Hiding inside the helmet, Xu Yinian bit her lower lip, pretending she hadn’t heard the teasing.
She kept her feet firmly on the footpegs, desperate to avoid making contact with Ji Yan, but the seat was designed in a way that made it impossible to straddle without bumping into her. At the thought of getting stuck or accidentally scuffing this clearly expensive machine with her toes, Xu Yinian looked for any excuse to back out.
“I… I think I’ll pass after all…”
She moved to climb down, but her slender wrist was suddenly snared by long, elegant fingers. Ji Yan pressed Xu Yinian’s hand firmly onto her own shoulder.
“If you don’t use me for balance, are you expecting me to carry you up?”
Ji Yan had a knack for hitting Xu Yinian’s weak spots. She knew that if she presented a more outrageous option, Xu Yinian would meekly choose the lesser of two evils.
Sure enough, Xu Yinian choked on her words, her movements already betraying her choice. Reluctantly, she gripped the fabric of Ji Yan’s shoulder and used the leverage to hoist herself onto the pillion seat. The moment she was settled, she yanked her hand back.
However, she quickly realized the bike was much higher than she’d anticipated. There was nothing behind her to lean against, leaving her feeling dangerously exposed as she sat upright.
“…Are you sure I won’t fall off?” Her voice echoed inside the helmet, sounding muffled and tinged with a nasal anxiety.
“What do you think? If you don’t hold on, prepare to fall to your death.”
Xu Yinian looked down along the fuel tank and realized she would have to wrap her arms around Ji Yan. Given her shorter reach, she would likely have to press her entire body against the other girl to get a secure grip.
As a sheltered “good girl,” the realization finally dawned on her why so many people liked taking girls out on motorcycles. It was like boarding a pirate ship; once you were on, you were at the captain’s mercy, forced into an intimate, body-to-body embrace.
She should have known Ji Yan didn’t have a helpful bone in her body. If she had known it would be like this, Xu Yinian would have stayed stubborn until the end rather than compromising.
Thinking of Ji Yan’s current girlfriend, Qin Jiashu, and her future “official” match, Shen Ruoshuang, Xu Yinian found it impossible to make a move. She remained stiff as a board. “You should save your backseat for your girlfriend. I’ll pass—it’s not appropriate.”
In the original novel, Ji Yan was supposed to loathe being touched by others. Xu Yinian was beginning to suspect the character descriptions had been exaggerated. Aside from that one time Ji Yan had obsessively washed her hands after breaking up with her ex, she didn’t seem particularly germaphobic.
Was this just a heartbreaker’s double standard for everyone except their exes?
Xu Yinian was completely lost regarding Ji Yan’s motives. If the previous encounters could be explained by Ji Yan’s curiosity about Shen Ruoshuang, what was the reason for forcing this level of intimacy now?
Even with her doubts, without a hundred percent proof, Xu Yinian refused to believe that Ji Yan would ever recruit a plain, ordinary “cannon fodder” character like her into her “fish pond” of admirers. She assumed the other girl was simply plotting something else.
“Aren’t you straight? What are you afraid of?” Ji Yan lazily lifted her eyelids, catching Xu Yinian’s expression in the rearview mirror as she let the words drift out.
Xu Yinian didn’t expect her own “straight” defense to boomerang back so quickly. She was speechless. If she admitted she minded the contact, wouldn’t that just confirm she wasn’t as “straight” as she claimed? On the contrary, the only way to act like a normal straight girl was to grit her teeth and pretend sitting on a friend’s bike was no big deal.
Before Xu Yinian’s brain could finish processing the logic, Ji Yan kicked up the kickstand and leaned forward, giving her no time to prepare. “Three, two…”
At the count of two, Xu Yinian was so startled she immediately pressed her hands forward against the fuel tank, her fingers even brushing past the curve of Ji Yan’s waist.
When she realized Ji Yan hadn’t even bothered to say “one,” Xu Yinian knew she’d been played. Just as she was about to snap in frustration, she felt a powerful surge of momentum. Accompanied by the roar of the engine, the sleeping fire-leopard beneath them roared to life.
Xu Yinian squeezed her eyes shut, her arm instinctively wrapping around Ji Yan’s waist out of pure terror.
Ji Yan felt a soft warmth press firmly against her back. The way Xu Yinian dropped all her stubbornness and resentment the moment danger appeared, seeking protection in her weakness, only added to the thrill of the moment.
Ji Yan glanced down at the knuckles gripping her clothes at her waist; they were white with tension. She tilted her chin up, her voice sounding somewhere between comforting and controlling.
“Hold tight. I won’t let you get hurt.”
Even though the speed wasn’t actually that high on campus, Xu Yinian could still feel the wind whistling past her ears and her adrenaline spiking. She didn’t have the luxury to feel embarrassed or awkward. She couldn’t even see the stares of the students they passed; her limbs had turned to jelly.
Halfway there, they hit a red light. Caught off guard, the inertia sent Xu Yinian flying forward. Her helmet slammed into Ji Yan’s back with a muffled thump.
Xu Yinian was too dizzy to notice, but even someone as cold and sharp as Ji Yan stiffened for a moment.
That soft impact just now…
Ji Yan suppressed the strange look in her eyes, showing no outward sign of being affected, though her grip on the handlebars tightened.
The moment she got off the bike, Xu Yinian started gasping for air like she was half-dead, completely oblivious to anything else. When she finally straightened up, she met Ji Yan’s deep, unreadable gaze. Only then did she realize she had been clutching the other girl’s waist the entire way.
Peeking over, she saw that the fabric around Ji Yan’s waist was a wrinkled mess from her grip.
She could only grit her teeth and force an explanation. “A-As a straight girl, is it wrong to grab a female roommate’s clothes because I’m scared?”
Ji Yan neither agreed nor disagreed, simply steering the bike into the parking shed.
Seeing that Ji Yan had no intention of leaving, Xu Yinian finally hit her breaking point. “Are you… still not leaving?”
“I’m the one who insisted on the ice pack. How can I not see my responsibility through to the end?”
Ji Yan watched as Xu Yinian fell silent again, looking like a little punching bag who didn’t know how to vent. Her lips were pursed and her pale pink cheeks were slightly puffed out, showing a hint of lingering baby fat. Ji Yan felt more justified than ever in teasing her.
Finally, Xu Yinian moved, heading straight for the hospital while acting as if Ji Yan didn’t exist.
The School Hospital had transitioned entirely to self-service registration and check-ups via the campus app. Xu Yinian wasn’t familiar with it and fumbled with the interface for a long time. She glanced sideways and saw Ji Yan sitting on a nearby chair, scrolling through her phone, showing no signs of impatience.
Xu Yinian had been worried that the living expenses she’d borrowed wouldn’t cover the check-up. However, once she read the rules, she discovered the hospital offered steep discounts for students: 90% off medication, 50% off exams, and the registration fee was a mere fifty cents.
Furthermore, X University had one of the top medical programs in the country, and the hospital’s standards were excellent.
Holding her X-ray slip, Xu Yinian let out a tiny, petty huff. Without a word to Ji Yan, she scurried off toward the radiology department as if escaping.
Ji Yan watched Xu Yinian’s retreating back for a long time. Eventually, she opened a chat on WeChat and typed a cryptic message:
[I found a perfect match for the voice. She’s a complete rookie. I’ll send you a voice recording later.]
After sending it, Ji Yan ignored the barrage of question marks that immediately flooded the screen. She locked her phone, her slender, bony hand resting lazily at her side.
Just then, a group of people descended the stairs directly opposite her.
Ji Yan’s eyes sharpened. Her usual mask of indifference cracked, and she stood up with a rare frown.
Surrounded by a retinue of doctors in white coats and secretaries in business attire was a young heiress. Her gentle, approachable aura couldn’t hide the innate elegance and nobility in her every movement. Her long hair was pinned up, and she wore an unreleased D-brand high-luxury vintage ink-wash floral dress that billowed as she walked. A short blazer was draped over her shoulders, covering any hint of frivolity and making her look perfectly dignified.
Her skin was incredibly pale. Light makeup masked what should have been a sickly, wan complexion, with only the thin scars on the backs of her gaunt hands hinting at her condition. Yet, her years of frailty hadn’t resulted in a fragile temperament; instead, she possessed a powerful, inclusive “older sister” vibe that complemented her classical Eastern features.
When she looked up and saw Ji Yan, a watery smile touched her eyes and the corners of her lips. She whispered a few words to her secretary and began walking toward Ji Yan.
In contrast to this composure, Ji Yan’s eyes were filled with irony. They both knew each other’s secrets. Bai Ran’s mask could fool everyone else, but it couldn’t fool her. Ji Yan had seen Bai Ran use that same bone-deep, gentle smile as she personally pushed her own brother into an abyss from which there was no return.
“I thought we would meet in the dormitory,” Bai Ran said. Her voice was gentle and refined, yet not weak—a slow, steady cadence.
“Would someone who has never even attended regular compulsory education actually come to live in a dorm? Are you joking?” Ji Yan didn’t mince words.
She had chosen Room 503 specifically because she saw Bai Ran’s name on the list. She had been certain Bai Ran wouldn’t actually live on campus, which meant one less person in the room she had to choose. But based on what Bai Ran just said, was she actually moving in?
“There are doctors here I can consult,” Bai Ran replied. “Even a bird trapped in a cage wants to come out and see the world occasionally, don’t they?”
Believe her lies at your own peril, Ji Yan thought. A caged bird? More like a caged beast.
A sudden possibility struck Ji Yan, and her gaze hardened. “…Did you find her?”
