So It's You

All day long, Chen Zhi had been in a state of feeling completely spaced out, like his soul had left his body.

He sprawled over his desk, his cheek pressed against the cold surface, exuding an aura of absolute despair.

On the podium, the English teacher was spitting everywhere while passionately explaining attributive clauses.

Taking advantage of the moment the teacher turned around to write on the blackboard, Cheng Jun poked his back with a pen cap.

"Hey, Brother Zhi, wanna log on? Those noobs from the next class are talking trash again, we need a pro jungler to carry us."

Chen Zhi didn't even move. His voice was muffled in his school uniform sleeve, sounding thick and heavy.

"No time."

"No time? Aren't you just sitting there doing nothing?"

Cheng Jun looked puzzled.

Chen Zhi shifted his posture, burying his face even deeper, his muffled voice drifting out.

"My innocence might be compromised."

Cheng Jun: "..."

Psycho.

The area of Chen Zhi's current psychological trauma could probably cover the entire sports field.

After two rounds of investigation in the morning, it seemed neither Pei Ningxue nor Li Zhiyi was the person from yesterday.

Since it wasn't either of these two top-tier beauties, then that soft, warm touch in the dark last night, the one with the gardenia scent...

Images that made his sanity plummet kept flashing through Chen Zhi's mind.

Like a two-hundred-pound, fleshy-faced burly man wearing cheap lipstick, flashing a sinister smile at him in the dark.

"Ugh—"

Chen Zhi gagged, feeling like he was no longer clean.

He couldn't live like this anymore.

This state of wanting to die but not being able to lasted until the school dismissal bell rang.

"School's out!"

"Starving, starving, let's go grab food!"

Chen Zhi slowly straightened his back, casually sweeping the books on his desk into his backpack.

Beside him, Pei Ningxue was also packing up.

This young lady was a bit abnormal today. She hadn't said a word all day, radiating a "don't mess with me" vibe.

She packed up very quickly, zipping her bag loudly, seemingly in a rush to flee the scene.

Chen Zhi wasn't in the mood to tease her either, so he shouldered his bag and prepared to leave.

Right at that moment.

As Pei Ningxue lifted her backpack, the side mesh pocket seemed to catch on the corner of the desk.

The bag tilted sharply.

A small silver-white tube slipped out of the mesh pocket.

With a clatter.

It fell into the aisle between them.

It was an aluminum tube of hand cream.

The two reacted almost simultaneously.

Pei Ningxue's expression panicked, and she subconsciously bent down to pick it up.

Although Chen Zhi was in a bad mood, he also naturally bent down.

"I'll get it..."

In the narrow aisle, their two heads inevitably collided.

Thump!

A dull thud.

It sounded painful.

"Hiss—"

Chen Zhi clutched his forehead, gasping in pain.

Is this girl's head made of iron?

Pei Ningxue was also hit hard. She swayed, plopped down onto her chair, and covered her smooth forehead, tears instantly welling up in the corners of her eyes.

"What are you doing!"

Her voice changed pitch from the pain, carrying a petulance and grievance she didn't normally show.

"Miss, be reasonable, I was just trying to help you pick up your stuff."

Chen Zhi rubbed his forehead and grumbled in annoyance.

He looked down, his gaze falling on the culprit.

It was a very delicate hand cream, with a silver-white tube and a string of cursive French printed on it.

The cap had popped open slightly due to the impact of the fall.

A familiar fragrance drifted out through that crack.

Very faint.

Very cool and elegant.

Chen Zhi's hand, which was about to pick up the hand cream, suddenly froze in mid-air.

This scent...

That refreshing, subtle fragrance.

He definitely couldn't be wrong.

Gardenia.

The culprit who ambushed him in the dark last night and made him live in fear all day long.

The scent on them was exactly the same as this!

It was as if a bolt of lightning struck through Chen Zhi's mind.

Chen Zhi's movements paused for two seconds.

The citrus body wash scent on Pei Ningxue this morning was to cover up this smell?

Her uncharacteristic coldness today was also to hide her guilty conscience?

Oh, wow.

So the person who gave me nightmares all day was actually you!

Chen Zhi's fingers trembled slightly.

He leaned closer to the hand cream, his nose twitching as he took a hard sniff.

Confirmed without a doubt.

It was exactly this scent!

At this moment, Pei Ningxue also recovered her senses.

Seeing Chen Zhi's actions, her already somewhat flustered face instantly turned pale.

Ignoring the pain in her forehead, she lunged forward, reaching out to snatch the hand cream off the floor.

"Give it back to me!"

Her voice carried obvious panic.

How could Chen Zhi let her succeed?

His reaction speed was trained from years of being single.

With a flip of his wrist, the hand cream landed securely in his palm.

Pei Ningxue missed, and due to momentum, she almost threw herself into Chen Zhi's arms.

Chen Zhi smoothly extended his other hand and grabbed her slender wrist.

"Why are you running?"

"Let me go!"

Pei Ningxue struggled desperately.

But how could her strength compare to Chen Zhi's?

That small, jade-white hand was firmly gripped in Chen Zhi's palm, not budging no matter how hard she tried.

Chen Zhi paid no attention to her struggles.

He held Pei Ningxue's hand and brought it under his nose.

"Chen Zhi! You pervert!"

Pei Ningxue was dying of shame and anger, her entire face blushing so hard it looked like it would drip blood.

In broad daylight.

Even though most of the classmates had left, there were still a few students on duty sweeping the floor!

This guy was actually grabbing her hand and smelling it?

How was this any different from a hooligan!

Chen Zhi ignored her scolding.

He carefully sniffed the inside of her wrist.

This spot was rarely washed properly when washing hands, making it the easiest place for scents to linger.

Just as expected.

Besides the faint citrus body wash scent.

There was also a faint, lingering gardenia fragrance.

Exactly the same as the hand cream's scent.

Case closed.

Chen Zhi looked up, a look of sudden realization dawning on his face.

"So it was you all along..."

He dragged out the end of his sentence, his tone full of teasing.

Pei Ningxue's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

She stopped struggling, her eyes darting away, not daring to look at Chen Zhi's face.

"Wh... what was me?"

She pretended to be calm, but her trembling voice betrayed her inner panic at that moment.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Give my hand cream back, I want to go home."

She tried to pull her hand back, but Chen Zhi's hand held onto her wrist in a vice grip.

Chen Zhi wasn't in a hurry to expose her.

He played with the slightly deformed hand cream in his hand, sighed, and put on an expression of deep sorrow.

"Pei Ningxue, oh, Pei Ningxue."

"I always treated you like a bro."

"I never expected..."

Chen Zhi shook his head, looking like someone who had trusted the wrong person.

"I never expected that you actually harbored improper thoughts about me."

"Coveting my good looks is one thing; we're all adults here, I can understand that." (Disclaimer)

"But the one thing you absolutely shouldn't have done was make a move on me."

Pei Ningxue laughed out of sheer anger at his shameless remarks.

"Chen Zhi, could you not be so narcissistic?"

She gritted her teeth, her beautiful eyes glaring daggers at Chen Zhi.

"Who has improper thoughts about you?"

"With your attitude, I wouldn't want you even if you threw yourself at me!"

"Still treating you like a bro... Who wants to be your bro!"

Pei Ningxue was like a cat whose tail had just been stepped on, all the hair on her body standing on end.

Chen Zhi looked at her flustered and exasperated expression, his inner mischievousness immensely satisfied.

Getting worked up already?

Your mental composure is lacking, Classmate Pei.

You still need practice.

The smile on Chen Zhi's face deepened.

He suddenly leaned in close to Pei Ningxue, lowering his voice to a volume that only the two of them could hear:

"Since you're not interested in me..."

"Then last night when the power went out..."

"Wasn't it you who secretly..."

Before he could even finish his sentence.

Pei Ningxue, as if a switch had been flipped, abruptly cut him off.

"Who kissed you!"

"So shameless!"

The words completely blurted out of her mouth.

Her crisp voice echoed in the spacious classroom.

The students on cleaning duty, who were sweeping the floor, stopped their movements in perfect unison.

Several shocked gazes shot over simultaneously.

The air suddenly fell dead silent.

The moment Pei Ningxue shouted those words, she regretted it.

Seeing the triumphant smirk on Chen Zhi's face, her mind buzzed and went completely blank.

It is over.

I took the bait.

The smile on Chen Zhi's face bloomed as brightly as a flower.

He let go of Pei Ningxue's hand, spread his palms wide, and looked at her with a face full of innocence.

"Classmate Pei, you can eat whatever you like, but you can't just spout nonsense."

"I just wanted to ask, wasn't it you who secretly stepped on my foot last night?"

"I never said anything about someone kissing me."

Chen Zhi blinked, looking purely innocent.

"How did you know... that someone kissed me?"

"Could it be..."

Chen Zhi pointed to his own cheek, then pointed at Pei Ningxue, putting on an extremely exaggerated expression of surprise.

"Did you just out yourself?"

Pei Ningxue felt all the blood in her body rush to the top of her head.

Looking at Chen Zhi's punchable, smiling face, she wished she could find a hole in the ground to crawl into.

She had been played by this jerk!

"You... you bastard!"

Pei Ningxue struggled for a moment, only managing to squeeze out this completely harmless insult.

She snatched the hand cream right out of Chen Zhi's hand.

No longer caring about her image.

She turned around and ran.

Her retreating figure revealed the awkwardness of someone fleeing in panic.

Her backpack straps were not even fastened properly, dangling behind her as she ran.

Chen Zhi stood in place, watching Pei Ningxue's back disappear through the back door.

"She runs pretty fast."