CH 29

After Bo Yueming went to the hospital, Pei Yi stayed and had dinner with Su Wan. Pei Yuan, who had led a group out on a business trip, happened to return home that night and was very angry to hear of the events of the past two days.

However, after this encounter, both the mother and daughter’s affection for Bo Yueming increased greatly.

After all, both of them had very simple beliefs—

As long as the other party could protect Pei Yi, and even if he could only give the child a moment of stability, this was good.

Even if the “marriage” relationship between the two was broken in the future, they could still bring Pei Yi back to live together.

In addition, they could both see that Pei Yi was willing to live with Bo Yueming.

Shu Wan had originally wanted to stay with Pei Yi, but facing Bo Yueming, who came to pick him up in a timely manner, she retracted that thought.

There was enough time.

As long as Pei Yi was happy and willing, as a mother, she would let him do as he pleased.

At ten o’clock in the evening, Pei Yi came out of the bathroom after taking a shower at home.

He was wearing a very absorbent bathrobe and didn’t bother to take it off for a while, half-reclining in bed to let the after-shower heat dissipate.

Knock, knock.

There was a knock on the door.

Lying at the end of the bed, Inspector promptly pricked up its ears and didn’t forget to notify Pei Yi who was lying on the bed, “Meow~”

Pei Yi was amused by the cleverness of his beloved pet, and then there was a question from the door, “Pei Yi? Are you asleep?”

It was Bo Yueming’s voice.

Pei Yi had originally thought that it was Uncle Kai delivering milk to him before bed, and was a little surprised. He glanced over at the cute bear pajamas next to the bed, and then at the extremely comfortable bathrobe on his body, and simply got up.

Approaching the door, Pei Yi donned his habitual well-behaved expression and opened it.

Dressed in black pajamas, Bo Yueming stood outside the door, holding the familiar warm milk in one hand and a small bag in the other.

Pei Yi’s eyes shifted uncertainly from the milk to Bo Yueming’s face. “Er-ge?”

Where was Uncle Kai?

Why did Bo Yueming deliver the milk himself?

“Uncle Kai knocked on the door for a long time with no response. I told him to go back first.” Bo Yueming followed the outline of the unclear scene before him and passed over the milk in his hand steadily. “Your bedtime milk. Drink it.”

He had gone to the hospital for an examination in the afternoon, and it just so happened—

Shu Yucheng’s broomstick had hurt his shoulders and the back of his neck, as well as the back of his head, but fortunately did not hit anything vital. On the contrary, it “promoted” the healing of his eyes inadvertently.

At this moment, Bo Yueming’s eyesight was no longer mottled. Instead, he could already see the blurred outlines of objects, like the highest degree of myopia, and he could occasionally see better when he concentrated with all his strength.

But the doctor still suggested—

Especially in this critical period of recovery, he couldn’t rush to stare at things, lest he damage his eyes too much.

Pei Yi didn’t know what was going on in Bo Yueming’s mind. He just took the warm milk obediently and drank half the cup, pretending to enjoy it very much.

When Bo Yueming heard his hum, a slight curve appeared at the edges of his lips. “Just showered?”

As he spoke, he subconsciously glanced down, and then fixed his gaze uncertainly for a moment.

Pei Yi failed to notice the change in Bo Yueming’s eyes, and replied confidently, “En!”

“……..”

Bo Yueming asked, “Have you changed back to your pajamas?”

Pei Yi hesitated for two seconds, looking at the bathrobe he hadn’t changed out of.

Very quickly, the feeling of guilt accompanied by ‘Bo Yueming can’t see’ dissipated completely, and he played the fool to the end, “En! Little, little bear. Uncle Kai gave it!”

“En.”

Bo Yueming gave an inaudible laugh, suppressing the surprise in his heart. He could still only see vaguely right now, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t see anything—

At the least, he could distinguish between pajama pants and the pale legs that shone white under the lights.

Pei Yi thought he was being appropriately perfunctory, so he silently stopped drinking and left a half cup of milk. “Er-ge?”

Bo Yueming understood his subtext, and made a request. “Give me some medicine, my shoulders and the back of my neck are still swollen.”

“…….”

Pei Yi was stunned for two seconds, and reminded, “Uncle Kai.”

Shouldn’t Bo Yueming’s first reaction be to ask Uncle Kai for help with such matters? He still remembered the first time he broke into the bathroom suddenly and offered to help with medicine, when Bo Yueming refused.

Bo Yueming grasped the small bag tightly with his fingertips and handed it over. “Uncle Kai is tired today, come on.”

The other party was injured while protecting him, after all, so Pei Yi naturally couldn’t sit idly by. The moment he had the anti-inflammatory medicine in hand, he suddenly thought of something and hummed unhappily.

“I can’t.”

“…….”

Bo Yueming got stuck, and was slow to react for a while before he understood what Pei Yi meant. Last time at Old Mr. Bo’s birthday banquet, Li Yuan’s finger was slightly injured, and Bo Yueming said a few words in front of Yan Cen and the others—

“Pei Yi can’t handle this sort of thing well.”

“You can’t, the bandage will have to be changed again if you deal with it.”

He didn’t expect that the kitten would be so vengeful, and could still use these two sentences now.

Bo Yueming held back a helpless smile. “You can, I said the wrong thing last time.”

“En.”

That was about right.

Pei Yi was praised, and his fur was stroked the right way, so he took Bo Yueming’s wrist. “Let’s go.”

Bo Yueming had originally wanted to tell Pei Yi how much his eyesight had improved, but after feeling the delicate touch on his wrist, he suddenly didn’t want to explain it.

He pretended to still be visually impaired, and slowly followed Pei Yi to the sofa in the small living room.

The two people sat on the sofa.

Pei Yi opened the small medicine bag on his own, and then heard Bo Yueming’s reminder, “Uncle Kai said there is a spray that is red and white. You spray it for me, and then apply the ointment.”

After speaking, he simply and neatly unbuttoned the pajamas on his upper body.

Pei Yi naturally knew the steps of applying medicine and was holding the spray to secretly study the amount, so when he raised his eyes, he realized that Bo Yueming had exposed his back.

He was in a hurry last time in the bathroom, and Pei Yi, who was standing at the door, didn’t have time to look very carefully.

Now, looking closely, he realized that the muscle contours that Bo Yueming had previously hidden beneath his clothes were smoother and more superior than he had imagined, but also not exaggerated.

Pei Yi stared straight at them, and his heart was secretly sour.

Comparing the two people angered him to death.

The staring gaze was so straightforward and intense that it seemed to burn a hole in that back.

Sensing all of this, Bo Yueming was inexplicably a little nervous, and his voice was faintly tense, “Pei Yi, the spray. Did you find it?”

Pei Yi unconsciously swallowed, and regained his senses.

There were only three or four anti-swelling medications in the bag. Pei Yi shook the spray can, and when he saw the red and swollen right shoulder and back of his neck, his suppressed hostility surged up again—

Shu Youcheng, that smelly and shameless thing!

If he had known earlier, he should have broken his ribs this afternoon! Then he and Chen Yuyin could enter the hospital as patients side by side!

Thinking of this, Pei Yi remembered Shu Wan and Pei Yuan’s thoughts about the current villa at the dinner table tonight.

To be honest, not only the mother and daughter, but even Pei Yi himself didn’t expect that the owner of the villa would be Bo Yueming.

“Er-ge.”

Pei Yi chose simple words to express himself. “Thank you. The house, we don’t need it.”

Originally, Shu Wan and Pei Yuan had thought about “spending money to rent a house” as long as their finances allowed them to afford it, and the landlord of the villa was also willing to rent at this price, so both parties could feel at ease with one another.

They only found out today that it was Bo Yueming behind the house.

The only reason the other party was willing to “rent out” must be because of Pei Yi. Coupled with the “marriage relationship” between the two, this house could not be defined by a “leasing relationship.”

What’s more, Shu Wan and Pei Yuan understood — if they lived too well, they would only attract covetous weasels.

Bo Yueming was taken aback. “Why?”

Pei Yi shook his head and said, “Mom says, not good.”

Bo Yueming was silent for a while, and understood Shu Wan’s thoughts through Pei Yi’s words.

Long before Uncle Kai helped the mother and daughter move into the villa, Shu Wan and Pei Yuan repeatedly asked whether the “rental price” was true. Even the master bedroom and study on the second floor were never opened and used, presumably because they didn’t want to be greedy.

When taking Pei Yi home tonight, Uncle Kai also secretly told him — the mother and daughter had cleaned up the villa to look brand new, and there was no smell at all.

Bo Yueming had his own sense of propriety in this matter. “I have kept that villa unused for a while. If people can live in it, I’m not unhappy.”

Pei Yi shook his head and made a sound of refusal.

In addition to the considerations of the Shu Wan mother and daughter, Pei Yi also had his own set of considerations. Right now, he was “pretending to be crazy and act the fool,” and had received enough care from Bo Yueming.

And the original owner’s relatives were his relatives alone now, not the other party’s responsibility. He himself would work hard and earn money so that Shu Wan and Pei Yuan could live a good life.

In addition, if the mother and daughter lived in Bo Yueming’s house for a long time without conscience, how could he escape in the future, ah?

Inconvenient, absolutely inconvenient!

Bo Yueming didn’t know Pei Yi’s inner thoughts, and didn’t want to force the issue and make things difficult. He touched his shoulder that was still hurting and directed, “Come on, here, spray this side.”

The topic passed by.

Pei Yi obediently followed suit and sprayed the anti-swelling medicine evenly on the red and swollen skin, bringing a cool, icy sensation.

Bo Yueming was about to reach up and rub it in with his hand to heat it up, but Pei Yi, who was worried about the wound, was a step ahead —

The naturally warm palms and fingertips came into contact with the liquid medicine and gently rubbed, forming a strange tactile sensation of ice and fire on his back. As the rubbing technique gradually intensified, the heat began to penetrate into the skin.

The original stimulation of the medicine was hardly worth mentioning.

Bo Yueming smoothly retracted his hand, his breathing short and tight. He silently felt the force on his back and recalled everything that had happened during this period, then suddenly realized a possibility that he had ignored.

It was just that his eyes were not fully healed yet, so he had no way to prove this conjecture for the time being.

Pei Yi rubbed arbitrarily and earnestly for a while, and after determining that the heating effect of the medicine was gradually rising, he continued pretending to be ignorant. “…….Done.”

Bo Yueming reached out again and gestured briefly. “There is a medicinal patch in the box, stick it on.”

Pei Yi once again took out the corresponding medicine, tore off the dust-proof outermost plastic layer, and slowly pasted it onto the red and swollen area.

After finishing, he was afraid that it would not stick firmly, so he automatically pressed hard on the outer edges of the medicine patch with his fingertips.

Those fingertips along the outermost edge of the patch were like a kitten pawing over and over, and the tingling sensation was followed by an uncontrollable heat.

Bo Yueming’s back stiffened, and he suddenly turned around and grabbed the hand that had no intention of making trouble. “Pei Yi, enough!”

Taken off guard, Pei Yi leaned forward and the tips of their noses brushed past each other lightly.

For a brief moment, there seemed to be an illusion of a kiss.

“…….”

“…….”

Bo Yueming looked at the blurry face that was so close at hand, and there were unstoppable waves in his eyes.

Pei Yi fell into those eyes, belatedly realizing the inadvertent contact between them just now. “Er, Er-ge?”

Bo Yueming captured the tension in his voice that was different from before, and as if to test his inner guess, he followed the faint breathing and pushed forward another half inch. “En?”

The tips of their noses seemed to rub against each other again, like the intimate prelude to a kiss.

Pei Yi finally broke free from the restraint around his wrist, realized that his movement was too big, and made up for it, “I, I’m sleepy.”

Bo Yueming squeezed his empty hand and seemed to understand something, but pretended nothing had happened. “En, you did very well, go to sleep early. Good night.”

There was a hint of a smile hidden in that rare gentle tone, as if he was coaxing a child, making the eardrums tremble with numbness.

Pei Yi’s mind went blank for a moment, and he almost couldn’t bring up the cute mask he was accustomed to, so he got up and fled in a hurry.

The bathrobe curled up in a small arc with the movement, and it seemed that his calves became more slender and white before he disappeared through the door in an instant.

Swish.

Bo Yueming heard the sound of the door closing. Sitting alone on the sofa, he pondered for a long time, and only then did he let out an obvious laugh, extremely amused.

He seemed to have accidentally discovered a kitten who could act.

. . . . . . .

Having returned to the room, Pei Yi hastened into the bathroom to wash his hands.

It wasn’t until the cold water covered his palms and the heat from the medicine melted away that he broke free of that speechless state.

Pei Yi looked at himself in the mirror and reached up to rub the tip of his nose. It was as if there was still a trace of temperature there that didn’t belong to him.

“Meow-wu~”

Inspector’s coquettish call sounded, and Pei Yi looked through the mirror’s reflection—

The pet was crouching outside the bathroom door with only its small head sticking through and watching his every move, ridiculously cute.

Pei Yi laughed and turned around to walk out. “What are you squatting here for? Let’s go.”

Inspector took a few steps outside and worked hard to jump from the ground to the chair, and then from the chair to the computer table. “Meow!”

Pei Yi followed its instructions, only to find that his computer was making a very quiet ding-dong noise.

It sounded like it should be a message from the Youtu forum website.

Pei Yi opened the back end of the website that hadn’t been closed and found that there were indeed unread messages on the message notification in the upper right corner.

He gave Inspector’s clever little head a quick rub and leisurely opened the message from Li Yuan—

“Mr. Will, are you there?”

“I’ve sent the relevant investment declaration list to G.M.’s official email, and it just so happens that they are looking for a new investment project these days, so they sent me a reply soon after. It said that the preliminary project screening will be carried out next Wednesday and that I, as the project leader, can go there directly.”

At the same time, Li Yuan also sent a project competition advantage analysis form.

Pei Yi accepted and clicked on the corresponding file, glanced over it, and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

In all honesty, Li Yuan’s work efficiency was far better than he had imagined.

“En, I read it.”

Li Yuan on the other side seemed to have been waiting for his reply, and after a moment, he sent a large paragraph of pre-edited text—

“Mr. Will, what city are you in? Please excuse me, but I think that since we want to formally become partners, we should meet up. If you are not in the Imperial Capital, I can take the time to fly to the city where you are.”

“I know you want to hide your identity, and also said before that any project should be carried out online, but forgive me for being a little apprehensive.”

“After all, this project is not only about your creativity and development, but is also related to the final direction of Dawn Games. I can accept failure after hard work, but I don’t want to find out that after working hard, I am making wedding dresses for other people.”[1]

“This may be a bit blunt, but isn’t the first step in a partnership to be honest and trust one another?”

Pei Yi read the words sent by Li Yuan without any aversion or dissatisfaction.

Looking at it from the standpoint of the other party, he could understand his concerns at the moment—

After all, Li Yuan was the one working hard at the front of the stage, compared to him, who was working behind the scenes.

If he couldn’t confirm the authenticity of the partner, and couldn’t confirm that the story of “The Last Fog” came from his original work, it might be a planted time bomb that could explode future cooperations.

Simply relying on chatting and communicating on the webpage could not completely wipe out this concern.

It was just that since Pei Yi lived in Bo Manor now, and was with Bo Yueming and Uncle Kai and others every day, it was not an easy task to go out under their noses.

What’s more, he didn’t think that now was a good time to remove his disguise for outsiders.

—Ding-dong.

The notification sound came again. “Mr. Will, what do you think?”

Pei Yi recovered from his deep thoughts and answered after some consideration, “I am also in the Imperial Capital, so we can meet, but I decide the time and place.”

“The situation on my side is quite unique. I may temporarily not be able to contact you, but I will try my best to meet you before G.M.’s preliminary screening next Wednesday, is that okay?”

On the other side, Li Yuan responded very simply, “Okay. I’ll follow your arrangements.

. . . . . . 

Four days later.

Li Yuan looked at the three-character signboard of “Mingxiang Pavilion” in front of him, and reconfirmed the detailed address sent by Will on his phone, quite surprised.

He had originally thought that the official meeting between the two of them would be held in such a common place as a coffee shop or restaurant booth, and didn’t expect that it would be an antique teahouse.

Li Yuan confirmed the time agreed on by the two of them and entered the teahouse early.

It was a working day, and at this point in the afternoon, there were almost no other guests in the teahouse.

The proprietress at the front desk was wearing a very charming cheongsam and greeted with a smile, “Hello, Sir. Welcome to Mingxiang Pavilion.”

Li Yuan nodded. “Hello, I’m……”

The proprietress seemed to already know his identity. “Mr. Li Yuan, isn’t it?”

Li Yuan was startled. “Ah, yes.”

“Please follow me to the box on the second floor. A seat has been prepared for you.” The proprietress led Li Yuan upstairs and brought him into the designated small tea room.

Wood shutters were used to splice the surrounding walls to make partitions, and there were small potted plants. A pear blossom picture representing the name of the box was also placed, along with a solid wood tea table and a brewed pot of tea, making the environment very comfortable.

Li Yuan stared at the picture of pear blossoms with a smile on his naturally indifferent face.

The proprietress was as amiable as before. “Mr. Li, please take a seat. If you have any needs, you can press the electronic bell on the table.”

“Thank you.”

The compartment door closed again.

Li Yuan sat down, and had just picked up the teapot to pour tea for himself while he was waiting, when he heard two knocks from the box next door.

Dong—Dong—

At the same time, there was an accompanying address, “Young Boss Li.”

The voice was young and melodious.

Li Yuan’s hand pouring the tea shook, and he came to a realization. “Is it Mr. Will? When did you get here?”

Pei Yi, who was sitting in the tea room next door, heard his unconcealed surprise and pursed his lips. “It’s me. I got here just a little earlier than you.”

Bo Yueming and Uncle Kai had something important to do, and went out early in the morning. He carefully avoided the sight of the driver, Lao Fu, and others, and snuck out through the backyard of the villa and over the wall.

Pei Yi guessed that Li Yuan would arrive early, so he came earlier, and confirmed with the proprietress to arrange everything for the two adjacent tea room boxes.

To be frank, he still didn’t want to meet the other party directly.

The reason for choosing this place was also to make sure that no strangers would overhear their conversation at this time during a working day.

“Young Boss Li, I apologize for ‘meeting’ you this way. My situation is special, but since I dared to come here in person, I just want to take one more step to assure you—”

“I am definitely your trusted partner.”

When Pei Yi was playing the fool, he would make his voice small and pretend to be gentle and well-behaved. But now, he used his original voice that he was most comfortable with, and along with the acoustics of the box’s wooden walls—

In this way, Li Yuan, who had met him as two different people, didn’t hear anything wrong.

“Young Boss Li, for “The Last Fog Version 1.0,” I am only in charge of the project as a plot architect.”

“I will provide you with the complete creative story and infrastructure before the official launch. There will be no loss of contact during the development period, and in the places where efforts should be made, I will never be perfunctory.”

“And I will promise that before officially launching “The Last Fog 2.0,” I will let you see my ‘true face.’ At that time, you can reconfirm whether or not I am qualified enough to be your partner.”

Li Yuan silently judged the credibility of Will’s words, and his intuition told him the same thing as the first time—

This man was trustworthy.

And the game “The Last Fog” constructed by him was very likely to be the last rope to pull back Dawn Games.

Pei Yi accepted the silence from the other side and asked after waiting an appropriate amount of time, “Young Boss Li, what do you think?”

He and Dawn Games had already reached the edge of the cliff. Why not try this last chance?

Li Yuan made a final decision. “Okay!”

“Then replace the wine with tea, and we’ll wish each other a happy cooperation. By the way……” Pei Yi paused and assumed a serious attitude for talking about proper work, “Let me discuss with you the characteristics of the game ‘The Last Fog.’”

Li Yuan chuckled and lightly tapped the solid wood table with his teacup. “All right.”

. . . . . .

The two discussed for nearly an hour and a half before stopping.

Pei Yi glanced at the time. “Young Boss Li, I came here first and still have some personal matters to deal with.”

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan responded quickly.

After the formal communication with Will, his confidence in the setting of the game “The Last Fog” had greatly increased, and he was also eager to go back and improve his investment declaration plan.

Seeing that Pei Yi next door did not move, Li Yuan said belatedly, “Mr. Will, shall I go first?”

Pei Yi didn’t stop him. “En, we’ll connect online.”

“Okay.”

Li Yuan opened the tea room box and went out. When passing by the room where Will was, his footsteps stopped unconsciously. 

They were separated by one door.

Li Yuan only needed to reach out and push it lightly, and he could see Will’s true face. But he was very clear that if he really did this, it would directly hurt the trust of the partnership between them. 

The footsteps outside the door stopped and then walked on, gradually drifting away until they disappeared.

[1] If you make wedding dresses for other people, you are doing all of the work without getting the benefits. ⮐