chapter 15

Chapter 15

Wu Haibin, whom Wu Ai habitually called Old Wu, is a fat man with lofty ambitions to lose weight-he has taken action, but always ends up failing.

He currently serves as the office director at a state-owned enterprise. The title sounds impressive, but to put it plainly, he’s just in charge of the cars.

He is gentle with everyone, even kind, but when he gets angry, he’s truly frightening.

After exchanging a few more casual words with Madam Zhang, he quickly gets up and gets dressed.

At this moment, Mu Yunfei is still sleeping drowsily. Wu Ai doesn’t have the heart to wake her, so he casually grabs a note.

He writes his phone number on it and puts it in a conspicuous spot on the bedside table.

Perhaps his movements are too loud-Mu Yunfei rubs her sleepy eyes, startling Wu Ai as he’s putting down the note.

The two of them simply stare at each other.

Mu Yunfei glances at the coat on the floor, then looks at her own wrinkled dress. Suddenly, she screams and dives under the covers.

Only her head is exposed, her eyes full of fear.

“You… what did you do to me?”

Wu Ai tries to step forward and explain, but Mu Yunfei screams again.

“Ahhh! You beast! One night wasn’t enough for you, now you want more?!”

“Come on, don’t you dare slander my innocence! I didn’t do anything to you all night!”

Hearing this, Mu Yunfei freezes, then looks at the bedsheet.

She stretches her slender legs, but doesn’t feel any of the pain people talk about online. Awkwardly, she looks at Wu Ai.

“Then last night… where did you sleep?”

“Of course, on the sofa!”

Hearing this, Mu Yunfei is stunned for a few seconds.

The fear on her face gradually changes to a complicated expression, tinged with embarrassment and a hint of disappointment.

“So you’re not even as bad as a beast…”

“What the hell did you say!?”

“Nothing!”

Mu Yunfei suddenly sits up, pulls the hair tie from her wrist and ties up her hair, her movements swift and sharp as if she were a different person.

“Thanks for bringing me back last night. Let me buy you breakfast?”

“No thanks, my family arranged a blind date for me with a rich woman in her fifties. If I don’t go home, I might get killed.”

Before Wu Ai can finish, Mu Yunfei bursts out laughing.

She lies on the bed, propping up her chin, looking at Wu Ai with a mischievous grin.

“You look like you’re still in high school, little brother.”

“I’m a high school senior.”

Mu Yunfei laughs, her eyes curving like crescent moons. “Guess which university your big sister goes to?”

“With the way you hang out in bars every day, it’d be impressive if you got into a junior college.”

“You guessed wrong…”

The mischief on her face grows even stronger.

“Your big sister is a top student in the Department of Languages at Peking University.”

Wu Ai chokes on his water, almost spitting it out on the bed.

“Peking University? Now you’re just bragging!”

…

“So you really do go to Peking University…”

Wu Ai and Mu Yunfei stand in front of the gate of Peking University, watching the college students coming and going.

Heroes from all over the country, as numerous as fish in the Yangtze River-these are the top talents from every province, all gathered here.

“What, you still don’t believe me?”

As she speaks, she rummages through her backpack and takes out a card.

“Here! Let me show you my student ID.”

In the photo, she wears a shoulder-length bob. Her face still carries a hint of youthfulness, but the cool confidence in her eyes can’t be hidden.

“Well, do you believe me now?” she says proudly.

“I believe you. Turns out, bars really are full of hidden talents…”

Thinking about it, it’s no wonder Mu Yunfei’s self-introduction had such a literary flair-this explains it.

Mu Yunfei waves goodbye to him. The two add each other on WeChat, agreeing to go out for drinks together next time.
Wu Ai sighed inwardly. This time, he truly hadn’t come back empty-handed-he’d actually met a top student from Peking University.

Although she wouldn’t be much help in media, she was sure to be a talent in management and administration, someone he could definitely make use of in the future.

By the time he returned to his place, it was already two in the afternoon. The door to Wu Ai’s room was half open, clearly showing someone had just gone in.

Seeing Wu Ai come back, Old Wu waved him over.

Maybe this was the power of blood ties; outside, Wu Ai could smoke, drink, and fight, acting even more like a delinquent than the real ones.

But in his parents’ eyes, he would always be a child.

“Why so nervous? I’m not here to lecture you.”

Old Wu saw how tense he was, clutching the hem of his shirt, so he poured a cup of warm water and handed it over, his arm resting on Wu Ai’s shoulder.

“If it weren’t for your mom nagging me, I wouldn’t have bothered to come.”

“You’re not here to talk about me?”

Old Wu shook his head and sighed.

“I used to be able to talk sense into you, but now you’ve grown up. No matter what I say, you won’t listen, so I might as well let you be.”

As he spoke, he glanced at the ashtray on the coffee table, stuffed full of cigarette butts.

“You little brat, you’ve been smoking a lot, huh? If your mom finds out, she’ll skin you alive.”

Old Wu used to smoke too. He’d told Wu Ai that he started smoking even younger than Wu Ai did.

But Wu Ai admired his willpower. Everyone said quitting was hard, but Old Wu had succeeded and hadn’t touched a cigarette since.

Wu Ai nodded, deciding to go along with Old Wu’s words for now, so as not to upset him.

“I’m not here to scold you, but there are things you need to understand yourself.”

Old Wu took a sip of tea, his tone growing heavier.

“Even if you’re number one in the country on the Art College Entrance Exam, if your academic score doesn’t reach the Undergraduate Admission Score Line, all your previous efforts are wasted. I don’t need to spell that out for you.”

Wu Ai lowered his head and replied, acknowledging his words.

Seeing Wu Ai like this, Old Wu sighed, got up, and headed out.

“I just came to check on you, nothing else.”

At the door, Old Wu paused and added, “Smoke less. It’s bad for your health.”

The door clicked shut, and only then did Wu Ai snap out of it.

The conversation hadn’t lasted more than ten minutes. No long-winded lectures, just a few scattered reminders.

In the past, Old Wu loved to give lengthy talks, quoting classics for hours without stopping.

Suddenly, Wu Ai realized he really had grown up.

Just then, his phone buzzed. Wu Ai picked it up and saw a message from Lao Ba.

“Brother Ai, congrats! You don’t have to come to school again.”

Lao Ba didn’t say anything else, just sent over a news photo.

He’d seen pictures like this online many times before, but this time was different-his school’s name was on it.

“Damn, our school has a Close Contact?” Wu Ai’s eyes widened.

“You didn’t come to school, so you dodged the Campus Lockdown and Nucleic Acid Test. We didn’t get out until late last night.”

Staring at the screen, Wu Ai suddenly felt fate was playing tricks on him-he’d have to start Online Classes again.

He’d just put down his phone when it rang again.

It was a somewhat familiar number, but he couldn’t quite place it.

“Could it be a scam?”

He hesitated for a few seconds, then pressed the answer button.

On the other end came a female voice he knew all too well-so familiar that just hearing it conjured her image in his mind.

Silky smooth golden hair, delicate oval face with eyebrows as slender as willow leaves, eyes deep as a lake.

Before Wu Ai could speak, the girl’s voice came through.

Light as a dream, yet heavy enough to crash into his heart.

“Wu Ai, I’m pregnant.”