Chapter 54 Beating Around the bush
Before Pei Song could react to what this meant, he was lifted up.
He exclaimed, and subconsciously grabbed Shi Yanchen's clothes: "What are you doing! Put me down!"
"No." Shi Yanchen tightened his arms and easily stuffed him into the passenger seat, "Fasten your seat belt."
Pei Song gritted his teeth in anger, but he couldn't overcome Shi Yanchen's strength, so he could only watch him fasten his seat belt.
The pair of slender fingers waving in front of his eyes reminded him of the absurd things that happened last night, and his face suddenly felt hot.
Shi Yanchen started the car and said, "Let's go back to the hotel for dinner."
"I'm not going back." Pei Song said immediately, "I want to go home."
"Are you talking about that cold house?" Shi Yanchen asked him back.
"It's better than living with you." Pei Song said angrily, "How can I live with you in the current situation?"
Shi Yanchen tightened his fingers on the steering wheel, but still maintained a nonchalant look: "Let's eat first, then talk."
"I have no appetite." Pei Song turned his head away and stared at the street scene passing by quickly outside the window. "I feel uncomfortable even looking at you now."
The carriage fell into silence. After a long time, Shi Yanchen finally spoke: "Is this how you look at me now?"
These words made Pei Song feel heartbroken.
We travelled in silence, as if the air had frozen.
The light and shadows from the street lamps were scattered on the car windows, like a silent sigh.
Pei Song looked down at his folded hands, wanting to say something but not knowing where to start.
Those chaotic thoughts were stuck in my chest like a tangled mess that couldn't be untied.
Shi Yanchen was driving the car attentively, his slender fingers gripping the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white.
He was unusually silent, his usual calmness and composure completely gone.
The car stopped in front of the Pei family villa. Just as Pei Song was about to push the door and get out of the car, Shi Yanchen grabbed his wrist.
"Wait." Shi Yanchen's voice was low, "We need to talk."
Pei Song struggled slightly but failed to break free, his voice full of fatigue: "No need to talk, Mr. Shi."
"When did you start calling me 'Mr. Shi'?" Shi Yanchen's tone was slightly cold. "In your eyes, the only thing between us is a superior-subordinate relationship?"
Pei Song bit his lip and did not answer.
There are so many things I want to say, but they are all stuck in my throat.
He turned to meet those light brown eyes, which contained emotions he couldn't understand.
"Let go." Pei Song whispered.
Shi Yanchen slowly loosened his hand and watched him walk into the yard until his figure disappeared behind the heavy wooden door.
There was no one at home. Pei Song didn't even bother to turn on the light and walked upstairs quickly.
He put his briefcase aside and fell on the bed in frustration.
My mind was in a mess, with all kinds of thoughts running through my mind.
Pei Song sat up, walked to the window unconsciously, and gently opened the curtains.
Through the gap in the curtains, he saw that Shi Yanchen's car had been parked there, and the street lights in the courtyard shone through the car window, vaguely outlining his silhouette.
Pei Song wanted to go downstairs several times to ask him to go back, but he held back.
He tossed and turned in bed, and several times he couldn't help but look out the window.
Every time, the car stopped there steadily, as if waiting silently.
It was almost dawn when the car finally left.
Pei Song let out a long sigh, but felt empty inside.
After coming out of the bathroom after taking a shower, I saw the clothes of Shi Yanchen in the closet. They were the ones he lent me last time, and I had forgotten to return them.
He took out the shirt, and the familiar scent instantly surrounded him, making him dazed for a moment.
Somehow, he put on the shirt.
…
At the weekly meeting on Friday, Pei Song sat in the corner, pretending to take notes seriously.
Suddenly, Shi Yanchen's cough interrupted the report. His voice sounded a little hoarse, with obvious symptoms of a cold.
Pei Song raised his head and took a peek, just in time to see Shi Yanchen frowning and looking a little tired.
He quickly lowered his head again, trying to convince himself not to care.
After lunch with his colleagues at noon, he went upstairs and heard Shi Yanchen’s two assistants discussing something in the elevator.
"Mr. Shi seems to have contracted influenza A. The doctor said that the high incidence period is in the past few days..."
"That's right. I still had a fever this morning, but I managed to come to the meeting..."
Pei Song's heart tightened, and when he reached the office door, he suddenly stopped.
"You guys go in first, I forgot something downstairs."
Pei Song took the elevator to the pharmacy downstairs.
"Cold medicine, fever medicine, H1N1 medicine..." He glanced at the shelf, "Give me two boxes of each."
Back in the office, he found Xiao Zhang from the administration department and asked, "Is the company's medicine box in your care?"
"Yes, does Manager Pei need any medicine?"
Pei Song handed over a large bag of medicine: "Put all of these in. It's flu season recently, and there are many people in the company, so it's inevitable that someone will need it." He paused, "By the way, if the president's office needs it, remember to send some over."
"Do you want to notify the group?"
"Well, just say that we have added some new medicines to the medicine box, and those who need them can take them." Pei Song emphasized, "Remember, don't say that I bought them."
Before Xiao Zhang could say anything, Pei Song had already turned around and walked away quickly.
After Pei Song left, Xiao Zhang hesitated for a while and finally called Jin Shuning in the president's office.
As Shi Yanchen's chief secretary, Jin Shuning has been responsible for handling various affairs of the President's Office.
"Secretary Jin, I just restocked my medicine box. Do you want me to send some over to you?"
"What medicine?" Jin Shuning asked.
"Cold medicine, antipyretic medicine, and medicine specifically for treating influenza A." Xiao Zhang lowered his voice, "Manager Pei bought them specially, and he also asked me to deliver the medicine to the president's office, but he didn't allow me to say that he bought them, and please don't tell anyone."
There was silence for a moment on the other end of the phone, and Jin Shuning thought of Mr. Shi's abnormal behavior in the past few days.
There was some deviation in the marketing department's quarterly report yesterday. Mr. Shi was uncharacteristically furious and scolded the marketing director so much that he turned pale.
The personnel redeployment plan submitted by the Human Resources Department this morning was rejected three times in a row.
The atmosphere in the entire president's office was frighteningly low.
Shi Yanchen was holding a video conference while Jin Shuning was standing outside the office with medicine in his hand. Thinking of the future hotel project a while ago, Shi Yanchen asked him to contact the headquarters in Country D overnight to get technical support in order to help Pei Song solve the system problem.
During this period, he also vaguely realized that the president treated the young manager differently.
As a veteran spectator, he was extremely sensitive to this subtle atmosphere.
Those clues, whether obvious or hidden, quickly connected in his mind, and he suddenly smelled an exciting scent of gossip.