Wen Yuhan knew that Lu Yanheng did this so that she could rest better, and whispered her thanks.
The two entered the living room, where Lu Yanheng had already arranged for dinner to be delivered. Worried that Wen Yuhan might have difficulty using her hands, he served her a bowl of West Lake beef soup, jokingly asking, "Do you need me to feed you?"
"I have tenosynovitis, it's not like I've lost an arm." Wen Yuhan smiled as she took the bowl and sipped her drink, occasionally chatting with Lu Yanheng about everyday things.
During this time, Wen Yuhan's phone, which was on the table, kept lighting up and vibrating.
He glanced at the caller ID and then turned the phone face down.
Lu Yanheng naturally saw the character "Pei" written on the phone. He paused slightly in his hand holding the spoon and asked Wen Yuhan, "Is it okay if you don't answer?"
Wen Yuhan continued to sip his soup, shaking his head and sighing, "It's only because I accepted the order that problems arose."
After dinner, Wen Yuhan went upstairs to take a shower and go to bed. Before entering the bathroom, she glanced at her phone, which was on silent mode, and found it covered with a long list of missed calls.
Without exception, they all came from Pei Shaocheng.
Judging from the timing of the calls, one could clearly sense the change in the other party's emotions. At first, they would call every half hour, but later, the next call would come in almost as soon as the previous one ended.
Just after the phone screen went dark again, an unread message suddenly appeared on the WeChat interface.
It was a voice message sent by Pei Shaocheng. It was very long, and it must have been right at the maximum voice message limit.
Before this voice message, there was nothing else besides the system default message "The other party has added you as a friend," making this voice message seem even more abrupt.
Wen Yuhan gripped her phone tightly, stood there for a long time, and finally hesitated before opening the chat window and holding the receiver to her ear.
...
silence.
There was a silence that lasted for a full minute.
The other party did not utter a single word from beginning to end.
Wen Yuhan stared blankly at his phone screen for a moment. He then instinctively took out a cigarette case from his pocket, lit a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and slowly sat down on the bed.
After a long while, he pressed play again and turned up the volume.
He was met with another long silence, but at the end, he faintly heard a low sigh from that person.
Through the receiver, pressed against his ear, it pierced his eardrum and struck his heart with a brutal force...
Wen Yuhan lowered his head, took puffs of his cigarette, and mechanically played the voice message repeatedly.
He lay straight back on the bed, his hand holding the cigarette hanging by the side, staring blankly at the ceiling.
In the blink of an eye, a bit of ash accumulated on the cigarette and drifted lightly to the ground.
Wen Yuhan stubbed out his cigarette, stood up, bent down, and tidied up the ashes into a small pile.
A faint smile played on his lips, hidden in the shadows: "Still the same as always...this person."
Wen Yuhan's soft murmurs drifted from the spacious bedroom.
He suddenly felt a wave of intense drowsiness wash over him, and lost all interest in taking a bath. So he unbuttoned his shirt, lifted the covers, crawled under the covers, and turned off the bedside lamp.
After an unknown amount of time, her consciousness finally began to drift off. Just as she was about to fall asleep, Wen Yuhan was startled awake again by her phone screen suddenly lighting up.
He reached for his phone, glanced at it, his eyes darkened slightly, and quickly pressed the call button.
"What's wrong, Xiaoyang?"
Xiao Yang's anxious voice came from the other end of the phone: "Teacher, I..."
Before she could finish speaking, Xiao Yang's voice began to choke up.
Wen Yuhan had a bad feeling, but she still softened her tone and said calmly, "Don't rush, speak slowly."
“My sister…” Xiao Yang took a deep breath to compose herself, “The hospital called. My sister suddenly had a relapse and is currently in emergency care. The doctor said she might need surgery sooner than expected, so I have to go back to my hometown immediately. But I’m worried about you… Pei Shaocheng came to your room today, and he looked very unwell… I’m scared…”
"Is the bank card number still the same as before?" Wen Yuhan interrupted Xiao Yang.
"teacher……"
"Zhong Hao's money hasn't arrived yet, so I'll pay you a portion in advance. Are there any trains going back to our hometown right now?"
Xiao Yang's voice became even hoarse, and finally he seemed to grit his teeth and whisper an "Mmm".
"That's good." Wen Yuhan said gently, "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."
"I'm sorry..." Xiao Yang could no longer hold back his sobs. "I'm sorry, teacher. I'll come back as soon as my sister is out of danger! I'm so sorry..."
"Xiao Yang," Wen Yuhan called softly, his eyes softening. "Listen to me, there is nothing more important in this world than life. You are a good brother, she will get better, she can't bear to leave you."
"Thank you, Teacher Wen! Thank you..."
"Go back quickly, and contact me as soon as you get there, okay?"
"Um!"
After hanging up Xiao Yang's call, Wen Yuhan was completely wide awake. He leaned against the bed, watching the light outside the window gradually fade.
In the early hours of the morning, Wen Yuhan suddenly heard the sound of a car starting up downstairs. He got out of bed and went to the window, where he saw Lu Yanheng's black Porsche drive away from the villa.
Wen Yuhan hurriedly opened the door and ran downstairs. He found Lu Yanheng had prepared breakfast for him on the table, along with a note in bold handwriting explaining that he had received a call from the company and needed to return to Yancheng to handle some urgent matters. The note instructed Wen Yuhan to eat and change his medication on time and not to overwork himself. Lu Yanheng had booked this villa for three months and even arranged for a butler; Wen Yuhan could return to recuperate whenever needed.
After reading it, Wen Yuhan folded the note and placed it under the vase. She then glanced at the clock on the wall; it was 5:00 AM.
He turned around, went back upstairs to his room, took a shower, tidied himself up a bit, and then left the villa to call a car and head back to the hotel.
The southern city where the film studio is located is not large, and it was only a little before six o'clock when Wen Yuhan stood at the door of her room.
Winter nights always seem exceptionally long, and it wasn't even fully light yet. He took out his room card, swiped it to open the door, and found the room completely dark.
The blackout curtains were drawn tightly shut, and a strong smell of alcohol filled the air.
Wen Yuhan frowned slightly, thinking that Xiao Yang was probably drowning his sorrows in alcohol in his room. He closed the door and planned to open the window to let in some fresh air. He had just taken two steps towards the balcony in the dark when he heard a faint sound beside him.
Wen Yuhan squinted and looked in the direction of the sound, and was surprised to find a person sitting motionless on the sofa in the corner.
Caught off guard, he was startled. The next second, the man slowly raised his head.
In the dim light, his deep eyes were filled with an unyielding gloom.
Where were you last night?
The other person's voice was completely hoarse from smoking and drinking. Only when you got closer did you realize that the smell of alcohol in the room was coming from him.
Feeling flustered by the stare, Wen Yuhan avoided eye contact and said casually, "Why are you in my room?"
"Where last night?" the other person repeated.
Wen Yuhan sighed: "I'm having my hand checked at the hospital."
"lie."
Pei Shaocheng stood up, his tall figure emerging from the shadows and approaching Wen Yuhan step by step:
“Looking at hands doesn’t require a whole night.” He paused, then asked, “Did you sleep with Lu Yanheng?”
...
A note from the author:
Ah, I still want to say here that Teacher Wen does have reasons why he can't tell everyone, which I'll explain later! He's truly a very good and kind person 55555… Please keep reading! I'll try to write more in each chapter from now on! Thank you so much for your support, my little darlings!
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 41
Wen Yuhan closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then tilted her head slightly to look at Pei Shaocheng.
“If I said no, that he just took me to a villa in the suburbs for one night because I was so tired and needed to rest… would you believe me?”
Pei Shaocheng narrowed his eyes upon hearing this, his tone growing colder: "The two of you spent the entire night in the villa, and you're telling me nothing happened." He paused, "Wen Yuhan, what am I supposed to do..."
"How can you believe me, huh?" Wen Yuhan calmly finished the sentence, chuckling softly. "So, is there any need to keep asking?"
He walked around Pei Shaocheng, pulled back the blackout curtains, and opened the window, letting the sunlight, along with the cool morning air, flood the room, dispelling the darkness and the lingering smell of alcohol.
Faced with Wen Yuhan's indifferent attitude, Pei Shaocheng felt a surge of irritability and kicked over the wastebasket blocking his way, scattering crumpled paper and other debris all over the ground.
Hearing the muffled thud behind him, a deep weariness rose in Wen Yuhan's eyes.
When trust is no longer the foundation of relationships between people, all questions and answers will degenerate into meaningless nonsense.
"Pei Shaocheng, don't go on a drunken rampage in my room." Wen Yuhan rubbed the acupoints between her nose and nose, intending to seize the time to get back to work and try to revise the script into another version as soon as possible.
He returned to the table, turned on the computer, and casually pulled out a few sheets of paper from the cardboard box to wipe the still-dry wine stains on the table.
Suddenly, he paused, and his eyes darkened as he looked in a certain direction.
It was that Montblanc fountain pen.
The pen body was worn down, with a dent in the middle from the impact, and the nib was completely broken off. It lay there motionless, like a mutilated, headless corpse.
“It took me almost five hours to find it in the flowerbed downstairs, but the pen cap is missing.” Pei Shaocheng pursed his lips into a thin line, remained silent for a moment, and then said coldly, “Now that you’re back, the rest of the work is up to you. You can continue working only after you’ve found and brought back the pen cap.”
“You’re delaying the entire production schedule.” Wen Yuhan turned her gaze away from the pen. “No matter how big a star you are, you can’t do this.”
“The script has already been approved; you're just too much of a perfectionist. Besides, the part you're not satisfied with is in the second half, and you had plenty of time to work on it before then.” Pei Shaocheng's face was half illuminated by the sunlight, the other half still shrouded in shadow. A slight smile played on his lips. “As for the remaining adjustments, even without your little assistant, Wen Ce, who's on set, should be able to handle it.”
"What if I don't look for it?"
Wen Yuhan stood stiffly in front of the table, her slender figure stiff, and said in a low, unhurried voice.
"Has Lu Yanheng mentioned to you that his and Lu Yanchen's struggle for control of the Lu Group has reached a fever pitch? Both brothers are eager to make a good impression on Lu Zhengqiang and the entire board of directors," Pei Shaocheng said slowly. "And my company, Huacan Entertainment, has always been one of the two companies Lu's Group has been trying to strategically partner with. It's safe to say that whoever can secure both agreements will be the winner in this game... By the way, Huacan Entertainment's vice president, Shen Wei, recently officially took over as president. I'm on fairly good terms with him."
Pei Shaocheng's implication was all too clear: if Wen Yuhan disobeyed, he would join forces with his good friend to defect to Lu Yanchen's camp and kick Lu Yanheng out of the game.
Wen Yuhan laughed, but her tone gradually turned cold: "Pei Shaocheng, you're betting the future of the entire company just to exchange a pen cap with me? Even a child wouldn't make such a decision."
“Although Lu Yanchen is not as far-sighted as Lu Yanheng, he is still a young man, decisive and courageous. They each have their strengths, and cooperating with either of them has its advantages and disadvantages for both our families. The evaluation work has been done in advance, and in the end, it is just a matter of a single thought to decide whose side to take.” Pei Shaocheng knocked out a cigarette, lit it, and slowly said, “But this decision is not so simple for Lu Yanheng.”
After that, neither of them spoke again.
As the daylight grew brighter, the occasional bird calls could be heard from outside. The sounds were strange, neither clear nor melodious.
After an unknown amount of time, Wen Yuhan spoke softly without turning his head, "I understand."
He lowered his eyes, stared at the worn-out pen, remained silent for a long time, and slowly nodded. "I'll go find it now."
Pei Shaocheng paused slightly as he flicked his cigarette ash, his eyes darkening further, but his tone remained coldly mocking: "Teacher Wen, are you really serious about your deep affection for that Mr. Lu?"