Li Yuchen sat down in the front, while Li Chuanmo and Pei Yueran sat down at the back. There was no conversation, so the chauffeur switched on the radio.
The radio host was talking about the high rate of one nights stands and the effect of the trend on youths. Pei Yueran shifted uncomfortably.
Li Chuanmo simply said, "change it."
Wei Haoyu changed it immediately.
"It's the weekend, and research shows that Sunday afternoon is a popular time for dates. We surveyed five hundred people and asked for their favourite date spots in city M. Here are the top ten answers—"
The show host continued speaking and Li Chuanmo silently noted the places she mentioned. Pei Yueran didn't want to listen to this either, but she didn't want to ask for it to be changed. It wasn't her car after all.
Wei Haoyu drove them to Pei Yueran's apartment. She thanked them and came down from the car. Li Yuchen waved to her cheerfully.
"See you soon my Goddess."
Pei Yueran smiled at him and waved back, wondering when he would stop calling her that.
"You should call her Auntie", Li Chuanmo commented on their way home. Li Yuchen had changed seats and was now seating at the back with him.
"She's my goddess and that's what I'll keep calling her!" Li Yuchen said, sounding very determined.
"Do you want your game accessories seized?"
"Huh! Seize them if you like, you can't threaten me." He was neither amenable to coaxing nor coercion.
Besides, he had a new set of game accessories that his grandparents bought for him, so he could always go to their house and play. Hmph!
"Fine. Anyway I've decided that you would attend boarding school from the beginning of the new session, so you won't need them for a while."
Li Yuchen's face changed. "You don't know how to take a joke Dad. I was only joking. Auntie is very beautiful, that's why." Even the word "Auntie" came out smoothly.
Li Chuanmo didn't say anything. Whether he called her Auntie or not, he was eventually going to go to boarding school.
*****
Pei Yueran felt like if she slept enough, all the embarrassing moments would go away, so she went straight to bed. It didn't work however, as she kept tossing and turning. Even the few times she dozed off, she had racy dreams of the night before.
After the third dream, she sat up in bed angrily. She wasn't even a teenager for crying out loud, why was she behaving like a teen that was crushing on the school hunk?
She decided to get up and send a message to her friend. Su Qianhua was having a coffee break when she received her message.
"You won't believe it, but I almost jumped my boss yesterday. Or we almost jumped each other. Anyway, it was pretty intense. And he brought me home today. I feel too embarrassed to even go to work tomorrow! What do I do???
Su Qianhua choked and spat out the coffee in her mouth on two of her colleagues.
"Sergeant Su!", one of them shouted. She quickly apologized and then went to her desk to continue chatting.
"Explosive news!!!! Gist in details please", Su Qianhua sent a begging emoji.
Pei Yueran gave her the rundown of events.
"Wow! But why did you stop? Both of you are single and like each other. His family is also supportive. What's the problem?"
"Qianhua, are you serious? of course we had to stop, it wasn't right. And he's my boss at work. And I was in his parents' house!!!"
"So I'm asking, why wasn't it right? He's your boss, so what? And does that mean if you were not at his parents' house, you would have continued?"
"Qianhua!!!!"
"Besides, wouldn't it have been more exciting to do that in his parents' house?"
"Pervert!!!"
"Whatever. But seriously, I hope it wasn't thoughts of Han Lei that made you stop."
Pei Yueran did not respond, and Su Qianhua knew she had guessed right.
"Yueran, you need to understand that Han Lei is gone for good, and it has been so long too. He's never going to come back, so you need to move on. Most of all, he would be happy to see you happy again."
Pei Yueran typed, "but it just feels wrong, like I'm cheating on him somehow."
"If you were the one in his shoes, won't you want him to be happy again? Loving someone else or getting into a relationship is not cheating, and it's not like it will erase the time you spent together. So for the umpteenth time, open your heart and let love find you."
Pei Yueran calmed down. "Thank you Qianhua. Thanks for being there everytime."
"You're welcome. Anything for my RanRan. So tell me, what did it feel like? What and where did he touch?"
"Get out, you pervert!"
*****
Immediately they got home, Li Yuchen went to his room, pouting. Li Chuanmo went straight to his study. He first messaged Pei Yueran and asked if she had eaten. Then he made a call.
"I want a detailed report of what happened at the party. Make it snappy."
Thirty minutes later, he received a document. His brows furrowed tightly as he read through it.
So Mother and that brat Xiao Chen planned this together? Very good!
In all honesty, he knew deep down that he wasn't angry with them. He even felt grateful.
When he read that his mother had spiked their wine though, some of the gratitude evaporated. He saw from the corner of his eye that Pei Yueran drank out of that glass, and their drinking in the room further worsened matters. He had to talk to his mother about that.
A part of him, a tiny part, wanted to thank her though. He couldn't understand why he felt that way. The raw emotions, the feel of his lips on hers and her hold on him, were things he never thought he would experience again. What was Pei Yueran doing to him?
The last paragraph of the report was about Fu Mengyao's plot.
Fu Mengyao? Who was that? It took him a few moments to remember this girl who preferred dying to getting engaged to him back then.
They were attending the same high school that time, and he heard her talking to her friends about the engagement. Her exact words were, "I would rather die than marry a dirty orphan who was picked from the mud and dressed to fit into high society!" Needless to say, he went to her parents' house to invalidate the whole thing.
Now she liked him? He snorted. More like she liked his money and position. He didn't care for someone like that.
And now she actually dared to spike his drink and harm Pei Yueran? Letting her off lightly would be too easy.