Chapter 22 (continued)

With that, he placed a hand on the small of Yan Tingshen's back and guided him forward a couple of steps. "Let's get in the car first."

Yan Tingshen did as he said and got in first.

The car started.

Having made the trip once before, the driver didn't ask where they were going and drove straight toward the hospital.

In the quiet car, only the system spoke: [Host, when are you going to show the target those two documents? There's just one last step left to clear up the misunderstanding.]

Qin You said, [There's no rush.]

The other document he had obtained from Qingning Road was, just as he had expected, also a contract for the transfer of Cehai Group shares.

This contract was more significant than the Liu Family's copy because it had been personally signed by Cehai's chairman, the target's grandfather. Moreover, the second party and the signing date were identical on both contracts.

In other words, the Liu Family and the Pei Family had signed their contracts at the same time, very likely as a result of prior discussion.

If this was what had caused the target to misunderstand the protagonist, the problem would naturally be resolved as soon as he saw the two documents.

But—

The system was doing the math: [If you complete this node task, Host, the target's favorability will rise another ten points and break straight through forty! Then the Mainline Favorability Task can be unlocked again. I wonder what kind of task it'll be this time?]

Qin You fell silent.

Forget the forty-point mark. According to what the system had said before, the Affection Mission could be unlocked by raising favorability just one more point after the node task. The two percent he had lowered the target's favorability by earlier was clearly nowhere near enough.

The target and the protagonist had deep feelings for each other. Once he helped the target clear up the misunderstanding, the target certainly wouldn't begrudge him a mere three percent favorability.

He had to find a way to have it both ways: complete the task while avoiding an increase in favorability.

Just then, Yan Tingshen finally turned to look at him. "Where did these plum blossoms come from?"

At that, a thought stirred in Qin You's mind.

He turned to look at Yan Tingshen as well, without directly answering the question. "Last night, I went to Qingning Road."

The system was stunned: [Host, why did you tell the truth? What if the target thinks you had bad intentions when you went to his home?!]

Qin You said, [Did I say I went to his home?]

The system belatedly caught on: [Oh, oh, oh, you said Qingning Road... Is there a difference?]

Qin You said, [The difference isn't in Qingning Road, but in what Qingning Road represents.]

The system was confused again. Afraid of revealing that it hadn't understood, it didn't dare respond.

Yan Tingshen kept looking at Qin You. "Qingning Road?"

"Mm."

Qin You smiled. "I wanted to go back and see the place where we met as children. It's still just like it used to be."

Yan Tingshen's hand tightened slightly around the plum branches, and he asked, "Did you pick the blossoms on Qingning Road?"

"Yes."

Qin You lowered his eyes and took a branch of winter plum blossoms back from his hand, his words carrying another meaning. "You haven't been home in all these years, have you? I thought you might like it if I brought back a souvenir."

When Yan Tingshen said nothing, Qin You continued, "I didn't expect to have chosen so poorly. Plum blossoms aren't to your taste."

Only then did Yan Tingshen say, "I don't have any particular preference when it comes to flowers."

Qin You said, "If you don't like them, just leave them in the car."

Yan Tingshen paused. "Since they're a souvenir, I'll keep them. Thank you."

Qin You smiled and said, "It's all right. You don't have to force yourself."

Yan Tingshen had already looked away. He said coolly, "I never force myself."

Hearing that, Qin You said no more.

The system half understood: [Host, were you planning to bring up the past to lower the target's favorability?]

Qin You said, [Yes.]

The system suddenly understood and added, [Too bad the target seems a little pleased with the souvenir you gave him. His favorability didn't go down.]

Qin You rolled the plum branch between his fingers.

Yes.

Too bad it hadn't gone down.

Neither of them spoke for the rest of the drive.

At the hospital, Qin You got out and went around to Yan Tingshen's side. "Let's go."

Yan Tingshen took one last look at the plum blossoms lying on the car seat, then closed the door. "Mm."

Walking through the entrance beside Qin You, he looked at the figure at his side.

There was only one plum tree on Qingning Road.

The plum blossoms Qin You had brought back from Qingning Road could only have come from the Yan Family Former Residence.

I wanted to go back and see the place where we met as children. It's still just like it used to be.

So Qin You hadn't remembered wrong. That event from when they were four, of which he had no memory at all, really had happened. It had happened on Qingning Road.

Yan Tingshen walked slowly into the elevator.

A faint, cool fragrance still lingered in the confined space.

It came from Qin You.

From the previous night until now, after he had held that bunch of plum blossoms and waited in the parking lot for who knew how long, the scent that clung to Qin You had yet to fade.

That fragrance used to drift through the air every winter. He had simply been accustomed to it; he couldn't say he liked it.

But after several years apart, receiving this souvenir of something he had once been accustomed to from Qin You, perhaps it was just as Qin You had said: he had been away for so long that he felt a little nostalgic for things from the past.

The plum blossoms.

The scent of plum blossoms on Qin You.

He didn't dislike either.

"Ding—"

The elevator doors opened.

The two returned to the rehabilitation room in the ward. Qin You had only been with Yan Tingshen a short while when he received a call from Cui Ling.

"Young Mr. Qin, are you at the hospital? I have a few documents I need you to review and sign in person. They're rather urgent, and I'm already here."

Qin You looked at Yan Tingshen. "One hour."

"...That's too long."

Cui Ling tried a different approach. "Young Mr. Qin, it really is urgent."

Yan Tingshen also looked at Qin You. "Take care of business first. I don't need your help with these for now."

He really didn't need help with the exercises at the beginning.

Qin You thought for a moment. "Then I'll go over there. Make sure you rest."

Yan Tingshen said, "Mm."

Only then did Qin You turn toward the door. "Wait for me in the hospital room."

"..." Cui Ling just wanted to forget the conversation he had overheard. "All right."

Qin You hung up and headed to his private hospital room.

As he passed the protagonist's room, he glanced inside and saw that someone was still there.

The protagonist was more seriously injured than the target and probably wouldn't recover anytime soon.

"Your highness, have you sobered up?"

Qi Yan put down the flowers in his hand and sat on the sofa beside the bed. Seeing Pei Sheng's pale face, he sighed again. "Honestly, what am I supposed to say to you? You're hurt this badly, and going to a wedding banquet was already bad for your recovery. On top of that, you drank so much. Are you trying to kill yourself?"

Pei Sheng looked at him, then back down at his hands resting on the white blanket. "About last night, I'm sorry for the trouble."

Qi Yan waved a hand. "We're brothers. Why be so formal with me?"

Even so, he stood up and walked from the left side of the bed around its foot, then over to the right side, keeping his eyes on Pei Sheng the whole time. "But you have to tell me clearly: what exactly happened to make you drink yourself into that state last night?"

Hearing that, Pei Sheng slowly clenched his hands, fine lines creasing his brow.

Qi Yan said, "You're always like this, keeping everything bottled up. Normally, I wouldn't bother getting involved, but with your health the way it is, if no one does anything and you go on brooding like this, you might end up with your body still not healed and your mind in trouble too."

Pei Sheng lowered his head and said hoarsely, "Stop..."

Qi Yan froze. Seeing him like this, he frowned too. "There really is something wrong?"

Pei Sheng shook his head. "Just let me have some time alone."

"Some time alone?"

Qi Yan raised his eyebrows. "So you can go drink yourself into a stupor again?"

Pei Sheng said, "I—"

"Is it..." Qi Yan ventured, "about Tingshen?"

Pei Sheng's words came to an abrupt halt.

Qi Yan could only sigh.

With a reaction like that, what was there left for him not to understand?

That made sense. Apart from what had happened to the Pei Family back then, only Tingshen could cause Pei Sheng so much pain.

So many years had passed since the Pei Family's troubles. Pei Sheng pretended to have moved on and had never shown his feelings so openly. Wasn't the answer obvious?

Qi Yan said, "What on earth happened? Your highness, stop keeping it to yourself. You know how curious I am. This is going to kill me!"

Pei Sheng fell silent for a long while again.

Turning and seeing Qi Yan, he took a long time to make up his mind. Then he picked up his phone from beside the bed, unlocked it, and handed it over.

Qi Yan took it. "What's this?"

Pei Sheng said, "Someone sent me this email yesterday at noon."

"An email?"

Not understanding, Qi Yan looked down at its contents. "A contract?"

Pei Sheng's tone remained calm. "Mm. It's a share transfer contract."

It wasn't hard to make out the contents of the contract without an explanation. Qi Yan had already seen the key information.

It was a transfer of Cehai shares.

The first party was named as Elder Yan.

After reading it, Qi Yan felt a moment's doubt as well.

The contract had been signed the month before the bankruptcy, when they seemed to have been trying to restructure.

At such a sensitive and critical moment, why had the Yan Family sold off all the Cehai shares they held?

Pei Sheng said, "My grandfather was stripped of control over Cehai not long after this contract was signed."

Qi Yan opened his mouth. "...Does Tingshen know about this?"

Pei Sheng clenched his fists. "I don't know."

Qi Yan looked at him. "You didn't ask?"

Pei Sheng said, "I didn't dare ask."

Qi Yan frowned again. "Even so, you can't decide he knew what was going on because of one contract. When the Pei Family ran into trouble, he hadn't taken over the company yet. There are a lot of things about the Yan Family he couldn't possibly know everything about, even if he's in charge now."

Pei Sheng said, "I've thought through everything you just said."

Qi Yan looked at him. "But you still don't believe it?"

Pei Sheng threw back the blanket, got out of bed, and walked slowly to the window. "Qi Yan, given our friendship, I want you to tell me the truth. Can you guarantee that Tingshen definitely knew nothing about this, one hundred percent?"