His body was turned over, and Wen Yuhan was finally able to breathe smoothly. His face was flushed from suffocation, and he breathed rapidly with his mouth half open.
Feeling Pei Shaocheng's burning gaze lingering on him, Wen Yuhan turned his head away and closed his eyes.
When he opened his mouth, his voice involuntarily became hoarse: "Pei Shaocheng, do you know what you're doing...?"
Pei Shaocheng ignored him and asked in a low voice, "He didn't touch you, did he?"
"release."
"That's good."
At that moment, a loud "bang" was heard outside.
Xiao Yang forced the door open, and there he was, holding a stool in his hand, trembling all over, his eyes filled with resentment.
"Teacher Wen!"
Almost instinctively, Pei Shaocheng grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around Wen Yuhan, turning to block him from view, and growled, "Get out!"
"Pei Shaocheng! You son of a bitch, don't go too far!" Xiao Yang cursed.
Pei Shaocheng straightened up, his face taut with cold lines.
He rolled out of bed and slowly walked towards Xiao Yang at the door. In that instant, Wen Yuhan caught a glimpse of the sinister killing intent in the other's eyes.
That's right, murderous intent.
Even though this person has long since learned to wear a mask and navigate the entertainment industry with ease, deep down, he's still the same madman he always was.
A tall figure emerged from the dark bedroom. Whether it was his imagination or not, Xiao Yang felt the air suddenly thin, and he unconsciously took a small step back. But out of a man's pride, he forced himself to remain calm, gritting his teeth and staring intently at Pei Shaocheng.
"You should know what it means if I call the police now," Xiaoyang said, emphasizing each word. "Even if you don't care, your company won't act recklessly, will it?"
Pei Shaocheng remained silent, his expression unreadable.
Xiao Yang thought he was scared, and her heart began to soften slightly. The next second, Pei Shaocheng reached out and grabbed the stool that Xiao Yang was carrying.
The splinter from the broken wood pierced Pei Shaocheng's palm, but he continued to exert force as if he were completely unaware. The two silently clashed over the heavy lump of wood, but Xiao Yang's stamina was no match for Pei Shaocheng's, and he quickly fell into a disadvantage.
Pei Shaocheng twisted the splinter in the back of his hand, and the splinter penetrated even deeper into his skin.
He used the momentum to pull downwards, snatching the stool from Xiao Yang's hands. Immediately afterwards, Pei Shaocheng expressionlessly raised the stool, aiming it directly at Xiao Yang's head.
"Pei Shaocheng!"
Wen Yuhan was startled and quickly shouted to stop him.
Pei Shaocheng's movements paused slightly, but he maintained his original posture.
Wen Yuhan's throat trembled, and her voice became somewhat weak: "Xiao Yang is my assistant."
Pei Shaocheng's gaze softened slightly, as if pleased with Wen Yuhan's proactive explanation.
Wen Yuhan quickly straightened her shirt, walked briskly to Pei Shaocheng's side, pressed his arm down, and whispered, "Let him go first. We can talk about this privately."
"Teacher Wen!" Xiao Yang looked at Wen Yuhan in shock and shook his head at him.
Wen Yuhan patted Xiao Yang's shoulder reassuringly: "Go back first." Then she softened her tone, "Don't worry, I'm fine."
"No!" Xiao Yang retorted loudly, "I can't leave you and him here, what if!"
"I owe him." Wen Yuhan resignedly curled her lip. "I have to pay him back."
"teacher…?"
Xiao Yang was completely confused at this point. What exactly had happened between Teacher Wen and Pei Shaocheng? Reason told him that he absolutely could not leave now, but instinct made him feel that his existence was superfluous.
"Don't you understand?" Pei Shaocheng asked.
Xiao Yang clenched his fist, repeatedly opening and closing it several times. Finally, he glared fiercely at Pei Shaocheng and gritted his teeth, saying, "You, Pei, if you dare to do anything to the teacher, I will definitely not let you get away with it!"
After speaking, he looked at Wen Yuhan one last time before turning around and walking dejectedly to the entrance.
I opened the door and closed it gently.
The room fell silent for a moment.
Wen Yuhan took the cigarette case from the table, knocked out a cigarette, lit it, and looked out the window at the huge, towering sycamore tree.
The light from the living room streamed into the bedroom, but only covered a thin layer. Wen Yuhan's entire body was shrouded in shadow, with only a slender silhouette and a faint glow flickering as the tobacco burned.
He took another deep drag, flicked off the ash from his cigarette, and turned to walk towards Pei Shaocheng.
As we brushed past each other, he said, "I'll give you some iodine."
Pei Shaocheng didn't speak, nor did he intend to give up his place to Wen Yuhan; he remained blocking the doorway.
Wen Yuhan bit the cigarette holder and remained silent for a moment, then nodded knowingly and calmly reached out to unbutton Pei Shaocheng's shirt collar, only to have his wrist grabbed by the other.
"do what."
Wen Yuhan looked up at Pei Shaocheng, her eyes filled with mockery.
Pei Shaocheng understood what he meant, but he didn't rush to deny it. He simply said, "I'm not in the mood now."
"Is that so?" Wen Yuhan withdrew her hand, smoothed the stray hairs on her forehead, and then exhaled a puff of smoke. "Then let's go back first. When you're in the mood, it's best to let me know in advance. It was rather abrupt like today."
"I saw Lu Yanheng when I had dinner tonight."
Upon hearing this name, Wen Yuhan's movements suddenly froze, a fact that caught Pei Shaocheng's attention.
His eyes were cold, but Wen Yuhan's face was even colder.
"You investigated me?"
“He said you met in a small bar in Los Angeles, and then you even invited him to see a play.” Pei Shaocheng stared at the other person and said in a deep voice, “Even the route is similar to when we first got together… Or is it that you use the same trick on everyone?”
"You came all this way just to say this?" Wen Yuhan stubbed out his cigarette and impatiently pulled out a new one.
The cigarette had barely touched his fingers when Pei Shaocheng snatched it away, put it in his mouth, and lit it.
The smoke, carrying a bitter minty scent, lingered between the two.
"I must say, Teacher Wen is indeed very talented in flirting with men. Lu Yanheng is much better than that fake foreigner you found back then. What was his name again? Dennis? I remember he went to Germany later and even hooked up with a female jeweler."
"That's enough..."
Upon catching the humiliation in Wen Yuhan's eyes, Pei Shaocheng felt a strange sense of pleasure.
He deliberately ignored the dull pain throbbing in his heart and took another step closer, laughing, "You were hoping he would step in and smooth things over for you, but in the end you got tricked... I really want to know how you felt back then."
Wen Yuhan closed her eyes, her eyelashes trembling uncontrollably from her emotional outburst.
Pei Shaocheng stroked the back of his head, leaned close to his ear and said, "What I really want to know is, which shepherd god can please you more and satisfy you?"
"Pei Shaocheng, shut up."
When you're in their bed, do you call them "Pan"?
Snap!
A loud slap landed on Pei Shaocheng's face, and a red mark instantly appeared on his cheek.
“I said… that’s enough.”
Chapter 11
A faint metallic taste filled his mouth. Pei Shaocheng licked his cheek expressionlessly, tasting a slightly fishy and salty flavor.
Wen Yuhan's hand remained frozen in mid-air, as if she hadn't expected to actually hit the other person, appearing somewhat surprised and flustered.
"I'm sorry," he said softly, lowering his eyes to avoid Pei Shaocheng's gaze.
The apology went unanswered, and the atmosphere became tense again, the silence carrying an unsettling, suffocating tension.
After a long while, Pei Shaocheng turned around, walked to the ashtray, took two more puffs, and stubbed out the cigarette. His face, with his back turned, revealed no emotion.
No one knew how much he wished Wen Yuhan would slap him and then yell at him, saying that things weren't as he described at all, that he was just being insidious and narrow-minded, and that he had never had anything to do with Lu Yanheng, or with those guys like Xiao Zhang, Xiao Yang, and Dennis! As long as Wen Yuhan could explain, even just one sentence, he would believe it.
However, Wen Yuhan did not utter a single rebuttal from beginning to end.
When the person behind him spoke again, their voice had returned to calm.
"I'm sorry..."
Wen Yuhan leaned against the wall, staring at the ceiling. His tone was light and detached, and a faint smile played at the end of his lips:
"Mr. Pei, please don't stoop to my level. It's not worth it."
Another sycamore flower has fallen from the treetop.
...
Pei Shaocheng left without saying another word to Wen Yuhan before that.
He drove several kilometers before suddenly remembering that he had actually come to deliver stomach medicine to the other person. Of course, this was just an excuse.
He tossed the medicine box onto the back seat, parked the car on the side of the road, lit a cigarette, and smoked it silently.
It was already late at night, and only one or two cars occasionally passed by on the street, all speeding past.
Suddenly, Pei Shaocheng heard familiar dialogue coming from behind the red brick wall.
It is an excerpt from the play "Macbeth".
He rolled down the car window and looked out, only to find that he had unknowingly arrived at the back gate of the drama academy. The white building covered in ivy, separated by a wall, was their rehearsal hall. The sound was coming from inside.
Pei Shaocheng locked the car, put on a black high-brimmed hat and a mask, and, as if possessed, walked along the corner of the wall to an inconspicuous iron fence.
He reached out and grasped the rusty brass lock, shaking it a few times to find the right angle, and then pulled hard. Sure enough, the lock popped open as easily as before.
Pei Shaocheng was somewhat dazed, as if those smiling eyes and the rising intonation of her voice were reappearing before his eyes:
"You dare to walk through the main gate after curfew? If everyone were as honest as you, we might as well not graduate."
Pei Shaocheng's eyes flickered for a moment, then regained their clarity.
He bent down and squeezed through the narrow iron gate into the school, walking slowly towards the rehearsal hall...
Nothing has changed here; even the musty smell of the prop boxes in the air is the same.
The back door of the rehearsal hall was ajar, letting in a ray of light.
Pei Shaocheng pushed open the door and entered, where he saw several students sitting cross-legged on the stage, reciting their lines. Hearing the noise, they all looked at him simultaneously.