The next morning, Saturday, during breakfast, Xu Manning and Wu Wenyue were whispering to each other. Li Peifeng was cooking in the kitchen and could vaguely hear them.
"He didn't use a raincoat yesterday. Could it lead to pregnancy?"
"He got it all over... you and . It should be fine."
"But what if? I felt a bit nauseous this morning."
"What if..."
"There's no what if." Li Peifeng walked over with the dishes, comforting them, "I have complete control over my body; the chance of an accident is almost zero!"
Xu Manning was not pleased and beca angry: "What you said sounds exactly like a jerk who doesn't want to take responsibility!"
Wu Wenyue also sneered: "Rest assured, if anything happens, we won't ask you for a di for the abortion. I'll take her to the hospital myself, get rid of the unwanted child, and then cut you up with a knife."
"Don't say things in anger." Li Peifeng said earnestly: "Am I the kind of person who doesn't take responsibility? Whoever of you gets pregnant first, I'll et her parents, get a marriage certificate, and hold a wedding. Whatever other girls have, you will have too. I'm sure the other one will understand. If she's still unhappy, I'll get a divorce and marry her after the child is born."
"What if both get pregnant at the sa ti?"
Li Peifeng looked suspicious: "Being a mother isn't an easy task; it ans responsibility and pain. Are you two eager to have my baby? Then take off your clothes, and we'll go again..."
"Nonsense, who wants to have your baby?"
"Humans and dogs have different paths; nothing good cos from a dog's mouth. Go get the rice, stop the nonsense!"
The two girls were quite embarrassed and annoyed, but after so banter, they let it go and sat down to eat.
Li Peifeng inquired about Wu Wenyue's back injury. She twisted her body left and right, expressing that it seems to have improved a lot, which made him relieved. He repeatedly reminded her to be cautious and take her dication as prescribed, and then dropped the subject.
After the al, Xu Manning and Wu Wenyue each left. The forr went to work, to complete the final touches on production and design for "True Self" fashion.
The latter went to judge a "Legendary Cup" basketball ga organized by a state-owned enterprise, since it was part of a previous promotional plan by their short video studio. As the boss, Li Peifeng had planned to follow along, but editor Midsumr called to urge him about the manuscript, convincing him not to go.
"Even the workhorse of a production team doesn't rest as much as you do. It's been days, and the outline for 'Sword and Magic' isn't finished yet? What about the ending for 'Female Sovereign'? Not done either?!"
"Tell what you're doing right now. Don't tell it's writer's block, because having writer's block just ans you're lazy and useless! It's just one word, write! I don't believe you'd have writer's block if you sat in front of the computer for sixteen hours a day?! Just write, the only thing on your mind should be writing. If you don't write now, are you planning to do nothing and rely on others in the future?"
Li Peifeng was sowhat awakened by this. Having connected it with what the two girls ntioned about pregnancy and kids at breakfast...
Wow, the pressure increased even more.
What to do? The only solution was to write and earn money!
Otherwise, relying on others while having a harem would surely lead to hell!
"The problem is, how co I'm still struggling so much when I already have a system?"
Li Peifeng was beginning to doubt life. After thinking carefully, he felt it wasn't his fault; the system was just useless!
The rewards it provided were frivolous, capable of enhancing personal charm and improving life quality, but completely unhelpful for making money, leaving him quite helpless.
"I better focus on writing, yes, writing. Half my life for writing, the other half for emptiness, partially for money and partially for fa, I am achieving my dreams with my keyboard."
With that in mind, Li Peifeng returned to his ho in Jade District, turning into a ruthless writing machine, typing away at his computer all the way until it was near midday. His workaholic state was interrupted by a new WeChat ssage.
The sender was a certain heartless white-haired person...
He Ying: "When do you plan to return my umbrella? Forgot about it?"
Is Gu Jinyu's offensive coming?
Li Peifeng furrowed his brows slightly, put down the keyboard, picked up the phone, and replied: "Are you planning to make mischief again like Bai Suzhen drinking realgar wine? If I return the umbrella, do I beco Xu Xian?"
He Ying: "What nonsense are you talking about? Not planning to return the umbrella?"
Li Peifeng: "Beauty, was it a big umbrella or a small one you lent ?"
He Ying: "...I wouldn't mind too much if you returned both."
Li Peifeng: "I mind. I'll return your umbrella on Monday. Please, Miss Leader, stop fooling around."
He Ying: "Leader? Who's the leader?"
Li Peifeng: "Stop pretending. There's an old saying, 'A couple for a night, grace for a hundred days'. Your group of over 80 consists half of my readers and half people who had grace with . Don't act like this."
If editor Xia hadn't made that call, Li Peifeng might really have gone with the flow to see what tricks He Ying intended to play on him. It would have been for fun, but with Xia Sheng's call urging him, he wasn't in the mood at all.
"Won? Won will only slow down my writing speed."
With that declaration, He Ying quieted down on the other end. After a while without receiving a reply, Li Peifeng made a al to eat for lunch. Just as he was about to finish eating, the ssage from her finally ca through.
"Yeah, why did it co to this?"
The first was a text, the second a voice ssage.
He Ying's voice was very sincere: "Since you know everything, I won't hide it from you, but don't get wrong, my real motive is simple, it's not to harm you. I just want to see your strange and ugly inner self through your beautiful shell, and consider whether to leave sothing on your heart."
Li Peifeng chuckled and responded: "Let translate that for you, simply put, you wanted to use the girls from the an girl group to test whether I've really turned over a new leaf or if I'm faking it. If I were still the type to flirt around, you would stomp on hard, but if I'm not swayed, then you would make your move first, is that it?"
In fact, after hearing about it from Gu Jinyu, Li Peifeng roughly understood He Ying's intention, and hearing her say this now just confird it even more.
That white-haired girl definitely had feelings for him; their ti together over the past half month wasn't fake. Both had learned sothing from each other, and they had so beautiful mories together.
Moreover, Li Peifeng felt that He Ying was the one who understood him the best, touching on the essence and deepest parts of his soul, thoughtful and gentle, with rational and stable thinking.
This led Li Peifeng to genuinely want to establish a relationship with He Ying and seriously pursue a romantic relationship, but he sensed her reservations; after jokingly ntioning it and getting diverted, he never brought it up again.
He Ying, studying psychology, was too smart, with eyes too keen, and her feelings were rational to an unreasonable extent. Li Peifeng felt she had 18,000 tricks up her sleeve, which could be seen from her current tactics.
Even if she had feelings for Li Peifeng, she wouldn't display that like an ordinary girl by showing affection openly and creating opportunities. Instead, she'd drive away the weaker to test if Li Peifeng could withstand, and then decide whether to engage.
But how can human nature withstand tests?
And is this even dating? This is basically a war; one wrong move and soone could get hurt.
So, best not to get involved!
After sending her ssage, He Ying didn't reply but popped up a voice ssage, getting straight to the point with her first words;
"Are you ho? I want to co over, let's have a al together."
"No need to co, I've moved." Li Peifeng flatly refused, "Don't bother testing, I haven't changed, maybe even gotten worse; sotis I despise myself. If you want to be serious with , don't waste ti, you're likely to get hurt. If you're looking for a little rub, I don't have any; lately, I've been keeping clean. I'll return the big one on Monday, as we agreed."
"Are you serious?"
"Serious."
Li Peifeng's firm reply left He Ying in silence for a mont before she sighed lightly: "It would be better if you were a total jerk, rotten to the core, because then no one would care. But you have these shards, struggling, displaying life, as disgusting as they are adorable; it makes you hard to hate."
Li Peifeng responded with a scoff, "That's human nature for you; you should understand its complexity and diversity better than anyone."
He Ying chuckled: "Yet, I still have a place for you in my heart, and I still hold expectations."
"Expectation is the number one killer in intimate relationships, second is 'I'm right,' and third is 'you need to change.' No one in the world fits perfectly to your wishes, just like no two leaves have the sa veins...that's what you told ."
"Seems like you read the books I gave you."
That's right, among the five books Li Peifeng gave to Wu and Xu, aside from 'The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State,' the other four: 'Knowing Love,' 'The Five Love Languages,' 'Intimate Relationships,' and 'The aning of Marriage' were all gifts from He Ying.
"Finished them long ago."
Li Peifeng said: "Learned a lot, thank you."
"I'm pleased to hear that."
He Ying hesitated a mont but then said: "No need to return the umbrella, but you better give the books back."
Li Peifeng's heart tightened: "Why?"
"I'm doing consultations at a clinic lately and need to brush up on related stuff...nevermind, I'll buy new ones." He Ying laughed at herself: "If I take back a gift, it'll make seem cheap."
Li Peifeng let out a sigh of relief: "Right, go buy new ones; if needed, lend them from the library."
"Why so anxious?"
He Ying nonchalantly said: "Did you give my books to soone else?"
Too scary, figuring out the truth from clues over the phone—are you psychology students fortune-tellers too?
Li Peifeng coughed lightly: "I must stress, as a student at a normal university, spreading knowledge and wisdom to others is our duty."
He Ying laughed warmly, "Then can you tell who you spread this knowledge to?"
"To prevent the world from being destroyed, to protect world peace, I cannot disclose that."
"You think I can't guess? You think my leader role is for nothing?!"
He Ying's laugh continued, "Forget the books, just wait for my Italian cannon."
Li Peifeng sighed: "How about you co over...can we resolve this with a bang?"
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