The girl in the lounge chair still showed no reaction. Even her breathing remained unchanged.
Tsk.
Pei Cizhou could clearly feel that Miss Pretentious’s ability to fake being dead had only grown stronger. Unable to resist, he moved a little closer. Their breaths mingled and exchanged, their noses almost brushing.
At such a close distance—and with the girl he liked right in front of him—
His fingers tensed, and his breathing quickened.
How had threatening her somehow turned into digging a pit for himself? She hadn’t reacted at all, yet his own heart was pounding like crazy.
Pei Cizhou’s Adam’s apple bobbed. His voice came out slightly hoarse. “If Miss Qiu still doesn’t wake up, I really will…”
Suddenly, Qiuyun seemed to find the tip of her nose itchy. She scrunched it up, then turned onto her side.
Because of the angle, Pei Cizhou’s lower lip brushed the corner of her mouth before landing lightly against her cheek.
!
By the time Pei Cizhou realized what had happened, he had already instinctively sprung away. Losing his balance, he fell onto the floor and nearly knocked over the tea table beside him.
The warm, soft sensation of her lips still lingered on his own. With his knees bent and both arms braced behind him, he stared at the still-sleeping Miss Qiu, his eyes darting nervously in every direction as he swallowed.
Actually…
He’d only been talking big to scare her. He hadn’t really meant to kiss her.
Really!
After pressing his lips together, Pei Cizhou’s ears turned faintly red. He took two deep breaths, then carefully rose to his feet. He picked up the blanket lying nearby, shook it open, and gently draped it over her.
Then he hurried away from the scene of the crime.
All he could do now was pray that Miss Qiu really had been asleep!
Once he was gone, the lights went out.
Qiuyun slowly opened her eyes. Lying on her back, she stared at the stars scattered across the night sky and sighed.
Sigh.
What a pain.
Wasn’t it perfectly nice for the two of them to remain bickering friends? Why did they have to take that friendship to the next level?
Leaving aside the fact that the difference in their family backgrounds made marriage between them practically impossible, Pei Cizhou had such a nasty, sharp-tongued personality. She simply wasn’t attracted to him.
And now that she thought about that inexplicable kiss…
Qiuyun felt even more troubled.
Her eyes had been closed the entire time. All she knew was that he had leaned very close, close enough for her to smell the lemon-scented warmth of his breath.
So she had thought she’d move a little to scare him and make him back off.
Who could have guessed it would turn out like this?
What a nuisance. What a nuisance. What a nuisance!
To make matters worse, they worked for the same company. From now on, they would have to see each other constantly. Besides, she had poured an enormous amount of effort into the ancient-setting project.
It was impossible to quit now. They had already come this far, and the project would be launched in barely half a year!
Qiuyun rubbed her temples.
She must have been out of her mind in the car that day. Why had she used that trick? And Pei Cizhou, too—besides looking so unfairly handsome that he made people liable to lose their heads, he was also far too quick-witted!
Sigh…
Qiuyun let out another quiet sigh.
To be honest, in all the time she had been here, this was the first truly difficult situation she had encountered. And naturally, it involved the one thing she knew only in theory and had no experience with at all: romantic feelings between a man and a woman.
It was definitely not her area of expertise.
She had been exhausted during the day. Despite her tangled thoughts, Qiuyun gradually drifted off to sleep, waking only when the first rays of morning sunlight roused her the next day.
There was no denying that rich people knew how to enjoy themselves. In the absolute stillness beneath a crystal-clear sky, quietly watching the sun rise bit by bit through the clouds gave her a sense of peace and serenity. It was as if all her troubles had been cast aside.
When the sunlight grew slightly too bright, Qiuyun closed her eyes and, amid the hazy glow, drowsily fell back asleep.
When she woke again, she found a set of brand-new toiletries sitting on the stool by the door.
There was even a thoughtful note attached.
“The bathroom is on the left. Breakfast is downstairs.”
“…”
Oh no.
The corners of Qiuyun’s mouth twitched. After washing up, she went downstairs, only to find that the culprit was writing calligraphy.
When Pei Cizhou saw her come down, he set down his brush. “Wait a moment. I’ll heat this up in the microwave.”
She walked over to the table and saw that he was writing Ouyang Xiu’s “Rhapsody on the Autumn Sound.”
“Short on cash again?”
He put the sandwich and milk into the microwave. “No. A few elders in the family who are close to me asked me to write something.”
“Oh.”
Seeing her indifferent expression, Pei Cizhou sighed. “When I told you last time about learning calligraphy as a child, you weren’t listening properly at all. You kept spacing out.”
“…”
Why bring that up again?
Qiuyun focused intently on the calligraphy and pretended not to hear him.
He brewed some black tea. “When I was little, I often stayed here at Chengyuan. I used to play in the nearby square and happened to see Old Yang writing on the ground with a huge brush dipped in water. After watching him a few times, he grabbed me and took me on as his apprentice. But my family has no idea about any of this.”
“Hmm?” This time, Qiuyun reacted. “You used the alias Zhou Ci, and Old Yang didn’t know your real identity either?”
“That’s right.”
The microwave beeped. Pei Cizhou took out the tray. “So this time, in order to earn a little freedom, I wrote couplets in front of several of my uncles and aunts.”
In particular, one uncle who loved calligraphy had noticed that Pei Cizhou’s style carried some of Old Yang’s spirit. After questioning him further, he learned that Pei Cizhou was Old Yang’s apprentice.
Mayor Pei and Minister Ruan had been stunned.
After all, in their eyes, their younger son was nothing but a rebellious teenager—dressed in a flashy hip-hop style, loafing around every day, skipping classes and exams, refusing to pursue a proper career, and secretly asking his older brother for money to start a gaming company.
He was, in every sense, a problem child who never let anyone relax.
And yet, for no apparent reason, he had suddenly shown off such a skill in front of all their relatives and friends.
It was like a responsible child who scored ninety on every test suddenly getting a ninety-five. His parents would be happy and proud, of course, but it would hardly be unexpected.
Pei Cizhou, on the other hand, had been failing year-round.
When someone who usually failed suddenly gave everyone such a huge surprise, how could anyone still stay angry?
“Uncle Liao said there was an empty spot in the family hallway that needed a piece of calligraphy. He asked me to write one, and that was how I managed to get permission to stay at Chengyuan for two days.”
Pei Cizhou took out a tea bag, poured milk into the brewed tea, and placed it beside the sandwich at Qiuyun’s hand. “Try it.”
Qiuyun picked up the cup and took a sip. “It’s sweet?”
“I added sugar and water to the cup, then heated it in the microwave for a while. Caramel milk tea.”
The high-quality black tea blended with the milk was smooth and rich, with a flavor unlike anything bought outside.
“Thank you.”
Qiuyun began eating breakfast.
Pei Cizhou returned to the desk and continued writing.
He wrote slowly, while she ate slowly, accompanied by the beautiful garden scenery outside the window.
The atmosphere was quiet and peaceful.
When she finished eating, he seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. He immediately set down his brush and came over to take the cup from her.
“I’ll do it. It only needs a quick rinse.”
“…”
What an unbelievable man.
The corners of Qiuyun’s mouth continued twitching.
Had he skipped right over the confession he’d awkwardly hinted at last night and started proving his feelings through his actions today?
“Don’t look so grim.”
After washing the cup, Pei Cizhou returned and placed it upside down on the drying rack. Then he turned around, bent down, and leaned toward her with an utterly certain expression.
“You really were pretending to be asleep last night.”
Otherwise, why would she be troubled by his attentiveness today?
“…………”
Qiuyun raised one finger and pressed it against his shoulder, pushing him away with a sigh.
“Stay away from me.”
