Chapter 4

Pei Yuning lowered her eyes and looked at the phone on the chair. It was Shang Heng calling. She tapped the screen with her slender white fingertips and hung up.

The next second, the phone that had just been hung up rang again. It was the same ringtone, but this time it sounded urgent, as if the ringtone also implied the emotions of the person on the other end.

It’s funny to say, in the past two years, Shang Heng has never been as attentive as he was today. In just one hour, he sent her WeChat messages and called her.

Pei Yuning was obviously the victim of cheating, but Shang Heng’s reaction seemed to be even more excited and urgent than hers.

This time Pei Yuning did not hang up the phone, but muted the entire phone.

If he wants to go crazy, let him go crazy. Why should she accompany him?

Seeing Pei Yuning’s slightly frowned brows, Shang Yanci did not ask anything beyond the rules. He just raised his wrist and glanced at the time on the watch: “The store is about to close, let’s go.”

“Okay.” Pei Yuning stood up and took her handbag.

Her eyes casually passed by, and she suddenly realized that if she looked out the window from the direction of the tea table, she could just see the scene of her conversation with Qi Yue on the first floor.

She didn’t think much about it, because this position provided the widest view for viewing the pear blossoms in the courtyard. After all, the owner of this private kitchen is Shang Yanci’s friend, so of course he will give him the best tea room.

As Pei Yuning walked, he sent a message to the driver, asking him to drive the car to the door.

The foreman saw the two men and came over to greet them. She first smiled at Pei Yuning, then respectfully handed Shang Yanci a gift box with an intricate and exquisite design: “Mr. Shang, your pear wine.”

Shang Yanci thanked her and took it.

Pei Yuning couldn’t help but glance at him. Shang Yanci’s self-cultivation was not just a superficial pretense. His calmness and dignity were the result of being brought up in the profound cultural heritage of an aristocratic family since childhood. He was not like those rich young masters in northern Beijing who only knew how to eat, drink and have fun, and always had an ugly look of arrogance and complacency.

When they arrived at the door of the private kitchen, the driver had already driven a shell pink Bugatti and was standing in front of the passenger door, waiting for a while to open the door for Pei Yuning.

Shang Yanci then handed the pear wine he had carried all the way to Pei Yuning: “Have a drink if you have nothing to do. Drink less when you are alone outside.”

Pei Yuning didn’t expect that this was for her. She took it and smiled: “Then when we return to Jingbei for dinner, Mr. Shang, will you have a couple of drinks with me?”

Shang Yanci: “Sure.”

Pei Yuning opened WeChat and took the initiative to say: “Add a contact number.”

Shang Yanci looked at the light and shadow on her face with a deep gaze, and slowly said: “Okay.”

After adding WeChat, Pei Yuning smiled and said goodbye to him, and walked towards the Bugatti with a swaying figure.

Shang Yanci stood there, looking at her back. She was like a delicate and beautiful butterfly fish, with her soft tail swaying gently, as if a spring rain mist was raised, enveloping him completely.

Gu Yu, who was on the opposite side of the road, asked the driver to drive over. He got out and opened the back door of the Rolls-Royce. After Shang Yanci bent down and got in, he closed the door and sat back in the passenger seat.

Gu Yu recalled the beautiful girl whom he had just caught a glimpse of. Wasn’t that the heroine in the photo treasured in Mr. Shang’s pocket watch?

Trying hard to suppress the surprise in his heart, special assistant Gu Yu began to report the matter: “Mr. Shang, the old man said that because Shang Heng cheated, the Pei family insisted on canceling the engagement, so they asked you to free up time these few days, and you have to be present when the engagement is canceled.”

Shang Yanci: “Cheating?”

“Yes, the cheating woman is the daughter of Miss Pei’s stepmother’s sister. It was exposed on the hot search, but it was removed not long after.” Gu Yu asked cautiously, “The Shang and Pei families were originally scheduled to get married, but this kind of thing happened now. Mr. Shang, do you need to arrange someone to check it out?”

Street lights passed through the car window, and the light and shadow intersected, scattered on Shang Yanci’s deep and three-dimensional profile. He turned the pinky ring nonchalantly, and his tone was lazy and indifferent: “No need.”

Back at the hotel, after taking a shower and finishing his skin care, Pei Yuning lay on the bed, watching Shang Yanci’s name appear in the WeChat list.

To be honest, his name sounded a little familiar, as if someone had mentioned it before, but she couldn’t remember exactly. It might also be because there was a “Shang” in his name, which gave her a preconceived illusion of familiarity.

The ringtone rang and the screen showed an incoming call from abroad. The string of numbers was impressive enough.

Pei Yuning answered the phone: “Hello.”

The signal seemed to be bad on the other end, and after dozens of seconds, the voice slowly responded: “Ningning, Mom will return to China in three days. I’ve called off the engagement this time, and you will live your own life in the future. The Pei family doesn’t need you to give anything.”

Pei Yuning was heartbroken by those two words, and said coldly: “Are you done?”

The other end was silent again for a few seconds: “…Well, I’m done, hang up.”

As the words fell, Pei Yuning hung up the phone, pulled up the quilt, and covered her head with sleep.

It’s late at night.

At this moment, in the Yuhua Garden in northern Beijing.

In the hall, expensive teacups were scattered all over the floor. The dignified and elegant Madam Pei sat on the sofa, holding a beautiful ragdoll cat in her arms, and shouted arrogantly, “Kneel down.”

The ragdoll cat shook its soft and fluffy tail and meowed a few times as if to cheer her on.

Xu Han knelt straight on the broken porcelain pieces. In an instant, blood spread and wet the carpet. She was pale and crying, “Madam, I really don’t know about Weiwei and Young Master Shang’s affair. I don’t have my own children. I have always loved Ningning as my own daughter. How could I hurt her?”

Madam Pei snorted coldly, “I know what you are thinking. Shang Heng is blind to be entangled with Xu Wei. Your Xu family is addicted to mistresses. What a disgrace.”

Xu Han looked at the blood on the carpet with resentment. She had also been pregnant with a child and married into the Pei family, but she eventually had a miscarriage. Later, Madam Pei took control and did not allow her to get pregnant again.

“What the old lady said is true.” Her tone was still respectful. “But based on this incident, we can see that Shang Heng’s nature is no different from those young masters. It would be better for the two families to cancel the engagement, and the old lady can choose a better one for Ningning.”

Old Madam Pei understood in her heart: “The engagement must be cancelled. I’m afraid your wishful thinking will fail. Who is Shang Heng? How can you let your Xu family get involved in him at will? Now that your knee is injured, you can go to the sanatorium in Y City and live for a while.”

Xu Han knew what these words meant. The old lady made such arrangements not because she really regarded her as a member of the Pei family, nor did she really want to protect her, but because once Shang Heng found out that this was a joint effort of their Xu family and the Qi family, the Qi family might be able to maneuver and extricate themselves, but their Xu family could only be manipulated.

Leading her away was to allow the Shang family to vent their anger better, and also to save the face of both the Shang and Pei families.

Xu Han knew very well that Shang Heng would not marry Xu Wei. The two of them have very different family backgrounds, and Xu Wei has no children to use as a bargaining chip. But with her status as a merchant prince, it would be good for Xu Wei to have a little lover.

Besides, even if the truth really came out, the Xu family would not give Xu Han away.

If Xu Wei wins, she will take a step further; if Xu Wei loses, she still has a way out.

Xu Han: “Yes, I’ll follow the old lady’s arrangements.”

She agreed without any hesitation. People who didn’t know would really think that Shang Heng’s cheating had nothing to do with her.

Old Madam Pei looked at her. It was because of this false appearance of being at peace with the world, coupled with the accidental abortion of the child, that her eldest son Pei Jinyan became soft-hearted every time.