Chapter 31: There Are No Stars Tonight
Pei Zhouye looked at him calmly, his gaze deep and certain, as if he had already foreseen everything.
“What right do you have to use my feelings for a bet?” Wen Yan’s voice trembled slightly, his fingertips unconsciously tightening.
If he won, he could completely get rid of Pei Zhouye.
The reward for victory was too tempting for him.
“If you win, I will never interfere in your life again.” Pei Zhouye’s voice was low as he spoke word by word. “If you lose, I want you to break up with him.”
“I won’t lose!” Wen Yan blurted out, frowning, his tone resolute.
But as soon as the words fell, an inexplicable sense of weirdness welled up in his heart. He didn’t know why he agreed to such an absurd bet, even faintly feeling the illusion of being led by the nose.
A sense of absurdity surged in his heart. He repeated it again; he didn’t know why he had agreed to such a bet just like that.
“…I won’t lose.” He emphasized again, as if saying it to himself. “If I win, you must never disturb my life again. It’s best if you never appear in front of me forever.”
He looked up directly at Pei Zhouye, his voice cold and hard. “Don’t go back on your word.”
The ruthless and decisive words reached Pei Zhouye’s ears, but there was no warmth in Pei Zhouye’s eyes.
“Fine. We’ll see.”
Wen Yan didn’t respond and walked away quickly.
This time, Pei Zhouye didn’t follow. Wen Yan knew that the gaze behind him existed for a long time.
Only when Wen Yan’s figure completely disappeared at the end of the corridor did Pei Zhouye withdraw his gaze and dial a number.
“President Pei, are there any instructions?” The special assistant’s respectful voice came through.
Pei Zhouye’s eyes were dark and heavy, his voice carrying an unquestionable chill. “Investigate Yang Chen’s modeling agency. Make it shut down by tomorrow.”
He knew the answer to who the real culprit behind the scenes was and who participated in forcing Wen Yan to terminate the contract, but he didn’t plan to investigate it thoroughly.
Let them act like dogs biting dogs.
For the next half month, Pei Zhouye really didn’t deliberately appear in front of Wen Yan again.
That sense of absurdity and regret always appeared in his heart. Wen Yan even thought about breaking the agreement.
But he shouldn’t.
Time reveals a person’s heart. With two years of getting along, he shouldn’t doubt Gu Yulan’s character.
Senior year had only one thesis course. Gu Yulan hadn’t come to school for half a month, only chatting with Wen Yan on his phone.
Wen Yan continued to work hard for the guaranteed postgraduate recommendation, often staying in the library until it closed at eleven o’clock at night.
Streetlights blurred into halos in the humid night mist. Wen Yan’s phone vibrated in his pocket.
Wearing headphones, walking on the way back to the rental apartment, he looked up at the sky.
A gray cloud covered the deep blue night curtain; it was going to rain tomorrow.
“Yulan-ge, there are no stars tonight,” Wen Yan said suddenly.
Gu Yulan on the other end of the phone paused for a moment, then spoke: “Then when the weather is better, I’ll take you to a better place to see the stars.”
Wen Yan imagined it in his mind and chuckled softly.
“Okay.”
How could a Gu Yulan like this be lying to him about everything?
Gu Yulan said again, “It’s Lin Seran’s birthday in a few days. Let’s go together.”
This meant meeting Pei Zhouye again. Wen Yan’s mood instantly dampened.
“I’ll pick you up then.” Gu Yulan paused. “We haven’t met for a long time. After the birthday banquet ends, it’s the National Day holiday. Let’s go to Nan City to see Uncle and Auntie together, okay?”
“Okay.” Wen Yan agreed.
From this moment on, Wen Yan noticed that many traces of Lin Seran’s upcoming birthday had appeared in his life.
Lin Seran’s birthday support videos hung on the large screens of shopping malls near A University. People around occasionally discussed Lin Seran’s trending searches, and some shops had Lin Seran’s posters.
He had only met Lin Seran a few times, always when Pei Zhouye was present.
Gu Yulan had mentioned it to him many times; that was the lover Pei Zhouye doted on very much. Flamboyant and arrogant, everyone gave him some leeway out of respect for Pei Zhouye’s face.
Noon.
Wen Yan was eating with Wu Qingqing and Duan Mingtao.
Regarding the time Pei Zhouye suddenly appeared, the two asked if he needed help, and later tacitly didn’t mention the matter again.
“Cheng Shangshi lost the third male lead role.” Wu Qingqing saw Lin Seran’s poster and suddenly remembered this matter, mentioning it casually.
She saw Wen Yan looking at her and lowered her voice. “Cheng Shangshi prepared for a long time and had already taken makeup photos and joined the crew, but was temporarily replaced. Some say it’s because he provoked Lin Seran. It’s all marketing accounts spreading rumors every day.”
“Let’s not talk about this. The ‘Morning Star’ 3.0 humanoid robot is out. I went to the company to see it a few days ago, it’s super cool!” Wu Qingqing quickly changed the topic. “But it’s confidential and can’t be photographed. In two days, when there are slots, I’ll apply for us to go together…”
Wen Yan and his group’s competition entry was an undergraduate project; naturally, it couldn’t compare to the professional abilities of the designers hired by Pei Corp with high salaries. The most significant advantage in their work was creativity, but it required huge funds to land successfully.
Pei Zhouye wasn’t wrong. If they waited until the competition process ended, their creativity might very well be outdated. They had no possibility of entering the core circle of ‘Morning Star’.
But now, only a month later, the creative technology had already been integrated into ‘Morning Star’ 3.0.
Pei Family Home.
Pei Zhouye finally sat at the same table with Father Pei to eat.
“I heard the current comprehensive test rating for ‘Morning Star’ 3.0 is S.” Father Pei’s voice was dry, his tone unnatural. “Not bad.”
The Pei Group held such a status in City A, covering all aspects of industries. The industries he managed mainly were medical and finance.
Although Pei’s technology company was among the best in the country, in Father Pei’s eyes, it was just a small tech company.
“En.” Pei Zhouye responded vaguely, picking up some food with his chopsticks.
“Can’t you speak properly?” Anger colored Father Pei’s brows. “Always this unruly appearance! Do you think this little achievement of yours can convince the public?”
Pei Zhouye didn’t speak, but it looked like he didn’t listen either.
Father Pei’s anger grew heavier, thinking of Pei Zhouye returning from U of T again. “If you want to study, study hard. If you want to manage the company, manage it well! You wanted to study at A University so much, why didn’t you study well in high school? How many times did you come home during that year in Nan City? Which of the schools applied for you wasn’t better than U of T? If you go to study, then study. What does running back after two years mean?”
A string of rhetorical questions displayed his anger, but he simply couldn’t do anything about Pei Zhouye.
Pei Zhouye had a ruthless personality and superior ability, and was his only son, a qualified heir to the Pei family. But there were things Pei Zhouye would never listen to. He could get whatever he wanted, and forcing him to do what he didn’t want was useless.
“The thing I regret most now is letting you run to Nan City that year! Your heart ran wild.” Father Pei’s breathing became heavier from anger.
“What a coincidence.” Pei Zhouye wiped the corner of his mouth and looked up. “The thing I regret least is running to Nan City. The thing you should regret most is giving birth to me.”
He stood up, casually straightened the chair, and walked out.
“Thank you for not dragging me back that time.”
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