Chapter 23
Pei Huai spent the entire night cleaning up the mess at home, finally getting everything ready before three in the morning. As expected, the next day, Xiang Mingqi was asked to write two self-criticisms.
The first self-review was meant to reflect on the matter, allowing him to make his own judgment about letting the waiter go without permission. The second self-review was simply a rebuke for not keeping a close eye on him last night, allowing Chen Ping to escape. Xiang Mingqi hunched over a pile of manuscript paper, scratching his head in worry. He worked on his pen for nearly two hours, but only managed to write less than 500 words.
Seeing that the first self-review didn't even meet the passing line, and the lunch break had already begun, he simply lay back with his arms spread out and began to harass Pei Huai with his eyes.
The latter was used to it and went to the tea room to make a cup of hot coffee and continued to type out yesterday's summary report.
Pei Huai did not comment on the bizarre development of his junior letting Chen Ping escape, losing him, and then running back in disgrace, claiming he had been beaten. Instead, he reported everything to Zhu Zhiyang.
The superiors held a small, sham meeting, and the conclusion was: the one who had let the team down should write a 3,000-word self-criticism. I wonder if this was just a personal vendetta.
"I want coffee too." Xiang Mingqi pouted his upper lip, holding the pen between his fingers, and ordered in a muffled voice, "Brother, I want to drink what you've had."
Pei Huai turned his back with disdain as if avoiding spit, blew away the hot air from the edge of the mug, and took a small sip.
A ballpoint pen took the opportunity to poke his waist a few times, making several clicking sounds. "What do you say? I only got into a fight in elementary school and was forced to write a few self-criticisms. Wouldn't it be a pain to make me write one on the spot? The most terrifying thing is that it also checks for plagiarism. What do you think they do with the thesis? Are they going to hang it on the wall?"
Pei Huai said nothing, clutching the pen and throwing it back on the table. He glanced at the time in the lower right corner of his computer, grabbed his coat, and walked out.
He clearly didn't say a word, but Xiang Mingqi stood up from his chair naturally and followed him into the elevator: "Wow, if the examiner's name was changed to you, brother, given our relationship, you would definitely let him go."
"Won't."
"Uh-huh, you're bullying me again because you're so handsome."
Pei Huai looked up at the numbers on the display board that were jumping down one after another.
"Brother, what did you eat this morning? I only had fried dough sticks and soy milk, so my stomach started to growl while I was writing. It said I needed to eat some barbecue, or else I'd go on strike—" In the elevator, the conversation turned to food again. Xiang Mingqi pressed the button for the first floor and turned around to look at him. "How about we go to that hot pot restaurant downstairs?"
"Are you free?" Pei Huai tried to remind him tactfully.
"I have a lot of things to do. Today is the end of the season, and I need to get points." Xiang Mingqi puffed out his chest righteously, "But if I don't eat, I'll starve to death."
Pei Huai turned his head away.
——The hotpot shop is on the first floor of the nearest shopping mall. It is the second one on the right when you enter the door.
"You don't know, I had dinner here on my first day in Kensos." He took a seat and handed over a menu. His legs kicked restlessly under the table. "How about... beef balls? The only thing about this place is the broth is a little oily, but overall it's pretty good."
Pei Huai's preferences were relatively simple, and the set meal pretty much covered them all. He chose the same sauce: peanut butter and oyster sauce mixed in the right proportions, with a small spoonful of green onions. Seeing him like this, Xiang Mingqi shook his finger thoughtfully and recommended a sauce he'd made himself.
"I'm not lying, even the soles of my shoes smell good." He pretended to put his hand under the table, "If you don't believe me, I'll..."
"...Disgusting." The former refused bluntly.
But Xiaodie kept pushing it towards him: "Okay, okay, I'm sick. Try this sesame sauce, garlic paste, and sesame oil three-in-one. It's so addictive."
After much persuasion, Pei Huai dipped his chopsticks in the liquid. His facial expression lost control as he took a sip: his brows furrowed, he covered his nose and lips with his hand, and his gaze averted to the right. His already handsome face, now tinged with embarrassment, drew a passing waiter's glance, anxiously asking if he wanted water.
Pei Huai coughed and gasped in a very restrained manner, waved his hand, and opened a can of coconut milk to relieve the spiciness.
Xiang Mingqi stared at him until his eyes went blank, and his chopsticks nearly fell into the pot. He swallowed his saliva with a gulp and said, "Brother, can't you eat chili peppers with mustard and pickled peppers?" Then he waved to the waiter to remove the double-flavored hot pot and replace it with clear soup.
The former took a sip of coconut milk, but his lips never moved except while eating.
"I'm okay with spicy food, but like at the club gatherings before, those guys don't care whether you like spicy food or not. I know a junior student. Last time at a party, someone was dipping meat in spicy soup, but thought it was fun and tried dipping it in clear soup. In the second half, he just put down his chopsticks." Xiang Mingqi didn't make a fuss about it and happily threw a few slices of meat in. "Just follow your own preferences. If you put down your chopsticks in front of me, I'll be scared to death."
Pei Huai glanced at him without any emotion.
A piece of perfectly balanced trotter was suddenly placed in the bowl. Xiang Mingqi propped up his chin and smiled, "Because you're the hardest to please, brother. Every day at work, you're like attending court. When you open the memorials submitted to you, you'll find typos on line X and grammatical errors on line X! You get so angry that your face turns green. I'm like the chief eunuch by your side, trying to please you in different ways every day. Sometimes, even the slightest touch can make you explode."
Pei Huai's forehead twitched.
After the meat floated in the soup for a few seconds, Xiang Mingqi picked up the tender skin and fed it to his mouth: "Come, come, let me feed you, ah——"
Pei Huai stepped back with a clear attitude: "Mind your own business."
"Wow, you still despise me! I behaved so well and you still despise me. Forget it, the emperor doesn't eat this meat, so the eunuchs do."
"... whatever you want."
After adding some soup, the foam in the pot began to boil for the second time. Xiang Mingqi just managed to sweep up a whole plate of tofu skin. He ran around, occasionally bringing a plate of sliced fresh oranges and a small dish of mixed black fungus. Pei Huai thought for a moment and asked him, "What happened yesterday?"
"Hmm?" Xiang Mingqi bit into a piece of beef dripping with soup and blinked. "What did you say yesterday?"
Pei Huai looked him straight in the eyes and spoke in a more serious tone.
"Why did he break free from the nylon rope?"
His emotions were rarely restrained.
For a moment, Pei Huai felt his smile freeze on his face. But he quickly cleared his mind, ate two slices of tender meat, and then raised his head with a cheerful expression again: "It's nothing, he just suddenly broke the rope and ran away."
There was silence across from him, so he had no choice but to continue.
"I asked him about this, and he said he tracked you down through your photos in the city group chat. Plus, the property management team wasn't serious about hiring, and the process was like playing a game. If he could find your house, I'm sure others would be lining up to visit too."
"I've already reported the matter to the company. They'll take care of it." Pei Huai scratched the lines on the table with his fingernails, making it impossible to discern his true thoughts. "There should be a result in the near future."
Xiang Mingqi vented the tightness in his chest through his nose and sighed dejectedly, "What a pity. If the group disappears, I won't be able to be your fan leader anymore. Woohoo, heartbroken 2022."
The slender fingers slid across the wall of the cup like plucking a lyre. There was no melody, just a simple caress.
"So." He paused.
"elder brother……?"
"—So your previous statement doesn't hold true. Because I had already removed his arm before that." The questions began to press. The ceramic decoration on the cup's rim turned and pointed at him. "Xiang Mingqi, what exactly happened in there?"
The young man whose name was called was just about to start a fight. He froze when he heard this. "I just wanted to teach him a lesson."
Pei Huai rested his chin on his fingers and gave him an intriguing look. There was no pressure, and certainly no guidance.
Just wait.
"Because he cut you with a knife. I felt that simply handing him over to the company wouldn't be enough to satisfy me, so I thought..." He didn't dare to look up like a child who had done something wrong, but his unyielding and arrogant tone always showed his self-righteousness. "I wanted to teach him a lesson. But tying up an unarmed man was a bit unethical. I thought I'd let him go first...but as soon as the ropes came loose, he ran away."
"You don't have to go to such lengths for me." Pei Huai lost interest in asking further questions. But he still harbored strong doubts about this explanation. "It was just a minor injury."
"But brother, I..."
The end of the chopstick gently touched his lips.
"Xiang Mingqi." Pei Huai suddenly stood up and looked down at him. "You are twenty-two years old and just graduated. You are at the age where you will regard falling in love as your whole life. If you have any, think it through before you speak." As if to express his attitude with practical actions - Pei Huai paid the bill in advance and left indifferently.
When the cold figure disappeared behind the door, Xiang Mingqi noticed that a black Bentley had parked outside the store at some point.
In an instant, his relaxed fingertips clenched white again, and the veins on the back of his hand throbbed wildly. Even the glass in his hand cracked, gradually expanding outward.
My brother knows everything.
He knew everything, whether it was my feelings or my little thoughts, but he never said anything and never took the initiative to expose this relationship.
——Too difficult to approach.
Even if they work a hundred or a thousand times harder than others, even if they are willing to pay any price for that little bit of goodwill, their relationship will only remain stagnant and go round in circles in vain.
To make progress, he had to leave a deeper impression. After all, simply maintaining a relationship with him was difficult. Pei Huai was very rational, so rational that it seemed unsympathetic. He habitually judged everything around him. Obviously, trying to reach a certain place in his heart was simply a pipe dream.
He felt powerless, but Pei Huai could always use a gesture or a look to make him feel that the door of his heart was unbreakable.
-
Chen Ping is in great danger.
The moment he saw Xiang Mingqi's subconscious reaction, he made up his mind.
People all have a disguise, but whether they believe it or not depends on the individual. Xiang Mingqi's performance was clearly what he wanted to present to himself.
Pei Huai would not let his guard down just because he was well-behaved or sensible.
He didn't care what kind of person this junior was or what his motives were. The only thing that mattered was this: if this person posed a threat to him, he would show no mercy.
"You seem a little absent-minded, Mr. Pei." A gentle and soft voice sounded beside his ear, calling him back. Pei Huai turned his head to meet a sincere and heartfelt smile.
Shan Li was dressed in a suit and tie, a red rose pinned to his left chest. His suit was impeccably tailored, yet his cuffs and bow tie were formal, as if he were going to a dinner party. "Is it because I'm taking up your work time that I'm bothering you to meet with me privately? If Mr. Pei is truly troubled, I can take you home. It's no problem."
"I've asked for leave." Pei Huai didn't mind admitting that he had just been daydreaming.
"Then I believe you won't be disappointed with this performance. The first few movements are Chopin etudes, and I'm looking forward to hearing the G-sharp minor third." Shan Li glanced at his watch. "I admire pianists who don't get lost in a chorus of notes."
Just as he was about to answer, Pei Huai's phone suddenly vibrated. He unlocked the screen with his fingerprint and tapped into WeChat.
The sender is Zhu Zhiyang.
Vo: [Remember the car accident? The investigation report is out, and the legal department reviewed our source. The man was just taken to the hospital, but he's not dead. The department also retrieved his account flow from his computer, and the most frequent disbursement was from the company's account.]
Vo: [It calls.]
A hand suddenly pressed against the back of Pei Huai's hand, and his five fingers slowly slipped into his fingers. The man's low, magnetic voice, with a hint of tobacco, lingered in his ears.
"Mr. Pei, what are you looking at?"
At the same time, the index finger also reached the bottom.
Vo: [——Jingshan Real Estate Company. ]
The author has something to say:
[1] The repertoire here is based on the repertoire of the Green Book tour.
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