15: Xixi, is it because I give you too much freedom that you think I have a very good temper?

After Shang Zhi returned home, Pei Wang sent her many messages. She wanted to block him, but she was worried that he would come to her door and ask why she had blocked him, just like before.

After thinking about it, I decided to just ignore it.

At the party, Pei Yanxiu was surrounded and toasted by a group of people. Shang Zhi was not used to this feeling, so she faded out of the crowd around him and went outside to get some fresh air when the project manager called her.

"Mr. Shang, do you think we can resume work? You don't know if you've ever run a project, but even a day of downtime results in huge losses. Besides, what Mr. Pei mentioned last time is really nothing. Everyone does it this way. We're not having an easy time either; a whole bunch of people are waiting to make a living."

"The issue of sea sand hasn't been resolved yet, so we can't start construction." Shang Zhi didn't want to argue with him any longer, so she hung up the phone after saying this.

"Are you in trouble?" A faint voice came from behind. Shang Zhi was startled and turned around. It was Pei Wang again.

"Why are you here too?"

"If you can come, why can't I? I don't need any title; I'll just quietly follow behind you."

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

"What trouble are you in? Tell me, maybe I can help you."

"You can't help me, even your older brother is having a headache."

“I am different from him. He takes the right path, while I take the unorthodox path. Morality cannot bind me, so I can do what he cannot do.”

After some hesitation, Shang Zhi finally revealed that Jiang Dayuan had used sea sand at Tiancui. Since things had come to this point, and they didn't have any particularly good solutions, they decided to try anything, even if it seemed hopeless.

"I'll help you with this. Consider it my wedding gift to you and my brother, okay?"

"Are you serious? Can you really solve this? What are your plans? Do you know Jiang Dayuan?"

"Then you don't need to worry about it. Just think about how to thank me." Pei Wang took Shang Zhi's hand and gently kissed the back of her hand.

"Wait for my message."

Pei Wang quickly disappeared into the night. Shang Zhi felt conflicted. She had a vague feeling that Pei Wang would use some "special" methods to deal with Jiang Dayuan.

She wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do, but she wasn't trying to instigate Pei Wang to do anything. She was just telling him about one of her troubles as a friend, and if he actually did something, it was none of her business.

"What's wrong with you? You've been distracted all night." On the way home, Pei Yanxiu turned to look at her.

"Nothing much. How did your chat with President Gu go today?"

"Technically speaking, it can be solved by replacing part of it or reinforcing it, but the cost is not low, and Jiang Dayuan may not be willing to do so."

"Maybe he'll suddenly change his mind in a couple of days and be willing," Shang Zhi murmured, gazing at the night view outside the window.

"What did you say?"

"It's nothing. I'm sleepy, Uncle Pei, I want to go back to sleep."

"good."

Shang Zhi hadn't expected Pei Wang to be so efficient. She was woken up by his phone call that very night. The call came through Jiang Dayuan's heart-wrenching screams and constant pleas for mercy.

"Xixi, I've solved your problem. I'll take him to the hospital later. If you need anything from him, just talk to him. Don't worry, he'll behave this time." Shang Zhi was startled and lost her grip on her phone, which fell onto the bed.

"What's wrong?" Pei Yanxiu picked up his phone, and his expression grew even more serious after learning what had happened.

"I see."

He hung up on Pei Wang, turned to Shang Zhi, and said seriously, "Are you aware that Pei Wang cut off one of Jiang Dayuan's fingers?"

"I don't know." A sense of fear rose in Shang Zhi's heart, and she subconsciously wanted to distance herself from the situation.

"Uncle Pei, I..."

"Let's go check on how he is." Pei Yanxiu took a deep breath, while Shang Zhi stood by, not daring to speak.

"Sir, this is a hospital, smoking is not allowed." In the hospital corridor, Pei Yanxiu saw Pei Wang leaning against the railing, ignoring the nurse's advice.

Pei Yanxiu stepped forward, silently removed the cigarette from his fingertips and extinguished it. When Pei Wang saw his elder brother arrive, he straightened his posture slightly.

How is he?

"It's nothing, it's just..."

Snap!

Before Pei Wang could finish speaking, a clean and swift slap landed on his face. Pei Yanxiu's strength was considerable, and several clear palm marks instantly appeared.

Pei Wang's hand trembled.

"Brother, they did the bad thing first, why are you hitting me!"

"If someone does something bad, you cut off their finger. What about you? You've done so many bad things, what are you going to do about it?"

"Speak!" Another slap landed on Pei Wang's other cheek.

“I’m different from them. You owe me, don’t you?” Pei Wang’s eyes were tinged with a faint crimson as he turned back and chuckled.

"It's the Pei family that owes me."

"I'm not going to talk to you about that now. Just tell me, can his hand be reattached?"

"Then you should ask the doctor, why are you asking me? Tch!"

Pei Wang reached out to take another cigarette, but Pei Yanxiu slapped it away.

"I'll go ask what's going on. You two stay here."

Pei Wang sat silently on a chair in the corridor. Shang Zhi walked to the vending machine, bought a bottle of ice water, and handed it to him.

"Your face is swollen. Apply an ice pack; it will help."

"Don't worry about me, I'm used to it. My brother hit me lightly, it didn't hurt."

"You don't need to feel guilty. It's a small matter. I told you, this is a gift from me. If my brother asks about it, just push all the responsibility onto me."

"Anyway, I'm not a good person to begin with, so it doesn't matter if I get a few more charges."

“Ah Wang, actually I sometimes really dislike you. You do things in a dramatic and startling way, but I really don’t have the right to criticize you for what happened today. If anyone is wrong, it should be blamed on us both.”

Pei Wang remained silent while Shang Zhi spoke these words.

Jiang Dayuan's surgery was over, and his finger was at least successfully reattached and saved, which finally put Shang Zhi at ease. Pei Yanxiu comforted Jiang Dayuan for a few days and said he would come to see him again.

"Uncle Pei, I know I was wrong." After returning home, Shang Zhi clung to Pei Yanxiu's arm.

“I had no other choice. Ah Wang said he had a solution, so I thought if he had a solution, I should let him try it.”

"I never expected things to turn out this way."

Pei Yanxiu walked to the tap and carefully washed his hands. He took a rose that had just arrived that day from the vase, removed one of the thorns, and held Shang Zhi's hand, the rose thorn pricking her fingertips.

Shang Zhi was in so much pain that she couldn't help but pull back.

"Let me go!"

"Does it hurt? Just a prick and you feel unbearable pain? How much pain would it hurt if he had a finger cut off?"

"That is..."

“That was done by A-Wang. I’ll deal with him. Now let’s talk about your business.”

"Don't you know what kind of person A-Wang is? Don't you know what he's capable of? You still dare to go to him? What were you expecting when you told him this? What kind of result did you want?"

Pei Yanxiu held Shang Zhi's wrist tightly with his arm, his eyes growing colder and the atmosphere in the room becoming increasingly somber.

"I told you, I didn't do it on purpose."

“I know what kind of person Pei Wang is, and I’ve thought he might use some special methods, but I really didn’t expect it to be this kind of method.”

"If I had known it would turn out this way, I would never have gone to find Pei Wang."

"But now that it's already happened, what am I supposed to do?"

"Let's both calm down, okay? Let's have a night to cool off, and then we can talk again tomorrow."

Pei Yanxiu agreed to Shang Zhi's suggestion. After all, both of them were in the heat of the moment, so it would be better for them to go back to their rooms and calm down.

When he woke up the next day, he found that Shang Zhi was gone.

Pei Yanxiu initially thought Shang Zhi had gone to another room, but after searching the entire house, he couldn't find her anywhere.

No one answered when I called her.

I sent her more than a dozen messages, but she didn't reply.

Shang Zhi originally thought it would take Pei Yanxiu a few days to find her, so she went to a mountaintop resort villa owned by Lu Xingqi's family. However, she didn't expect to receive another message from Pei Yanxiu after only having a few cups of tea.

"Get out, get in the car." She frowned slightly and looked out the window, where she indeed saw the familiar Rolls-Royce parked at the door.

Shang Zhi's breath hitched, and her hand holding the teacup froze in mid-air. A chill ran down her spine. How did he know she was here?

"What's wrong?" Lu Xingqi noticed that Shang Zhi was acting strangely.

Shang Zhi pointed outside, and Lu Xingqi was also a little surprised: "You told him we were here?"

"No."

"Then what happened to him...?"

"Get in the car yourself, or let me get you."

Shang Zhi finally gave in to his insistence and got into the car, but she didn't say anything.

"Don't you have anything to say to me?"

"What do you need me to tell you? You know everything anyway, don't you? You can even find this remote place, so what do you need me to tell you?"

"I'm going to take you somewhere." Pei Yanxiu didn't soothe Shang Zhi's emotions. Shang Zhi felt wronged. She knew she was wrong, but Jiang Dayuan deserved his punishment! Why didn't he think about how he would hurt people when he did those things!

Now that things have escalated to this point, it's not all her fault, so why is he so fixated on her?

Pei Yanxiu led Shang Zhi to an old residential building.

Why did you bring me here?

"get off."

Pei Yanxiu stopped at the door and knocked. A woman in a wheelchair and two young children opened the door.

Who are you?

"Hello, we are Jiang Dayuan's friends."

"Then, come in quickly." The woman warmly welcomed Pei Yanxiu and Shang Zhi into the house. Only then did Shang Zhi realize that she was Chen Yuan, Jiang Dayuan's wife. After a car accident, she injured her leg, and the surgery was very expensive. The repeated treatments almost dragged this once glorious family down.

She sold her car and her house, but her leg still didn't get better.

Shang Zhi now understands why Jiang Dayuan tries every means to make money.

"Last night, Da Yuan said he would be staying at the company for the next few days and wouldn't be coming back. Has something happened to the project?"

Shang Zhi fell even more silent. He must be afraid that his injury would frighten his wife, so he chose not to go home for the time being.

“There was a slight mishap, but he has already resolved it. Ms. Chen, this is my business card with my contact information. Please feel free to contact me if you need any assistance.”

"Oh, right, this money is for last quarter's payment. I'll give it to you first." Pei Yanxiu took a brown paper bag out of his bag, placed it on the table, and then left.

"Uncle Pei, I'm sorry, you're right, it was me, I was too impulsive." After a moment of silence upon returning home, Shang Zhi spoke first.

The light in Pei Yanxiu's eyes was dim and unclear, making Shang Zhi feel a little flustered.

"Uncle Pei, punish me." Shang Zhi wrapped his arm around her body, hugged his waist, and trembled slightly as she pressed her ear to his heartbeat.

"Okay." His hand pressed down on her buttocks, and Shang Zhi's heart beat even faster.

Pei Yanxiu knew that Shang Zhi would come to ask for this punishment. In her world, once the punishment was over, it meant forgiveness and the matter was completely over. From then on, this matter would no longer weigh on her heart.

"Go to the study."

Shang Zhi followed Pei Yanxiu into the study, and when the familiar ruler was placed in front of her, her vision went black.

"I won't talk about Jiang Dayuan's matter anymore. You know you were wrong. Let's work together to figure out how to handle things. There's another thing I need to talk to you about."

"You ran away from home this morning, didn't you?"

"Xixi, is it because I give you too much freedom that you think I have a very good temper?"

"You give me a lot of freedom? Pei Yanxiu, I'm practically the least free person in all of Hong Kong right now! I feel like even the prisoners in jail have more human rights than me! I ran away from home because you made me angry! And you're blaming me for that!"

"What did you call me?" Pei Yanxiu chuckled and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Uncle Pei, Uncle Pei."

"I don't give you freedom because you're not up to par and always cause trouble for me when I can't see you. I have no choice but to keep an eye on you."

"Lie down on the table." Pei Yanxiu frowned and gave the order, causing Shang Zhi to stiffen.

How often do you update, author?

I'll be updating five times a week, with two random days off. Usually, I'll skip Tuesdays and Sundays.

I think this woman is really dramatic.