Although Pei Zheng is often silly and unreliable in daily life, he is not a person without sense of propriety and he would not bring Xiao Huai to drink with him, so Lu Nong was nervous for a moment and then relaxed and walked straight into the house.

Mother Wu followed in.

Walking to the bed, Lu Nong kicked away the empty wine bottle at his feet. The sound of "ding-ling-clang" echoed in the room, but Pei Zheng, the old man, didn't wake up at all.

He slept with his clothes on, like a giant dragon guarding his treasure, holding the young cub in his arms. Although the soft and tender cub was held in his arms, it slept soundly.

The brothers seemed to be in unusual harmony.

Xiao Huai was awakened by the sound of a wine bottle hitting the ground. He crawled out of Pei Zheng's arms and rubbed his sleepy eyes. He still remembered the three hugs he missed yesterday, so he stretched out his hand in a baby voice and asked for a hug: "Mom... hug."

Lu Nong pulled him out of Pei Zheng's arms and touched his head, "Be good."

Then she leaned in and sniffed her son's body. Although he smelled of alcohol, he was not drunk.

"Mom, my brother didn't let me tell you that he was drinking. How could you not know?" Xiao Huai said embarrassedly in Lu Nong's ear.

Lu Nong was surprised at how smart Xiao Huai was. He said with interest, "But it wasn't you who told mom that my brother was drinking. Mom found out about it herself."

Xiao Huai was distressed, "Brother doesn't want others to find out."

Lu Nong kissed the soft little white kid and pretended to consider it. After a while, she said, "Okay, I can agree to it, but you also have to promise mom one thing: if you see your brother drinking in the future, you must stop him."

"Mom knows that Xiao Huai is smart, so she will definitely find a way to stop her brother from drinking, right?"

Xiao Huai rolled his obsidian eyes and nodded vigorously in response: "Yeah."

Lu Nong: "Be good, come on, let's take Xiao Bai downstairs to eat. It looks like your big brother will sleep for a long time."

Mother Wu glanced at Pei Zheng on the bed and shook her head helplessly, "Every one of them is an ancestor, and they still need me, an old woman, to serve them. Okay, I'll go make some sobering soup, otherwise the little ancestor will have a headache when he wakes up."

"Then you might as well wait for him to wake up and let him endure it on his own." Lu Nong answered Mother Wu perfunctorily, but his mind had already flown away.

The nightmare he had last night was too real. It was a mixture of tenderness and terror. Lu Nong had a very bad feeling, and his heart started pounding whenever he thought about it.

"Nong Nong? You are uneasy. Did your aunt send you a letter saying something happened?" Mother Wu interrupted Lu Nong's reverie and asked worriedly.

Lu Nong shook her head, put Xiao Huai down, and comforted Wu's mother, "Ji An said in the letter that he is fine. I believe him. He never lies to me."

"As long as you are safe, as long as you are safe, Amitabha." Aunt Wu chanted a Buddhist mantra.

Just as Lu Nong said to Wu's mother, she could do nothing now and could only wait for him to come back home.

Lu Nong took a deep breath, let Xiao Huai and the little white dog go play, walked to the study, took out the letter paper and started writing a letter.

She didn't know why, but after Pei Ji'an left, she suddenly had a lot to say to him, all ordinary trivial matters, but Lu Nong wrote two large sheets of letter paper and still didn't finish.

I wrote for a long time, and the sunlight gradually shifted with the rustling sound of the pen.

This was the second letter she wrote, and Lu Nong also clipped the letter into a random book on the bookshelf.

When she put the book back on the bookshelf, she suddenly saw the collection of poems that Pei Jianan asked her to read to him that day, so she casually pulled out the collection of poems.

When I turned to a certain page, I found a piece of paper stuck inside.

The poem "What Can I Do to Keep You" was written in Chinese on the paper in Pei Jinan's handwriting.

In an instant, Lu Nong thought a lot, thinking about the look in Pei Jinan's eyes when she first read the poem to him, and the look in Pei Jinan's eyes when he read the poem to her in return.

What would have happened if she had opened the book and promised to read the poem to him before Pei Jian left?

There was a knock on the door. Lu Nong looked up and saw Pei Zheng leaning against the door, yawning and saying unkemptly, "Grandma Wu asked me to invite you downstairs for dinner."

Lu Nong suddenly realized that she had been in the study for most of the day and even Pei Zheng was sober.

"You guys eat, I have no appetite." Lu Nong shook his head.

Pei Zheng frowned unexpectedly, but instead of going out, he walked in. When he saw the book and letter paper in Lu Nong's hands, he smiled knowingly.

He leaned forward and sat down, facing Lu Nong and said, "Are you worried about him?"

They all knew who “he” was.

Lu Nong glanced at Pei Zheng strangely. Isn't it too weird to talk to his stepson about his relationship problems with his biological father?

"It's okay, go downstairs and have dinner." Lu Nong waved his hand and hurried Pei Zheng downstairs, not wanting to talk more.

Pei Zheng did not obey, but took the book from Lu Nong's hand, opened the first page, and said softly, "I remember this book. You taught my dad English from this book, right?"

"You know?" Lu Nong was even more puzzled.

"I was just curious," Pei Zheng shrugged. "When I was in Beijing, I sneaked into the study to see what kind of English book was so difficult that it stumped my dad, an excellent graduate of a military academy."

Lu Nong's heart began to pound. "What do you mean?"

"My dad was the top graduate of his class, which means he was fluent in German, Russian, and various dialects... How could he not know English?"

Pei Zheng took out the piece of paper with the poem from Lu Nong's hand, put the poem and the page of the book together, and then handed it to Lu Nong and said, "You are such a smart person, don't you understand?"

Although he looked indifferent on the outside, Pei Zheng shuddered in his heart. He had caught his father showing his affection in secret. If the old man knew about this, wouldn't he be angry and take revenge on him?

No, he is now working for the old man's happiness in the second half of his life, he is doing good things!

Maybe the old man will reward him when he comes back.

Pei Zheng thought happily.

Lu Nong was stunned. How early would that be?

Her mind was in a mess, confused and puzzled. Why was it so early?

"You probably don't know what your presence has changed."

Pei Zheng's expression turned gloomy, as if he had returned to the sharp young man that Lu Nong had seen for the first time. Now that he thought about it, that outward aura was actually a thorn in the young man's side to protect himself.

Fortunately, it only lasted for a moment. Pei Zheng calmed down and said with a smile: "But I believe you can feel it."

Lu Nong was silent. Did you feel it?

Yes, a lot, tolerance, preference, compromise...

She was too complicated to speak of.

Fortunately, Pei Zheng didn't need her to speak. He stretched his waist and said, "I just want to tell you this. Let's go downstairs and eat."

As a bystander, Pei Zheng might be slow to understand at first, but after a long time, how could he not understand what was going on?

He knew exactly who hesitated and who took the initiative, who asked and who retreated.

Normally he would not have said anything or interfered with the relationship between his biological father and Lu Nong, but today the timing was perfect and he would have felt sorry for the old man who had raised him for so many years if he didn't say something.

Lu Nong did not reply to him. Instead, he turned to the window and stared at the lonely swing in the garden. A breeze blew by, causing the swing to sway slightly.

"You go first, and leave me alone."

Pei Zheng quietly left the study.

In fact, Lu Nong knew that between her and Pei Ji'an, Pei Ji'an seemed to be in a high position and had great power, while her family background was ordinary and even had hidden flaws. However, the person who had the upper hand was not Pei Ji'an, who seemed to be perfect in every way, but her.

From the moment they met, Pei Jinan took ninety-nine steps towards Lu Nong, and Lu Nong only needed to take one step.

This sounded incredible, even Lu Nong could not have imagined that the situation between them would be like this.

Smart people never reveal their cards to their opponents. Smart people always take the initiative. This is the first principle that Lu Nong's parents taught her in modern times, and she believes it is the most useful principle.

This applies whether in business competition or in dealing with emotional affairs. There is no need to explain the importance of initiative in business wars.

The initiative in relationships is nothing more than playing hard to get, with give and take. Never let the other person know how much you really feel about him/her, and don't show your cards to him/her until you are sure that he/she truly loves you.

Pei Ji'an is a person Lu Nong cannot understand. If he really treats Lu Nong in this way, Lu Nong might as well try to fight with him. Maybe he will be able to give his true heart to him in the end.

But it is understandable that sincerity is retained.

But Pei Jinan is such a smart man, whom Lu Nong couldn't see through when she first saw him, but he almost gave up all means and treated his feelings implicitly and honestly. He guided Lu Nong step by step, told Lu Nong his cards with actions and words, and let Lu Nong understand his heart.

He made Lu Nong feel a firmness and gentleness that came from his strength, just like him, never slow or hurried, always deep and silent.

The most amazing thing about Pei Jinan is that he may not be unaware that Lu Nong is playing dumb, but he tolerates Lu Nong playing dumb and never forces Lu Nong to face it, providing Lu Nong with the most comfortable emotional environment.

Lu Nong didn't know whether he was too confident or knew himself too well, because it was just right for Lu Nong.

If there were no war, if everything was peaceful, Lu Nong didn't know how long it would take to admit his feelings.

But it didn't taste bad.

The world is moving slowly these days, and we can only love one person in our lifetime. They have enough time to waste and get along, don't they?

But life is always unpredictable. Who is the most likely target for the man who was so familiar to Lu Nong and very important to her in her dream last night? Only Pei Ji An has ended.

Even if Lu Nong deliberately ignored and repeatedly avoided Pei Jinan's explicit hints, Pei Jinan eventually became an indispensable part of Lu Nong's life.

It's a part that can't be lost.

Perhaps people can only truly see their own hearts when they are separated or lose something. During the time when Pei Ji'an was away, Lu Nong also figured out some things.

The rest of our life is too short. We don’t know which will come first, tomorrow or an accident. So why not hold the hand that is extended by that person?

After figuring everything out, Lu Nong breathed a sigh of relief.

The daylight was just right at this moment, and the slanting sun outside the window shone brightly into the room.

When Lu Nong went downstairs, Pei Zheng was distributing gifts. He brought two large bags from Beijing, most of which were gifts for his family, including toys and food for Xiao Huai, tonics and medicinal herbs for Wu Ma, cosmetics and coffee for Lu Nong, and a soft leather belt for Pei Jinan.

...Well, seeing the last thing, Lu Nong's mouth twitched. Belt, does he want Pei Jianan to show mercy when he hits him?

But she sighed in her heart once again, he is worthy of being the hero of the original novel, Pei Zheng, with sharp eyes and a keen mind, able to see the big picture from the details, and scary enough when he is serious.

Over there, Pei Zheng finished distributing the gifts and used the snacks that Wu's mother had given him as a reward to tease Xiao Huai. When he saw Lu Nong coming over, he quickly hid the pile of snacks he had just made and reminded Xiao Huai, "Oh no, your mother is here, protect our snacks!"

Lu Nong: “…” Forget it, I overestimated him.