Qiao Nan heard this and quietly bit his lower lip.
A vague, inexplicable sense of dissatisfaction rose in his heart, especially when he looked at Pei Xu.
Even his brother’s handsome face suddenly seemed unpleasant to him.
He didn’t want to look for even a second longer.
Abruptly, he stood up and said, “I’m tired. I’m going back to my room to sleep.”
Before Zhou Ruo and Pei Xu could react, he darted upstairs in a flash.
“This child, it’s just asking him to try dating, and he’s already throwing a tantrum,” Zhou Ruo said with a laugh, shaking her head.
Pei Xu glanced at Qiao Nan’s retreating figure, then chatted idly with Zhou Ruo for a while before following him upstairs.
When she saw the two of them enter separate rooms, Zhou Ruo was startled and called Wang Shu over to ask, “Why are Nan Nan and Pei Xu sleeping in separate rooms now?”
Wang Shu replied with a kindly smile, “I heard that after Young Master found out the Eldest Young Master had a girlfriend, he insisted on moving out, saying he couldn’t always stick to the Eldest Young Master.”
Zhou Ruo laughed too.
“I thought he’d be jealous of his future sister-in-law, but he’s more mature than I expected.”
She recalled her earlier suspicions in Bei and thought that maybe it was just because she’d been a lawyer for too long—she’d started to overthink things just because the two brothers were a bit close.
She and Qiao Shi’an were often away from home, so it was natural that the brothers relied on each other as they grew up, and their bond was closer than most.
Clearly, she’d been worrying too much.
***
Pei Xu stayed at the Qiao Family home for three days.
After Qiao Shi’an and his wife returned to Yan Jing, he went back to Bo Ting Mansion.
On the way back, he had K send all the photos from this period to his email.
Once home, he went straight to his study to check the emails.
Since he hadn’t asked K for photos in quite some time, the email this time was huge.
It took several minutes to download the attachments.
Pei Xu opened the photos and began looking through them one by one.
At first, there was a faint smile on his face, but when he reached the photos from September 10th, his expression faded.
The mouse wheel scrolled slowly, photo after photo flipping past.
In almost every single day, Xie Ruanruan appeared in the frame.
Sometimes she was walking on campus, sometimes eating together, sometimes heading to the studio together…
There weren’t any intimate gestures between the two, but they were about the same age, and just seeing a bright young man and woman standing together was already enough to sting the eyes.
Pei Xu recalled Zhou Ruo’s words.
Same age, similar family backgrounds, even in the same school and major…
No matter how you looked at it, they were a good match.
The treasure he’d cherished for so long was suddenly coveted by someone else.
An uncontrollable sense of aggression welled up from the bottom of his heart, making him desperately want to destroy something, just to ease the anxiety and irritation inside.
He wanted to see Qiao Nan even more.
During this period, he’d forced himself to stay away, not to check up on Qiao Nan’s whereabouts, barely replying to WeChat messages.
He thought that by doing this, he could pull back his reason from the brink and maintain their usual relationship.
But in the end, all it did was push Qiao Nan further out of his grasp.
Qiao Nan was meeting new people, might even start a relationship, or perhaps one day get married and have children, building a happy family with someone else.
He had expected all this.
It was the future he’d once imagined for Qiao Nan.
But when it really arrived, he couldn’t accept it as calmly as he’d thought he would.
Pei Xu stared intently at the photo of the two eating together, his palm crushing the mouse so hard it gave a creaking protest.
Blue veins bulged on the back of his hand from the force.
He stared at the photo for a long time before standing up, taking off his glasses, loosening his tie, and heading to the gym.
This time, the outburst was fiercer than ever before.
He stripped off his shirt, didn’t bother with gloves, and slammed his fists into the sandbag with raw, primitive force.
His bare torso was taut with muscle, veins standing out on his neck.
He vented all his destructive urges, but the pain in his knuckles didn’t make him stop—if anything, it made his suppressed emotions surge even stronger.
After an hour of relentless pounding, the sandbag finally burst under the strain, spilling its filling all over the floor.
Pei Xu stopped, breathing heavily.
His fingers were scraped raw from the lack of protection, his body flushed from the exertion, sweat streaming down the sides of his face.
Even his usually composed, narrow eyes seemed tinged with red.
He collapsed onto the cold tiles, the chill seeping into his body and cooling his feverish agitation.
After a long time, he finally calmed down enough to call Zhao Bo.
“Did you find the people I asked for?”
Zhao Bo: “Yes, I found them.”
“Where are they now? Drive over and pick me up. I want to go see them.”
After hanging up, Pei Xu took a cold shower, changed into a fresh suit, tied his tie into a perfect double Windsor knot, and put his glasses back on before heading out.
Zhao Bo was already waiting downstairs with the car.
When he saw Pei Xu, his attention was immediately drawn to the injuries on his hands, and he blurted out, “President Pei, your hand—”
Pei Xu glanced down at his hand but didn’t explain.
“It’s nothing. Let’s go.”
Seeing this, Zhao Bo didn’t ask further and drove to Hai Lun Si.
Hai Lun Si was a KTV near Nanjiang Art Academy.
It wasn’t very upscale, mostly frequented by people who mixed in shady circles.
The four small-time thugs Pei Xu was looking for often hung out there.
The black Bentley stopped at the entrance, and the greeter led them inside.
Pei Xu asked for the largest private room, ordered four bottles of liquor, and sent Zhao Bo to fetch the people.
Those four thugs were the ones who’d harassed Xie Ruanruan before.
After being detained for fifteen days, they’d just been released and happened to be at Hai Lun Si today.
When Zhao Bo went to get them, the leader, Mao Ge, was still a little confused.
“Who’s your boss? Why’s he looking for us?”
Zhao Bo remained polite.
“Our boss’s surname is Pei. You’ll know when you see him.”
The other three were wary, wondering if they’d accidentally offended someone important and were about to get into trouble.
But thinking they’d been in detention this whole time, it seemed unlikely.
Besides, there were a few hostesses in the private room, and they were regulars here—they didn’t want to lose face in front of the women, so they followed Zhao Bo out.
On the way, Mao Ge tried to get some information, but Zhao Bo just kept up the polite small talk, not revealing a single detail.
At the door of the private room, Zhao Bo pushed the door open and gestured for them to enter.
Mao Ge and his crew peeked inside, saw there was only one person, and immediately relaxed, walking in without hesitation.
Zhao Bo thoughtfully closed the door and waited outside.
Inside, Mao Ge carefully sized up the man sitting there, making sure he didn’t recognize him. It didn’t seem like this was some old enemy.
The man was dressed in a suit, wearing glasses, looking every bit the refined professional—probably here to have them do something shady.
He glanced at the bottles of liquor on the table—each one costing at least fifty thousand a bottle.
Clearly, this guy knew how to treat people right.
So he sat down on the sofa across from Pei Xu and put on an air of importance.
“President Pei, what can we do for you?”
Pei Xu didn’t answer. Instead, he got up, opened the song selection system, leisurely picked a few hard rock tracks, and cranked the volume up to maximum.
“It’s nothing serious. I just have an old score to settle with you all.”
“What?”
The sudden blare of music drowned out his voice, and Mao Ge had to shout, “What did you say?”
Pei Xu said nothing, taking off his glasses and setting them aside.
At last, the group realized something was wrong.
This man didn’t look like he wanted to talk business at all.
Someone tried to head for the door, but before his hand could touch it, a bottle of liquor suddenly smashed against the door with a loud bang—
Outside, Zhao Bo first heard the door shudder, then muffled sounds of fighting from inside.
He resisted the urge to peek through the frosted glass partition.
Any staff who passed by were quickly sent away with a few words.
Half an hour later, Pei Xu finally came out.
He didn’t look much different from before, except his immaculate suit was a little rumpled.
His entire demeanor had lost its former gentleness—he was like a blade, cold and sharp, making people afraid to look him in the eye.
“Take them to the hospital. The medical bills come out of my private account.”
Zhao Bo didn’t dare meet his gaze and bowed his head. “Yes, sir.”
Pei Xu left first.
***
After the National Day holiday, Qiao Nan’s life returned to its routine of school and home.
Xie Ruanruan officially started classes as well.
She wanted to get into Old Li’s First Studio, so she brought her assignments to Qiao Nan’s studio even more often to gain experience.
Before, with his mother’s instructions, Qiao Nan always treated Xie Ruanruan as a little sister and never thought much of it.
But after Zhao Yutong and his mom both misunderstood, Qiao Nan reflected on it and realized that, no matter how he felt, they weren’t actually siblings.
It was better to keep some distance, to avoid misunderstandings—especially for Xie Ruanruan’s sake.
He began to consciously keep his distance.
Sometimes, when Xie Ruanruan had questions, he’d refer her to Zhao Yutong.
Zhao Yutong was naturally happy to guide a pretty junior, but Xie Ruanruan was no fool. It didn’t take her long to notice Qiao Nan’s deliberate avoidance.
On the surface, she looked quiet and obedient, but in reality, she was a bold girl.
One day, when it was just the two of them, she spoke directly, “You’ve been deliberately avoiding me lately. Do you not like me?”
He hadn’t expected her to be so blunt.
Qiao Nan paused for a moment but decided to be honest.
“I do like you. I’ve always thought of you as a little sister. My mom also asked me to look after you.”
That was already a very tactful refusal.
Xie Ruanruan sighed.
“But I actually like you quite a bit. Don’t you want to give it a try with me?”
She counted off on her fingers, “I’m not bad-looking, and last time Aunt Zhou and Uncle Zhou liked me a lot. Our families match, too. If we dated, I think we’d be a good fit.”
Her eyes sparkled as she added, “Or is it that you already have someone you like?”
Qiao Nan couldn’t talk about feelings as openly as she could.
His face flushed with embarrassment, and he stammered, “No, I just want to focus on my studies right now.”
Xie Ruanruan laughed instead, not looking the least bit disappointed.
“Well, that’s that, then. People usually chase after me—I don’t like chasing others. Even beauties need to save face.”
Qiao Nan apologized again.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t say sorry, as if I got rejected by you or something.”
Xie Ruanruan waved her hand and asked, “Can I still come to your studio in the future?”
Seeing her so calm and unbothered, Qiao Nan finally relaxed.
“Of course.”
Xie Ruanruan smiled.
“Then let’s just pretend today never happened.”