He Chuzhou’s first reaction was to think that Pei Xi had a nightmare.
But soon, those cold eyes and the completely different expression from when he was brain-addled caused him to guess more realistically: “You’ve recovered?”
The other person frowned so hard that his furrowed brow should be able to be tied into knots. It could be seen that he seemed to have a lot of opinions about everyone and everything around him: “Why were you in my bed?”
His tone was vastly different from last night when he begged him to sleep together.
It seemed he was indeed better.
He had originally thought it would take at least three to five days, but the speed of recovery was much faster than expected.
He Chuzhou silently digested this information and rubbed his temples, which felt swollen in the sun.
“President Pei, look closely, this is my room and my bed. You insisted on dragging me to sleep with you.”
Pei Xi’s tone grew colder, and his words were a bit stiff: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“What nonsense are you—”
He Chuzhou voice suddenly paused and his hand movements stopped. Raising his head, he narrowed his eyes slightly and took a careful look at Pei Xi: “You don’t remember?”
Pei Xi asked back: “What does President He think I should remember?”
He Chuzhou had not expected this.
It turned out that the memories during periods of confusion and consciousness were not interchanged. This person was not going to commit suicide out of shame and anger. He had been worried for nothing.
“N-Nothing.”
He waved his hand and pulled back the blanket, standing up: “Let’s just say I drank too much and had nothing to do, so I treated you as a lucky charm and came back to try my luck.”
It turned out that going to sleep when you encountered trouble really worked. The problem was solved, and things went incredibly smoothly.
Even in the turmoil and chaos of war, he had pretty much gotten used to the docile and well-behaved Pei-calico, and the cold look on the original version was rather uncomfortable.
Pei Xi didn’t ask any questions about his random fabrication. He lifted the blanket and got out of bed, but as soon as his feet touched the floor and he took a step, he nearly tripped when he stepped on his trouser leg.
He Chuzhou was startled, and reflexively went to grab him.
But once he saw that this person was stable, he conscientiously stepped back. When he saw the other person glance over quickly, he turned to the side considerately and pretended not to have noticed.
Pei Xi: “……”
Pei Xi turned and began to look around. After getting no results, he asked coldly: “Where are my clothes?”
“I threw them in the washing machine last night.”
He Chuzhou yawned lazily: “They’re not dry. You can just pick something to wear from the closet.”
Pei Xi glanced at him, then took his phone and turned around to walk out.
He Chuzhou also didn’t stop him. A clear-headed adult man should have enough ability to identify the surrounding environment and his own situation, and make appropriate decisions.
Like Pei Xi’s decision to go home in the pajamas he was wearing. He had no objections at all, and just made a sincere suggestion: “I’ll give them to you?”
Pei Xi said without hesitation: “No need.”
He walked quickly to the door, but when he opened it, he suddenly thought of something and turned back abruptly.
He Chuzhou: “What, did you leave something behind?”
Pei Xi’s eyes were unclear beneath his strained brow, and he didn’t utter a word for a long moment.
He Chuzhou raised an eyebrow in puzzlement: “Is there something else?”
In a moment, Pei Xi closed his eyes and finally spoke in a deep voice: “No matter what went on last night, just pretend like it never happened. You had better not let a third person know that I was here.”
The open door was closed. There was one less person in the room, and one more dog that took advantage of the chaos to squeeze inside.
He Xingxing wagged his tail wildly and circled around He Chuzhou’s legs. Not seeing each other for a night felt like meeting again after a long absence, and he rubbed his head affectionately against his knees.
It was a pity that He Chuzhou was not in the mood to pay attention to him right now.
He stared in the direction Pei Xi had left and laughed angrily.
From the start, he had no intention of publicizing this incident everywhere. As a result, Pei Xi gave him a threat-like warning, which not only painted him as a man with a loose tongue, but also laid bare his dislike.
It was as if being in the same room as him and talking to him shamed him and made him lose face.
All of that laborious coaxing had been in vain.
Wu Qing’s call came at a very bad time. He Chuzhou was putting the leash on He Xingxing, and responded in a sour voice: “Spit it out.”
Wu Qing: “Did you swallow gunpowder so early in the morning? It’s nothing, I’ve just been wanting to ask you all night when you’re going to send me cat pictures, ah. Or I can just come and look at them.”
He Chuzhou: “If you like them so much, catch one yourself.”
Wu Qing: “That won’t work. I hear that raising a cat at home is a lot of trouble, and I don’t have the energy.”
He Chuzhou: “Since when do I have a cat?”
Wu Qing: “ ? ”
Wu Qing: “Haven’t you already taken it back?”
He Chuzhou: “It ran away.”
Wu Qing: “Ran away? The cat ran away???”
He Chuzhou was not in the mood to humor him: “En.”
Wu Qing: “Did you sleep with the doors and windows open?”
He Chuzhou: “No.”
Wu Qing: “Then how did it escape? Aren’t you looking for it?”
He Chuzhou: “I’m not looking.”
Wu Qing: “Why not?”
A “heh” tugged at the corners of his mouth: “Because it’s the wrong breed. It’s not a cat, just a purebred white-eyed wolf.”
*
*
Pei Xi’s expression changed as soon as he left the house, and the calmness and arrogance he had maintained crumbled in an instant.
He covered his face in immense vexation, unable to understand how his side effects had appeared again.
Forget coming here the first time, now he had come a second time!
The scenes of him getting drunk and losing his mind, then crying and making trouble last night were still vivid in his mind. Whenever he thought about it, he wished he could go back in time and strangle his “self” of that time and space.
He had put on all kinds of ludicrous performances, and there was no telling how that person would arrange to laugh at him behind his back.
He was sick to death, but he was helpless to do anything about what had already been done and could not be changed.
After he arrived home, he took a shower and changed clothes as quickly as he could. The pajamas were an eyesore, so he tossed them to the side somewhere.
When Xie Ling called, he was taking the keys and preparing to go out. He had been picked up by He Chuzhou when he left the party last night, so the car was still parked there.
Xie Ling: “You’re awake?”
The inner walls of the elevator reflected Pei Xi’s discontented expression. “Don’t speak such nonsense.”
Xie Ling: “OK. Where are you now?”
Pei Xi: “At home.”
Xie Ling: “At…..your own home?”
Pei Xi: “Where else?”
Xie Ling probed: “Not at He Chuzhou’s place?”
Pei Xi: “Why would I be at his place?”
Xie Ling: “Didn’t you follow him last night?”
Pei Xi: “……”
Pei Xi: “You’re remembering wrong, I took a taxi last night.”
Xia Ling gave a stunned ah: “You took a taxi? But I clearly saw—”
Pei Xi: “Isn’t it that you drank too much and saw it wrong?”
“Really?” Xie Ling fell into self-doubt, but quickly figured it out and laughed: “I say, you hate him so much, so how could you cuddle with him and act coquettishly?”
Pei Xi: “……”
Pei Xi: “Yeah.”
Pei Xi: “Drink less in the future.”
Xie Ling: “I also think it’s all a hallucination. Right, I also had a nightmare one night……”
The topic was changed, and Pei Xi breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
He took a taxi to where he had parked the night before and opened the door, sitting in the driver’s seat. Pinching his nose, he began to think about another important matter.
The signed letter of guarantee he gave to He Chuzhou. How could he make him give it back or destroy it outright?
Thinking of this, he was distraught. He didn’t leave any evidence the first time, but made up for it the second time.
He wanted to mention it when he left in the morning, but wasn’t sure whether He Chuzhou would be willing to hand it over easily. He worried repeatedly, but didn’t say anything.
A businessman wouldn’t get up early if there was no profit in it, not to mention that the other party was He Chuzhou.
Perhaps he should just think about what to exchange for it.
At ten o’clock, Xiao Gu called and carefully asked him if he was still coming to the company today.
Pei Xi initially wanted to say that he would be there at once, but suddenly thought of something and changed his words: “I’ll go a little later. Change all of my morning meetings to the afternoon.”
After hanging up with his assistant, he dialed another number and made an appointment in a few words. Then he turned the car around and headed for the new destination.
Ten minutes later, the black vehicle parked in the parking lot of a large private hospital.
After completing a series of brain-oriented exams, Pei Xi sat in the office and listened to the doctor explain the specific situation to him.
“It is definitely a side effect of the blow to the brain.”
“The general duration of these things can be long or short, but this is the first time I have seen such a repetitive situation like President Pei’s.”
“Based on all the current information, we cannot determine the pattern of the attacks or whether they will happen again in the future.”
“However, what is certain is that these attacks have no impact on your physical health. My recommendation is that you sleep more and rest your brain, which may speed up recovery.”
Pei Xi listened patiently, took the examination forms from the doctor, thanked him, and left.
Xiao Gu sent a message that the meeting time had been postponed until 3 o’clock in the afternoon. It wasn’t quite 1 o’clock. Pei Xi rubbed his temples and decided to follow the doctor’s orders and go back to rest.
He actually hadn’t slept well the previous night. He didn’t know if it was because of the alcohol, but he kept dreaming about being sent away by Pei Yansong in high school. It happened over and over again, and his sleep was exhausting.
He had something to eat when he got home, and when he was clearing the table, he inexplicably thought of the bowl of hangover soup he drank before going to bed the previous night.
He had never been a good drinker, and had severe hangovers. Even if he drank one cup, he would have a headache all morning the next day.
But not today.
Thanks to that bowl of hangover soup that had been cooled to a suitable temperature, he was fed well last night and felt almost no discomfort this morning.
The warm, comfortable sensation that flowed down his dry throat and into his stomach was still very clear now.
His long eyelashes lowered, and his speed slowed down as he was putting things away.
After wiping away the water stains, he threw the paper towel into the trash can and went to the bathroom before going to his room. With an expressionless face, he picked up the pajamas in the corner and threw them into the washing machine.
It was not a long drive from home to the company. He set the alarm for 2 o’clock, closed the bed curtains, and lay down in the dimly-lit room.
Due to the overwhelming sleepiness caused by his nightmares, he sunk half of his face into the soft pillow and quickly fell asleep.
The time displayed on the wall clock passed minute by second, and the sunlight that penetrated through the gap in the bed curtains slowly crawled across the floor and changed its angle.
When there were still two minutes before 2 o’clock, the person on the bed opened his eyes hazily.
He couldn’t seem to understand why he was here. He sat up in bed, glanced at the empty space beside him, and then began to look around blankly.
……Why was that person not here?
With a slight frown, he lifted the quilt and got out of bed, walking out of the room barefoot. From the guest room to the living room, and from the living room to the kitchen.
He still didn’t find the person he was looking for. He stood in the middle of the living room with his arms hanging down, light and shadow outlining his thin and fragile figure.
In the next second, he turned and hurried back to the bedroom. He picked up his cellphone and turned off the alarm that was reminding him of something. Then he crouched beside the bed and dialed a number that he knew by heart.
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Chapter 10 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 12
