Chapter 3

She smelled so good that my head went light. “Of course not.”

Pei Ruoqing looked satisfied.

I took the letter from her. “I’ll find him tomorrow night and make things clear.”

Her expression chilled. “You’re still going to see him?”

I jolted. “I… can’t?”

Truthfully, I’d been a little afraid of Pei Ruoqing in my previous life.

Whenever her face went cold, she intimidated me—and somehow made me love her even more.

Seeing that she’d frightened me, she softened her voice and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “Why does my Qi-Qi still need to see him?”

“I… need to explain and reject him face-to-face.”

Pei Ruoqing patted my head. “Good girl. I’ll go with you tomorrow.”

Something felt odd, but before I could examine it, she changed the subject and began listing all the delicious things at the restaurant she’d chosen.

My stomach growled, and I promptly forgot the matter.

The next evening, with Pei Ruoqing accompanying me, I met the boy.

I thanked him for liking me but refused him firmly.

Pei Ruoqing stood nearby. It felt strangely as if she were supervising me.

Only after the boy left did I breathe in relief.

I linked arms with Pei Ruoqing. “Let’s go.”

In an unreadable voice, she said, “Even your rejections are gentle.”

I turned toward her, but an image from my previous life surfaced: Pei Ruoqing rejecting someone’s confession.

Clean, decisive, merciless.

At first, admirers came one after another. Eventually, they all gave up.

Some even lashed out and slandered her in wounded pride.

During that time, Pei Ruoqing became the hottest subject on the campus forum.

She seemed completely unaware. She offered no explanations, paid the gossip no attention, and continued going everywhere alone.

I had already been scouted by then and taken extended leave to join a television program, so I knew little about campus affairs.

It was Ah Qiu who happened to mention it in conversation.

Furious, I registered an anonymous account on the forum.

I fought back beneath every post that smeared Pei Ruoqing.

Then I found the forum administrator and had the posts deleted.

By the time filming ended and I returned to school, a month had passed.

When I opened the dorm-room door, Pei Ruoqing was there for once, sitting at her desk with a book.

At the sound, she looked over, swept her gaze across me, and said coldly, “Oh? Our superstar finally decided to come back?”

I’d meant to ask why she hadn’t defended herself or explained the truth.

But the moment I saw her, I understood. She didn’t care.

Slander meant nothing to her, and neither did confessions.

She walked alone, knew exactly what she wanted, and focused only on her own path.

I swallowed my questions and put on my combative mask instead. “Well, well. Our star student isn’t at the library for once.”

Now, though, I was beside Pei Ruoqing, even if only as a friend.

“Gentle? Then next time, teach me how to reject someone with a cold face.” I put on a fierce expression.

Pei Ruoqing didn’t laugh. Instead, pressure entered her voice. “You want there to be a next time?”

Strange.

With a twenty-seven-year-old soul, why should I fear a Pei Ruoqing who had only just entered college?

Yet sometimes, a chill far beyond her age emerged from her. For an instant, it felt like seeing the woman from my previous life.

Like now.

When I didn’t answer, she frowned and stared at me. “Do you truly want a next time? Weren’t you the one who said yesterday that studies should come first? Have you changed your mind?”

Beneath the rapid questions lurked an anxiety completely unlike her.

Unable to make sense of it, I guessed at how to reassure her. “I haven’t changed my mind. My heart is closed for business. I absolutely won’t date before you do. And when you choose a boyfriend, I’ll vet him for you.”

Pei Ruoqing fell silent. She didn’t start another conversation the entire way home. Back at the dorm, she washed up first and climbed into bed early.

Even Ah Qiu noticed something was wrong. She secretly messaged to ask whether Pei Ruoqing and I had quarreled.

I looked at Pei Ruoqing’s tightly closed bed curtains and sighed soundlessly.