Chapter 73 "You're unwilling to admit it..."

Lin Chaoyue felt somewhat uneasy from the moment she got back into the car.

Pei Shuwen was standing right behind them when they were talking, so he must have heard them, but he didn't react at all.

His face still wore that indifferent expression.

Even if she wanted to explain, she didn't know how to begin.

Inside the closed car, the cell phone kept ringing.

While waiting at the traffic light, Pei Shuwen glanced at Lin Chaoyue.

She was lost in thought, staring blankly out the window, her gaze unfocused on the car window.

Pei Shuwen: "Don't you need to reply to the message?"

"Huh? What news?"

Pei Shuwen's gaze shifted to her phone screen, which was still lit up.

Lin Chaoyue followed her gaze.

I could guess who sent the message just by glancing at it.

Knowing this, Lin Chaoyue felt a pang of guilt and spoke so quickly she bit her tongue, the sharp pain causing her face to contort in pain. "Back, I'll go back right now... hiss..."

Pei Shuwen handed him a tissue: "Wipe it? It's torn again?"

Lin Chaoyue subconsciously took the tissue and replied with a "hmm".

But before Lin Chaoyue could even bring the tissue to her mouth, her hand paused.

The word "again" from Pei Shuwen's words made her head spin, and her face flushed red.

This scene looks so familiar.

The persistent pain on the tip of her tongue brought back memories of last night.

I spent two absurd hours in the bathroom.

Back in the bedroom on the bed.

She and Pei Shuwen were still in love.

At first, their breaths mingled, but soon their lips and teeth were touching. From tentative exploration to deeper engagement, from brief touches to gradual succumbing, reason briefly failed them, and their touching became increasingly intense.

At one point, she bit her tongue and broke a hole.

At that moment, her mind was foggy and she couldn't feel pain.

Pei Shuwen was the first to taste the blood and handed over water and tissues.

Unfortunately, she could only drink water mechanically, her body so limp that she couldn't even lift her fingertips, and Pei Shu had to help her with the final wiping.

Just one night.

Memories pieced together and reappear, still tinged with a hidden crimson hue.

Her face turned even redder.

Lin Chaoyue silently wiped her mouth, silently put away the tissue, and silently replied to the message.

Try to minimize your presence throughout the entire process.

"It's hot? Should we turn the air conditioning down a bit?"

"No, no need." Lin Chaoyue turned away as if trying to cover up her embarrassment, completely avoiding eye contact with him: "Just drive carefully."

Noticing her reddened earlobes, Pei Shuwen smiled and stopped teasing her.

We passed two more traffic lights.

Seeing that Pei Shuwen was really focused on driving.

Lin Chaoyue finally saw the message.

Less than half an hour.

In the group chat with Meng Yuzhi and Nie Shanshan, there were 99+ messages popping up, and almost all of them were sent by Nie Shanshan alone.

[Lin Chaoyue, where did you and Pei Lu go?! What did Pei Lu say?! Is there any hope for me?! Will Pei Lu arrest me as a potential stalker?!]

[I was just kidding! I really was just kidding! When you're down on your luck, even drinking cold water can be a problem. I swear I'll never talk badly about others behind their backs again!]

[Lin Chaoyue, why aren't you replying? Are you still alive? Are you still alive? If you're still alive, you have to explain for me! SOS!]

[Lin Chaoyue replied!]

[Reply to message (+10086)]

[It's over, they haven't replied for so long, it's definitely over.]

[My boss is badmouthing me behind my back, is there any hope for me? Is there any hope for me? Is there any hope for me?! Am I going to get a termination notice the moment I sit down at my desk tomorrow?! Ugh, why am I so unlucky...?]

[crying.gif]

[Wailing loudly.gif]

[Crying in the toilet.gif]

Lin Chaoyue was speechless: "..."

Skip over the 'wailing' in the middle.

She swiped the screen all the way to the bottom.

I casually made a simple bunny emoji with the "calm.jpg" expression.

Nie Shanshan replied almost instantly.

[Does this mean there's still hope for me? Tell Pei Lu that I know nothing, I absolutely won't say anything about him dating, and I definitely won't stake out his relationship! Even if I see him in the future, I'll gouge my own eyes out immediately! I'll pretend I didn't see anything! Please don't fire me!]

Gouge out both eyes? Is that really necessary?

Lin Chaoyue felt that if she didn't say something soon, Nie Shanshan might hang herself in the group chat.

Lin Chaoyue: [Pei Lu didn't say anything.]

Nie Shanshan retracted a 'hanging' emoji: [From now on, whenever I burn incense and pray during festivals, my first wish will be for Pei Lu and his girlfriend to have a child soon, live a long and happy life together, and have their love last forever!!]

Having a child early is one thing, but she's not that foolish to become a mother at such a young age.

As for "love forever"?

in love.

Lin Chaoyue softly murmured those two words, the embarrassment of the previous night quickly dissipating, her mood as if blown by the wind to the clouds of a clear summer sky.

--

The car sped through the city of Ningcheng.

It quickly stopped at the entrance of the Luogang District Public Security Bureau.

"Why did you bring me here?"

No wonder Pei Shuwen said she had been here this morning; she had indeed been here.

Last time they went to Mu Yang's bar, all of them were taken to the police station, and Pei Shuwen was there to bail them out.

It didn't even take more than a few days in total.

Pei Shuwen parked the car, forwarded a work schedule to Lin Chaoyue, and also sent her a few documents.

"There's a police-lawyer cooperation promotion event this afternoon; you'll be in charge of the law firm's work on this side."

Lin Chaoyue looked up abruptly, somewhat shocked: "Today?"

"Yes, today."

broken.

She forgot about it.

Pei Shuwen had told her about this a long time ago, asking her to cooperate in giving an anti-fraud awareness lecture. He even sent her the time and address to her email. However, she had been distracted during the team building activities these past few days and had completely forgotten about it.

Let's not talk about being in charge.

She hadn't even prepared the part she was going to share.

"Um, Pei Shuwen, you won't be angry if I say I wasn't prepared, will you?"

Pei Shuwen looked at Lin Chaoyue calmly, his expression unchanged. If she hadn't heard the last sentence, Lin Chaoyue would have almost thought that he was going to be understanding and let her off the hook today.

Pei Shuwen: "Why are you angry? If you are confident that you can do a good job of giving a lecture today without preparation, I would be happy to see that."

hehe.

I almost forgot.

Pei Shuwen really wouldn't get angry.

But he can pinpoint the pain points precisely; he's a hermaphrodite.

To say nothing of the distant past, let's just talk about the last time we came here to rescue her.

He openly and subtly pressured her to delete the six 'male models' she had just added, and even made a veiled accusation that the rumors about her in New York State were true, saying that 'you can't judge a book by its cover,' and that she remembered them all.

She momentarily forgot that she and Pei Shuwen were in a romantic relationship.

Lin Chaoyue gave a forced smile, already prepared to throw caution to the wind and directly admit that she couldn't do it.

But Pei Shuwen, contrary to his usual behavior, didn't say anything more. Just as she mustered up the courage to speak, he gave her a disappointed look.

Lin Chaoyue immediately withered.

All right.

She was never on the same level as Pei Shuwen from beginning to end.

There's no need for him to get angry or throw a tantrum.

He took her with him to study.

He didn't even need to be a hermaphrodite; all he had to do was show a slight expression of disappointment, and she would inexplicably feel guilty for her lack of effort, and feel guilty for a long time... as if it were magic.

But to explain in detail...

In total, she didn't stay with Pei Shuwen for even two months.

Now look what's happened. He's lost everything, both his personal life and his feelings. He's been completely taken advantage of and has no chance of winning.

Lin Chaoyue was somewhat annoyed.

But I could only bite the bullet and say, "I can share... share my experience of being scammed, but could you take the lead? I've never done this before, and I don't know how."

“You should demonstrate first before I do it. I can learn by following you, just like before.”

Lin Chaoyue spoke tentatively while silently observing Pei Shuwen's expression.

But he simply said, "Let's go, it's almost time."

Does this mean agreement or disagreement?

Lin Chaoyue followed anxiously.

The police station was very 'lively', with people arguing, fighting, filing reports, and mediating disputes.

The two of them bypassed a group of people and walked up the stairs to the third floor instead of taking the elevator.

Just as I exited the fire escape, a police officer in uniform walked towards me. He was muscular and had dark skin.

Even from a distance of several meters, Lin Chaoyue could feel the oppressive atmosphere emanating from him.

He looks angry.

"Brother Pei, you've finally arrived! I almost couldn't keep this event going without you." Upon seeing Pei Shuwen, Ma Yue's displeasure lessened somewhat, but a wry smile still lingered on his face.

Pei Shuwen: "What happened at the bureau?"

"Ugh, don't even mention it. These scammers are just too brazen these days! I've been working hard online and offline to raise residents' awareness of fraud prevention. It's only been a few days this month, and the total amount of fraud reported in our area has already reached this much."

Lin Chaoyue looked at the two fingers Ma Yue was holding up: "Two hundred million?"

Ma Yue was so angry he laughed: "Young lady, I was scolded to death by my superiors for 20 million, but I'd be packing my bags and leaving for 200 million."

Lin Chaoyue: "..."

Fortunately, she was scammed out of her money overseas.

"This girl looks familiar. Have we met before?"

Ma Yue had a keen eye; after only a couple of sentences, he remembered that this was the girl Pei Shuwen had rescued last time.

Pei Shuwen: "Let me introduce you, this is my girlfriend, Lin Chaoyue."

Pei Shuwen: "This is Ma Yue, Officer Ma, the initiator of this anti-fraud campaign."

Even though Ma Yue had seen a lot in life, he was a little stunned at this moment.

After a long pause, he politely extended his hand and said, "Hello, you can just call me Ma Yue."

Lin Chaoyue was completely dumbfounded.

After shaking hands, she still looked at Pei Shuwen several times in disbelief. Had they just gone public with their relationship so openly?

Why doesn't Pei Shuwen seem to want to hide anything at all?

I hope he won't do the same when I meet the people from the law firm later.

Lin Chaoyue's burning gaze seemed to want to burn a hole through Pei Shuwen's face.

Pei Shuwen, however, remained calm and didn't seem to think anything was wrong.

Pei Shuwen: "Secretary Wu said that everyone from the law firm has arrived and has been arranged to sit in the conference room on the 4th floor. I will take her there first, and then come down to go over the procedures with you later."

Ma Yue: "Go ahead, go ahead. There's too much to do today. I still need to go to the monitoring center. I'll arrange for Xiao Li to liaise with you later. Thank you for your hard work this time, Brother Pei. After I'm done with this, I'll treat you and Xiao Lin to dinner."

As they were talking, Ma Yue was called away.

The empty corridor was soon filled with only Lin Chaoyue and Pei Shuwen staring at each other.

Lin Chaoyue hesitated for a moment before asking, "Are we just going to announce it like this? Wouldn't that be too hasty?"

Pei Shuwen gave her a deep look: "Once Aunt Zhong and Uncle Lin return to China, I will pay them a formal visit."

"No, that's not what I meant."

Meeting the parents is too fast.

Lin Chaoyue hesitated, "If we go public like this, and I'm still working at the law firm, won't it affect your work?"

There was only a rumor, but it caused a lot of gossip. If they really went public with their relationship, I'm afraid people would actually go to their house to scout out their home and become their stalkers.

"I am a partner at the law firm, and dating will not affect my work."

"But……"

Pei Shuwen keenly noticed her hesitation: "You're unwilling to acknowledge our relationship?"