Pei Zichen lost his appetite even when his favorite dish was in front of him.
“Come, have more of it.” Pei Xiuyuan gave Lu Man more food.
Pei Zichen was stunned again. When did his father treat someone so gently and nicely? He had even given her some food!
He had never done something like that to his younger sister!
Pei Zichen became saddened by what he had learned during the meal.
Eventually, he felt nothing anymore when he saw the intimate gestures between his father and his wife.
All he felt was only coldness. He felt that he was going to be abandoned by his father soon.
Pei Xiuyuan wanted to send Pei Zichen back after the meal.
“Dad, I have not seen you for over a month now. My heart is almost broken. I don’t want to go back there. Is it okay?” Pei Zichen pleaded with him.
His father had told him once that he should never be defeated no matter how bad a situation became.
He should never retreat no matter how powerful his enemy was.
His heart was almost broken now.
Pei Xiuyuan found that it was ridiculous. He felt that his son was overreacting. “Go back now. I’ll go to the old manor tomorrow.”
He knew that Lu Man was still angry at him although she neither said anything nor showed any emotion on her face.
So, his son must be sent back to the old manor now!
“No. I don’t want to, Dad.” Pei Zichen hugged his thigh and begged him desperately.
“Pei Zichen.”
Pei Xiuyuan was obviously very angry at his son when he started addressing his son with his full name.
Pei Zichen froze. He neither wanted to infuriate his father nor leave.
“The time is late now. Let him stay then!” Lu Man adored Pei Zichen. Although he still hated her, she liked him anyway. She did not know why.
“Quickly thank your mother.” Pei Xiuyuan wanted to help eliminate the misunderstanding between them.
Pei Zichen looked at Lu Man. He could not figure out why. She seemed not so stupid to him. Did she not realize that he wanted to stay because he wanted to have his father all to himself? He wanted all of his attention and love. Why did she allow him to stay?
Pei Zichen had never visited their home. He saw that Lu Man had been living with his father for quite some time now in a new and unfamiliar place where he had never been to. He was saddened by that fact.
His father had really forgotten all about him when he had married a wife.
He went to the washroom and called Wang Yunxi.
“Xiao Chen, where are you now? Did you really go and look for your dad?”
“I’m with my dad now.”
“Did you meet that woman?”
“Yes.”
“How is it going? I’m not lying to you, am I? Your father adores that woman so much that he has forgotten all of his other family members, hasn’t he!”
“Yes. He even ate green peppers that he hated the most…” Pei Zichen was desperate.
“Is it? Oh my goodness!” Wang Yunxi could not accept that. The entire household of the Pei family knew how much Pei Xiuyuan hated green peppers.
“But, I feel that she’s not as narrow-minded and wicked as how you pictured her to be! My dad wanted to send me back today. I didn’t want to and he was angry with me. She was the one who allowed me to stay.” Although Pei Zichen still treated Lu Man as his enemy, he could not bring herself to hate her now.
“You idiot! You think that she’s good just because she allows you to stay!”
“Aunt!” Pei Zichen was annoyed. He was not an idiot!
“I’m sorry. I was too nervous! She allowed you to stay because she wanted to be kind to you in front of your father. How long has she been married to your father? Surely she needs to pretend to be nice and gentle in front of him. Wait until their relationship has turned bland. Wait until she has his kid! I’m telling you now. We won’t have any place in the Pei family anymore. We’ll have to go and be beggars for sure if we want to survive!”
“No, that will never happen. My dad promised me that I’ll have meat everyday.”
Wang Yunxi wanted to vomit blood. Kids would always act like kids. “I’m just giving you an example! Do you know how pitiful I am? I only have two thousand dollars as my pocket money every month. Only two thousand dollars! Do you think that’s enough? Don’t you think that I’m much more pitiful than the beggars outside?”
“Only two thousand dollars?” Pei Zichen was shocked.
“Yes. He prohibits me from buying any new clothes. He even froze my credit cards! What if she is responsible for your pocket money one day? She might give you only a thousand dollars a month because she thinks that you’re young! Then, you cannot even buy the small screw for your favourite robot!”
“I don’t want that! I really don’t want that!” Pei Zichen liked to collect the robots. All of his robots were limited editions. It was true that he could not even buy a small screw with just a thousand dollars.
“Then, do you still think that she is good? Is she a bad woman?”
“Yes, she’s bad indeed!”
“That’s for sure. I’m telling you, we need to cooperate and use all kinds of means to ruin their relationship.”
“Sure!” Pei Zichen nodded his head with a strong perseverance.
The average salary of the people from Haicheng was only three thousand dollars. To Lu Man, it was not a small amount to give two thousand dollars to Wang Yunxi on a monthly basis. But, it was just like two dollars to Wang Yunxi and Pei Zichen!
They spent quite a large amount of money in buying things.
Lu Man was slightly worried when she realized that Pei Zichen had gone to the washroom for quite a long time. She wanted to knock on the door and ask if he was alright.
But, Pei Zichen came out of the washroom right then. Lu Man’s presence scared the hell out of him. Moreover, he was discussing with his aunt on how to bully Lu Man just now. Now, she had appeared in front of him all of a sudden. He became guilty and his face was flushed. “Why are you standing here?”
“I was worried about you. You were in the washroom for quite a long time.”
“What do you have to worry about? Are you afraid that I’d fall into the toilet bowl?”
Lu Man laughed and ignored his cough.
“How long have you been standing here?” Did she overhear the conversation between his aunt and him?
“I got here just now.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
Pei Zichen snorted.
“Xiao Chen, why is your face so flushed?” He looked up and she saw how red his face seemed.
He was blushing because of his guilt. Surely, Pei Zichen would never admit to that.
He appeared arrogant in front of her. “It’s none of your business!”
“Are you having a fever?” Lu Man quickly stretched out her hand and touched his forehead.
Pei Zichen pushed her hand away. “Don’t touch me!”
Disdain was written all over his face. Lu Man was hurt by his action. She retracted her hand. “I’m sorry.”
Pei Zichen never thought that she would apologize to him for his rude behavior. He was stunned.
She did not seem like a bad person to him.
But…
His aunt would never lie to him.
Pei Zichen was close to Wang Yunxi. Pei Xiuyuan rarely accompanied him. On the other hand, Wang Yunxi was always free to do whatever she wanted. So, she had accompanied Pei Zichen since he was born. They were close to each other. Surely, he had great trust in her.
“What’s wrong?” Pei Xiuyuan approached them.
Pei Zichen became nervous. He was afraid that Lu Man might report his rude behavior to his father. She would tell him that he had pushed her away.
“Nothing happened.”
Pei Zichen was rather surprised that she did not inform Pei Xiuyuan of his rude behavior.
She must be pretending, just like what his aunt had told him. She was pretending to be the nice person here!
It was time for bed.
“Xiao Chen, your mother has prepared your room for you. Go and sleep now.” Pei Xiuyuan was always emphasizing how good Lu Man was in front of Pei Zichen.
“Okay.” Pei Zichen seemed mischievous all of a sudden but he went back to his room obediently.
He went to his room.
The smile that Lu Man had on her face for the whole night suddenly disappeared.
“Manman…” Pei Xiuyuan smiled sheepishly at Lu Man.