“Yuanyuan, you’ve gone too far. Do you have any idea how embarrassed I was in front of my friends yesterday? Do you know how much they’re laughing at me now?”
Before Ning Zhiyuan had even sat down, Pei Jin planted both hands on the table, leaned forward, and launched into a barrage of accusations.
A flash of surprise crossed his angry eyes as he looked at her.
He paused for a few seconds before continuing.
“Have you ever thought about how I feel?”
Ning Zhiyuan slowly took her seat and gave him an extremely perfunctory response.
“Oh.”
In her previous life, forget Pei Jin getting angry, even a slight frown from him would have left her heart aching for days.
Pei Jin froze for a moment at her completely unexpected reaction.
When she showed no further response, he continued.
“We’ll put that aside for now. Why did you confiscate all of Godmother’s and Xiaoxiao’s belongings? And why did you deliberately humiliate them by making them wear servant uniforms before throwing them out? Is the Ning family really that short on money?”
When he picked the two women up, Xiaoxiao’s eyes had been swollen from crying.
She had buried herself in his arms, sobbing uncontrollably while repeatedly saying,
“Don’t blame Yuanyuan. It’s all my fault.”
Godmother had looked exhausted, standing nearby and sighing endlessly.
The sympathy in Pei Jin’s eyes had nearly overflowed.
“How are they supposed to survive now? What if they end up sleeping on the streets and run into bad people? Xiaoxiao has always been frail, and Godmother isn’t young anymore. How can they possibly endure that kind of hardship?”
After all these years, it was always the same arguments.
Bai Cuilan was old.
Bai Xiaoxiao was weak.
Whenever conflict arose involving the Bai mother and daughter, regardless of who was right or wrong, Pei Jin always stood against her.
Ning Zhiyuan looked at him without the slightest emotion and asked in an utterly sincere tone,
“Can’t I take back gifts that I gave away? And if servants don’t wear servant uniforms, what exactly are they supposed to wear?”
The sentence instantly ignited Pei Jin’s anger.
On the surface, she seemed to be talking about Bai Xiaoxiao.
But to his ears, it sounded like a veiled reminder that a bastard son shouldn’t dream of things beyond his station.
If moments ago he had felt sympathy, it had now transformed completely into fury.
Pei Jin shot to his feet.
His face was filled with disbelief.
“How can you say something so vicious? Just because you’re a rich young lady, does that mean you can trample on other people’s dignity? Don’t forget, they’re not just your servants. They’re my godmother and my sister. They’re people who are very important to me!”
“If they’re that important to you, then take them in yourself. Why are you trying to dump them back on me?”
“Ning Zhiyuan, stop changing the subject. You’re my girlfriend, which means you should treat the important people in my life well. What you’ve done is wrong! You must apologize to Godmother and Xiaoxiao today and bring them back to the Ning family. Otherwise, we’re completely finished!”
Ning Zhiyuan stirred the coffee in her cup.
She found the whole thing incredibly boring.
Some men were simply like this.
When you tried to reason with them, they talked about feelings.
When you talked about feelings, they suddenly wanted to discuss logic.
They always wanted to stand on some imaginary moral high ground while judging everyone else.
How had she ever been blind enough to fall for someone like this?
Noticing a familiar figure seated several tables away, Ning Zhiyuan lost all interest in continuing the conversation.
She slammed her coffee cup onto the table.
Standing up, she met Pei Jin’s eyes directly.
“In your dreams.”
Then she pointed at him and sneered.
“And another thing, I think there’s something seriously wrong with your brain. Didn’t I make it crystal clear yesterday when I came to the club that we were breaking up? Why are you talking about breaking up again today? If you’re sick, go to a hospital. Stop barking everywhere like a stray dog.”
This was only the second time since they started dating that Ning Zhiyuan had initiated a breakup.
And this time, her words were so harsh that there was no room for reconciliation.
Pei Jin’s first reaction wasn’t anger.
It was panic.
A strange, inexplicable panic.
As though something had slipped beyond his control.
He didn’t love Ning Zhiyuan.
So why did hearing her break up with him make his heart race?
It was the same uneasy feeling he had experienced yesterday when he threatened her.
Ignoring his own abnormal reaction, Pei Jin desperately tried to keep everything from derailing.
As long as Yuanyuan apologized.
As long as she brought Xiaoxiao and the others back.
Everything could return to normal.
Grabbing Ning Zhiyuan’s arm, he began dragging her toward the exit.
“Yuanyuan, you have to come apologize to Godmother and Xiaoxiao, then bring them back to the Ning family.”
Ning Zhiyuan kicked and scratched at him.
But against a grown man, her strength was insignificant.
No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn’t break free.
Pei Jin was almost dragging her to the door.
Why was Shen Li still staying hidden?
Her original plan had been to provoke Pei Jin and create an opportunity for Shen Li to play the hero.
Instead, things had completely exceeded her expectations.
Pei Jin had become angry, but not enraged.
And Shen Li still hadn’t appeared.
Then suddenly, Ning Zhiyuan remembered Pei Jin’s greatest weakness.
“I know why you’re so desperate to get them back.”
The certainty in her voice made Pei Jin’s heart skip a beat.
A bad feeling crept into his chest.
Forcing a smile, he said,
“Yuanyuan, as long as you apologize, I’ll pretend none of this happened.”
“Because you’re an illegitimate son of the Pei family.”
Ning Zhiyuan practically shouted the words.
Heads turned all around them.
In that instant, Pei Jin felt stripped naked and exposed before the entire world.
His expression darkened.
His eyes darted away, avoiding everyone’s gaze as he desperately tried to drag Ning Zhiyuan away.
But now that she had found his weakness, breaking free became easy.
Straightening the wrinkled hem of her dress, she looked at him with undisguised contempt.
“An illegitimate son having no status is perfectly normal. And honestly, I hate illegitimate children the most.”
“What nonsense are you talking about?!”
“What? Can’t take it anymore? Feeling embarrassed? Figures. A bastard who can never stand in the light, how disgusting.”
Pei Jin’s face turned green with rage.
Every shred of reason vanished beneath the explosion of anger.
Ning Zhiyuan stared at the hand he raised high into the air.
She was already preparing her backup plan.
Bending backward to avoid the strike, she suddenly bumped into something solid behind her.
A wall?
No.
Shen Li.
At some point, he had appeared behind her.
He caught Pei Jin’s wrist before the slap could land.
“If you don’t want the Pei family seeing headlines about you assaulting someone, then get lost.”
He twisted Pei Jin’s arm and shoved him away.
Pei Jin staggered backward several steps.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Passersby had already pulled out their phones and started taking pictures.
Reason finally returned to Pei Jin’s mind.
Closing his eyes, he let out a long sigh.
Before leaving, he wanted to say something to ease the tension with Ning Zhiyuan.
But she simply rolled her eyes.
Hooking both hands around Shen Li’s arm, she didn’t spare Pei Jin so much as a glance.
The bodyguards accompanying them went downstairs to deal with the photos and videos people had taken.
Upstairs, inside a private room, Ning Zhiyuan held onto Shen Li’s arm and complained in a soft, pitiful voice.
“Good thing you showed up. Otherwise, I would’ve gotten hit. Look at what he did to me.”
As though afraid Shen Li wouldn’t notice, she slipped off her small blazer.
Thin straps rested on her delicate shoulders.
The sky-blue dress highlighted her already fair skin.
Her calves, visible beneath the hem, were long and pale.
Shen Li immediately turned away.
Thinking he was still upset about Pei Jin, Ning Zhiyuan moved closer and continued holding onto his arm.
“I broke up with him yesterday, but not only did he refuse to accept it, he even grabbed me like this. It hurts.”
Fresh finger marks had appeared on her slender arm, layered over the fading mosquito bites.
Looking at those bruises, a dangerous glint flashed through Shen Li’s dark eyes.