Chapter 2: After Becoming the CEO’s Sickly White Moonlight 2
“You picked him up? En… I will go back earlier tonight. Uncle Li, you remember to have Auntie Wang make corn and pork rib soup, Ah Yu likes it.”
The tall man sat in the chair, his palm caressing a group photo placed on the desk.
In the photo were two young boys. The shorter one was as pretty as a porcelain doll, looking sickly and lacking vitality, though it still didn’t detract from his good looks.
“Ah Yu…”
A smile spilled from the corner of Jiang Chen’s mouth. Then, thinking of something, a flash of ruthlessness crossed his eyes.
Since Ah Yu had returned, he couldn’t let Qu Shenyi continue to act so unscrupulously.
After thinking for a moment, Jiang Chen picked up his phone and dialed a number. It rang for a while before someone picked up.
The noisy sounds of a restaurant rang in his ears. Jiang Chen furrowed his brows in slight dissatisfaction. The person on the other end moved their footsteps, and with the creak of a door being pushed open, the clamor gradually weakened.
“Mr. Jiang, is there something you need?”
The youth’s somewhat timid voice sounded in Jiang Chen’s ear.
Jiang Chen looked at the group photo on the desk and said, “I won’t be looking for you for the next period of time, so try not to call or message me as much as possible, understand?”
“…”
Xu Zaizai on the other end was silent for a while before softly responding, “En.”
Jiang Chen was still relatively satisfied with Xu Zaizai, this lover. He was sensible, tactful, and had the highest degree of resemblance to Pei Yu’s appearance.
Knowing that Xu Zaizai had understood his arrangement, Jiang Chen hung up the phone.
Just a stand-in lover. The person he wanted had already returned, and the rest, no matter how similar, were just vulgar imitations.
Xu Zaizai looked at the hung-up phone, a bit of doubt lingering in his eyes.
Had he offended Jiang Chen somehow? Probably not. The most he interacted with this man was in bed; at other times, that person wouldn’t have any intersection with a restaurant waiter like him at all.
But Jiang Chen asking him not to meet for a while was also a good thing…
Xu Zaizai eased his sore waist and let out a soft sigh.
When Pei Yu woke up, it was already evening. He lit up his phone screen; it was just before seven o’clock.
Jiang Chen must have given special instructions, so no one came up to disturb his rest.
Living at Jiang Chen’s place was only temporary. To come into contact with Qu Shenyi, he still needed Jiang Chen.
Pei Yu simply washed up and changed into a set of loose loungewear.
When he pushed open his room door, a man wearing a suit just happened to be walking up to the second floor.
The man was extremely tall. The suit and leather shoes outlined his superior figure, his brows and eyes were handsome and sharp, and his skin was a healthy honey color, very much giving off the vibe of a mature man.
The protagonist Gong, Jiang Chen.
This was the first time Pei Yu had truly come face-to-face with the protagonist Gong since arriving in this world.
He was indeed worthy of being the protagonist; his appearance, figure, and temperament were all absolutely extraordinary.
While Pei Yu was examining Jiang Chen, Jiang Chen was also examining him. He wasn’t able to recognize at first glance that this was the person he had been yearning for day and night for so long.
Very good-looking. This was Jiang Chen’s first thought.
“Ah Yu?”
Jiang Chen looked at the man in front of him who seemed to be even taller than himself, feeling a bit surprised.
That little tail who constantly followed behind him had already grown this tall?
“En.”
Jiang Chen: “…” What did his little white moonlight eat to grow up like this over the years?
Although there was some deviation from the person in his memory, Jiang Chen’s tone still softened instantly.
“I was just about to come up and call you for dinner. Let’s go, Auntie Wang made your favorite corn and pork rib soup.”
“…”
Pei Yu’s expression paused slightly.
He didn’t really like it.
Pei Yu called out to the system in his mind, “If I behave very differently from the original owner, will there be a problem?”
[There will be, Host. So you’d best maintain some of the original owner’s habits. A certain degree of deviation is fine.]
The system’s voice sounded in his mind, with the underlying meaning being that minor deviations were okay.
Pei Yu was very picky about food; he wouldn’t even touch things he disliked.
So when Jiang Chen saw Pei Yu didn’t touch the soup on the table, he probed tentatively, “You don’t like it?”
“My tastes have changed a lot over the years living abroad,” Pei Yu raised his eyes to look at Jiang Chen upon hearing this, saying, “I don’t like a lot of the things I used to like anymore.”
Jiang Chen froze for a moment, gently pursing his thin lips, his fingers gripping his chopsticks tightly. His Ah Yu had lived abroad for a long time, and he was indeed different from before, but it didn’t matter, he would slowly get to understand him.
“Ah Yu, how long are you staying this time you came back?”
“It depends. If certain matters are handled well, I might just settle down domestically.”
“Coming back this time, do you want to try your hand at my company?”
“No need.”
Pei Yu slowly and methodically took a bite of a roasted chicken wing. His lips, stained with grease, gained a bit of rosiness, making his beautifully exquisite features look even more vivid.
The gaze Jiang Chen fixed on Pei Yu grew deeper and deeper. Before he could speak, Pei Yu had already put down his chopsticks.
“I’m going back to the Pei family. Before I returned, my dad had already arranged my job at the Yuehui Group.”
“You want to go back to work at Yuehui? During the years you and Uncle Pei were abroad, Pei Zhisheng and Pei Liang, father and son, have already seized control of the majority of Yuehui. If you go back now, you can basically only hold a nominal position at Yuehui with no real practical use.” Jiang Chen’s expression turned grave.
Moreover, Pei Yu’s health condition back then wasn’t that bad to begin with. The sudden deterioration that forced him to go abroad for treatment—it was self-evident whose handiwork was behind it.
Pei Zhiyu held a pivotal position in Yuehui back then. From an outsider’s perspective, Pei Zhisheng couldn’t compare to Pei Zhiyu’s status in Yuehui at all.
It was just that for the sake of Pei Yu, Pei Zhiyu was forced to give up everything in Yuehui and move the whole family abroad to treat Pei Yu.
With Pei Yu coming back this time, those people probably couldn’t wait any longer.
Thinking of this, Jiang Chen’s expression turned even gloomier, “Ah Yu, you should go to my company and try things out first. It won’t be too late to deal with those people from the Pei family later.”
Pei Yu was still too young and didn’t know about the dark, scheming affairs in the business field. If he went to his company to temper himself, it would be just right.
Furthermore, in this way, Pei Yu could be considered to owe him a favor. A pavilion near the water enjoys the moonlight first; wanting to pursue his Ah Yu would also be an easy opportunity.
Pei Yu naturally knew Jiang Chen’s little schemes, but he didn’t want to have too much entanglement with Jiang Chen.
“No, I will go to work at Yuehui tomorrow.”
“Alright.”
Jiang Chen sighed. It seemed he had still missed this opportunity.
Jiang Chen thought about it and said, “Then you should interact more with Old Master Pei. When you were young, he liked you the most.”
Old Master Pei had always favored his eldest son, Pei Zhiyu, and naturally extended that love to his child, taking good care of him.
Pei Zhisheng was quite respectful towards Old Master Pei. If Pei Yu stayed close to Old Master Pei, Pei Zhisheng wouldn’t dare to do anything blatantly.
“En.”
Pei Yu stood up, and Jiang Chen looked up at him.
Pei Yu was wearing loose loungewear, his cold temperament carrying a hint of softness. Looking up at him, the exquisite jawline and facial contours made one’s heart skip a beat.
Unlike the pretty porcelain doll from his childhood, Jiang Chen realized once again that the Pei Yu before him was already a man just like himself.
Pei Yu truly grew up into an appearance that didn’t resemble the type he liked in the slightest.
He still liked the slender and clean type. Although Pei Yu looked similar to when he was a child and still belonged to the exquisite and good-looking category, he had too much masculine charm, and his temperament had become overly aloof and unapproachable.
Jiang Chen felt a bit of a headache; he had the absurd feeling that his white moonlight had grown crooked.
“Finished eating?”
“En, I’ll go up first.” Pei Yu nodded.
Jiang Chen looked at Pei Yu’s back, sighing heavily in his heart. The way he was when he was a child was still better. Looking at Pei Yu now, he always felt a bit intimidated in his heart…
The system didn’t know Jiang Chen’s inner thoughts; if it did, it would definitely agree with him.
Without Pei Yu’s knowledge, the system had already silently pulled up Pei Yu’s status panel and studied it for a long time.
At first glance, there were absolutely no problems with Pei Yu’s information, but the problem lay in… his soul integrity, which the system couldn’t see.
Yes, the system checked the information of other hosts against Pei Yu’s item by item and confirmed that Pei Yu was missing an item for “Soul Integrity.”
The system turned into a small ball in Pei Yu’s mind, bounced around for a bit, and used a non-existent hand to rub its smooth, bare head.
This was a problem… Report it to headquarters?
But Pei Yu hadn’t shown any issues so far.
The system fell silent for a while and decided to wait until Pei Yu completed this world before saying anything.
After Pei Yu finished showering and came out of the bathroom, he placed his laptop on his lap, leaning against the headboard to handle company affairs.
Over all these years, he naturally hadn’t just been idling away abroad, waiting for death. He hid his identity, returned to the country, and founded a company, while also silently keeping an eye on the development of the world’s timeline.
[Host, were you really just a scientific researcher in your past life?]
The system silently monitored Pei Yu’s actions.
Pei Yu picked up the hot water placed on the nightstand, took a sip, and raised his eyebrows upon hearing this: “Isn’t all my information with you?”
[… ]
It’s exactly because it’s all there that it’s strange.
Logically speaking, Pei Yu was engaged in scientific research in his past life. How did he manage to seize business opportunities in just a few short years, snatch up market share, and leap to become a newly emerged wealthy enterprise?
Is this a brain a normal human should have?
Pei Yu’s fingertips slid across the keyboard, his eyelashes casting a shadow over his face.
“System…”
The man’s voice was somewhat cool, sounding devoid of emotion, making people feel he was extremely not to be trifled with.
[Present.]
“Can you turn into a ball again for me to play with for a while?”
[… ]
Heh.
It was all fake.
At the beginning of the binding, it also thought Pei Yu possessed the persona of an aloof and arrogant CEO; after all, that temperament of his totally hit the mark.
After interacting for a long time, the system finally realized that Pei Yu wasn’t aloof, but carried an innate indifference in his bones. He couldn’t muster interest in anything. His attitude towards people’s emotions was roughly “you’re so annoying”, thus making him appear detached and unworldly.
But when he actually became interested in something, his wicked temper would reveal itself.
Ever since seeing that the system could transform into an orb of light in the system space, Pei Yu hadn’t missed the chance to trick the system into turning into a ball for him to play with over these past years.
[Don’t even think about it. I will not turn into a ball for you to play with.]
“Hmm…” Pei Yu pondered for a long time.
“There’s a newly released gay movie.”
[En??]
With a “poof”, the system turned into a snow-white, warm orb of light. It landed on the laptop in front of Pei Yu, emitting a faint white glow.
A trace of a faint smile flashed through Pei Yu’s eyes. He reached out and poked the system: “En… quite obedient.”
[But of course.]
The system bounced and rubbed against Pei Yu’s fingers, calculating in its heart what it should eat while watching the movie later.
Pei Yu pinched the orb of light with one hand while slowly and methodically typing with the other.
Jian Dan: President Pei, the project has fast-forwarded to the final wrapping-up stage. Do we need to speed up the launch?
Pei: No need. Grasp this time to perfect it. When the right time comes for the official listing, I will let you know.
Jian Dan: Yes, President Pei.
Jian Dan: By the way, President Pei, the people from the Pei family knew you were coming back and have secretly plotted quite a few schemes. You should be careful.
Pei: En.
Pei Yu looked at the lit-up light screen and gently narrowed his eyes.
In the original plot, Pei Yu returned to the Pei family much later. The original Pei Yu’s health wasn’t good even with continuous treatment. He practically panted after taking three steps, acting as frail as a willow swaying in the wind. The Pei family didn’t target him much because a sickly junior of the Pei family couldn’t stir up any waves at all.
“System, do you have any props for me to use?”
Pei Yu poked the snow-white orb of light again.
[Yes, but you can’t buy them.]
“En?”
[You don’t have points.]
Pei Yu: “…”
Even a hero can be stumped by a lack of money.
Translator’s Note:
- A pavilion near the water enjoys the moonlight first: A Chinese idiom meaning that being close to someone or something gives you a distinct advantage (in this case, Jiang Chen wanting to use his company to get close to Pei Yu).
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