Volume 1, Chapter 3: What Kind of Relationship Is This?

When Han Ting came out of his room, he suddenly let out a huge sneeze.

"Who’s thinking of me this early in the morning?" he muttered, rubbing his itchy nose.

He crossed the courtyard and ambled up to the door of Pei Yanchuan’s room, then knocked.

After waiting about three or four minutes, the door finally opened. He flashed his standard eight-teeth smile. "Morning, Young Master Pei."

Han Ting was Pei Yanchuan’s childhood friend, a comrade-in-arms who had grown up with him, inseparable since boyhood.

Seeing that it was him, Pei Yanchuan lazily glanced past him toward the doorway and saw only a lonely bag.

As expected, he lost interest and turned back into the room.

Han Ting followed his gaze, picked up the bag from the floor, and curiously pulled out a pale blue long dress.

The moment he made out what it was, he cried out, "Damn, isn’t this the finale dress from that outrageously expensive show in Paris?"

As he spoke, he shook it open and held it against himself, sizing it up.

Pei Yanchuan leaned back into the sofa, placed both feet on the coffee table, and gave him a measured look from head to toe. "Mind your words and your behavior. Acting like that makes me uneasy."

With that, he lifted a hand and closed the open collar of his robe so that not a seam showed.

"Scared of what? I’m the real deal, all man!" Han Ting tossed his head with an affected flourish, then casually stuffed the dress back into the bag and threw it aside.

No need to think with your toes to know who that dress had been prepared for. Han Ting put on an expression of "I knew it" and "You’re done for," making a series of teasing clicks with his tongue.

Pei Yanchuan switched on the laptop on the side, opened his email, and plainly showed that he had no intention of dealing with him.

Han Ting plopped onto the sofa and draped an arm over Pei Yanchuan’s shoulder, grinning with unmistakable innuendo. "Why do you look so sexually frustrated? One night of dry tinder and roaring fire, and you still didn’t patch things up?"

He had been about to talk about last night and, incidentally, call room service for breakfast. Turning to press the bell, he happened to meet Pei Yanchuan’s meaningful gaze.

Pei Yanchuan removed the hand hanging from his shoulder and asked abruptly, "Why did she come to my room yesterday, exactly?"

Han Ting looked blank and did not answer, but shot back a question of his own: "You already slept together, and you still didn’t ask her why she came looking for you?"

As if he found that hard to understand, he added, "You slept together, and she still didn’t explain why she came to find you?"

Why hadn’t he asked?

Pei Yanchuan’s attention shifted away from work. He pushed the laptop aside, his feverish head still throbbing faintly. "Did she eat something rotten last night?"

He had just taken fever medicine when he heard knocking and went to open the door, never expecting it to be her.

They had not seen each other for three years, yet the instant he saw her face, everything around him seemed to dissolve into nothingness. The fever medicine backfired, and his thoughts turned to chaos with the heat.

All he could see was her face, all he could smell was the faint fragrance on her body.

Her breathing was ragged, the corners of her eyes damp and red, her body so soft it was almost unbearable.

The moment Wen Yang’s hand wound around his neck, he lost control and kissed her first...

Pei Yanchuan lifted a hand and scratched lightly between his brows with his fingertips, a trace of irritation rising in his chest.

"She was there on behalf of Yunxuan Design to discuss cooperation regarding the resort’s northern district," Han Ting said.

He now worked under Pei Yanchuan, and occasionally attended some of the project meetings for the Pei Group.

"Yesterday you were sick and resting here, right? So I temporarily changed the meeting place and called the design firms over here instead, set up a dinner gathering. I was pretty surprised to see Wen Yang in the private room too. I originally wanted to text you, but she acted like she didn’t know me, so I figured I’d keep business and personal matters separate."

Seeing that he still gave no response, Han Ting continued, "I realized something was off halfway through. The male manager who came with Wen Yang kept causing trouble and pressuring her to drink."

Pei Yanchuan’s fingers tapped lightly on the table. His expression remained faint, and he said nothing.

He simply drew a cigarette from the pack and held it between his teeth without lighting it.

"When she went to the restroom, I saw that man slip out right after her, so I couldn’t help following as well."

"And then I heard him outside the restroom saying the company would pick her precisely because they wanted an intern like her to curry favor, that someone in the manor had already been bribed and everything arranged, and that they were going to send her to my bed."

The words had barely fallen when Pei Yanchuan’s gaze snapped to him, the force of it so sharp and heavy it sent a chill straight down one’s spine.

"How could I possibly dare touch your first love?" Han Ting gave an awkward laugh and went on, "I waited outside for quite a while. By the time Wen Yang came out, she was so drunk she could barely walk, like she’d eaten something filthy."

"I figured if she got carried away and set her sights on me, I should hurry and give her your room number."

"Set her sights on you?" Pei Yanchuan arched a brow, saying nothing.

A few seconds later, the first thing he said was, "She was drunk, not blind."

Han Ting choked, then gradually caught on. All right, the young master was secretly pleased.

"Yes, yes, yes, she wouldn’t look twice at me," Han Ting said along with him.

"But then again, the reason you two broke up wasn’t because her mother later married your father?"

He leaned closer, his curious eyes wide, and murmured, "So what exactly are you two now? Half-siblings?"

"Thinking back on it, what happened last night was indeed my oversight. You two wouldn’t count as, uh..."

Before he could get the last word out, Pei Yanchuan’s sharp, ice-cold look silenced him. Han Ting made a zipping motion across his own mouth.

The ceiling light in the suite shone down on Pei Yanchuan, casting a halo around him. As if lost in memory, the depths of his dark eyes grew even darker.

After a long while, the corners of his thin lips pulled into a faint, sardonic curve, and he replied in an utterly cool voice, "I never even acknowledged her mother. On what grounds would she be my sister?"

"If you have time to play riddles, then it seems your workload is still too light."

The earlier irritation seemed merely a small interlude. Pei Yanchuan leaned back with easy languor restored to him.

"Have Fang Yi investigate the people in the manor who are taking advantage from within. If filthy hands dare bring anything into my territory, then they’ll have to bear the consequences."

His eyes half-lidded, he broke the cigarette between his fingers in a thoughtful motion and tossed it into the trash. "And check what sort of garbage company Yunxuan Design is."

Han Ting nodded and agreed, obediently suppressing his urge to gossip.

Who told him he was now working under Pei Yanchuan, just drifting through the days?

His brain switched rapidly from gossip mode to work mode. "Still, I have to say, the proposal Yunxuan Design brought was actually pretty good. Their preliminary research was unlike the usual formulas from other companies. They brought up regional coordination and integrated services, which happens to align perfectly with your own ideas."

Pei Yanchuan raised a brow, somewhat surprised. With his index finger supporting his temple, his interest was piqued at last.

"In that case, let’s keep them hanging for now."