Chapter 146: Lao Pei

(1)

Shu Shu thought that after her son learned the 'truth', he would at least be awkward for a while.

However—

"Lao Pei, come help me scoop up the fish."

In the villa's front courtyard, Shu Lingchen squatted beside the shallow pool, raised his neck, and naturally shouted at Pei Du inside the house; the latter, who had been finishing up after making breakfast in the kitchen, hearing this, came out wearing that pink-and-white checkered apron.

Upon reaching the living room, he suddenly remembered, and while walking he moved his hand to his waist to untie the rope.

Shu Lingchen outside the door urged: "Lao Pei, where are you? Have you come?"

"Just a moment."

Pei Du responded, hanging the apron on the rack; during this, he and Shu Shu made eye contact, the cold-looking man's steps paused half a second, he curled his lip, and his eyes held a warm feeling.

Shu Shu: "...?"

She had just heard Shu Lingchen shout something at Pei Du.

"Lao, Pei."

What happened last night?

Pei Muyin beside them was somewhat surprised: "It feels like Dad and Brother are getting along really well."

The girl cupped her cheeks, propped herself on the sofa's soft backrest, blinked her eyes looking toward the courtyard, while Dad squatted on the other side of the pool, using a small scoop net to block the fish trying to slip out of the outlet for Brother.

Pei Muyin found this scene especially pleasing to the eye; she felt no jealousy, but rather was happy to see Dad and Brother's relationship good.

Shu Shu was also watching.

So this person's 'everything is under my plan' demeanor meant this.

He had already thought it through before the showdown, planning to gradually approach his son, like simmering a frog in warm water, subtly nourishing without sound; after a series of moves, when the formal showdown came, causing the son's shock was inevitable, but besides surprise, there would be no resentment.

Not feeling resentment is the first step toward developing affection.

Then.

The kidnapper became Lao Pei.

Moreover, Pei Du seemed quite pleased with that title.

Outside the door.

Shu Lingchen pointed at the carp that, in order to compete for food, was chasing and biting its own kind, and complained: "Lao Pei, let me tell you about this fish—"

Pei Du: "Overbearing fish."

Shu Lingchen's eyes lit up: "Hey, you think so too?"

Pei Du frowned: "Should we lock it up and let it watch other fish eat?"

"Yo!" The boy's gaze toward Pei Du instantly changed: "Lao Pei, we're quite in sync in our thoughts."

So it turns out that blood relations can indeed have this miraculous mutual understanding?

Shu Lingchen didn't even realize that, unconsciously, he had taken another small step toward accepting that he and Pei Du were father and son.

Shu Shu, hearing their dialogue: "..."

What an open-book exam.

Ah, wait.

So Shu Lingchen didn't call Pei Du 'Dad'; what exactly has Pei Du been happy about since last night until now, his whole person this morning showing a beaming, cheerful demeanor.

He kept smiling.

He normally isn't like this.

…

Pei Du's recent leisure isn't a vacation; it's free time squeezed out by working nonstop amid his busy schedule.

Even so, he can't completely let go of work.

After lunch.

Shu Shu, Pei Muyin, and Shu Lingchen as usual went for a noon nap, while Pei Du still had an online meeting to hold.

Pei Du adjusted the central air conditioning to rest mode in the living room before returning to his room.

The whole villa fell silent, as if following its master into peaceful sleep.

On the desk.

From Pei Du's notebook computer came a lengthy, tedious report.

About an hour and a half.

He heard a faint movement next door; they must have woken from their nap.

Pei Du wore one earbud, his fingers decisively sliding on the control panel to lower the volume, unconsciously turning his head to listen to the outside sound.

First he heard Shu Shu's voice.

Yinyin was suggesting that the sweet water made this morning should have frozen by now, and they could go eat it.

Then came the daughter.

The daughter, a food lover, asked while craving: "I heard Brother say before that Sister's chestnut pumpkin cake is especially especially delicious, hehe..."

The meaning of that hehe is simple: she wants to eat, she wants Sister to make it.

As expected, Yinyin softly agreed.

Pei Du imagined what kind of happy state his daughter was in, and as he went downstairs he said: "I'll contact the villa steward to bring over the ingredients~~"

Then came the son.

He was the last to get up, casually pulling the door shut, yawning tiredly; Pei Du heard the rustling sound of him taking off his shoes and stepping on the floor, and also went downstairs following the stairwell.

All three were downstairs.

…

After the online meeting ended, it was already two hours later.

Pei Du closed his laptop and walked out of the room.

He smelled a faint fragrance of cream mixed with chestnut in the air.

Downstairs living room.

Pei Muyin heard the movement, looked up and asked: "Dad, are you done with work?"

Pei Du originally wanted to reply to his daughter, but when his gaze went over the railing downward, he saw his daughter's face covered in sticky notes.

……

They had played in water for a few days and played ball for two days; today they didn't want to go out, so Shu Shu was playing poker with the two kids.

Hidden turtle.

That is, fifty-four cards, three people take turns evenly distributing; if you draw a pair and play it, you can stick a sticky note on the opponent's face; if you don't draw a pair, then the opposite.

At the start, you can always draw a few pairs; later it's pure psychological warfare; the person left with the last shit card gets ten sticky notes from each side.

Shu Lingchen and Pei Muyin were badly tricked by Shu Shu.

Whether daughter or son, Shu Shu treats them equally; whenever she gets the shit card, she can trick the two kids into pulling it from her hand, to the point that now when they look at their cards they have to free one hand to rub their eyes.

It's as if a face grew on the sticky note; with dimmer lighting it's even somewhat eerie.

……

Pei Du's gaze paused slightly, his eyes falling on Shu Shu—

Because while sticking notes on the opponent you can peel off the same number from your own face, Yinyin's face is clean and clean, forming a stark contrast with the two kids beside her; she occasionally turns her face to smirk.

"Polite?"

Shu Lingchen's voice was resentful; he noticed Pei Du on the stairs, his sharp eyes catching a flicker of a smile in Pei Du's depths.

?

"Don't laugh, Lao Pei, if you're capable come play too."

Pei Du asked in a low, calm voice: "Can I join too?"

Shu Lingchen was eager to add another person to share the firepower; his mom is sharp: "Come on."

Pei Muyin nodded obediently: "Sure, sure."

Pei Du's gaze fell on Shu Shu; although he had already gotten two votes, his eyes still carried a pleading look toward Shu Shu.

…… Shu Shu: "Hmm."

Only then did Pei Du walk over.

Shu Lingchen shifted his butt sideways to make room for Pei Du.

Reshuffle.

After the four people were dealt their hands, the cards naturally became fewer; after a few pairs were played, the situation prematurely heated up.

Actually it's not really Shu Shu's fault; among the two kids, the easiest to read is Shu Lingchen—he wears his thoughts on his face.

That's not it.

He drew the shit card from Shu Shu's hand, his pupils instantly dilated.

(???;)

A look of being completely done.

（2）

Just before Pei Du came downstairs, Shu Shu teased his son: "Shu Lingchen version of a transparent card device."

It lives up to its reputation.

Now everyone knows who has the shit card.

Shu Lingchen lamented inwardly, thinking this round of turtle was his again; just at that moment of despair, Pei Du reached out and snatched the shit card away.

……

The boy's eyes, darkened by gloom, instantly sparkled like fireworks bursting, and his gaze toward Pei Du wrote a sentence:

"Lao Pei, you're really something!"

Pei Du pressed his lips, returning a faint smile of acknowledgment.

Beside her, Shu Shu seemed to see golden affection-up effects constantly popping up above the son's head.

Regarding the son.

The road ahead is long and arduous hardly exists for Pei Du, because he's already near the mountain summit.

The silly roe deer probably can't withstand it.

Sure enough, next.

Pei Du also didn't intend to trick the shit card away; he just held it, and naturally in the end the other three would stick sticky notes on him.

Shu Lingchen directly stuck on the meaning of "heartache"—that Pei Du being stuck was for him, taking on all the feelings for him, so he carefully chose several spots that wouldn't affect Pei Du at all.

When it was Pei Muyin's turn, she, playing poker with her dad for the first time, found it novel and happily stuck a note.

Finally, it was Shu Shu.

The four people sat cross-legged on the wool rug in front of the coffee table.

Pei Du shifted his position, closing the distance between himself and Shu Shu; this move was quite natural.

After all, he was going to be stuck by Shu Shu.

Coincidentally, Shu Shu's sticky note pad was empty; she was about to get a new one, but Pei Du reached out, a fresh pad resting in his palm, and handed it to Shu Shu.

Shu Shu glanced at Pei Du and took it.

Pei Du sat cross-legged, effectively facing Shu Shu; the man wore simple loungewear, sitting down without hiding his tall stature, his clean eyelids drooping, presenting an attitude of voluntarily accepting punishment.

……

Shu Shu casually tore off the first sticky note; as she was about to stick it, Pei Du's unevenly long lashes flickered, revealing the pair of pupils hidden beneath.

The two locked eyes.

Because the daughter and son each had ten sticky notes covering Pei Du's face, except for Shu Shu herself directly opposite, nobody nearby would notice him staring at her.

It was that obvious.

Who said only peach-blossom eyes could attract someone?

Shu Shu paused her action, then without hesitation stuck two notes, one left and one right, on Pei Du's eyebrows.

Blocking his view so he couldn't look anymore.

Then Shu Shu heard the man's faint laugh, almost a breath.

"……"

With eight left, Shu Shu stuck them on expressionlessly, speeding up.

…

Shu Lingchen also realized he was an exposed piece, and after playing a few more rounds of Hidden Turtle he chose to go on strike.

"Let's not play this anymore; let's switch to something else."

Shu Shu raised an eyebrow: "What do you want to play?"

Shu Shu thought Shu Lingchen would suggest a different way to play cards, but she saw the boy's eyes roll around twice, then he eagerly announced: "Let's play hide-and-seek!"

The other three: "……"

Shu Shu asked: "How old is the turkey chick baby this year?"

"Seventeen." Shu Lingchen didn't even notice it, even started playing the pitiful card: "What's wrong, can't a seventeen-year-old play hide-and-seek? My greatest wish in life is to play hide-and-seek with my family once—can't even this tiny wish, the size of a fingernail, be fulfilled?"

Shu Shu: "Oh, just two hours ago you said your greatest wish in life was to eat three chestnut pumpkin cakes in one go, and I made you four."

Shu Lingchen pleaded: "Right, after that's fulfilled, my wish becomes hide-and-seek."

"……" He had no words to rebut.

"Sister, let's play with Brother."

Pei Muyin spoke up, moved by the word "family," and Brother naturally said that line.

With the little sister lobbying, Shu Lingchen immediately looked at Pei Du: "Old Pei, what's your opinion?"

Though he politely asked on the surface, the boy's eyes hinted—if you refuse, I'll deduct points!

<(｀^′)＞

Pei Du said okay.

Shu Lingchen settled it: "OK! Then it's decided—rock-paper-scissors, whoever loses seeks first!"

"Alright."

One minute later.

Shu Lingchen, near tears, became the one to seek first—losing at cards was bad enough, but he also lost utterly at rock-paper-scissors.

"I'll count to fifty."

Having said that, he stood facing the wall at the gate and began counting down.

…

Playing hide-and-seek, Pei Muyin was also trying it for the first time, finding it fresh; she greeted Shu Shu and then went off to find a hiding spot on her own.

As for the game, Shu Shu always had fierce competitiveness; since it had started, she had to play seriously, she looked around for a hiding place and saw Pei Du's silhouette heading toward the back of the villa.

She didn't pay it any mind.

A few days earlier, when the villa steward came to deliver things, Shu Shu happened to notice a concealed little door behind this wall.

It wasn't far from the main gate.

The most dangerous place is the safest; Shu Shu didn't think twice and hid inside.

She listened to the son counting down to fifteen outside the door while she sat on a little stool, thinking the silly rabbit would surely not find this place—not just the silly rabbit, others probably wouldn't know either, so she could hide here until the game ended.

The next second.

"Squeak—"

Shu Shu looked up in surprise; a hand with distinct knuckles appeared at the door's edge, pushed it open, and revealed the man's handsome face above.

Pei Du walked in, then turned and closed the door again.

"How…"

Before Shu Shu could finish, Pei Du raised a finger to his lips to signal her to be quiet, then turned his head, seemingly listening to the son's movements outside.

"He's gone."

As Shu Shu had expected, Shu Lingchen had gone off to look elsewhere.

Pei Du walked over to Shu Shu, also found a stool, placed it beside her, and sat down side by side.

Quite natural.

Shu Shu: "How did you also come here?"

"Is this his first time coming to this villa? That's probably eight or nine out of ten a lie."

Shu Shu thought Pei Du would at least make up an excuse to cover himself, but then she heard him answer: "Yinyin is here."

"Because Yinyin is here, so I came here too."

"……" Shu Shu: "I clearly saw you heading toward the back of the villa just now."

Pei Du: "I was waiting for Yinyin to find a hiding spot first."

"……"

So his earlier trip to the back of the villa was just a pretense.

"Oh."

Shu Shu turned her head back, no longer looking at Pei Du.

The atmosphere fell silent for ten-odd seconds.

Pei Du asked, "Yinyin, did I have many jobs in the past?"

What.

Shu Shu initially didn't understand this nonsensical remark.

Pei Du looked at Shu Shu, his expression and pupils inscrutable, and in a low, mellow, magnetic voice said a few words: "Fisherman, janitor, captain."