[Don’t be so clingy.]

[Stay away from He Chuzhou and stop causing trouble for him.]

Don’t be so clingy…..

Stay away from him…..

Stop causing trouble for him…..

He Chuzhou was stunned.

He Chuzhou was dumbfounded.

He Chuzhou directly cracked in two!

What was this?

What the hell was this?

He stared at the note, unable to calm down for a long while.

Had he just used the most direct, crude method to make clear to himself that he wasn’t being polite enough?

Did he distrust He Chuzhou to this extent?

What was with this warning tone from a third-party perspective?

But these were not the most important things.

The most important thing was: how would he coax this person well now? ? ? 

He Chuzhou’s mood was more than complicated as he faced Pei-calico’s broken gaze. It was as if a level 10 tornado had passed through, clearing his head.

“It’s really not like that. How could it be possible?”

He didn’t know how many times he repeated his feeble explanation: “I go to the study when I work every day, and when I’m done with work, I go to the kitchen. How could a man who’s so faithful to the role of a husband cheat? How could there be a mistress?”

“I’ll bet my head to guarantee that everything I’m saying is true. If I’m telling a lie, you can go ahead and stab me.”

“Besides, there’s only been a dog in the house recently. No one else has been here except for us.”

His words were frazzled, and Pei Xi finally deigned to open his mouth slightly: “If there hasn’t been a third person here, then where did this note come from and why is it under my pillow?”

He Chuzhou: “I also don’t—”

Pei Xi: “Could it be that you put it there?”

He Chuzhou: “……?”

Pei Xi was almost in tears: “Did you use the tone of a third party because you’re annoyed and want me to stay away from you?”

He Chuzhou: “? ? ? ”

No!

Why on earth was this frying pan being flung at him?

“Wait, Xinxin, listen to me first.”

He took a deep breath and lifted his hand, raising three fingers: “First of all, there is no mistress or cheating. I swear that I’m absolutely loyal to you.”

“Secondly, while remaining calm and rational, can we use our inquisitive spirits a bit? For example, if you take a closer look, doesn’t the handwriting on this note look familiar?”

Pei Xi followed his guiding words and focused his eyes on the crumpled note once more.

Just now, he had glanced at the content and gone right to the frying pan. Now that he looked closer, he realized that the handwriting really did seem familiar.

The upright and elegant script, neat and beautiful segments, coupled with practiced folds and hooks…..it could be conservatively estimated that it was 80, 90, 100 percent…..a match to his own handwriting.

He looked up blankly: “I wrote this?”

He Chuzhou breathed a sigh of relief and gave a firm nod.

The sadness in Pei Xi’s heart vanished like a popped bubble. The redness of his eyes hadn’t yet faded, and his gaze revealed only confusion.

“But why would I write this?” he wondered.

He Chuzhou attempted to deceive him by downplaying it: “I don’t know, maybe it was just a note you wrote down while watching a TV series?”

Pei Xi shook his head: “I don’t have the habit of writing notes while watching TV. It’s even less likely that I would write your name.”

He Chuzhou: “Maybe you practiced writing it for fun —”

“I didn’t.”

This time, Pei Xi simply interrupted He Chuzhou before he could finish speaking: “When I practice my writing, I copy economic principles.”

“……” He Chuzhou was speechless.

“I wouldn’t write something like this for no reason. If I wrote it, something must have happened.”

Pei Xi thought for a couple of seconds, then raised his head: “Chuzhou, did you do something wrong again?”

He Chuzhou: “ ? ”

Pei Xi analyzed seriously: “Did you say I’m too clingy? Or did you blame me for causing too much trouble for you?”

He Chuzhou: “ ? ? ? ”

He Chuzhou: “Honorable lord, I didn’t, ah.”

Why on earth had the pot spun twice in midair and landed on his head?

And why had Pei Xi said ‘again’?

Pei Xi: “Are you taking advantage of my poor memory to avoid admitting it?”

He Chuzhou: “……”

He Chuzhou: “……….”

Pei-calico truly had the potential to become an underworld judge. He Chuzhou would definitely be the first victim of injustice at his hands.

“I’m not coaxing you or lying to you.”

He Chuzhou was worn out: “I really never said those things. You don’t know, but I wish I could tie you up and carry you with me everywhere. How could I find you troublesome?”

Pei Xi was suspicious: “Really?”

He Chuzhou: “It couldn’t be more true.”

Pei Xi gave a thoughtful nod, his gaze remaining on He Chuzhou for a moment. Then, without saying anything else, he put the note away in his pocket and went out to have breakfast.

He Chuzhou let out a long breath. He stood up, tiredly wiping non-existent sweat from his forehead.

Was it over?

But soon, reality told him that not only was it not over, it was only the beginning.

He walked into the kitchen and sat down opposite Pei Xi.

Just as he was about to ask if the milk was cold, the latter picked up his breakfast and calmly moved two seats down, then continued to eat in a dignified manner.

He Chuzhou: “? ? ? ”

He Chuzhou: “Why?”

Pei Xi, prim and proper: “I’m keeping an appropriate distance so that you won’t be crowded.”

He Chuzhou: “……”

It wasn’t over.

After breakfast, He Chuzhou went to work in the study.

Pei-calico usually would have set up a tablet next to him and started to read. And if he wasn’t reading, he was guaranteed to take He Xingxing for a walk every hour.

But after three hours today, he hadn’t seen the dog, much less a human figure.

He clearly heard footsteps going from the living room to the bedroom several times outside the door.

He couldn’t stand it. He couldn’t sit still.

He poured over half a cup of coffee into the pothos plant on the windowsill. Pretending to go out with an empty cup, he found Pei Xi sitting on the couch and watching a movie.

Laying on the carpet in front of the couch was He Xinxing. His eyes opened when he heard movement and he stood up, then ran over enthusiastically to rub against his old father, who he hadn’t seen all morning.

In contrast, Pei Xi just raised his eyelids and gave him a mild look, then lowered his head and continued to watch the movie. He ignored him, and had no plans to move to another location.

He Chuzhou grinded his back teeth and slowly brewed a cup of coffee. He coughed lightly in the white steam and said, seemingly casual: “Xinxin, do you want to go read in the study?”

“No.”

Pei Xi watched a silly part and dragged the progress bar back a little: “You’re working hard. My movie is a bit noisy, so I won’t go in and disturb you.”

He Chuzhou: “……”

At lunch, Pei Xi still sat two seats away from him, back straight as he ate in graceful silence.

He Chuzhou’s fingertips made a pattering sound on the tabletop. He wanted to say something, but couldn’t find an excuse. The meal was tasteless.

In the afternoon, he simply didn’t go to the study. He switched to working on his laptop, and moved himself and the computer into the living room.

Pei Xi saw him out of the corner of his eye and looked up.

He Chuzhou sat on the armchair closest to him. He put the computer on his knees and said calmly: “The study was a bit stuffy.”

Pei Xi nodded in understanding, then took his tablet back to the bedroom.

He Chuzhou: “……”

He had never had such a frustrating day in his life!

Pei-calico had stopped hugging him and talking to him. He automatically avoided him when he tried to get closer, and even kept a distance of two meters from him when walking the dog in the evening.

The inexplicable stalemate lasted until nighttime, and He Chuzhou couldn’t endure it anymore. When Pei Xi finished bathing and was about to head back to the guest room, he simply picked him up and thrust him into bed: “Little ancestor, can you please stop making trouble?”

Pei Xi blinked, saying innocently: “Chuzhou, I’m not making trouble.”

He Chuzhou was expressionless: “You’ve been giving me the silent treatment all day!”

Pei Xi: “I’m just keeping a proper distance so as not to bother you.”

He Chuzhou laughed angrily at him: “And what is the proper distance? Are we strangers? Did we just meet yesterday?”

Pei Xi: “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

He Chuzhou: “How can keeping such a distance increase fondness? It just makes things worse!”

Pei Xi lay on his back in bed. Seeing that the person before him was on the verge of exasperation, yet still lowered his voice and was unwilling to be cruel to him, he finally couldn’t hold out any longer. A smile flashed across his eyes.

“Chuzhou, look.” He lifted his arms and placed them around the other’s neck, saying in a slightly raised tone, “It’s you who can’t live without me.”

It all suddenly became clear to He Chuzhou. He said in disbelief: “You did this on purpose?”

Pei Xi’s gaze went sly. He smiled, saying nothing.

He Chuzhou’s face changed several times, from green to red and then to green again. In the end, he breathed a sigh of relief and buried his head heavily next to Pei Xi’s.

The ear pressed to his felt slightly cold. Pei Xi couldn’t see his face, so he raised a hand and poked his back: “Gege, are you angry?”

“How could I dare? I’m just grateful you’re not angry with me.”

He Chuzhou’s voice dragged out longer than usual. He was silent for a moment, then said in frustration: “I never thought you were troublesome. Not in the beginning, and certainly not now.”

Pei-calico was absolutely correct. It turned out that He Chuzhou was the clingy one, as well as the one who couldn’t live without the other.

He had been restless all day, and it was only now that he had this person in his arms that his whole body thawed and warmed from the inside out.

“I know, ah.” Pei Xi nuzzled against his head, and his tone was very similar to when he called He Xingxing a good boy: “I know everything.”

He Chuzhou hummed: “You know, yet you still tested me all day long.”

Pei Xi: “Who says I was testing you?”

He Chuzhou: “What was it if not a test?”

Pei Xi: “Just a small punishment.”

“……?” He Chuzhou immediately raised his head with a hiss: “Wait a minute, punishment?”

Pei Xi: “Chuzhou, I wouldn’t write a note like that for no reason. Even if I don’t know why, I do know myself.”

He Chuzhou’s teeth ached: “So you still don’t believe me?”

“I believe you, ah, of course I believe you.”

The corners of Pei Xi’s slightly downturned eyes curved beautifully: “So you must not have made it clear, or didn’t express yourself clearly and caused me to misunderstand. Not only did you make me misunderstand, but you didn’t find out in time after the misunderstanding and give me an explanation.”

He Chuzhou stared somewhat blankly. It was unknown if he had thought of something, but he surprisingly didn’t deny what Pei Xi said. 

“Of course, I was also wrong. I didn’t ask for an explanation right away, and just dwelled on it alone.”

Pei Xi said with some puzzlement: “Although I don’t understand why it’s so difficult to remember.”

He didn’t understand, but He Chuzhou did.

Because in Pei-calico’s eyes, they were the closest and most loved people to each other. They had no need for reservations. No need to guess about each other.

But it wasn’t so for Pei Xi.

In Pei Xi’s eyes, they didn’t have a close relationship. Pei Xi had felt he was troubling him from the moment he moved in, so he was extra sensitive and doubtful.

Pei Xi: “So you can punish me too and ignore me all day tomorrow. I’ll accept the punishment willingly.”

He Chuzhou’s mouth twitched: “……Seriously?”

Pei Xi’s face was grabbed halfway through his nod.

He Chuzhou scoffed: “Come on, is that punishing you or me? I’m not stupid.”

Pei Xi blinked. He couldn’t help but laugh as he pulled up the blanket to cover them both, finding his favorite position in the other’s arms: “Then forget it. Let’s go to sleep.”

He Chuzhou helped tuck the blanket behind his back.

Pei Xi hooked his collar with his fingertips: “Will you dream of me tonight?”

He Chuzhou thought for a moment: “Probably?”

Pei Xi: “Then you can confess your love for me a hundred times in your dreams.”

He Chuzhou: “Okay. I’ll confess one hundred and one times.”

*

*

The next morning, Pei Xi was the first one to open his eyes.

As soon as he moved an arm, he was unconsciously patted on the back by the person sleeping beside his pillow, who mumbled in a sleepy voice: “I like you the most. Be good, sleep a little longer.”

“……”

He froze at once, not daring to move.

After waiting like this for a long while, he made sure He Chuzhou wasn’t awake and slowly moved away from his arms. He didn’t dare step over him, so he could only get out by moving to the foot of the bed.

When he went to the bathroom and looked up, he saw that his face in the mirror was red almost to the root of his neck.

“……”

He had no choice but to turn the faucet on low and repeatedly splash cold water on his face to reduce the heat.

This was all because of his lack of consideration.

Not only had he failed to achieve his goal, he had also acted like that toward He Chuzhou…..

He’d never thought that “he” would implement the content of the note like that.

Placing his hands on the edge of the sink, he lowered his head and closed his eyes, letting the water on his face slowly drip to collect at his chin.

Scenes from the previous day flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern, and he covered his eyes. He really couldn’t tell what he was feeling at the moment. It was all complicated and chaotic.

He remained in the bathroom for a long time, and it wasn’t until the heat on his face completely subsided that he wiped away the water and opened the door.

Unexpectedly, he found He Chuzhou leaning against the door frame, scrolling through his phone as he waited.

The latter raised his eyes when he heard the door open. Their eyes met. Pei Xi automatically paused, and his eyes darted away in unease. “I’m done, go ahead.”

He Chuzhou put away his phone with a hum.

Pei Xi looked steadily forward, and was about to pass him when he was stopped after only two steps: “Pei Xi.”

He stopped. Looking back, he saw that He Chuzhou was still leaning against the door frame. Perhaps because he had just been asleep, his eyes looked particularly lazy and gentle.

“I told my mom I was being troubled only as an excuse to her. Otherwise, she would have called back and tortured me for three days and three nights.”

He Chuzhou saw that Pei Xi was stumped for words. He didn’t move from his place, but continued to explain: “I had probably two or three difficult matters to deal with yesterday. The first was that my aunt told me not to give Yun Ji a raise, the second was a poorly-written project proposal from an intern, and as for the third matter, I was worrying about how to get you to agree to come home with me to celebrate the New Year.”

Pei Xi tried his best to control his expression, but upon hearing He Chuzhou’s last sentence, he couldn’t help the slight widening of his eyes: “Go back with you…..for the New Year?”

“Yes, ah.” He Chuzhou said very matter-of-factly: “There are a lot of people in my family, including many little didis and meimeis. My hometown is really lively during the New Year, and I want to take you to see it.”

“My expression might have been too serious as I was thinking about these things and caused you to misunderstand something, so I wanted to explain it to you.” 

“I said before that I’ve never thought you were too clingy after losing your memory, nor that you’ve caused me any trouble. This isn’t just me being polite to you. On the contrary, you haven’t recovered yet, and I can only feel at ease when I can see you.”

“If I make you uncomfortable in any way, tell me directly. After all, apart from being roommates, it wouldn’t be a stretch to call us friends, would it?”

He smiled, his whole person appearing warmer than the sunlight shining through the windows: “Will you think about the New Year? My hometown is really fun. There’s a lantern festival and fireworks, and I can take you on a canopy boat ride.”

The room became quiet after these words.

Pei Xi stood there for a long time without speaking.

He Chuzhou didn’t expect him to agree right away, but his dazed expression made his hands itch.

Unable to resist, he raised his hand and gently rubbed the top of the other’s head, not too hard, just like he did every time to Pei-calico: “Don’t you have to go to the company today? Hurry and get dressed, I’ll take you there in a moment.”

Having said this, he turned and went into the bathroom, looking into the mirror with a sleepy yawn.

It was no joke. He had really dreamed of Pei-calico last night.

That person wearing a school uniform and sitting in a classroom had enchanted him to such an extent that he’d confessed to him one hundred and one times on the spot.

With the bathroom door shut, he didn’t see He Xingxing run in to join the fun.

Of course, he also didn’t see Pei Xi, who had just cooled down, turn red to the tips of his ears like a boiled shrimp.

*

*

“Rewrite everything I marked. There are also new project inspections to keep up with, regular quality inspections, and all substandard materials must be replaced.”

Pei Xi handed over a stack of documents, and Xiao Gu greeted him as he stepped forward to take them. He wore a wan expression, and didn’t look as energetic as before.

Pei Xi scanned his face: “Ask for leave if you don’t feel well. There’s no need to force yourself.”

Xiao Gu nodded: “Thank you for your concern, President Pei, but I’m in good health and don’t feel ill.”

The reception girl happened to hear this as she entered to hand over the visitor list. She covered her mouth and snickered, saying to Pei Xi: “President Pei, there’s something you don’t know. Xiao Gu just bravely confessed to by one of his good brothers, and he’s upset!”

Xiao Gu knew that Pei Xi didn’t like to chat at work, and was even less interested in this sort of thing. Fearing he would get angry, he quickly explained: “It’s a small matter, just a small matter. I’ll take care of it as soon as possible and it won’t affect my work.”

Pei Xi: “What’s troubling you? Do you not know whether to accept or reject him?”

Xiao Gu: “…..ah?”

Xiao Gu hadn’t expected Pei Xi to actually respond to the topic. He was stunned to the point of stuttering: “I-I didn’t consider accepting. I don’t like him, and being confessed to by someone I don’t like is quite troublesome.”

Pei Xi frowned: “You find it troublesome to be confessed to?”

“The point is definitely not the confession, ah.”

The girl said with a smile: “The point is that he was confessed to by someone he doesn’t like. If it was someone he actually liked, he would be happy beyond measure.”

Pei Xi seemed to think of something upon hearing this. His eyes flickered indistinctly, and he didn’t continue the conversation.

Xiao Gu was cautious: “Does President Pei have anything else for me?”

Pei Xi: “No. Go attend to your work.”

“Okay.”

Xiao Gu let out a breath as he exited the office. Thinking about it, it still felt unreal: “President Pei actually cares about my personal affairs?”

“You take President Pei too seriously.”

The reception girl followed him out: “President Pei has always had a good temperament, hasn’t he?”

Xiao Gu: “Really?”

The girl: “Of course.”

She was so confident that Xiao Gu doubted himself.

Why did he feel that President Pei was a little unpredictable?

*

Inside the office.

Pei Xi pressed the tip of his pen to paper, thinking absent-mindedly. Suddenly, several consecutive message notifications interrupted his thoughts.

He unlocked his phone and clicked in:

Chuzhou: [Bad news, my mom and sister are coming to have dinner with us later.]

Chuzhou: [Old rabbit lighting a cigarette.jpg]

Chuzhou: [I suggest you send me a message that you’re working overtime tonight. I’ll take a screenshot and show it to them, which will help you escape.]

Pei Xi: [Then what will you do?]

Chuzhou: [What else? I’ll handle them myself]

Chuzhou: [Don’t worry. At most, I’ll be blamed by my mom and mocked by my sister. It’s just one night of being pestered by the two of them, so it’s not a big problem.]

Chuzhou: [Send it, just say “I don’t have time, I’m working overtime tonight.” I’ll send them the screenshot now.]

Pei Xi: [……]

Pei Xi: [No need, I’ll be back early in the afternoon.]

---

Chapter 42 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 44