Lu Jiayan followed Pei Zhiwen to the bowling area inside the club, where the crisp sounds of colliding spheres echoed from time to time.
Confused, he asked, “What are you bringing me here for?”
Pei Zhiwen casually picked up a ball, assumed a standard posture, and casually tossed it out. With a loud bang, all the bowling pins tumbled down.
STRIKE.
“Nice!” someone nearby whistled.
Pei Zhiwen cast a sideways glance at Lu Jiayan, pulling a small USB flash drive from his pocket to toy with in his palm. “I want to play a game with you. If you win, the flash drive goes back to you. If you lose…”
The nonchalant cadence dragged out at the end, instantly making one feel anxious and ill at ease.
Lu Jiayan asked, “Then what?”
Pei Zhiwen curled his lips. “I will tell you after I win.”
Lu Jiayan frowned. “Then I am not playing.”
A wager without a defined outcome usually entailed a heavy stake.
He did not trust Pei Zhiwen.
What if Pei Zhiwen’s condition was for him to follow him back to Beijing to become a mistress or an underground secret lover after his marriage?
Lu Jiayan knew what was inside that USB flash drive: it was the video Pei Zhiwen had sent him that night, and it was likely longer than a minute.
“You do not have the right to choose,” Pei Zhiwen said, the smile failing to reach his eyes. “In fact, you should be celebrating that I am giving you this chance instead of directly calling someone to drag you back to Beijing.”
The word “drag” sounded relatively euphemistic.
Before coming here, Lu Jiayan had already considered the possibility of being forcibly bound and taken back to Beijing by Pei Zhiwen.
Over the past two weeks, he had entertained thoughts of leaving Jiangling, but his whereabouts had leaked, making departure exceedingly difficult.
The Pei family was a prominent and influential elite family in Beijing. Aside from the core members of the family, probably no one understood or realized how extensive the reach of the Pei family’s power truly was, nor could ordinary people resist the methods at their disposal.
After all, it was the place where he had lived for nearly twenty years.
Though Lu Jiayan harbored thoughts of running away, he had never truly intended to flee again.
Because he owed Pei Zhiwen a life.
“What do you want to play?” Lu Jiayan asked.
Pei Zhiwen raised his chin. “You choose.”
Lu Jiayan’s gaze swept around the club before finally lifting his hand to point at a target not far away.
“Shooting.”
Hearing this, a flash of brilliance crossed the profound depths of Pei Zhiwen’s eyes, as though he had encountered something quite interesting.
“Are you sure?”
Those three brief words sounded as though he had already secured victory the moment Lu Jiayan nodded.
After all, Pei Zhiwen had been groomed as the heir of the Pei family since childhood. Horseback riding, shooting, martial arts, business, languages, and countless other subjects filled his daily routine. The effects of the Pei family’s cultivation of Pei Zhiwen were remarkable; he was practically all-around proficient, with every single skill ranking at the very top among his peers in the elite circles.
Lu Jiayan had only managed to sit in on a few classes and learn a few superficial basics by riding on Pei Zhiwen’s coattails, but he possessed no talent, and his performance in every single subject was abysmal at the bottom.
“I am sure.” Lu Jiayan nodded slightly.
Pei Zhiwen arched a brow slightly. “Very well.”
“Then follow me.”
He Yao happened to run into the two of them just as they were preparing to leave for the shooting range.
Glancing at Lu Jiayan trailing behind Pei Zhiwen, he asked casually, “Where are you two headed?”
Without looking back, Pei Zhiwen replied, “Playing a game.”
He Yao immediately grew interested. “What game? Count me in!”
Pei Zhiwen halted his steps and cast a sideways glance at He Yao, who was preparing to follow. “We do not carry noobs.”
He Yao: “Ha.”
No wonder his wife ran away.
With a mouth this vicious, it is truly a good thing his wife ran away.
The shooting range was located indoors.
The coach exchanged greetings with Pei Zhiwen and then stepped away.
“Pick a gun and put on your protective gear,” Pei Zhiwen said, reaching out to touch the firearms displayed on the rack and the gear on the table. “We are doing twenty-five meters.”
Without a word, Lu Jiayan put on his protective gear, picked up the AK-47 from the side, and walked to the designated shooting position.
He raised the gun, aligned it with the target, took aim, and placed his finger on the trigger. Then he heard Pei Zhiwen speak from behind him:
“Your posture is wrong.”
“The stock of the gun should be pressed against your shoulder, and your head should shift one centimeter to the right.”
The familiar tone felt as though they had traveled back a few years, to a time when their relationship was not as distant as it was now.
Back then, Pei Zhiwen took two hours of shooting classes every day, and Lu Jiayan would always watch movies by his side to accompany him.
The consequence of that companionship was that Pei Zhiwen used teaching him how to shoot as an excuse to touch his ears, cheeks, hands, and waist inside the Pei family’s shooting training room, along with stealing light, fleeting kisses.
“Are you listening?” A wave of scorching breath drew close to his ear.
Lu Jiayan could not control the tremors shivering through his body.
The distance between them was very close. One of Pei Zhiwen’s hands quietly rested on Lu Jiayan’s narrow, slender waist, while the other hand used two slender fingers to pinch the latter’s chin to help adjust his posture.
The hormones of an adult male enveloped Lu Jiayan tightly, causing him to instinctively tilt his head to avoid contact. “Do not get so close to me.”
Feigning incomprehension, Pei Zhiwen asked, “Why not?”
The familiar scent caught by the tip of his nose awakened long-sealed memories and sensations, making Lu Jiayan feel as though a myriad of ants were crawling all over his body.
The arm holding the gun trembled slightly.
The culprit let out a short, light chuckle and asked with a deadpan expression, “Could it be that…”
“Shut your mouth.”
“Your temper has improved.”
When Pei Zhiwen uttered those words, his face was full of gratification.
Sensing that the hand on his waist had not been withdrawn, Lu Jiayan turned his head and said past his limit of tolerance, “Do not interfere with my performance.”
Unfazed, Pei Zhiwen withdrew his hand, crossed his arms as he stood off to the side, and drawled leisurely, “If you were single-minded, free of distracting thoughts, and not sensitive, even if we were…”
He mouthed two words silently.
Lu Jiayan frowned.
Pei Zhiwen curved his lips. “Your hands still would not shake.”
Lu Jiayan did not understand where Pei Zhiwen came up with such distorted logic.
He could not be bothered to argue.
He raised the gun according to the posture Pei Zhiwen had adjusted, lowered his head slightly, placed his index finger on the trigger, and squinted to take aim at the distant target.
Pei Zhiwen asked, “Do you think you will win?”
Suppressing the inner restlessness, Lu Jiayan took aim at the target, pulled the trigger cleanly and decisively, and heard a single bang as the bullet flew out and planted firmly in the nine-ring position.
Glancing briefly at the result, he placed the AK-47 back in its original spot.
“Not a bad shot.” Pei Zhiwen offered his unsparing praise.
He casually picked up a compact handgun, raised his hand toward the target, and hooked his index finger around the trigger.
“Bang.”
“However,” Pei Zhiwen articulated each word clearly, “you do not stand a chance of winning.”
Bullseye, a perfect ten rings.
This was within Lu Jiayan’s expectations.
After all, his shooting skills had all been taught to him hand-in-hand by Pei Zhiwen.
Lu Jiayan said, “A loser must accept the outcome of a bet.”
“As the winner, you can name your conditions.”
This game was a gamble with a fifty percent chance of winning. Now that he had lost, he had never intended to go back on his word.
Pei Zhiwen hooked his finger in the trigger guard, smoothly twirled the handgun around once, and calmly placed it back in its original spot.
Then, he looked at Lu Jiayan, who was standing face-to-face with him.
“My condition is very simple.”
“It is…”