Embrace That Vampire - Chapter 13

Inside the office of the Heterogeneity Research Institute.

Zhang Liangshen sat across from Lu Que, his mouth twitching as he was forced to learn the entire operating procedure for a toaster.

“Little nephew?” he leaned in and asked only after Lu Que hung up.

Lu Que: “Mm.”

“You can’t even leave him for a second?” Zhang Liangshen was stunned. “Oh ho, not bad, Old Lu. I take back what I said this morning—this kid of yours is even clingier than my little niece!”

Lu Que took the document Zhang Liangshen pushed toward him and put his phone in his pocket.

“The first part is what I showed you last time. Start reading from item eleven.”

As Lu Que opened the file, Zhang Liangshen provided a brief oral explanation: “First of all, vampire saliva has a very strong wound-repairing ability.”

“Previously, everyone thought the rapid recovery of a vampire bite was due to secretions from the fangs. In fact, that’s not the case; it’s all thanks to the saliva.”

“However, the effectiveness varies with the size of the wound. The larger the wound, the weaker the effect. That’s why those wounds inflicted when a vampire is out of their mind and frenzied cannot be repaired.”

“Then there’s the physical appearance. It will slowly undergo changes as the awakening process progresses…”

Lu Que reached this line, frowned, and looked up. “What kind of changes?”

The current elective course was Film Appreciation. With less than ten minutes until the end of class, the teacher had already disappeared to who-knows-where.

Pei Yun sat alone in the corner with his head down, playing Snake while listening to the two female students in the front row discuss the ultimate conundrum: What should we eat this afternoon?

“By the way, do you know about that new theme restaurant over by the Film City?”

“I saw it on Weibo. I heard the atmosphere is great and the food is good too. Lots of people are going there to check it out. Crucially, there’s a certain chance you might run into a celebrity!”

“The chance of meeting a celebrity is pretty low, right? Since it’s new.”

“Didn’t they say a celebrity invested in the restaurant? I even saw a marketing account leak info that a minor star and his ‘sugar daddy’ would be going there for dinner today.”

“Real or fake? How do they know these things? Were they hiding under someone’s bed last night?”

“Marketing accounts are 20% truth and 80% lies, but you can’t rule out a minor celebrity leaking the news on purpose for hype. Maybe they really are going.”

“Man, my interest is piqued. Shall we settle our dinner there today?”

“It’s too late today, isn’t it? Class ends after five, and a round-trip taxi ride takes over an hour. I still have a mountain of homework piled up.”

“Ugh, dammit!”

Pei Yun was leading the giant snake he had painstakingly raised in circles to eat smaller snakes when his shoulder was suddenly tapped. The snake’s head hit a wall, and its corpse was quickly divided up by a swarm of opportunistic little snakes nearby.

Pei Yun turned around and gave Du Jian a punch.

Du Jian felt innocent. “What’d you hit me for?”

Without looking up, Pei Yun started a new small snake—a blue one this time. “Can’t I have itchy hands? Where did you run off to just now?”

Du Jian: “Emptying the tank in the restroom.”

Pei Yun: “Tsk, couldn’t you wait until class was over?”

“It was an emergency, couldn’t hold it,” Du Jian said. “I also picked someone up on the way back.”

“Who?” Pei Yun took a moment to look up from his busy schedule, then quickly looked down again. “Monitor? Why are you here?”

Zeng Yichen sat down next to Du Jian. “I happened to be coming over to hand in some materials. I remembered you guys had an elective here, so I thought I’d come wait for you to finish class together.”

Pei Yun: “Awesome, Monitor. Did you memorize our entire course schedule or something?”

Zeng Yichen smiled but didn’t speak.

Du Jian remembered something from his walk back and nudged Pei Yun’s shoulder. “Pei Bao, did you know? Back in the hallway, I heard several girls discussing you.”

Pei Yun was jolted so hard he almost died in the game again. He hissed and glared at him. “Can you have some situational awareness? Can’t you see your daddy’s raising a snake? What were they discussing about me?”

Du Jian: “Discussing how you seem to have changed a bit.”

Pei Yun: “Changed how? Gotten more muscular?”

“Of course not. You’ve become more handsome—the kind that’s visible to the naked eye.”

Du Jian also tilted his head to examine his face. “I don’t notice it since I see you every day, but looking closely, it really seems true. I can’t put my finger on what changed, but you definitely look more beautiful. The girl who got called out in class this morning was probably caught because she kept turning around to look at you, right?”

Pei Yun felt goosebumps rising. He slapped Du Jian’s face and pushed him back. “Crap, don’t talk to me like that. It feels disgusting.”

Du Jian chuckled. “You’re not even happy when I praise you. What has Professor Lu been feeding you every day to make your ‘second puberty’ turn out so well? Care to share?”

“Get lost. You’re the one with second puberty.”

Pei Yun’s little snake died again, so he simply shut off the game. “Monitor, hurry up and deal with this illiterate fool.”

Zeng Yichen: “Actually, he’s right. I feel the same way.”

With someone agreeing, Du Jian’s confidence immediately surged. “See? If you don’t believe me, you should at least believe the Monitor, right?”

“You guys are overthinking it.”

Half-doubting, Pei Yun used his black phone screen to check his reflection. He couldn’t see anything different. “Don’t I still look average?”

Du Jian couldn’t believe his own ears. “What did you say? Average? Pei Bao, where did you learn this ‘Versailles’ humble-bragging style?”

Even the two female students in the front row heard this. The look they gave him when they turned around was quite complex and difficult to describe.

Pei Yun put his phone away, not bothering to argue.

It wasn’t a “Versailles” brag; he had grown up looking at his Little Uncle, who was the absolute peak of aesthetics. He truly felt his own looks were average—at most, slightly above middle-of-the-road.

Just then, the bell rang, and everyone began rustling around to pack their things. Pei Yun stood up. “Wait for me a second, I’m going to wash my hands.”

There was a sink at the end of the hallway on every floor of the teaching building. After Pei Yun washed his hands, he splashed some cold water on his face to wake himself up. Closing his eyes, he reached for a paper towel, only to find the dispenser was empty. Just as he was about to pull his hand back, a tissue was pressed into his palm.

“So considerate. Thanks.”

He wiped his face haphazardly and opened his eyes. He smiled. “Monitor, I knew it was you.”

Zeng Yichen smiled, his gaze lingering on the boy’s face.

Water droplets that hadn’t been wiped dry slid from his brow to the corner of his eye. The damp skin appeared even more pale and cold. His lip color was a deeper red than most people’s, and his eyes were clear and radiant even in natural light.

The wind during the “Late Spring Chill” season was cool. Standing in the cold wind, he possessed a kind of vivid, intense beauty.

Zeng Yichen paused for two seconds, then reached out and used the back of his finger to wipe away a drop of water that had slid down to Pei Yun’s jaw. He retracted his hand without a break. “The weather is still cold. Be careful not to get your clothes wet.”

“Oh!”

Pei Yun rubbed the tissue over his face again, then tossed it into the trash. “Okay, let’s go.”

Zeng Yichen stood in place watching his back. The hand hanging at his side curled slightly, then released once more when Pei Yun turned back to shout for him to hurry up. He picked up his pace to follow.

Pei Yun only walked with them as far as the bottom of the teaching building. Lu Que had sent a message early on saying he would pick him up at the West Gate in the afternoon to take him out for dinner.

The car arrived first, parked by a street lamp.

Pei Yun was playing on his phone and didn’t notice the license plate, but he recognized Lu Que’s car at first glance when he looked up. Hearing the unlock sound, he was about to pull the door handle when someone called him from behind. Turning around, he saw Zeng Yichen had caught up.

“Monitor?” Pei Yun pulled his hand back and turned around. “Why are you here?”

“A couple of days ago, I found a USB drive under the dormitory cabinet. I asked Du Jian and An Lan, and they said it wasn’t theirs. I was going to have them bring it to the classroom for you, but I forgot once I got busy. I just remembered it, and I happened to have it on me.”

Zeng Yichen opened his palm. “It’s yours, right?”

It was a small piece—a black base printed with a Chibi-style Optimus Prime, attached to a small silver ring. It was indeed the one Lu Que had given him before.

Pei Yun nodded and took it happily. “I looked for this for so long; I thought I lost it. Turns out it was left in the dorm. Thanks, Monitor! Sorry to make you run all this way.”

“It’s nothing.”

Zeng Yichen maintained his usual good-tempered demeanor. “I was heading out to buy some things anyway.”

Pei Yun: “Buy what? Doesn’t the campus supermarket have it?”

Zeng Yichen didn’t actually have anything to buy, so he made up an excuse. “Going to the phone store to buy some headphones.”

Pei Yun gave an “Oh” and waved a paw at him. “Then I’m heading out.”

Zeng Yichen was about to say okay, but just then, the car window behind Pei Yun rolled down. He looked directly into the eyes of the man sitting in the driver’s seat, and the word got stuck in his throat.

An inexplicable sense of crisis washed over him, driven by an uncontrollable instinct. As Pei Yun turned to leave, Zeng Yichen grabbed his wrist. “Xiao Pei.”

“Huh?” Pei Yun turned his head. “Monitor, is there something else?”

Zeng Yichen didn’t know what else there was.

He opened his mouth, but in the end, he couldn’t say anything. He had to let go and forced a gentle smile. “It’s nothing. Du Jian just asked me to remind you to do the online quiz today; the teacher is going over it tomorrow.”

“Got it, I’ll remember. Bye!”

Pei Yun pulled open the car door and sat in the passenger seat. Zeng Yichen remained standing in place.

Lu Que retracted his gaze, rolled up the window, and drove into the traffic.

“Roommate?” Lu Que asked casually.

He had never seen this boy before, so he assumed he wasn’t Pei Yun’s classmate.

“Yeah.” Pei Yun never held back praise for his brothers. “That’s my Monitor, Zeng Yichen. He’s a great guy. He’s been taking good care of me since we started living together. He has a real ‘big brother’ vibe.”

Lu Que glanced at Pei Yun in the rearview mirror. Remembering the boy’s look just now, he was noncommittal about Pei Yun’s words.

Pei Yun originally thought they would eat near the school, but to his surprise, Lu Que drove directly to the Film City. The restaurant was on the thirty-second floor; looking down from the window, one could easily take in the entire Film City.

“Little Uncle, did you invite anyone else?” Pei Yun couldn’t help but ask as they got off the elevator.

Lu Que gave his phone number to the server, and they were quickly led to the best seat by the window. Two menus were left behind as the server stepped aside to wait quietly.

“No, just us.”

Lu Que pushed one of the menus toward Pei Yun. “See what you want to eat and order for yourself.”

Pei Yun flipped through the menu, thinking how wondrous the world was.

He had just heard about this restaurant from his classmates during class, and now he was already sitting inside.

The two quickly finished ordering. The server took the menus, poured water for them, said “Please wait a moment,” and turned to leave.

Pei Yun took a sip of lemon water. He smacked his lips—no flavor—and put it down. “Little Uncle, why did we suddenly come here for dinner?”

Lu Que: “A colleague mentioned it, said the taste is good.”

Pei Yun was quite surprised. He hadn’t expected his Little Uncle, who seemed to have no worldly desires, to actually enjoy visiting popular spots to try gourmet food.

It would be a while before the food arrived. With nothing to do, Pei Yun looked downstairs for a bit, but soon lost interest and began admiring the restaurant’s decor.

It had a rather unique romantic style. The curtains were light blue gauze embroidered with white flowers and hung with crystal ornaments. The ceiling and carpet were both a misty gray. The lights were also beautiful; each table had a corresponding lamp of a different style, providing a soft light that wasn’t blinding—

Before he could finish his evaluation, he was startled by a flash of light from diagonally ahead.

He focused his gaze in that direction. Two girls were sitting at that table, but both were heads-down, focusing on their meal and not looking at him.

Strange. Where did that light come from?

Did he see wrong?

The server soon began serving the food. Pei Yun pushed aside the doubts in his heart and focused on eating.

However, halfway through the meal, that strange feeling of being watched returned. Pei Yun felt uncomfortable from head to toe. After every few bites, he couldn’t resist looking around.

“What’s wrong?” Lu Que noticed his abnormality.

Pei Yun swallowed his food, retracted his gaze, and leaned in close to Lu Que, whispering, “Little Uncle, do you feel like someone has been watching us this whole time?”

Lu Que glanced behind Pei Yun and happened to see a couple secretly peeking their way. Seeing they were caught, they hurriedly looked down and acted like nothing happened.

Lu Que frowned. He raised his hand to call the server and whispered a few words. The server nodded, went over to the couple’s table, talked with them for a bit, and soon returned.

“Sir, they just said the two of you looked a bit familiar and wanted to confirm if they knew you. It seems they were mistaken. They asked me to apologize on their behalf.”

“Mm, thanks for the trouble.”

“You’re welcome, sir. It’s only right.”

The server left after confirming they needed nothing else. Pei Yun bit his chopsticks and guessed, “Could they be from Ning University too?”

Lu Que: “Probably.”

Pei Yun breathed a sigh of relief. “Then they should have just come up and asked. Peeking at me for almost the entire meal… they scared me so much I thought I was being stalked.”

After finishing dinner, Lu Que went to pay the bill. The clerk put a baseball cap into a bag and handed it over, saying it was a gift for the grand opening—given to anyone whose spending reached a certain amount.

Lu Que took it. At the door, he ran into an old friend and needed to exchange a few pleasantries, so he gave the car keys to Pei Yun and told him to go wait in the car first.

Just as Pei Yun took the keys, a young boy suddenly ran up to him and said with a grin that he wanted to take a photo with him. This startled Pei Yun. “Why do you want to take a photo with me? Do we know each other?”

The boy: “It doesn’t matter if we don’t know each other now; maybe we’ll have a chance to know each other in the future.” As he spoke, he moved to take out his phone.

His overfamiliar and rude attitude made Pei Yun uncomfortable. He frowned and was about to refuse when a hat was suddenly pressed onto his head. The brim was pushed down, covering half of his face.

“He’s not taking photos.”

A deep voice reached his ears as Lu Que stepped in to block the way in front of him.

The boy shrugged. “Fine then, forget it.”

After saying that, he turned around and went back into the restaurant to continue eating.

The elevator arrived. Lu Que’s palm pressed lightly against Pei Yun’s spine, signaling him to go in first.

Pei Yun pushed the brim of the hat up a bit. Two girls entered after them—they looked familiar. He remembered them; they had been sitting diagonally in front of him just now.

The elevator didn’t stop in between and went all the way to the ground floor.

Pei Yun was standing near the elevator door. When it opened, he was the first to step out. After walking a few steps, he was called out: “Big brother! Wait!”

Pei Yun made sure there was no one else around and turned back in confusion. “Are you calling me?”

“Mm-hmm!” The girls nodded repeatedly, their cheeks flushed red. They were smiling shyly, but what they said was very bold: “You are so good-looking, and your partner is too! You guys are a perfect match! Keep it up! I look forward to seeing your work!”

After saying that, before he could react, the two girls waved at him and ran away quickly. He was left standing there with a bewildered expression.

What “partner”?

What “work”?

Everything was so strange.

Didn’t he just come here for a meal today?