Chapter 13: Miss Jian, You’re a Flirt Who Doesn’t Want to Take Responsibility

Jian Ruo Ci was stunned. She wasn’t close enough to Pei Yan Zhou to be sitting at the same table with him for dinner, was she? She was thinking about how to refuse without being too obvious.

But Pei Yan Zhou didn’t give her a chance to refuse.

“After dinner, I’ll take you back.” Pei Yan Zhou said. “It’s not convenient to take a taxi.”

Jian Ruo Ci’s delicate brows furrowed together as she looked at Pei Yan Zhou. “Can I refuse?”

“No.” He was firm, not giving her a chance to refuse from the start.

She knew he would say that. She had a question she couldn’t figure out. Before the banquet, she had only met Pei Yan Zhou once. Why did he help her at the banquet?

Besides, Pei Yan Zhou was a cold person. He didn’t seem like the type to talk so much to someone he didn’t know or invite them to dinner.

Jian Ruo Ci thought about it carefully and suddenly realized. She looked at Pei Yan Zhou. “That night, I flirted with you. You wouldn’t be thinking about making me responsible, would you?”

Pei Yan Zhou didn’t deny it. His long, narrow black eyes held a hint of amusement. “I have that thought. Would Miss Jian be willing to take responsibility?”

Jian Ruo Ci: “…”

Heh, responsibility? What an international joke. She had grown up and knew her limitations. A big shot who ran the capital, and a neglected eldest daughter of the Jian family, they were not on the same level at all.

If it weren’t for an accident, they would be like parallel lines, never intersecting, let alone having a deeper relationship.

She said, “Mr. Pei, we’re all adults. There’s no need. Besides, I was just drunk and flirting with you. I didn’t do anything else. There’s no need to take responsibility.”

“Do you want to do something else?”

“…”

Jian Ruo Ci was speechless. His focus was so bizarre.

Besides, they hadn’t actually done anything. At most, she had unilaterally given him her first kiss. There was no need for responsibility.

Jian Ruo Ci suppressed the urge to hit him and patiently explained. “What I meant was, I didn’t do anything unspeakable to you, so there’s no need to take responsibility. Mr. Pei, do you understand?”

Had he been abroad for too long and couldn’t understand the language?

Pei Yan Zhou’s voice sounded slowly and calmly. “I understand. Miss Jian, you’re a flirt who doesn’t want to take responsibility.”

Jian Ruo Ci: “…”

She had always been emotionally stable in front of others. Now, she was so angry at this man that she wanted to vomit blood and roll her eyes. This time, she had truly met her match.

She suppressed the urge to strangle him and smiled, a smile that was uglier than crying. “I didn’t want to avoid responsibility.”

Pei Yan Zhou: “Then how do you want to take responsibility?”

“…”

Just kill her already. Was this matter never going to end?

“Mr. Pei, it was just a misunderstanding. We’re friends now, so let’s just forget about it.”

If she hadn’t been drinking, how could she have flirted with him?

If time could be turned back, she would never have looked at him twice at the bar that night. Even if he was her type, she wouldn’t have looked at him, let alone been tempted by his beauty and offered him her first kiss.

Seeing her smile that was uglier than crying, Pei Yan Zhou’s lips curved slightly. “It was a misunderstanding, but it’s also a fact.”

“…” Jian Ruo Ci cursed Pei Yan Zhou eight hundred times in her heart. He was really infuriating.

She could talk back to a mistress or a white lotus, but she was eating humble pie in front of him.

Continuing this topic with him wouldn’t lead to any results. She had the upper hand, but she was also in the wrong. She had to change the subject. “Mr. Pei, when can we eat? I have things to do when I get back.”

“Let’s go.”

Seeing the triumphant smile in Pei Yan Zhou’s eyes, she really wanted to punch him twice. This petty man would never find a girlfriend. If he did, she would walk on her head.

Coming to the dining room with Pei Yan Zhou, Uncle He added two sets of cutlery and then left the dining room.

Pei Yan Zhou pulled out a chair for her. “Sit.”

She was stunned. Were men nowadays so fickle? Just now, he was acting like he wouldn’t rest until she was dead, and now he was acting like a gentleman.

Although she thought this, Jian Ruo Ci sat down, not forgetting to thank him.

Actually, as long as they didn’t bring up that night at the bar, they could still get along peacefully.

Pei Yan Zhou sat down opposite her. “Eat.”

Jian Ruo Ci looked at the food on the table. She hadn’t paid attention at first, but now she noticed that all the food on the table was her favorite.

Lychee-flavored candy, her favorite dishes. Was this a coincidence?

She was very sure that she didn’t know Pei Yan Zhou before the bar. She asked, “Pei Yan Zhou, did you know me before the bar?”

Pei Yan Zhou’s hand holding the chopsticks paused, his eyes dark. “No.”

Jian Ruo Ci stared at Pei Yan Zhou, bewildered. She really didn’t know him, but she felt strangely familiar. The feeling of familiarity was as if they had known each other for a very long time, even very familiar.

But there was no such dangerous figure in her memory.

Seeing that she didn’t move her chopsticks, Pei Yan Zhou picked up the serving chopsticks and put some food in her bowl. “Try it and see if it suits your taste.”

“Hmm.”

Jian Ruo Ci suppressed her doubts, picked up the food in her bowl and put it in her mouth. The taste was undeniable. “Delicious.”

She ate the food in her bowl, not noticing the curve of Pei Yan Zhou’s lips. He would occasionally pick up the serving chopsticks and put food in her bowl.

At first, Jian Ruo Ci kept thanking him. Later, she learned from him and picked up the serving chopsticks to put food in his bowl. She smiled. “Courtesy demands reciprocity. Don’t be polite.”

Pei Yan Zhou picked up the food she had put in his bowl and put it in his mouth, chewing elegantly. “I didn’t mean to be polite.”

Jian Ruo Ci stared. As expected of the man she thought was the best duck the first time she saw him, even eating was so elegant, so handsome.

His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, which was undoubtedly tempting to her.

She swallowed and looked at the juice next to her. She took a couple of sips.

She told herself not to be tempted by his beauty. She had already made a mistake when she was drunk. She couldn’t make the same mistake when she was sober.

“Are you nervous?” Pei Yan Zhou looked at her.

Her thoughts were pulled back. She put down the juice in her hand and pretended to be relaxed. “No.”

Pei Yan Zhou didn’t say anything else.

After dinner, Pei Yan Zhou drove her back. The weather in Beijing was fickle. When they were going back, it started to rain. The air was filled with a damp smell.

Pei Yan Zhou drove her to the building downstairs. As soon as she got out of the car, the wind was a little chilly. She wrapped her beige trench coat around her.

The car window rolled down. She looked at Pei Yan Zhou in the driver’s seat. “Be careful on the road.”

“Hmm.” Pei Yan Zhou’s thin lips pursed slightly. “Go back quickly. It’s cold.”

“Okay.” Jian Ruo Ci swiped her access card and entered the elevator.

Her back disappeared from his sight. Pei Yan Zhou didn’t leave downstairs immediately. He stayed downstairs, watching the lights in the building turn on for a while before leaving.

Jian Ruo Ci took her dry pajamas and went to the bathroom. When she came out, it was half an hour later. She poured herself a glass of water and took a few sips. Then, she took the phone from the coffee table and curled up on the sofa.

She turned on her phone. It was a WeChat message from Xie Qingyun.

Xie Qingyun: [Ruo Ci, are you free this Sunday?]

Jian Ruo Ci: [Yes.]

As soon as she sent the message, Xie Qingyun called her, inviting her to go out this Sunday.