After Playing the Fool and Marrying the Blind Villain [Transmigration] - Chap 103
It was once again time to leave work.
Pei Yi carefully browsed the average statistics for The Last Fog in the two months since it had launched, and contentedly approved.
“Much better than expected. By the way, how is the construction of the next Sky Castle level coming?”
Xiang Nansheng of the technical department replied in a businesslike manner, “We’ve entered the final testing stage, and we can launch a new round of promotion in October.”
Everything was developing step by step, and the studio’s prospects were booming.
Pei Yi closed the document and said, “Okay, the internal testing still needs to be properly controlled.”
“We have to ensure that there are no flaws in the ‘product’ once it goes online. We also need to keep up with the prop upgrades.”
“Of course.”
“All right, it’s almost time to leave work. Let’s stop here today. Thank you for your hard work.”
As far as Pei Yi was concerned, if he could prevent employees from having to work overtime, he would do so.
The group of technical staff headed by Xiang Nansheng filed out, and the single-person office suddenly became more open.
—Zizi.
The latest script plan sent by the copywriting team was uploaded to the computer.
Just as Pei Yi clicked to receive it, there was another knock on the office door.
Pei Yi said without raising his head, “Come in.”
Li Yuan leaned against the door in the hallway and asked with a smile, “Mr. Li, are you done? Do you have time tonight?”
Pei Yi recognized his friend’s voice and looked up. “For what?”
“A university classmate I haven’t been in contact with for a long time has opened a new bar, and he asked me to go over and join the fun when I have time.”
Li Yuan walked straight in. “I thought about it, and you’re the only one who likes drinking around here. How about we go together? It just so happens that we haven’t had a good chat since you came back from Haishi.”
Hearing this invitation to drink, Pei Yi’s interest immediately rose.
He quickly set aside the copywriting review that he had plenty of time for and said, “Okay, ah, can we go after work?”
Li Yuan’s lips curved. “Don’t you need to report to your man? Will he let you drink?”
Pei Yi thought of Bo Yueming’s “punishment” and felt a little guilty, but didn’t admit it.
“I’m just drinking with you, why should I report it? Besides, he listens to me at home.”
Having said this, he tossed the question back, “Will Yan Cen let you go?”
After these few months of dating, the way Li Yuan talked about Yan Cen was no longer the same as before, and his answer also had a hint of spoiled pride.
“He also can’t control me.”
Pei Yi raised his eyebrows. “Impressive.”
Li Yuan smiled back. “Likewise. I’ll go to the office to clean up. See you later.”
“Okay.”
There were still five or six minutes before the end of work, but as bosses, the two didn’t take the lead to leave early.
But the moment Li Yuan disappeared, Pei Yi immediately picked up the cell phone on his desk and obediently typed in his report:
“Er-ge, I won’t be home for dinner tonight. I’m going out to eat with Pear Garden, and I’ll be home before 10:30. Is this okay?”
He was tough on the outside, but honest on the inside.
. . . . . . . .
In the blink of an eye, it was time to get off work.
Pei Yi and Li Yuan went to the parking lot together. Before they could get close to their parking space, a voice quickly drew their attention.
“Mr. Zhao! Take another look, my project is really promising!”
“I only need ten minutes of your time! Just ten minutes! Give me a chance!”
Pei Yi and Li Yuan stopped in unison and looked in the direction of the sound—
Not far from them, Pei Huan, whom they hadn’t seen in a long while, was wearing a tight, cheap suit.
He was holding documents in his hands, eagerly following a well-dressed middle-aged boss. The latter frowned, as if disgusted with such a desperate pursuit.
The two walked to a car that was worth millions.
The middle-aged poss couldn’t endure it and threw away the documents handed to him by Pei Huan, moving away impatiently. “Mr. Pei Huan, I have given you enough face!”
“I am not interested in your project. You can find someone else, don’t delay my business!”
Having said this, he quickly got into the car and slammed the door shut.
Pei Huan was ruthlessly rejected. He was angry and ashamed, but also helpless.
The documents in his hand were scattered, so much so that after the middle-aged boss started the car, the tires rolled over them mercilessly.
“…….”
Pei Yi and Li Yuan accidentally witnessed this scene and couldn’t help but look at each other.
Before the two of them could do anything, Pei Huan noticed their presence.
Their gazes collided mid-air, and the atmosphere suddenly froze.
Pei Huan’s expression changed slightly, and the shame in his eyes was revealed bit by bit, but he soon remembered something and walked up urgently.
Li Yuan thought that Pei Huan intended to hurt Pei Yi, so he unthinkingly stood in front of his friend.
“Pear Garden!”
Pei Yi also feared that Pei Huan would hurt Li Yuan, so he blocked the other and changed their positions.
Pei Huan could see the mutual protection between the two, so he suddenly braked half a meter away and scoffed inexplicably.
Pei Yi’s eyes narrowed, and he took the initiative to say, “Long time no see.”
Pei Huan sucked in a breath when he heard this unusually normal tone. “Pei Yi, you’re quite good at pretending!”
Pei Yi was indifferent to this belated accusation. “If there’s nothing else, we’ll leave first. See you later.”
“Wait!”
Pei Huan called out urgently and took a step forward.
He seemed to be gritting his teeth, but also begging, “Please stop Bo Yueming from targeting me! Now that I am no longer Pei Huan of the Pei family, what else can I do to cause trouble for you?”
“…….”
Pei Yi was stunned for a couple of seconds. “What?”
Swallowing his anger, Pei Huan said, “Don’t pretend to be innocent. Bo Yueming has been using the power of Bo Group to put pressure on me, and now no major company in the Imperial Capital is willing to recruit me.”
All of his resumés were useless, and he never heard back from any of them.
“You have to push me to the edge of the cliff before you’ll give up, is that it?”
Pei Huan trembled, and looked at Li Yuan again. “And you! You refused to go back to the Pei family, and they immediately assumed that it must be because of me!”
But wasn’t he innocent of the mistake that was made back then?
Why was it that everyone was living a good life now, and he was the only one who had to keep struggling!
Pei Yi sneered, “Pei Huan, don’t pretend to be a victim here and accuse me. You know what you did in the past!”
You reap what you sow!
“These years, you’ve relied on the Pei family for an easy life. Which connections did you acquire on your own? So what if you were switched at birth?”
“Pear Garden originally wanted to save Dawn Games, but you sold it as soon as you got it!”
“It was you who caused Old Mr. Pei to fall and have an accident. You personally cut off the biggest support you had to stay in the Pei family.”
“You say Bo Yueming is targeting you? Why don’t you talk more about how you teamed up with Bo Guancheng to hurt him?”
“You said I’m pushing you toward a cliff? When you watched ‘me’ struggling in the water, did you ever think about leaving me a way to survive?”
Pei Yi smoothly listed one item after another, and it was enough to make Pei Huan speechless.
Li Yuan still held a grudge against Pei Huan, and said in a timely manner, “Pei Yi, let’s go.”
Pei Yi simply nodded.
Neither of them spared an extra glance at Pei Huan. They quickly got in the car and drove away.
“…….”
Pei Huan stared blankly at the back of the car, continuously remembering what he had done over the years. The regret in his heart finally reached its peak after seeing Pei Yi and Li Yuan.
He took two steps back, then his feet gave way and he fell to the ground.
Pei Huan buried his face between his knees and wanted to cry but had no tears.
In a daze, he felt that his life shouldn’t have turned out this way, but the cold facts told him at once—
All of this was his own fault!
. . . . . . . .
The car left the parking lot.
Pei Yi glanced at Pei Huan, who had shrunk into a small dot in the rearview mirror. “Didn’t I hear that he disappeared after selling Dawn Games? Why is he back now?”
Li Yuan could only tell what he knew. “It seems that he went to another province to make a wave of investments, but he was deceived and came back in disgrace.”
“He also went to Old Mr. Pei’s funeral.”
During the two months Pei Yi was in Haishi, Old Mr. Pei, who had long been holding on by a single breath, finally couldn’t withstand his illness and passed away.
Pei Ruzhang and the others held a simple funeral for him.
Pei Yi knew Pei Huan’s nature well, and surmised, “Did he try to sell misery at the funeral? Then take the opportunity to return to the Pei family?”
Li Yuan didn’t know much when it came to Pei Huan. “Maybe.”
Pei Yi answered his own question, “But looking at him now, it’s obvious that he didn’t succeed.”
Li Yuan added, “I heard from Da-ge that An Yang went to the funeral and made a big fuss, which made Pei Ruzhang even more dissatisfied with Pei Huan.”
“An Yang?”
“En.”
Nowadays, when the mother who raised him was mentioned, Li Yuan no longer had any emotional fluctuations. “After Pei Huan sold Dawn Games, her condition thoroughly worsened.”
She was sent to a mental hospital.
However, the house was still in An Yang’s name. After Pei Huan’s investments failed, he wanted the house, so he took the other person back to his side.
An Yang’s condition was sometimes good and sometimes bad, but something happened on the day of the funeral that destroyed the last trace of the Pei family’s nurturing relationship with Pei Huan.
Li Yuan sighed as he spoke.
Pei Yi glanced sideways at him. “Why are you sighing?”
Li Yuan explained, “I’m just a little moved. A year and a half ago, it was me who was wearing a plain suit and being talked down to by investors, not him.”
Should it be said that things had changed, or that they had returned to the way things should have been?
The moment this idea took shape, his friend affirmed it.
Pei Yi gave him a light pat on the shoulder and said, “Pear Garden, look forward. This is the life you should have had.”
“En.”
Even though everyone was born at a different starting point, the path toward the future must be chosen individually.
. . . . . . . .
Because of the great deals offered during the trial opening, when the two arrived, the bar was already full of guests who had come to join the fun.
But fortunately, the boss was very helpful, and had reserved in advance relatively quiet seats on the first floor for Li Yuan and Pei Yi.
The two of them didn’t start drinking right away, but first ordered some bar-only hot skewers to satisfy their appetites.
Pei Yi recounted to his friend the twists and turns that had happened in Haishi these past two months, then said emphatically, “Please have someone help me stay tuned with the news from Weiyi. We can’t suffer any losses in subsequent publicity.”
Li Yuan nodded, and asked about another key point, “By the way, are you sure Gu Jianshen will come to our studio?”
Pei Yi estimated based on his intuition, “I’m seventy to eighty percent sure. We’ll know by the end of the year.”
If Gu Jianshen had just run away and abandoned his old employer to go to their studio, Pei Yi would be a little leery about hiring him.
The alcohol was finally served.
As one of the few university classmates with whom Li Yuan still had contact, the boss took the initiative to hand cigarettes to the two of them. “Brother, thank you for coming to support me. If you want to drink anything, just let me know!”
Li Yuan smiled and said, “Brother Lin, go ahead and do your work first, we can take care of it ourselves.”
“Okay, you guys drink, and I’ll join you for a few drinks later when I have time.”
Brother Lin was very busy, and left after entertaining them briefly.
Li Yuan poured alcohol for Pei Yi. “How much can you drink now? Don’t get so drunk that you pass out later, or I’ll be in trouble with Mr. Bo.”
Pei Yi replied, “Why would you get in trouble with him if I drink alcohol?”
Even though he had been practicing for so long, he could still get drunk after two or three drinks, but he still wanted to indulge in one or two bottles tonight.
He had to get drunk no matter what, and be unrestrained and happy in the moment!
With this thought, Pei Yi took the first sip.
Li Yuan frowned and warned him, “Is it really okay, ah? Take it easy.”
Pei Yi joked, “Can I say no?”
After finally getting out of Bo Yueming’s range of view, he had to drink to his heart’s content!
Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Li Yuan simply had a drink with him.
In a short time, the two of them finished half a bottle of whiskey.
Pei Yi’s face soon turned red. Full of curiosity, he leaned forward so that he was halfway lying on the table. “Pear Garden, is Yan Cen good to you?”
Li Yuan coughed. “En.”
Pei Yi asked again, “Then will you marry him in the future?”
“…….”
Li Yuan was stunned by his friend’s out-of-the-box thinking, and answered slowly, “It’s, it’s still early. I’m not considering such a thing for the time being.”
Pei Yi nodded at his answer, and then said to himself, “I! I want to marry Bo Yueming!”
Li Yuan smiled and said, “Aren’t the two of you already married?”
“No, not yet. Look, ah—”
Pei Yi slowly shook his head and raised his empty hand. “No ring, no marriage certificate, no, no marriage.”
At Old Mrs. Bo’s birthday celebration that day, although the words of He Feng and the others didn’t shock Pei Yi, they made him understand one thing—
Love and marriage still needed to be distinguished.
He and Bo Yueming only had a business marriage relationship, which was far from enough.
Pei Yi touched his ring finger and confessed to his friend, “Pear Garden, tell me, if I propose marriage to him, will he agree?”
“…….”
Li Yuan was surprised. “You, you would take the initiative to propose?”
Even though he was aware of his friend’s straightforward character, he never suspected that he would also be so straightforward in love.
Pei Yi tilted his head. “Can’t I?”
Li Yuan replied, “You can. If you’ve thought about it, just do it. I support you.”
“Wu, I’ll try hard to make a plan.”
Having received the support of his friend, Pei Yi took advantage of his cheerful mood and drank the alcohol in his glass in one gulp.
As he got drunker, he became increasingly enthusiastic about drinking.
Li Yuan quickly advised, “Slow down and drink a little less?”
Having said that, when he saw the two untouched cigarettes on the table, he picked them up on his own impulse. “Do you want to smoke this?”
Out of nowhere, Pei Yi thought of Bo Yueming’s punishment in Haishi and unconsciously shifted in his seat. He mumbled, “I, I won’t smoke.”
“Yan Cen still lets you smoke?”
“…….”
Li Yuan remembered that Yan Cen had asked him to quit smoking.
Although he had been working hard these past few months, he still got a bit of a craving for cigarettes when issues occasionally cropped up.
Pei Yi got a hint from his friend’s silence and teased, “He won’t let you smoke, right? As soon as Yan Cen sees it, he’ll discipline you.”
Li Yuan retorted with a brave face, “He won’t discipline me. It’s Bo Yueming who controls you and won’t allow you to drink.”
Pei Yi denied it. “No, I have the final say at home.”
The two of them finished speaking and glanced at each other, and the tacit understanding between friends was immediately displayed—
One person smoked, one person drank, and neither stopped the other.
They would indulge themselves tonight and definitely not be discovered!
They needed to be a little uninhibited!
Pei Yi opened a brand new bottle of whiskey for himself, but he hadn’t even had a drink yet when he looked up and saw Yan Cen.
There was no telling how the other party found them, but at this moment, he was standing quietly behind Li Yuan under the cover of the ambient sounds of the bar.
Looking at his unsuspecting friend, who had a cigarette in his mouth and was still smoking comfortably.
Li Yuan noticed Pei Yi’s sudden gaze and exhaled a puff of smoke. “Why are you looking at me?”
“…….”
Pei Yi shook his head and blocked his smile with his glass, watching the show.
Li Yuan was perplexed. Just as he was about to take another puff, the cigarette between his fingers was suddenly taken away.
“Didn’t you say you were having dinner with Pei Yi? And you’re secretly smoking without telling me?” Yan Cen asked from behind him.
“…….”
Li Yuan was immediately startled, and turned around slowly with a guilty conscience.
Pei Yi saw his friend’s rare cute and timid look, and laughed gloatingly, “Pear Garden, you’re finished.”
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a neutral hum from behind him.
Even in the relatively noisy environment of the bar, the drunk Pei Yi instinctively realized something and cautiously turned around to look—
As expected, he met Bo Yueming’s gaze.
In an instant, Pei Yi couldn’t help but let out a small belch. He thought to himself:
Wu.
He was finished too.
