Chapter 96: Elopement
A nondescript gray van was parked by the roadside.
Wen Yan’s footsteps faltered. He stared at the vehicle in silence.
“Wen Yan, it’s okay now.” Cheng Shangshi turned his head, looking at Wen Yan, who still hadn’t quite come back to himself.
He didn’t know what methods Pei Zhouye had used, but the Wen Yan who used to talk back to him was now terrified—a shell-shocked, distracted mess.
“I don’t think it’s this easy,” Wen Yan said. His intuition and his knowledge of Pei Zhouye told him the man wouldn’t let him go so easily; he might have already found out. “Cheng Shangshi, we can’t go over there.”
A flicker of heartache passed through Cheng Shangshi’s eyes. He reached out to grab Wen Yan’s wrist, but Wen Yan recoiled violently.
“He won’t find out. Once we’re in the car, we can leave tomorrow.” Cheng Shangshi tried again to take his hand, but seeing the pure terror on his face, he eventually withdrew it.
We can leave tomorrow.
The words acted like a powerful spell.
Even though his gut told him something was wrong, Wen Yan gritted his teeth and followed Cheng Shangshi. As they neared the van, the side door was slid open from the inside.
Wen Yan watched Cheng Shangshi’s expression; the man didn’t look surprised, so it was likely part of the plan.
It’s fine. It’s fine.
Sensing Wen Yan’s anxiety, Cheng Shangshi stepped forward. He climbed into the van with one leg and turned back, extending his hand to Wen Yan.
Wen Yan’s eyes were different than before. Previously, they had been clear, steady, and full of the confidence of someone who had never faced a true setback. Now, they were filled with a constant, watchful fear—like a cornered animal. It was endearing, yet it made one’s heart ache. Seeing someone so aloof reveal such vulnerability…
Cheng Shangshi snapped back to reality. Why were his thoughts drifting so far?
But he was truly looking forward to it—looking forward to taking Wen Yan’s hand.
Someone inside the van cleared their throat.
Cheng Shangshi’s attention wasn’t on the sound, but he suddenly realized: that wasn’t the voice of the person he had arranged.
He watched as Wen Yan instinctively turned to run, only to freeze. Wen Yan reached out and took his hand.
It was a cold touch, like smooth bamboo.
Then, the touch was slowly pulled away. Cheng Shangshi looked up and saw a figure standing behind Wen Yan, looming like a giant shadow.
Pei Zhouye pulled that thin, delicate wrist away. Wen Yan stood before him, his face deathly pale, his expression and body completely paralyzed with fear.
“Yan Yan,” the familiar voice whispered into his right ear. Pei Zhouye’s left arm hooked around his waist from behind, locking him in a position he couldn’t escape from.
“Let’s go home.”
By the time Wen Yan regained his senses, many people had appeared around them—those from inside the van and others who had been hiding nearby. Cheng Shangshi was already being pinned down. His face was flushed red with rage, veins bulging as he struggled with all his might.
“This is against the law!” Wen Yan struggled violently, trying to break free from Pei Zhouye’s hold, but it was useless.
Pei Zhouye scanned the surroundings. His men had set up roadblocks in advance; no one would be coming this way. This secluded spot Cheng Shangshi had picked was perfect, and the surveillance cameras had already been dealt with. It was quite convenient.
“He hired people to injure my two bodyguards. Isn’t that against the law too?” Pei Zhouye’s tone grew colder. He could see Wen Yan was afraid of him, yet despite that fear, he was willing to resist for Cheng Shangshi’s sake.
“Wen Yan, what is your relationship that makes him worth helping like this?”
The Pei family had been rooted in A University city for years, and the Pei Group had long dominated the elite circles. While “ruling with an iron fist” might be an exaggeration, they certainly had this much power. Pei Zhouye gritted his teeth, his eyes flashing with malice as he looked at Cheng Shangshi.
The two bodyguards pinning Cheng Shangshi received a silent signal. Their grip tightened, nearly folding his back in half as his forehead was slammed into the cold ground.
Cheng Shangshi couldn’t break free. He could only channel his fury and humiliation into his clenched fists, his entire body trembling from the strain of restraint.
The moment Wen Yan saw this, his tears began to fall like broken pearls.
This was a man who was wealthy, happy, and confident enough to make any choice. He had flown thousands of miles through the night, yet because of Wen Yan, his back was bent and his head was forced down. He was brought so low.
“Pei Zhouye…” Wen Yan’s voice shook; he was practically begging. “What exactly do you want?”
The man behind him didn’t answer. Wen Yan felt a heavy gaze settle on the top of his head. Then, a powerful arm locked around his waist while another slipped beneath his knees, effortlessly lifting him off the ground in a horizontal carry.
The sudden loss of gravity made Wen Yan feel as though his strength had been drained, yet he still struggled out of instinct, his fists hitting Pei Zhouye’s chest in a futile rhythm.
“Pei Zhouye! Let him the hell go!”
Cheng Shangshi’s roar and the sounds of a struggle came from behind, but they were quickly silenced.
It was a devastating failure. And he had dragged down the only friend he had left.
They traveled from unfamiliar roads back to familiar ones—the path back to the villa. The air pressure in the car was so low it was hard to breathe.
Wen Yan felt his body temperature dropping. He was cold; the heat was draining out of him. Whoever came near him would be dragged down. Anyone could use his friends, his family, or the things he cared about to threaten him.
What would happen to Cheng Shangshi? His family background in Jing City wasn’t bad, but his parents probably didn’t even know he was back in the country…
“Do you care about him that much?” Pei Zhouye spoke up suddenly, his voice very low.
Anyone would have known how to answer to save themselves. Pei Zhouye stared at him, waiting for the “correct” response.
“Yes.” Wen Yan’s mental defenses had already crumbled. He didn’t even realize that his eyes were currently brimming with blatant hatred.
Hatred for Pei Zhouye.
He hated him for another man.
Wen Yan looked up with reddened eyes, his voice trembling as he stubbornly demanded, “What are you going to do to him?”
The air instantly froze. Pei Zhouye’s jaw tightened, his knuckles turning white as his long-suppressed anger finally broke through its chains.
He let out a cold snort. “How do you think I would deal with someone who tried to take you away?”
Wen Yan was smart enough to guess what he would do. There were thousands of ways to destroy a person.
Wen Yan’s expression froze, looking truly terrified.
Pei Zhouye felt a pang of heartache that overshadowed his anger. He reached out to caress Wen Yan’s cheek.
“Wen Yan, I have no other demands. You just have to stay with me. Be a bit more obedient and cut ties with him completely. Then I’ll let him go.”
“Why…” Wen Yan whispered something under his breath.
Pei Zhouye leaned in to hear those three words clearly. He answered, “I love you…”
Slap—
A strike delivered with full force left a stinging heat on Pei Zhouye’s left cheek.
“You love me? Fine. Then let go of me now and let me leave!” Wen Yan forced a smile that looked more like a sob. “You can’t do it.”
“This is an obsession.”
It wasn’t love; it was just an obsession born from a teenager’s curiosity and jealousy. In his understanding and the environment his parents provided, love was something precious and cherished.
But this was not that.
Wen Yan’s voice broke into uncontrollable sobs. “Can you tell the difference now?”
Pei Zhouye lowered his eyes to look at Wen Yan’s left hand. That hand was still shaking from the force of the slap, the skin flushed red.
His voice was very soft. “Then let it be an obsession.”
That slap seemed to instantly drain all the air and sound between them. For the rest of the journey, only a solidified silence remained in the car.
Wen Yan huddled by the door as if trying to melt into the shadows. Pei Zhouye’s profile, illuminated intermittently by the streetlights, looked exceptionally cold and hard.
When the car finally stopped in front of the villa, Pei Zhouye got out and walked around to the other side to open Wen Yan’s door. He reached out to pick Wen Yan up again, but Wen Yan dodged him.
“I’ll walk myself.”
The two of them walked into the villa one after the other, their silhouettes vanishing into the darkness of the house.
Neither of them spoke.
Unusually, the villa’s lights hadn’t been turned on in advance. There was no sound, only the moonlight filtering through the windows and pooling on the floor. Neither of them turned on a switch.
Pei Zhouye forcibly took Wen Yan’s wrist and led him to sit on the sofa. Then, he unhurriedly took out his phone, dialed a number, put it on speaker, and held it out in front of Wen Yan.
“Whether you tell him to get lost or not is up to you.”
His voice echoed through the empty, dark house, calm and devoid of emotion. The name “Cheng Shangshi” on the screen was the only source of light in this desperate darkness.
Wen Yan stared at that light, the blood in his veins turning cold. This was the final sentencing for all his hopes. He didn’t take the phone, instead looking up along that well-defined hand.
Pei Zhouye stood in the shadows, the dim light tracing his blurred outline. His eyes were lowered as he looked at Wen Yan, his dark gaze cold and gloomy.
They stared at each other for a few seconds as the dial tone continued.
“After this call, I’ll act as if nothing happened and send him back to Jing City.” Pei Zhouye explained the reason Wen Yan had surely already guessed.
Wen Yan said nothing.
The call was finally picked up. Cheng Shangshi’s anxious voice came through: “Wen Yan? Is that you? Are you okay?”
Wen Yan’s lips trembled. He looked up at Pei Zhouye in the darkness. Pei Zhouye was watching him with deep eyes, like a bottomless well—there was no threat in them, only a sense of certain, absolute control.
Wen Yan closed his eyes. Using all his strength, he spoke to that tiny light and personally extinguished his last spark of hope:
“I’m sorry. Don’t worry about my business anymore, and don’t see me again. I’m sorry…”
Pei Zhouye cleared his throat.
Wen Yan stopped speaking and looked at him warily, clutching the phone tightly, clearly unwilling to hand it over. Suddenly, there was a commotion on the other end. Realizing something, Wen Yan looked back at the phone in his hand.
He heard the sound of running footsteps and a door closing.
“President Pei, we’ll send him back tonight. The Cheng family says they’ll come to apologize in person another day.”
“No need,” Pei Zhouye’s voice was flat. “Just tell them to keep their people under control.”
He leaned down and took the phone from Wen Yan’s frozen hands. The light from the screen vanished, and Wen Yan’s face was once again lost to the darkness, leaving only a trembling outline.
Pei Zhouye saw how devastated he was over another man, and the bit of pleasure he had felt from Wen Yan’s compliance was instantly replaced by a darker, more malicious emotion. He reached out, wanting to touch Wen Yan’s cold lips, to confirm his existence through warmth.
Wen Yan jerked his head away, the movement as fast as an instinct.
The air solidified.
Pei Zhouye’s hand hung in mid-air. Slowly, it lowered and clenched into a fist, his knuckles letting out a soft crack.
“Good. Very good.” He let out a low chuckle, his voice laced with ice. “I let him go, and you’re already starting to stay chaste for him?”
The words were like a poisoned blade, accurately piercing Wen Yan’s last shred of dignity. He looked up sharply, a flicker of hateful fire in his eyes. “You—”
“I what?” Pei Zhouye interrupted, leaning in. He braced his arms on either side of Wen Yan, trapping him in the small space between the sofa and his chest. His hot breath fanned over Wen Yan’s face. “What did you think you were sacrificing? It was yourself! You used yourself to trade for his safety! Now that the deal is done, it’s time to pay the price, Wen Yan!”
The last two words were practically spat out through gritted teeth.
The expected kiss didn’t fall; those words were more suffocating than any physical force. Wen Yan resisted violently, using all his strength to try and escape this cage built of “trades” and “prices.”
“Hiding?” Pei Zhouye growled. The last spark of rationality in his eyes died, leaving only a manic darkness. “You’re still thinking about him?!”
Rage and the sting of total rejection fused into a destructive force. He no longer needed communication. He used a force that was almost clinical in its brutality to drag Wen Yan off the sofa and roughly throw him over his shoulder.
“Let go! Pei Zhouye, you madman!” Wen Yan’s screams and blows landed uselessly on his back, each punch like hitting stone.
Pei Zhouye was deaf to it. He strode up the stairs, each step vibrating with unyielding will. He slammed the bedroom door open with his body, creating a massive crash. Wen Yan was thrown heavily onto the soft, large bed.
Wen Yan scrambled back, his tears finally flowing uncontrollably.
Pei Zhouye pressed a knee onto the mattress, easily grabbing Wen Yan’s slender ankle and dragging him back beneath him. The tall shadow pressed down like a mountain. With one hand, he tore off his tie and wound it around Wen Yan’s wrists.
“I gave you chances, Wen Yan!” His voice was torn apart by lust and fury. “I gave you countless chances! I only wanted you to stay by my side! And you wanted to leave for him?”
“It wasn’t because of him…” Wen Yan’s voice was muffled as his jaw was gripped. “I…”
He looked into the unwavering madness in Pei Zhouye’s eyes, and a sense of unprecedented powerlessness seized him. All his words, his logic, even his humiliation, couldn’t penetrate this wall.
At that moment, the final pillar supporting his mental world gave a loud crack and snapped.
“Then why was it?!” Pei Zhouye leaned down, his hot, furious breath puffing against Wen Yan’s ear. He lowered his voice, each word crystal clear.
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