Perhaps out of a compensatory mindset, Qiao Shi’an and Zhou Ruo gave Qiao Nan a good amount of pocket money each year.
Aside from buying paintings and some social obligations, Qiao Nan had no extravagant hobbies.
His little private fund had been growing over the years, and Pei Xu was well aware of this.
But he hadn’t expected Qiao Nan to save this money with the intention of using it as a dowry for his future wife.
With an unreadable smile, Pei Xu no longer refused, “Then I’ll take it to make some investments for you.”
Qiao Nan didn’t care what he did with it. Seeing that he accepted, he waved his hand gleefully, “Whatever you want. I’m going to go greet Qian Chuan and the others first.”
Then he darted off.
Pei Xu stood in place, watching his retreating figure.
The gentle smile on his face slowly faded, eventually disappearing without a trace.
After a moment of contemplation, he walked indoors.
As he reached the side door, he saw Zhong Shiyi leaning against the wall, arms crossed, watching him.
It was unclear how long he’d been there, but his expression and tone were full of provocation, “Spending a hundred million to win a beauty’s smile, President Pei is truly good to his younger brother.”
He slowed his speech, deliberately emphasizing the words “younger brother.”
Pei Xu showed a hint of surprise, as if he hadn’t expected Zhong Shiyi to be there.
After glancing at him for a moment, he gave a gentle smile, as if completely oblivious to the provocation, “It seems Young Master Zhong’s leg has recovered quite well; he no longer remembers the pain he felt back then.”
His demeanor and tone were remarkably gentle, his posture polite, like an old-fashioned gentleman suddenly reuniting with an old friend, inquiring about their recent well-being.
Only those involved understood the hidden meaning in his words.
Zhong Shiyi’s face subtly changed, and his body instinctively recoiled a step before his mind caught up.
“Lunatic,” he muttered, steadying himself after realizing his reaction.
His voice squeezed through his clenched teeth.
Pei Xu’s expression remained unchanged.
He took off his glasses, slowly and methodically wiping the lenses with the silk handkerchief from his left jacket pocket, “Young Master Zhong specifically waited for me here. Could it be you wish to reminisce?”
Without the softening cover of the lenses, his narrow, elongated eyes became even sharper.
He was smiling, yet there was no warmth in it, making Zhong Shiyi feel a strong sense of threat.
He couldn’t help but recall two years ago, the time Pei Xu came to find him—
At that time, Qiao Nan had broken his leg, forcing him to lie in the hospital for over a month.
It was incredibly boring in the hospital, so he arranged a gathering and secretly snuck out of the hospital.
Having been cooped up for a month, he naturally wanted to relax.
He drank a lot of alcohol that day and was quite drunk.
He vaguely fell asleep in the private room.
When he woke up, only he remained in the room, along with Pei Xu, who had appeared at some unknown time.
At that moment, Pei Xu was sitting on the sofa opposite him, calmly wiping his glasses just as he was now.
He said very politely and gently, “There are some things I’d like to confirm with Young Master Zhong.”
He knew Qiao Nan’s adopted brother, so he wasn’t overly cautious, just a bit puzzled, “Confirm what?”
“You like Qiao Nan?”
He hesitated, then nodded.
Pei Xu then asked, “Was your leg broken by Qiao Nan?”
He was somewhat embarrassed at the time, but he didn’t deny it.
Pei Xu nodded slightly, put on his glasses, carefully folded the silk handkerchief, and placed it back into his jacket pocket.
He said in a very calm voice, “Then I understand.”
Before he could ask, “What do you understand?”, Pei Xu suddenly exploded, grabbing him by the collar with one hand and slamming him to the ground.
The terrifying force unleashed in that instant was utterly disproportionate to Pei Xu’s refined appearance.
He himself exercised and practiced boxing, yet facing Pei Xu, he had almost no power to fight back.
At that time, Pei Xu looked down at him, stepping his foot onto his still unhealed injured leg.
His narrow eyes were cast down, his gaze blurred by the lenses, making his emotions unreadable.
Only the pain from the increasing pressure was clear and direct.
He still shivered recalling that indescribable excruciating pain.
And Pei Xu simply watched him calmly, his face showing no ripple of emotion, methodically repeating the steps of pressing—releasing—pressing again, like a machine.
The volume of the music in the private room had been deliberately turned up to maximum; the rock music was deafening, perfectly covering his screams and cries for help.
Before he passed out from the excruciating pain, the last words he heard Pei Xu say were, “You’re not worthy of him. Stay away from him.”
When he awoke from unconsciousness, Pei Xu was already gone.
The messy private room had been cleaned, and he was half-reclining on the sofa.
Even his clothes, which had been soaked in alcohol, were cleaned, leaving no trace.
Only the intense pain in his leg kept reminding him that what happened earlier was not an illusion.
Later, he went for a hospital check-up.
The doctor said his leg had suffered secondary damage and needed bed rest, so he lay in the hospital for another two months.
After being discharged, he originally wanted to go find Qiao Nan, but every time he thought of Pei Xu’s slightly narrowed, unreadable eyes, he felt a chill and ultimately didn’t go.
Not long after, his grandmother called, saying she missed him, so he took the opportunity to leave Nanjiang.
He himself wasn’t sure how much of it was embarrassment and how much was fear.
Returning to Nanjiang after two years, Zhong Shiyi thought he would no longer fear him, but facing him again, he realized that the shadow Pei Xu had cast on him was indelible.
His subconscious fear was impossible to hide.
Pei Xu was like a still pool: at first glance, clear to the bottom, winding and gentle.
But only by stepping in would one realize the bottom was utterly unreachable.
“Has Qiao Nan ever seen your true face?”
Zhong Shiyi asked, unwilling to give up.
Pei Xu smiled, not answering.
“Just now, I met your esteemed father. The Zhong family has been declining these years, and your father intends to seek industrial transformation, seemingly very interested in this new field of drones…”
Pei Xu put his glasses back on and smiled at him, “For Young Master Zhong’s sake, I’ll have to help out a bit.”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
Zhong Shiyi glared at him with a nasty expression, speechless.
“I have other matters, so I’ll take my leave first.”
Pei Xu nodded slightly to him, his steps unhurried as he brushed past him.
***
After the birthday banquet, Qiao Shi’an and Zhou Ruo stayed in Nanjiang for two more days before returning to the capital.
Pei Xu and Qiao Nan saw them off at the airport, then went home to pack, preparing to move back to Platinum Manor.
Qiao Nan was reluctant.
He originally wanted to throw a tantrum and make a scene to get Pei Xu to stay, but considering the hundred-million-yuan birthday gift, he couldn’t bring himself to shamelessly play hard to get.
He could only watch wistfully and reluctantly as Pei Xu returned to Platinum Manor.
He did want to go with him, but final exams were approaching.
He had to cram for his theoretical classes, find time to visit Qiao Xiaobai, and then Old Li suddenly went crazy and assigned a major final project, threatening to include it in the final grade, which was adding insult to injury.
Qiao Nan wished he could split himself into three.
Platinum Manor was in the prime downtown area, but it wasn’t close to either Nanjiang Art Academy or the pet store.
Running between them would be a waste of time, so Qiao Nan could only give up begrudgingly.
Over the next two weeks, Qiao Nan fully immersed himself in studying and exams.
During the day, he had to review and rush to finish assignments.
At night, he still spent one or two hours at the pet hospital bonding with Qiao Xiaobai.
The time left for Pei Xu significantly decreased.
They chatted on WeChat constantly, but only had three video calls.
Once, Pei Xu talked to him for less than ten minutes before Qiao Nan, phone in hand, fell asleep on the other end of the video.
Pei Xu’s mood uncontrollably worsened.
Since the birthday banquet, he hadn’t seen Qiao Nan for two full weeks.
After moving back to Platinum Manor, he had consciously tried to control himself from seeing Qiao Nan, but when he truly couldn’t see him, he became uncontrollably irritable.
It felt like a severely dehydrated person standing before a clean, clear stream, yet unable and afraid to approach it.
He could only rely on the photos sent back by Old K for comfort.
But as time went on, these photos could no longer soothe his increasingly urgent and impatient emotions.
He wanted more.
He wanted to know what Qiao Nan was doing, wanted to smell his scent, wanted to touch his warm skin…
Pei Xu paced his study repeatedly.
After a long while, he sat down at the computer and retrieved a long-unused software from an encrypted folder.
The cursor hovered over the software, but he hesitated for a long time, unable to bring himself to click it open.
After a moment of stalemate, Pei Xu closed the encrypted folder and opened the email Old K had sent.
There were twenty-one photos in total; he had looked at them countless times.
Leaning back in his chair, pressing his temples, Pei Xu called his assistant Zhao Bo, “Help me schedule an appointment with Doctor Chen.”
***
The meeting with Doctor Chen was set for the next morning.
Pei Xu sat on the sofa.
The morning sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, scattering shimmering light on the floor tiles.
It was still nine in the morning, the scorching sun not yet fully risen.
A gentle breeze flowed through the air, carrying the fresh scent of plants.
This should have been a very relaxing and soothing scene, but Pei Xu’s posture was extremely tense.
“Your emotions are fluctuating greatly. Has something happened recently?” Doctor Chen asked gently.
“As per your advice, I haven’t seen him for fourteen days,” Pei Xu said deeply.
“Fourteen days?”
Doctor Chen seemed surprised, then thought of something and asked, “Did you not go to him, or did he not come to you?”
Doctor Chen was renowned in the field of psychological counseling, and it proved that the expensive consultation fee was not baseless; he pinpointed Pei Xu’s hidden thoughts precisely.
Pei Xu was silent for a moment before saying, “The latter.”
Doctor Chen did not immediately respond.
He lowered his head and recorded in the medical record for a while, then posed another question, “In these two weeks, have you used that software?”
“No,” Pei Xu replied without hesitation this time.
“This indicates your condition has improved,” Doctor Chen tried to guide him, “Since you haven’t used it for a long time, why don’t you try destroying it? Its existence is like a Pandora’s Box to you, constantly tempting you to open it.”
Pei Xu didn’t answer, appearing to be considering his suggestion.
After a long pause, he said, “I’ll consider it.”
This consultation lasted nearly an hour.
After sending the files that needed to be processed to his residence, Pei Xu did not return to the company after the consultation but went directly back to Platinum Manor.
He went straight to his study and once again opened the “Pandora’s Box” that Doctor Chen had mentioned.
It was actually a remote monitoring software he had coded himself, and the camera was installed on the first drone model he had personally built.
That drone model now belonged to Qiao Nan and was displayed on a shelf in the bedroom of Riverside Villa.