Chapter 90: Will He Go Crazy?

Immediately following, another text message came through.

【No need to explain.】

Zhu Yuan stared speechlessly at the ceiling; how could a person cause such a huge disaster!

She glanced at the text message interface and closed her eyes, unable to bear looking at it.

Forget it, the disaster is already done and there's no way to make up for it, just like this, let it be destroyed!

After washing up and finishing breakfast with her grandfather, Zhu Yuan went to the theater.

Ji Xiang was gnawing on a large meat bun; seeing her arrive, she handed one over, "Try it, the meat buns at this shop are insanely good!"

"Thank you." Zhu Yuan took it and ate, thinking about how Sheng Yu said he would be back tonight; he reminded her about her birthday tomorrow, was he asking for a gift?

Ji Xiang took a sip of soy milk, and a sentence reached her ears: "Do you know what kind of gift is good to give a man?"

"Cough..." Ji Xiang almost choked, coughed a few times, and looked sharply at Zhu Yuan, "To give a boyfriend?"

"No." Zhu Yuan quickly denied, "It's just..."

For a moment, she didn't know how to define Sheng Yu.

Buying him a birthday gift had nothing to do with romantic feelings, nor was there any friendship involved; she just wanted to please him. If he was happy, her brother would be saved.

"To give to Second Master Pei?" Ji Xiang guessed boldly.

Zhu Yuan knew the misunderstanding between her and Pei Ling in everyone's eyes was huge, "I really have nothing to do with Second Master Pei, don't guess blindly. The person I want to give it to is just a... how should I put it, let's just consider him my boss."

"A boss?" Ji Xiang was thoughtful, "Then he must be very rich, right?"

Zhu Yuan nodded; he was quite rich.

"Since he's rich, even if you spent your entire net worth, you probably couldn't buy anything he'd think much of, so you might as well buy something practical."

Practical?

She really couldn't think of anything practical to give Sheng Yu; he liked to smoke, buy a lighter?

But when she searched for luxury lighters online, she immediately closed her phone; she wasn't even qualified to look at them.

In the evening, Zhu Yuan took a taxi to the mall; after thinking it over, she decided to buy a pair of cufflinks for Sheng Yu.

Originally, she wanted to buy a tie, but giving a tie always made people feel it was too ambiguous, which didn't suit the relationship between the two of them.

Zhu Yuan went to a niche brand store and picked out a pair of minimalist silver cufflinks.

The clerk put the cufflinks into a navy blue box, only the size of a palm, and Zhu Yuan put the box into her bag.

When she walked out of the mall, a cold wind blew.

The temperature had dropped significantly these past few days; Jingdu City had almost entered winter.

Zhu Yuan sniffled, preparing to go to the subway station, when suddenly a black SUV stopped in front of her.

People were coming and going all around, but for a moment, Zhu Yuan felt as if she were shrouded in a shadow.

The car window rolled down; the first thing that came into view was the black wired earphones hanging around the man's neck, and the neon lights outside the mall illuminated the man's wheat-colored skin and his sharp, exquisite facial features inside the car.

"Where are you going? I'll take you."

It was Pei Ling.

However, without waiting for Zhu Yuan to speak, the Bodyguard in the passenger seat got out of the car.

Zhu Yuan still remembered Sheng Yu's warning before he went on his business trip: don't see Pei Ling. Even without his warning, she was very afraid of getting entangled with Pei Ling. The moment the Bodyguard pulled open the car door, she turned and ran.

But she was ultimately no match for a trained Bodyguard; the Bodyguard blocked her path, "Miss Zhu, don't make the Second Master wait."

Zhu Yuan was practically pushed into the car.

The car door closed, and the vehicle quickly drove away from the mall.

The heat wasn't on inside the car, and Zhu Yuan actually felt it was colder than outside.

"Cold?" Pei Ling watched her shivering.

Zhu Yuan didn't answer him, but instead said, "Second Master Pei..."

"Did Sheng Yu go on a business trip?" Pei Ling suddenly leaned in close.

It scared Zhu Yuan so much she swallowed her words back. He wasn't leaning very close, but such an aggressive sense of oppression made her feel terrified.

Not knowing if it was because of the cold or fear, her body was too stiff to move. She moved her dry lips, "If you have business with him, I'll give you his phone number."

"I'm not looking for him, I'm looking for you." Pei Ling sneered, suddenly grabbing the long hair hanging in front of her chest. There wasn't a hint of ambiguity in his eyes; they were as cold as a venomous snake, "Tell me, if I took you while Sheng Yu was away, would he go crazy?"

Zhu Yuan's heart felt like it had skipped a beat. She knew that Pei Ling's sudden silence after the flower basket incident last time didn't mean the matter had passed.

She forced herself to calm down, "Second Master is overthinking it. I don't carry that much weight in Young Master Yu's heart; why bother?"

"You think saying that will make me let you go?" Pei Ling's gaze grew even colder.

A fine "not much weight."

"Why don't we try it and see if he will really go crazy for you?"

Zhu Yuan dug her fingernails into her palms, leaving marks. She stared at the black earphones around the man's neck and swallowed hard.

Her back was covered in cold sweat from the tension.

When Pei Ling leaned another inch closer to her, all the hairs on her body stood on end.

She said urgently, "By then, Young Master Yu won't have gone crazy, and you will have touched someone like me who is long past being a virgin; it would be a loss that outweighs the gain. You really don't need to waste your time on me."

Pei Ling looked at the expression of feigned composure on her face, his gaze moving upward to stare at those firm yet faintly reddened eyes. He scoffed and suddenly reached out to pull at her clothes.

"Don't—" Zhu Yuan's composure completely disintegrated. She screamed and reached out to grab Pei Ling's hand, scratching blood marks onto the back of his hand.

Pei Ling seemed not to feel the pain at all. His gaze landed on the woman's collarbone and the pinkish-white skin of her chest revealed by the pulled-open neckline. He felt his breath hitch inexplicably, and his movements didn't slow down in the slightest.

He completely ignored Zhu Yuan's struggle and crying.

Suddenly, a warm tear dripped onto his cold hand.

His movements paused. When he saw her face covered in tears, his chest overflowed with a strange feeling. He gritted his teeth and let go of her collar.

He was too close to her, so close that she could hear the sound coming from the earphones hanging around his neck.

It was not a song, nor was it light music.

It was... the Qingxin Mantra.

Zhu Yuan was stunned for a moment; she clutched the collar he had torn and looked up at him.

The man had already moved away from her, flicking a teardrop off his fingertip, "Acting for me again, aren't you?"

His peripheral vision caught a navy blue box that had fallen out of her bag onto the seat, and he reached out to grab it.

It was already too late for Zhu Yuan to stop him.

Pei Ling opened the box; inside was a pair of silver cufflinks.

Zhu Yuan wiped away her feigned tears and made a prompt decision, "I originally intended to give them to you tomorrow."

Her lies came easily; at a time like this, she could not go head-to-head with Pei Ling.

"Give them to me?" Pei Ling narrowed his eyes.

Zhu Yuan nodded; she sniffled, and although she was faking the cry, the tears were real—her eyes were red, and undried tears still hung at the corners of her eyes.

She quickly pulled her clothes together, zipped her jacket all the way to the top, and said obediently, "The only reason I was able to get the lead role was thanks to Second Master's support. I am not an ungrateful person, so I just thought I would give you a gift to show my gratitude."

"I'm a loan shark, and you're giving me cufflinks?" Pei Ling sneered.

Zhu Yuan wore an expression of wanting to speak but hesitating, looking embarrassed.

Her face gradually flushed red, and she said, "Because... because you look so handsome, I guessed that you must look especially good in a dress shirt, so I took the liberty of giving you a gift like this."