Before long, Pei Yu closed his laptop. As he casually took off his glasses, his clear black eyes looked over, and Shen Zhiyi immediately tensed up and straightened her back, but she didn't dare meet his gaze—not only out of fear but also because she didn't know how to interact with him.
Too much had happened that day; dealing with Huo Heng and his people alone had kept Shen Zhiyi too occupied to think about how to face Pei Yu. The second meeting had arrived before she was ready.
With his status and identity, shouldn't he be too busy even to remember her?
"The online public opinion isn't great. Do you need my help?"
Shen Zhiyi paused, somewhat surprised.
He actually paid attention to what was happening on the internet?
"No need," Shen Zhiyi didn't want to accept any help from him; she hoped to end this relationship without any burden, "I can handle it myself."
Pei Yu nodded indifferently. He hadn't expected Shen Zhiyi to ask for his help, but the online criticism had irked him, and he always wanted to clear away anything that was an eyesore.
He spoke of something he found more important, "Starting today, move into Huating."
Huating was a hundred-year-old English manor and the Pei Family's ancestral home. Now only Pei Yu lived there. It never entertained outsiders, and ordinary people would be stopped miles away from its gates.
Shen Zhiyi's fingers tensed as she looked up in surprise, "Me?"
"Who else?" Pei Yu loosened his tie and stretched out his long legs languidly, with the tips of his shoes hiding under the hem of her skirt.
"Why?"
Shen Zhiyi couldn't help asking. Weren't they supposed to be in a clandestine, occasional-meeting kind of relationship?
"Seeing you is too much trouble," Pei Yu ran his fingers through his casual short hair, which fell over his forehead. He coughed a few times and looked down. His originally chiseled and cold features suddenly appeared a bit sickly pale, and his eyes were lethargic, "I'm not well, I can't go out often."
Shen Zhiyi was initially startled by his apparent frailty, and then she quickly reacted, hesitantly saying, "If you call me, I'll come to see you."
She thought that was the normal way of interaction in this kind of relationship. He was high and mighty, while she ought to be at his beck and call.
"Would you?" Pei Yu raised an eyebrow, his tone mellow, "Wouldn't you find various excuses to reject me?"
For instance, her first reaction upon seeing him had been to look for an excuse to leave.
Shen Zhiyi: "..."
She indeed would do that.
If their relationship was indeed utilitarian, Shen Zhiyi would certainly abide by the "rules" to ensure she was available whenever called. But in reality, she only wanted to deal with this arrogant and dominating man without taking anything from him, and thus her behavior appeared perfunctory, even if she didn't realize it herself.
So he had felt it all along.
Shen Zhiyi still wanted to struggle, "I have to film for work, sometimes I'll come back very late, or leave very early. Living in Huating isn't convenient."
Just in terms of distance, the large manor of Huating wasn't suitable for someone who needed to commute daily for work.
Pei Yu said calmly, "When you have busier work schedules, you don't have to come back to Huating."
He leaned forward slightly, with a sharp look in his eyes. The natural arrogance of someone superior pressed down heavily, yet his voice was slow, "Or I could stay at your place."
Her modestly furnished one-room apartment? Shen Zhiyi involuntarily imagined the scene of Pei Yu moving in, which felt entirely out of place—he was meant to be a nobleman living in a manor.
She had no choice but to accept, "I'll move."