Watching the people on the dance floor stare at one another after the music abruptly stopped, Li Shu was so embarrassed he could have clawed out a three-bedroom apartment with his toes.
"Pei Song'an, are you showing off? Making such a big production of catching a creep makes me look pretty important."
Pei Song'an accepted Li Shu's clumsy change of subject. "It's more efficient this way."
"Aren't you worried they'll say you're throwing your weight around here because you're the crown prince?"
The man turned to look at him, his expression unchanged. "People criticize those whose character doesn't match their position. Within the bounds of what the public finds acceptable, even a high-profile display will earn approval, and even praise, if its underlying logic aligns with positive values."
Li Shu: "..."
Oh no. He'd let him pull off a massive flex.
This felt even worse than PXX telling him he was only 000.1 yuan away from cashing out thirty yuan.
The system coughed twice, interrupting Li Shu's imaginings.
[Shu, look after yourself before you start roasting other people!]
Quite a few people had been watching Li Shu tonight. With the music covering their voices, it hadn't been obvious, but now, without the music and lights, everyone's gazes felt particularly scorching.
The young men and women in particular-many of them felt threatened.
"Isn't that Li Shu? Chen Yannan's little shadow, following him everywhere. Why is he suddenly with the crown prince?"
"What, he couldn't climb his way into the Chen Family, so he thinks the Pei family will be easier?"
"The crown prince actually hasn't pushed him away. What's their relationship?"
"I thought Li Shu would wait for Chen Yannan's excitement over his new flame to die down and then shamelessly cling to him again. He's changed tactics."
"Keep it down. Who among the regulars here doesn't know how much Chen Yannan indulges Li Shu?"
"Then why didn't Li Shu ask Chen Yannan to catch the creep? He's made our Young Master Pei look like an interloper. Is he trying to use the Pei family and the Chen Family to show how important he is?"
Folks, this was just great. He'd actually run into the classic lines from novels aimed at women.
A little frightened, Li Shu complained to the system, "How am I supposed to explain that We are merely a fragile emperor, without all those schemes?"
[You can't explain it. Our recommendation is to simply ignore them.]
[Sure, getting close to the male lead means getting close to trouble, but staying away from him means staying away from a hundred-million-yuan jackpot, Shu!!!]
Sigh.
Couldn't argue with that.
Within two minutes, Chen Yannan and Xue Chen had also come over from the second floor.
"What happened? Is something wrong?" Chen Yannan's gaze passed over Pei Song'an and landed on the glimpse of fair, delicate skin beneath the collar of Li Shu's black down jacket.
Pei Song'an stared at the little NPC beside him and gave an unreadable twitch of his lips. His pitch-black eyes fixed on Chen Yannan, a churning darkness flashing through them.
Not far away, two security guards were bringing a man over. Pei Song'an raised his chin slightly and said slowly:
"That piece of trash touched your little brother's waist."
At those words, Chen Yannan's expression visibly darkened. He walked up to the man being held captive. Long black bangs covered the pervert's eyes. Chen Yannan spoke very softly.
"Which hand?"
The pervert was still stubbornly denying it, struggling nonstop. "It wasn't me! Is your little brother some celestial beauty I just had to touch? Let me go! You can't just grab people without evidence!"
Chen Yannan grabbed the pervert's hair and forcibly yanked his head back, his voice growing colder. "Don't you understand human speech?"
"L-left hand."
The moment he finished speaking, the two guards beside the pervert decisively kicked the backs of his knees. As he dropped to his knees, they forcibly shoved his left hand beside Chen Yannan's foot.
A shoe sole came down on the back of the pervert's hand, then ground down hard.
Watching Chen Yannan lose his composure slightly, Xue Chen's heart suddenly sank.
The man's agonized howl frightened Li Shu into pressing a little closer into Pei Song'an's arms.
"Were you hurt anywhere else?"
Li Shu waved his hands, wanting to put an end to this farce quickly. "No, no. He just squeezed me once. He didn't do anything else."
Once he confirmed that Li Shu really was fine, Chen Yannan breathed a sigh of relief. Only then did he look at Pei Song'an. "Thanks for this."
"I'm the one who should thank you."
The handsome, refined man slowly curved his lips. "Li Shu was just blaming me for making such a fuss. Now it'll be easier for me to explain."
Chen Yannan paused. Ripples soon stirred in his eyes, but when he met Li Shu's uncomprehending puppy-dog eyes, his tightly pressed lips relaxed again.
"As long as Li Shu is all right."
"I think it would be better to keep Li Shu away from places like this in the future." Pei Song'an didn't stop there. He was testing the boundaries. "It's only natural that Yannan often can't spare the attention when he's lingering in a beauty's arms."
The atmosphere suddenly grew a little strange.
Li Shu was confused. He looked left, then right, unable to resist complaining to the system:
"Why do I suddenly have no idea what's going on?"
"This feels like looking down during math class when it's still one plus one equals two, then looking back up to find it's become: I gave Xiaoming ten yuan to buy rice, so how many white hairs does Xiaoming's grandma have?"
[As a member of the Pei family, Pei Song'an's every word and action draws attention. Standing up for you wasn't entirely risk-free like he said, especially since he also has to deal with the people who've taken this opportunity to set their sights on you.]
[But now, by becoming a party to the conflict, Chen Yannan has neatly resolved that incongruity. After all, the original owner was already close to Chen Yannan, so this is good for you, him, and everyone.]
Li Shu thought for a very, very long time, then suddenly understood:
"So this guy was reassuring me that it was fine, but he was actually taking a risk to catch the creep for me!?"
"Boo-hoo, I'm so touched..."
"A true bro stays in your heart!"
The system: [...]
You're the one-where exactly did things start going wrong?
"Thanks." Li Shu tugged Pei Song'an's sleeve and laughed it off. "I'll definitely treat you to a meal sometime."
Pei Song'an said, "No time like the present. Let's make it today."
Li Shu: "?"
Zhu Sichun, who had said they would party all night: "?"
Hey, hey.
This time, Chen Yannan didn't back down. "Song'an, let's leave it for another time. It's not safe at night. The car I sent to pick up little Shu is here."
Pei Song'an ignored Chen Yannan and instead stared at Li Shu with a faint, ambiguous smile. "Oh, you're taking your big brother Yannan's car?"
For some reason, Li Shu suddenly felt a chill at the back of his head, along with an inexplicable, alarming sense of danger.
He thought for a moment, turned to Pei Song'an, and asked cautiously, "Are you hungry?"
The man suddenly leaned closer, his hot breath almost brushing the tip of Li Shu's nose.
Li Shu's heartbeat suddenly quickened, his lashes trembling slightly.
Pei Song'an calmly drew back a little, his deep voice carrying an intoxicating rasp. "You've still got chip crumbs at the corner of your mouth. Who's the hungry one here?"
"Your big brother Yannan might be able to watch you go hungry, but I can't."
Li Shu: "."
Hey, hey, hey. You're overdoing it, bro.
Why were they suddenly at each other's throats?
"No need for the ride." Pei Song'an gave Chen Yannan a polite smile and urged Li Shu to zip up his jacket. "I'll take him back to his dorm after we eat."
Seeing that Chen Yannan intended to step forward, Xue Chen suddenly caught his cuff and called softly, "Yannan."
Li Shu saw all of it. Setting aside the uncontrollable ache in his heart, he firmly declined:
"This isn't the first time Pei Song'an has taken me back. Don't worry, Yannan."
"And thanks for tonight, too!"
Who knew which word had struck Chen Yannan where it hurt.
The man's suddenly clenched hand took a while to settle before slowly loosening again. His pathetic sense of morality was acting up once more, leaving him no choice but to look Pei Song'an openly in the eyes and agree.
"All right."
"Have fun, little Shu."
Before you continue