Not long after Pei Sichen left, Jiang Ruobai used the excuse of needing to go to his old house to pack his things. The housekeeper arranged for two bodyguards to follow him. However, after they arrived at the house, Jiang Ruobai secretly climbed over the wall in the back alley and ran away. By the time the bodyguards realized what had happened, he was already gone.
As a law-abiding person who had lived a normal life for over twenty years, Jiang Ruobai could not adapt to Pei Sichen’s near-maniacal possessiveness. Their encounter had been defined by pain and coercion from the very beginning.
Pei Sichen’s self-righteous control was something he could not accept, and the ruthlessness Pei Sichen displayed at the Su family’s charity banquet filled him with fear and unease.
Pei Sichen treated him like an obedient pet, which was why he defended him in front of others. But what would happen if Pei Sichen discovered that the obedient pet he thought he had was actually deceiving him the entire time?
He did not want to make that assumption, nor did he dare to.
Su Jiachen’s ethereal, hollow promises were not trustworthy. He would not believe a single word of them.
The events at the Su family’s banquet made Jiang Ruobai realize that it was an opportunity. Su Jiachen was busy dealing with his family’s internal chaos and had no time to spare for him or his wife. Furthermore, Pei Sichen could not keep his eyes on him forever. Thus, the moment Pei Sichen left the apartment, Jiang Ruobai ran.
The plan was rushed, but he had no choice but to gamble.
He first called his wife’s brother, begging him to arrange for his wife’s discharge, and then wired all the money in his account to his brother-in-law. He asked him to take his wife to Beijing for treatment and look after her for a while. As for himself, he bought the soonest available ticket and took a train back to his hometown in the middle of the night.
That night on the train was the most harrowing of his life. He did not dare to sleep for a single moment. Even the slightest sound on the train made him panic, fearing that Pei Sichen would appear before him like a vengeful ghost.
When he could not sleep, he would stare at the moon through the train window. Its pale, ghastly light shattered across the ground, staining the earth in colors of cold loneliness.
He was wearing only a thin top. The cold wind from the train carriage made him shiver uncontrollably as he huddled in the corner of his seat, wishing he could shrink his entire body into a ball. Most people in the carriage were asleep, but Jiang Ruobai continued to stare out the window, praying for the sun to rise.
Inside the Pei family compound, Pei Songqing held a phone with one hand, listening intently to the report on the other end.
“Mr. Pei, the task you ordered has been completed. The person has successfully boarded the train and left Haishi.”
Pei Songqing picked up a cup of tea, white mist swirling above it, and took a sip with a calm, composed posture. “Clean it up. Do not let Sichen know, and do not let Sichen find him.”
“Yes.”
After hanging up, Pei Songqing looked at the empty, quiet room and sighed.
The Pei family had only one heir, Pei Sichen. How could Pei Songqing not have people monitoring his every move? From the very first day Jiang Ruobai moved into Pei Sichen’s apartment, his file had already been placed on Pei Songqing’s desk.
Jiang Ruobai’s escape today was actually helped along by Pei Songqing, who had stepped in to prevent Pei Sichen from sending someone to catch him halfway.
However, Pei Songqing’s actions were not intended to force Pei Sichen to cut ties with him.
He knew his grandson’s paranoid personality very well. What Pei Sichen wanted, he would inevitably obtain. Something that belonged to him, even if he destroyed it, he would not give to others. Therefore, rather than saying he wanted to tear them apart, Pei Songqing wanted to teach Pei Sichen a lesson.
As a businessman, Pei Sichen should understand that one must never let their guard down, nor trust anyone. Even things held firmly in one’s palm must be watched closely. It was the same with keeping a pet. If you want to keep a pet by your side, you must clip its sharp claws and build a cage that is unbreakable to prevent the pet from scratching its owner or running away.
His grandson was excellent in every way, but his heart was not yet hard enough. If he did not do things to the absolute limit, there was no guarantee that one day he would not be bitten back by his own mercy.
With such a vast family legacy to be handed over to him, how could he guard it without a heart as hard as stone?
The Pei family already had one failure; Pei Songqing would not let the same mistake happen to Pei Sichen.
The night was still long, and he believed Pei Sichen would eventually understand.
As for Jiang Ruobai running away, the one most shocked was Su Jiachen.
He honestly could not imagine that the beta, who looked as honest as could be, would be bold enough to play at disappearing right under Pei Sichen’s nose. Su Jiachen admired his courage.
However, Pei Sichen’s reaction was far too calm.
The person had already run away, yet Pei Sichen was still in the mood to look over documents at the company. Given his past temper, he would have dragged the person back and punished them to death several times over by now.
Could it be that Pei Sichen had gone insane with rage?
“No, you are just letting him run away like that? You are not planning to look for him?” Su Jiachen sat on the sofa in Pei Sichen’s office, probing tentatively.
Pei Sichen continued to flip through the documents with an indifferent expression. “No rush.”
Su Jiachen found it strange. In the past, going by Pei Sichen’s personality, he would have already sent men to hunt him down. This kind of silence was not like him at all.
“If you do not look now, it will be hard to catch him once he gets too far away.” Su Jiachen could not understand Pei Sichen’s train of thought. If he didn’t go now, and the person really got lost, it would be a miracle if Pei Sichen’s explosive temper didn’t kill him first.
Pei Sichen remained expressionless, but his tone carried an air of absolute certainty. “It is no fun if the game ends too soon.”
Haishi was the Pei family’s Haishi. Finding someone was not a difficult task for him, but dragging Jiang Ruobai back so easily would be boring.
He was a patient hunter. He knew that one had to cast a long line to catch a big fish.
A pet that kept making its master angry needed to be taught a long, hard lesson.
He was going to have his men build a perfect cage. When he caught that disobedient rabbit and brought him back, he would lock him inside and personally teach him how to be a well-behaved pet that knew how to please its master.
This time, he would not let him off so easily.
“You had better hide well. Do not let me catch you so easily.”
Su Jiachen looked at the sadistic look in Pei Sichen’s eyes and could not help but shudder, feeling an internal chill.
That beta was probably going to have a terrible time.
And Jiang Ruobai likely never imagined the heavy price he would pay for this escape.
If he had known, he probably would never have tried to resist Pei Sichen no matter what. But for Jiang Ruobai now, he had no way back.