After Playing the Fool and Marrying the Blind Villain [Transmigration] - Chap 77
The originally small living room was packed with people.
Shu Wan was still thinking about dinner, and ran back to the kitchen without a word, leaving room for the young people to talk.
Pei Yi glanced at Li Yuan, whose foot was injured somehow, and then secretly at Yan Cen, completely seized by curiosity.
“Pear Garden, why don’t you come sit in my bedroom for a while.”
As soon as these words were spoken, the eyes of Bo Yueming, Qin Yishun, and the others all turned away.
As a first-time guest, Li Yuan was restrained. “Huh?”
“I want to ask you something about work.”
Pei Yi gave a suitable reason and gently supported his friend. “Let’s go to my room for a moment.”
Pei Yuan looked at the two of them, and her belated ‘sister instincts’ broke out. “You two go in, just remember to come out for dinner later.”
Pei Yi responded with a light smile, “Sister, you’re busy, I’ll come out and help later.”
As he spoke, he gave Bo Yueming a veiled look.
Behave well, don’t be nervous—
Bo Yueming understood the hint in his lover’s eyes, and nodded imperceptibly.
The bedroom door shut again.
Isolating the four figures in the living room and also blocking Li Yuan’s inner anxiety and awkwardness.
Li Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, and the coldness at the corners of his eyes eased a little.
Pei Yi had his friend sit on a wooden chair, and sat on the bed facing him. “Weren’t you uncomfortable? It’s just the two of us here now, is it better?”
“It’s fine. I’m a little slow to warm up to the outside world.”
In the past, when he was the young master of a wealthy family, he could use cold arrogance to hide his reticent character. Later, he had to go all out for work.
Pei Yi understood. He picked up the thermos on the bedside table and poured a sweet pear soup from it. “Come on, have a taste?”
“My mom made it early in the morning and hid it here. I’ll secretly share half with you.”
Li Yuan took the warm sugar water, and the faintly rising heat carried a sweet scent that he liked very much. “Auntie seems very kind.”
Although the two were cousins by blood, Shu Wan should be called “Aunt” according to seniority.[1]
But he didn’t want anything to do with the Pei family, and always felt more at ease addressing her as Auntie.
Pei Yi pretty much understood what his friend was thinking. He didn’t care about the rules of these titles and just acknowledged, “En, she’s a very tough but gentle person. You’ll know after you meet her a few more times.”
He didn’t want to repeatedly emphasize the fact that “Shu Wan and Qin Yishun were good people” with his friend. He knew—
People with soft hearts could recognize each other through contact, not through verbal explanations.
Li Yuan took a sip of sweet pear soup and felt a lot more at ease. “Pei Yi, what work did you want to talk to me about?”
Pei Yi’s eyes flickered to his left foot. “Tell me first, how did you hurt your foot? Is it serious?”
“……”
Li Yuan was silent for a second or two, then admitted truthfully, “Didn’t I go to GM for the project summary meeting today?”
Pei Yi nodded. “En, then what?”
Li Yuan hid a little bit of the truth, and only said, “In the end, I couldn’t hold back my craving for cigarettes, so I hid in an access corridor and secretly took two smokes. I don’t know how Mr. Yan found me in the end…..”
He had initially wanted to be alone and hide away his worries, so Li Yuan smoked while pacing up and down the stairs.
He had only smoked half a cigarette when he heard the swish of the access door opening—
The moment he turned his head and saw Yan Cen’s figure, Li Yuan inexplicably panicked. His foot slipped, he stepped on air, and he fell down.
Thinking of his unfortunate and embarrassing behavior not long ago, Li Yuan wished he could find a hole in the ground and crawl into it!
“It hurts a little bit, but the injury isn’t serious. It’ll probably be healed in ten to fifteen days. The doctor said to avoid running and intensive movement for a month.”
“It takes a hundred days for a bone to knit and tendons to heal. You need to be more careful.”
Pei Yi remembered that common saying. He said, “It’s just a few days off, so you should just stay at home and avoid going out. If Brother Xiang and the studio have any problems, I’ll go over, don’t worry about it.”
The two had always worked together with a division of labor, but they could also bolster each other when things went wrong.
Li Yuan broke out in his first smile of the day. “En.”
Pei Yi seized the opportunity to ask, “Then tell me, what’s going on with you and Yan Cen?”
Li Yuan looked away from his friend’s gossipy line of sight. “What do you mean what’s going on?”
“It was Yan Cen who took you to the hospital, then took you downstairs, and even carried you to the fourth floor, right?”
Pei Yi had seen through everything a long time ago, and clicked his tongue in wonder. “The dignified Executive Director of GM, why is he willing to spend this time and effort on you?”
Li Yuan suppressed his embarrassment. “I’m still a legal shareholder of YWY, and a partner in his investment project.”
Pei Yi raised his eyebrows. “Stop using this routine on me again.”
He still remembered “Yan Cen’s” description in the original text—
Although he was refined in appearance and gentle toward others, his gentleness was measured and he would not easily cross the line.
Lay aside those things before. If he was just an ordinary friend and partner, Yan Cen could easily arrange an assistant to help, and there was no need to do everything himself.
Li Yuan was blocked, and couldn’t speak. His heart was still a mess.
Pei Yi noticed his furrowed brow and asked uncertainly, “Pear Garden, what are you worried about? If Yan Cen has other thoughts about you, isn’t that good? You……”
In the middle of speaking, Pei Yi stopped and said, “I’m sorry, I’m being too nosy.”
Li Yuan looked at his good friend and shook his head. “It’s okay, I knew you had noticed it a long time ago, and you kept silent to give me face.”
“I just wasn’t sure what Yan Cen’s attitude was toward you, so I didn’t want to say anything.” Pei Yi simply asked, “Pear Garden, why don’t you dare to let him try?”
“Try what? Should I say that I had a crush on him, a senior, since university?” Li Yuan gave a complicated laugh, expressing his thoughts—
“Pei Yi, I don’t want to use these kinds of feelings to snatch him.”
If Yan Cen desired him or had a crush, then fine, that was all his business.
Li Yuan felt that he himself should not, and was also not qualified to speak out about these years of feelings, to forcibly place them in front of the other party and demand that he give him the response he wanted.
Pei Yi remained silent.
He knew that everyone had their own way of dealing with feelings.
Li Yuan calmed himself down. “In the past six months, we’ve had occasional contact at work. He’s taken good care of me, but I can’t let it go wrong.”
Li Yuan believed that he and Yan Cen were not close enough to discuss personal feelings, and what he didn’t tell Pei Yi was that—
Yan Cen was the only child in the family.
Even though same-sex marriage was commonplace now, he was born in a decent wealthy family and in the future, he should find a girl from a reputable family to marry.
If the two really dated, his gender and family background would not be recognized by the other’s family.
“…….”
Li Yuan thought about it for a moment, and when his focus returned, he laughed bitterly—
It was really getting more and more outrageous!
How could he imagine what would happen next?
It had been a long time since Pei Yi had seen his friend look so lonely. “Pear Garden?”
“It’s nothing.”
Li Yuan clenched his cup tightly, and drank two more sips of sweet pear soup in order to suppress the bitterness that had not filled his heart for a long time.
Pei Yi thought for a moment, then said, “Yuan, I should have told you more than once—”
“What?”
“You are excellent.” Pei Yi straightforwardly gave him credit. “You deserve all the good things!”
“I understand, you have been around excellent people since you were young, so you will inevitably feel a gap after encountering setbacks.”
Just like Li Yuan, whose family went bankrupt, Pei Huan after he learned the truth, and Bo Guancheng who was now in custody.
“But you must know that the standards of this world should never be measured by family background.”
“Most people are born in ordinary families, and some are abandoned as orphans at birth.”
Pei Yi was aware that he had experienced hard times, and also enjoyed a short life of a rich young master, and then eventually became an ordinary person.
So what?
He relied on his own efforts to get what he wanted step by step!
If Pei Yi could do it, then so could Li Yuan.
Perhaps in matters of love, Pei Yi, who was in the exploratory period, could not give his friend much help or advice. But in other respects, he didn’t want Li Yuan to lack the most basic self-confidence.
Hearing Pei Yi’s remarks, a glimmer of light flickered in Li Yuan’s eyes. “Pei Yi.”
“En?”
Li Yuan said truthfully, “Sometimes when I look at you, I feel like you shouldn’t talk like this at your age, and that your mental age is much more mature than mine.”
Pei Yi didn’t deny this.
The more things a person experienced, the more they would understand.
“Don’t worry, I know what you mean. Right now, I just want to do well in my career.”
Li Yuan confessed his thoughts, “I abandoned my family background as my solid ground, so now I have to be my own backer.”
“Maybe one day, with my career as my most solid trump card, I can also face the love that I want.”
Pei Yi detected the sincerity and motivation in his friend’s words, and responded with a smile, “Isn’t it just business, ah? I’ll accompany you.”
Li Yuan raised the sweet pear soup in his hands. “Then cheers.”
Pei Yi picked up the remaining half bowl. “Cheers!”
. . . . . . .
On the sofa in the living room, Bo Yueming and Yan Cen glanced at the bedroom door from time to time.
Qin Yishun, on the other hand, quietly observed them. Especially Yan Cen, who had suddenly entered the door with “impudence.”
Pei Yuan came out of the kitchen with some uncooked ingredients, and was surprised after seeing the situation. “Brother, what are you guys doing in here? Are you not going to talk?”
Qin Yishun had no such feelings. “En, we’re not familiar.”
“……”
“……”
Bo Yueming and Yan Cen exchanged glances, feeling as if they had been blacklisted.
Qin Yishun looked at the bag of food in Pei Yuan’s hand. “Do you need help?”
“En.”
Pei Yuan knew Qin Yishun’s cold on the outside but warm on the inside personality, and wasn’t afraid of him at all. “There is one bag of small potatoes and one bag of beans. The potatoes need to be peeled, and the beans should be cut into small pieces.”
“I wasted a little time just now, so I need to hurry up.”
Pei Yuan couldn’t trouble Bo Yueming and Yan Cen, who were considered “guests,” so she could only command her cousin. “Brother, will you help me?”
Qin Yishun nodded and took the bag, saying, “Go back to the kitchen and help Auntie. We’ll handle these few things.”
“Ah?”
Pei Yuan glanced at Bo Yueming and Yan Cen uncertainly. These two looked like pampered wealthy young masters who never got their hands dirty. Could they do such a thing?
“Ah, what?” Qin Yishun was nonchalant, looking at Bo Yueming and Yan Cen next to him with a hint of scrutiny. “Is there a problem?”
Bo Yueming remembered the expression in Pei Yi’s eyes before he entered the room. “There’s no problem.”
Yan Cen reached up to push up his lenses, covering up the gleam in his eyes. “I came here brazenly to eat, so of course I’ll help with this small thing.”
Qin Yishun scoffed unobtrusively. “Okay, you two take care of this bag.”
As he spoke, he handed the bag of dirty potatoes to Bo Yueming and Yan Cen.
“……”
“……”
Seeing this, the two who had been straightforward just now simultaneously fell into an awkward silence.
Pei Yuan suppressed a smile. “Wait a moment, I’ll teach you.”
Soon after, she went back to the kitchen and fetched a basin of clear water and two small steel spoons, then taught them how to do it by hand. “This kind of small potato is easy to peel. When it gets wet, you can scrape it off with the edge of the spoon.”
Bo Yueming and Yan Cen watched carefully, and got started at once.
The more Pei Yuan watched, the more she felt like the two of them were pretty good. She glanced at the closed door and couldn’t help but quietly ask, “You’ve been around Xiao Yi and Xiao Li a lot. What do you think of them?”
When thinking of his lover, Bo Yueming had no shortage of compliments. “In fact, Pei Yi is excellent and very smart. He’s also very cute when he occasionally gets a temper.”
Yan Cen answered unconsciously, “Mr. Li as well.”
As soon as his voice fell, everyone heard a crisp crack.
Qin Yishun, who was sitting on the sofa, forcibly broke in half the long beans in his hand.
He pretended to be calm and threw the beans into the basket. “Xiao Yuan, you go to the kitchen, we can handle things here.”
Pei Yuan stopped chatting. “I’ll trouble you, then. Quickly, please!”
Bo Yueming and Yan Cen exchanged glances, and continued to peel potato skins.
The door to the room, which had been closed for a long time, finally opened less than a minute later.
Pei Yi helped Li Yuan out with his injured foot, and had just stepped out when he saw the “fantastical” situation in the living room—
Bo Yueming and Yan Cen, who could easily boast of investment projects worth tens or hundreds of millions, were now peeling potatoes.
Qin Yishun, who was used to holding weapons in actual combat, was now cracking beans.
These people who were nearly the same height nestled on the sofa, heads lowered as they focused on the work at hand. It seemed they were doing their utmost to see who could perform better.
Pei Yi couldn’t hold back, and snickered. “What are you doing?”
Bo Yueming looked at his lover. “You’re finished talking?”
Yan Cen’s attention was still on Li Yuan. “Mr. Li, your foot is hurt, come sit here. Don’t stand up for so long.”
Qin Yishun got up with the beans he had already cracked, smoothly protecting his cabbage. “Xiao Yi, you help Xiao Li and sit here.”
Pei Yi didn’t care about who sat where at this time. He turned his head and called toward the kitchen, “Mom, Sister, do you need anything? I can help too.”
“Don’t you two little brothers worry about it. Just sit and chat, rest, and wait for the meal.”
Qin Yishun carried his double-standard brother-protection to the end, and his eyes swung toward Bo Yueming and Yan Cen again. “Hurry up!”
These two were clearly impractical people who didn’t know how to cook.
If it took them so much time to peel potatoes, how could they take good care of others in the future?
Bo Yueming and Yan Cen didn’t speak. They both increased the speed of their hands—
Brother-in-law, future brother-in-law was not easy to mess with!
Seeing their uniform movements, Pei Yi and Li Yuan looked at each other, struggling to hold in their laughter.
Although they smiled, the two still went to help.
Everyone rushed to make a table of hot dishes before seven o’clock, and sat around the makeshift meal.
Shu Wan’s heart moved as she looked at the young people around the table.
After more than twenty years, she finally realized the meaning of liveliness again. “Everyone eat more, don’t hold back.”
Pei Yi was particularly supportive. “Mom, don’t worry, we’ll definitely eat up tonight. Right?”
Qin Yishun and Bo Yueming nodded one after another, as well as Li Yuan and Yan Cen, who were relative strangers.
Pei Yi took the initiative to stir up the atmosphere as an intermediary, asking and answering questions, and everyone also joined in to talk.
After the meal, the subtle sense of unfamiliarity had disappeared.
Shu Wan went back to her room before dinner was over, and when she came out again, there was a stack of heavy red envelopes in her hand.
She distributed them to the children one by one. “Xiao Yuan, Xiao Yi, Yishun, and Xiao Li, here are your New Year red envelopes.”
Pei Yuan was appropriately the most unrestrained. “Thank you, Mom!”
Even when it was only the mother and daughter, Shu Wan would always give her a red envelope for the New Year. This year’s red envelope had come early, but she still accepted it and gave thanks.
Pei Yi felt the thickness of the red envelope and was about to say something, when Shu Wan urged, “Take it!”
Shu Wan’s dream was for her youngest son to be healthy and by her side. This red envelope had been prepared every year, and was finally handed over this year.
Pei Yi changed his words. “Thank you, Mom. I’ll take it.”
Shu Wan smiled, and handed a red envelope to Qin Yishun and Li Yuan respectively.
“You two children can’t refuse. Just treat it as a gift from me and your uncle, this red envelope is for a peaceful new year.”
“I…..” Li Yuan hesitated.
Qin Yishun thought for a moment, then took the red envelope on Li Yuan’s behalf and stuffed it into the other party’s hands. “Why haven’t you said thank you yet?”
Li Yuan’s fingers tightened slightly on the red envelope, and he said sincerely, “Thank you….Auntie.”
Pei Yi saw his good friend slowly accepting his family, and smiled. “Mom, there are still people at this table who are jealous.”
Shu Wan heard him joke and said, “Silly child, don’t you see that I still have red envelopes in my hand?”
Having said this, she handed the remaining two red envelopes to Bo Yueming and Yan Cen. “Come, take them.”
This was the first time Bo Yueming had received a New Year’s red envelope. He looked over uncertainly at his lover, and accepted it after seeing him nod silently.
Yan Cen was surprised to also get one. “Auntie, are you sure it’s for me?”
“Giving out red envelopes during the New Year is for the liveliness!”
Shu Wan was in a good mood today, and stuffed it directly into his hands. “It’s not much money. You children who grew up in wealthy families, don’t hold it against me.”
Yan Cen maintained his gentle courtesy. “Of course we won’t hold it against you. Your kindness is the most important thing. This is the first time we’ve received such official New Year’s red envelopes.”
Bo Yueming nodded at his friend’s words.
The family backgrounds of the two were considered to be top-notch in the Imperial capital, but they seldom followed such traditional customs on the holidays. At most, there would be an extra sum of money in their bank card from time to time.
Cold as ice, not with the human warmth at this moment.
Pei Yi and the others took their red envelopes and conscientiously helped Shu Wan clean up the dining table.
It wasn’t until the clock on the wall moved to nearly ten o’clock that they thought of leaving.
Pei Yi considered the number of steps on these four floors, and recalled his friend’s foot. “Pear Garden, have someone carry you down. Don’t step on your foot and get hurt again.”
Yan Cen nodded. “I……”
Qin Yishun’s radar activated, and he answered the call first. “I’ll do it.”
He quickly walked up to Li Yuan and bent down slightly. “Xiao An, get on.”
Li Yuan declined. “I can do it myself, I won’t trouble you.”
“Where’s the trouble when a big brother carries his little brother?” Qin Yishun looked at Pei Yi. “When Xiao Yi was injured, I carried him on my back.”
Pei Yi received his older brother’s look and hastily nodded. “Pear Garden, get on quickly! Or do you want someone else to carry you?”
Li Yuan heard the second half of the sentence and said, “I don’t!”
After speaking, he climbed onto Qin Yishun’s back.
Yan Cen raised his hand slightly to support him, as if he was afraid that he would lose his balance and fall.
Pei Yi saw through him, but didn’t say anything. He took the initiative to hold Bo Yueming’s hand. “Mom, we’re leaving. I’ll see you again in two days.”
“Ai, be careful on the road!”
Shu Wan deliberately didn’t ask her son to stay overnight. Her heart was very content.
Pei Yi gathered up his coat, the curiosity of a younger brother hidden deep in his bones. “Mom, I’m going downstairs to see them off, I’ll be back later!”
. . . . . . .
The group of people went to the bottom of the residential building.
Pei Yi and Bo Yueming were going back to Bo Manor. Qin Yishun knew that he had no reason to stop him, so he could only ask another nominal little brother.
“Xiao An, how did you get here?”
Yan Cen answered instead. “He came in my car.”
Li Yuan nodded, adding, “I hurt my foot this afternoon, so Mr. Yan helped drive me.”
Pei Yi’s eyes flickered slightly, and he created an opportunity. “Everyone is coming and going. Brother, where you live is the opposite direction from us. Don’t send people back, go home and rest early.”
“…….”
Qin Yishun was easily blocked by his little brother’s words.
Everyone bid farewell to each other and got into their vehicles.
Pei Yuan had followed them downstairs, and saw this scene just as she wished. She smiled with joy on her face. “Brother, you said they’re a pair, and they look like a good match. Don’t you think so?”
Qin Yishun frowned slightly when he heard his cousin’s words—
Match?
This pair looked very annoying!
. . . . . . .
Time moved unknowingly to eleven o’clock.
Bo Yueming had just come out of the bathroom wrapped in a bathrobe when Pei Yi, who was lurking outside the door, hung onto his body with his arms and legs.
“Er-ge!”
Bo Yueming quickly embraced him. “What are you waiting here for? Isn’t it cold?”
“The heater is on, how can it be cold?”
Pei Yi kissed the remaining drops of water on his lover’s Adam’s apple, and hooked him in. “Er-ge, I have something for you. Touch my pajama pocket.”
Bo Yueming’s breathing went tight, and he easily carried Pei Yi with one arm, leaving the other hand free to touch. “What is it?”
As soon as he finished speaking, he took out a red envelope from his lover’s pajama pocket.
Bo Yueming stared slightly, with a trace of surprise. “You prepared this for me?”
“En!”
Pei Yi explained, “I prepared it a long time ago. I wanted to wait for New Year’s to give it to you, but I didn’t expect that my mom would make one tonight. But it doesn’t matter—’
“It’s for you, and must be given to you sooner or later.”
Pei Yi looked into Bo Yueming’s eyes, and wished softly and earnestly, “I wish my Er-ge a happy and healthy New Year.”
Bo Yueming smiled softly and kissed his lover’s lips. “Thank you, kitten.”
After saying so, he carried Pei Yi and walked to the wine wall, gesturing to it.
“Open the second cabinet.”
“Ah?”
Pei Yi suddenly realized something, and opened it—
In the second cabinet were countless bottle openers, and also a thick red envelope lying there alone.
The upward arc of Pei Yi’s mouth widened slightly. “Er-ge, you prepared one too?”
Bo Yueming also didn’t deny it. “I initially wanted to wait for you to find it yourself when drinking on New Year’s Eve, but I didn’t expect you to give me a red envelope earlier. If I didn’t reciprocate the gift now, I would lose.”
Pei Yi burst out laughing and deliberately weighed the red envelope. “You didn’t lose, it’s quite a lot. What about the blessings?”
Bo Yueming set him on the bar and sincerely wished, “I also wish my little husband a happy and healthy New Year, with no fear, worry, or loneliness.”
Pei Yi’s heart beat intensely, and he leaned forward for a kiss. “With you here, I’m not afraid, worried, or lonely.”
Bo Yueming did as he wished, and kissed him gently. “It’s a holiday, you’re not going to work?”
Pei Yi heard the deep meaning in his words, and said boastfully, “En, if you have the ability, I can stay in bed for ten days!”
“…….”
Bo Yueming’s words overflowed with subtlety. “Is that so? Then Little Sir will have to hold on.”
[1] The formal address would be 婶婶, or ‘the wife of the father’s brother,’ but Li Yuan uses 阿姨, which is more informal and affectionate. ⮐
