Pei Yuzhou sensed it at once. “Have you been drinking?”
“Only two glasses. I’m not drunk.”
“Where are you?”
Meng Shuyao brushed aside the hair the wind had blown across her face. “I’m on the top deck getting some air. Do you want to join me?”
Pei Yuzhou said blandly, “I’ll have Mark bring you down.”
Meng Shuyao’s brows drew together slightly, and she murmured, “I don’t want him. I want you.”
The phone was quiet for a moment. Then the call ended.
She looked at the screen in disappointment.
Mr. Pei couldn’t be bothered with her anymore.
After wearing high heels for so long, the backs of her feet were rubbed raw, so she simply took them off and stepped barefoot onto the ground, the soles of her feet icy cold.
The sea breeze, carrying a salty dampness, rushed into her nose.
She hugged her knees and sat beside the railing, resting her head on them, curling in on herself.
In her daze, after dozing for a while, she heard a series of steady footsteps approaching from afar.
Meng Shuyao lifted her eyelids. Her vision was hazy, and a noble-looking black figure was walking toward her.
Against the light, his facial contours were somewhat indistinct.
But she could still recognize him.
The man stopped in front of her, his voice a little low. “Get up.”
Meng Shuyao’s long lashes fluttered. She slowly rose from the ground, one hand on the railing. “I thought you weren’t coming.”
There was a trace of grievance in her voice.
Pei Yuzhou lifted his chin slightly and looked toward the distant sea. “Alone here in the middle of the night. Aren’t you afraid you’ll fall?”
“I am.” Meng Shuyao didn’t even dare to look back. She stared straight at him. “But when you’re here, I’m not afraid.”
She reached out and tugged at the man’s sleeve.
Pei Yuzhou swept a glance over her misty eyes and parted his lips. “Let’s go.”
“Let’s go later.” Meng Shuyao still wanted to stay a little longer.
Pei Yuzhou turned his hand and gripped her wrist, pressing it against the railing as he threatened, “If you don’t leave, I’ll throw you down.”
Meng Shuyao’s back hit the glass, and the cold made her shiver. Her fingers instinctively tightened around his shirt. “Don’t.”
Pei Yuzhou released her. “If you’re scared, go back to your room.”
Meng Shuyao stood still. She raised her head, her gaze falling on his jaw, and suddenly muttered, “You’re too tall.”
Without shoes, her actual height was 168.5 centimeters, and the top of her head only reached his shoulder.
Her toes touched his leather shoes. She tried hard to rise on tiptoe, leaning toward his lips.
Pei Yuzhou lost focus for a split second.
In his pupils, the girl’s features gradually enlarged.
A few strands of hair brushed messily across her cheeks.
The faint fragrance of jasmine, mingled with the scent of alcohol, drifted into his nose.
Her red lips pressed against the corner of his mouth.
Soft, tinged with coolness.
A fleeting touch.
Meng Shuyao’s heels returned to the ground, a few traces of drunkenness still lingering in her eyes.
Pei Yuzhou locked onto her gaze, his throat bobbing slightly. “Do you know what you’re doing?”
Meng Shuyao blinked lightly. “I know.”
She didn’t know where her courage came from, but she pushed her luck. “Can I kiss you again?”
A vein at Pei Yuzhou’s temple jumped. Just as he was about to speak, she suddenly reached out and covered his mouth.
Meng Shuyao’s palm was burning hot. “If you don’t say anything, I’ll take it as your agreement.”
She rose on tiptoe again, her left hand using his shirt sleeve for support as she grabbed his arm.
Pei Yuzhou watched her lean in.
They were so close, their breaths mingling.
His eyes were too deep, too bewitching, as if they could draw a person in completely. Meng Shuyao was entranced as she looked into them and forgot to let go of her hand, so she only ended up kissing the back of her own hand.
Their eyes met, the atmosphere winding around them in ambiguity.
“Sir…”
The mood was abruptly broken.
Mark stood at the escalator entrance. Seeing the two people on the deck clearly, he hurriedly looked away. “Sorry.”
Pei Yuzhou took a step back. Meng Shuyao thought he was about to leave, and she hastily hugged his waist, burying her face in his chest.
Beneath his shirt, the contours of his chest muscles were clearly firm and full.
“Stand properly.” Pei Yuzhou held her shoulders.
Meng Shuyao clung to him. “No.”
Pei Yuzhou really did want to throw her into the sea.
After a long while, he bent down, picked her up, and left the deck.
Meng Shuyao smoothly wrapped her arms around his neck, her bare feet swinging in the air. Only then did she remember. “My shoes…”
Pei Yuzhou’s steps paused, and he lowered his eyes to look at her.
Meng Shuyao understood the expression on his face. Two words—what a hassle.
She suspected that if she said one more word, he would toss her away.
With what little patience he had left, Pei Yuzhou turned back, bent down, and picked up the high heels on the ground, hooking the straps with his fingers.
Holding her with one arm, he did it effortlessly.
Meng Shuyao grew sleepy. She yawned, closed her eyes, and leaned into his arms, enveloped by a sense of security, falling asleep just like that.
Pei Yuzhou had no idea how big her heart was. She fell asleep without the slightest guard, not even afraid of being sold off.
-
The next morning.
Meng Shuyao woke in an unfamiliar environment.
Light from the terrace squeezed into the room through the gaps in the curtains.
She sat on the bed and looked around. Fragments of last night’s memories gradually pieced themselves together in her mind.
The tips of her ears heated unconsciously.
She had actually kissed Pei Yuzhou.
Alcohol really did embolden people.
The sun was already high. After washing up and getting ready in the room, she headed out and happened to run into Mark in the corridor.
“Where is Mr. Pei?” she asked.
Mark said, “He took a helicopter back to Manhattan last night to handle work.”
A large sum of funds had encountered a problem, and he had to personally return to verify it.
“Was it that urgent?” Meng Shuyao was puzzled. “Then why didn’t you go with him?”
Mark explained, “Sir told me to send you back to school.”
Meng Shuyao asked, a little uneasy, “When Mr. Pei left, he wasn’t angry, was he?”
Mark shook his head. “I’m not too sure about that.”
Sir’s emotions had always been impossible to fathom.
At ten o’clock, the cruise ship docked.
On the way back to school, Meng Shuyao sent Pei Yuzhou a message: “Mr. Pei, did I delay you from important work last night?”
After a long wait, he finally replied: “Drink less in the future.”
Meng Shuyao held her phone and bit her lip, typing: “You’re not mad at me, are you?”
Pei Yuzhou: “If there’s a next time, I’ll throw you into the sea.”
Threatening her again, but Meng Shuyao wasn’t afraid. “You won’t.”
Immediately after, she ingratiated herself: “Mr. Pei is the best.”
Pei Yuzhou ignored her after that.
Meng Shuyao didn’t dare disturb him again either.
By the time she arrived at school, it was already noon.
It was right when classes were letting out, and people were coming and going. Quite a few were drawn to the Cullinan parked at the school gate.
Luxury cars were nothing rare, but the Cullinan before them was privately customized, a limited-edition model—one of a kind.
Meng Shuyao got out of the car and felt as though countless pairs of eyes were focused on her. Uncomfortable all over, she quickly hastened her steps into the school.
Mark hurried back to Manhattan to report.
In the top-floor office of the CBD building, the man sat at his desk reviewing documents. Behind him, the floor-to-ceiling windows looked out over the bustling city skyline.
“Sir, Miss Meng has been safely delivered back to school.”
“Mm.”
Mark knew very well that Sir cared about Miss Meng.
Several projects had launched recently, and the group had a great deal of business to handle. For something like an auction, he could have chosen not to attend in person at all, but he had still made time to go.
Pei Yuzhou stopped writing and ordered in a low voice, “Freeze that unexplained sum at the bank for now. We’ll discuss it after it’s investigated.”
Mark nodded. “All right.”
Pei Yuzhou closed the folder. “How are preparations for the birthday banquet?”
Next month was the old master’s seventieth birthday. They were not planning to make a grand affair of it, only inviting families with long-standing ties.
“Aside from the guest invitation list, everything else has been properly arranged.” Mark asked for instructions. “Should we invite the Arthur family again this year?”
Pei Yuzhou’s voice was indifferent. “Let Grandfather decide for himself.”
The social obligations of the older generation were not something he interfered in. But if family interests were touched, he would not be soft-handed either.