CH 13

Chapter 13 – Bizarre

There was a wall between geniuses and ordinary human beings like them.

“It’s over, I didn’t drive my car over here.” Pei Tingsong was still an ABC in his bones, who had grown up abroad, so when he got worried, words starting with the letter ‘F’ began to appear. Fang Juexia turned a deaf ear towards him and washed the dishes in silence. 

“Do you have a car?” Pei Tingsong put on his hat while walking over; he was even still wearing yesterday’s lavender-gray sweater. 

Fang Juexia shook the water off of his hands and said, “Yes.” Although it wasn’t a fancy car, it could be used instead of walking. However, he wasn’t planning on going out of his way to help, and so suggested, “You can call a taxi.”

Pei Tingsong raised his hand and glanced at his watch before replying, “It would be very difficult to call one now.”

“But I’m going to the company later.”

“It’s on the way, see me off first ba.” Pei Tingsong dragged Fang Juexia to the hallway, nimbly took down his white down jacket from the hanger by the door, wrapped it around his body, and quickly pulled the zipper up with a swish. “Quickly.”

This person was really just… Fang Juexia didn’t know how to describe him.

He was different from everyone else he’d ever met before.

The results were obvious. Fang Juexia parked his car outside the entrance of P University, where people were coming and going, and pushed his hat down onto his face. The person in the passenger seat was sleeping soundly. When he was woken up by Fang Juexia, he frowned and even pulled down his wool cap to cover his eyes.

Fang Juexia sighed and surprised him by saying, “They’re taking attendance now.”

Pei Tingsong woke up with a start. He pushed his hat up and stared at him for three seconds. Fang Juexia opened the car door and said, “Get out of the car.”

“So fast?”

It wasn’t fast at all. During the 20 minutes it had taken to drive here, they had passed six traffic lights, and they had had to wait for more than 40 seconds at four of those. Fortunately, the traffic wasn’t too heavy at this time of the day.

Using the rearview mirror, Pei Tingsong tidied up his hat, got out of the car, and closed the door. Tilting his head, he waved to Fang Juexia in the car, and said, “Thanks.”

Fang Juexia nodded and watched Pei Tingsong trot into the campus with everyone else, carrying his school bag on his back. His cellphone rang, and it was his mama sending him a message. 

[Juexia, Mama was watching the program at home and discovered that you weren’t in the previous episode. Did you get sick?]

Only then did Fang Juexia remember that he had forgotten to tell his Mama about the show. There had been too many things happening recently, so he hadn’t thought that even those parts of his that had already been recorded had been completely cut out. 

[No, I’m in very good health, but I didn’t feel like filming for that program anymore, so I left. Don’t worry, Mama, I’ll call you in the evening.]

After editing his message and sending it, Fang Juexia got ready to start the car and depart. However, as soon as he looked down, he found a card lying on the passenger seat, one which was even covered with a matte black card cover. He flipped over the card, and sure enough, there was a picture of Pei Tingsong.

Even his campus ID card photo emitted the arrogant air of a demon king. 

He wanted to send a message to Pei Tingsong to let him know about this, but found that he did not have any of Pei Tingsong’s contact information.

It was just a campus card. At worst, once he got back to the dorms, he could put it on Pei Tingsong’s desk. 

Fang Juexia held the little card and looked at the bright smile shown by the youngest in their group in the ID picture. He thought about his own feelings, of what it felt like to lose his campus card when he was in school.

Without a card, you couldn’t eat, and you couldn’t go to the library. There were also some classrooms you couldn’t enter without swiping your card.

Ugh.

Fang Juexia finally stuffed the card into his pocket, undid his seat belt, and got out of the car. Fortunately, he had a very good memory. During breakfast, he had heard Pei Tingsong murmuring to himself when he had brought up his schedule on his cellphone to confirm the building number. The campus was bustling, so he put on his mask and lowered his hat. However, because he wasn’t very familiar with this place, even after he walked a bit of a ways away based on the map, he still did not manage to find the building Pei Tingsong had mentioned.

It seemed that he would still have to find someone to ask him for directions. 

With just this small walk, he had already been noticed by many girls. Fang Juexia didn’t really want to expose himself, and looking around, he suddenly saw a very tall boy in front of him. His back looked very reliable, so Fang Jeuxia quickly walked over to him and lowered his mask.

“Excuse me, I want to ask…”

The moment the other party turned around, Fang Juexia was startled. 

Wasn’t this… Zhou Ziheng who had filmed “Escape For Your Life” along with the senior from his company?

Even though he was wearing a pair of black rimmed glasses, Fang Juexia could see past them straight away. It was only at this time that he remembered that Zhou Ziheng was indeed studying at P University as well. He felt that it was a bit impolite for him to freeze up like this mid-sentence, so he cleared his throat and finished asking his question. 

“In fact, it’s over there. You turn right and cross the path, and it’s that gray one.” Zhou Ziheng pointed and gave directions. “Very close by.”

“Thank you.” Fang Juexia bowed. “Thank you, senior.”

Who knew that the widely famous top class actor’s eyes would suddenly shine and that he would suddenly ask, “Sure enough! I was just wondering about how familiar you looked, are you from Kaleido? Why are you here?”

“Yes, I’m Fang Juexia.” He raised his head, and the wind blew the brim of his hat upwards, enough to reveal his forehead and the red birthmark at the corner of his eyes. “I… came to give something to the youngest of our group.”

“Oh, I know, Pei Tingsong ba, he’s pretty famous around the school.” Zhou Ziheng was satisfied with his memory and reached to pat him on the shoulder like a senior member would as he said, “I like your guys’ songs a lot. I have to go to the laboratory, so I’ll leave first la.”

Seeing this senior performer leave, Fang Juexia felt that it was a little strange. It turned out that the actor who usually looked so imposing actually had such a friendly and easy-going personality.

Based on the directions, he found the building that Pei Tingsong was having class in. 

“422……” Fang Juexia silently read the number and entered the elevator. However, he soon regretted his decision. The elevator was narrow and there were mirrors on all sides. He could clearly feel the girls around him looking at him, especially the one standing right in front of him, who had rushed into the elevator in a hurry. Fang Juexia lowered the brim of his hat as much as possible to cover his birthmark, then lowered his head and stared at his shoes.

“Hello…” A girl’s hesitant voice sounded out. “Are you Fang Juexia?”

Sure enough, he was still recognized. Fang Juexia looked up and laughed, neither admitting nor denying it. The other party felt that he had admitted it, so her tone was jubilant, and she even began to stutter, “Oh my god, good god, I love you so much!” She seemed to have thought of something while saying this, and her eyes brightened as she asked, “Juexia Gege, did you come here today to find Pei Tingsong?! I-I’m in the same class as him! Today’s class!”

Fang Juexia glanced at the time in the upper right hand corner of the elevator’s electronic display board and then focused his gaze back onto the girl. In a very objective manner, he said, “Then you’re already late.”

“Sure enough!” The girl grew more excited and exclaimed, “You came here just to find Xiao Pei! Oh my God. I didn’t stay up reading the Hot Search until 3 am last night in vain. It’s so real, it’s so real… ” She then covered her mouth as if she were afraid of making any noise, seeming just like a strange little animal.

What was so real?

Fang Juexia was at a complete loss.

Pei Tingsong was sitting in a seat right next to the door and facing the window, and he was listening to the lecture, when suddenly, a voice came in through the door, and a late girl crept in. Not many people took this course, so there was an excess of empty seats. As soon as this girl came in, she sat directly in front of Pei Tingsong.

After glancing at her once, he continued to listen to the professor.

“’The Ship of Theseus has a reasoning similar to that of a typical Sorites paradox, but it is different in essence: the predicate used in the latter is the initial logical predicate, and it is a typical fuzzy predicate…”

When the professor on the platform mentioned the Ship of Theseus, Pei Tingsong stopped twirling the pen in his hand and couldn’t help being distracted. It seemed that he was now that great ship that was constantly being disassembled, and everyone was always forcing him to replace old parts with new parts. 

After replacing every deck and every part, was he still himself?

How could you manage to preserve your true self.

Just as his mind was wandering, the girl in front of him suddenly turned around and put a card on his desk. It was clearly his campus ID card.

Pei Tingsong was stunned and wondered if she had picked it up after it had fallen down somewhere. So he said thanks in a soft voice as he took back the card.

“It wasn’t me.” The girl lowered her voice. “Someone asked me to give it to you and told me not to tell you who they were.”

Since she had said it in such a way, Pei Tingsong naturally asked, “Who?”

“Juexia Gege,” The girl’s expression suddenly turned excited as she continued speaking, “He just left la.”

Fang Juexia?

He subconsciously looked out of the window. In fact, Pei Tingsong didn’t expect to see anything, so he wasn’t clear on what had motivated him to do this. However, he just happened to catch sight of the figure wrapped in a snow-white down jacket as he walked on the path downstairs, and his slender legs walking step by step along the path, as he gradually left his sight. 

Pei Tingsong placed a hand against his cheek and tapped his right index finger on the campus ID card.

This was really beyond his expectations. He hadn’t expected that Fang Juexia would actually make an extra trip for him. Plainly, during the livestream last night, he had felt that this person’s shell had softened a little, but after one night, it seemed that he had recovered that ice cold appearance of his.

But then again, why didn’t he just directly send him a WeChat message?

Only then did Pei Tingsong remember that he did not even have the contact information of this person, and not a single way to contact him at all.

After he had returned to the dormitory, He Ziyan’s phone rang.

[Xiao Pei: Yan Ge, send me Fang Juexia’s WeChat ba.]

Pei Tingsong held his cellphone. He had been listening to the professor attentively all along, but now he seemed to be unable to concentrate at this moment. He waited a long time before receiving He Ziyan’s reply. 

[Ziyan Ge: What? Are you guys doing fanservice?]

[Ziyan Ge: Kaleido groupchat has him ah, silly Didi.]

[Ziyan Ge: The one called Non-differentiable Life]

Pei Tingsong frowned. What kind of WeChat username was that—Non-differentiable Life?

Anyway, he still clicked on Fang Juexia’s WeChat and opened it. His profile picture looked strange at first, but after he enlarged it, he could see that it was an empty Sudoku array. Clearly, even though he was born with a pretty face that everyone coveted, his core was as rigid as it could be. 

Sure enough, this Fang Juexia didn’t possess a single thing that they could be in harmony on. 

Although he complained about this person internally, Pei Tingsong still sent him a friend request. Midway through the class break, he was lying on the table trying to make up some sleep, since he hadn’t managed to get enough the previous night. However, just as he put his arm under his head, he smelled the cold scent that had emanated from the bed yesterday, which suddenly pulled him back to his insomniac state from the previous night. 

This scent was really stubborn, just like its owner. 

Pei Tingsong suddenly raised his head, startling the boy who was sitting next to him. The other party thought that this person wanted to go out, so he was getting ready to get up so that he could let him out, but unexpectedly, Pei Tingsong reached out and pulled him back.

“Classmate, let me ask you a question.”

The boy sitting at the same desk felt a little flattered. After all, this person was an idol, and was also a student who had won the highest level scholarship available for gifted students without much effort. The professor had even praised him as talented, and he was always a loner. No matter which circle it was, he didn’t interact much with anyone. The boy had never thought that such a person would actually come to him to ask for advice. He cleared his throat and fully prepared himself psychologically for the unexpected examination of his knowledge and upcoming academic discussion. “G-go ahead.” 

Who knew that this unconventional top student would suddenly stick his arm out in front of the boy’s nose, his expression nearly looking superstitious as he asked, “Can you smell something?”

“Ah?” The boy was confused.

“Smell it.” Pei Tingsong even specially rolled up his sleeves a bit. 

Although the boy didn’t know why he was asking this, he still obediently sniffed, and then answered, “En…there’s something.”

Sure enough, that smell was still around! Pei Tingsong then asked, “Does it smell good?”

The boy didn’t know what kind of answer he wanted to hear, so he could only state the facts, “Smells good ya…”

“What smells good?!” Pei Tingsong suddenly flared up. He pulled his arm back and smelled it again. He then said to himself, “Where does it smell good? Why does it smell good now?”

His male classmate was utterly baffled, and was still pondering on what exactly had happened, when the other party again extended his arm out and ordered, “You smell it again.”

This time, he must know the right answer ba.

He pretended to be very serious, and after smelling it again, he went against his conscience and said, “En, it doesn’t smell good, it smells very bad.”

Who knew that Pei Tingsong would retrieve his hand again and frown. “Who are you saying doesn’t smell good?”

The boy: ???

He was completely stupefied as he watched Pei Tingsong sniff repeatedly at his collar and arms, continuously muttering to himself. He really didn’t know what to make of it. The bell rang, signalling that class would be starting, and this poor temporary table mate of Pei Tingsong’s finally achieved salvation from this mire of a dilemma.

Sure enough, there was a wall between geniuses and ordinary human beings like them. 

It was already noon by the time Fang Juexia finished his dance practice. Only then did he discover the friend request on his WeChat. 

This person’s WeChat username was Resister, and there were no further messages attached to this request. 

From the first moment that he saw the name, his intuition told Fang Juexia that this was Pei Tingsong, and a message from He Ziyan confirmed his hunch. He accepted the friend request, since after all, they were all part of the same idol group. Fang Juexia had a strict personality, so right after adding him, he changed the name it was saved under. In order to facilitate easy retrieval in the future, he used the same format for renaming as he did for everyone else in the group.

After a while, this new friend sent him a message.

[Kaleido Pei Tingsong: I didn’t even notice that my card was missing, thx]

This thanks was entirely Pei Tingsong’s American style, but Fang Juexia didn’t actually want to confirm that he was the one who had returned his card. To his surprise, Pei Tingsong seemed to have predicted this behavior of his, as just when he was about to type and deny it, he received a photo of his back profile from the other party, which had been taken from a window. 

Pei Tingsong watched as the typing prompt of the other party paused, and felt pleased. When he was leaving the classroom, there were two girls who were eating the Hot Search’s melon. 

“Ah, it’s really sweet. What kind of immortal maneuver is a candy wrapper kiss ah!”

“Is this wanting me to stuff myself with dog food to have a good year? Ah, how can TingJue be so real…”

They ate so much melon that they had unknowingly arrived right in front of the melon’s root. 

His cellphone vibrated, and Pei Tingsong took it out and unlocked it, involuntarily smiling while doing so.

[Just a pretty face: No need for thanks.]

But when he saw the lines that popped up following this message, the smile on his face gradually solidified.

[Just a pretty face: Take it as me paying off my debt.]

—

The author has something to say:

Ship of Theseus: One of the oldest thought experiments. In the first century A.D., Plutarch asked the question: if the wood on Theseus’ ship was gradually replaced until all the wood left was not the original wood, would this ship still be the original ship? Later, the ship of Theseus evolved into a classic paradox of identity. This paradox will be unfolded later on.

Non-differentiable Life: Juexia will explain later why he came up with this name. 

Resister: Rebel

By trying to clear up mines, my piece is getting longer and longer hhh

Some readers who have read my other pieces should know that I am a very, very protective writer. I can’t really accept the role of being scolded groundlessly, so by making the tags more specific, it’s probably for the better, so as to avoid readers from entering by mistake. I also wrote clearly in the summary that Pei Tingsong is a 19-year-old boy who is rebellious and a bit arrogant. However, he is also very kind, and he was born with a golden spoon in his mouth, but he doesn’t have a young master’s temper. On the contrary, he dares to resist his family and pursue his own dream. If you like mature, steady, low-key, and silent gongs, Xiao Pei is obviously not that, and he can’t be. So if you don’t like this type, you can quit directly, but please don’t curse out the character~

I like to write developing characters, so that you can feel a sense of participation in witnessing their changes after reading the piece, so their initial personas are not perfect. This story is the same, and Xiao Pei and Juexia will influence each other and grow together during their best age.

Innocent Zhi Chu bows (presses head) and thanks you for your tolerance~