The first signs of possessiveness

Li Shu did not think there was anything misleading about what he had said.

Since Chen Yannan had known how the original owner felt all along without bringing it up, it simply meant he did not like the original owner, and rejecting him outright would hurt his feelings. Chen Yannan could not do that to Li Shu.

In that case, Li Shu would take the initiative to clear things up rather than add to Chen Yannan's worries, lest they end up losing even the bond they had shared since childhood.

Xue Chen found this the hardest to believe. After all, before he pushed Li Shu into the water that night, Li Shu had said he would drug Chen Yannan and force him to sleep with him.

But there was one thing Li Shu had said quite frankly.

He wanted to hold on to Chen Yannan, but what mattered most was that Chen Yannan had eyes for him.

"Yannan, I want a strawberry slushie from upstairs. Shall we go together?"

Chen Yannan stood up and gently patted Li Shu on the head. His expression returned to normal as he asked Li Shu, "They also have the cantaloupe flavor you like. Want to come along?"

Li Shu shook his head like a rattle. "You two go ahead. I'll sit here a bit and then leave. I went out with Cheng Zhen during the day, and I'm so sleepy now."

Chen Yannan's slightly heated gaze was hidden amid the chaotic lights. Li Shu was not paying attention to Chen Yannan, so naturally he did not notice the unease in the man's expression. But that change was concealed before it could last even a second.

"All right. I'll have someone wait at the entrance."

Chi Yelai had gone out to take a call, while the others, emboldened by alcohol, had already wandered onto the dance floor and lost themselves in it.

Li Shu had not eaten, and the cafeteria would already be closed if he went back at this hour. He could only grab the potato chips and Bugles on the table and stuff them into his mouth, taking a sip of the sweet drink whenever he got thirsty.

It was the grape juice Chen Yannan had ordered for him before leaving.

By the time he had eaten down to the bottom of the plate, the deafening music had Li Shu's brain rattling inside his skull.

Sure enough, a wild boar could not appreciate fine bran. As a descendant of the dragon, he was still better suited to getting up at six in the morning to feed the dogs.

Neither Chen Yannan nor Chi Yelai had returned when Li Shu left, so he could only send a message on his phone before heading outside against the flow of people.

Despite it being winter, it was still very warm indoors. Beneath his down jacket, Li Shu wore a thin cashmere sweater with two buttons undone at the neckline, his delicate skin stained with decadent colors.

His collarbones threatened to emerge from beneath his collar, and his arms below his rolled-up sleeves were long and well proportioned.

People brushed past him, forcing his cashmere sweater up to reveal a slender, lean waist.

Li Shu was sweating a little from being jostled when he suddenly felt someone pinch his waist.

"Fuck!"

"What the hell?"

At first, he thought he had imagined it.

But after he forced himself to take another two steps forward, the sensation at his waist disappeared, only to be replaced by an increasingly obvious feeling of someone touching his back. Even through a layer of cashmere, Li Shu's scalp still prickled.

He turned to look, but there were far too many people behind him to tell who was who.

The more he thought about it, the more disgusted he felt.

Li Shu clutched the down jacket in his arms tightly, cursing the shameless scumbag eight hundred times in his head. If that person dared follow him outside, he would definitely punch him in the face twice.

Just as he was thinking that, he suddenly spotted a familiar figure among the people coming through the entrance.

Pei Song'an walked in with several men around his height. His short black down jacket reached just to his waist, and through its open front, a silver chain could be seen swaying around his neck. His casual outfit was very different from what he had worn at their last meeting.

Perhaps it was because Pei Song'an was the one he had interacted with most since transmigrating here, but the sight of that handsome, sharply defined face suddenly settled most of his jumbled thoughts.

Without thinking, Li Shu went straight over and threw himself into the man's arms.

"Ahhh, Pei Song'an, I ran into a creep! Someone groped me!"

Pei Song'an had only just come in when someone flung himself into his arms. Once he saw who it was, he naturally wrapped his arms around Li Shu. His eyes swept over the crowd behind Li Shu as he gently patted his shoulder, the gesture deeply reassuring:

"Where did he touch you?"

"He pinched my waist and touched my back. If this keeps up, I'm seriously going to start hating men. It's so disgusting."

He had thought he would have to fight alone, but suddenly running into someone who could back him up made Li Shu stand taller.

Never mind anything else-even if Pei Song'an said the sun came out at night, he would agree!

He had originally thought he should let it go, since less trouble was better than more. But then again, why should he have to put up with being groped? Judging by the area that palm had covered, the pervert was obviously a man.

If he let him off this time, someone else would suffer next time.

A guy getting touched might only feel disgusted, but what if it was a girl? What if that person followed her afterward???

No! Die, you bastard!

Zhu Sichun, who had come in behind Pei Song'an, was so startled by Li Shu's leap that he could not help taking a step back. Once he got a clear look at what the two were doing, his gaze on Pei Song'an grew more appraising.

Not just anyone could casually hug this Young Master Pei. It seemed these two shared more than a single encounter at the birthday banquet.

But now was not the time for gossip. Zhu Sichun stepped forward. "What's the plan?"

Pei Song'an took the down jacket from Li Shu's hands. "Have the DJ stop the music. Nobody leaves. Pull up the surveillance footage."

The atmosphere inside the bar grew somewhat tense after the music abruptly stopped. Yet without that disorienting layer of sound, Li Shu belatedly realized that he and Pei Song'an were standing a little too close.

Li Shu broke into an awkward sweat, his whole body stiffening. "Ah... um..."

When he raised his head, his gaze met the man's sharp, dark eyes and straight, austere nose. The thought of those hands, with their prominent veins, resting on his shoulders sent a jolt through Li Shu.

What had he done to deserve having those hands, which directed great affairs, pat his shoulders?

Feeling the person in his arms squirming uncomfortably, Pei Song'an gave an unreadable smile:

"Done using me, so you're throwing me away?"

Then the man keenly raised his head, meeting the gaze of someone upstairs. "Here to see Chen Yannan?"

His desire for control was at work. Ever since childhood, Pei Song'an had had a particular flaw: he emphasized ownership, the exclusivity of possessing something alone.

It was a kind of psychological fastidiousness.

Once he had settled on a person or thing, he had a strong desire to fight for it against others. Unless forces beyond his control intervened, he would never willingly give it up.

As it happened, Li Shu's various actions had brought him right to the edge of that red line of possessiveness. One more step, and he would fall into the hunter's trap.

Feeling the cool breeze behind him, Pei Song'an put the jacket in his hands on Li Shu, his mouth not resting either:

"What? Did your little radar sense that he was facing a bloody disaster too?"

"Not talking?"

"Hmm?"

Li Shu: "...?"

???

Ha ha, it wasn't that I didn't want to talk. I genuinely had nothing.