Chapter 149: Citrus Flavor

(1)

Pei Du smelled a faint citrus scent.

Just like the plump fruit freshly picked from a tree that ripens in that season.

Fresh, with a sweet note.

But there were no fruit trees in his room—the scent came from the person before him.

Very close.

She moved close to him, observing him curiously from a short distance.

He must not move randomly, and it's not good to look at her, because he is still sleepwalking, and she didn't expect an answer when she asked that question; she was just talking to herself.

But, pretty wood?

Is that what she's calling him?

Why?

They aren't close, so what basis does she have to call him 'pretty wood'? Can those two unrelated words, 'pretty' and 'wood', really be combined like that?

Also, how long will she keep watching him?

"Pretty wood, what's wrong with you today?" Shu Shu lowered her head, looking at the Rubik's Cube in Pei Du's hand, and said in a surprised tone: "It's already been five minutes, why haven't you solved this Rubik's Cube yet."

"You can't just slack off because I'm your super cheat, okay? The teacher often says, falling behind isn't a good thing."

……

After a barely perceptible pause of half a second, Pei Du quickly solved the Rubik's Cube, put it back on the sofa, and picked up the next one from the floor.

Then he heard her say, slightly surprised: "Wow, pretty wood, if I didn't know you were sleepwalking, I'd think you heard me."

Pei Du: "……"

"Okay, break time's over, let's see if I can break yesterday's record."

What record.

Not long after, Pei Du understood: it was the record for the time taken to solve all the Rubik's Cubes.

The Rubik's Cube in the girl's hand spun rapidly.

One after another.

Finally he understood why he had been feeling refreshed and waking up naturally these past few days.

Before, he needed to solve cubes until late at night, but they were all cleared in less than an hour.

Pei Du, who had barely solved a few himself: "……"

"Mm-hmm, faster than yesterday." Shu Shu looked pleased, turned her head to Pei Du and said: "Alright, you should go to sleep."

Pei Du: "……"

Seeing Pei Du not moving, Shu Shu looked puzzled, glancing at the floor and the two baskets while wondering: "There are no Rubik's Cubes left."

Why hasn't pretty wood gone to sleep yet.

Then Pei Du moved.

The boy placed his palm on the ground, feeling around as if checking whether any Rubik's Cubes remained.

After confirming, he got up, walked to the bed, lay flat, and pulled the covers over himself.

…

Soon after.

Pei Du, eyes closed and lying down, heard the balcony door being opened and then closed.

Afterward, the room returned to tranquility.

She left.

Pei Du opened his eyes; his black pupils were clear and lucid.

So she knew that each time he finished solving a Rubik's Cube, his sleepwalking state would end and he would fall asleep.

She, Shuyin.

Pei Du glanced at the time.

Five past eleven.

Quite early.

According to the usual routine, at this time he should still be solving Rubik's Cubes.

Pei Du knew he had the habit of sleepwalking while solving Rubik's Cubes, because this habit formed with his awareness.

He once suffered from severe insomnia for a period of time.

The psychologist's treatment plan for him was—counting sheep to induce sleep.

Of course, it wasn't the traditional method of counting sheep from the first until he felt sleepy; instead, he needed to set himself a task similar to a mental suggestion, and completing it would allow him to sleep.

Among the props provided by the psychologist, Pei Du chose the Rubik's Cube.

Pei Du originally solved a hundred Rubik's Cubes while fully conscious, then returned to bed, closed his eyes, and slept; this gradually evolved into his current habit of sleepwalking after falling asleep to solve Rubik's Cubes before truly sleeping, so each morning he would scramble all the cubes he had solved.

This is the first time since the sleepwalking habit formed that, before even going to sleep, all the Rubik's Cubes had already been solved.

Pei Du has no prior experience dealing with this situation.

Should he go scramble the Rubik's Cubes again?

——"Pretty wood, your dark circles have finally faded a little."

The girl's light, ethereal voice appeared in his mind out of the blue.

Pei Du's uneven eyelids twitched slightly.

Forget it.

I won't scramble them.

Just like that, go to sleep.

Pei Du thought he would have insomnia that night, or perhaps he would sleepwalk again in the middle of the night and twist the Rubik's Cube.

However, when he woke up the next day, he saw that the Rubik's Cubes piled on the sofa were exactly as they had been the night before.

There was not the slightest trace of having been moved.

He neither had insomnia nor seemed to have sleepwalked, and at the same time he slept until waking naturally.

Pei Du sat on the gray bed, a hint of wondrous emotion flickering in the depths of his eyes.

…

On the fifth night, not long after ten o'clock.

She came again.

The room remained unlit, plunged in darkness.

Pei Du held a Rubik's Cube in his hand, his gaze passing through the gap in the curtains, using the moonlight to clearly see the girl's agile movement as she propped herself on the railing and flipped onto the balcony.

When the glass door was pushed open, he quickly lowered his eyes.

"Good-looking wood, your super cheat has arrived, please sign for it~"

After closing the glass sliding door, Shu Shu walked in, just about to sit cross-legged, when she discovered that the spot where she usually sat now had a soft cushion.

"?"

It wasn't there yesterday.

Pei Du turned the Rubik's Cube over and over, his peripheral vision noticing that Shu Shu was not sitting on the cushion.

Shu Shu naturally wouldn't sit there, for fear that she might accidentally shift the cushion's position; even the slightest displacement, she shone a flashlight on it and found an empty spot elsewhere to sit.

Pei Du: "……"

After sitting down, Shu Shu did not immediately go to pick up the Rubik's Cube; she approached Pei Du, as if inspecting her own achievement, her gaze carefully sweeping inch by inch across the boy's face.

Then she nodded.

"Mm, your complexion is rosy, delicate, and lustrous; it seems I didn't mistake you when I saw you at the restaurant during the day, and your dark circles aren't as heavy either—indeed, sufficient sleep is the foundation of health."

A citrus scent, smelled again.

His nostrils twitched slightly, and Pei Du couldn't help but sniff lightly.

Shu Shu praised with curved brows and eyes: "Not bad, not bad, good-looking wood, you look even more beautiful like this; keep it up."

Pei Du: "……"

"Huh, good-looking wood, are you hot?" Shu Shu seemed to have noticed something, strangely saying: "Your ears are red from the heat; didn't you turn on the air conditioning in your room? This coolness feels like you need to wear long sleeves."

Click——

Pei Du's finger joint twisted, and the Rubik's Cube's color directly flipped a piece wrong.

(2)

"Could it be that he has a fever?"

Pei Du's breathing slowed due to nervousness, but his expression remained unchanged; he nonchalantly turned the mistaken color back, lowered his eyes, and 'calmly' placed the Rubik's Cube on the sofa.

Shu Shu muttered, puzzled: "It doesn't seem like a fever; someone whose ears are red from fever shouldn't have the energy to play with a Rubik's Cube."

Probably because the boy's appearance matched the nickname Shu Shu gave him particularly well.

Good-looking wood.

Although good-looking, it is a piece of honest wood.

At that time, Shu Shu never imagined that Pei Du was pretending to sleepwalk; she casually thought in the direction of heat intolerance.

Thirty-nine minutes, the Rubik's Cube was cleared.

Shu Shu broke the record once again, she raised her eyebrows and silently said 'nice', watching Pei Du lie down, then she walked lightly toward the balcony glass door.

She didn't notice what was behind her.

The person who should have been in a 'deep sleep' state lifted his eyelids, a pair of bright, dark eyes gazing at her retreating back until it disappeared from view.

Pei Du glanced at the clock.

Getting shorter and shorter—the time she spends here.

And seeing her 'high-spirited' appearance, tomorrow it will only be even shorter.

Like gauze, the moonlight seeped through the curtain gap, providing slight illumination to the dim room; Pei Du gazed at the Rubik's Cubes piled high on the sofa, lost in thought.

The sixth night.

Shu Shu was already adept at flipping into Pei Du's balcony.

Indeed, as Pei Du had expected, she intended to break the previous day's record once again tonight.

Shu Shu greeted Pei Du symbolically, sat down on the carpet, and confidently picked up a Rubik's Cube.

Just as she was about to turn it, she felt that the hand feel was off.

Rubik's Cubes come in many types; good-looking wood's Rubik's Cubes are basically third-order, fourth-order, at most a few fifth-order.

The one Shu Shu held in her hand—sixth-order.

She then lowered her head to look at the others on the carpet; hardly any third- or fourth-order ones could be seen, fifth-order accounted for the majority, and the remaining sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-order ones were all present.

"……"

What's going on.

Did good-looking wood change the Rubik's Cube?

What happened.

Could it be that her super cheat backfired, good-looking wood noticed, mistakenly thought his own ability had surged, and thus swapped in a Rubik's Cube with a linearly increased difficulty?

It seems she won't be able to break the record tonight.

Sigh, after much effort, those two pesky dark circles have finally faded a bit.

Shu Shu sighed helplessly, resignedly picking up the six-stage magic cube, and muttered while doing so: "Pretty wood, what on earth are you thinking in that little head of yours? Don't you know that going to bed early and rising early is good for the body?"

"Although I can't do it myself either."

"But the most important thing in being human is to have double standards—strict with others, lenient with oneself; otherwise, how could one live happily and joyfully? You agree, right?"

Pei Du: "……"

He quietly listened to the girl's chatter beside him, while also turning the six-stage magic cube in his own hand.

"Beep."

It was the chime sounded by the clock on the hour.

Eleven o'clock sharp.

A total of fifty-two minutes had passed since she entered here; yesterday she had finished restoring all the cubes and left at the thirty-nine-minute mark.

And today.

Pei Du roughly counted in the dim environment, finding that one-third of the cubes remained, and half of that remaining third were the highest-difficulty eighth-stage ones.

In other words, she would still be staying here…

Pei Du withdrew his gaze from the clock, his long fingers turning the magic cube slowly and deliberately.

At that moment, the girl beside him raised her hand and yawned, sounding a bit tired, sleepy.

"……"

Pei Du's hand paused slightly.

The next second, his motion was no longer slow and deliberate; he secretly sped up.

Together with Shu Shu, who was equally fast, they cleared the cubes in less than twenty minutes.

"Ah, finally."

Hearing her relieved sigh, Pei Du silently began to consider switching back to the original cubes tomorrow.

As usual, he felt around on the carpet, confirmed there were no cubes, then returned to bed and lay down to sleep.

Shu Shu: "I'm leaving."

The glass door was pulled open, and the instant before it closed, Pei Du opened his eyes, sat up, stepped off the bed, and walked toward the balcony door.

She should not have gone far yet.

Pei Du was about to pull the curtain, but at the moment he was about to touch it, he realized something was wrong.

Shuyin is very cautious.

Every time she comes, she leaves no trace of having been here, including the curtain; she always keeps it exactly as it was, maintaining a tiny slit.

But the curtain before him was drawn shut tightly.

The slit was gone.

Someone who is always cautious would not suddenly become careless.

Therefore, this situation can only indicate…

Before Pei Du could work out what followed after "indicate,"

"Whoosh—"

The curtain within arm's reach was yanked open.

A beam of light shone at the same time.

It was the light from a flashlight.

Shu Shu pointed the flashlight at her own chin, the light shining from below to illuminate her whole pretty but expressionless face, her voice cold: "Fun, huh?"

Pei Du saw clearly her eyes.

The few times she had leaned close to examine his dark circles, he couldn't meet her gaze, each time only seeing a faint, blurred patch of white in his vision.

They were peach-blossom eyes.

Black and white distinct, clear and bright.

Very, beautiful.

But at this moment, those pretty peach-blossom eyes carried obvious irritation.

"……"

The act of feigning sleepwalking had been exposed.

Pei Du froze, startled.

She had been perfectly fine just a moment ago; when… did she notice?

Apparently reading his doubt, Shu Shu gave a neutral hum: "Since yesterday I've been a bit suspicious—you don't usually sit on cushions, yet a cushion suddenly appeared on the carpet; I didn't sit on it, and today it's gone."

"After you lay down, I completely confirmed that someone entering deep sleep breathes evenly; you had none, you were pretending to sleep."

Pei Du: "……"

"You must have known all along that I would come here to twist magic cubes, so you actually haven't slept these past few days, pretending to sleep and sleepwalking, deliberately waiting for me to walk into your trap, and today you even swapped in seventh- and eighth-stage cubes."

"……"

"What do you mean, looking down on me? Want to see me make a fool of myself?"

Pei Du opened his mouth, as if wanting to explain something, but Shu Shu didn't give him a chance to speak.

"Pei Du, playing with people—fun, huh?"

Having said that, Shu Shu put down the flashlight, turned and straightly pushed open the balcony door, climbed over the railing, and left without looking back.

Pei Du instinctively reached out.

But his fingertips only managed to catch the girl's soft, icy ponytail.

The next day, in the restaurant.

Pei Du sat at the table, his gaze fixed on the girl placing a bowl of soup on the tabletop.

Unlike the past two days, she would always take this opportunity to check whether his dark circles were deeper or lighter; now she is expressionless, didn't even glance at herself, put down her things and left.

She is angry, because of yesterday's matter.

Pei Du knows without thinking that tonight, Shuyin won't come to help him restore the Rubik's Cube.

…

Today is the last day of Shu Shu's night shift.

As soon as it was ten o'clock, she walked through the garden to the electrical room, click-click turning off all the green buttons, then prepared to go back to rest.

She held the flashlight clamped under her arm and went to lock the electrical room's door.

As she kept locking, her motion suddenly slowed; she turned her head as if sensing something, almost getting frightened.

Under the night curtain, a boy appeared behind her like a ghost—