Chapter 15: It’s Very Noisy Here
The message had been sent twenty minutes ago.
Pei Zhouye laughed out of sheer anger.
Wen Yan had blocked him, yet sent “I miss you” to Gu Yulan.
With a gloomy expression, Pei Zhouye stared at the “I miss you too” that Gu Yulan had typed. He deleted it entirely and personally re-entered a reply.
[I am also thinking of you.]
Wen Yan had waited until he was a bit sleepy. He was jolted awake by the sudden white light of the phone screen.
Wen Yan: [Yulan, are you busy over there?]
Pei Zhouye deliberately converted the first two characters into his own name in his mind. Leaning back against the car seat, he typed a reply in a good mood.
[It’s okay. Made you wait a long time.]
He should have asked his people to bring the phone over a bit faster just now.
Wen Yan: [I have some things I want to say to you. Can we call?]
Pei Zhouye was just about to agree when he suddenly remembered this was Gu Yulan’s phone. He hesitated for a moment.
Wen Yan: [I thought for a long time, and I still feel I should tell you about the things I mind. I don’t want there to be barriers and misunderstandings between us.]
He typed without hesitation: [It’s very noisy here, not convenient.]
Pei Zhouye lied without any burden.
Rubbing his fingertips against the screen, he looked at the phone and sneered.
Whatever barriers and misunderstandings exist between you two, absolutely do not resolve them.
Wen Yan: [Alright.]
Wen Yan: [Wait for me a moment, I’ll type it out to you.]
Pei Zhouye imagined Wen Yan slowly tapping the screen over there to send messages, and wanted to laugh again.
So cute. Want to kiss.
Wen Yan naturally didn’t know what the person on the other end was thinking. He typed very fast, sending a long string of messages in a short while.
[Yulan-ge, do you remember when I almost had a car accident before? I felt the person who sent me was very strange at the time. I was worried he was a bad person, so I sent you a message. But you didn’t ignore me.
We clearly agreed not to meet your friends and family for the time being, but you broke the promise and made me go to your friend’s welcome banquet. I’m not very adapted to getting along with them, and I’m not good at drinking. I drank a lot that night in the end.
And tonight, Mingtao and Qingqing were looking forward to meeting you, but you were late for a long time. I felt we could have gone back by ourselves, but you actively proposed to send everyone back to school, only to break your promise again just because you wanted to go out and play with others.]
I don’t know if saying these things will make you think I’m too petty, but I really care about these things.
Pei Zhouye looked at this long string of messages, his temples throbbing.
In Wen Yan’s eyes, he went from “bad person” to “Gu Yulan’s friend” and then to “others.”
He skipped over these minor details and read the message several times, his heart feeling blocked.
Wen Yan was so good to that dog thing Gu Yulan, speaking so euphemistically and carefully, yet Gu Yulan had done so many things to wrong Wen Yan.
Wen Yan was sad alone, and had tried to digest those emotions by himself.
Pei Zhouye wanted to walk to Wen Yan’s side regardless of everything, but Wen Yan wouldn’t be willing.
[Wen Yan, you shouldn’t suffer grievances and tolerate someone for so long for their sake.]
Wen Yan froze for a moment upon receiving this message, his nose stinging.
What does Yulan-ge mean?
Wen Yan: [Yulan-ge, do you really like me?]
Pei Zhouye stared at the phone for a long time. In the end, he didn’t reply to anything and deleted the chat history.
The person Wen Yan wanted to ask wasn’t him, but he still wanted to say: Wen Yan, I love you.
The official internship at Pei Corp was approaching. Wen Yan spent his free time in the university library preparing for the IELTS exam.
He wanted to strive for the quota to be guaranteed admission for a master’s degree at his current university. For the past two years, his comprehensive GPA ranking had been first, and he had enough high-value awards. But he still wanted to prepare to improve his IELTS score to gain more advantages.
Gu Yulan had been very busy these past two days, saying he was busy running errands for family matters.
The question Wen Yan asked that night received no answer. Gu Yulan only told him the next afternoon that his phone had fallen into a wine glass and broke, so he didn’t reply to the message.
Wen Yan didn’t ask that sentence again.
In the Pei family game room, Pei Zhouye and Shen Yao were playing games.
The screen flashed GAME OVER again. Shen Yao threw the game controller on the sofa, turned his head to look at the calm and composed Pei Zhouye, wanting to cry but having no tears.
“Brother Pei, let me win one round! Respect the old and cherish the young! Cherish the young!”
Pei Zhouye leaned loosely against the sofa cushion, lifted his eyelids casually to glance at him, his lips smiling. “I’ve already let you win quite a few rounds.”
“What are you shouting about?” Lin Seran pushed the door open and entered, placing the cherries washed by the maid in front of Pei Zhouye, looking at Shen Yao. “You’re only a few months younger than Zhouye-ge, what are you yelling for?”
Shen Yao leaned back on the cushion. “It’s bad enough I keep getting destroyed, but Lin Seran, you won’t even give me cherries to eat!”
Lin Seran didn’t speak, just smiled.
Pei Zhouye raised his hand, his distinct knuckles pushing the carved glass fruit bowl toward the center.
“Eat up. Don’t act like someone’s mistreating you.”
The cherries in the plate were fresh and red, looking like drops of blood.
Shen Yao cheered up again, happily grabbing cherries. “Brother Pei, you treat me the best.”
Since childhood, Pei Zhouye had always looked like he kept people a thousand miles away—dominant, indifferent, never getting close to anyone. Shen Yao’s parents had instructed him repeatedly never to provoke Pei Zhouye.
Later, when he was twelve, he was saved by Pei Zhouye, and on the spot, he made a grand vow to be good buddies with his Brother Pei for life.
Pei Zhouye complained that he was annoying, but helped him clean up many messes. Whatever he wanted, Pei Zhouye would curse but eventually give it to him. But if Pei Zhouye truly liked something himself, no one else should even think about touching it.
Shen Yao spoke while eating cherries, “Brother Pei, you’ve been back for so long, have you met with Uncle yet?”
Pei Zhouye answered lazily, “No. He doesn’t want to see me, and I don’t want to see him.”
“If you ask me, Brother Pei, you already went abroad to study. It’s not like you were short this last year. Why go through so much trouble to come back?” Shen Yao muttered. “Is it possible you missed me? I could have gone over there too. Wherever you go, I go. I can fly globally.”
Pei Zhouye gave him a look of disgust. “Get lost.”
Usually, undergraduate degrees are four years, or three in some systems, and the final year allows for exchange. Others fly from domestic to foreign countries for exchange, or exchange between famous foreign schools. Pei Zhouye, however, went to great lengths just to exchange back to China.
Father Pei was furious. Pei Zhouye had been back for almost half a month, yet the two hadn’t met even once.
After chatting a bit more, Pei Zhouye pushed the door open and left.
The game room was soundproof. Lin Seran glanced at the closed door and spoke up. “Shen Yao, tell your brother to replace the third male lead in that S+ drama by Director Yang.”
Shen Yao didn’t even lift his head. “Aren’t you already the male lead? How are you managing the third male lead now? I can’t open my mouth to my brother about that. His company isn’t mine.”
“Stingy!” Lin Seran stomped his foot in anger. “If you won’t help me, I’ll think of a way myself.”
Shen Yao was silent for a moment before speaking up. “That person didn’t provoke you. Do fewer wicked things. Aren’t you afraid Brother Pei will find out?”
Lin Seran didn’t speak.
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