Old Man Pei sneered, “What? Regret? You are only with him for the money, aren’t you?”
“That is correct.” Wu Hui pulled out the digital copy of the original contract. “The Senior pays me twenty million per month. You cannot offer less than that, or your bid will be invalid.”
Old Man Pei was stunned. “Twenty million? Why don’t you go out and rob someone?”
“Robbing is not as efficient as you coming here to deliver it personally,” Wu Hui replied.
Old Man Pei had not expected Pei Huaiye to be that generous with him. The Pei family’s assets had been hollowed out, with all the shares now in Pei Huaiye’s hands. Old Man Pei had to live off a tiny fraction of shares and his own savings, and he certainly could not afford to be as extravagant as his grandson.
“No money?” Wu Hui put his phone away and looked at him with disdain. “What are you here to negotiate with me for if you have no money?”
He tossed two hundred and fifty yuan onto the table. “Take this and leave Pei Huaiye.”
Silence filled the room.
The manager and his staff were eavesdropping from a distance, becoming increasingly confused until they saw Wu Hui toss the money on the table, demanding that Old Man Pei leave someone.
“Is he serious?”
“That old man is so old, yet he is acting like a homewrecker!”
Old Man Pei was so furious he nearly choked, but he eventually agreed to Wu Hui’s exorbitant demand. “Ha! If money is all it takes to make you leave him, could others take you away if they promised you something else?”
Wu Hui adjusted his glasses. “I am brave enough to say I want all of the bad temptations.”
“Twenty million and one,” Old Man Pei countered.
Wu Hui remained silent. It was time to use a stronger approach.
Wu Hui sent a message to Wen Tanyi: “Express your intense desire to marry into the Pei family to the Old Man immediately. If you do not get married in, throw a tantrum and threaten suicide.”
Wen Tanyi replied with a question mark. She did not understand, but she followed his instructions.
Soon, Old Man Pei received a call from Wen Tanyi and spoke with her for several minutes. When he returned to his conversation with Wu Hui, his face was dark.
“Fifty million, plus a villa in the city. You need to think carefully. He will dump you for someone else at any time; do not pass up this final opportunity.”
Wu Hui was busy reviewing his notes. “Is that pre-tax or post-tax?”
“Post-tax.”
“Sign the disclaimer, and if there are no issues, you can transfer the money.”
What was going on? Old Man Pei finally managed to arrange the transfer and sent a recording of today’s conversation to Pei Huaiye, adding a note: “Is this the kind of person you look for? Greed-driven and disgraceful. It is better to honestly marry Tanyi, who is devoted only to you.”
The message displayed a red exclamation mark, indicating he had been blocked.
Wu Hui was deep into his studies at the cafe when he received a call from Pei Huaiye later that evening.
“Are you not in the dorm?”
Wu Hui took a sip of coffee to refresh himself. “I am reviewing at the cafe.”
“Should I come to find you, or will you come back now?” Pei Huaiye asked. “I bought a bouquet of wintersweet. It smells very fragrant.”
Wu Hui was dizzy from studying. “Why did you buy wintersweet?”
“As a late-night snack,” Pei Huaiye replied.
“Save some for me.”
The phone was on speaker. The manager, who had come to deliver coffee before they finished their call, heard this and took the coffee back, whispering to the waiter to increase the dosage.
It was finally decided that Pei Huaiye would come to pick him up, mostly out of fear that Wu Hui would not find his way back in the dark.
While Wu Hui took a break from his studies, the manager cracked sunflower seeds nearby. “Little Boss, who was that old man cheating with? He is so old, and being a homewrecker requires checking his pulse every night just to make sure he is not a suspect.”
Old Man Pei had discovered he was blocked and was muttering nonsense as he left; the staff were terrified he might drop dead and cause trouble for them.
Wu Hui ate a couple of cookies and, despite not fully understanding the manager’s comment, replied, “What do you know? People live just to wait for their husbands to die so they can finally have something to look forward to.”
The manager was enlightened. “That is right!”
The glass door creaked. Pei Huaiye walked in, his dark eyes scanning the room until they found Wu Hui.
“Why did you come to the cafe to study?” he asked, walking over.
Seeing the same handsome man from last time, the manager explained, “Oh, it was not the Little Boss’s idea. Someone wanted to see him.”
“Who?”
“The God of Scattering Wealth,” Wu Hui answered.
Pei Huaiye looked confused.
Wu Hui told the manager to go back to work, then invited Pei Huaiye to sit down and gave him a brief summary of the day’s events. Pei Huaiye’s brow furrowed tightly.
“Why did you not tell me?”
It was no wonder there had been a slight issue at the company that required his attention. When he arrived, he found it was just a malicious, time-consuming distraction, and he had only just returned. Everything must have been calculated.
“Your grandfather is old, so stop making him worry so much,” Wu Hui said earnestly. “Why keep so much money when he is old? He cannot take it to the grave. I am just helping him lighten the burden.”
Pei Huaiye asked, “Have you considered that if you take his money and do not follow through, he could sue you?”
Wu Hui blinked. “Follow through with what? Breaking up with you?”
Upon hearing those two words, Pei Huaiye’s brow furrowed in displeasure again.
Wu Hui laughed softly, took off his glasses, and looked at him with his long, narrow eyes curved in a playful, alluring manner. “Senior, have you forgotten, too?”
“Forgotten what?”
“Forgotten that,” Wu Hui said, resting his hand on Pei Huaiye’s leg and leaning toward him, “we are not actually together.”
They had never been together, nor did they have the relationship that everyone rumored they had. Since they were not dating, there was no such thing as a breakup. Even the twenty-million-yuan contract could only be described as an employment relationship.
“Your grandfather probably thinks we are already expecting our second child, but in reality, we just have a simple, platonic friendship.”
Pei Huaiye’s expression grew even grimmer as he understood the implication.
Wu Hui pretended not to notice and patted him in comfort. “So do not worry. Just tell the public that we have broken up.”
Pei Huaiye grabbed his hand, his gaze intense. “Do you want to break up with me that badly?”
Wu Hui sighed helplessly. “How do you expect me to answer that?”
Fortunately, Pei Huaiye did not force an answer. “I will handle him. I will not give him another chance to bother you. Just focus on your studies.”
He would not repeat his parents’ mistakes. He would hold on tightly to the person he wanted.
Back at the dorm, the scent of wintersweet hit them as soon as they opened the door. Wu Hui froze, a flash of wistfulness crossing his eyes.
“What is wrong?” Pei Huaiye asked.
“This scent,” Wu Hui murmured, “reminds me of that winter.”
“Which winter?”
“That year, you said you were Prince Guojun. Perhaps it was a mistake from the very beginning.”
Pei Huaiye walked over and arranged the wintersweet in a vase. Under the light, the petals appeared almost transparent, and the rich, fragrant aroma lingered.
Wu Hui stood before the vase for a moment, various images flashing through his mind. He then set aside his study materials as if nothing had happened and headed to his bedroom.
Pei Huaiye had been in a foul mood throughout the return journey. Wu Hui ignored it and went to take a shower. However, while he was bathing, there was a knock at the bathroom door.