Chapter 168: Stealing Fragrance (23)
Xiao Ji remained idle at home, having nothing to do. Although he was still angry with Pei Yinnian, his nature was fundamentally indifferent; it hadn’t reached the point where he couldn’t eat or sleep.
The one truly suffering from restless nights and a lack of appetite was Pei Yinnian.
Since returning to the Pei Residence in a fit of rage, Pei Yinnian had been in a state of extreme irritability.
He flung open the wardrobe containing Xiao Ji’s clothes, tore out all the long robes, and piled them into a basin. Striking a match, he prepared to burn them all.
Lin Shu stood to the side, at a total loss for what to do.
It wasn’t until Pei Yinnian held up the match, his eyes glaring viciously, that Lin Shu had a flash of inspiration and hurriedly intervened:
“Master, you can’t burn them! You can’t! It’s just a quarrel; it’s not like you’ve truly split for good. If you really burn these, it’ll truly be over!”
“Calm down, please, calm down…”
Pei Yinnian finally blew out the match. He gave the basin filled with Xiao Ji’s clothes a sharp kick and barked at Lin Shu:
“Fetch water!”
Hearing this, Lin Shu hurried to get water.
Afterward, Pei Yinnian sat on a small stool and scrubbed every single one of those long robes. He personally hung them in the courtyard to dry, then personally gathered them back once they were dry to hang them back in the wardrobe.
As the saying goes, it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to return to frugality.
Pei Yinnian had grown accustomed to the days of sharing a bed and pillow with Xiao Ji. Lying alone on the spacious, lonely bed at night, he couldn’t fall asleep no matter what.
His mind was filled with everything that had happened between him and Xiao Ji on this very bed.
He felt as though things were over between them.
But thinking about it now, the word “over” didn’t seem appropriate, because they hadn’t even had a clear beginning.
By the third day, his irritable mood had evolved into unease.
A strong sense of loss filled Pei Yinnian. He began to reflect on where he hadn’t been good enough to Xiao Ji—why would Xiao Ji just walk away like that, even abandoning his teaching job?
Several empty wine bottles sat on the table.
Pei Yinnian leaned against the sofa, staring blankly at the gramophone in the corner.
Lin Shu sat opposite him.
“Master, I don’t think it’s a question of whether you’re good to him or not. The key is, no matter how good you are, something is missing.”
Pei Yinnian didn’t understand. “What’s missing?”
Lin Shu thought for a moment. “You’ve always been ‘good’ to Mister Xiao in the way you find reasonable. When you’re angry, you threaten him—either by locking him up or making him lose his job.”
“In his anger, Mister Xiao simply cut off his own retreat, leaving you with nothing to threaten.”
“And that day on the street, when he said he wanted an apology… if I may be blunt, your attitude back then—forget him, even I felt stifled just listening to it…”
“Perhaps my words aren’t quite right, but I feel you’re too overbearing. You haven’t treated him as your own spouse.”
To put it plainly, he hadn’t treated Xiao Ji as an equal from the bottom of his heart.
Hearing this, Pei Yinnian fell into deep thought, even becoming somewhat dazed.
On one hand, the people Pei Yinnian had been around since childhood were all like this.
His arrogant father hadn’t even viewed the women in the residence as human beings.
They were nothing more than tools for pleasure or for carrying on the family line.
On the other hand, from the very beginning, Pei Yinnian had occupied the dominant position. He had kept Xiao Ji by his side without any official status; everything was decided by Pei Yinnian, and he had never considered whether Xiao Ji was willing.
In his subconscious, he was high and mighty. He could give Xiao Ji whatever he wanted, as long as Xiao Ji was obedient.
He had kept Xiao Ji at the Pei Residence regardless of the consequences, and his various tests never sought Xiao Ji’s opinion.
Xiao Ji didn’t seem to care, which spoiled Pei Yinnian so much that he actually dared to leave Xiao Ji home alone while he went out to a ballroom to drink.
Even if his intention wasn’t to seek pleasure, looking at it from another perspective, anyone would have been angry.
Pei Yinnian began to doubt himself.
One side of him stubbornly felt that, given his status, how did Xiao Ji dare to treat him this way? The other side felt his status didn’t mean a damn thing—they were both human; why should Xiao Ji have to endure him?
He stayed drunk for several nights in a row.
No one in the entire Pei Residence dared to speak to him of their own accord.
As for that ballroom, it was shut down after the incident.
Seven days after Xiao Ji left, seeing Pei Yinnian in such an obvious state of “his wife ran away,” Mother Pei felt a secret joy. Her desire for a grandson began to stir once more.
She wanted to invite Wang Lu over again, letting her take advantage of the vacancy.
But unexpectedly, Wang Lu refused.
She simply stated that the matter between Pei Yinnian and that teacher was now known to everyone in Huating. During their last meeting, Pei Yinnian had ignored her so completely; she wasn’t exactly desperate to get married, so why go looking for trouble?
Since she couldn’t use someone else to make a move, Mother Pei assumed the matter between Pei Yinnian and Xiao Ji was over. She chose an evening when Pei Yinnian seemed to be in a decent mood, intending to have a talk with him.
Mother and son sat opposite each other, each with their own thoughts. After a long silence, they both spoke at the same time:
“The matter between you and Mister Xiao is finished…”
“I plan to register my marriage with Xiao Ji.”
After speaking, both fell back into silence.
After a long while, Mother Pei’s expression turned ugly. “Is this the result of your moping around all these days?”
“A man marrying a man… I can’t believe you even thought of it!”
Pei Yinnian replied, “That’s just what I’m thinking. Whether he’ll agree is another matter entirely.”
Mother Pei was exasperated. “What is so good about him?”
Pei Yinnian pursed his lips. “He is good in every way.”
Mother Pei cursed, “Consider it my bad luck in this life. It seems the Pei family is destined to end with you.”
With that, she stood up, flicked her sleeves, and returned to her room.
Although Pei Yinnian had made a quiet decision to be with Xiao Ji properly, many days had passed and Xiao Ji hadn’t made a sound. He clearly had no intention of returning on his own.
While Pei Yinnian cursed Xiao Ji for being a stubborn ox, he would park his car at the entrance of Xiao Ji’s alley every day after finishing work.
Originally, he wanted to wait for Xiao Ji to come out, corner him, and then pretend it was a clumsy coincidence to strike up a conversation and break the ice.
But he waited for three days and didn’t even see Xiao Ji’s shadow.
He only saw Mother Xiao twice, coming out to buy groceries.
The wait after a quarrel is always incredibly anxiety-inducing.
Pei Yinnian finally couldn’t help himself. He led his men out of the car and walked deep into the alley.
Along the way, he thought about what he should say to Xiao Ji, his long legs moving somewhat absentmindedly.
Unexpectedly, just as he reached the corner of Xiao Ji’s house, he heard a burst of noisy arguing.
Pei Yinnian frowned and strode to Xiao Ji’s door, seeing a group of women who had just been drenched in water, and Xiao Ran standing at the door with her hands on her hips, holding a basin.
Those women attacked by the dirty water originally wanted to argue further with Xiao Ran. One of them had the words at the tip of her tongue when her sleeve was suddenly pulled by the person next to her, who whispered:
“Run, it’s the soldiers.”
Everyone turned around and saw a row of soldiers in uniform, carrying guns.
The leader had a cold, stern expression as he looked at Xiao Ran:
“Where is your brother?”
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