CH 62

Five minutes later.

Pei Yi knocked on the passenger door. The window rolled down, and a puff of smoke drifted out from inside.

Through the thin haze, Pei Yi could clearly see the despondency in Li Yuan’s eyes. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

Sitting in the driver’s seat, Li Yuan was afraid that his friend wouldn’t like the smoke, so he extinguished the lit cigarette in his hand. He rolled down the car windows and sunroof, turning on the ventilation. “Are you coming in? It might still be a little stuffy.”

Pei Yi didn’t care about the smokiness. He opened the door and sat inside. “Sorry I butted in just now.”

Li Yuan sighed. “No, if not for you, I might not have been able to ask questions or make a decision.”

Pei Yi understood the undiminished pain in his friend’s heart, and explained the circumstances, “I’ll go in your car. I just asked Lao Fu to keep an eye on Madam An’s situation covertly and make sure she gets home safely before going back.”

After all, An Yang’s condition had not been completely cured.

If she took things too hard and was stimulated by those words to the point of doing something stupid, if something happened on the way home, Li Yuan would suffer even more.

Li Yuan acknowledged his friend’s kindness. “Thank you.”

“I told you, there’s no need for such politeness between friends.”

Pei Yi took out two plastic-sealed mini bags of snowball cakes from his coat pocket and handed one over. “Do you want one? They’re really tasty.”

Li Yuan took it slowly. “Why are you carrying this with you?”

Pei Yi blurted out, “Er-ge had someone buy them for me.”

After realizing his baffling sense of pleasure, he quickly changed his words, “So what, it takes a lot of brainpower to design games, so I like to eat something sweet.”

“Although it’s a bit childish, sweets do make people feel better, don’t they?”

“En.”

This time, Li Yuan didn’t deny it.

He opened the plastic bag and stuffed the mini snowball cake into his mouth, playing with the edge of the bag with his head down.

“……..”

Feeling the pain in the depths of this silence, Pei Yi sighed softly. “Pear Garden, don’t hold back when you’re not feeling good.”

From beginning to now, Li Yuan was not the party at fault in this incident, but the biggest victim of all.

After all, he was also a misplaced child, and Pei Huan’s situation over the years had been much better than Li Yuan’s.

Li Yuan ate without tasting it, and choked up a little. “Pei Yi, do you think all of this is true? Could there be a mistake?”

After all, the current “authenticated truth” was one-sided on An Yang’s part.

Pei Yi knew of the established results in the book and in reality, so he asked, “What do you think? Do you want to do the paternity test?”

Li Yuan shook his head. “I don’t know.”

The only child of Li Xiang and An Yang, Li Yuan bore his father’s surname and his mother’s first name, which also carried the love between the couple in the beginning. He had lived with this external identity for twenty-five years.

From childhood to adulthood, Li Yuan felt that he was never short of material and spiritual abundance, and was grateful for his parents’ upbringing and love. Before the misfortune at home, he had been living very proudly and confidently.

“Later, the business situation of the company went from bad to worse. In order to keep me from worrying, never informed me of the real economic situation, and even tried his best to support me in everything I wanted.”

There was not much written about Li Xiao in the original book, but Pei Yi could glean from Li Yuan’s description that he was a caring and responsible father.

“It was only about two months from the onset of my dad’s illness to his death. The time was too short, so it was even more difficult to accept. I saw he was depressed all day long, but he decided that he should stand up and support the company and the family.”

And Li Yuan also did the same—

He gave up the major he liked, and shoulders his studies, career, and his small family with An Yang alone.

Li Yuan learned to socialize, to drink, and to be a little shrewd amongst the smoke and mirrors. He set aside his self-esteem and pride, endured contempt and ridicule, and worked hard to support Dawn Games.

The reason Li Yuan endured all of this willingly was because of his parents’ love for him, but what happened now subverted the way he looked at things—

As a “mother,” An Yang knew everything a long time ago, but didn’t report it, and this mother’s love and support went to someone else.

“A paternity test can produce results, but it can’t be exchanged for real feelings.” Li Yuan looked at Pei Yi as if searching for an answer. “They should love Pei Huan very much, right?”

“…….”

Pei Yi knew what his friend meant.

Just giving up on more than twenty years of companionship and love?

If not for the successive news of her husband’s death and her son’s misplacement, how many parents in the world could really be so cruel?

Presently, An Yang may be able to give up her affection for Li Yuan because of her biological son, but the Pei couple might not be able to achieve such a smooth emotional transfer.

Pei Yi still remembered this plot in the original text—

Even though the two returned to their real identities, Pei Ruzhang and Deng Xiuya did not abandon “Pei Huan” and shun him, which to some extent caused Li Yuan to be resentful.

Li Yuan was willing to be honest to his friend about his thoughts. “I want to know the exact result, but I don’t want to have any interaction with them.”

He wanted to ask for his own piece of mind, but didn’t want to have unnecessary entanglements with the Pei family.

Pei Yi hesitated for a couple of seconds before giving his opinion, “If you really want to know, I could ask my older brother to do a blood test with you?”

Li Yuan didn’t react for a moment. “Older brother?”

Pei Yi said, “Grandpa Pei’s grandson, my cousin, Qin Yishun.”

If he remembered correctly, it seemed that cousins could do a kinship test? It was just that the accuracy rate was not as high as a paternity test.

“…….”

Li Yuan was taken aback for a moment, then smiled unexpectedly. 

So many things had happened in succession that he had nearly forgotten that Pei Yi was also a member of the Pei family!

Pei Yi was helpless. “What are you smiling at, I’m trying to find a way for you!”

Li Yuan realized belatedly, “If Pei Huan and I were switched at birth, doesn’t that make me your cousin?”

Pei Yi smothered a cough. “We are, nominally. If you want to talk, you can tell me anytime.”

Li Yuan raised his eyebrows, suddenly feeling that things weren’t too bad. “I suddenly have a little brother. That seems pretty good”

“…….”

Pei Yi threw his unopened snowball cake into his hands. “I worried for you in vain. Drive quickly if you have nothing to do, let’s not keep Lou Yang waiting for too long.”

Li Yuan finally revealed a light, sincere smile. “Pei Yi, thank you.”

If Pei Yi hadn’t firmly chosen to cooperate with him at the beginning, perhaps the current Dawn Games would have ceased to exist long ago, let alone the YWY Studios representing the new generation.

If there was no support for his business, and if there was no encouragement from Pei Yi as a friend, he would only have a worse life than now, right? 

“You’re welcome.”

Pei Yi’s lips curved slightly, and he snatched the snowball cake back from him again. “I’m starving to death, I need to pad my stomach.”

Li Yuan cheered up and started the car. “Fasten your seatbelt. Let’s go get dinner at Sister Yang’s.”

. . . . . . .

Lou Yang didn’t live with her parents, but rented a well-decorated suite for herself, and only went back to her parents’ house for a short stay on weekends.

When Pei Yi and Li Yuan arrived at their destination, Lou Yang was busy in the kitchen.

Xiang Nansheng, who was unpacking bags, saw the two of them and took the rare initiative to urge, “Just in time, you two come help me.”

Xiang Nansheng was a little older than them, but it wasn’t polite to call him by his job title in private.

Pei Yi was curious. “What is it?”

Lou Yang came out of the kitchen and explained, “The main lights in the living room and cloakroom aren’t working. I bought new lights online and was going to change them myself over the weekend, but now—”

Her eyes wandered between the three of them, and she used them with peace of mind. “I’ll leave it to you boys.”

Xiang Nansheng took out a new light. “I just need one more person to help.”

Li Yuan volunteered. “Let me do it, I’ve changed them at home before.”

When Lou Yang heard this, she immediately accepted the lone Pei Yi as her younger brother. “Then Pei Yi will come to the kitchen and help me?”

Pei Yi was completely new to cooking, and gave a confused, “Ah?”

“Ah, what ah? Food isn’t free here.” Lou Yang smiled and grabbed his wrist, ordering like a sister, “Come in, choose a dish for me first.”

Pei Yi entered the kitchen, only to find that Lou Yang had bought a lot of ingredients, and many of them were for difficult dishes that required cooking skills.

“Sister Yang, why did you buy so much?”

“With the three of you together, how can your appetites be small?” Lou Yang handed some vegetables to Pei Yi and demonstrated for him. “Can you do it?”

Pei Yi nodded. “I can.”

Lou Yang entrusted him with this simple task, and picked up shrimp non-stop, skillfully cleaning them. 

Pei Yi asked curiously as he helped, “Sister Yang, who did you learn to cook from, an uncle or aunt?”

“No.”

Lou Yang shook her head, and a flash of recollection passed through her eyes. “I was studying abroad at the time. I ate fried food and fast food every day, and was admitted to the hospital.”

“My……ex-boyfriend blamed himself and thought he didn’t take good care of me, so he started to study recipes from then on, and made many kinds of delicious food for me every day after class.” 

Love was mutual, and it should never be a one-sided effort.

“I was afraid that it would be hard on him to cook alone for a long time, so I followed suit and learned to cook. Later, the two of us turned from complete novices into chefs who could cook a table of dishes.”

Lou Yang returned to reality, and said with confidence, “You will understand when you try my cooking skills tonight.”

Hearing Lou Yang’s story, Pei Yi turned his head unconsciously to look.

He remembered the other party saying that the reason she was willing to resign from a high-paying foreign job and return to China was firstly to accompany her parents, and secondly because she needed a change of environment after breaking up with her ex.

“Sister Yang, you and your ex……” Pei Yi swallowed his words.

“If you want to ask, just ask. I have nothing to say.” Lou Yang chuckled and took the lead to share.

Lou Yang met her ex when she was studying abroad. The two walked from campus to work, learning together and progressing together.

“He and I were together almost nine years, from our early twenties to our early thirties.” Lou Yang stopped what she was doing and sighed. “Looking back now, it was really a long period of youth.”

“…….”

Pei Yi nodded, but his mind inevitably made a subtle connection—

Almost nine years?

That was longer than his fathers had been together.

Pei Yi asked cautiously, “Sister Yang, why did you break up?”

Lou Yang didn’t reveal any great sadness. “Because we had known each other for so long, not only in life, but also in work, and we had almost no time apart all year round.”

Pei Yi was not very clear. “Love turned into familial affection?”

“Maybe it wasn’t love from the start,” Lou Yang said bluntly, and began to deal with the fresh shrimp in her hands again.

“I discussed this issue with him. Back then, we were the only two foreign students from China in our school major.”

It was like two people huddling for warmth in an unfamiliar environment, and they felt it suitable to become partners.

It happened that both of them had mature and rational personalities, and the usual quarrels between lovers rarely happened between them.

Pei Yi thought of his Father Yan and Father Rong again, and lamented, “Sister Yang, will all feelings disappear in the end, and either disappear or turn into reluctance?”

Lou Yang heard the pessimism in Pei Yi’s tone and frowned slightly. “Why do you think so?”

Pei Yi dodged the question. “I don’t, I’m just asking.”

Lou Yang soaked the processed shrimp in water and answered seriously, “You, ah, don’t think that love is impossible just because I broke up after being in my past relationship for so long.”

“You have to know that everyone has different needs when it comes to love. Some people prefer it to be dynamic, while some like to go little by little. Some people lower their standards for money, while others become excellent for love.”

“I needed stable companionship at the beginning when I was studying abroad, but now I want to take care of my career and my parents. My ex had a different life plan than me, so it was normal for us to go our separate ways.”

Being unsuitable and separating was better than wasting time.

Lou Yang and her ex broke up peacefully. Of course, the withdrawal after breaking up was painful and unavoidable.

“Whether a relationship is good or bad depends on what you need, and whether your partner can give it to you and keep pace with you. You have to believe that there is love that truly fits without compromise in this world.”

Pei Yi nodded thoughtfully, understanding the general idea.

Seeing his cute confused appearance, Lou Yang couldn’t help but ask, “Xiao Yi, I don’t understand the rules of wealthy families like you do, but have you and Bo Yueming always been lovers?”

Pei Yi’s hand stopped picking vegetables. “N-no.”

Lou Yang had an intuition. “That means he’s pursuing you, but you haven’t agreed. Right?”

“…….”

Pei Yi got stuck. He had truly underestimated the accuracy of Lou Yang’s sixth sense.

Lou Yang saw through his embarrassment, and continued easily, “I think Mr. Bo is pretty good. Why don’t you agree to try it, because his eyes are bad?”

Pei Yi heard the second half of the sentence, and immediately retorted, “Of course not.”

He would never think of staying away because of Bo Yueming’s physical inconvenience. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have agreed to the marriage in the first place, not to mention that his eyes were always going to be fine.

Seeing Pei Yi’s reaction, Lou Yang remembered his argument about love just now, and suddenly understood something. “Xiao Yi, in fact, very few lovers can predict their entire lives from the beginning. Only by grasping the present can they create their future step by step.”

“If you don’t choose to start, if you don’t try, then how can you know the result?”

“You won’t know the result unless you start?”

Pei Yi’s mind shifted slightly, and Bo Yueming’s figure appeared uncontrollably in his mind.

Lou Yang affirmed, “Of course, love is not a pre-set game program. It is more interesting to break through the level without knowing the ending. My last relationship was at worst a failure to break through the level, but I am still willing to learn from experience and make persistent efforts.”

“Maybe the next person to accompany me through the level will be a little wolf dog.”

Pei Yi laughed when he heard the expectation in that last part. “Little wolf dog? Sister, you also like this type?”

Lou Yang glanced at him and teased jokingly, “What, mature sisters aren’t allowed to like younger people, ah?”

Pei Yi handed over the chosen cabbage. “Not allowed, ah? With our Sister Yang’s charm, she can find anyone.”

“Okay, stop talking!” Lou Yang looked at the time and urged, “We need to hurry up, otherwise dinner will become supper.”

“Okay.”

. . . . . . .

After Xiang Nansheng and Li Yuan installed the new lights, they also hastened to the kitchen to help. The four of them worked together for a while, and finally made six dishes and one soup before seven o’clock. They ate to their heart’s content.

Faced with Lou Yang and Li Yuan’s repeated invitations, Pei Yi, who knew his own drinking capacity, only dared to take a couple of sips.

It was strange.

When Pei Yi stayed at home, even if he knew there was a risk of being discovered by Bo Yueming, he dared to drink a glass and half a bottle. But tonight, when he had a legitimate reason to drink, he learned to restrain and limit himself.

The four of them chatted about everything from game projects to life, and dinner ended at nearly ten o’clock.

Pei Yi was enjoying himself, and picked up the phone after not looking at it for a long time, only to find that Bo Yueming had sent him a WeChat message an hour ago—

“Are you done eating? Drink less alcohol.”

Pei Yi hurriedly typed a reply. “I just finished eating, and didn’t drink. I’m coming home.”

Not long after the message was sent, Bo Yueming returned a message—

“Okay, I’m waiting for you downstairs.”

After he got off work, Pei Yi had told Lao Fu to secretly send An Yang home, and only later did he send Lou Yang’s home address. It wasn’t surprising that Bo Yueming knew the address.

Pei Yi took a tight breath. He didn’t expect that Bo Yueming would rush over in person. “When did you come? Have you been waiting long?”

Wouldn’t it have been when he sent the first message? Had he been waiting for an hour?

Bo Yueming sent back again, “Not long, don’t worry.”

Pei Yi stared at this line of text, and suddenly remembered Lou Yang’s “family” remark that evening. His fingertips moved faster than his rational thinking: “I’m in the second room on the fifth floor. Do you want to come up?”

Almost simultaneously, Bo Yueming on the other side asked tacitly, “Do you want me to come pick you up?”

Two WeChat messages with the same intention collided, and the replies came at the same time again—

“En.”

“Okay.”

Pei Yi couldn’t shift his eyes away from the phone screen for a moment, as if he could taste the honey on it.

“Little Mister Li, who are you chatting with? The corners of your mouth are almost reaching the sky.”

Lou Yang’s teasing sounded.

Pei Yi was caught, and quickly put away his phone in a panic. “Ah? What did you just say?”

Li Yuan smiled and tossed an unopened courier box over. “Take it, it’s a pin gift designed by Sister Yang herself, one for each of us.”

Lou Yang changed her topic of speech to the gift. “I designed it when the studio was first established, but I haven’t been able to give it to you until now. I haven’t even opened the express box.”

“Although it seems casual, the intention is serious.”

“Thank you, Sister Yang.” Pei Yi hadn’t received an earnest gift for a long time, and was looking forward to it. He asked, “Can I open it now?”

Lou Yang nodded. “Of course.”

The sealing tape on the package was attached so firmly that it was difficult for Pei Yi to tear it off with his bare hands.

Witnessing his clumsy appearance, Lou Yang casually took out a utility knife from a drawer. “Here, use this.”

—Shing.

The blade extended from the metal handle.

The common, soft sound fell into Pei Yi’s ears, but it sounded particularly sharp!

He caught a glimpse of the slanted blade that was handed over, and the memory buried deep in his heart was brutally sliced open by the keen edge. The layered sound of a blade piercing through clothing and skin echoed in his ears.

“…….”

Pei Yi’s expression froze, and the package in his hands fell to the floor.

Unseen fear clenched his heart tightly.

Pei Yi’s breathing suddenly became rapid, and he subconsciously grabbed the sharp utility knife. “I, I don’t need it.”

A bloody slit was cut into his fingertip.

The three present witnessed this scene and simultaneously realized that something was wrong.

“Pei Yi?”

“What’s wrong?”

Pei Yi tossed away the utility knife in his hand, picked up the package, and did everything he could not to tremble. “Sorry, I’m going to go to the bathroom first.”

The doorbell rang just then, but Pei Yi paid it no mind.

He cast about the room aimlessly, and ran into the bathroom next to the living room with the last sliver of reasoning he had left.

—Shaaa.

The water rushed out suddenly.

Pei Yi couldn’t seem to feel the pain, constantly rinsing the bleeding wound. The blood smeared in large swaths through the water, almost staining his eyes red as his face paled.

Fragmented images emerged in his mind, and hoarse commands echoed in his ears—

“Xiao Yi, remember my lesson!”

“It’s all fake! It’s all a lie!”

“I want to make him regret, I want to make him regret for a lifetime!”

—Bang!

The bathroom door was forcefully opened. “Pei Yi?!”

The familiar, urgent voice broke through the layers of images, bringing back Pei Yi’s sense of reason. He raised his head cautiously and looked at the person behind him through the mirror.

As if unsure, he said, “Er-ge?”

This simple sentence was enough to make Bo Yueming, who had rushed over, extremely distressed.

At this moment, Pei Yi’s face was pale, his forehead was covered in sweat, and his reddened eyes revealed fragility, tension, and fear that had never been seen before.

Bo Yueming strode up and took Pei Yi into his arms.

He carefully avoided the other party’s injured and bleeding ring finger, and comforted him in a low voice, “I’m here, it’s okay.”

“…….”

The familiar scent brought with it the sense of stability that Pei Yi needed most, and the emotions that he held back in front of outsiders burst out. He buried himself in Bo Yueming’s arms with all his strength and did his best to hold back, but still let out a sob.

“Bo, Bo Yueming.”

“I’m here, I’m right here.”

Bo Yueming stroked the back of Pei Yi’s neck again and again, and gave him the firmest promise with the gentlest force, “It’s okay. With me here, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Only under such reassurance did Pei Yi’s rapid and shaky breathing finally ease.

“Er-ge, I want to go home.”

“Okay, I’ll take you home.”