Chapter 20 Pei Shuwen: "You are sure..."

Lin Chaoyue's heart was pounding in her throat with nervousness.

A cold snort came from above.

Unlike Pei Shuwen's usual style, this contained a clear hint of sarcasm and teasing.

"What kind of reckless behavior do you expect me to do?" Pei Shuwen asked.

A man and a woman dressed so scantily, how could they possibly do anything inappropriate!

Coercion, bribery, various unspoken rules, at the very least a workplace affair—Lin Chaoyue isn't some naive girl. Even if she hasn't been wild, after spending so much time abroad, she's seen it all.

And she didn't just read that workplace strategy comic about male bosses for nothing the other day!

To watch the full version, she downloaded a whole bunch of apps on her phone last night, almost filling up all the memory.

The ambiguous spark between the male and female leads began when the female lead went to the male lead's house to deliver some documents.

It all started with the male lead seducing her!

The female lead lacks willpower, but she has immense willpower! She refuses arranged marriages and refuses to let her boss become her husband—starting with herself!

Lin Chaoyue stammered, "I...I've seen a lot of things. I know what you're thinking. Don't play dumb with me. I've heard about everything you've done."

A few days ago, when she was playing games with Li Cong, he mentioned that Pei Shuwen was all talk and no action in public, but in private he was the kind of person who smoked and drank. He said that when he was in school, a woman confronted him at his home, accusing him of playing with other people's feelings and being irresponsible.

Although its authenticity remains to be seen, she is now inclined to believe that this is 999 pure gossip.

Lin Chaoyue spoke, but she didn't open her eyes the entire time. Her hands gripped the strap of the chain bag in front of her chest tightly, and her fingertips turned white from the force.

Pei Shuwen's eyes then became even more intrigued: "Really? What have you heard? Since you've seen it all, shouldn't you be used to workplace unspoken rules? Why are you so nervous? Is this your first time? Or are you just all talk and no action?"

It really is a workplace unspoken rule!

The old fox has finally shown his tail.

Lin Chaoyue was 'provoked' and her eyes snapped open. Then, she glared at Pei Shuwen defiantly: "Aren't you afraid I'll tell my parents?"

"Are you so confident that President Lin and Aunt Zhong will side with you?"

"Of course...of course..." Would you?

The words that were about to come out quickly got stuck in my throat.

It seems that's not necessarily true.

Ms. Zhong's trust in Pei Shuwen went far beyond what outsiders could comprehend.

And then there was Ms. Zhong's comment at noon today: "Your brother Shuwen is a very good candidate."

Lin Chaoyue couldn't help but shudder whenever she thought about it: "..."

Depend on!

No wonder Pei Shuwen was so confident; she was waiting for her here.

The thought that Pei Shuwen held the power of life and death over her allowance made Lin Chaoyue inwardly wail.

No!

Let her go...

Please...

She really just wanted to be a lazy bum...

In an instant, Lin Chaoyue felt that there was no need to struggle anymore. What difference would it make whether a salted fish on the chopping board turned over or not?

At most, he'll just die a more pleasing death...

Lin Chaoyue's expression changed too quickly; just a moment ago she was a prickly little hedgehog, and now she had transformed into a timid quail.

Seeing her head bowed, lost in her own thoughts, Pei Shuwen couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"What are you laughing at?" she muttered softly.

Pei Shuwen didn't speak, but Lin Chaoyue clearly felt his long arm brush past her side, and a breeze carrying his unique scent brushed against her cheek.

His sudden movement caught Lin Chaoyue off guard, leaving her no time to react; she simply looked up instinctively.

Then the man took the long trench coat hanging behind her.

Lin Chaoyue only realized what was happening after he was fully dressed.

"You...you were just getting your clothes, weren't you?"

“Didn’t you suggest I wear clothes? If you have any other suggestions, you can tell me all at once,” Pei Shuwen said.

"Ah... a suggestion... ah, that..." Lin Chaoyue was so embarrassed by her overconfidence that she was digging her toes into the ground. Her mind was as blank as water, and she couldn't remember any suggestion at all.

The speech I prepared outside the door for half a day has now turned into a complete mess in my mind.

What was she going to say?

Ah, right, we're talking about Meng Yuzhi.

Interrupted by Pei Shuwen, she suddenly forgot where to begin.

no……

Pei Shuwen was just wearing clothes, yet she acted out so many scenes with her.

Is he that free?

And how does she manage to be so confident, with her head full of lewd thoughts?

Lin Chaoyue had transformed from a quail into a fully cooked crab, her entire body turning a deep red.

"Change your shoes and come in," Pei Shuwen said.

"Oh." Lin Chaoyue's mind didn't work for a while. She mechanically listened to the man's instructions, bent down, and changed her shoes.

However, the movement of squatting at the door to change shoes was noticeably slower, and the hair hanging down her cheeks was not very responsive.

She tried to tuck it in twice, but it only covered half of her still-burning ear heat, leaving the other half of her red ear tips exposed.

She followed silently behind Pei Shuwen, not daring to even breathe.

The person looks fine, but they've actually been gone for a while.

If God wants to punish her, let her go back to being a rich second-generation, fall into depravity, and live a life of debauchery! Instead of letting her read comics for a few days and ruin her brain, making her think that Pei Shuwen is interested in her and wants to molest her!

Fortunately, Pei Shuwen never looked back.

As I put down my water glass, I asked, "You've been thinking for so long, it seems you've prepared quite a few work suggestions, or is this your first time offering advice?"

Lin Chaoyue had become so numb that she completely ignored Pei Shuwen's teasing.

Some even experience tinnitus.

"No, no, it's just some work-related stuff. I was just..."

The tinnitus grew louder and louder, and Lin Chaoyue looked up blankly.

Was there any sound?

From the moment she changed her shoes, Lin Chaoyue could vaguely hear a faint buzzing sound, but due to her embarrassment and guilt, her pulse was beating faster than the vibration.

Subconsciously, I directly categorized this as tinnitus.

It wasn't until the sound became increasingly clear that Lin Chaoyue realized it sounded like a cell phone ringing.

She felt in her pocket; it wasn't her phone.

Lin Chaoyue looked at Pei Shuwen.

"Okay." Pei Shuwen: "Wait for me here, I need to take this call."

Where?

Lin Chaoyue was puzzled, and her gaze followed the direction Pei Shuwen had walked. But the first thing she saw was not his tall and straight back, but a bed covered in black sheets under the dim light.

Lin Chaoyue: "..."

She was so focused on following behind Pei Shuwen that she didn't realize she had already stepped one foot into Pei Shuwen's bedroom.

The monotonous combination of black, white, and gray lines almost immediately caught her eye.

very good.

This perfectly matches her stereotype of Pei Shuwen.

However, the bedroom of the opposite sex is a very private place, so Lin Chaoyue only glanced at it at the beginning, and then very tactfully took a step back and left the room.

She walked to the wine cabinet next to the island counter and waited for Pei Shuwen.

It was probably a work-related call.

Although she was standing far away and couldn't hear clearly, Pei Shuwen's house was so quiet and spacious that Lin Chaoyue could occasionally hear professional terms such as 'right of first refusal' and 'shareholder qualification'.

She wasn't really interested in work-related matters. She took off the bag hanging on her body and put it aside, then bent down to examine the wines in Pei Shuwen's wine cabinet.

The spacious wooden wine cabinet had an entire shelf of 1999 Le Havre wine. It turned out that Pei Shuwen liked this kind of rich and aromatic wine, which coincided with her own taste. She always felt that this combination of strong and elegant flavors was enough to stimulate the taste buds.

She looked her over layer by layer, from top to bottom.

I expected to see some of the common, rich and expensive red wines on the market, but strangely, many of the wines were packaged in heavy bottles without labels, with only unfamiliar labels on the bottles.

The year and place of origin are not specified.

Lin Chaoyue thought she was seeing things, but after looking at it carefully again, she found that it really wasn't there.

At least two-thirds of the red wines were unlabeled.

That's most likely homemade wine.

"come over."

When called, Lin Chaoyue responded with an "Oh," without paying attention to which room the voice came from. Seeing that no one was in the living room, she went to the bedroom door and asked, "Where is everyone?"

The bedroom was empty, with no sign of Pei Shuwen. Only the bathroom light was on, but when she leaned forward to look, there was no sound from inside.

"Pei Shuwen?" she asked tentatively.

There has still been no response.

Lin Chaoyue had no choice but to take another step forward.

He had already made halfway to knock on the door, but before his hand could fall, it was encircled by a warm force.

What are you doing here?

Why are you standing behind me?

Lin Chaoyue never expected Pei Shuwen to appear out of nowhere from behind her.

I was startled for a moment.

Aside from her tacit agreement with Pei Shuwen just now, her subsequent sounds were stuck in her throat, like an old, dilapidated music box.

Especially when they saw that Pei Shuwen had changed his clothes at some point and was wearing a well-fitting suit, they felt like they had seen a ghost.

Lin Chaoyue stared at Pei Shuwen for a long time before finally winding up her rusty vocal cords and speaking slowly.

"I thought you were still in the bedroom."

I guessed it.

"I saw your bathroom light was on and thought you were in the bathroom. When did you change your clothes? Even though it's for work, you don't really need to be so formal..."

When Pei Shuwen agreed to let the Lin family take care of Lin Chaoyue temporarily, he carefully reviewed all of Lin Chaoyue's information.

A typical rich kid, not ambitious but not exactly decadent either; his grades are mediocre, enough to graduate on his own, but that's about it. He spends money like water, but always on things that aren't illegal or criminal.

Anyone who brings it up will simply say, "It's harmless."

This wasn't his first time mentoring interns; he had all the methods readily available.

But when he met the real person, he found that most of what he had prepared was useless.

This doesn't apply to Lin Chaoyue, at least not.

She always reveals her rare sharpness in trivial matters, but when she should be alert, she is absent-minded.

Just like now.

Before anything serious was even mentioned, his embarrassment was written all over his face, revealing his true thoughts.

If they were to sit down at the negotiating table now, and he were even slightly unscrupulous, she would most likely lose the opportunity to fight for her rights.

Pei Shuwen: "So you're going to say it here?"

"Ah, no."

This room is really not a good place to talk or discuss business.

The only color in the entire room, besides her, was the German book with some deep blue printing on Pei Shuwen's bedside table. She inexplicably felt that this place was more serious than Jun Tianliang's conference room.

"Then come with me to the next room." Pei Shuwen let go of her.

"Oh." Lin Chaoyue withdrew her wrist from Pei Shuwen's grasp. This time, she finally remembered to keep her head up when walking, afraid that she might accidentally follow someone into a place she shouldn't have gone.

Fortunately, the study is right next door.

Seeing the neatly arranged books on the bookshelf and the documents and materials listed on the desk, Lin Chaoyue felt a sense of relief when she sat down in the chair opposite Pei Shuwen.

He still had the leisure to look around the study.

The spotless books in the bookcase and the neatly arranged documents on the desk reinforced Lin Chaoyue's stereotypes once again.

It has the same layout as the floor below hers.

Pei Shuwen decorated the room to resemble an office.

Lin Chaoyue couldn't help but wonder: Is there really a clear boundary between a person's work and life?

Pei Shuwen noticed that she started to drift off as soon as she came in, so she didn't urge her but just focused on replying to her own emails.

He even asked Lin Chaoyue to make coffee halfway through.

He gave the order with ease: "The coffee beans are in the second drawer under the coffee machine."

Lin Chaoyue did it subconsciously, but when she actually brought in the steaming coffee, she remembered that she had important business to attend to.

"Um...are you still busy?"

Pei Shuwen gave a faint "hmm" in response to Lin Chaoyue, but her hands remained on the keyboard, showing no intention of paying any attention to her.

never mind.

Then she'll wait a little longer.

Pei Shuwen was working in his office chair, while Lin Chaoyue sat opposite him waiting for him.

She didn't speak, and he didn't ask what she was doing at this hour. It was as if he tacitly agreed that she would just sit there quietly and keep him company while he worked, much like a personal secretary who was always there to protect her boss.

It turns out that Assistant Xu's job is so difficult.

Lin Chaoyue was already quite tired just sitting here waiting for Pei Shuwen to finish his work.

She started with a fairly proper sitting posture, but that posture quickly became casual, with her body slightly turned to the side and her legs crossed under the table.

After another half hour, she could no longer sit still in this casual posture. She started to feel listless and had to support herself on the table with her elbows and her chin with her palms to keep going.

In contrast, Pei Shuwen...

He maintained the same meticulous sitting posture, and seemed tireless when he worked.

He didn't take a break at all, and he only drank one sip of the coffee she made the whole time.

What she wants to say is simple, could you let her finish first?

After that awkward little incident, she wasn't so confident anymore, but the aches and pains in her back were screaming in her head, and she finally couldn't take it anymore.

Pei Shuwen.

Pei Shuwen seemed to only remember that there was someone in the house when he heard her voice.

"What's up?"

"have……"

Of course she is, otherwise why would she stay here? She can't possibly be waiting for Pei Shuwen to sexually harass her.

Lin Chaoyue stared at him expectantly.

Pei Shuwen nodded, but didn't ask her what she needed: "Help me bring the books from my bedroom."

After saying that, he added a reminder: "It's by the bedside."

Lin Chaoyue wanted to say, "I know which book it is even if you don't remind me."

Finding a book in her messy room was a bit difficult, but finding a book in Pei Shuwen's bedroom was as easy as drinking water or eating.

She was really tired of sitting, so she got up and moved around a bit.

Is this the one?

The heavy book revealed its true form only when exposed to light. The black and white book was sealed with a blue area, which was indeed printed with German, but there were also Chinese characters printed in the area that I had just missed.

The large lettering reads 'History of German Public Law,' followed by a line of smaller print: 'National Jurisprudence and Public Administration.'

Pei Shuwen took the book: "It's this one."

"You like to read this kind of book before bed? That's such a boring form of entertainment."

Pei Shuwen: "Boring? Then what kind of entertainment do you think isn't boring?"

Everyone in Lin Chaoyue's inner circle knows her hobbies.

Skiing, collecting wine, and occasionally, when I'm really bored, I like to invite people to play games together. When I lack excitement and am too lazy to move, I'll jump into the airport and become a gunfight king.

Although it's not a particularly sophisticated form of entertainment, it's still much more interesting than working or reading.

At least that's how she sees it.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Chaoyue suddenly became somewhat ingratiating: "Do you also like collecting wine? You always need to listen to music to create an atmosphere when drinking. What kind of film do you like? I have a lot at home. I'll give you a few when I have time."

Pei Shuwen finally looked at her properly, but he clearly didn't think Lin Chaoyue was just being kind.

Aside from helping Pei Shuwen put on his clothes, Lin Chaoyue offered no other constructive advice.

Pei Shuwen gave her a 'fair' piece of advice: "If you want to talk about work-related things today, I suggest you be more direct."

She wanted to be direct.

I was ready to speak from the moment I walked in.

But I've never given her a chance.

Lin Chaoyue took a breath, thinking about how her back ached from sitting so long, and wanted to go downstairs to lie on her comfortable bed as soon as possible, so she finally stopped beating around the bush.

Lin Chaoyue: "I heard from everyone that this afternoon's assessment is related to everyone's bonus this month."

She paused after speaking, and seeing that Pei Shuwen did not object, she continued, "I think your system of collective punishment is not very humane. Zhi... Meng Yuzhi is really hardworking in private, and the question she couldn't answer today was originally my job. She was just helping me out."

Pei Shuwen remained silent, simply looking at her as she spoke.

Wasn't the plan to have her give suggestions?

After feeling guilty for a while, Lin Chaoyue quickly took his calm and composed expression as a form of encouragement.

Lin Chaoyue then abandoned the main purpose of her visit today: "Why don't you reconsider the matter of deducting your bonus? If you really have to deduct it, at least deduct a small amount..."

Pei Shuwen seemed to be seriously considering Lin Chaoyue's opinion.

He pondered for a moment, then nodded. Lin Chaoyue almost thought the deal was done, but then Pei Shuwen suddenly asked, "If I remember correctly, Meng Yuzhi offered to help you with that job. I think doing what you're capable of is a basic quality of every lawyer. What do you think?"

"How did you know? Did you check the security footage again?"

Lin Chaoyue reacted quickly this time, immediately realizing that Pei Shuwen's perspective was too broad. She hadn't mentioned at all today that Meng Yuzhi had offered to help with the case file of Jin Zailai.

"You're violating our right to privacy!"

Pei Shuwen: "Are you sure you want to talk to me about what rights you actually have?"

Lin Chaoyue was speechless after being choked by one sentence.

She wasn't sure.

Putting aside the fact that she didn't have any power in Juntian Liangmu to begin with, even if she did, with a respectable lawyer like Pei Shuwen who could turn black into white by standing by her side, she believed she wouldn't stand a chance of winning in court.

She very tactfully shook her head.

But when she thought about Meng Yuzhi's situation and the bonus she had deducted, she still felt somewhat guilty.

We need to make up for it at least a little.

Lin Chaoyue tentatively asked, "Brother Shuwen?"

Pei Shuwen raised an eyebrow, but his expression clearly indicated his tacit approval for her to continue.

She just acted on impulse and wanted to get closer to him.

Is there a chance?

Anyway, this wasn't the first time she'd died in front of him today, so Lin Chaoyue was pretty much going all out. She lowered her voice and shouted again.

“Brother Shuwen, I don’t ask for much. If you really want to deduct that bonus, you can take some from my salary and give it to Meng Yuzhi. Her family isn’t well-off to begin with, and she’s had a lot going on at home lately. Today, she was even bullied by that shrewish boss lady, Jin Zailai…”

Her salary was neither more nor less than what she earned.

But when she saw Meng Yuzhi curled up in the stairwell crying that afternoon, her heart ached. Such a kind and hardworking girl, yet everyone seemed to take advantage of her.

"If you give away your money, will you even have enough for yourself?"

When Lin Chaoyue spoke this time, she leaned forward even more and silently held up three fingers: "I still have pocket money, and I promise that everything I buy will be within a reasonable budget. I definitely won't make things difficult for you."

Lin Chaoyue stared longingly at Pei Shuwen, then saw him smile again. He casually pulled out the bank card that Ms. Zhong had given him during the day, examining it closely between his fingers.

You mean this?

"Yes, yes, that's it!"

The black card with gold foil stamping was something Lin Chaoyue knew all too well.

Lin Chaoyue, who had been poor for so long, suddenly had a brightening look in her eyes.

Unfortunately, Pei Shuwen only said one sentence, which shattered all her beautiful imagination.

"I think you may have misunderstood what Aunt Zhong said. What Aunt Zhong meant was that if you perform well, the expenses will be reasonable, but if you don't perform well, I have the right to refuse all your expense requests."

What do you want?

The person who had just been calling out "brother" in a strained voice seemed to be a different person. This time, Lin Chaoyue simply sat down without any hesitation.

The expression on his face was practically saying: If you want me to die, then give me a quick death.

Pei Shuwen hadn't felt this happy in a long time.

He finally stopped teasing Lin Chaoyue: "The clothes I prepared for you are in the guest room. Change into them before you come over."

"ah?"

Is the adult world this direct? Are we already changing clothes?

Even if it's an unspoken rule, shouldn't we at least light some candles and play some music to create a nice atmosphere?

Pei Shuwen: "Any other questions?"

There are too many problems.

But the words kept circling back to the most crucial point: "What about my allowance?"

"We can talk."

"Okay...okay!"

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Author's Note: Yuebao's inner monologue: One can't give up money for dignity o(╥﹏╥)o