Chapter 21 I Will Take Responsibility for You
After Lu Shangyan finished speaking, his gaze drifted away. He wanted to know the answer, but for some reason he didn't dare to listen carefully to it. He wanted to escape reality by emptying his mind.
Pei Yumin kept staring at his profile, seemingly absentmindedly, without saying a word for a long time.
Lu Shangyan was getting annoyed, his brows furrowed. He quickly glanced at Pei Yumin, looking slightly embarrassed and a little annoyed, and then pretended to be nonchalant, saying, "Maybe it was an accidental bump."
Pei Yumin's mouth gaped wider and wider as he looked at it. Finally, he simply pulled the car over to the side of the road and stammered, sweating profusely, "Lu Shangyan, I will take responsibility!"
Lu Shangyan blinked, not expecting Pei Yumin to give him this answer, but he also couldn't figure out what kind of answer he wanted to hear.
Pei Yumin's eyes were full of sincerity. Seeing that he didn't speak, she repeated firmly, word by word, "I will definitely take responsibility! If you are willing, I can have my parents come to propose marriage today."
Lu Shangyan took a deep breath, throwing all his jumbled thoughts out of his head. Under Pei Yumin's starry eyes, he gradually calmed his anxious mood and chuckled lightly, feigning ease: "This doesn't even count as a kiss, so what's there to be responsible for?"
She had to take responsibility when they slept together and messed around all night, so she doesn't need to now. She's not some ancient noble lady who gets nervous about losing her virginity just because someone holds her hand.
Pei Yumin's ears turned bright red. Realizing what he had just said, he touched his neck in annoyance and followed Lu Shangyan's words, saying, "I was just joking."
He secretly breathed a sigh of relief, only to realize later that he had acted too hastily and almost let Lu Shangyan discover his wicked intentions in getting close to him.
He didn't want to go through a long and complicated process with Lu Shangyan before they could be together. Besides, if he really had to go through a painful and exhausting ordeal, what would become of him? He was already older than Lu Shangyan, and even if he eventually won him over, he would still be rejected for not being handsome enough. This might even become a knot in their hearts that they could never get over for the rest of their lives.
The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became. Losing an arm or leg while pursuing his wife would be one thing—he could at least recover in bed. But what if he lost a kidney or other organs? Then he wouldn't be a complete man anymore...
He was still shaken: "Lu Shangyan, you didn't secretly run away because of this, did you?"
This was a very strange question. Lu Shangyan shook his head in confusion, not understanding why he wanted to run away.
It was just a kiss... He just can't remember one kiss... His wanting to be with me was just a joke...
Lu Shangyan sighed again, feeling increasingly annoyed. In the end, he simply closed his eyes to recall the content of today's class and try to fall asleep.
Pei Yumin genuinely believed that he didn't care at all, and temporarily put her mind at ease.
After dropping Lu Shangyan off at home, he made an excuse about an urgent matter at the company and sneaked out. He quickly returned to the milk tea shop where Lu Shangyan and he had hidden together. He was very glad that the shop, which was less than twelve square meters, was willing to spend money to install two cameras.
The owner, who was in his fifties and looked kind and approachable, leaned over the counter and asked him to help retrieve the surveillance footage. He started watching from the moment Lu Shangyan and he ran into the store together, and in one go, he saw the kiss that Lu Shangyan had mentioned.
Xia Li was there at the time, and the store was small. In order to make enough room for Xia Li, they had to stand close together. The aisle could temporarily accommodate two people. Originally, there was a distance between him and Lu Shangyan when they were standing face to face, but then there was a sudden sound of hurried footsteps outside. He was afraid that Lu Shangyan would be discovered, so he moved closer to him.
Lu Shangyan wasn't much shorter than him; with those two or three centimeters between them, if he got closer, he would have kissed Lu Shangyan's nose! He felt a pang of regret.
However, he didn't think that much at the time, he was only thinking about protecting Lu Shangyan. But Lu Shangyan was leaning against the wall, panting, and because he suddenly got close, he unconsciously tried to dodge. But the distance was too close, and even if he tried to dodge, he couldn't get away. His lips accidentally brushed against his eyelid.
It happened so fast, maybe in less than a second, that he didn't even notice, but Lu Shangyan's eyes widened instantly, and his gaze changed repeatedly before he finally pursed his lips, lowered his head, and didn't make a sound.
Pei Yumin watched this scene repeatedly until the shop owner couldn't stand it anymore: "Young man, you're disturbing my business by standing here."
Tall and long-legged, he was lying on the table with his butt sticking out, completely blocking his not-so-wide aisle. He was always grinning foolishly at the screen with a happy expression. If it weren't for the fact that he was dressed neatly and had the nerve to stand up for himself, and that he spoke clearly when asked for help, he would have thought that some idiot had run away and that he would have called the police to send him home. That would have been a good deed.
Pei Yumin finally snapped out of his daze and realized he had been watching for over half an hour. He picked up his phone, scanned the QR code on the counter, and transferred 50,000 yuan to the owner: "I've bought out this video. Can you send it to my phone now? Delete it all after you send it."
The boss had never seen anything like this in all his years. Before he could even react, the video had already been cut and sent out. Pei Yumin quickly saved it and then watched as he deleted the video.
His first intimate moment with Lu Shangyan could only be saved and watched repeatedly by him alone; no one else could have it!
After getting into the car, he captured the moment when his lips touched Lu Shangyan's eyelids and used it as his screensaver.
He dared not replace all the screens at once, for fear that Lu Shangyan would find out.
On the way back, I picked up the groceries from the housekeeper as usual, planning to take him to his part-time job and then immediately come back to make him a fish soup. By the time he got off work, the soup would be ready, and I could take it with me to pick him up so he could have a hot meal as soon as he got off work.
Lu Shangyan's stomach hasn't been as uncomfortable as before, but he's been getting thinner and thinner no matter how much he eats. Occasionally, he'll feel acid reflux halfway through a meal, and he'll feel bloated after eating. He'll ask for digestive pills, and his appetite has decreased by more than half. Lu Shangyan wants to seize every opportunity to feed Lu Shangyan more and find a way to improve Lu Shangyan's stomach health, and ideally, make sure he can regain his weight.
Just as he was thinking about it, Lao Pei called him. When he saw the photo of him and Lu Shangyan on the screen, he couldn't help but shout loudly along with the phone ringing.
He sang "Calabash Brothers" with such passion that it felt like a passionate love story with his beloved. If he didn't know that both Lu Shangyan and he were male and couldn't have children, he probably would have also shouted out the exhilarating feeling of having seven children in a row.
After he finished yelling, he answered the phone again, his voice hoarse. Old Pei told him, "The donation is settled. Do you want to go to the school for the ceremony in my place?"
Pei Yumin refused without even thinking: "I'm still just a junior employee, so don't give yourself away."
Old Pei chuckled and said, "Fine, go if you want, or don't. I was hoping you could make a good impression on Lu Shangyan."
"He's young, academically gifted, capable, and good-looking. And you? You're a slacker, older, and inferior to him in every way. The only thing you have to offer is a little money and a decent business sense. I never expected you to pretend to be poor. Now you've even lost your only redeeming quality. How can Lu Shangyan still look at you? I'm sending you there for your own good, and you're not even grateful."
Pei Yumin felt deeply hurt: "Are you my real father?"
Old Pei snorted again, only to be silenced when Ms. Yuan, who was eavesdropping nearby, patted his arm: "I saw Chen Hongfei a few days ago when I attended a friend's grandson's one-month celebration. He was very humble towards me, telling me not to hold a grudge against Chen Shuo. What do you think about this?"
Pei Yumin said, "He should take responsibility for his mistakes. If Chen Hongfei really dares to be a troublemaker, then we'll take him down with him."
Ms. Yuan snatched the phone and added, "I was with Chen Hongfei's wife at the time. Chen Hongfei was easy to deal with, but she was not. When we were chatting, I heard her say that some poor girl was sleeping with him at school and bullying him because of her status. She also said that she came back this time to deal with this matter and to support her son."
Ms. Yuan knew perfectly well how difficult this woman was: "You'd better take good care of Xiao Yan, don't let her take advantage of you, she has a lot of dirty tricks up her sleeve."
Pei Yumin pursed his lips: "Mom, you'd better keep a close eye on her. If she makes any move, just shut her down."
"I said today that I would be responsible for Shangshang, so I can't let him down."
Ms. Yuan became interested upon hearing this: "Take responsibility? What did you do to him?!"
But this was Pei Yumin's own little secret, and he couldn't tell anyone. Seeing that he was almost home, he made an excuse that he had to go home to cook and hung up the phone.
Halfway through the conversation, Ms. Yuan became agitated. She paced around the living room, finally slapping Old Pei's nearly bald head: "No way! We have to go and propose marriage! We're already taking responsibility; what kind of parents are we if they don't step in!"
"Besides, Xiao Yan has no parents and no one to help him make plans. He's such a pitiful child, so we can't treat him with any disrespect!"
Old Pei grabbed her hand: "Alright, let's listen to our son on this matter first."
Seeing Ms. Yuan's glare, he added, "If you really want to see it, we'll go see it secretly."
Ms. Yuan gave up on this idea, and then received another call from Chen Hongfei. However, when she answered, the voice was that of a woman, and Ms. Yuan recognized it as Chen Shuo's mother.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Chen's mother finally got down to business: "My husband said that Yu Min and my son often meet at school. Is there something he needs to do at Z University?"
Ms. Yuan laughed and said, "Nothing much, just busy with donations."
This matter can't be kept secret; Chen's mother will find out sooner or later. It's better to take this opportunity to dispel her concerns and prevent her from resorting to even more insidious and difficult-to-counter tricks against Lu Shangyan.
Chen's mother added, "I also heard that one of Chen Shuo's roommates is getting very close to him. Is there something going on? If so, I'll stay a little longer and wait to attend the wedding."
Her probing was subtle, and Ms. Yuan went along with it: "Yu Min doesn't have time to care about other people. Maybe someone is trying to use Yu Min's name to benefit themselves. Yu Min is so busy, he doesn't have time to deal with these people."
Reassured, Chen's mother said a few words and then hung up the phone.
Ms. Yuan immediately slammed her phone down: "I can't wait a minute longer, we're going to find Xiao Yan right now!"
A note from the author:
----------------------
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
