Chapter 159: Stealing Fragrance (14)
Since he had said it, Pei Yinnian had to go even if he didn’t actually need to.
He refused Xiao Ji’s “kindness,” walked out with unsteady steps, and returned to bed with a sigh.
Xiao Ji rinsed the towel again and placed it on his forehead. Afterward, he sat quietly by his side, doing nothing but watching him.
Being watched like that made Pei Yinnian feel uneasy.
“Are you planning to watch me fall asleep so you can take advantage of my weakness and strangle me?”
Xiao Ji denied it. “I am not.”
He was just a bit puzzled. In previous lifetimes, Yinnian had always been as sturdy as a young calf and had never fallen ill because of “this matter.” In this life, he looked the strongest, yet he had actually gotten sick.
Feeling a bit of heartache, he asked:
“Do you want to hear a story?”
Pei Yinnian was stunned. Even in his childhood, his parents had never offered to tell him a story. Hearing Xiao Ji ask this, he subconsciously assumed Xiao Ji was going to tell him about his time studying abroad.
So he said, “Fine.”
Then, Xiao Ji fell silent for a moment and, with an expressionless face, began to tell the story of a little girl selling matches who eventually froze to death in the snow.
When he finished, Pei Yinnian also fell silent.
The two stared at each other for a long time before Pei Yinnian said:
“I might be a bit sleepy now.”
Xiao Ji nodded and asked, “Do you want to hear more?”
Pei Yinnian refused. He took the towel from his forehead, handed it to Xiao Ji, and patted the spot next to him.
“Come up.”
Xiao Ji hung the towel to dry, took off his clothes, and got into bed. The two lay face-to-face, staring at each other.
“I’m a bit hot.” Pei Yinnian said.
Xiao Ji thought for a moment, lifted the blanket to crawl inside, took off Pei Yinnian’s pajamas, and pulled him into his arms. His body temperature was naturally low; upon skin contact, Pei Yinnian let out a soft, comfortable sigh.
He breathed in Xiao Ji’s scent and closed his eyes.
“By following me, you can forget about ever getting married or having children in this lifetime.”
Xiao Ji gave a simple “en.”
“Will you regret it?” Pei Yinnian asked.
Xiao Ji countered with a question: “If I regret it, will you let me go?”
“No.”
Pei Yinnian answered without hesitation. “What is mine is mine. If you try to run, I will definitely break your legs and lock you up.”
Xiao Ji wasn’t surprised by this. He only asked:
“And what about after you get married and have children? Are you going to continue ‘stealing’ with me?”
Hearing this, Pei Yinnian’s brows knitted into a ball. He hadn’t considered the matter of marriage and children at all.
In his earlier years, he hadn’t been interested in the affairs of men and women. Seeing the people around him take one concubine after another—either finding waitresses in hotels or ruining opera singers in teahouses—he only found it incredibly boring. It wasn’t that he was intentionally keeping himself pure; he truly just couldn’t find any interest in it.
Moreover, the current situation was unstable. Ordinary people lived for today with no guarantee of tomorrow, and even with his high position and power, he couldn’t be sure of a peaceful life. One wrong move, whether dying on a battlefield or in a power struggle, was common. Like his father, to end up with a son like himself who would send him off, leaving behind a group of widows… he simply didn’t see the point.
But he also hadn’t thought about “stealing” with Xiao Ji. He didn’t accept that word. He questioned Xiao Ji:
“Do you think I am ‘stealing’ with you?”
Xiao Ji raised an eyebrow. “Is it not so?”
Pei Yinnian pushed Xiao Ji away and looked at him. “Xiao Ji, I admit I’m not some ‘good’ thing, but you underestimate me too much. I don’t need to ‘steal’ with you.”
“But I have my concerns.”
Xiao Ji asked, “What concerns?”
Pei Yinnian fell silent. It was a long time before he said:
“You will understand.”
Since Pei Yinnian was unwilling to speak now, Xiao Ji followed his wish and didn’t ask further. He simply patted the man’s lower back and said in a flat tone:
“Sleep.”
Pei Yinnian thought he wouldn’t be able to sleep, but in fact, with Xiao Ji by his side, even if there was currently some friction between them, his heart felt an unprecedented sense of security. Within moments, he lost consciousness.
As it turned out, Pei Yinnian’s constitution was indeed excellent. By the time Xiao Ji left the next morning, Pei Yinnian’s fever had broken.
When Lin Shu came looking for him, he had just finished washing up and changing his clothes.
Seeing Pei Yinnian’s slightly improved complexion, Lin Shu couldn’t hold back the words he had been keeping for several days. He asked tentatively:
“Master, I waited all night, but I didn’t see Mister Xiao come out.”
Pei Yinnian gave an “en” and didn’t hide it.
“He stayed here with me last night.”
Looking at the unmade large bed and the tidy, clean sofa, Lin Shu knew for a fact that Xiao Ji definitely hadn’t slept on the sofa.
He swallowed. “You and Mister Xiao…”
Pei Yinnian glanced at Lin Shu, pondered for a moment, and asked:
“Tell me, if a man forced you to be with him, would you feel grateful toward him because he helped you with many things?”
Lin Shu carefully imagined the scene, and his expression gradually turned strange.
“Are you saying… you forced Mister Xiao…”
Pei Yinnian stared at Lin Shu and said nothing.
Ever since Pei Yinnian personally followed them to return the wallet and used a clumsy excuse to force those “small yellow croakers” (gold bars) on Xiao Ji, Lin Shu had noticed that Pei Yinnian felt differently about him.
Lately, with taking him to the Peace Hotel and picking him up and dropping him off, it truly wasn’t hard to see the clues. Even though Pei Yinnian claimed it was force, Lin Shu knew that Pei Yinnian’s heart was involved.
“No. If it were me, I would definitely wish the man would die sooner so I could have some peace.” Lin Shu spoke the truth.
Pei Yinnian’s face turned exceptionally cold. The look in his eyes made it seem like he wanted to skin Lin Shu alive.
“Lin Shu, you should know that I am not only your brother but also your superior.”
“Is it that I’ve been too good to you over the years that you’ve forgotten the meaning of ‘fawning and flattery’?”
Hearing this, Lin Shu pursed his lips.
“You were sick yesterday, and Mister Xiao stayed here all night to take care of you without going home. That shows he’s different from me. He must love you very much…”
Only then did Pei Yinnian’s expression soften slightly. Then he said stubbornly:
“I don’t need him to love me that much. I only need him to be obedient and stay by my side.”
Lin Shu didn’t dare make a sound, not even daring to breathe loudly.
But Pei Yinnian wasn’t planning on letting him go. He continued:
“He asked me last night if I was going to continue ‘stealing’ with him if I ever got married and had children. I gave him an answer, but he didn’t seem satisfied. Do you know why?”
Lin Shu’s heart was crying out in misery. “What answer did you give him?”
Pei Yinnian then told Lin Shu what he had said the night before.
Lin Shu was speechless. After a moment’s thought, he tried to choose pleasant words to say:
“Perhaps Mister Xiao doesn’t want to ‘understand’ on his own. He wants a definite word from you? Or rather, he wants to be with you in a legitimate and honorable way?”
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