NSFCP Chapter 16

103.

When Liang Pei opened the studio door, Zhou Mengyu was on the phone with his sister.

Zhou Mengyu’s lips curled into a noticeable smile, indicating he was in a good mood, and his tone was cheerful, “Okay, sis, I’ll go out to the park to pick you up! Just call me when you get there!”

Liang Pei placed the takeout box on the table, his gaze falling on the workbench in front of him, where a light yellow cheongsam was spread out.

Zhou Mengyu hadn’t hung up the phone yet. He smiled and pointed at the cheongsam on the workbench with one finger, a very smug expression on his face, and mouthed.

“How about it?”

Liang Pei raised an eyebrow and mouthed, “Beautiful.”

“Okay, then I’ll have Liang Pei pick you up tomorrow? He should be free, right?” Zhou Mengyu said, looking at Liang Pei.

Liang Pei nodded.

“He’s free,” Zhou Mengyu said. “Okay. sis! Bye!”

104.

Even while eating, Zhou Mengyu kept talking, explaining his design philosophy.

Liang Pei was listening attentively at first, but as he listened, he realized that the topic had completely veered away from design concepts.

Zhou Mengyu became more and more excited as he spoke, and stopped eating, reaching out a hand to press down on Liang Pei’s arm.

The studio’s air conditioning was set low, but his palms were warm.

“I designed my own clothes for the first time when I was in junior high school. It was even more difficult back then than it is now. I was a boy who didn’t play basketball or play online games. I stayed at home sewing clothes. My mom thought there was something wrong with my brain.”

“And it was women’s clothing. The first piece of clothing I made was a very simple skirt.”

“My mom hugged me and almost cried. She kept saying things like, ‘Xiao Yu, have I been too strict with you? If you want to go out and play, then go out and play,’ and so on…”

Zhou Mengyu suddenly stopped and glanced at Liang Pei.

Liang Pei stared intently into his eyes, seemingly without the slightest impatience as he recounted his past, but Zhou Mengyu still felt some subtle awkwardness.

He cleared his throat awkwardly, “I got a bit carried away. When I get excited or nervous, I tend to talk a lot. Please don’t mind.”

Liang Pei made a tone-raising “Hmm?” and pushed the chicken leg a bit towards him, “So, has the family accepted your hobby then?”

Liang Pei looked like he was listening attentively.

Zhou Mengyu, however, suddenly got stuck.

Only the humming sound of the air conditioner remained in the studio. The two stared at each other for a moment, and Zhou Mengyu inexplicably fell silent, lowering his head to eat the cold skin noodles he had only eaten half of.

“What’s wrong?” asked Liang Pei.

“Eat quickly, or it will get cold.” said Zhou Mengyu.

………

Liang Pei glanced at the cold noodles.

The cold noodles glanced at Liang Pei.

105.

Zhou Mengyu only started eating the chicken legs after finishing the cold noodles, saying that he had no appetite in the hot summer and that the cold noodles were a good way to whet his appetite so he could eat the meat.

He was silent as he ate his chicken leg, and then suddenly nudged Liang Pei.

“Your sister asked me before if you had a crush on anyone in college.” Zhou Mengyu said.

“Well, what did you say?” Liang Pei asked.

“I just told the truth, I said you don’t have any. Do you have any?” Zhou Mengyu looked at him.

Liang Pei chuckled, “There isn’t one.”

“Yeah, I just told the truth! Would I lie to her?” Zhou Mengyu adjusted his posture, sitting more casually. “But your sister said that if you were in a relationship, you would definitely treat your girlfriend very well… I thought about it and, she’s right. I rarely see such a considerate guy as you. You care about whether your friends have eaten, you listen attentively to others, and you consider other people’s feelings.”

Liang Pei stopped eating upon hearing this.

As Zhou Mengyu spoke, he stared at the chicken leg as if it were Liang Pei. “You’re now the boyfriend of everyone in 506, and when you find a girlfriend, you’ll only be sister-in-law’s boyfriend!”

His tone was akin to wailing and lamenting, clearly showing his reluctance to part with such a great roommate.

“I won’t look for one,” Liang Pei said.

“That’s not allowed!” Zhou Mengyu jumped. “Do you know what a good brother is? Even if we’re envious of your kindness to others, we hope you can get married soon! Let the hell of being single be mine!”

Zhou Mengyu bit down hard on the drumstick after speaking.

106.

Before finishing the drumstick, Zhou Mengyu tapped Liang Pei again.

A tap where their arms brushed against each other.

“Your advisor asked you to come out yesterday?” Zhou Mengyu asked quietly.

Liang Pei responded with a nod, “Mm.”

Pfft, what’s with the mm?

Is this how you answer this question?

The meaning of this question is “What did your advisor ask you out for,” not “Did your counselor call you out.” Zhou Mengyu inwardly criticized the straight-laced thinking of a guy like him; if it were another student, he would definitely know how to answer this question.

“What did they want you to go out for?” Zhou Mengyu could only ask again.

He insisted on asking twice about something that could have been solved with just one question, which made him seem… well, something was off.

“The sports department and the civil engineering department have a basketball tournament every year, and they want to persuade a few of us to participate,” Liang Pei replied.

Zhou Mengyu blinked. “Basketball game? Oh, so it wasn’t just you they were looking for.”

Liang Pei then turned to look at Zhou Mengyu, “You think she asked me out on a date alone?”

“I didn’t think so,” Zhou Mengyu said, then asked after a while, “You don’t like women older than you?”

107.

Zhou Mengyu choked for a moment, quickly recalling what Liang Pei’s advisor looked like and how much older she was than him.

“Long, straight black hair? Do you like long, straight black hair?” Zhou Mengyu asked.

It took Liang Pei a while to realize that the long, straight black hair he was referring to was his advisor. He glanced at Zhou Mengyu with a complicated expression and said helplessly, “Hairstyle isn’t important.”

“Oh.” Zhou Mengyu blinked. “Long, straight black hair is great. Tell me, what man doesn’t like long, straight black hair?”

Liang Pei took a breath. “I don’t like her.”

Zhou Mengyu said, “Oh,” again, “But you just said you liked it.”

“What I was just saying was…” Liang Pei paused, took another breath, reached over and moved the empty takeout box in front of Zhou Mengyu to his own side, discarding it in his own trash.

Zhou Mengyu shuddered inexplicably, feeling as if Liang Pei wanted to pack him up and throw him away with the trash.

Why are you being so fierce?!

108.

The two returned to their dorm together in the evening. The teacher’s studio was actually located in the Nanking University staff quarters.

There are so many teachers living in this apartment building. Zhou Mengyu, who is good-looking, has a likable personality, and is good at studying, is also popular with the teachers in the university.

Zhou Mengyu’s Western art history teacher when he was a freshman, walked past him carrying a huge box. Because the box was so big, he didn’t even see Zhou Mengyu.

The art history teacher was a woman nearing fifty. Although she wasn’t considered very old, the box was indeed a bit too much for her.

Zhou Mengyu tugged at Liang Pei and quickly whispered in his ear, “You go first, I’m going to help the teacher move some things first.”

Then he turned and called out to his art history teacher, the teacher was startled, and her hand went limp, causing the box to tip over! She let out a scream, but fortunately Zhou Mengyu caught the box in time.

But then Zhou Mengyu exclaimed in surprise, “Holy crap, teacher, what did you buy? It’s so heavy!”

He hadn’t expected it to be so heavy, and his hand went limp as the box tipped over again.

The next second, Zhou Mengyu felt himself being held in someone’s arms.

It’s not that they’re holding each other in their arms, but the posture really does look like it.

Because Zhou Mengyu and the teacher were each carrying a box on one side, Liang Pei had nowhere to take over. So he could only wrap his arms around Zhou Mengyu from behind, using his long legs and arms to help Zhou Mengyu carry the box.

109.

The teacher was quite embarrassed, pushing up her glasses, which had slipped from the bridge of her nose with the tip of her finger. “They’re having a promotion on the Pinmi app, buy rice and get oil free, it’s even Northeast rice. It’s delicious.”

Zhou Menyu almost vomited blood. No wonder it was so heavy; with rice and oil involved, how could it not be heavy!

Finally, the three of them opened the box and took out two bags of rice and a bucket of oil separately. Liang Pei carried two bags of rice, Zhou Mengyu carried the bucket of oil, and the teacher carried nothing.

However, the art history teacher couldn’t take her eyes off Liang Pei.

Zhou Mengyu walked up to Liang Pei and whispered, “I told you to go ahead! My art history teacher is a real predator, especially for someone with such a great body proportion!”

Liang Pei didn’t understand the severity of the situation and jokingly asked Zhou Mengyu, “Even more predatory than you?”

110.

When Liang Pei was sitting bare-chested in the living room of the art history teacher, he finally understood the severity of the situation.

Zhou Mengyu was laughing so hard behind the sofa he was shaking.

The teacher politely asked Liang Pei, “Can you take off your pants?”

Liang Pei wanted to say no, just like he had refused Zhou Mengyu.

But Zhou Mengyu was easier to refuse: the teacher’s face was filled with a series of expressions- begging, longing, academic, respect- and she was a woman nearing fifty.

Liang Pei took a breath and placed his hand on his waistband.

Zhou Mengyu was already laughing out of the frame.

“Teacher, can I not take it off?” Liang Pei asked with difficulty.

“Of course, child. I’m asking you, not demanding it,” the art history professor said kindly.

If Zhou Mengyu were not here, Liang Pei could have taken off his pants, but in front of Zhou Mengyu, Liang Pei could never take them off.

The art history teacher took a few photos of Liang Pei, then stopped, looking at the screen for a long time as if she wasn’t satisfied.

Then he turned to see Zhou Mengyu laughing uncontrollably.

“Xiao Yu, Let’s see how it looks if you stand with him.”

Said the teacher.

T/N: Sorry for the late upload, I got really busy! But I’m back now, and as always, enjoy!