In the evening, the first autumn rain in Lincheng arrived unexpectedly, with dark clouds hanging heavily in the sky as if they were pressing down on everything.
Pei Chen walked to the entrance of the café, ready to bike home, only to realize he had forgotten his umbrella, which he had left at the tutoring center.
He turned back to retrieve it, but as he reached the entrance of the “Secret Garden,” he heard a crisp, bell-like voice from inside:
“My baby, you’re just too good!”
The voice was very familiar, causing him to pause slightly in his steps.
The girl’s voice continued inside, and as he walked in, he saw a girl sitting on the floor with her back to him, talking. His pupils suddenly contracted.
A deep shock flashed through his eyes.
The girl was wearing an avocado green shirt paired with shorts, her hair styled in a bun, and her skin was as fair as snow. At that moment, she was affectionately holding a small cookie, laughing with great joy.
Even without seeing her face, Pei Chen could recognize who she was just by her voice.
At this moment, Liang Zhiyi was still immersed in her happiness, speaking without reserve, “Cookie, you’re my biggest ally. Why does Pei Chen seem more excited to see you than to see me? I’ve made up my mind. From now on, I’ll send you to help me seduce him, hehe…”
The next moment, Pei Chen’s cold voice sounded from behind:
“Oh? Tell me, how are you going to seduce me?”
Liang Zhiyi was startled and quickly turned around, only to see him standing there.
Ahhh????
Pei Chen????!
Didn’t he just leave?
She was so stunned that she couldn’t speak, her eyes wide like saucers.
Recalling what she had just said, she was so shocked that her face instantly turned bright red, and she felt as if her head was about to explode.
Oh no, oh no…
I’ve been caught, waaa… she thought, wanting to hide.
The boy looked down at her, his eyes as dark as ink, not saying a word but radiating an overwhelming pressure.
For a moment, the room fell into a dead silence.
Liang Zhiyi felt a chill down her spine under his gaze, and she slowly set Cookie on the floor, where the cat immediately jumped away.
She propped herself up from the floor and stood up, looking at Pei Chen, pretending to be surprised as she touched her head, “Uh, Pei Chen, what are you doing here…”
The boy looked at her, his brows furrowing deeply:
“Shouldn’t I be asking you why you’re here?”
The girl, feeling guilty, averted her gaze. “I…”
Faced with this unexpected situation, she couldn’t come up with an excuse.
Pei Chen glanced upward and noticed that the door to a room on the second floor, which had never been open before, was now ajar. Inside, he saw it was a room with a desk and her backpack on a wooden chair.
He realized something and emotions churned in his eyes. “Were you sitting upstairs earlier?”
It’s all her fault. Why was she in such a hurry to come down…
Liang Zhiyi, frustrated, smacked her head, her expression twisting in embarrassment as she tried to explain, “Pei Chen, there’s a bit of a misunderstanding here…”
“Misunderstanding what? I’m tutoring Xuan Xia’s cousin. How are you so familiar with his family’s cat?”
“…”
Seeing her remain silent, Pei Chen took out his phone. “Then I’ll ask Xuan Xia.”
“No, no, no!” Liang Zhiyi quickly stopped him. “This has nothing to do with Xuan Xia. It was all my idea.”
She bit her red lip, realizing she couldn’t hide it anymore, and decided to come clean. “I asked Xuan Xia to have you come over to help with tutoring. He doesn’t have a cousin at all…”
Hearing this, Pei Chen was momentarily stunned, and his expression gradually darkened:
“No wonder every time I come over, I’m just staring at a test paper like an idiot, sitting here for two hours for no reason, then getting paid three hundred yuan, when in reality, there was never anyone who needed tutoring.”
He curled his lips. “Liang Zhiyi, do you think it’s fun to mess with me?”
“No! I just wanted to help you…”
“Help? Deceiving me is helping?”
Panicked, Liang Zhiyi tried to explain, “I thought your other jobs were too exhausting, but if I asked you to tutor in my name, you wouldn’t accept the money, so I… I had to ask Xuan Xia…”
On one hand, she thought this place could offer him a quiet study environment. On the other, she was concerned about how hard he was working. This way, he could earn money, and she saw it as a win-win situation.
Besides, she did have a cousin in the third year of middle school, and this café was indeed owned by his family…
Liang Zhiyi didn’t know how to explain it all and muttered, her eyes downcast, “I saw that you were struggling financially and needed money, so I wanted to help you…”
Her words pierced through Pei Chen, exposing all the bitterness and heartache he had tried to bury beneath his pride. It was laid bare under the sunlight, with nowhere to hide.
He let out a mocking laugh, cutting her off: “Liang Zhiyi, do you think having money makes you so great?”
The girl froze slightly.
“Giving me money in this way—does it make you feel superior?”
Three hundred yuan was a very high wage for him. Usually, he would have to work for three days and perform a lot of physical labor to earn that much. However, for someone like her, a wealthy young lady, it was nothing and could be given away casually.
Pei Chen pressed his lips into a thin line, his dark lashes trembling as he spoke in a hoarse voice:
“I don’t need your pity, nor do I need you to charity me.”
Even though he worked hard and did strenuous tasks, nothing had made him feel as humiliated in front of her as this did.
Pei Chen opened his backpack and took out the three hundred yuan he had just received, along with all the money he had.
After counting it, he placed the money on the table and said in a low, hoarse tone, “When I get back, I’ll return all the money for these tutoring sessions.”
Liang Zhiyi was momentarily stunned, her nose tingling as she looked at the money. “Pei Chen, is this really how you see me?”
She wasn’t like that; she didn’t think that way at all…
The boy lowered his gaze, walked to the other side of the table, and pulled out a chair. However, Cookie, who was curled up on the chair, was startled by the movement and jumped up, scratching his hand with its claws.
He winced in pain, and Cookie ran away.
Liang Zhiyi, seeing this, hurried over. “Are you okay…”
Pei Chen looked up and met Liang Zhiyi’s innocent, almond-shaped eyes. She seemed to have a lot to say.
He swallowed hard, finally turning his gaze away. He picked up the umbrella from the chair and walked out without another word.
The girl stood still, biting her lip, her eyes downcast and beginning to redden.
The rain poured heavily.
The entire Lincheng was shrouded in a misty rain curtain.
The rain was so heavy that an umbrella was ineffective. By the time Pei Chen reached the bottom of his building, he was already soaked through.
He got off his bike, his black T-shirt clinging to him, droplets of water falling from his dark hair, seeping coldly into his bones.
He parked his bike and walked upstairs.
While walking, he took out his phone from his bag and dialed a number.
“Hello, Pei Chen.”
On the other end, Xuan Xia’s casual voice came through.
“Do you find it interesting to team up with Liang Zhiyi to play tricks on me?” Pei Chen’s voice was cold, as if soaked in the chill of the autumn rain.
Xuan Xia was stunned.
Damn it, didn’t Liang Zhiyi say she would never be discovered?!
“Don’t you know I hate this kind of thing the most? And you helped her keep it from me?” Pei Chen, who considered Xuan Xia his best friend, never imagined that Xuan Xia would help Liang Zhiyi deceive him.
Xuan Xia was taken aback and about to apologize, “Pei Chen, I…”
But the call was abruptly ended.
Pei Chen hung up the phone, his lips pressed into a tight line. He closed his heavy eyes, and the droplets of water clinging to his long lashes trickled down.
After the storm, Lincheng seemed to be enveloped in a heavy silence, the night growing darker and gray.
The scene at the café earlier left Liang Zhiyi feeling uneasy.
With Pei Chen leaving in frustration, she felt not only sadness and grievance but also anger.
Angry that her good intentions were misunderstood.
That night, after taking a shower and returning to her bedroom, she picked up her phone and saw a message from her cousin sent half an hour earlier:
“Cousin, I just finished correcting the papers. Your top student classmate is really impressive! Some parts are even clearer than what my teacher explained!”
When she first arranged this scheme with Xuan Xia, she thought of using her cousin as a tool. She reached out to him, and he agreed to help.
The reason he didn’t come in the afternoon was that he had other tutoring classes then. Liang Zhiyi didn’t mind and only used him as a cover.
But none of that mattered now.
Pei Chen didn’t even listen to her explanation…
After applying her skincare, Liang Zhiyi lay on her bed with her Starry Dew doll, thinking about what Pei Chen had said earlier. She tugged at the doll’s rabbit ears, feeling dejected and muttering angrily:
“What pity and charity? How could he say that? When have I ever thought like that?”
“If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t have been so nice to him…”
Liang Zhiyi was angry, but then she realized that she had indeed deceived him, and deceiving people was wrong…
Should she apologize to him?
As soon as Liang Zhiyi thought about it, her proud nature pushed the idea aside.
She didn’t want to apologize; after all, it was he who misunderstood her intentions and accused her of being arrogant because of her wealth.
Ugh, Pei Chen, you’re so mean…
Liang Zhiyi turned over and buried her face in the pillow, remaining still.
A few seconds later, she fidgeted with her feet.
Thus, Liang Zhiyi spent the entire night feeling frustrated and conflicted, and by the end of it, she hadn’t made any effort to contact Pei Chen.
The next morning, Liang Zhiyi practiced piano at home. After coming out of the piano room, Ji Fei’er happened to call her to chat.
After a while, Ji Fei’er asked, “Do you want to go see a movie this afternoon? There are quite a few well-reviewed ones out for the National Day.”
Before Liang Zhiyi could answer, Ji Fei’er suddenly remembered something and said with a laugh, “Oh right, I forgot. You have to go watch someone do their homework every afternoon. You must be busy.”
“Who said I’m busy?”
Liang Zhiyi sat down on the sofa, leaning against the cushion. “I’m free. I’ll go with you.”