Chapter 33 Pei Shuwen's lips curled upwards...

Lin Chaoyue used every ounce of her strength to suckle.

But Pei Shuwen didn't even glance at her, not even making eye contact.

She could only force herself to look at the camera again and say against her will, "Mom, I did a good job at work, I learned a lot, and Brother Shuwen took good care of me. I guess I didn't cause him any trouble..."

That last sentence really lacked confidence.

Just when Lin Chaoyue thought she was about to lose her composure, Pei Shuwen finally took over the conversation.

"Don't worry, Aunt Zhong. Yueyue didn't cause me any trouble. I'll take her on a business trip to Yuntai in a few days. If nothing unexpected happens, she'll be my special assistant for the next year."

Zhong Ling knows her daughter very well. She seems obedient, but in private, she has her own little tricks to slack off and avoid work.

Zhong Ling couldn't help but cough twice more: "Shuwen, thank you for your hard work. Your Uncle Lin and I won't be able to return to China for a while. Please take care of Yueyue. Don't worry about things at home, so we can focus on handling things outside..."

The call ended.

Lin Chaoyue finally caught her breath.

"Consider it a debt I owe you."

Pei Shuwen helped her lie, and she wasn't the kind of person who would be ungrateful.

Pei Shuwen tossed her phone to her: "I don't like being a creditor."

"So what do you want?"

Pei Shuwen: "Go downstairs to pack your things, and come have dinner with me tonight."

Lin Chaoyue suddenly became alert: "I can eat out, but I don't have any money. I can't afford anything too expensive. At most... at most I can spend 200, but it can't exceed 300."

"Someone invited me."

"Sure." She's good at getting free meals.

Pei Shuwen called the restaurant and asked them to add a table.

The call had barely ended when another one came in.

Lin Chaoyue leaned against the sofa and hummed softly, "He really is a very busy person."

Pei Shuwen glanced at her.

Lin Chaoyue sat up abruptly and tactfully walked outside, taking advantage of the opportunity to go downstairs and pack her things.

She was almost out, but stopped at the door.

There was no way around it; the woman's voice on the other end of Pei Shuwen's phone was too shrill, making it hard for her not to lean in and eavesdrop on the gossip.

"We already agreed to have dinner just for the two of us, why did you bring someone else along!"

Pei Shuwen glanced at Lin Chaoyue: "Not counting others, they're our own people."

Lin Chaoyue pricked up her ears, waiting to hear what would happen next, but before she could hear the next sentence, Pei Shuwen "escorted" her to the door, and with a "bang," the door slammed shut in front of her.

? ? ?

You cheapskate!

I can't even listen to gossip.

"Our own people? Who locks their own people out?"

Lin Chaoyue reluctantly returned to her workstation to pack her things. When she went downstairs, she found Pei Shuwen already standing in front of her waiting for her.

She walked over in two quick steps.

"That person agreed to let you bring me along?" Lin Chaoyue naturally assumed that the woman on the phone was Pei Shuwen's ambiguous love interest.

She and Pei Shuwen lived in the same building, one upstairs and one downstairs, for a while.

I've never seen a woman around him.

Lin Chaoyue almost regarded Pei Shuwen as a stone Buddha because he was so aloof from women.

This is abnormal. Given Pei Shuwen's good looks, this is definitely not normal.

Is he gay?

Pei Shuwen glanced at her and got into the passenger seat: "So gossipy? Should I send you into the entertainment industry? There's lots of gossip there."

Lin Chaoyue could still understand what was being said, no matter how good or bad.

She got on the bus from the other side, tossed her bag into the back seat, fastened her seatbelt, dismissed her absurd guess, and chuckled carelessly: "I'm just afraid of accidentally becoming a third wheel, that would be so annoying. Why don't you tell me in advance who we're having dinner with? So I can prepare myself mentally."

"52 Xitang Street, the time is about 8 o'clock sharp, don't be late."

Lin Chaoyue discovered that it was too difficult to get gossip from Pei Shuwen.

If he doesn't want to say something, you can't get a single word out of his mouth.

He was already planning to take her along, so why was he hiding anything? She wanted to go and see for herself where Pei Shuwen got such charm that he would agree to take other girls on dates even if they were just flirting.

Lin Chaoyue: "It's rush hour outside, I can't guarantee we won't be late."

She spoke with a touch of arrogance, but her reversing maneuver was incredibly nimble; she was much more eager to get there than Pei Shuwen.

When it comes to gossiping, you should definitely be at the forefront.

Pei Shuwen didn't even need to guess what was on her face.

"Don't get distracted, concentrate on driving."

"I drive very carefully, okay? My life is precious. Besides, if I accidentally hurt you, you'll definitely try to extort money from me again."

Lin Chaoyue and Pei Shuwen had become quite familiar with each other, and she was especially talkative when it was just the two of them.

Although most of them weren't very nutritious, Pei Shuwen surprisingly didn't dislike them.

His afternoon battle with Qin Shao kept his mind highly focused, while Lin Chaoyue's nagging helped him relax a lot.

He leaned back in the passenger seat, closing his eyes to rest.

From Lin Chaoyue's perspective, Pei Shuwen appeared to be asleep.

"Is it really that tiring?" she muttered softly.

But that being said, Pei Shuwen looked really good sleeping peacefully. His brows were gently relaxed, and the contours of his face seemed to have been sculpted by the Creator, with just the right amount of smoothness, and then there were his thin lips...

She was indeed attentive when she drove.

But while waiting at the traffic light, I couldn't help but glance at Pei Shuwen a couple more times.

Until a series of horns sounded outside.

------drop-------

-------Beep beep beep-------

Lin Chaoyue's face flushed instantly, and she muttered softly as if to cover it up, "The light just turned green, why are you in such a hurry?"

Pei Shuwen's lips curled upwards slightly, but she didn't open her eyes.

--

Traffic congestion in the city was not as bad as usual.

Pei Shuwen gave us a location in Ningcheng's new commercial district, where the streets are more open.

Lin Chaoyue arrived at her destination at around 7:10.

It's a Japanese restaurant with a modern red decor that looks very festive, and it's frequented by many young couples.

A couple just walked past them, and they practically had "we're in love" written all over their faces.

Not only were they stuck together, but even the air around them was sweet and almost cloying. Lin Chaoyue's gaze was uncontrollably drawn to them for a few seconds.

"Not going in?"

Pei Shuwen saw that Lin Chaoyue was standing still for a long time, so he turned around and called to her.

"Enter."

Service staff dressed in kimonos and with flowers in their hair were already waiting at the entrance.

"Hello, are you two? Did you make a reservation? The private rooms for two are fully booked for tonight, and we can only have a table in the main hall for two people."

Three of you, you didn't expect that, did you?

Lin Chaoyue muttered to herself, then curiously looked inside. The hall was covered by a curtain, and the nearest private room had two sliding wooden doors that not only blocked the view but also the sound, providing good privacy.

Pei Shuwen: "We booked VIP room number three. The person who made the reservation is Miss Liu. She should have arrived by now."

"Please wait a moment, let me check for you... Yes, sir, Miss Liu has arrived. I will take you there now."

The staff, wearing wooden clogs, led the way with small, quick steps, continuing all the way to the last room before stopping to knock on the door.

"Come in."

It was the woman's voice from the phone call just now.

Lin Chaoyue's curiosity reached its peak at this moment. The instant the door was opened, she peeked out, wanting to know who was inside.

But I didn't see it clearly at first glance.

The girl was sitting on the ground. She was petite and wore a mask. The only part of her face that was visible was her forehead, which was half covered by her loose hair.

Why is the private room so tightly sealed off?

Pei Shuwen went in and sat down, and Lin Chaoyue sat down next to him.

As soon as Lin Chaoyue sat down, the woman opposite her stood up again, clearly displeased. If she wasn't mistaken, the woman even glared at her.

Are they leaving?

She said that no girl would be so magnanimous, probably because she disliked her for being a third wheel.

Lin Chaoyue whispered to Pei Shuwen, "There are seats in the lobby, how about I eat there? Just remember to pay the bill for me later."

Look how understanding she is.

Pei Shuwen poured her a cup of tea: "Drink tea first, dinner will be a while later."

"Aren't you going to try to comfort me?" The voice was barely audible.

Pei Shuwen glanced at her, offered no explanation, but casually said, "She went to close the door."

What door are you closing?

As soon as Pei Shuwen finished speaking, the two wooden doors were pulled shut.

They really did go to close the door.

Lin Chaoyue picked up her teacup and blew on it. The tea tasted really good, almost as good as the special pre-Qingming Lion Peak tea she had drunk in Old Lin's office before.

She sipped her drink slowly, her eyes darting around, trying to figure out what kind of relationship Pei Shuwen had with this girl.

The girl sat back down in her seat, but still kept her mask on.

Pei Shuwen put down her teacup and leaned back: "Ms. Liu, are you planning to talk to me while wearing a mask? But I don't have the habit of doing that when talking about work; it makes me feel like the other person isn't being honest enough."

"It's inconvenient for me to take off my mask."

Pei Shuwen: "Then I might not be able to make it today either. Please make yourselves at home."

Pei Shuwen's request for the meeting was that she could only speak with Liu Liu. Before Liu Liu came, her agent repeatedly told her that she absolutely must not offend the other party and must make the most of this opportunity to negotiate.

Pei Shuwen had just let the female assistant leave the door open, and she had tolerated it.

They're still making her take off her mask.

Liu Liu clenched her hands tightly, her knuckles turning white, and only her eyes were visible through her mask.

But Lin Chaoyue could still tell that she was very angry, and quite angry with Pei Shuwen.

She was wrong.

How could Pei Shuwen possibly have a girlfriend?

He has absolutely no idea what it means to cherish and pity a beautiful woman.

If she doesn't want to take off her mask, she doesn't have to. It doesn't stop her from talking. If they were dating, it would stop them from kissing, but with her standing there like a third wheel, even if they were dating, they wouldn't be this open.

Lin Chaoyue's imagination ran wild.

Finally, his gaze fell on Pei Shuwen.

He tapped his fingers rhythmically on the table without saying a word, but his aura was completely 'I'm the one who decides.' Lin Chaoyue even sensed Pei Shuwen's impatience amidst this overwhelming atmosphere.

Her sixth sense told her that Pei Shuwen was doing it on purpose.

Because she noticed that the girl opposite her gradually changed from being 'confident' to being more accommodating.

Liu Liu: "Then you have to guarantee that our conversation tonight, and what you're about to see, won't be known to anyone else."

Pei Shuwen: "That's for you to convince me with enough sincerity, not for me to make promises to you."

The atmosphere was tense and ready to fight.

Although Pei Shuwen seemed incredibly heartless from the girl's perspective, Lin Chaoyue found the spectacle fascinating.

It would be great if we could crack some sunflower seeds together.

Thinking about it, she reached out to Pei Shuwen and poured herself another cup of tea.

At that moment, the girl opposite suddenly stood up.

Lin Chaoyue's hand trembled slightly, and she almost dropped the cup.

That was close! I gave her a fright.

They didn't leave just now, are they planning to leave this time?

She always felt there was something between Pei Shuwen and this girl. Could this girl be his ex-girlfriend?

Lin Chaoyue couldn't contain her curiosity and kept glancing at Pei Shuwen, who, on the other hand, sat there calmly and composed.

She became even more curious.

She stared intently at the person opposite her, but the more she looked, the more familiar they seemed...