TT Chapter 2. Magnificent Presence

Much later, when Chen Ting looked back on the first time he met Pei Yiyao, his face still burned with embarrassment. And the more mortifying something was, the more deeply it etched itself into memory.

That was exactly why Chen Ting felt Pei Yiyao was a good person. His face had shown no reaction at all, as if the person standing there in his T-shirt with two pale legs exposed were just a specimen in a biology lab. That indifference spared Chen Ting from total humiliation.

At that moment, Ruan Xin finally arrived.

Pei Yiyao gave Chen Ting’s legs a glance, then calmly stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him. Chen Ting heard the two of them talking outside. It seemed Pei Yiyao had come home earlier without running into his mother, and had no idea someone else was there.

Chen Ting took the opportunity to quickly put his pants back on. They were, unsurprisingly, far too large for him, and he had to hold them up.

Soon, the door opened again. It was still Pei Yiyao.

Chen Ting’s face was still flushed bright red. He forced out a couple of awkward laughs.

“Uh, thanks for the shirt. I heard you go to N University too? I’ll wash it and return it to you once I’m back…”

Pei Yiyao didn’t respond. He just gave Chen Ting another expressionless once-over before turning to the wardrobe.

Chen Ting stood there awkwardly, thinking he must have offended him somehow. But then he saw Pei Yiyao open the innermost cabinet and pull out a blue tracksuit.

“Put this on,” he said, handing it over.

“Huh?” Chen Ting blinked, confused.

Pei Yiyao didn’t explain. He simply turned and walked out again.

Chen Ting looked more closely at the clothes in his hands. They were clearly worn, but the fabric felt soft and high-quality. He unfolded the top and spotted a small embroidered line of text. King Edward’s School.

Thinking of Pei Yiyao’s background as someone who had studied overseas, Chen Ting immediately understood. It was his high school clothing. With that proud 173-centimeter frame of his, it must have fit perfectly.

No, maybe it wasn’t from high school. Maybe it was from middle school. Pei Yiyao looked to be at least 185, maybe taller. He might have already been that tall in ninth grade.

Chen Ting had nothing to say to that thought. The heat on his face finally began to subside. When he finished changing and went downstairs, Pei Yiyao was already gone. It seemed he had only come home to grab something and had no intention of returning to campus.

Ruan Xin was half-scolding her son for coming and going so abruptly, while giving Chen Ting a once-over. A flash of delight appeared in her eyes.

“This outfit suits our Ting Ting so well.”

Wearing the blue tracksuit, Chen Ting looked especially small. Not in height this time, but in age. With the blush still lingering on his face, he looked completely endearing.

If Pei Yiyao in this outfit was like a block of blue ice, then Chen Ting was a bowl of shaved ice with strawberries on top.

He could tell that Ruan Xin was suddenly even more enthusiastic about him. Even the dog named Beef Noodle was circling around him, sniffing non-stop. According to Ruan Xin, this dog had been brought back from abroad. It had even been on a plane. A high-class dog, she said.

High-class dogs lived up to their name. Beef Noodle carried herself with the haughty grace of a queen. After sniffing Chen Ting for a good while and deciding he was harmless, she sat down beside his hand with her fluffy, breadlike butt facing him, then glanced back over her shoulder with elegance.

Chen Ting hesitated for a few seconds, then reached out and gave that butt a pat. It felt incredibly soft.

“Woof!” Beef Noodle gave a dramatic little shake, then bolted away and hid behind Ruan Xin, poking just her head out like a proper lady dog who’d just been shamelessly groped.

Ruan Xin couldn’t help laughing. “Drama queen.”

She still regretted that Pei Yiyao had left so early and hadn’t spent more time bonding with Chen Ting. She insisted on having him stay for dinner, and only then had the driver take him back to school.

“That boy A-Yao, it’s all study and nothing else. So dull. I don’t even know who he takes after. Tingting, make sure you hang out with him more. Next time you both come home, Auntie will make sweet and sour ribs just for you.”

Before he left, Ruan Xin reminded Chen Ting again to look after Pei Yiyao. Chen Ting thought anyone over 185 probably didn’t need looking after, but still agreed obediently.

By the time he got back to the dorm, it was already 7:30 p.m.

Chen Ting had been lost in thought the whole way, trying to figure out where he had seen Pei Yiyao before. He didn’t even notice Yang Shulin walking up to him.

Yang Shulin waved a hand in front of his face. “Hey, Little Ting Ting?”

Chen Ting finally came back to himself. He looked around the empty dorm and asked, “They went to the lab again? Why are you here by yourself?”

Yang Shulin was part of the campus press and the kind of person who couldn’t sit still for long. Leaving him alone was practically worse than killing him.

“I was waiting for you!” Yang Shulin pulled Chen Ting down into a seat, still sounding a little indignant. “You have no idea how exciting this afternoon was. Everyone was bored out of their minds. With that much energy and imagination, why aren’t they all in showbiz?”

“If I went into showbiz, I’d probably top out as a C-list actor,” Chen Ting said.

“How’s that even possible?”

“Why not? With this face of mine, I’d only ever get cast as the boy next door or the eternal second male lead.” Chen Ting gave it more thought, then added seriously, “Maybe I could pull off a psychotic killer. The bigger the contrast, the better the performance. You remember that detective movie I recommended to you? The final boss was that guy with the ridiculously innocent smile—”

“No, no, I’m begging you, don’t say another word…” Yang Shulin looked into Chen Ting’s eyes and saw that spark of excitement. He immediately regretted ever starting the conversation.

Then, as if remembering something, he said, “Su Luo asked someone to contact you. She had them pass the message through me. She wants to meet.”

Chen Ting paused.

“You’re saying she asked someone to find you, then had you pass the message to me, asking to meet?”

Yang Shulin nodded.

Chen Ting said sincerely, “If she wasn’t trying to stir something up between us again, then with that level of execution, she wouldn’t survive three minutes in the kind of detective film I just mentioned.”

Yang Shulin asked, “So… how are you going to reply?”

“I’m not going.”

“You’re really ignoring her? Not even going to hear what she has to say?”

“Ting Ting doesn’t want to hear it.”

“Fair enough. Why bother, right? And actually, if you think about it, in the rumors you’re the one who got confessed to. No matter how it plays out, you’re not losing anything… yeah, this is a win.”

Just a few words in, and Yang Shulin had already been pulled off track by Chen Ting. As for Chen Ting, he genuinely didn’t want to get dragged any further into this gossip mess. Whenever someone messaged him to ask about it, he only ever replied with four words. I don’t know ah.

That “ah” was important. Without it, the answer would sound cold and dismissive. With ‘ah’ it captured just the right mix of surprise and helplessness.

Yang Shulin noticed Chen Ting had changed clothes. He assumed this guy had finally seen the light and started dressing up a little.

Chen Ting gave him a rough version of the juice incident, though he didn’t mention Pei Yiyao by name. He just said the clothes were from a younger classmate. Because the moment he thought of Pei Yiyao, he couldn’t help but recall that mortifying moment. Even now, he could practically feel the breeze through the window brushing against his bare legs.

Cold. Very cold.

And considering Pei Yiyao’s frosty personality, Chen Ting figured that even if they went to the same university, there probably wouldn’t be any further contact between them.

Yang Shulin wasn’t too interested in the younger classmate anyway. After asking once, he dropped it and went back to chatting excitedly with Chen Ting about gossip.

What Chen Ting hadn’t expected was that after just one night, the name Pei Yiyao would crash into his field of vision with overwhelming force.

“Chen Ting! Get up, get up, there’s big news!”

It was 9:30 in the morning, not even close to Chen Ting’s weekend wake-up time when Yang Shulin started shouting like a megaphone and jolted him awake. Chen Ting groggily opened his eyes, not even fully upright yet, when a phone was shoved right in front of his face.

“Look at this. One wave after another. The plot twists just keep coming…”

Chen Ting gave up on moving and let his eyes drift across the screen. The newest pinned post read: New campus heartthrob? Zhou Cheng dethroned?

Wait a minute, why did that name sound so familiar?

Pei Yiyao!?

Chen Ting shot upright, startling Yang Shulin.

“What, what happened?”

Chen Ting didn’t answer. He grabbed the phone and started scrolling through it with full attention. Only then did he figure out what was going on.

Apparently, the night before, a series of posts about Pei Yiyao had suddenly flooded the campus forum, completely burying the love-triangle drama that had dominated the front page.

Overnight, the title of campus heartthrob had been overthrown in spectacular fashion. The sheer boldness of the takeover left the old rankings in ruins.

But Zhou Cheng had held the title for two years. His popularity didn’t go down easy. The forum had already erupted into a full-on fight.

Chen Ting finally remembered where he had seen Pei Yiyao before. It was back in late September, during the freshman military training. A few photos had gone viral on the forum and in everyone’s friend circles.

The person in the photos was Pei Yiyao.

Chen Ting had a hunch. He swiped quickly through the screen, and soon found the thread that had been bumped back to the top. The title read: Junior Cadet on Patrol. So Majestic and Commanding!!!

The original poster seemed completely thrilled. The title already captured everything they wanted to say, and the post began with a barrage of images. There was no introduction, just one photo after another. Pei Yiyao appeared in camouflage, sometimes standing, sometimes crouching, moving with a rifle in one hand. The still frames showed him aiming, lying prone, reloading the magazine, each moment captured in sequence, vivid and lifelike.

Chen Ting remembered being stunned when he first saw the set. After all, most boys had at least some kind of military complex, and Pei Yiyao checked every box. Handsome, striking, with sharp and well-defined features. Maybe a little too severe, but in that setting, it worked. Whether it was the fierce focus in his eyes while aiming or the way sweat ran down the tight line of his jaw, it was undeniably hot.

Not to mention those legs. Long enough to burst out of the frame. No idea where to put them.

Chen Ting felt a twinge of jealousy. Which, of course, was only natural.

Yang Shulin’s lively storytelling pulled Chen Ting out of his thoughts.

“I heard from someone in the journalism club. Last night, sometime after ten, Pei Yiyao came back riding a superbike. Not just any bike, either. It had a full metal body and a sleek design. The whole thing gave off this wild, aggressive vibe. Even more impressive than a sports car. The engine was so loud that people all over campus must have heard it. And get this, he’s so tall that even while sitting on the bike, he could still rest his feet on the ground. When the security guard stopped him at the gate and told him to take off his helmet… everyone who saw it said it was like watching a movie.”

He gave a dramatic sigh. “If I could ever look that cool, I wouldn’t even worry about getting a girlfriend. The line would stretch all the way to 1912.” (a well-known shopping and nightlife district in Nanjing)

Chen Ting had been about to question how exaggerated it all was. But when he heard the part about touching the ground while sitting on the bike, he kept quiet.

Yang Shulin concluded with conviction.

“Now that is what I call cool. Zhou Cheng? He’s nothing. Total lightweight.”

Chen Ting smiled and silently thanked Pei Yiyao in his heart. With someone like that stealing the spotlight, there would probably be far fewer people pestering him about gossip when classes started again. He really didn’t want to deal with any of it. It was a waste of time, a waste of energy, and it might even be exactly what someone was hoping for.

All things considered, Pei Yiyao really was a good person.