential treatment since childhood.
Although Pei Xingzhi's major had a lot of coursework, it wasn't so much that he was almost overwhelmed. The only reason was that the Alphas and Omegas in his group used their fertile periods and heat cycles as excuses to dump all the assignments on him.
Xie Nanyi pursed her lips, tapped the screen lightly to send the message, then put away her device and waited for Pei Xingzhi to finish up.
The lesson assigned by the teacher was not easy. Even Pei Xingzhi had to put in a lot of effort to solve it. It was originally said that there would only be one point, but by the time he actually finished, nearly three hours had passed.
The school claims to treat everyone equally, but the price of equality is assigning Betas the same amount of extracurricular tasks as Alphas. Alphas and Omegas can use the excuse of special circumstances to avoid review, but Betas cannot.
He could have simply done his part. As long as he completed his assigned task, even if the final submission was incomplete, he could still have passed and graduated.
But Pei Xingzhi never wanted just to pass. The grade on this assignment was crucial to whether he could secure the project assigned by the teacher. He needed that project, and even if it meant taking on the workload of five people, he would make sure the assignment was perfect.
It's a pity that those few Omegas got lucky; they didn't do anything and just benefited from his fame to get an admission ticket.
But that's how society has always been.
Pei Xingzhi gave a wry smile, stretched and stood up. As soon as he stood up, he was picked up by the person behind him.
"Finished writing?" Three hours should be enough for Xie Nanyi to process his negative emotions. He shouldn't vent his temper on Pei Xingzhi.
Anger is not a way to express concern.
"Mmm." Pei Xingzhi obediently huddled in Xie Nanyi's arms, partly because he really didn't have the strength to struggle, and partly because he felt a little guilty.
This is already countless times the trouble he has caused Xie Nanyi.
Xie Nanyi nodded and put him on the bed. Pei Xingzhi was still uneasy. He gently tugged at Xie Nanyi's clothes and whispered, "I'm sorry for making you worry. I promise I won't do it again."
"I know, get some rest." Xie Nanyi didn't believe his nonsense; Pei Xingzhi never made a vow that she could believe.
Pei Xingzhi fell asleep quickly; he was exhausted and hadn't even finished speaking before he drifted off. Xie Nanyi sighed, tucked Pei Xingzhi in, and quietly got up and left.
Perhaps because he hadn't had a proper rest in a long time, Pei Xingzhi slept for an exceptionally long time, waking up the next afternoon. If Xie Nanyi hadn't forcibly woken him up, he probably would have slept even longer.
The long sleep left Pei Xingzhi somewhat groggy. He sat on the bed for a long time before finally coming to his senses, and it wasn't until Xie Nanyi placed a spoon near his lips that he slowly regained consciousness.
He instinctively opened his mouth, but only realized something was wrong after Xie Nanyi fed him two bites.
"I...I...I'll eat by myself!" Pei Xingzhi tried to take the bowl from Xie Nanyi's hand. He wasn't sick, so why was Xie Nanyi feeding him?
"I'll feed you." Xie Nanyi refused to back down, and the two remained deadlocked for a long time before Pei Xingzhi finally gave in.
"Okay, then you feed me."
Pei Xingzhi lay half-reclined on the bed, sipping the porridge Xie Nanyi fed him, his thoughts drifting away. He didn't know when it started, but he seemed to have already included Xie Nanyi in his life. He began to act coquettishly towards Xie Nanyi, began to rely on Xie Nanyi, and began to want to understand Xie Nanyi.
But the truth is that he doesn't seem to understand Xie Nanyi at all.
Everything about him was transparent to Xie Nanyi, yet Xie Nanyi refused to reveal any information about herself to him. Xie Nanyi's purpose in approaching him seemed to be solely because of that elusive imprint.
"He's only being so nice to you because he sees you as his imprinter," Pei Xingzhi told himself.
He could only treat Xie Nanyi as a friend, and they could only be friends.
He regarded the word "friend" as the boundary between the two of them, even though their behavior had crossed this boundary countless times.
"What's wrong? You seem distracted. Didn't you finish your homework?" Seeing that Pei Xingzhi was in a bad mood, Xie Nanyi assumed he was still worried about his homework and couldn't help but ask.
“It’s not about homework.” Pei Xingzhi shook his head; he never worried about such things.
"What else could possibly trouble our genius Xiao Zhi?" Xie Nanyi finished feeding him the porridge, put the bowl aside, and affectionately pinched Pei Xingzhi's cheek.
Pei Xingzhi had other thoughts in mind and resisted Xie Nanyi's actions. He avoided Xie Nanyi's gaze and tried to deceive her, then tried to use his best trick of fooling her to get away with it.
Xie Nanyi naturally did not miss Pei Xingzhi's resistance. His hand, which was hanging in mid-air, paused for a moment, then he put it back by the bedside.
"Did you not get enough rest? I'll call the doctor to take a good look at you."
"I'm fine! I'm really fine!" Pei Xingzhi was afraid that he would actually call a doctor, so he immediately got up and pulled him back. "I was just a little dizzy when I first woke up, but I'm fine now."
"Are you really alright?" Xie Nanyi narrowed her eyes, and the next second she grinned mischievously, grabbed Pei Xingzhi's hands, and handcuffed him.
"Didn't you give this to those two gangsters last time? Why are you asking for it back?" Pei Xingzhi's focus remained peculiar.
“How could I possibly take back what I gave away? This is new. No, don’t change the subject. Since you say you’re alright, now I’m going to interrogate you properly.” Xie Nanyi pulled out that cat paw paddle full of stories from somewhere and gently touched it to Pei Xingzhi’s face.
"What are you going to do?" Pei Xingzhi asked, somewhat confused.
"Will you dare to be so careless about your body next time?" Xie Nanyi said, raising the paddle high and then gently placing it on Pei Xingzhi's waist, leaving not even a red mark.
"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare." Although Pei Xingzhi didn't know what Xie Nanyi was up to again, he still cooperated with him and performed his act with all his might. "This servant, no, this concubine, no, that's not right either... this humble subject! This humble subject will never dare again."
"..." Pei Xingzhi really knows how to ruin the atmosphere.
"Alright, I'm not teasing you anymore." Xie Nanyi resignedly put away the props and let go of the person. "Next time you have this much homework, come to me. Do you think my subordinates are all idiots?"
"I..." Pei Xingzhi was about to speak when the special ringtone he had set up for his teacher rang. He made a "shh" gesture to signal Xie Nanyi to be quiet, and then answered his teacher's call.
"Teacher?" Pei Xingzhi asked nervously. At this time, a teacher calling him was usually not a good thing, as long as it wasn't a new requirement for the group assignment.
"Pei Xingzhi, I have a problem here, it's about that assignment you did last time, I..."
"Okay, I understand."
Pei Xingzhi hung up the phone, remained silent for a few seconds, and then suddenly burst into laughter as if he had lost his mind.
"What's wrong?" Xie Nanyi asked.
“I have some fantastic news!” Pei Xingzhi raised his eyebrows, signaling him to continue.
"What good news?" Xie Nanyi asked cooperatively.
"My group members are changing! They can't cheat on my assignment this time!"
“That is indeed good news.” Xie Nanyi nodded, a slight smile playing on her lips.
"To celebrate this amazing news, I'll treat you to dinner tomorrow!"
Xie Nanyi was surprised to find himself benefiting from this, and was momentarily flattered. He feigned modesty for a moment before accepting Pei Xingzhi's invitation.
"Then I'll head back first. Don't stay up too late tonight." Xie Nanyi glanced at the smug Pei Xingzhi.
It's always better to be energetic than to be constantly sick.
"Okay, I understand." Pei Xingzhi fiddled with his phone, it was unclear whether he had actually heard what he said.
Xie Nanyi left Pei Xingzhi's room, went back to her own wardrobe, and spent a long time comparing and picking out items, but ultimately still couldn't find anything suitable.
This is just a meal; he eats with Pei Xingzhi every day now, so there's no need to make such a big deal out of it.
But this was the first time Pei Xingzhi had taken the initiative to invite him to dinner, and it was a dinner out alone.
"Assistant Liu, please send me the dress for next week's banquet to the school. Yes, send it now."
It's all about eating, so what's the difference between this dinner and the previous one?
Xie Nanyi haphazardly stuffed the clothes she had just piled on the bed into the closet, turned to look at the full-length mirror next to her, and hesitated about whether to get her hair done again, when the phone suddenly rang again.
Xie Nanyi didn't pay attention to the caller and answered the phone directly.
The call connected, and an annoying voice came from the other end.
"Nanyi, go back to the old house tomorrow, Grandpa misses you."
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