Gege.

Gege.

Gege.

From going downstairs to getting in the car, from getting in the car to parking, He Chuzhou felt no peace with his mind filled with Pei Xi’s gentle “Gege.”

Fuck, it was so sweet.

It went to his head.

How could it be so sweet???

Fortunately, he was quick to stop Pei Xi from calling him that a second time, otherwise he would have become dizzy from the sweetness!

He didn’t understand. Was Pei Xi the one being bullied or was he?

Was it possible that the human body automatically activated some functions after its consciousness was damaged?

Similar to how a pregnant woman’s sense of smell became sensitive to protect her unborn child, Pei Xi confused the enemy to protect himself…..

“Gege.”

Pei Xi turned away from the window to look at him: “Aren’t we going home? Why are we at the company?”

He Chuzhou: “……”

Okay, he was dizzy.

He was truly impressed!

He Chuzhou clicked his tongue and finally stopped resisting. He reached out and pressed Pei Xi’s head hard.

Whatever!

What was there to worry about?

What did the crimes Pei Xi committed have to do with Pei-calico?

Pei-calico, whose head was being held, didn’t know what was going on. But he still behaved well and continued to express his doubts with innocent eyes: 

Aren’t we going home?

“We’re going back. I was distracted and drove to the wrong place, I’ll go back now.”

He Chuzhou retracted his hand. Accepting his fate, he restarted the car and prepared to turn around: “You have a good rest when you get back, and I’ll take you to dinner after I get off work.”

It seemed he was destined to suffer this calamity. This thankless work was his fate.

Pei Xi: “You’re not going home?”

He Chuzhou: “I still have some things to deal with at the company.”

Pei Xi hesitated: “Then won’t it take up your time?”

He Chuzhou: “Fortunately, I have—”

Pei Xi: “Then I won’t go back.”

He Chuzhou: “…….”

He Chuzhou: “What?”

“I’ll go with you to the company.”

Pei Xi suggested earnestly: “This way, your time won’t be wasted going back and forth, and it also saves you from having to go home and pick me up after work.”

Pei Xi, going to his company?

He Chuzhou had never considered it.

In fact, it was not impossible, but if someone from the company saw them at this time…..

Pei Xi: “Is it not possible?”

He Chuzhou shook his head briefly and tapped the steering wheel, about to open his mouth.

Pei Xi lowered his voice: “But I want to see your office, Gege.”

He Chuzhou: “…….”

He Chuzhou raised his hands in surrender: “Okay, okay, you can go if you want. Whatever you want. Feel free. I was just thinking about whether you would be used to drinking the company drinks.”

The car approached the underground parking lot from the side entrance. He Chuzhou intended to take Pei Xi directly to the top floor in a special elevator to avoid the possibility of bumping into people.

Of course, he didn’t forget a certain matter when he got out of the car. He opened the car door for Pei Xi and coughed: “Um, don’t call me gege casually in the future. I was just teasing you, don’t pay attention to me.”

Pei Xi interpreted his words as: “So you actually don’t like it, right?”

While He Chuzhou was too stunned to reply, he continued: “Okay, I won’t call you that anymore.”

“…….”

A certain person’s mouth twitched, and he tried to mend the situation before it was too late: “If you like it, it’s fine if you all me that once in a while—”

“It doesn’t matter to me.”

Pei Xi interrupted him and said seriously: “Like you said, it’s important that the person being called something enjoys it.”

He Chuzhou: “……”

He Chuzhou: “………”

His foot suddenly hurt as if it had been hit by a boulder falling from the sky. What was happening?

When he stepped into the elevator, he was already at peace with himself.

More accurately, he regretted that the established facts could not be changed and had no choice but to accept them.

The special elevator went directly to the president’s office on the top floor, so he could take this person back to the office right after getting off the elevator. The same thing applied after he was done with work, so nobody would realize that Pei Xi had been there.

It was the perfect plan.

As long as nothing unexpected happened.

By the time He Chuzhou discovered that the administrative department had borrowed the top floor conference room for its equipment, it was too late.

As soon as the elevator door opened, the group of people waiting for the second elevator glanced over and went numb.

Fine. It was over.

If he pretended to be unfamiliar with Pei-calico now, how long would it take to coax him back?

But if he didn’t pretend, would Pei Xi come and tear him apart when he heard about it later?

Although with his small body, he may not be able to tear him apart.

He thought all this in an instant, and even wondered why he didn’t ask Pei Xi to change into a suit before going out. If nothing else, at least he would still have his aura.

He was currently wearing casual clothes, with clear eyes that were no different from those of the company’s new interns—

When he glanced over with an aching head, his expression suddenly froze.

Standing behind him, when Pei Xi noticed the attention of the group of people, his expression was cold, his eyes indifferent, almost no different from the sober Pei Xi.

He Chuzhou: “……?”

Likely because he had paused for so long, Pei Xi looked back at him: “What’s wrong?”

He Chuzhou: “……Nothing.”

Pei Xi: “Then let’s go.”

That said, he took the lead in stepping out of the elevator and headed toward the office area, which had a conspicuous sign.

He Chuzhou’s eyes moved slightly.

If he hadn’t seen this person walking toward his office, he would have thought he had suddenly recovered again.

Not forgetting the crowd of onlookers to the side, he asked why they were all here without changing his expression. Then he turned around and quickly caught up with Pei Xi, taking him into his office in full view of everyone.

The remaining group of people looked at each other.

After entering the elevator, they continued to look at each other.

Then an uncertain voice sounded, breaking the silence: “Xiao Wei said a couple of days ago that President He paid a high price for a piece of jewelry and gave it to President Pei. Is it true?”

*

*

A complete set of stories quickly spread among the employees from all walks of life at He Group headquarters. 

They originated at the front desk, where a valuable item sent from Pei Group’s office was received.

According to an insider, the bracelet inside was bought by President He at a high price and given to President Pei in private. And President Pei did not appreciate it, so he sent it back.

Then President Pei called President He for some urgent matter. At first, President He got angry and put on airs after the bracelet was rejected, but in the end, he lasted less than a minute and left the management employees in the conference room to go and pick that person up.

As for why it was said that he picked that person up, it was because President He came back with President Pei just two hours after leaving the company.

He also chose a populated place to walk, as if he was proud of himself and feared that other people wouldn’t see them.

And compared to President He’s attentiveness, President Pei’s attitude was as frigid as ever, with a less obvious hint of……the impatience of being pestered repeatedly.

To sum it up, it could be concluded that President He was spreading his peacock tail in pursuit of President Pei.

He spent money for no profit, urgent and unprincipled, but it was a pity that the falling flower yearned for love, but the heartless brook rippled on.

The rumors were very lively, and attracted countless people on both sides. But one of the protagonists of the story was still amazed by the other protagonist’s superb on-the-spot reaction abilities.

“You’re capable, ah.”

He Chuzhou locked the door and turned to pour water for Pei Xi: “Is this how you deceived your friend last night?”

Pei Xi didn’t understand: “What do you mean?”

He Chuzhou handed him the water. His tone was relaxed, with a lazy smile: “I’m praising your shrewdness and your ability to pretend in front of others.”

Pei Xi frowned slightly: “I’m not pretending.”

He Chuzhou raised an eyebrow in obvious disbelief: “Then what was with your cold attitude toward those people at the elevators just now?”

Pei Xi: “It’s because they’re not you.”

The smile on He Chuzhou’s lips froze.

Pei Xi was puzzled: “Why should I be warm toward people who don’t matter?”

He Chuzhou lowered his eyes to look at him. His throat seemed to be blocked by a ball of cotton, and he was suddenly speechless.

Pei Xi didn’t notice his abnormal mood. After taking a sip of water, he found that his stomach was empty and couldn’t help but take another sip. Then he raised his head again: “Chuzhou, I’m hungry.”

Unexpectedly, his vision dimmed as his eyes were covered.

Pei Xi: “?”

Pei Xi tilted his head in confusion: “Chuzhou?”

In the next second, the hand moved up to the top of his head and rudely ravaged it, ruffling his hair into a mess.

At the same time, a cellphone was stuffed into Pei Xi’s hands.

The person who gave it to him seemed very generous, but also like there was nothing he could do about him: “The password is 049123. See for yourself what you want to eat.”

“Choose something more expensive, and gege will treat you to a big meal after work.”

Yun Ji had sent detailed meeting notes to He Chuzhou’s email, along with the schedule for the coming week.

Pei Xi did not disturb He Chuzhou’s work. While eating quietly, he hung up a phone call that inexplicably reminded him to go back for a meeting.

After eating, he began to explore the office.

It was difficult to make a workplace interesting, and the president’s office was no exception.

It had a simple style in black, white, and gray, with two white walls sandwiched between huge, curved floor-to-ceiling windows with a panoramic view of most of Wancheng.

One of the walls was mostly blocked by a huge white bookshelf. Various books and greenery were scattered across the shelves, and the lower three shelves to the left were filled with a dazzling array of…..small animal figurines?

Pei Xi: “?”

He stared at them with considerable interest for a while, eyes scanning the small animals round and round before he finally picked out a pink rubber pig.

The soft, waxy texture felt good, and the base squeaked when it was squeezed.

It was fun and fit well in his hand.

On the other side, He Chuzhou quickly scanned the meeting minutes and marked several areas that needed improvement. Just as he was about to process documents, He Aiyue called.

He Chuzhou glanced at the time on the lower right side of the computer, and when he picked up the phone, he asked He Aiyue a soul-tormenting question: “You brought your phone to school? Does Mom know?”

He Aiyue paused, then shouted over the phone: “Day after day, you’re telling on me. Boss He, I despise you, and I’m going to settle accounts with you!”

He Chuzhou’s eyes did not leave the documents: “What accounts? You can’t figure something out, and you want me to find a person in finance to help you?”

He Aiyue: “……”

He Aiyue: “I’m going to tell Mom that you’re spreading rumors about me outside.”

He Chuzhou: “What rumors have I told about about you?”

He Aiyue: “You told everyone that I want to give birth to a monkey^[1] for Pei Xi! And that after being rejected, I cried an ocean of tears at home!”

He Chuzhou: “?”

He Chuzhou hissed and stopped writing: “Who told you that?”

He Aiyue: “Yun Ji!”

He Chuzhou: “Are these his original words?”

He Aiyue: “Of course not, but in summary, it’s pretty much the same!”

He Chuzhou ground his back molars: “With those reading comprehension skills, can you really pass the university entrance exams next year? Do I need to tell Mom in advance to find a remedial class for you?”

He Aiyue: “? ? ?”

He Aiyue: “Boss He, you @*#T@#&(@&#..&*……you help me do the mathematics olympiad exercises, or else *&%…#+!……”

He Chuzhou hung up the phone.

Feeling uneasy, he typed a brief message for Ms. Chu, notifying her that He Aiyue should be signed up for an after-school tutoring class.

Just as he clicked send, there was a flash of light and shadow in front of his eyes, and with a squeak, a pink-skinned pig appeared before him.

Pei Xi liked this pig very much. Unable to put it down, he kept squeezing it, pointing the base that emitted the squeaking sound toward He Chuzhou. A gust of wind blew, making He Chuzhou’s nose itch.

“Can I take it home?” Pei Xi asked He Chuzhou, leaning on the armrest beside him.

He Chuzhou recognized it as a toy He Aiyue got with a delivery order when she came before: “You can, ah. I recall that there are quite a lot of them. You can take them all back.”

Pei Xi shook his head: “No need. I just want this one.”

That was fine too. He Chuzhou didn’t force it, and asked casually: “Why do you like the pig?”

Pei Xi: “Because it seems very similar to you.”

He Chuzhou: “…..What?”

With a question mark over his head, he looked at the pink-skinned pig again: “Where does it look like me?”

When Pei Xi heard this, his eyebrows curved.

Ice and snow melted nearly within reach, and a face that rarely wore a smile now looked so beautiful that it almost took his breath away: 

“It’s very cute.”

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[1] “Give birth to a monkey” is humorous slang for bearing a child. ⮐

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Chapter 12 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 14