He Chuzhou walked He Xingxing and prepared breakfast when he returned. When he sat at the dining table, Pei Xi’s entire being didn’t feel right.

Not only had his bold behavior yesterday disgraced him in He Chuzhou’s eyes, more importantly, Pei Xi had to pretend not to remember anything.

Never had he thought that he would one day sit completely sober at a table with this person he’d despised in the past, calmly eating the breakfast made by the other party.

He didn’t know what sort of expression or attitude to use during such a situation, let alone the right thing to say.

His lost spirit was reflected in the way he became colder and haughtier than usual, and even more out of reach.

This look would normally fool a person, but in He Chuzhou’s eyes right then — he was an ill-tempered ragdoll cat who would ignore a person but still obediently drink warm milk.

Milk warmed by his own hands.

He didn’t directly start smoothing his fur, but instead adopted the most restrained behavior out of consideration for Pei Xi being in his right mind. But if that didn’t work, why not feed him before heading to the office?

As soon as Pei Xi put down the milk, a piece of toast meticulously covered with jam was placed in front of him.

The outside was toasted to a crispy brown, with only a thin layer of crispy texture in the middle, and the bright strawberry jam looked very pretty and appetizing. 

He couldn’t help being startled, and raised his eyes.

The other party wasn’t looking at him, and just continued to calmly spread jam on his toast, as if giving him a slice was just a perfectly normal thing to do.

It appeared he was in a fuss for no reason.

When his mind was confused, He Chuzhou’s care for him extended beyond just making him breakfast.

He quickly convinced himself with some careful logic, then picked up the toast and took a bite.

A better flavor than he could have imagined occupied his taste buds, and he didn’t realize that his process of acceptance was so fast that he didn’t even have time to struggle.

He didn’t even notice the corners of that person’s mouth silently rise when he saw him eating toast with a cold expression from the corner of his eye.

Pei Xi finally realized what was most glaringly wrong.

Only at the end of the meal did he notice that he hadn’t taken off the watch He Chuzhou had put on him last night.

There was no problem with Pei-calico wearing it, but it wouldn’t make sense for him to wear it now. Perhaps it might accidentally reveal that he didn’t lose his memories after waking up.

He was endlessly annoyed by this mistake, and quickly thought about whether He Chuzhou had noticed any abnormal behavior since he woke up.

But whether he had noticed or not, he needed to immediately mend the situation before it was too late.

“What is this?”

When he put down his cup, he pretended to have just discovered the watch on his wrist. He frowned slightly, trying to express his surprise with a dignified appearance.

However, He Chuzhou’s answer immediately turned his feigned surprise into reality.

“You won it by smashing the golden egg.”

He Chuzhou didn’t even pause to think about it, as if he had already decided on an answer to this problem.

Pei Xi: “…..Smashed the golden egg?”

“Yes, ah.” He Chuzhou spoke nonsense without a change of expression. “I took you with me to the real estate center after work yesterday. We saw the golden eggs sitting neatly inside, and I took you to smash them. Who knew you’d end up winning the grand prize with one hit?”

As he spoke, he didn’t neglect to give him a commendatory look: “President Pei is really lucky.”

Pei Xi: “……”

Pei Xi: “So you bought a house?”

He Chuzhou: “Bought what house?”

Pei Xi’s feelings were complicated: “The golden eggs in the real estate center can only be smashed after buying a house.”

“Really? That’s not true.”

He Chuzhou remained calm: “I gave their staff twenty yuan and they let me smash it.”

Pei Xi: “……”

He Chuzhou: “Maybe it was because I’m good-looking?”

Pei Xi: “……”

He Chuzhou didn’t doubt himself in the slightest: “It looks rather nice on you.”

“It’s fine if you don’t want to wear it, just put it in a conspicuous place before going to bed. Your amnesiac self quite likes it. He’ll get angry with me if he can’t find it, and might not be lucky enough to smash another one out again.”

Pei Xi was silent. He put down his hand: “I’m done eating.”

He rubbed the well-made watch strap where He Chuzhou couldn’t see. However, he didn’t take it off.

He Chuzhou also put down his utensils: “Okay, I’m done too. Do you want to go to the company directly or go home?”

Pei Xi knew his intentions and didn’t refuse like last time. He just said two words smoothly: “The company.”

Both companies were located in the city center, so it was the convenient thing to do.

Since sitting in the backseat would presume that the other person was the chauffeur, Pei Xi stood by the car and hesitated for a second before opening the passenger door. 

Then he saw that little stuffed pig he’d laid in the passenger seat earlier.

Pei Xi: “……”

How could he forget about this?

The driver’s door also opened. He Chuzhou lowered his head and sat inside, then saw that he wasn’t moving: “What, did you forget something? Do you want me to go back and get it for you?”

Pei Xi gave a light “No need,” and while sitting down, he courteously grabbed the pig’s head and moved it aside without taking another look. “I don’t know who you are” was written all over him.

He Chuzhou watched this with laughter in his heart.

Yesterday he was so fond of it that he was reluctant to let it go, but when he caught sight of it today, he was disgusted.

But very soon, he realized that it was too soon to say that he was disgusted.

The person in the passenger seat kept peeking at the little pig.

From time to time, he would glance down and then look away.

Another glance, and away.

Another.

The movement was very quick, and the length short. If the rearview mirror wasn’t at the right angle, he wouldn’t have noticed.

His lips curved and he pretended to be oblivious. After bringing Pei Xi to the company, he spoke as Pei Xi was opening the door to get out of the car: “President Pei, this pig belongs to you. Won’t you consider taking it away?”

Pei Xi’s body stiffened almost invisibly, and he glanced back to give him a strange look.

“It’s true, it caught your eye at first sight in the claw machine yesterday, but my skills are limited. It took me an entire afternoon to catch this one.”

He Chuzhou shrugged. He was very good at discrediting himself: “Just think of it as cherishing the fruits of my hard work. Does President Pei not have the face to take away his reward?”

“……”

Pei Xi knew very well that he was being teased again. The hand holding the door handle tightened uncomfortably. He wanted to make him stop teasing him, but doing so would undoubtedly risk being exposed.

In a dilemma, he stared at the pig for a long moment. Only belatedly did he realize he could ignore him and not respond.

All in one go, he turned around and got out of the car without saying a word.

Little did he know that he had a silent look of hesitation on his face.

He Chuzhou saw this and was pleased as punch.

Just as he sighed with emotion over how the sober Pei-calico was so amusing, the car door opened from the outside again.

That amusing Pei-calico bent down, pulled the toy pig by its ears, and lifted it out of the passenger seat. Then he closed the door again and turned toward the company.

It was just a pig. 

Pei Xi raised a hand to touch his earlobe, thinking without emotion, It’s not like it won’t fit in the office.

*

*

[President Pei and President He are in love now, right?]

[You still doubt it?]

[President He sends President Pei to work every day, ah.]

[Sometimes he even provides a pick-up service after work!]

[Isn’t it well-known that President Pei doesn’t like to wear watches? But he wears one every day now. If that isn’t a gift from President He, I’ll bark like a dog.]

[Right, right. And President He also gave him a little stuffed animal.]

[I’ve seen it. President Pei placed it in a conspicuous spot on a cabinet. The contrast is so cute!]

[I gave my girlfriend a fucking ring on our anniversary, and she called me a poor and deceitful man. President He gave President Pei a stuffed animal, and you guys are like ahhh, so sweet, so good. Is this how you girls play?]

[A Life is like Thin Ice has been removed from the chat by the group owner.]

[Who brought that poor and deceitful man in?]

[So when will President He give President Pei a ring? Ahhhh, it’s so romantic to think about!]

[Can I go on their dates?]

[Can I take a photo of them kissing?]

[Can I watch them in bed?]

[Can I pop the champagne when they break up?]

[He Chuzhou is not worthy! ! ! My pure as jade, clear as ice President Pei. Damn, he doesn’t deserve him! ! !]

[Smooth-talker. President Pei, wake up! Don’t believe that dog man’s nonsense, ahhhhhhhhhhh!]

[Another crazy one. Take them away.]

[But my best friend who works at He Group said that President He is actually very nice, in all respects. Those rumors out there might be from people who are jealous.]

[I don’t know if they’re rumors or not, but President He is someone who looks like a caring person at first glance. He’ll take good care of my beautiful President Pei. Wuwu I’m so grateful!]

[The one next door is giving out sugar!]

[/Chat history]

[President He openly praised President Pei for being young, promising, and capable at a high-level meeting, which is just short of saying that his wife is the best in the world.]

[Envious. Enough said.]

[When will President Pei bite?]

[There’s no way. Who made President He a flirtatious devil? And our President Pei isn’t good at showing affection.]

[Mature people need to learn to dig for sugar on their own.]

[@Xiao Gu, Will Xiao Gu submit the project proposal? Come on, dig some out for us!]

Xiao Gu, standing at the door of the President’s office and about to knock on the door: “……”

Knock knock.

He knocked on the door and heard a call of “Come in” from inside. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open.

“President Pei, this is the final version of the plan for next quarter.” He set the documents on President Pei’s desk and stood two steps back.

Pei Xi gave a hum as he finished writing a reply email and clicked send. When he looked up, he found that this person hadn’t left yet: “Is there anything else?”

Xiao Gao had a heavy responsibility on his shoulders. He organized the words in his mind and mustered up some courage.

But when he looked into Pei Xi’s indifferent eyes, he was speechless and couldn’t spit out the words.

“N-no.”

He caught his breath and said: “I’ll get to work.” Then he left the office in despair.

[It didn’t work, ah, the aura of my family’s boss is too strong. This workplace rookie couldn’t withstand it.]

[I’m feeling a little unwell today, so I’ll leave first. If you want to dig out sugar, you’d better do it yourself.]

The gossip crew was abuzz with activity, soaring up to the point where they could raise the roof. But no one dared dance for joy in front of their idol himself.

When Pei Xi finished reading over the project, it was time to leave work. 

He closed the documents and habitually touched his cell phone to dial He Chuzhou.

And hung up quickly in the next second.

He almost got it mixed up again. He wasn’t brain-addled at the moment.

He packed up his things and left the company, drove all the way home, took a shower, cleaned, and relaxed, even making a casual dinner from the prepared ingredients in the fridge. 

But the flavors he was used to were becoming increasingly difficult to swallow.

His Adam’s apple rolled hard as he squeezed the food down. With a subconscious frown, he looked at the seat across from him.

Empty.

There was no one to talk to.

When he thought about it more clearly, he didn’t even know what he wanted to say.

An indescribable sensation of helplessness came over his heart, and he put down his chopsticks, appetite completely lost.

He wished he could split himself in half.

That he could draw a line between confusion and sanity, so they could act independently from each other. 

That once the side effects passed, he could easily discard the unnecessary part of himself without a trace.

But reality shattered his plans.

He Chuzhou had interceded too much in his life. All of his care and attention had an overwhelming and profound impact on Pei Xi.

In over half a month, he had become accustomed to either waking up in He Chuzhou’s arms or opening the door to a table of steaming breakfast.

He was accustomed to He Chuzhou taking him along everywhere by his side, accustomed to someone comforting him whenever he was upset, accustomed to reflexively asking for help when he encountered a problem. Accustomed to handing all the food he didn’t like after one bite to He Chuzhou.

There were even several times where, due to not changing from sober to confused, he adopted mannerisms that would only occur while brain-addled. Fortunately, he got through without revealing his secret.

But he didn’t like this kind of feeling.

This feeling of unconditional trust and subconscious dependence on another person. It was akin to giving up his initiative and handing it over to another, which made him feel very insecure. Perhaps he had been alone for too long, he thought.

He didn’t know how to spend time normally so close to someone, so only when another person broke inside was he at a loss, easily tossing his armor away.

He had no experience dealing with such a problem, and the only method he could think of was to appropriate something else to take up space in his brain.

And work was the simplest and most efficient way.

So just like every time before, he put away the worthless food, returned to his study, and took care of all the work he could, staying focused until exhaustion got the better of him.

But he didn’t realize that while this method produced immediate results, it also came with serious side effects.

So after masochistically running himself into the ground, he experienced the backlash of his body’s dissatisfaction and was instantly overwhelmed by fatigue.

He fell ill.

A high fever woke him up from his nightmares. He tried to seek out the arms around him, but found nothing.

Opening his eyes, he looked at the empty bed beside him. He sat up in bed and looked out the window at the nighttime scene. The tears made everything he saw blurry.

For a moment, he felt as if he had returned to those late nights when he waited for dawn with his eyes open. There was no one to rely on, and the long nights became increasingly difficult to endure.

Breathing unsteadily, he bent his legs and curled up into a ball. The coldness seeping into his body made him tremble, even when he tightly hugged the quilt.

After waiting silently for a long while with nobody coming in, he lost his patience and took out his cell phone to make a call.

At 2 o’clock in the morning, He Chuzhou was woken up by his vibrating phone. Half asleep and half awake, he swiped down to answer the call without looking at the caller, then closed his eyes and put the phone to his ear.

“Hello?” His deep voice was muffled by the drowsy muddledness of sleep.

“Chuzhou.”

A cool, hoarse voice sounded over the receiver, causing him to wake up instantly. He opened his eyes and sat up abruptly, then looked at the caller ID and put the phone to his ear again: “Xinxin?”

“Did you go buy a midnight snack? Why haven’t you come back in so long?”

Pei Xi’s voice was very low, and seemed particularly weak this quiet night: “I have a fever. I don’t feel good. I’m uncomfortable all over and my throat hurts.”

“Don’t buy anything too spicy.”

---

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Chapter 28 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 30