6
He hadn’t finished when Chu Yun came around the corner carrying ginger tea,
“Hey, what are you two talking about?”
I looked away and smiled,
“Jinzhou-ge is debating whether to accept Sister Shutong’s confession—he came to ask for my advice.”
Pei Jinzhou’s face was frosty, his eyes burning with anger that looked ready to erupt.
He stepped forward and grabbed my hand, gritting his teeth,
“Chu Zhi, do you know what you’re saying?”
Feeling the pain in my wrist, I drew in a sharp breath.
“Of course I know. Jinzhou-ge, don’t you like Sister Shutong?”
I met his gaze and saw the struggle flicker in his eyes.
I couldn’t help but let out a cold laugh.
Chu Yun, oblivious to the tension between us, came over with the ginger tea.
“Alright, this is between Jinzhou and Shutong. We’re outsiders, so let’s
not get involved. Zhizhi, come back to your room and have some ginger
tea, don’t catch a cold.”
With Chu Yun there, Pei Jinzhou couldn’t lose his temper. He could only let go of my hand in frustration.
But he hadn’t controlled his strength earlier, and a bright red mark was left on my pale wrist.
Chu Yun noticed it immediately and glared at Pei Jinzhou,
“What the hell, why’d you grab her so hard? Are you looking for a fight?”
Pei Jinzhou was stunned for a moment and didn’t respond.
I rubbed the red mark on my wrist and shook my head.
“Forget it, it doesn’t hurt. Come on, let’s go in, brother.”
There was no point in dragging this out any further.
Back in my room, my phone vibrated in my hand.
It was a message from Pei Jinzhou:
“I’ll come find you tonight. Let’s have a proper talk then.”
I didn’t reply and set my phone aside.
After catching a chill that afternoon, I drank the ginger tea and fell asleep, but woke up feeling groggy.
I decided to skip dinner and just stayed in my room to rest.
I didn’t expect that just as I was dozing off again, Jian Shutong would knock on my door with dinner.
I let her in, and she said matter-of-factly,
“Your brother specifically asked the kitchen to make you a bowl of hot soup. Drink it while it’s warm.”
“You’re not just here to bring me dinner, are you?”
My throat was dry and my voice hoarse.
With no one else around, she dropped the act.
A smug smile appeared in Jian Shutong’s eyes.
“Chu Zhi, you’re not stupid—you must have noticed my relationship with
Jinzhou. I used to worry that he might really fall for you.”
“But after what happened this afternoon, I’m sure. He still loves me. He just can’t let me go.”
So it was true—she was the one who pushed me into the water.
Her goal was to test how much Pei Jinzhou cared about her.
I was speechless. I wanted to scold her, but my sore throat wouldn’t let me.
“Did Pei Jinzhou ever tell you he liked me?”
“Of course not. I’m just guessing.” She set down the food container and sat on the sofa.
“Other than me, you’re the girl he’s closest to. If there wasn’t something between you, why would he treat you so differently?”
“Maybe it’s just because of my brother? Pei Jinzhou is like a second brother to me. How could there be anything between us?”
There shouldn’t have been anything between us from the start.
Clearing things up was just returning to the way things were.
Jian Shutong was half-convinced, half-doubtful.
“Really? You really don’t like him?”
“I don’t.”
From the moment I died in my previous life, carrying an unborn child and full of resentment, I stopped liking him.
“Alright, since you say so, I’ll believe you.”
“Chu Zhi, you’re a good person and you’re beautiful. If it weren’t for Jinzhou, I think we could have been great friends.”