The two scanned each other's WeChat QR codes.
Zhou Die looked at the contact she had just added.
The name was a single character: Pei.
"Are you holding onto your brother's phone?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"..." Jiang Juyou’s mind was entirely occupied with retrieving the jade pendant; she had completely forgotten about this detail.
Zhou Die tapped "Add." "It’s fine, you can add me with your own phone when you get back."
She could just send her contact card from Pei Zongzhi's phone later.
Jiang Juyou accepted the request.
Back at the company, the moment Jiang Juyou stepped through the revolving doors, she felt the eyes of the receptionists and the cleaning staff fixed upon her.
Jiang Juyou shuffled slowly toward the reception desk.
"Did my brother look for me? Is he very angry?"
As she spoke, she was already thinking about how to explain herself once she got upstairs.
Both receptionists simply shook their heads. "No."
"Huh?" A wave of stifling, invisible thread suddenly coiled around her heart.
A sense of panic surged within her.
"Er, President Pei didn't say anything at all."
Jiang Juyou parted her lips, but no sound came out.
"He... didn't he ask anyone to look for me?"
"No."
"He said that where you go is your business, but... he told you not to lie to him time and time again."
These were the specific words Pei Zongzhi had left for her before coming downstairs.
Jiang Juyou spoke up, "I... I’ll go up and talk to him."
"I’m sorry, Miss Jiang, but President Pei already left before you arrived."
"..." she asked, "Where did he go?" Jiang Juyou didn't even realize her voice was trembling with unshed tears.
"We don’t know. Perhaps you could send him a message?"
Jiang Juyou clutched her phone; he still hadn't replied to the messages she had sent him from the bar.
If she called him now, would he even answer?
Sitting in the adjacent lounge area, Jiang Juyou used her phone to message Pei Zongzhi’s assistant first.
-Assistant Shu, is my brother with you?
Inside the Maybach Exelero gliding along the asphalt road, it was so quiet one could hear a pin drop.
Assistant Shu, sitting in the front passenger seat, looked at the message on his phone.
When he first saw the message from "President Pei," whose profile picture was entirely black, he had shuddered. Then he realized it was actually from Jiang Juyou.
He held the phone out to the back seat. "President Pei..."
He didn't dare reply to this message on his own.
Pei Zongzhi’s expression was cold; it was impossible to tell if he was still angry.
However, Assistant Shu was certain that when the President had first received the news, he had been furious—so angry that he hadn't even waited for Jiang Juyou and had insisted on heading back, despite having unfinished work.
"Reply however you see fit."
Assistant Shu’s scalp tingled instantly. He hated it most when the President said things like that!
*What do you think?*
*Do you need to ask me about everything?*
*Do I need to hold your hand and teach you every stroke?*
*Did you forge the degree you submitted when you were hired?*
If not for the two-million-yuan annual salary, no one would be willing to endure this misery.
"I... I will answer truthfully." Assistant Shu stole a glance at Pei Zongzhi’s face. Seeing no change in his expression, he picked up the phone and replied.
-President Pei is with me.
-Where are you going?
Assistant Shu peeked up and happened to see Pei Zongzhi’s eyes fixed on his phone as well.
He immediately handed the phone over. "President Pei, you should handle this."
Pei Zongzhi gave it a cool look.
Assistant Shu nudged the phone closer to his hand.
Only then did Pei Zongzhi take the device.
-You aren't going to look for Shang Muye?
Jiang Juyou paused when she saw the message; her intuition told her that Assistant Shu would never question her like that.
She hesitated for a moment.
-Brother?
There was a long silence from the other end.
She quickly sent another message:
-Brother, I didn't go see him. I only went to get back something that belonged to me. Can you let me be with you, please?
-Are you going home?
-Brother, I want to be with you.
-Where are you?
Pei Zongzhi watched the stream of messages coming in. His eyes were dark and turbulent, deep ripples of emotion stirred hidden beneath the surface.
Such straightforward expressions made him feel that Jiang Juyou needed him and couldn't leave him, which brought him great pleasure.
He wanted to be controlled and kept by her, to belong only to her.
The mere thought of Jiang Juyou clinging to him the way she used to cling to Shang Muye, treating him like her own private possession, stirred a sense of paranoia that swept through him, scattering all reason.
He lifted his thin eyelids and stared at Shu He.
"Change your account in the future."
"Huh?" Assistant Shu was confused.
"I’ll buy your WeChat account and your phone number. You get a new account and re-add your contacts."
Assistant Shu hesitated for only half a second before nodding vigorously.
A windfall! Grab it, definitely grab it!
Pei Zongzhi rubbed the edge of the phone with his thumb, looking once again at Jiang Juyou's message: "I want to be with you."
He added, *If only she were here.*
His fingertips tapped on the screen, and he sent a single sentence:
-Who do you love more from now on, brother or Shang Muye?
He knew Jiang Juyou would say what he wanted to hear when she was in front of him; even if she typed it now, it might not be the truth.
But he wanted to see it anyway.
-Only brother.
-Brother, I really don't like Shang Muye anymore.
Pei Zongzhi took a screenshot of the message.
He turned off the phone, leaned back against the seat, and closed his eyes.
Shu He glanced back, wondering if the President was truly disappointed in Miss Jiang this time and would no longer soften his heart...
"Back to the company."
A deep, magnetic voice sounded from behind.
Assistant Shu was stunned. So much for thinking the President wouldn't be soft-hearted this time.
The driver obeyed the order and made a U-turn, heading straight back to the company.
The car stopped in front of Jiang Juyou. She was still clutching Pei Zongzhi's phone, sending him constant messages.
She stopped when she saw the familiar license plate.
Pei Zongzhi got out of the car. He had always been taller than Jiang Juyou; she stood just at his shoulder.
He looked striking in a suit with his broad shoulders and narrow waist. Jiang Juyou froze for a moment, just staring.
Her mind drifted hazily back to the morning, when her brother was showering in the bathroom...
"Why is your face red again?" Pei Zongzhi’s cold eyes softened with a hint of worry as he reached out to press his hand against her forehead.
Thinking the young girl had a fever, he was taken aback when she slapped his hand away.
Jiang Juyou swallowed hard and stepped back, feeling ashamed of her own thoughts.
What on earth was she thinking?
"Brother... let's go inside."
Jiang Juyou bypassed Pei Zongzhi and got into the car.
Pei Zongzhi heard the slight guilt in her voice as she called him "brother," and his eyes followed her as he stepped in behind her.
As they sat in the back, Jiang Juyou, still reeling from the thoughts she’d had before getting in, didn't say a word.
"Let me see what you brought back." The voice beside her was calm, yet it sent ripples across the calm lake of her mind.
"I..." Jiang Juyou stuttered; she hadn't actually brought anything back.
"It’s just a small thing, nothing worth looking at."
Pei Zongzhi’s gaze sharpened, and he turned to look at her again.
"A small thing? How small? What kind of small thing?"
His invasive, demanding tone pressed down on Jiang Juyou.