Chapter 42
From the moment President Pei opened the door, Zhou Yan felt that her existence was superfluous. President Pei and Cheng Xia only looked at each other. Zhou Yan was caught in the middle and felt like she was sitting on pins and needles. She simply found an excuse to slip away. “President Pei, Cheng Xia, you talk first. I will go and buy breakfast.”
Zhou Yan passed by President Pei and he whispered to her, “You have watched Cheng Xia all night and it was hard on you. The matter has been resolved. Once you buy breakfast, go back to rest. Change with someone else and let them take care of Cheng Xia.”
Zhou Yan hurriedly nodded. “Yes, President Pei. I will let Sister Rong take care of him.”
She left and Pei Shaoze walked to Cheng Xia’s bed. He saw that Cheng Xia’s complexion had improved a lot and it wasn’t as pale as yesterday. He finally let go of his worries and sat by Cheng Xia’s bed.
Cheng Xia softly cared for him. “President Pei, did you sleep last night?”
The alpha’s spirit didn’t look very good. He stayed up late and there was some stubble on his chin. When he spoke just now, his voice was thick and hoarse. It seemed to be grinded down by sandpaper. Obviously, his throat was very dry. He really worked too hard. In order to find out the truth, he changed his flight and rushed back to Rong City. Then he went to the police station to submit evidence and stayed up all night.
The exhausted alpha made Cheng Xia a bit distressed. He hurriedly picked up a glass of water on the bedside table and handed it to Pei Shaoze, telling him seriously, “Drink a glass of water first. I haven’t drunk from it.”
Pei Shaoze couldn’t help smiling. “You are a patient and I came to see you. How can you give me water to drink?”
Cheng Xia flushed but stubbornly stuffed the water cup into Pei Shaoze’s hand. “Your voice is hoarse. Drink some water to moisturize your throat.”
Pei Shaoze didn’t refuse. He had been busy all night and his throat was indeed dry. The temperature of the water that Cheng Xia handed him was just right. He took it and drank several consecutive sips. He has been busy all night in the cold wind and his body was almost frozen. Now the warm water entered his throat and his limbs gradually warmed, his heart along with it.
He drank from the cup and then placed it back on the bedside table. Then he looked at Cheng Xia and asked softly like a parent, “How is your wound? Do you feel better?”
Cheng Xia smiled brightly. “It is much better. My wound doesn’t hurt. Dr Qin came to see me this morning and said that in two days, I can remove the stitches and leave the hospital.”
Pei Shaoze completely let go of all worries. “That’s good.”
He was silent for a moment before wondering softly, “Zhou Yan should’ve told you who hurt you?”
Last night, there was such a mess in the crew. In the end, Pei Shaoze asked about the leader behind the gangster. Later, the gangster was sent to the police station and everyone saw it. Director Liu must’ve informed Zhou Yan and Cheng Xia should know by now.
However, Pei Shaoze only told the police about Zhao Wenxiu’s motive for committing the crime. As far as the crew knew, the gangster was instigated by Cheng Xia’s former agent, Zhao Wenxiu. Everyone was at a loss about the reason. They guessed it was likely that Zhao Wenxiu and Cheng Xia didn’t get along well. President Pei drove Zhao Wenxiu out of Tianxuan and Zhao Wenxiu held a grudge that he took out on Cheng Xia. The matter of Cheng Xia climbing into the boss’ bed hadn’t been made public.
Cheng Xia nodded at the question. He took out his phone to find the blocked Zhao Wenxiu and showed Pei Shaoze the previous chat records. “I scolded him and blocked him so perhaps Zhao Wenxiu wanted to retaliate.”
Pei Shaoze’s eyes sank. “This isn’t your fault. I should’ve realized when I drove Zhao Wenxiu out of Tianxuan. His means are inferior and he has a bad heart. As long as there is a chance, he will definitely do something behind our backs. I was negligent this time and almost let him succeed… were you frightened last night?”
Cheng Xia hurriedly shook his head. “It’s fine. Aren’t I good?”
Pei Shaoze saw the young man’s relaxed smile and couldn’t help reaching out to gently touch Cheng Xia’s head. “You are a lucky person. Fortunately, there was a false alarm last night. Don’t worry, I will strictly control the crew in the future and won’t let this happen again.”
Cheng Xia was touched and his cheeks became hot. He found that he seemed to like President Pei’s gentle touch more and more. The alpha’s slender fingers glided gently across his head and Cheng Xia enjoyed the gentle touch.
This was completely different from the feeling of being touched by his father when he was a child. His father made Cheng Xia trust and depend on him. Meanwhile, President Pei made his heartbeat increase and he got a shortness of breath. He even wanted to get closer and monopolize the other person…
[Cheng Xia’s good impression of you +1.]
[Cheng Xia’s good impression of you +1.]
The visit last night increased the good impression to 80 in one breath. Today it rose by five points to 85.
Pei Shaoze perceived the young man sitting on the bed very obediently and felt a bit soft. He withdrew his hand and said, “That’s right, I have submitted a series of evidence of Zhao Wenxiu’s crimes to the police, including the medicine he slipped into your juice and how he sent you to the car along with the driver. This afternoon, the police will come to the hospital for questioning. Please cooperate with them.”
Cheng Xia was startled. “President Pei, do you want to hold him accountable for what happened last time?”
Pei Shaoze looked resolute. “Of course, he must be held accountable to the end. I consulted with a lawyer last night. This time, you only suffered a minor injury with the knife so Zhao Wenxiu’s sentence won’t be too severe. However, illegally purchasing the pheromones release agent, secretly giving it to you and almost forcing you to be marked by an alpha can keep him in prison for several years.”
Unlike his previous gentleness, Pei Shaoze’s eyes became cold and sharp when he mentioned Zhao Wenxiu. “This type of rat in the gutter is endless trouble. Maybe one day, he will come out to bite you again.”
Cheng Xia agreed. “President Pei is right. He has done something wrong and he should take responsibility by obediently sitting in prison. You can rest assured that I will definitely cooperate with the police investigation. If I need to testify in court then I can also come forward.”
Pei Shaoze heard this and the expression in his eyes eased. “Considering your reputation, this case won’t be heard in public.”
After all, an omega climbed into an alpha’s bed. It would be suspicious even if the alpha didn’t mark him. Not to mention that the online drama Cheng Xia was acting in was invested by Pei Shaoze. It was easy for others to wonder if Cheng Xia had a relationship with President Pei or if unspoken rules were involved.
Pei Shaoze didn’t want Cheng Xia’s efforts to be brought down by the words ‘unspoken rules’ or to have the netizens looking at him through colored glasses. In the ABO world, cases involving omegas being marked could be tried in private so as to minimize the impact.
Cheng Xia felt President Pei’s thoughtfulness and his heart warmed. It felt good to be cared for by an adult alpha. He used to think that alphas were very annoying. There were countless people who took advantage of their height and physical strength to bully omegas and even looked down on omegas. An alpha who respected omegas like President Pei was rare and refreshing! He must never give President Pei to others.
Cheng Xia thought about it. President Pei was almost confessing now. Perhaps it was because President Pei’s personality was relatively introverted that he was too embarrassed to say ‘I like you’ in a straightforward manner?
It didn’t matter. It was the same if Cheng Xia found the right time and told him. At that time, if President Pei was too embarrassed to mark him then should he take the initiative to mark President Pei?
Cheng Xia’s heart thumped as he thought about the step of marking…
Pei Shaoze took Cheng Xia seriously as a child. He found that Cheng Xia’s face had regained its former vitality. Cheng Xia’s cheeks were red and his eyes were bright. It wasn’t known what he was thinking.
He smiled and patiently told Cheng Xia, “On the crew’s side, I told Director Liu that the venue of the 17th High School can be borrowed until February 27th. There are five days later. The scenes with others will be filmed in the first three days. Recover your injury and make up your scenes in the last two days.”
Cheng Xia carefully recalled the script. “The rest seems to be my scenes with Shen Kai? My personal scenes and scenes with Ye Mingqian have been filmed already.”
It was fortunate that Cheng Xia and Ye Mingqian had a tacit understanding during the filming. Director Liu finished filming their winter scenes ahead of time, leaving only the scenes of Cheng Xia and Shen Kai. However, the remaining few scenes involved Qin Nian’s emotional changes toward Lu Fengyang and were difficult to grasp.
Cheng Xia was a bit worried. “Is two days enough time? I remember that for the rest of the scenes, Qin Nian has already fallen in love with Lu Fengyang. I am afraid that I won’t be able to cooperate with Shen Kai and my mood won’t be in place, delaying the progress of the crew.”
The crew only borrowed the venue for 10 days. Time was tight. As a result, such a thing happened to the protagonist Cheng Xia, making things even worse. In the event that Cheng Xia and Shen Kai couldn’t cooperate to act out the secret feeling of admiring their ‘secret love’ and the most critical part wasn’t shot well, it would fall short. Then he would leave the drama with regrets.
Pei Shaoze thought about it before suggesting, “If a newcomer can’t enter the scene then you can try the method of association. For example, if you are acting a crying scene then you can associate yourself with things you encountered in reality that make you want to cry when thinking about it. If you have to act as a couple then imagine the other person as the one you like. Then the emotions and actions will naturally be performed well.”
He said up to here before asking, “By the way, do you like someone?”
The original novel didn’t mention if Cheng Xia had a crush in high school. He only knew that Cheng Xia loved Pei Shaoze very deeply in the later period and then hated him deeply. Now that Cheng Xia was in front of him, Pei Shaoze wanted to know the relationship history of the little seedling he raised.
Cheng Xia heard this question and his ears instantly turned red. He lowered his head and answered, “Y-Yes.”
Pei Shaoze felt like an old father hearing his child say he liked someone. Pei Shaoze’s mood was quite complicated. On the one hand, he felt that Cheng Xia had grown up and actually like someone? On the other hand, he didn’t want the cabbage he raised with great difficulty to be dug up by a pig.
He raised his eyebrow. “Oh? Who is it? Can you tell me?”
Cheng Xia, “……”
This person must be doing it on purpose to tease him!
Cheng Xia’s face and ears were red. “P-President Pei…”
Pei Shaoze coughed lightly. “Okay, this is your private business and I won’t ask. Since you have someone you like, you can try to imagine Shen Kai as this person. I believe that with your abilities, it won’t be hard to show Qin Nian’s secret love for Lu Fengyang.”
Cheng Xia nodded. “Yes.”
This meant that when acting, it was alright to think of his secret lover as President Pei.
Proofreader: Cat
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