Embrace That Vampire - Chapter 18.1

Monday at the laboratory, as soon as the teacher left, Pei Yun was swarmed by the girls in his class asking if he had any beauty secrets.

Pei Yun was silent for a few seconds before politely asking, “Can we talk about things a ‘tough guy’ would understand?”

Du Jian, listening from the side, was dying of laughter. “Monitor, don’t waste your breath. It has nothing to do with skincare. If you ask me, it’s because Pei Bao’s uncle takes such good care of him. When life is moist, your looks naturally go up.”

“Professor Lu?”

“I’ve heard of that theory—if you look at beautiful people every day, you’ll slowly start to look like them. Does it work the same for handsome guys?”

“Not for me. Professor Lu is easy on the eyes, sure, but his aura is too strong. If it were me, I’d probably take a detour just catching a glimpse of him at home.”

“Hahaha, true. Otherwise, you might get caught at any moment and forced to recite the cycle table for new blood cells. If you can’t, it’s eight hours of standing on the balcony as punishment.”

Pei Yun: “Isn’t this inappropriate? Speaking ill of my uncle right in front of me?”

The class monitor giggled. “This isn’t ‘speaking ill.’ It’s an exclamation of awe toward the ‘Light of Ningqing’!”

“An exclamation of wild imagination, more like.”

Pei Yun squatted on the floor, sorting specimens in a large box. “My uncle isn’t like that. He’s very good. He doesn’t eat children, and he won’t catch you to recite tables on a whim.”

“Care to expand on that?”

“Not for outsiders to know. Anyway, you just need to know he’s great.”

“But Professor Lu looks so cold. He doesn’t seem like the type who can take care of a ‘kid.'”

“First of all, I am not a kid.”

Pei Yun’s expression was serious, but his tone carried a hint of smug bragging. “Secondly, when it comes to the ability to take care of a ‘kid,’ if my uncle is second, no one in the world would dare claim to be first.”

“Confirmed: an absolute Uncle Fanboy.”

“Yep!” Pei Yun admitted shamelessly. “You’re right.”

He was indeed a bona fide fanboy now. If he had to make a vivid comparison, it was like the Goddess of Mercy and the Red Boy from Journey to the West. He was that Red Boy, completely won over and tamed by his uncle, the Goddess of Mercy.

Hmm, that seems a bit weird. But no matter, as long as it’s fitting.

The monitor caught the loophole in his words. “You just said you aren’t a kid, but didn’t you just admit it?”

Pei Yun: “…Those who dwell on trifles won’t achieve great things. Monitor, you’re finished.”

Since there were no more classes, everyone could leave once the bell rang. Lu Que was still in a teaching seminar, and since Pei Yun wanted to wait for him, he volunteered to handle the remaining work. He let the others go to dinner while he stayed in the specimen room to finish organizing.

Only a small portion of butterfly specimens remained. Each species here was unique, and the fine craftsmanship preserved the beautiful shimmer on the butterfly wings perfectly. Under the lights, it looked as if the whole box was glowing.

Pei Yun was calm and methodical, classifying them while admiring their beauty. He carefully placed them into their respective compartments, closed the glass doors, and locked them—

“Hey! Buddy!”

Someone suddenly appeared behind him and clapped him on the shoulder.

Pei Yun jumped in fright, and the keys fell to the floor with a clack. He spun around to find the class sports representative. The boy had come from the office and, seeing Pei Yun alone, had snuck in to intentionally scare him.

“Crap! What’s wrong with you!”

Speechless, Pei Yun shoved an elbow into the boy’s chest. “You almost scared me to death. How would you pay for that?”

Usually, the sports rep was boisterous and carefree. By all rights, he should have draped an arm around Pei Yun’s shoulder and offered a cheeky apology. But not today. After being nudged, he stood frozen, staring unblinkingly at Pei Yun.

Pei Yun: “Hey, come on. I’m the one who got scared and I’m fine, yet you—the one who did the scaring—are acting dumb?”

Only after being pushed again did the boy seem to snap out of a dream. His eyes slowly widened. “Holy crap! Holy crap crap crap!!! I… I just saw… saw… saw…”

Pei Yun calmly leaned over to pick up the keys. “Brother, you’re regressing. Straighten your tongue before you speak.”

“I just saw your eyes turn red!!!”

Clack.

The keys fell to the floor again.

Pei Yun quickly reached out to cover the boy’s mouth, but it was too late. There were two sharp raps on the window. Both turned their heads to see a wrinkled face pressed against the glass. The eyes were deep-set, staring intensely at Pei Yun like an old hawk—stubborn, fierce, and terrifying.

Pei Yun’s heart sank to the bottom. How could it be such a coincidence? Of all people, it had to be Sheng Hui!

He prayed Sheng Hui hadn’t heard anything and would leave, but his hope was crushed the next second.

“What did you say?”

The grating voice came through the glass, sounding like a sharp object scraping against a chalkboard. It was physically painful to the eardrums. Not just Pei Yun, but the sports rep was startled too, his newly recovered speech failing him again.

“S-S-S-Professor Sheng…”

Sheng Hui grew impatient and slid the window open with a shink. His gaze swept back and forth between the two boys before locking onto the sports rep. “I’m asking you. What did you just say? What did you see?!”

“I… I, I, I… I saw… saw…”

The boy was nearly scared to death by this old face that looked even fiercer than usual, like it might actually eat a child. He stammered for ages without completing a sentence.

A chill ran from the soles of Pei Yun’s feet to the top of his head. His hands, hanging at his sides, clenched tightly, his palms quickly becoming slick with sweat. He didn’t know how to signal the boy to lie, and he was even more afraid Sheng Hui would notice something was off. He forced himself to stay calm and spoke up before the boy could form a sentence.

“Professor Sheng, we were organizing butterfly specimens. My classmate just said he saw a red butterfly that was exceptionally beautiful—”

“I wasn’t asking you!”

Sheng Hui cut him off sharply, staring directly into Pei Yun’s eyes while speaking to the sports rep. “You. Come here. Repeat what you just said. What did you see!”

The boy shivered, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. He looked at Pei Yun, then at Sheng Hui. Although he didn’t understand the situation, he knew that speaking the truth right now would probably spell disaster for Pei Yun.

“I… I just saw a red butterfly specimen. It was… was very beautiful. Its back even had flower-like… patterns…”

Pei Yun breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Sheng Hui narrowed his eyes, half-doubting. “Is that really it?”

The boy swallowed hard. “R-really! Hahaha, what else could it be? Ha, hahaha.”

Sheng Hui scrutinized Pei Yun from head to toe. He leaned his hands on the windowsill and tilted his body further inward. “You. Come here!”

Pei Yun tried his best to act nonchalant. “Does Professor Sheng need help with something? I’m quite busy organizing these specimens.”

“Come here!” Sheng Hui’s tone sharpened, and his harsh expression made his eyes look even deeper.

It seemed there was no avoiding it. Fine, what’s there to be afraid of? He looked like a normal person now. As long as he continued to play dumb, Sheng Hui wouldn’t see anything. It wasn’t as if the man could force him to turn into a vampire.

Pei Yun mentally prepared himself, but when he took a step forward, he realized his legs were actually a bit weak. He took a deep breath, steadied himself, and continued forward—

“Professor Sheng, what are you doing here?”

Lu Que appeared in the doorway at some point, holding a small stack of documents and looking expressionlessly at Sheng Hui.

Phew! The moment Pei Yun saw Lu Que, he felt like a refugee seeing a savior.

“Professor Lu.”

Sheng Hui’s “interrogation” was interrupted, and he turned toward Lu Que with an unfriendly look. “Isn’t the seminar still going on? What are you doing here?”

“All meetings must end eventually. I came to pick someone up.”

Lu Que didn’t intend to exchange pleasantries. He looked at the two boys in the room. “Why are you still standing there? Let’s go.”

Pei Yun quickly kicked the specimen box into the corner and ran to his uncle’s side. Lu Que looked at the sports rep, who was still standing there dazed and at a loss. “You come too. The counselor has a message for me to give you.”

“Ah? Oh, okay!” The boy couldn’t wait to escape Sheng Hui’s sight; those eyes really made his skin crawl.

“Professor Sheng, we’ll be going now.”

Lu Que signaled for the boy to close the door. He didn’t care whether Sheng Hui responded as he led the two boys away.

“Oh man, that scared me to death.”

Once they rounded the stairs, the sports rep finally allowed himself to look exhausted. “Even when my mom chases me with a whip, she isn’t as scary as Professor Sheng.”

Pei Yun’s limbs were still weak; he felt like he was walking on air. Hearing the boy’s words, he couldn’t help but think: You were just questioned, I was the one who almost died, okay?

Lu Que glanced at them. “What did he say to you?”

Sports Rep: “Not much. I was just talking to Pei Yun when he suddenly appeared and insisted I repeat what I’d said.”

At this, he remembered the other matter. “But Pei Yun, I really thought I saw your eyes turn red just now. What happened?”

Pei Yun didn’t look up. “You saw wrong.”

The boy scratched the back of his head. “Really? I don’t think so. How could I see wrong from that close? It was just for an instant, then I blinked and they were back to normal.”

Pei Yun refused to admit it. “Why are you telling ghost stories in broad daylight?”

“It’s true!”

“The specimen room has infrared detection lights,” Lu Que suddenly interjected.

Sports Rep: “Infrared detection lights?”

Lu Que hummed in affirmation. “Some teacher probably forgot to turn them off before leaving. I turned them off when I went to find you.”

The boy had an epiphany. “Oh, so that’s it! It must have been the lighting. But why did Professor Sheng make such a big deal out of it? He had to get to the bottom of everything.”

Lu Que used the calmest tone to deliver the most dismissive explanation: “He has a habit of looking for trouble.”

The boy was completely convinced. “I see!”

Listening to this, Pei Yun silently gave his uncle a massive thumbs-up in his heart. Masterful.

The sports rep went his own way after they reached the ground floor. Only then did Pei Yun allow himself to fully relax. “I was almost scared out of my wits. Uncle, thank God you came in time to save my life.”

Lu Que: “How did he see?” Pei Yun: “He startled me! I wasn’t prepared at all.”

Thinking back, he was still terrified. If Sheng Hui had actually caught something, he would probably be on his way to the modification plant right now.

Lu Que frowned. “Be careful from now on. Stay away from Sheng Hui.”

Although he had blocked it this time, there was no guarantee Sheng Hui wouldn’t harbor suspicions. If it happened again, it might not be so easy to brush off.

Pei Yun held up three fingers in a vow. “I’ll definitely take a detour whenever I see Professor Sheng from now on.”

As they headed toward the woods where the car was parked, Pei Yun received a video call from Ms. Pei. She was sitting leisurely in her garden having afternoon tea and had decided to check in on her dear son.

Pei Yun (sarcastically): “You sure are comfortable. Do you have any idea how much your son is suffering out here? Is this the gap between people?”

Pei Siyue: “What suffering? It’s so comfortable staying with your uncle. You have everything provided for you. I think your uncle is the one suffering for taking on such a big ‘trouble’ like you.”

Pei Yun: “What trouble? Mom, don’t just label me like that. I’ve been perfectly well-behaved, okay?”

Pei Siyue took a sip of black tea and said elegantly, “Have some shame.”

Pei Yun wasn’t having it. He caught up to Lu Que, who was already at the car door, and hopped over to throw an arm around his neck. He tilted the phone slightly so his uncle appeared in the frame. “Don’t believe me? Ask the person involved. Am I a ‘trouble’?”

Lu Que had just received an electronic document from the research group and was opening it. Hearing this, he looked up at the phone, allowing Pei Yun to rest an arm casually on his shoulder. “He’s fine. Not a trouble.”

“See?” Pei Yun was so smug his “tail” was practically wagging.

On the other end of the video, Pei Siyue raised an eyebrow, looking slightly surprised. Her brother was actually someone who would spoil a junior like this, letting Pei Yun mess around with him?

Still, she didn’t give in to her son. “In any case, behave yourself. You don’t know how to do anything. Your uncle has to take care of you even though you’re already such a big lump. Thinking about it, you’re completely useless.”

Pei Yun climbed into the passenger seat. Hearing his mother’s last sentence, a flash of inspiration hit him, and he grinned widely. “Who says I’m useless?”

Pei Siyue: “Then tell me, what use are you?” Pei Yun (smugly): “I have high ‘ornamental value.’ This is officially and authoritatively certified. Rebuttal invalid.” “…”

When Wen Xingchuan came home from work, Pei Siyue lost interest in talking to her son. She dropped a quick “remember to come home for dinner this weekend” and hung up to find her husband.

As Pei Yun put his phone away and buckled his seatbelt, a thought occurred to him. He turned to Lu Que with a look like he was secretly plotting something. “Uncle, I have a bold request.”

Lu Que: “What?” Pei Yun: “Can I invite my classmates over for hot pot?” Lu Que: “Yes.”

He answered so simply that Pei Yun was stunned. He confirmed again: “You’re agreeing just like that?” Lu Que: “Mhm.”

Crap, that easy? Pei Yun realized he had been underestimating how easygoing his uncle could be. And soon, reality proved that as long as life continued, his amazement would never cease.

Not only did Lu Que agree easily, but on the day of the hot pot gathering, he even pre-ordered all the ingredients online to be delivered to the door.

Beat the Little Monster: [!!!] Beat the Little Monster: [UN-CLE! I want to be your number one fan for life! I’ll crash through walls for you!] [Image] Beat the Little Monster: [The food is all ready! Uncle, when are you coming back? All the beef tripe I cook tonight belongs to you!] [Excitedly rubbing hands.jpg]

. : [I have something to do. I’ll be back late. You guys go ahead and eat.] . : [Don’t eat too much spicy food.]

Beat the Little Monster: [Ah.] [Disappointedly rubbing hands.jpg] Beat the Little Monster: [Then what do you like to eat? I’ll save some for you! /Cheer /Cheer]

Lu Que was about to type back when a call interrupted him. He tapped to answer. “What is it?”

“Big news!” Zhang Liangshen’s frantic voice came from the other end. “Just now—about three minutes ago—one of the vampires at the Institute went berserk!”