Pei Song'an looked at Li Shu, who had his guard down in front of him, and very naturally took his hand in front of Chen Yannan and Tan Xu. His fingers gently stroked the skin on the back of Li Shu's hand, his fingertips pressing against the raised veins and making Li Shu's heart flutter.
Li Shu had actually wanted to pull his hand away immediately.
After all, the overwhelmingly parental gesture made Li Shu feel like a child who had gotten into trouble and ended up at the police station.
But if he did that, Pei Song'an would definitely be furious, especially after the man had just shamelessly delivered that whole convincing spiel. Li Shu really didn't know what to do.
Unbelievable. This guy really knew how to find people's soft spots and use them.
It felt like he'd been born to be Li Shu's dad...
Li Shu was spacing out and didn't notice Chen Yannan reaching for his arm to pull him back.
Pei Song'an unobtrusively interrupted Chen Yannan's movement. Li Shu's soft, fluffy hair brushed his lips, stirring up a small, localized storm of fragrance.
"Yannan, didn't Uncle Chen teach you that if you want someone's forgiveness, you should arrange a time with them beforehand, make sure they're willing, and then formally apologize for what you did wrong? Not scramble to snatch them away from me like this."
With that, Pei Song'an looked at Tan Xu again. His gaze moved from Tan Xu's face to the blanket on the chair back, then finally returned to Tan Xu:
"We won't interrupt your internship, Classmate Tan. Li Shu and I will be leaving."
Tan Xu met Pei Song'an's gaze openly, his tone normal. "Take care."
When the door opened again, Cheng Zhen, who was holding the dog, stared wide-eyed at Pei Song'an casually holding Li Shu's hand. He hurriedly signaled to the little straight guy:
What was going on? Weren't there two other guys in there? And now you were just holding hands like that?
So those two were just props there to witness the beginning of your love story?
Huh???
Too embarrassed to respond, Li Shu turned his head without a word.
Don't ask. Just throw your brain away and keep walking.
Cheng Zhen tactfully sat in the back seat with Zhaocai, leaving the Crown Prince's gold-trimmed passenger seat to Li "couldn't tell whether he was straight or gay" Shu.
Only because Pei Song'an needed to drive did Li Shu finally manage to extract his hand from that toasty palm. His skin was flushed pink beneath its fairness, like a piece of precious, flawless jade, radiating warmth.
As the car started, Li Shu belatedly realized that Pei Song'an had addressed Tan Xu by his surname earlier. He turned his head and asked outright:
"How do you know Senior Tan?"
Pei Song'an was very pleased with Li Shu's perceptive checking up on him. "I know your social circle. I know everyone around you."
Hearing that from the back seat, Cheng Zhen couldn't help widening his eyes, frightened into sitting bolt upright.
Li Shu didn't feel much about it. "Oh. Impressive, I'll give you that."
"With your school classes and English tutoring, you still have the energy to learn rock climbing." Pei Song'an kept his eyes ahead, his steady words landing in Li Shu's heart one by one and making his chest itch. "You really can't sit still for a moment."
Thinking Pei Song'an was praising him, Li Shu said smugly, "What do you know? That's called youthful spirit!"
Cheng Zhen swallowed nervously. Honestly, Li Shu had never mentioned that his conversations with the Crown Prince were this disrespectful.
They were practically... rated R!
"Oh, right!" Li Shu clenched the hand the man had warmed in his grasp and declared righteously, "I really need to have a word with you. Don't hold my hand in front of people again. Fine, hold it if you want, but why did you have to make it so dirty?"
The corners of Pei Song'an's mouth lifted slightly. "Did I? What was dirty about it? Tell me, and I'll change."
Li Shu was getting carried away too. He'd wanted to say this for ages. "Who feels someone's pulse and veins while holding hands? And the main thing is, your fingers wouldn't behave either. Why did they keep working their way between mine? Huh? Don't think I don't know what you're thinking. Men are all scum!"
Pei Song'an said, "What was I thinking?"
Li Shu said, "You want to-"
"Cough, cough, cough, cough..." Cheng Zhen coughed loudly, attempting to retrieve this person's missing brain.
Ha ha, please stop talking. If you want to have this conversation, could you get out of the car? This bottom with twenty-five years of zero experience was still in here.
Li Shu's attention was drawn back. He turned to look at Cheng Zhen, his expression turning a little odd, before his gaze moved to Zhaocai, whose butt was facing him. "Did you choke on dog hair?"
Cheng Zhen said, "..."
No, he had reasonable grounds to suspect Zhaocai had peed into Li Shu's brain.
The light turned green. A sharply defined hand gripped the steering wheel, and the car, which had been going straight, turned right at the next intersection.
"Have you had lunch?"
Li Shu immediately forgot about Cheng Zhen and turned to answer, "Not yet. I ran the whole way and filled my stomach with wind."
"Mm." Pei Song'an followed Li Shu out of the corner of his eye. "We won't head back yet. I'll take you both to eat."
Li Shu rubbed his empty stomach. He'd already been painfully hungry when Tan Xu gave him tea, but his sense of embarrassment had kept him from asking whether their cafeteria still had food. He hadn't expected Pei Song'an to think of even this. Sob, sob, sob.
Fine, let him hold his hand. A little touching wouldn't take a chunk out of him.
"Pei Song'an, you're so good to me. My eyes are about to pee. Who else would treat me like a kid if I left you?"
Cheng Zhen hurriedly covered Zhaocai's ears.
It wasn't a holiday, and the lunch rush had already passed, so plenty of restaurants had no queues. Pei Song'an chose one that served food quickly and allowed pets. From scanning the code to order online and paying to having the food served, the whole process took less than fifteen minutes.
"Served this fast? This has to be premade food." Li Shu picked up a huge chopstickful of mouthwatering chicken and chewed away. "But it tastes amazing!"
Pei Song'an poured two cups of flower tea for Li Shu and Cheng Zhen, then added some mineral water for Zhaocai.
"There are plenty of different kinds of premade food. This restaurant is very clean, and its ingredients come from traceable sources. Eating here occasionally is fine. Slow down."
Li Shu stuffed rice into his mouth, his words muffled. "I didn't dare ask at the police station earlier, but after you caught those people, did you find out who was behind it, trying to go after you and your brother?"
Pei Song'an glanced at Cheng Zhen, his voice mild. "People on my dad's side."
"Your dad?" Li Shu was extremely surprised, his mind instantly conjuring up a whole epic drama series. "Aren't you and Shen Muwen both his biological sons? Does he not want any descendants?"
Cheng Zhen was so frightened that he hurriedly kicked him.
Pei Song'an didn't mind any of that. "We still can't be sure it was my dad's idea. Plenty of people are eyeing the Pei family like a piece of meat. A lot of them behave themselves on the surface but could be completely different behind the scenes. Other than you, I haven't met anyone who's the same inside and out."
Embarrassed by the praise, Li Shu scratched his head and hurriedly changed the subject. "Anyway, you're safe for now."
"Not quite."
Pei Song'an lifted a hand to support Li Shu's wrist, keeping his cuff from brushing against the grease. "Their original plan was to act tomorrow, but I don't know whether there are others who haven't been caught. The risk hasn't been completely eliminated."
"Do you have to go tomorrow?"
"I have to."
"Then what do we do?"
Li Shu had no idea, but he felt it was a little unrealistic to expect himself to understand everything when he was barely twenty.
"Could you come with me?" Pei Song'an looked into Li Shu's eyes and stated his ultimate aim. "Come protect me."
Before you continue