Abstinence Pei, don't be too sweet when chasing your wife

Long Weiwei is trying on a dress after receiving an invitation to Professor Schumann's lecture.

The velvet skirt swept over her ankles, and her fingertips brushed across the diamond necklace on her collarbone. The person in the mirror had upturned eyes, like a red rose in full bloom.

"Has Pei Luonan's schedule for next Saturday been confirmed?" She didn't even turn her head. Her voice was as sweet as honey, but it contained an undeniable determination to win.

The bodyguard handed over the document, the itinerary marked with highlighter glaringly: "Lecture at Fengcheng University at 10 AM, inspection of the East Coast wind farm at 2 PM, and attendance at the New Energy Dinner at 7 PM."

Long Weiwei chuckled and twisted the lipstick out of the paste, the bright red color spreading across her lips. "You do know how to pick a day. Tell the driver to have the car ready for me at nine o'clock on Saturday morning."

On Saturday morning at Fengcheng University, ginkgo leaves formed a golden carpet on the snow.

Long Weiwei was wearing a black fur coat and a silver halter dress underneath. Her bare shoulders looked cold and white in the cold wind.

She walked straight through the long line outside the lecture hall. The students' whispers came over like a tide, but she just took it as praise.

"Boss Pei." She sat down in the front row, her Chanel handbag slamming onto the table with a clang. The sound was particularly abrupt in the quiet hall. "What a coincidence."

Pei Luonan was looking down at his notebook. He only raised his eyes once when he heard the words, then returned them to the page: "Ms. Long, the lecture is about to begin."

The look in his eyes was as bland as boiled water, without even a trace of ripples.

Long Weiwei's heart inexplicably flared up with anger, but she suppressed it. She curled her hair with her fingertips and smiled, "I did some homework on this." She moved closer to him, the scent of her perfume almost enveloping him. "Are you short of a female companion for the dinner tonight?"

Pei Luonan paused, the pen tip scratching a shallow mark on the paper. Without turning around, his voice was as cold as ice: "Ms. Long, please keep your distance."

When Professor Schumann walked up to the podium, Long Weiwei was still perseveringly poking his notebook with the tip of her pen.

Pei Luonan simply closed the notebook and stared at the projection screen the whole time, not even glancing at her.

During the intermission, Pei Luonan went to the corridor to answer the phone.

Long Weiwei tiptoed out and heard his voice speaking into the receiver—a voice she had never heard before, softer than a spring breeze across an icy lake. "Well, everything went well. I'll be back after the dinner and bring you some sweet-scented osmanthus cake."

She rushed out and bumped into his arm: "Who are you calling? Your girlfriend?"

Pei Luonan moved aside, his phone clasped tightly in his palm. He looked at her as if he were looking at a stone blocking his way: "It has nothing to do with you."

"How is it none of my business?" Long Weiwei's voice suddenly rose, drawing the attention of passing students. "If I pursue you, the whole of Fengcheng will know about it soon. Even if she's your girlfriend and we're not married, I have the right to snatch her away."

Pei Luonan's brows finally furrowed, not in anger, but more like annoyance. He turned and walked away, the sound of his leather shoes stepping on the floor as decisive as if drawing a line between the two.

Long Weiwei looked at his back, suddenly grabbed the fire extinguisher in the corridor, and smashed it against the wall with a "clang": "Pei Luonan, you wait!"

At two o'clock in the afternoon at the East Coast Wind Farm, the cold wind blew sand and gravel against the glass of the observation tower.

Pei Luonan was discussing wind turbine parameters with an engineer when the sound of a red Ferrari's engine came closer.

Long Weiwei was wearing a black windbreaker, and her Martin boots made loud noises as she stepped on the steel frame.

"Boss Pei, the coffee is here." She shook the thermos, steam mixed with the aroma of coffee wafting out. "This is a sandwich made by a Michelin chef. Want to try it?"

The engineers exchanged glances, but Pei Luonan didn't even raise his head: "Ms. Long, this is a construction site."

"What's going on at the construction site?" She slammed the thermos down on the table. "The East Coast project is just a matter of a word from my dad. Dance with me, and I'll make it easier for you to get the project approved. How about that?"

Pei Luonan finally looked up, his eyes showing no pity, only pure indifference: "Ms. Long, don't you think it's cheap to use the project as a bargaining chip?"

"Depreciation?" Long Weiwei suddenly grabbed his wrist as if she had heard a joke, her nails almost digging into the flesh. "I, Long Weiwei, always grab what I want! Tell me, what do you like? I'll change it!"

Pei Luonan pulled his hand back with such force that she stumbled. He brushed off the cuff that had been touched, his voice as cold as an icicle: "Miss Long, respect yourself."

He turned to the engineer and said, "Go on," without looking at her again.

Long Weiwei looked at his profile as he focused on discussing the parameters, then suddenly grabbed the thermos cup on the table and slammed it to the ground. Amid the cracking sound of the stainless steel liner, she heard her own trembling voice: "Pei Luonan, you will regret this."

Outside the observation tower, Special Assistant Wang's voice came from the phone: "Miss, the person President Pei called this morning is Gu Fanxing. She is an archaeological researcher in Huacheng. Every time President Pei comes to Fengcheng, he detours to the street corner to buy osmanthus cake, saying that it tastes like hers..."

"Archaeology?" Long Weiwei laughed, her voice tinged with venom. "Have someone buy up all the osmanthus cakes from Fu Ji and send them to the banquet. Also, that shop on the corner..." She paused, digging her nails into her palm, "smash it up for me."

"Miss, this..."

"Don't you understand?" she interrupted sharply. "I want to see what else he can think of without that rotten cake."

Long Weiwei, wearing a dark green fishtail skirt, couldn't suppress the smile on her face as she watched the waiter pile ten boxes of "Fu Ji" osmanthus cakes on the main table.

When Pei Luonan walked in, she immediately raised her hand: "Boss Pei, this way."

He walked to the other side and said directly to the waiter, "Mineral water."

The smile on Long Weiwei's face froze.

She pushed a box of osmanthus cake over, her tone deliberately intimate: "I bought it especially for you."

Pei Luonan's eyes swept over the pastries, as if he was looking at something dirty: "No need."

He was flipping through the dinner brochure when Kong Haoyu rushed in and whispered to Pei Luonan. After hearing the whisper, he stood up suddenly, and the chair made a harsh sound on the carpet.

"Pei Luonan!" Long Weiwei chased after him, "Where are you going?"

He stopped at the door of the banquet hall and looked at her directly for the first time.

There was no anger or disgust in those eyes, only a dead silence of ice field, so cold that her bones ached.

"The store on the corner," he began, each word sounding like it had been fished out of an ice cellar. "Did you smash it?"

Long Weiwei felt uneasy at the look, but she still managed to hold her chin up: "So what? It's just a shabby shop..."

"A shabby shop?"

Pei Luonan smiled, but the smile did not reach his eyes, instead it sent a chill down her spine.

"Miss Long's brutality really opened my eyes." He took a step closer, his voice low but every word clear, "Miss Long, do you think you can just use money to destroy what's in my heart?"

He turned and left, his eyes full of indifference and determination.

Long Weiwei froze in place, watching his back disappear out the revolving door. Suddenly, she grabbed the red wine glass on the table and smashed it to the ground.

Amid the sound of the crystal glass shattering, she heard her own crying, anxious and angry, like an angry cub that couldn't catch its prey.

"Pei Luonan..." She gritted her teeth, her nails digging deep into her palms. Drops of blood dripped onto the dark green hem of her skirt, like a poisonous flower that suddenly bloomed. "Just wait, you'll be mine soon."

In the shadow at the end of the corridor, Long Zhenbang watched this scene and slowly closed his eyes.

He knew that when his daughter's fire met Pei Luonan's ice, it would only burn more fiercely and eventually burn himself to ashes.

But he owed her eighteen years, what else could he use to repay her except indulgence?

Pei Luonan was looking at his phone on the high-speed train.

Gu Fanxing sent a photo. It was a selfie of her at the excavation site. Her hard hat was tilted on her head, and she was smiling like a child. "I heard someone smashed up the osmanthus cake shop? Don't be angry. I'll bake you some compressed cookies for the archaeological team."

His fingertips slid across the screen, and the icy ice in his eyes finally melted to a hint of warmth. There were some things that people like Long Weiwei could never understand—for example, the treasures he held dear to his heart could never be measured by money or means.