Page 4

Pei Yan glanced at Cheng Yu, who stood ramrod-straight in the corner, expressionless despite one side of his face being red and swollen. Cheng Yu's skin was exceptionally fair—the kind of cool, pale complexion that even girls would envy. It was also terribly delicate; the slightest force could leave marks on it. Chen Lingyun's slap had landed with all her strength, and half of Cheng Yu's face had swollen up like a bun, bright red and rather shocking to look at.

Pei Yan looked at Cheng Yu's hand again. The kid's face remained utterly expressionless and unruffled, but his left hand at his side was clenched tightly around his phone. His long, well-defined fingers were taut, and even his originally pink nails had turned faintly white. He was clearly furious.

Pei Yan felt a little regretful and quickly explained for Cheng Yu. "Auntie, I'm fine. We were just messing around, and I slipped into the reservoir. Cheng Yu was the one who pulled me out. He's my lifesaver. Please don't blame him."

Chen Lingyun relaxed inwardly, but she still shot Cheng Yu a stern glare. "Stop making excuses for him. If he hadn't been so careless while fooling around, how could he have pushed you into the water?"

Pei Yan said with a grin, "Cheng Yu didn't do it on purpose. He was scared too. If he'd known I would fall in, he definitely wouldn't have done that. Auntie, don't scold him anymore. If you really scare him, he might stop playing with me in the future."

With Chen Lingyun and Pei Yan taking turns speaking, they tacitly framed the fight as children fooling around without knowing their own strength. At the very least, when Pei Zhennan came to demand an explanation later, Pei Yan would surely speak up for Cheng Yu.

Thinking of that, Chen Lingyun glared at Cheng Yu again. "You caused this whole mess. Why aren't you apologizing to Pei Yan?"

Cheng Yu rolled his eyes beneath his swollen cheek. His mind was still foggy. Being able to save Pei Yan on instinct and call his grandparents had already been his limit. Asking him to lower his head and apologize on his own initiative? Not in this lifetime!

Seeing that deadpan look on Cheng Yu's face, Chen Lingyun's anger flared again. "I said, you—"

Before she could finish, an anxious cry of "Yanyan!" interrupted her.

Everyone only felt a gust of wind sweep past them before a dark figure had already pounced in front of Pei Yan, nervously and concernedly feeling him over. "How are you? Are you hurt? Why did you suddenly fall into the water? Doctor, doctor, how is my son?"

"Mom, I'm fine." Pei Yan reached out and took Zhou Xiyuan's hands, patiently soothing her. "Nothing happened. It was just a scare."

How could Zhou Xiyuan possibly listen to Pei Yan? She turned and stared fixedly at the doctor. The doctor said, "The patient hit his head on a rock underwater and has a mild concussion—"

Before he could finish, Zhou Xiyuan cut him off in alarm. "He hit his head too? Is it serious? Will there be any lasting effects?"

"Mom, I'm really fine. The doctor said I just need to stay in the hospital for two days for observation." Pei Yan interrupted Zhou Xiyuan, then pointed at Cheng Yu. "Come to think of it, I should be thanking Cheng Yu. He carried me up from the bottom of the water. Let me tell you, Cheng Yu is amazing at diving. So many lifeguards couldn't find me, but he was the first one to do so. He even gave me CPR and mouth-to-mouth. His technique was really professional."

Hearing Pei Yan's words, Pei Zhennan, who had remained silent all this time, turned toward Chen Lingyun and Cheng Kaiyun with a smile. "We really must thank him properly for this."

Chen Lingyun forced a smile. "It was only what he should have done. If the two children hadn't been fooling around without any sense of restraint, Pei Yan wouldn't have fallen into the water."

Pei Yan quickly added, "It was slippery near the fishpond to begin with. I didn't plant my foot properly, so I fell in. We still have to thank Cheng Yu for getting me out in time. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unthinkable. You don't know—when I fell into the water, I hit the back of my head on a rock and passed out."

Zhou Xiyuan was terrified just listening to him. She quickly clutched her chest, instinctively slipping into dialect. "Oh my goodness, that scared me half to death."

Zhou Xiyuan gripped her son's hand tightly. "Don't fool around like that again in the future. If something really happened to you, how would your mother go on living?"

Pei Zhennan smiled. "They're boys. It's normal for them to like roughhousing. But Cheng Yu was willing to jump into the water to save someone in such a dangerous situation, and he even got him out before the lifeguards could. That really makes one see him in a new light."

Noticing Pei Zhennan's scrutiny, Cheng Yu, who had been silent all along, replied flatly, "It was only right."

"This child!" Before Pei Zhennan could react, Chen Lingyun scolded him again. "How can you speak to Uncle Pei like that? You have no manners at all. Is this how I usually taught you?"

Cheng Yu shifted his gaze away, too lazy to spare him even half a glance. Even in this overly realistic dream, Cheng Yu had changed the facts and saved Pei Yan. But in the real world, Pei Zhennan had indeed become enemies with the Cheng Family because of Pei Yan's death, and the cooperation between the two families had completely fallen apart. During Cheng Kaiyun and his wife's plane crash, Pei Zhennan had also spread the news far and wide, stirring up panic among shareholders and causing C&C Jewelry's stock price to plummet. He had even tried to maliciously acquire C&C Jewelry. After Cheng Yu returned to the country, Pei Zhennan had repeatedly struck at him, trying to kill Cheng Yu to avenge his son.

Unfortunately, Cheng Yu had ultimately been one step ahead. He bribed Pei Zhennan's confidant to collect a great deal of Pei Mining's core secrets, then joined forces with Pei Zhennan's enemies to acquire Pei Mining in reverse. In the end, he drove Pei Zhennan into bankruptcy and forced him to jump from a building. So toward a defeated opponent who had already torn all pretense apart with him, Cheng Yu truly could not be bothered to spare even half a glance.

Right now, he only wanted to hurry home and see his grandparents. It had been a long time since he had dreamed of them.

Chen Lingyun looked awkwardly at Pei Zhennan. Her own son had caused such a huge disaster, yet his attitude was still so arrogant. She was truly worried that Pei Zhennan would be displeased. Fortunately, the Pei Family was used to Cheng Yu's temperament and did not say anything on the surface.

Only Pei Yan kept jumping in to explain for Cheng Yu, praising him again and again. It made Zhou Xiyuan so angry that she lightly pinched the inside of Pei Yan's thigh. She had never seen anyone in their family so hopeless. The other boy clearly did not like him, yet he kept shamelessly trying to cozy up to him. Before, it had been fine—at most, he got punched a few times or kicked a few times. This time, he had nearly lost his life. And he still had the nerve to speak up for him!