Chapter 9 Moving Away
Shi Yanchen watched him stumble out the door, frowning slightly.
Pei Song walked aimlessly on the street. The night wind was a little cold, but he didn't notice it at all.
Message alerts continued to ring from his phone, but he no longer had the courage to check.
Those friends who once made friends with him because of his family background were now waiting to laugh at him.
Even on Instagram, some people started leaving mocking comments under his previous food videos:
"So you're a rich second-generation? How are you now? Do you still have money to buy food?"
"Now you can't even be a chef, right?"
Pei Song mechanically deleted these comments, feeling a chill in his heart.
He sat on the park bench for a while until his phone started vibrating again.
He opened LINE and Su Mi was frantically @ing him in the group.
"Songsong! Have you seen the news? Are those media reports true?"
"Don't carry it alone. If you need any help, be sure to tell me."
"Although I'm not in City M, I can fly over to be with you anytime."
Looking at his friend's anxious message, Pei Song's eyes felt a little hot.
He and Su Mi have been best friends since high school. The other has always been like this, seemingly careless, but actually careful and considerate.
"I'm fine," he replied briefly, "Just finish your studies and don't worry about me."
After sending the message, he took a deep breath and stood up.
Now is not the time to show weakness.
Late at night, Pei Song dragged his tired body back to the apartment.
Unexpectedly, Shi Yanchen was still in the living room.
On the dining table, the forgotten pot of braised pork had been reheated and was steaming.
"Eat something." Shi Yanchen still had that cold tone, "Being hungry won't help solve the problem."
Pei Song forced a smile: "Thank you, but I don't have much appetite now..."
"I told you," Shi Yanchen interrupted him, "if you have any trouble, just tell me directly."
Pei Song looked up at Shi Yanchen. He still had that cold expression, but his eyes were a little gentle.
At this moment, all the strength collapsed.
Pei Song finally couldn't help it and told everything that had happened in the past few hours.
As he spoke, his voice began to tremble: "I really can't do anything. I can only sit here and watch them suffer..."
Shi Yanchen listened quietly, without interrupting or giving any suggestions.
But this silent listening gave Pei Song great strength.
The next day, Pei Song forced himself to return to normal life.
He went to class as usual and took notes seriously, as if nothing had happened.
But during every break, he would immediately take out his cell phone to check the latest news.
The domestic news is getting uglier and uglier. The media are scrambling to report on this "financial scandal", and all kinds of exaggerated reports are making the situation worse.
What worried him even more was his mother's condition.
The servants at home said that the lady had not left her room for several days, could not eat, and locked herself in the room crying all day.
My father was even more worried and anxious, and the company's executives submitted their resignations one after another, fearing that they would be involved in this storm.
Those "friends" who had vowed to stand by Pei's side at the dinner party were now avoiding him one by one.
He sent words of comfort to his parents on time every day, trying to make his tone sound light and cheerful.
He didn't dare let his parents know that he was also suffering, and didn't dare let them see that he was worried about the family's situation every day.
But late at night, when everything calms down, those repressed emotions will come flooding back like a tide.
He began to have trouble sleeping and could only distract himself by studying and cooking.
Shi Yanchen seemed to have noticed something, but still maintained his usual attitude, neither showing excessive concern nor deliberately avoiding it.
But at the dinner table, he would say a few more words than usual. Although they were still brief, they gave Pei Song great comfort.
In this way, Pei Song forced himself to remain calm in this storm and silently endure it all in a foreign country.
He knew that the only thing he could do at this moment was to focus on his studies and not let the changes at home affect his graduation.
…
Pei Song stood in front of the ATM machine, looking expressionlessly at the message "Account has been frozen" displayed on the screen.
He should have thought of it earlier. As a child of the Pei family, his personal account was naturally involved in this turmoil.
I took out my phone and checked the balance. The remaining living expenses from last month were barely enough to last two weeks. As for the rent for next month...
Pei Song put away his phone with a wry smile. The rent of the high-end apartment he currently lived in was the most expensive in the area around M University. He had rashly agreed to the deal because of the emergency need for shelter.
As Pei Song walked out of the bank, his phone rang with an Instagram notification.
When I opened it, it turned out to be an invitation to cooperate with a local food festival.
At previous prices, this income would be enough to pay one month's rent.
However, looking at the list of ingredients listed by the other party, Pei Song was unable to reply.
Now, he has to calculate the cost of even the most basic ingredients carefully, let alone those high-end ingredients.
"Sorry, I may not have time recently..." Pei Song declined the invitation.
This is the third event he has turned down this week.
Back at the apartment, Pei Song began to carefully consider his financial situation.
The school will soon have to pay tuition for the next semester, and his parents are having a hard time making ends meet in the country, and he doesn't want to make things difficult for them.
And now the rent of this apartment is making him feel even more stressed.
"I have to find a job..." Pei Song rubbed his temples and opened a job search website.
Soon, he found a part-time job in a Chinese restaurant. Although the salary was not high, the working hours were flexible and did not affect his classes.
In the following days, Pei Song was extremely busy.
I go to classes during the day, work in a restaurant at night, and finish my homework after returning home.
The food videos that were originally updated every day had to be suspended because there was no extra money to buy ingredients.
Fans on Instagram began to complain that he updated too infrequently, and some even speculated that he could no longer continue to be a food blogger because his family had fallen on hard times.
These remarks stabbed Pei Song's heart like a knife, but he had no choice but to endure it silently.
Shi Yanchen soon discovered something unusual about his roommate.
The kitchen, which used to be always filled with the aroma of food, is now often cold and desolate.
Pei Song came home later and later, and sometimes even smelled of cooking oil.
That night, Pei Song dragged his tired body back home and saw Shi Yanchen sitting in the living room with a job advertisement that he was very familiar with in front of him.
"Going to work in a Chinese restaurant?" Shi Yanchen looked up at him, his tone still cold, but his eyes were filled with scrutiny.
Pei Song was stunned for a moment, then gave a forced smile: "Well, I just want to earn some extra pocket money."
"Is it because of the rent issue?" Shi Yanchen pointed out directly.
Pei Song's smile froze. He didn't expect Shi Yanchen to be so direct.
After a long silence, Pei Song whispered, "I'm sorry, I may...move away."