CH 3

Pei Yu didn’t add Xu Juan, but Tang Sisi did.

Xu Juan remained unfazed; Since he had already decided to take his time, he unhurriedly went back to the clubhouse and continued drinking. 

Seeing him return empty-handed, Hou Shijie was dumbfounded, asking what happened? From where has this divine being come, to lead you on a wild goose chase? Xu Juan merely wagged his finger, putting on an air of mystery. Then, he laid back down onto the sofa to feign sleep.

After having dinner with everyone that night, Xu Juan didn’t stay behind to mess with them, instead driving home alone.

He went back to his parent’s house.

Xu Juan’s father, Xu Jiren, was a well-known entrepreneur. Not only was he rich, he also had an excellent reputation and was the role model of many young entrepreneurs. If one had to point out an area in which Xu Jiren had failed in life, then it was probably the fact that he had given birth to a disappointing, good-for-nothing son. 

However, there exists a saying, it is a father’s duty to educate his son. Xu Jiren had yet to find anything wrong with his way of educating, such that it would lead Xu Juan astray.

He remembered that Xu Juan wasn’t always like this. The Xu family had three children; Xu Juan had an older brother and an older sister. His brother had entered the business early to help out their father. Even before graduating university, he was able to take full charge. His sister was a pianist – her natural gift for music had been astounding ever since she was little, and in recent years, she had only been improving, gaining international fame.

The turning point of Xu Juan’s life happened when he turned twenty. Before he was twenty, he was even more outstanding than his older siblings. He had great results, participated in various mathematics and physics olympiads, and won prizes often. He could draw, could do calligraphy, play the piano and was fluent in multiple foreign languages. He was practically an all-rounder and excelled in everything he did.

Back then, the uncles and aunties in high society would show expressions of envy once Director Xu’s children were brought up. Especially Xu Juan, both outstanding and good looking, they couldn’t have begged the gods for such a precious son even if they tried. The Xu family ancestors must have done countless good deeds in life.

Xu Jiren was also proud and doted on Xu Juan dearly.

Thus, Xu Juan’s coming of age ceremony on his twentieth birthday was a grand affair. His mother personally made the preparations and organized a huge event for him. 

That day, his father and older brother set aside their busy schedules and rushed back from another city. His older sister, who was having a concert overseas, hopped onto a plane the moment she got off the stage, hurrying home as early as she could. Many friends and family were also in attendance. Everyone huddled adoringly around young master Xu as he went up onto the stage, blew out the candles and made his wishes.

Xu Juan said: “Today is my twentieth birthday. I’ve given it a lot of thought; Twenty is a boundary line in one’s life. I’m not sure how my life will play out in the future, but for now, I only have one wish: From now on, I will be true to myself.”

Beneath the stage, the applause was thunderous.

These were such lovely words. The entirety of that night, everyone was all smiles, and the birthday banquet came to a perfect end. 

But a few days later, not even one person in the family could force out a laugh.

Xu Juan kept his word and was very “true to himself”. He stopped attending classes properly, stopped practising the piano and even stopped drawing. He began to indulge in a life of debauchery with Hou Shijie, going from “the future pillar of the motherland” to “a hedonistic, depraved son of a rich family” without so much as a warning.

He nearly angered his father to death at the start, and his mother spent the entire day in tears reflecting on herself: Did she not dote on her son enough? Did she put too much pressure on him over his studies, making it difficult for him to bear? Why did a good child like him suddenly become like this? It must be mom’s fault.

Xu Juan moved out of the family home, and began to live alone. 

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Today was such an example. The rumours regarding him and a celebrity had even made it to the hot searches, disgracing the entire family. Xu Jiren had intended to return from overseas during the weekend, but rushed back today all for the sake of reprimanding him in person.

In the living room, Xu Juan’s sitting posture was very proper. The housekeeper, Auntie Zhao, set down the tea she had brewed in front of him and gave him a sympathetic glance. 

Xu Jiren had already been scolding for ten minutes and was a little weary. Then, he took one look at Xu Juan and felt the exhaustion from deep in his heart; He didn’t talk back to him, but he didn’t seem to be listening either. He let out a sigh and softened his tone to Xu Juan: “How’s your company faring now?”

Xu Juan had started a company on his own and was diligently making games, but the game industry wasn’t flourishing in recent times. Xu Juan wasn’t sure if it was because he wasn’t capable enough, or if he wasn’t earnest enough. The company ran for quite a few years, hanging on the brink of bankruptcy every year. Miraculously, it still hadn’t actually gone bankrupt.

How could Xu Jiren possibly not be aware of the situation? He was merely asking on purpose, to show some concern.

Xu Juan said: “Not too bad. There’s currently a big project under development.” 

“……”

A big project… The bigger the project, wouldn’t the loss also increase? Xu Jiren was unable to mask his worry, blurting out: “Do you need me to find some people to give you a hand?”

“There’s no need, dad, thanks.” Xu Juan laughed a little, his attitude perfectly pleasant. Despite exhibiting rebellious behaviour throughout, he maintained a well-behaved facade, making it impossible for Xu Jiren to lose his temper. Eventually, he just heaved a sigh of despair and let him be.

Even if Xu Jiren didn’t scold him, Xu Juan was well-aware; When he was out there fraternizing, he was doing so with the status and identity of the Xu family’s second young master. If he weren’t Xu Juan, why would all those men and women rush to sleep with him? 

Xu Juan let out a yawn, his interest rapidly waning.

When he was twenty, he had announced he would be “true to himself”, but now he was almost twenty six, and he still had no inkling what being “himself” entailed.

But Xu Juan wasn’t a sentimental person; Rather, he preferred if others were sentimental over him.

Deciding to stay in the family home for now, Xu Juan went upstairs once Xu Jiren resumed work in the study, heading to rest in the bedroom. 

He washed up and laid in bed, opened up his Wechat and first scrolled through Tang Sisi’s Moments.

Tang Sisi was a typical refined lady. Her Wechat Moments was maintained just as prettily as herself. She posted photos of good food, selfies and scenery. Sometimes, she shared some art, literature and love songs. It was all heartwarming and pleasing, but none of the content was what Xu Juan wanted to see.

Xu Juan started a private chat with Tang Sisi: “Hi.”

Tang Sisi replied immediately: “Yes, Director Xu. What’s wrong?” 

Xu Juan said: “I want to ask about some things, don’t tell anyone.”

Tang Sisi was surprised, but had a vague inkling: “What things? Do they have to do with Pei laoshi?”

“Smart.” Xu Juan sent a smiley. “What’s he called, Pei Yu?”

“Pei Yu.”

Without waiting for Xu Juan to ask his other questions, Tang Sisi took the initiative to answer: “Twenty six, single, teaches Mandarin. He supposedly skipped many grades when he was in school and is an influential figure in Hong Uni. He stayed behind to hold a teaching position after graduation, it’s his third year of work.”

Xu Juan wasn’t surprised at how enthusiastic Tang Sisi was. He asked: “Has he dated before?” 

“Yeah,” Tang Sisi said, “his ex-girlfriend is the daughter of our university’s president. They dated for half a year, then broke up at the start of this year. It’s said that the one who wanted to break up was her.”

“What’s the reason?”

“No idea, but this is hot gossip within the school. The girls are saying it’s because Pei laoshi is about as romantic as an iceberg and doesn’t know how to coax a lady. Whenever they went on dates, it was also at the initiative of his ex. Even then, he may suddenly get busy and have no time to go. She must have been so hurt.”

“……” 

Xu Juan looked at his phone and let out a little laugh: “I heard university professors are quite idle. Is he especially busy?”

“Yeah. He’s not your typical university professor.” Tang Sisi paused for a couple of seconds, then immediately sent over a whole chunk of text. It’s not certain where she had copied it from, but the densely-packed information introduced Pei Yu’s various accomplishments, awards and the projects he had participated in. Xu Juan skimmed through everything; He didn’t even recognize the names of some of these awards, but it didn’t matter, as long as he understood that Pei Yu was amazing.

Tang Sisi said: “Director Xu, are you really not interested in girls?”

“Oh, I am,” Xu Juan said. 

Tang Sisi hesitated slightly: “Then, this afternoon, you said…”

“Didn’t I specially say that for your Pei laoshi to hear?” Xu Juan said, suave, “you just focus on your studies, don’t let Pei Yu’s hard work go to waste.”

“……”

Tang Sisi remained quiet, probably discouraged. After a long while, she asked the obvious anyway: “Why’re you asking about these things? Have you really got your eye on our Pei laoshi?” 

“Of course.” Xu Juan was unperturbed, “Is there anyone pursuing him in school?”

Tang Sisi said: “Yeah. Ever since he and his ex broke up, from the female teachers to the female students, the number of people pursuing him could form a line from Hong Uni’s backgate to the southern bus stop.”

“……”

“But it’s really no easy feat. That icy expression of his could freeze a person to death. He doesn’t even accept gifts, if he finds out who the gift was from, they would definitely face disciplinary action. But who let him look so good? A hot guy like that with such good morals, the more he behaves like this, the harder it is to chase his admirers away. Aiya, whenever he shows up, he would be surrounded by an audience. He’s basically our school’s best scenery.” 

“All right, I got it. Send me his Wechat,” Xu Juan said, “let me get in touch with him.”

Tang Sisi: “……”

But Tang Sisi obediently gave Pei Yu’s Wechat details to Xu Juan.

In truth, Tang Sisi wasn’t friends with Pei Yu on Wechat, but she was in an official school group chat that Pei Yu was in too. So, she opened his contact details and directly sent it over to Xu Juan. 

Adding someone on Wechat wasn’t difficult, Xu Juan wrote in his friend request note: “Hello, Pei laoshi, I have something important to discuss with you. Is that all right?”

He didn’t mention who he was. Pei Yu probably assumed it was a serious matter and accepted him after a short while, asking him who he was. 

Xu Juan briefly introduced himself, saying: “I apologize for troubling you, but I would like to follow up on the matter regarding Tang Sisi.”

After sending this message, Pei Yu didn’t reply for a long time.

Xu Juan understood. He was already being this spontaneous, even a terribly ignorant person would have realized that something was off by now.

Was it because he was a straight man and was oblivious in this aspect? For a moment, Xu Juan considered backing out, straight men were difficult to mess around with. But he thought about Pei Yu’s face and felt the hesitation scatter in the wind. 

Finally, Pei Yu responded, and in fact wasn’t as ignorant as he had expected: “What exactly do you intend to get out of beating around the bush?”

“Nothing, really.” Xu Juan didn’t send any voice messages, sticking with just text.

Sometimes, text served a particular purpose better than voice messages. He continued: “If I said, I fell in love with Pei laoshi at first sight, would you believe it?”

This message didn’t receive a reply for a long, long time. 

Xu Juan gave a lazy stretch in bed, unable to resist imagining the expression Pei Yu was currently wearing. The thought of a crack appearing in that perfect facade made the wicked interest in his heart blossom all the more.

He had expected Pei Yu to scold him, but after quite some time passed, he still hadn’t received any response.

Xu Juan sent over a question mark. Sure enough, a red exclamation mark appeared on the screen: This user has enabled friend authentication, you are still not friends.

Xu Juan laid on the bed and let out a laugh, deciding to personally go down to Hong Uni the next day. He would officially play this game by the book.