Chapter 150: Not Fun

（1）

A pitch-black garden, I don't know when he arrived; a clear-cut figure stood with his back to the moonlight, his expression indiscernible, yet one could feel the intense presence of his eyes as they gazed over.

Shu Shu jumped in fright.

Pat—

The flashlight slipped from his arm and fell onto the grass beside his feet.

The person before her silently bent down, picked up the flashlight, and handed it to Shu Shu; during this, the light for a moment illuminated his cold, aloof face.

Pei Du.

Thus Shu Shu's startled expression faded in half a second, she took the flashlight, and in a polite, flat tone said to Pei Du, 'Thank you.'

Then she went around him, walked past Pei Du, and was about to leave directly.

"…Not fun."

As they brushed past, a low, hoarse, dry voice sounded in her ear.

Shu Shu paused, turned around, and met his dark pupils.

"What did you say?"

Pei Du and Shu Shu locked eyes; the boy's bangs had grown slightly longer, a neat mess, his brows and eyes jet black, his skin very pale, his nose bridge high and straight, giving him an inexplicably well-behaved air.

He pressed his lips, said nothing, remaining silent to the point that it seemed the words that had stopped Shu Shu just moments ago weren't his.

Shu Shu glanced at the nearby greenery where not a leaf had moved, then said solemnly, 'Oh, it must have been the wind too strong; I misheard.'

As she spoke, she was about to walk away, but just before she lifted her leg—

"Not… fun."

Compared to the previous sentence, this second one clearly carried a hint of urgency.

This time Shu Shu saw how Pei Du spoke.

He seemed to rarely speak; when he did, a slight discomfort made him faintly furrow his brows, but speaking little didn't mean he couldn't.

Probably thinking three characters were too few to be understood, Pei Du added: 'Teasing people, not fun.'

"I never intended to tease you, never have."

He was explaining to Shu Shu last night's line: 'Pei Du, teasing, fun or not?'

Shu Shu, looking not easily fooled, said: 'Really? You didn't mean to tease me? Then why did you pretend to sleepwalk and deceive me?'

Seeing the girl's slightly angry expression, Pei Du felt he should clear up the misunderstanding, and so he laid it all out:

"My sleep quality is poor; even though I can truly fall asleep by ending the sleepwalking state, I still sleep badly, but these past few days…"

These past few days I've suddenly been sleeping very well, even able to wake naturally without an alarm.

"Before, I've never been like this; it makes me feel strange."

Feeling strange, he wanted to find out what was going on.

"…I found out on the fourth day that you would come to help me restore the Rubik's Cube.' And today is already the seventh day, meaning he had pretended to sleepwalk for three days; Pei Du felt this would deepen the misunderstanding, so he repeated:

"I didn't mean to tease you."

"The reason I didn't choose to be honest is simply because I discovered something."

"Shu Shu: "What thing?""

"Pei Du hesitated: "On the fourth day, with clear consciousness I finished restoring all the Rubik's Cubes, yet I had neither insomnia nor re-entered sleepwalking; I'm not sure whether this is due to myself or to you."

"So… I wanted to test it."

"Shu Shu curiously: "What's the result of your experiment?""

"……"

Not knowing what to think, Pei Du lowered his eyes and fell silent.

"?"

"So, what's the conclusion then?"

Shu Shu, itching for an answer, pressed Pei Du for a reply; seeing him silent, she tilted her head, leaned in, as if trying to find the answer in his eyes.

A faint citrus scent drifted over.

Pei Du unintentionally lifted his gaze and met the girl's beautiful, clear peach-blossom eyes.

She blinked repeatedly, urging him to answer.

"……" Pei Du startled, looked away, his voice low and unnatural: "No."

"Nothing?"

Pei Du said: "……No conclusion was reached."

The boy's hand hanging at his right side twitched slightly.

Because he lied, he didn't tell the truth; the truth was—after Shu Shu hung up the phone with a patter and turned away yesterday, he suffered insomnia.

Total insomnia, and not even sleepwalking.

All night, it was no different from keeping his eyes open until dawn.

"Oh, okay." Shu Shu stepped back, then suddenly asked: "Why are you insomniac? Got something on your mind? Bad grades? Or a breakup?"

Pei Du: "……"

He wondered, what does this question have to do with that matter?

But he noticed Shu Shu's tone and expression had eased, her demeanor no longer as tense as earlier today or just before.

At such a juncture, isn't it even more imperative not to refuse answering, otherwise it would deepen the conflict?

Then Pei Du truly pondered Shu Shu's questions and answered them one by one:

"No worries, my studies aren't bad, and I haven't broken up."

"The cause of insomnia…… is unclear."

Like that, huh?

Shu Shu nodded.

Pei Du's gaze slowly settled on Shu Shu's face; by this point, has the misunderstanding been fully cleared up?

He was about to sigh in relief when he heard Shu Shu say:

"No, Pei Du, you feel strange, you want to investigate, then you want to experiment, but you still pretended to sleepwalk to deceive me."

(2)

Pei Du felt as if he had been thrown back to before the liberation overnight.

"I understood everything you just said, I get it, but——" The important part always comes after the 'but', and indeed Shu Shu made a turn: "But, those are from your perspective; from my perspective, being deceived by you is a settled fact."

She crossed her arms, her expression stern: "No, I'm still angry."

Her words hung in the air.

Apart from the occasional chirping of insects in the distance, the air was completely still.

Shu Shu thought Pei Du had been put under a freezing spell.

The youth stood rooted, completely still, only his brows slightly furrowed.

Just as Shu Shu was about to use the Snap Awakening Technique, he lifted his gaze to her and, with utmost solemnity, uttered four words: "How can I make it right?"

How can I make it right, how can I avoid making her angry?

In the matter of appeasing someone, Pei Du is basically a blank slate, with no experience whatsoever.

His earlier stillness was him thinking, and the result of that thought was—aside from asking for help, he couldn't think of any other way.

First——

Shu Shu glanced at Pei Du, who was listening attentively, then said: "First step, you need to apologize to me."

"You pretended to sleepwalk to deceive me, so you're bad; I went through the trouble in the middle of the night to help you twist a Rubik's Cube so you could rest early and sleep well, so I'm good."

Shu Shu said solemnly: "Do you have any objections to that?"

"No." However, Pei Du pondered for a moment and couldn't help but make a small defense for himself: "On the fifth day, I laid out a soft mat for you."

The implication being—he's not entirely bad, right?

Pei Du looked at Shu Shu.

Although the youth's aloof face showed no extra expression, for some reason Shu Shu couldn't help but see a pleading look in his eyes.

Fair as she was, she said: "Laying out the soft mat counts as ten percent good, so I'll change your rating to ninety percent bad."

Ninety is less than one hundred.

Ninety percent bad is still better than a hundred percent bad.

Pei Du can still calculate this account.

Next up, it's time to apologize—

Shu Shu cleared her throat and said: "When it comes to apologizing, what matters is sincerity."

The diligent student Pei Du looked at Shu Shu, asking with his eyes how to show sincerity.

Shu Shu thought for a moment, then said: "How about I say it once first, and then you repeat after me?"

The person being apologized to ought to know best what kind of apology would earn them the most respect—Pei Du thought it highly feasible, so he nodded in agreement.

He unconsciously held his breath, lest he miss any of Shu Shu's words.

And then the next second.

Then he heard the girl's light, clear voice ring out: "Yinyin, I pretended to sleepwalk to deceive you—that's my fault, I'm sorry, I definitely won't deceive you again, please forgive me~"

After saying that, Shu Shu quickly added: "You should preface an apology with the other person's name to make it seem more sincere—oh right, I forgot to tell you, my name is Yinyin."

She kept a straight face: "Surname Yin, given name Yin."

Pei Du, knowing that the person before him was named Shuyin: "……"

He didn't even know whether he should expose the truth, but he was the apologetic party in the wrong.

Seeing Pei Du unmoving, Shu Shu blinked: "Huh? What's wrong? Any problem?"

"……No."

"Alright, then you can repeat it."

Pei Du's lovely lips twitched; in the girl's expectant, encouraging, sparkling eyes, he opened his mouth just a slit, then spoke word by word:

"Yinyin..."

"I pretended to sleepwalk to deceive you—that's my fault, I'm sorry, I definitely won't deceive you again."

Pei Du has a good memory; after saying that, he thought of the next sentence, his ears heated, he paused slightly, then in one breath said: "Please, forgive me."

Shu Shu without hesitation: "OK, I've already forgiven you halfway."

If the outcome is good, we can overlook the process.

Pei Du silently sighed in his heart, thinking that.

Then he quietly waited for Shu Shu to say the second step; since she had said apologizing was the first step, there would naturally be a second step.

Shu Shu: "The second step is action; apologizing is just talk—moving your lips costs nothing, it's too easy, so you still need to put in action."

Action?

Pei Du was about to ask again.

"Ah, I can't teach you this—you have to figure it out yourself." Shu Shu cut him off before he could speak: "If you ask me about everything, that wouldn't be sincere."

She yawned: "Alright, it's getting late, I'm going back to sleep."

Shu Shu said she was leaving, but her feet didn't move; her peach-blossom eyes fixed on Pei Du.

Pei Du didn't understand why.

Shu Shu: "Pei Du, I said I'm leaving; you should at least answer with an 'uh' or 'okay' to show you're polite."

Pei Du: "……"

In the end he still answered with an 'en', even though he didn't know why he had to be polite.

Shu Shu then revealed a satisfied expression; just as she was about to withdraw her gaze, she unintentionally glanced at Pei Du's neck and froze: "Huh, why is it red here?"

On the young man's neck exposed by his collar, several small red dots suddenly appeared, looking somewhat swollen.

Pei Du answered in a low, flat tone: "Mosquito."

Pei Du wasn't following behind Shu Shu to the electric room; he had already come to the garden before Shu Shu arrived.

I don't know if it's because his presence is too faint, or the garden is too dark.

He stood on a certain small path, watching helplessly as Shu Shu, holding a flashlight, walked past him.

"……"

At that time, Pei Du had already been waiting for Shu Shu for a while, knowing that Shu Shu would take the garden shortcut to the electric room.

In summer there are many mosquitoes, especially in a place with abundant greenery, so it was only natural that he got bitten by mosquitoes.

Normally at this time, Pei Du would have already finished washing up, changed into pajamas, and wouldn't step out of his room at all.

But today, he was still wearing a sweatshirt and long pants.

Shu Shu reminded: "The bump from a mosquito bite will go down by tomorrow; you can spray some anti-itch medicine when you go back later."

Pei Du pursed his lips: "No medicine."

Shu Shu wondered: "Why?"

Isn't this kind of medicine usually kept in a handy place?

Pei Du honestly answered Shu Shu: "There are no mosquitoes in the room."

Staying in the room, he wouldn't be bitten by mosquitoes; the reason he got bitten was because he went to the garden.

Shu Shu: "……"

If it weren't for knowing that "handsome wood" is just a piece of wood, she would have thought he blamed her for the mosquito bite.

"Go back to your room first, and wait for me three minutes."

After throwing out those words, Shu Shu turned and left.

…

Three minutes later.

Shu Shu pushed open Pei Du's room door.

This was the first time she saw the full appearance of his room with the lights on.

How to put it? It was somewhat unexpected, yet also not unexpected.

What was unexpected was that boys of this age are usually lively and active, and their living spaces tend to have some sports or anime-related elements, such as models or figurines.

In short, they tend to have a strong personal touch.

But Pei Du is the complete opposite: his tone is black, white, and gray; the decor looks like a sleek modern style, yet there is only a simple bed, wardrobe, sofa, and a desktop computer on the desk, with no other personal items whatsoever, the desktop so clean that not even a speck of dust can be seen.

It genuinely gives off a feeling of having nothing but bare walls.

And yet Shu Shu simultaneously felt it was not unexpected, because this is Pei Du's room.

Here there is nothing; besides coming out to eat, what does "handsome wood" do all day staying in the room?

Shu Shu lightly put herself in his shoes, then realized the only thing she could do was face the wall and reflect.

"……"

Shu Shu held a newly opened box of spray medicine, looked around the room, and didn't see Pei Du.

Where is he?

Finally Shu Shu found Pei Du outside on the balcony: "What are you doing out here? Do you still want to get bitten by mosquitoes?"

Pei Du: "I thought you would come in from here."

Shu Shu: "……"

How much she loves climbing over the railing—she just did it, a few times maybe.

She handed the spray to Pei Du, originally intending to casually say to rest early, but thinking of something, she said: "Want me to help you twist the Rubik's Cube?"

Pei Du recalled Shu Shu's yawning gesture just moments ago, and after a moment, said no thanks.

That's fine then.

"Regarding the second step of the plan, put some thought into it; my anger hasn't even half subsided yet, so really think it over."

Before leaving, Shu Shu gave Pei Du a stern reminder with a solemn face; after saying it, she just walked away.

At the moment the door closed.

The solemnity on Shu Shu's face vanished completely, and she couldn't help covering her mouth to chuckle.

"Hmph."

"Little fool, you got taken in, huh."

— Actually she wasn't angry at all.

"Huh, what did Professor Cheng Ya's say on the diagnosis sheet for the handsome wood?"

"Autism?"

"Unwilling to speak?"

"Severe insomnia?"