Chapter 8 – A Worried Xue Huiyu

◎ He wanted to hold her hand, but no matter what, he just couldn’t touch her. ◎

“An early congratulations to President Pei for becoming our new chairman.” One of the board members of the Pei Group raised his glass to Pei Yongyu with a sycophantic smile. The rest of the board members and major shareholders followed suit, offering toast after toast, their words full of praise and flattery.

Although the board meeting hadn’t officially convened yet, everyone knew the truth—Pei Guoli’s time was over, and with Pei Yongyu having acquired most of the shares, he had no more rivals. The new chairman to be elected by vote would undoubtedly be Pei Yongyu’s pick. Anyone who didn’t pledge allegiance now would find themselves on the losing side later.

Watching these old foxes, Pei Yongyu held his wine glass, smiling faintly. “Weren’t Chairman Shen and Chairman Liu once part of Pei Wenyu’s faction? Are you sure you want to side with me now?”

Shen Guoqing gave an awkward smile. “Pei Wenyu is already a cripple, just a nominal director now. His term is up, and once this board meeting convenes, he’ll be out. How could someone like that ever compare to Chairman Pei?”

“Exactly, exactly! Our company has only one Chairman Pei, and will only ever have one Chairman Pei in the future.”

The board members nodded in agreement, deliberately emphasizing only one.

Pei Yongyu lowered his gaze with a smirk, recalling the last time he saw Pei Wenyu—it was the day their grandfather stripped him of his chairmanship.

That cousin of his, always smarter since childhood, excelled in everything, always showered in praise by their grandfather. In his eyes, Pei Wenyu was that perfect son from someone else’s family, always looking down from above with that air of superiority.

But that day, for the first time, he saw the always clean and aloof Pei Wenyu in such a despondent and defeated state.

Confined to a wheelchair, his legs paralyzed, Pei Wenyu was forced to look up at others while Pei Yongyu unconsciously looked down on him…

Just the thought made Pei Yongyu let out a low laugh.

He had always hated Pei Wenyu.

Initially, Pei Wenyu had no real interest in inheriting the family business, but five years ago, something changed—he suddenly started fighting for power.

Not only did he marry into the Xue family, but he even had a son!

When Pei Yongyu got wind from their grandfather’s private doctor that the old man had already written a medical directive due to his worsening illness, he knew—this thorn in his side had to be removed immediately.

So, he orchestrated a car accident.

He arranged for a truck to be severely overloaded, pretending it had lost control and collided head-on with Pei Wenyu’s car.

That day, he waited eagerly for news of Pei Wenyu’s death. But instead, he received word that Pei Wenyu had been critically injured—but survived after emergency surgery.

At first, he thought it was a huge failure. But then, seeing Pei Wenyu sitting in a wheelchair, broken and helpless, he figured maybe living like that was an even crueler punishment.

Pei Yongyu downed a shot of baijiu with a faint smile—just as his secretary rushed in, pale and panicked.

He frowned, about to scold him for interrupting his good mood, when the secretary whispered urgently in his ear.

Pei Yongyu’s face darkened instantly, and at that moment, his phone rang. One after another, everyone else’s phones in the room also started ringing.

The confused board members and shareholders exchanged glances, and as they answered their calls, panic began spreading across their faces. All eyes turned to Pei Yongyu, who crushed his wine glass in his hand, blood dripping onto the floor along with the spilled alcohol.

With a chilling glare, Pei Yongyu glanced at the board members whose faith was now clearly shaken.

“Gentlemen, you’re not really going to believe rumors spreading online, are you?”

His voice echoed through the now-tense room.

“President Pei,” one of them said, voice trembling, “if this rumor goes viral, Pei Group’s stock will plummet… What do we do? We’ve invested everything into this!”

“I just bought tens of thousands of shares recently! If I don’t sell now, I’ll lose everything!”

Their anxious voices filled the room, tension rising like a drawn bowstring.

Holding over 3% of shares qualified one to enter the board of a publicly listed company. In order to secure votes for the upcoming board election, Pei Yongyu had privately shared insider information with his allies—that Pei Zheng Hotel was about to sign a major strategic partnership with Huahang Group.

Encouraged by this tip, many had bought tens of thousands—some even hundreds of thousands—of shares. The stock’s steady rise over three days gave them huge profits and board eligibility. But now… they hadn’t even sold yet!

If the stock plummeted, their losses would be catastrophic. At that point, no one would care about Pei Yongyu, the board, or the chairmanship. The only priority was selling—fast.

Seeing morale collapse, Pei Yongyu stormed out, his face ashen.

And it wasn’t just those recent buyers who stood to lose big—he himself had spent the past six months using every trick and paying above market value to buy out family members’ shares, including Pei Wenyu’s 10%. Now holding 32%, he was the Pei Group’s largest shareholder—more than even Grandpa Pei Guoli.

If the stock crashed, no one would lose more than him.

Who?!

Who set him up like this?!

Pei Wenyu?

Strangely, his mind immediately landed on the cousin he once saw as a lifelong rival.

Pei Wenyu had once suspected him of financial fraud, but never found evidence. Instead, Pei Yongyu had ruined him first.

After Pei Wenyu’s accident, he’d kept tabs on him for six months, watching him sink into depression, lost and aimless. Eventually, he dismissed him completely.

Recently, hearing that Pei Wenyu had sold his shares to support Xue Huiyu’s company, he’d scoffed at how far the mighty had fallen—reduced to funding a minor firm with family assets. What could Xue Huiyu’s little company ever be compared to Pei Group?

But what if all that despondency was just a smokescreen?

The thought jolted him.

He immediately called the major shareholders, urging them not to sell in the morning.

No matter how bad it looked, do not sell.

Despite his frantic efforts to contain the damage—blocking news outlets, ordering retractions, insisting in interviews he was innocent of all misconduct, even having the company’s official Weibo post a denial—the internet had already exploded.

The scandal threw individual investors into panic. Fearing massive losses, they began dumping their stocks the moment the market opened.

As shares were rapidly offloaded, Pei Group’s stock price plummeted. By midday, it had dropped nearly 20%.

The rattled shareholders, seeing the freefall, rushed to sell too. When trading resumed in the afternoon, even more investors followed suit—until the stock hit its daily lower limit.

Worse yet, that afternoon, Pei Yongyu was taken into custody by the criminal investigation division.

The next day, Pei Group’s stock fell to its limit again.

Pei Wenyu had suffered from insomnia ever since his parents died when he was a child.

It had briefly improved—when he met Xue Huiyu.

But after the accident three and a half years ago, the insomnia only worsened, plagued by nightmares every night.

He grew to fear the dark, afraid that closing his eyes would bring him back—again and again—to that single, devastating moment.

“……”

Waking up crying from a nightmare, Pei Wenyu found himself soaked in sweat.

In the dream, he saw Xue Huiyu return home. As he excitedly rushed toward her, he saw her wearing the same down jacket she had on the day of the car accident, her hair disheveled, her face dripping with water as she pressed him with a chilling question…

Why hadn’t she been found yet… Why hadn’t she been laid to rest…

Because he hadn’t arranged a funeral for her, she couldn’t reincarnate…! Because of him, she couldn’t even find peace in death!

Pei Wenyu had cried himself awake. In the dream, he had knelt before Xue Huiyu in tears.

He tried to hold her hand, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t touch her.

He said so much, begging her to come back.

Divorce was fine, even not having children—he would give up everything, as long as she was willing to return.

He was even willing to exchange his life for hers.

But in the dream, Xue Huiyu still left. She didn’t even want to stay with him for one more second.

Everything in the dream remained vividly etched in his mind, and even after waking up, Pei Wenyu couldn’t recover from the overwhelming sorrow.

Tears poured from his eyes like a breached dam, unstoppable.

Just like the weather outside.

Pei Wenyu looked out the window. It was drizzling lightly outside. If it weren’t for the constant stream of missed calls and messages popping up on his phone, it would’ve seemed like just an ordinary rainy day.

It really was time to arrange a funeral for Xue Huiyu…

He took a deep breath, pulled a cigarette from the pack on the table, lit it, and slowly began to smoke.

Seriously?! Smoking first thing in the morning?!

Because their little one hadn’t woken up yet, Xue Huiyu, who was wandering around the villa, caught Pei Wenyu red-handed smoking!

Xue Huiyu hated men who smoked. Smoking didn’t just harm the smoker—it also harmed innocent bystanders who were forced to inhale secondhand smoke!

She didn’t remember whether Pei Wenyu used to smoke or not, but at the very least, she’d never seen it before. If he was secretly smoking in his own room, fine, whatever—but now?! Their little one was only three years old! And he dared to smoke?!

That tiny child would be forced to breathe secondhand smoke! Thankfully, the child wasn’t very close to him; otherwise, she didn’t even want to imagine him puffing smoke in their baby’s face!

And besides—you’re a patient, for heaven’s sake! (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

Your health is already weak, and you still smoke?! Want a shorter life, is that it? Fine, but don’t leave our child an orphan!

Xue Huiyu was so mad, she wished she could manifest just to give Pei Wenyu a good beating!

That dog of a man had pissed her off again, but when she turned and saw their bed-headed little Pei Yuqi getting up obediently, her heart melted all over again.

She floated over happily like a little tail.

“My sweet baby! Good morning!”

“My clever little one, so good at dressing yourself even at such a young age~”

“My little star is amazing! Finished all your breakfast again~”

“Stand up straight when you walk, baby! Don’t slouch. Yes, posture matters when you read, too… Lying down hurts your eyes, and being too close causes nearsightedness.”

“Even though your dad is a dog of a man, he does have very nice phoenix eyes. And as for me, your mom, I’ve got those rare and perfect grape-like eyes. So don’t keep squinting or drooping your eyelids, okay? Your eyes are bright and full of life—you must’ve inherited mine! We can’t let you become nearsighted!”

For two whole days, Xue Huiyu trailed behind Pei Yuqi like a devoted little ghostly tail.

At first, she didn’t believe their child had autism. In fact, she thought that apart from being nonverbal and a little shy, their child seemed just like a regular kid… But after spending two days together, she began noticing the telltale signs—repetitive, rigid behaviors typical of autism.

His world was confined to just his bedroom—he didn’t leave it at all, eating all three meals there.

Because of that, Xue Huiyu easily figured out his routines. His bad habits were also plain to see.

Though autism might never be fully cured, Xue Huiyu could feel her little one had emotions—just cognitive challenges. His symptoms weren’t too severe. As long as she communicated with him patiently, he responded—he didn’t ignore her anymore.

She suspected his autism might be mild. So she patiently talked to him over and over.

Under her constant reminders, Pei Yuqi ate well and dressed nicely every day.

When he tried to be picky, she’d scold him with hands on her hips, threatening to stop reading storybooks to him—and he would frown and timidly try new foods.

Xue Huiyu felt like he might have grown taller—up to her waist already—but maybe it was just an illusion.

When she’d first seen him, he was always curled up, his gaze lifeless like a doll. But now, with her orders to stop slouching, he stood up straighter, though still thin. Maybe that’s what made it feel like he’d grown.

And whenever he subconsciously chewed his fingers, as soon as he felt her “ghostly gaze,” he’d immediately stop, pulling his hand back with a pitiful little face—so cute it nearly melted her!

All this gave Xue Huiyu confidence. Though his speech was behind others his age, his intelligence seemed fine. The rigid behavior was gradually improving under her guidance. It probably wasn’t congenital but triggered by environment—maybe curable with active treatment?

And while staying close to her son, Xue Huiyu noticed something strange—Pei Wenyu hadn’t gone to work in two days. Because of that, Zheng Huiwen didn’t dare harm the boy or steal things anymore.

She hadn’t understood why at first, until she overheard a phone call between Zheng Huiwen and Xia Lanzhi.

“Mrs. Xia… President Pei hasn’t gone out these two days. He probably found out about the Pei Group situation and is avoiding reporters…”

“President Pei has been keeping to himself… I don’t know the details either…”

Did something happen to the Pei Group?

Because of that phone call, Xue Huiyu couldn’t stop glancing toward the tightly shut study door.

Just like Zheng Huiwen had said, in the past two days, Pei Wenyu hadn’t left the house… he was either in the study or the bedroom, barely stepping into any other rooms.

Since she hated smoking, Xue Huiyu had no interest in floating near his bedroom or study. But now, curiosity and concern got the better of her. After coaxing their little one into a nap, she quietly slipped into Pei Wenyu’s study.