Chapter 121: But what does it matter?

When the negotiation meeting concluded thoroughly, it was already close to 10:42 PM, but the dissolution of the meeting room did not mean Pei Du's schedule for the day was over; as a decision-maker, he still needed to arrange the implementation of specific follow-up work.

Hotel.

Inside the vast business suite, lights and candles blazed.

The little assistant handed the organized meeting minutes to Zhou Zhi, but after calling out a few times, Zhou Zhi seemed not to hear and gave no response.

"Zhou's special assistant?"

The little assistant lightly shoved Zhou Zhi, finally calling his soul back: "Ah? You called me."

"What else?" the little assistant sighed, eyes showing doubt: "Zhou's special assistant, what's wrong with you? Since returning from An Shi, I've felt you're a bit dazed and out of sorts; are you feeling unwell?"

"No."

Zhou Zhi directly took the meeting minutes, composed his expression, raised his hand, and knocked on the office door.

After obtaining permission, he pushed it open and entered.

"Director Pei."

Zhou Zhi placed the folder on a corner of the desk; the man with upright features seated before it did not lift his head, the metal tip of his black steel pen leaving a flourish of a signature at the page's end, his low, calm voice saying: "Give yourself a day off."

This referred to the conversation outside the door just now being overheard.

"……" Zhou Zhi startled, hurriedly explaining: "Director Pei, I'm really fine; you don't need to give me a day off—I love work!"

Director Pei treats himself like an iron robot that runs twenty-four hours straight, being harsh on himself and imposing equally strict demands on his subordinates.

Having been by Director Pei's side for these years, Zhou Zhi had never received such a "humanized" treatment; he almost teared up, guessing it was because he had gone to An Shi to deliver pastries to the Eldest Young Lady.

Indeed, as soon as it involved the Eldest Young Lady, Director Pei would become warm-hearted 555.

After politely refusing, Zhou Zhi stood where he was, hesitating, as if something was suffocating him, really wanting to speak his mind.

"What is it?" Pei Du glanced over with his peripheral vision.

"……" Zhou Zhi exhaled, did some mental preparation, then hesitantly spoke: "Director Pei, when I went to An Shi to deliver pastries to the Eldest Young Lady, I saw the young man named Shu Lingchen himself……"

Pei Du casually switched to another document, still not lifting his head, his tone cold: "How so."

"You saw Shu Lingchen, and then what?"

"Exactly." Zhou Zhi hastily searched his mind for words, trying to find the most appropriate phrasing, but finding none, he steeled himself and preemptively raised his "immunity medal": "Director Pei, I mean no offense, I just feel that this boy looks very much like you used to."

"Sizzle—"

The man's pen halted instantly; the final "Du" character, as it was being written mid-stroke, stopped abruptly, dragging a glaring black streak across the white paper.

He lifted his eyelids, revealing a pair of cold, engraved black eyes, his voice icy cold: "Say it again."

The man's gaze was too sharp, like the icy edge of a blade; Zhou Zhi felt the hairs on his back stand on end, somewhat surprised, seemingly not expecting Director Pei's reaction to his words to be so great, so he could only reply softly again:

"Shu Lingchen, he looks very much like you used to."

Zhou Zhi certainly also knew that on Earth there are countless people, the sea of humanity vast, and it often happens that two people unrelated by blood end up looking remarkably similar.

But Director Pei and that boy named Shu Lingchen are not merely similar in appearance.

Moreover, it's a feeling.

It inexplicably gave him the sense that there must be some connection between the two; on his way back from An Shi, he truly had been holding this thought inside him all along.

"Understood, you may leave work now."

Pei Du's complexion returned to normal; he picked up his pen again, set aside the spoiled document, and naturally took another document to sign, as if the moment's concern had merely been Zhou Zhi's illusion.

"Okay."

Zhou Zhi left the office hesitantly, and the interior fell into silent stillness.

Pei Du stared at the closed office door, his eyes slightly narrowing; after a moment, he set down his pen, no longer in the mood to sign.

"This was already the second person saying he resembled that boy."

"One is his daughter, the other is his familiar aide beside him."

"That night's dream, in which he clearly heard and recognized Shu Shu's voice, was like a guide that unraveled the mystery, leading Pei to dispel that fog."

"Once something is pried open, all the things he previously deemed unreasonable and could not explain will be unraveled like silk from a cocoon, revealing their true nature underneath."

"For example, Shu Shu's care and affection for the daughter had already surpassed the bounds of ordinary friendship."

"For example, having Zhou Zhi deliver a thank-you gift to Shu Shu, the girl explicitly requested to see him, then bombarded him with excessive questioning and anger."

"For example, Shu Shu has peach-blossom eyes just like the daughter, and the same peanut allergy."

"……etc."

"All of these became evidence for that dream, proving—— Yinyin is Shu Shu."

"Because, substituting the premise \"Yinyin is Shu Shu\" into the equation, everything unusual becomes coherent."

"Yinyin = Shu Shu."

"Yinyin = the daughter's mother."

"That is, Shu Shu = the daughter's mother."

"——the conversion formula holds."

"But the real-world problem is, Shu Shu is eighteen; this is an absurd conversion formula, unimaginable and bizarrely odd, seeming to hold yet actually impossible."

"But, heh, what does it matter?"

"Pei Du trusts his sixth sense."

"This hotel enjoys an excellent location; the top-floor presidential business suite's floor-to-ceiling windows form a full-surface arc, looking down, the city's prosperous nightscape's specks of light are reflected in the man's dark, inscrutable pupils."

"Now, there is another example, for instance."

"——the boy who looks like him, an orphan for thirteen years, suddenly appearing as a distant cousin's young aunt."

"Really, is she a young aunt?"

"Regardless of a tight or leisurely schedule, Pei Du returns to An Shi on evenings of even-numbered dates to pick up his daughter after school."

"At ten o'clock, students of the graduating year and the competition preparatory class finish school together."

Moments later, many students with backpacks walked out of the school.

Pei Du changed into a slightly more casual dark outfit, stood quietly before the black Bentley, his eyesight sharp; through the night he instantly spotted Shu Shu, Pei Muyin, and Shu Lingchen in the crowd.

Pei Du came over; naturally he wasn't just there to pick up his daughter alone—without him saying a word, the daughter had already pulled Shu Shu and Shu Lingchen into the back seat.

The Bentley went straight to the underground parking lot of Yujingyuan's unit building.

The elevator stopped at the 16th floor; Shu Shu and Shu Lingchen got out, Shu Lingchen turned, waved goodbye to his sister, and as the boy was about to look away, his gaze locked onto the deep eyes of a tall, handsome man beside him.

Staring at him.

Shu Lingchen: "?"

The boy pursed his lips arrogantly, "What are you looking at? Never seen a handsome guy before?"