Marriage Between Him and Me Was Inevitable

Yu Yaochen took Gu Yuechen to a Western restaurant for dinner.

Gu Yuechen flipped through the menu. It was all in English, and he could not understand a word of it.

He figured that with prices this expensive, the food could not possibly be too bad. Wanting to fleece Yu Yaochen properly, he did not care whether he would like it or not and ordered the most expensive set meal.

Gu Yuechen set down the menu and pointed at something. "I want this."

The expression on Yu Yaochen's face shifted slightly. He frowned as he asked, "Are you sure?"

Gu Yuechen thought Yu Yaochen was merely pretending to be generous, and the corners of his lips curled up. He looked thoroughly entertained by the prospect of trouble.

"Yes, this one."

Yu Yaochen said nothing. He raised a hand to call over a waiter and told him what set meal they had chosen.

Gu Yuechen picked up the lemon water on the table and took a sip, then looked up at Yu Yaochen.

"Thank you for treating me to dinner today."

Yu Yaochen smiled faintly. "I've been bothering you on WeChat lately. I should have treated you to a meal long ago."

Gu Yuechen considered himself mentally tough enough. He had clearly been playing Yu Yaochen on purpose and had not helped at all.

Anyone else would have been too ashamed to show their face by now.

But he did not see it that way. He had never been obligated to tell Yu Yaochen about Pei Huanyi's whereabouts.

So, beneath Yu Yaochen's sincere and kind gaze, he smiled without the slightest guilt, as though he had truly done countless good deeds.

"It was just a small favor. It was nothing."

Yu Yaochen said nothing more and lowered his head to play on his phone.

Gu Yuechen did not find it awkward either. They were not particularly close, so it was perfectly normal not to chat.

But he had not really come for this meal. If Pei Huanyi had invited him to dinner, he would definitely have been delighted to come. Even if it were not Pei Huanyi treating him, that was fine too—he would have been willing to pull out his credit card and spend beyond his means.

But the person sitting across from him now was Yu Yaochen. To Gu Yuechen, it was no different from being forced to work overtime.

In order to make his time worthwhile, Gu Yuechen thought for a moment before probing, "Did you and Doctor Pei have a fight?"

Yu Yaochen paused, set down his phone, and lifted his eyes to look at Gu Yuechen.

"Why do you say that?"

"I can just tell. You seem a little cold toward Doctor Pei."

When he said this, there was a trace of jealousy in Gu Yuechen's eyes, subtle enough to be hard to notice.

The person he longed for day and night was being neglected so badly by Yu Yaochen. The more he thought about it, the more unfair it felt.

"A little, perhaps." Yu Yaochen leaned back. Seeming to recall something, he gave a soft laugh. "After studying abroad for several years, I found that he was no longer the person I knew."

Gu Yuechen narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

Yu Yaochen also picked up his lemon water and took a sip with his head lowered, seemingly unwilling to continue the topic.

Teasing people's curiosity again.

Under the table, Gu Yuechen's hand slowly clenched into a fist. He loathed this trait of Yu Yaochen's.

But he also understood that Yu Yaochen had no obligation to explain things to him in such detail.

Gu Yuechen was unwilling to let the conversation end there and could not help asking, "Then will you still get married?"

He was simply too anxious. He knew he should not pry into someone else's private affairs like this. Once he asked such a question, he probably would not get another chance to come out for dinner with Yu Yaochen.

But he had never planned to be friends with Yu Yaochen anyway. If he offended him, then so be it.

When Yu Yaochen heard Gu Yuechen ask that, surprise flashed through his eyes. But he did not suspect any ulterior motive. He merely assumed Gu Yuechen was gossiping about his boss's love life.

Though it could not really be called a love life. He and Pei Huanyi had always treated each other with utmost courtesy, far from anything resembling lovers.

"Marriage between him and me was inevitable. It was my mother's wish..." Yu Yaochen paused, a trace of sadness in his voice. "She was diagnosed with cancer years ago. I want her to be a little happier."

"So you don't like Doctor Pei?" Gu Yuechen caught the key point.

Yu Yaochen did not find the question offensive and answered good-naturedly, "My grandparents and my parents all entered arranged marriages right after graduating from university, so feelings are not important to us."

Perhaps Gu Yuechen's appearance was simply too deceptive. He looked obedient and soft, making Yu Yaochen unable to help saying so much.

Still, it was not exactly a secret. There were no feelings between him and Pei Huanyi, neither on his side nor Pei Huanyi's.

He wanted to put his mother with cancer at ease, while Pei Huanyi valued the Yu Household's influence.

Pei Group had been declining year after year. Without the Yu Household lending them a hand, they would likely soon face layoffs and factory cutbacks.

It would not reach the point of bankruptcy, but after decades of glory, how could they be willing to compromise like this?

"Besides, there won't be any children between him and me, so feelings are even less important."

As Gu Yuechen listened to Yu Yaochen, his entire body trembled faintly with rage.

Even now, he could not forget how Pei Huanyi had announced his engagement at the pet hospital some time ago, his face overflowing with happiness as though he had obtained the most precious jewel in the world.

Who would have thought that Yu Yaochen did not care at all, treating Pei Huanyi only as a tool in an arranged marriage meant to please his parents?

No wonder Yu Yaochen had acted so coldly at the staff dinner that day, barely acknowledging Pei Huanyi while constantly enjoying Pei Huanyi's care.

Just as expected of a young master who had been spoiled since childhood, naturally taking others' kindness for granted.

He had probably never suffered a setback in his life, which was why he was so arrogant and full of himself.

Gu Yuechen did not ask any further. He already understood what Yu Yaochen was thinking, and he also understood that no matter what he did, he could not stop them from getting married.

Yu Yaochen was the Yu Household's only son. From the moment he was born, he had possessed wealth and power. Even if Gu Yuechen truly discovered that Yu Yaochen was casually toying with Pei Huanyi's feelings, there was nothing he could do to him.

The waiter finally brought out the food. When Gu Yuechen saw the bloody meat placed before him, he was completely dumbfounded.

This was what rich people ate?

Before he could say anything, the waiter set down another dish: roasted snails.

Gu Yuechen had never eaten any of these things. They only made him feel even more sickened.

Combined with what Yu Yaochen had just said, Gu Yuechen now only wanted to rush into the restroom and vomit out the things churning in his stomach.

Seeing how awful Gu Yuechen looked, Yu Yaochen realized that he might have misunderstood what was on the menu, so he asked the waiter to bring the menu over again.

"Sorry, I forgot to explain this dish clearly. I'll have them take these dishes away, and you can order something else."

Gu Yuechen did not reach out to take the menu. His eyes were fixed tightly on Yu Yaochen, and he nearly let his disgust show on his face.

What was he pretending for?

He had clearly realized that Gu Yuechen had ordered the wrong dishes, yet he had refused to explain. He had probably wanted to watch him make a fool of himself.

Maybe this was the sick amusement of rich people. He had seemingly kindly offered to treat him to dinner, only to deliberately bring him to a restaurant where the menus were all in English.

He was polite enough on the surface, but perhaps he had been laughing at him for being a country bumpkin all along.

When Yu Yaochen saw that Gu Yuechen would not take the menu, he thought it might be because Gu Yuechen could not read English.

He had never expected Gu Yuechen not to understand English. Everyone who worked at this pet hospital had basically attended university.

When he had previously suggested that Pei Huanyi raise Gu Yuechen's salary, he had specifically looked at Gu Yuechen's résumé. It clearly stated that he had passed the College English Test Band 6.

Thus, for the first time, he revealed an awkward smile and flipped through the menu himself. "Would you like to try the white truffle pasta? It's quite good. If you really can't wait, you can have mine. I haven't touched it yet."

Gu Yuechen suddenly stood up and said to Yu Yaochen, "I'm not feeling well. I want to go back first."

It was Yu Yaochen's first time encountering such a situation. He froze for a second, and by the time he came back to himself, Gu Yuechen had already pulled out his chair and left.

He hurriedly called over the waiter, took out a card from his wallet to pay the bill, then chased after him.

Once outside the restaurant, Gu Yuechen discovered that it had begun to drizzle.

Just his luck. Getting home was going to be a problem now.

Gu Yuechen truly could not bear to spend money on a taxi. This was downtown, and it was quite a distance from where he lived. He simply could not afford the fare.

He took out his phone to check for nearby bus stops. Fortunately, there was a direct route, though the stop was rather far away—more than a kilometer from here.

Gu Yuechen put away his phone and looked up at the sky, thinking that getting a little wet should be fine.

Just as he was about to start running forward, someone suddenly grabbed his arm.

"It's raining outside. Where are you going?"

Gu Yuechen was almost unable to suppress his anger. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Of course I'm going home. It's not like I can stay out just because it's raining."

Yu Yaochen was not stupid. He could sense that Gu Yuechen was upset.

Was it because of the meal just now?

He really had not handled it well. Without even asking what the other person liked, he had presumptuously brought him here for dinner.

Yu Yaochen pressed his lips together and said, "It's hard to get a taxi in the rain. Let me take you home."