Chapter 53 Pei Shuwen's bent hand...
"No, how could I be wrong about something like this? If you don't believe me, go ask your boyfriend." The girl still looked envious and encouraged Lin Chaoyue to ask him.
Lin Chao echoed, "Okay, I'll ask later," and slowed his pace even further down the mountain.
How do you ask about something like that?
What should be done after she asks?
Lin Chaoyue's mind was a bit confused.
Pei Shuwen looked back several times on his way down the mountain.
I only caught a brief glimpse of Lin Chaoyue while walking along the straight mountain path.
Seeing that he kept looking back, Song Shiguang tactfully suggested, "Brother Pei, why don't we stand here and wait for Lawyer Lin? We're walking too fast. It'll be more fun to go down the mountain together with more people."
“No need. Let’s wait at the foot of the mountain.” Pei Shuwen knew that Lin Chaoyue was deliberately avoiding him.
This girl's thoughts are always written on her face.
Pei Shuwen added, "She probably doesn't want us to wait for her."
Song Shiguang asked hesitantly, "Is Attorney Lin angry?"
He ordered the food for Lin Chaoyue from the canteen. He also knew that Brother Pei had left raw dumplings for Lawyer Lin and had only given her half an hour to eat.
If it were him, he wouldn't be too happy either.
Moreover, the two of them were fine last night, so Song Shiguang was certain that Lin Chaoyue was angry because of this.
Song Shiguang strode down a few steps, half of his body blocking Pei Shuwen's path.
“Brother Pei, girls need to be coaxed. If you don’t tell me, Attorney Lin won’t know that you were worried the dumplings would get cold, so you had my husband, Lao Song, save a box of raw dumplings for you. What’s that saying again… love should be said out loud! How would Attorney Lin know if you don’t tell me?”
Song Shiguang blinked, looking serious.
Pei Shuwen finally regained her footing and looked at Song Shiguang with a leisurely air: "You have such a wealth of theoretical knowledge, when are you going to put it into practice on Teacher Xiaomin?"
Song Shiguang has always been in charge of external liaison for the Public Welfare Dance Association.
Song Shiguang may not be exactly eloquent, but she is definitely adept at getting along with everyone.
But every time he mentions Teacher Xiaomin, he can't help but stutter when he speaks.
"No, no, I didn't tell Teacher Xiaomin."
After struggling to utter a few words for a long time, Song Shiguang's face instantly turned red. He wanted to explain, but Pei Shuwen just patted his shoulder, said, "It's going to rain again," and then walked around him and continued down the mountain.
Pei Shuwen had already walked quite a distance before Song Shiguang belatedly tapped his head.
"Weren't we talking about Attorney Lin? Why is Brother Pei dragging me into this again?"
"Teacher Song, what are you doing standing here instead of coming down the mountain? Are you waiting for us?"
The girls giggled, and they all seemed to be in a good mood.
"You guys came down so quickly." You were just a little far away.
"You've been standing here for ages, that's how we caught up. What are you thinking about? You're not thinking about Teacher Xiaomin, are you?"
The people at the TV station have become quite familiar with Song Shiguang. They've clearly noticed his feelings for Teacher Xiaomin these past few days, but they're afraid the girl might be too shy to say anything. Now, it's just Song Shiguang himself, how could he resist teasing him?
Song Shiguang touched his nose guiltily: "Brother Pei said it looks like it's going to rain again, let's hurry down the mountain."
Several people knew that the "Brother Pei" that Song Shiguang mentioned was Pei Shuwen.
They all started winking and making faces at Lin Chaoyue, urging her to hurry down the mountain.
"Attorney Lin, hurry up and go! Aren't you in a rush to get back to the city today?"
"Look how considerate our teacher Song is, she's even refusing to be a third wheel. You should go down now."
Lin Chaoyue had been dawdling for a long time on her way down the mountain, making all sorts of excuses. This time, even Song Shiguang chimed in, so she knew she couldn't refuse anymore and had no choice but to bite the bullet and walk faster.
"Then I'll be going now."
"Go quickly, go quickly."
Lin Chaoyue drove very fast at the first bend, until she could no longer hear the voices of the people behind her.
She then slowed down.
My mind finally settled down to think.
She knew she liked Pei Shuwen. Although she had limited dating experience, the inexplicable emotions that would occasionally surface when she was with Pei Shuwen could only be explained by liking her.
If you like something, you like it; it's not a big deal.
After all, Pei Shuwen was indeed her type. But no matter how much she thought about it, she never imagined that Pei Shuwen would like her.
It's not that I lack self-confidence, it's just that I feel the two of us have completely different personalities and are not like the same kind of people at all.
Lin Chaoyue took a breath and walked through two more bends before Pei Shuwen was right in front of her.
The closer Lin Chaoyue got to Pei Shuwen, the more sweaty her palms became. She switched hands to hold the photo, subconsciously trying to wipe the sweat from her hands.
When she lowered her hand, she realized that her shirt had no pockets, and the bag containing tissues was being held by Pei Shuwen.
They were already very close to the foot of the mountain. She had planned to wait until they got in the car to talk, but Pei Shuwen seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. When she stopped, he stopped too.
They were not far apart.
The two stared directly into each other's eyes, and even the willow branches hanging down from the tree trunk were just out of place, not blocking their view.
Her hands were still on her waist, and when he looked at her like that, she felt a little flustered and didn't know where to put them for a moment.
"What are you looking for?"
"Tissue, my hands are sweaty."
Do you want me to help you with that? You have some in your bag.
"Oh, okay."
Pei Shuwen moved naturally, as if the bag wasn't hers, but her own.
Lin Chaoyue descended a few more steps to stand in front of him, her mind a jumble of thoughts, but her expression was quite honest.
He was much more well-behaved than he usually is at the law firm.
After taking out a tissue, Pei Shuwen stretched out her other hand, which was flat and facing upwards.
Lin Chaoyue didn't understand and looked up in confusion: "What are you doing?"
"How do you wipe your sweat while holding something?"
"Ah, here you go." She handed over the photo quickly, only remembering what she was holding afterward.
In her eagerness to return, she spoke so fast she almost bit her tongue: "No..."
But it was clearly too late.
Pei Shuwen took the photos, examined both sides, and, fiddling with the creases at the edges, asked, "Photographs?"
"Ah, didn't you see it all?"
"Taken last night? Who gave it to you?" Pei Shuwen asked seriously.
"The TV station gave it to me last night; it was taken accidentally," Lin Chaoyue explained on behalf of the girl.
The legal profession tends to prioritize privacy, but subconsciously she felt that taking such a photo couldn't be considered taking a secret photo.
Fortunately, Pei Shuwen didn't say much: "Yeah, the filming was alright."
Pei Shuwen looked at the photo a couple more times, and Lin Chaoyue wiped her sweat, but he showed no intention of returning it to her.
Lin Chaoyue's throat bobbed, and she asked tentatively, "It's alright? Don't you have anything else to say?"
"Others? What do you mean?" Pei Shuwen raised an eyebrow at her in confusion.
Lin Chaoyue realized that her question had been too vague, but asking her to repeat what she had just heard seemed too direct.
She started to have second thoughts: "It's nothing, I was just saying."
She swallowed her words completely, but Lin Chaoyue felt a tightness in her chest, so much so that she didn't speak again on the last stretch of mountain road.
We arrived at the foot of the mountain.
Song Shiguang's car was a long van, and there was only one in the empty parking lot at the foot of the mountain, so it was easy to spot.
They're going to take this bus back to the city later.
Lin Chaoyue deliberately found a lonely stone chair to sit on and wait. She used to be annoyed, but she wasn't afraid of Pei Shuwen. But now she was afraid that Pei Shuwen would sit down and see through her little schemes.
But she was clearly overthinking it.
The signal on the mountain was intermittent, but once we came down the mountain, the signal was fully restored.
Pei Shuwen received two or three phone calls in a row. While the people on the mountain were coming down one after another, he was still communicating with the magazine he was going to interview next month.
She could hear him from a great distance as he finalized the date.
August 8th is an auspicious date.
Lin Chaoyue idly swung her legs, thinking she would have to wait a while, without even raising her head.
If you stare blankly for too long, you'll inevitably feel sleepy and just as you're about to doze off.
Pei Shuwen's voice immediately brought her back to reality.
"They said you have something to ask me, what is it?"
"Huh?" Lin Chaoyue was taken aback by the question. She blinked in confusion at first, then her eyes widened as she saw the people in the distance, and her palms started to sweat again.
Lin Chaoyue stammered for a while before saying, "They want to help us take a group photo."
"I agreed to this, but they said there's another thing. Are you hiding something from me?"
Pei Shuwen was not unaware of Lin Chaoyue's unease.
A look of inquiry flashed in his eyes. Capturing emotions was an instinct he had developed over the years, but when he glanced at Lin Chaoyue's reddened earlobes, his eyebrows unconsciously lifted slightly.
He was scrutinizing Lin Chaoyue, and Lin Chaoyue was staring at him intently.
Lin Chaoyue happened to see this subtle change in his expression.
I thought he was asking a question he already knew the answer to.
In a moment of emotional turmoil, he became somewhat embarrassed and angry.
The things I didn't say before are all coming out now.
"How dare you accuse me first? You're the one lying. You didn't want to go to the public restroom last night. You just... you deliberately went with me."
The more he talked, the more awkward it became, but he couldn't lose his momentum.
The sound of falling rose a little higher, and Lin Chaoyue emphasized, "It's not that I'm hiding something from you."
“I’m going with you; it’s not that you’re afraid to go by yourself.”
"Who said that? When did I ever say I wouldn't dare?"
Lin Chaoyue was still subconsciously refuting, but after she finished speaking, she realized something was wrong. Pei Shuwen had just admitted it directly?
His openness made all her previous anxieties seem like wishful thinking.
Her earlobes turned even redder, so red they looked like two little lanterns hanging from them.
"You said it." Afraid Lin Chaoyue wouldn't remember, Pei Shuwen specifically reminded her, "You said it during dinner yesterday."
Lin Chaoyue then remembered that she had indeed said that yesterday. After hearing that there were snakes, insects, rats and ants in the mountains, she said that she would definitely not go out at night.
Everything has been reconciled and the investigation is over.
Lin Chaoyue completely lost her arrogance, like a deflated balloon.
When I'm nervous, my chest feels compressed and I can't breathe; now that I'm not nervous, my heart feels empty, and I feel a strange sense of loss.
Lin Chaoyue lowered her eyebrows even further.
Fortunately, Pei Shuwen answered another phone call at that moment.
He was standing much closer than before, but she didn't hear a word he said on the phone.
Lin Chaoyue's low spirits meant that she didn't smile much during the group photo before getting on the bus, especially in the one with Pei Shuwen. She could imagine her stiff expression without even looking at it.
But she really couldn't smile at all.
Everyone knows that she and Pei Shuwen are a couple, and they treat this as a little trick between lovers.
She couldn't explain, and didn't want to explain.
After the photo shoot, she was the first to get into Song Shiguang's van.
The car was spacious, and she sat in the single seat facing the door. Pei Shuwen glanced at her when he got on the car, and then sat in the seat behind her.
The two of them were quite natural.
The people who boarded later didn't sit next to Pei Shuwen, and they kept glancing at the two of them.
The girl who took her picture last night practically had her eyes glued to Lin Chaoyue.
Lin Chaoyue felt her scalp tingle from being stared at and couldn't help but meet his gaze.
The girl blinked and waved to her: "Attorney Lin, sit here. Take a look at the photos we just took, which one do you want? I'll print it out for you."
The girl is holding a portable photo printer.
Lin Chaoyue had never seen such a convenient device before. She was a little curious and really wanted to take a picture as a souvenir, so she moved over.
She randomly picked a few, and printed them all out for the girls.
But even after giving her a stack of photos, the printer didn't stop printing, producing another six or seven more.
"Is this one for me too? I already have this one." The machine was regurgitating the photo taken last night.
"It's not for you." The girl glanced teasingly at Pei Shuwen across from her. "It's for your boyfriend."
"He just asked me for it." The girl whispered a gossipy remark in Lin Chaoyue's ear.
I am thrilled to witness such a beautiful love story.
"He wants it?" Lin Chaoyue was skeptical.
It's too much to pretend to be a couple like this. When she got on the bus, she had already assumed the performance was over. To be precise, after realizing that she was probably just imagining things, she had no desire to continue pretending.
"Yes, that's what he wants."
After speaking, the girl called out to Pei Shuwen and then handed the photo over to Lin Chaoyue. Pei Shuwen was still on the phone dealing with work, but when he heard this, he took the photo very naturally and didn't feel anything was wrong.
As his bent fingers passed in front of Lin Chaoyue, they accidentally brushed against her fingertips.
Pei Shuwen spoke in a mix of Chinese and English jargon during the call, and it was clear from the tone that he wasn't talking to just one person; he was very professional and very busy.
But even after receiving the photos, he kept flipping through them, placing them on the fabric of his suit on his knees.
It carries a special warmth in its casualness.
Lin Chaoyue was momentarily lost in thought as she watched.
Without any warning.
A bold idea popped into her head.
It doesn't matter if this person doesn't like her, as long as she can stay by his side.
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