Chapter 23

That night, Xi Fei had a dream.

In the dream, he was pinning someone beneath him. That person wore only a shirt that barely covered their hips, revealing smooth, lustrous shoulders and delicate collarbones. He himself was panting heavily, his eyes burning red, unable to stop himself from leaving mark after mark upon that body.

The person’s skin was fair and supple, their legs resting weakly against his waist, their slender fingers gripping his clothes tightly as a soft moan escaped their lips: "Xiao Fei..."

Xi Fei woke up drenched in sweat, his eyes filled with horror and disbelief.

The bedsheets were damp. Xi Fei sat frozen for a long time, his eyes gradually clouding with pain and self-loathing.

The young master had saved him and protected him, yet he had conceived such filthy thoughts!

He actually dared, he actually dared to entertain the delusion of pinning the young master beneath him...

Yet, he simply could not control himself.

His prideful self-restraint collapsed entirely the moment he thought of the young master. A suspicious arc had formed beneath his quilt, and he felt even more aroused as he recalled the contents of his dream.

Xi Fei waited for a long time, then, in an act of self-abandonment, reached out.

As if punishing himself, his movements were rough and frantic. It was less like comfort and more like self-torture; his breathing grew increasingly rapid, and when he finally reached his release, the face of Zhu Shiyan appeared in his mind.

Xi Fei was stunned.

He stared at the mess on his bed, with only one thought in his mind.

He was finished.

Completely, thoroughly finished.

Recently, Xi Fei had been avoiding him.

Zhu Shiyan noticed it clearly.

They no longer ate together, he wouldn't let him put an arm around his shoulder, and even when leaving the classroom, they walked one after the other.

Zhu Shiyan did not like this feeling and asked him directly for the reason. Xi Fei stammered that he didn't want to drag him down.

After hearing this, Zhu Shiyan let it be.

In any case, that pervert would be caught soon.

Sun Zhicai was spreading rumors everywhere that Xi Fei was the pervert stealing underwear, but the teachers and the police were slow to take action against him. The voices of protest on campus grew louder, and some parents even heard about the incident and came to the school, demanding that Xi Fei be expelled.

Xue Heng paced anxiously in his office. "Didn't you say you had a way to catch the thief? Where is the person?"

"Don't worry, it's almost time."

Zhu Shiyan poured him a cup of tea. "Calm down, please, calm down."

"How can I not be anxious? People above are pressuring me to expel Xi Fei. I believed in you, so I protected him with all my might, but a week has passed—where is the thief? Where is the pervert?"

Xue Heng grew more agitated as he spoke. "I shouldn't have believed you. What would a brat like you know!"

Zhu Shiyan’s expression shifted. He placed the cup heavily on the desk, his demeanor turning icy. "So what? So you would rather wrongfully accuse him and ruin his life than wait for me to catch that pervert?"

"Teacher Xue, you should know better than anyone that he is not the thief. He is your student, too; why are you unwilling to show even a little patience to help him clear his name?"

Xue Heng’s face flushed red at his words, and he growled, "Three days. I will give you three more days at most. If the real thief hasn't been caught by then, I will have no choice but to hand him over."

"That is enough."

Zhu Shiyan left those words behind and walked out.

He ran into Xi Fei at the door, who was coming to hand in his homework.

Because of this incident, Xi Fei was back to square one. The exclusion and bullying from his classmates were becoming increasingly blatant. Several times, they had almost come to blows, but Zhu Shiyan had suppressed it every time.

Nobody in the class was willing to collect his homework, so he had to bring it to the office himself.

Not to mention his classmates, even many teachers in the office looked down on him, taunting him in various ways.

Fortunately, Xi Fei had a good temper and didn't hold it against them, letting everything go in one ear and out the other, which avoided several confrontations.

Thinking of this, a surge of pity welled up in Zhu Shiyan’s heart. "That person will be caught soon; just bear with it for two more days."

Xi Fei looked at him with his eyes cast downward, his gaze clear. "Yes."

He didn't care what those people thought of him. As long as Zhu Shiyan believed him, he couldn't care less about anyone else.

He looked so well-behaved that Zhu Shiyan’s hands itched; he wanted to pat his head. After reaching out, he realized he couldn't reach him anymore, so he changed it to a pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry, I will help you get justice."

Xi Fei looked at him, then lowered his head slightly, voluntarily offering his hair to his palm.

Zhu Shiyan paused, then smiled and ruffled his hair twice, messing up his fringe.

"How can you be so well-behaved?"

Such a well-behaved person had been inexplicably splashed with dirt. Zhu Shiyan grew angry just thinking about it; once he caught the person behind this, he would definitely make them pay the price.

Xi Fei pursed his lips. When he felt he had touched enough, he straightened up. "I'll go in now."

Zhu Shiyan smiled brightly. "Alright."

In an abandoned restroom of the teaching building.

Zheng Xingyan kicked Sun Zhicai over and asked furiously, "Why is that little bastard still perfectly fine?!"

Sun Zhicai curled into a ball, looking like he wanted to resist but dared not. He shrank his neck and said timidly, "The police said there wasn't enough evidence and released him. That day, only, only Xue Heng saw the things in his desk, and Xue Heng is protecting him now."

"Damn it." Zheng Xingyan was enraged. "Those underwear were found in his desk, why haven't they punished him?! What are the teachers and police for? If this drags on, the matter will eventually be dropped!"

A look of hatred appeared in Sun Zhicai’s eyes as well. "It's all because that young master of the Zhu family is protecting him. Otherwise, he would have been arrested long ago!"

"Zhu Shiyan again." Zheng Xingyan gritted his teeth. "Go get some more! Frame him again!"

Sun Zhicai’s eyes widened in fear. "No, I'll be discovered..."

Zheng Xingyan smiled coldly. "Don't worry, I will find a way to lure Xi Fei to the dormitory building. You place the stolen underwear under his old bed. Don't call the teachers this time; let everyone see it. Let's see what he has to say for himself then!"

"And Zhu Shiyan..." His eyes were vicious. "I want to ruin both of them and have them kicked out of this school!"

Sun Zhicai backed away, shaking his head frantically, repeating, "I can't, I'll be discovered, I really can't..."

"Can't?" Zheng Xingyan grabbed his collar, looking down at him. "Then I'll tell everyone that you're the pervert. Let everyone see what kind of trash the 'model student' and class monitor really is!"

Sun Zhicai’s pupils shrank, his body trembling. "Please, don't tell... I beg you."

"Then do it!"

Zheng Xingyan threw him to the floor and tapped his face. "Haven't the surveillance cameras been removed? The teachers aren't watching anymore. I'll act as a lookout for you. Don't worry, just be quick and no one will notice."

Sun Zhicai collapsed dejectedly. "I understand..."

Two days later, while Zhu Shiyan was in class, the phone in his pocket vibrated. He opened it and saw a message from Chu Junyuan: 【The fish has taken the bait.】

Zhu Shiyan replied in high spirits: 【Prepare to close the net.】

Just then, someone ran in and handed Xi Fei a note, saying hurriedly, "Zheng Xingyan gave this to you."

Xi Fei didn't even look at it. Just as he was about to tear it up and throw it in the trash, Zhu Shiyan stopped him in time. "Hey, wait, let's see what's written on it first."

Xi Fei obediently opened it.

It read: I know who the real thief is. Come to the back of the dormitory building at 9 PM, and I'll tell you the truth.

After reading it, Zhu Shiyan let out a chuckle.

He had been guessing whether someone was pulling Sun Zhicai’s strings; now he could be certain that Zheng Xingyan was behind this.

Should he call him too stupid, or just too confident? To think that such a clumsy setup could frame the male lead.

Xi Fei looked at him with gentle eyes as he laughed and asked, "Should I go?"

"Do you want to go?"

"I listen to you."

"Then go." Zhu Shiyan folded the note into a paper plane and tossed it into the trash, winking at him. "I'll treat you to a good show tonight."

"Okay."

"But if Zheng Xingyan tries to hit you, you must run immediately. Don't let him hit you; your health is the most important thing, do you hear me?"

Xi Fei’s gaze grew even gentler. "Okay, I will."

Zhu Shiyan felt a chill from being looked at like that and couldn't help but rub his arms. "Don't look at me like that, it's weirdly cloying."

He didn't know what was wrong with Xi Fei. A few days ago, he had been avoiding him like the plague, but in the last two days, he seemed to have realized something. Not only was he treating him better, but he was also constantly looking at him with that sickly sweet gaze.

Could it be that he felt since the pervert was about to be caught, it wouldn't matter much if he kept his distance or not?

Xi Fei withdrew his gaze and lowered his eyelashes. "Yes, I understand."

He hadn't "realized" anything; he had simply given up.

He had thought that keeping his distance from Zhu Shiyan would sever his inner desires, but in reality, every second apart from Zhu Shiyan was torture.

He felt panicked and uneasy when he couldn't see him, and felt sad and aggrieved when he deliberately kept his distance.

Even just meeting his eyes could make his breathing quicken and his heart race, and the dreams he had at night were becoming increasingly lewd.

And so, he gave up.

He gave up struggling, gave up trying to change, and let himself drift toward sinking.

He knew Zhu Shiyan couldn't possibly like him, so he tried his best to hide his feelings, but sometimes his eyes were simply beyond his control, and occasionally, they would betray his emotions.

However, Zhu Shiyan didn't notice, only thinking he was a bit inexplicable.

Xi Fei couldn't describe what he was feeling.

It felt as if a weight had been lifted, yet there was also a sense of loss.

That night, Xi Fei went to meet Zheng Xingyan as promised.

After listening to him ramble for half an hour with an expressionless face, he coldly interrupted him: "What exactly do you want to say?"

Zheng Xingyan was interrupted and instinctively wanted to flare up, but remembering the purpose of his trip, he held it back. "What's the rush? Don't you want to know who the real thief is?"

Xi Fei: "...Who is it?"

Zheng Xingyan began to ramble again until ten o'clock, when he received a message.

After reading it, his face lit up with joy. His attitude shifted immediately as he pointed at Xi Fei, cursing indignantly: "That person is you! You pervert, how dare you steal underwear from the girls' dormitory?!"