Mr. Pei! Don't force yourself into circles you can't fit into.

Shen Jicheng waited for a long time, but Pei Lin didn't return. He was quite angry with himself. Instead of waiting for him on the living room sofa as before, he went back to his room with a long face and a sullen expression.

Once inside the room, he flopped onto the bed, rolled over, and stared blankly at the moonlight filtering through the curtains for a while.

She started imagining Pei Lin bowing his head and apologizing to her. The more she thought about it, the more relieved she felt. Just as the corners of her lips curled up, she realized how silly the idea was. She buried her face in the pillow and groaned softly. After tossing and turning for who knows how long, she finally drifted off to sleep.

While things quieted down at Beishan Villa, a long line of cars was still stuck on the elevated highway in the south of the city.

Pei Lin sat in the back seat, his face so dark it was almost black. He glanced at his watch, then tapped his knuckles lightly on his knees, the rhythm quickening.

"Zhang Xu, if you keep dawdling like this, believe me, I'll dock your pay!"

Zhang Xu gripped the steering wheel, looking utterly exasperated. He cautiously glanced at their CEO, Pei, in the rearview mirror. "CEO Pei, there's a traffic jam ahead..."

"You can't even handle this small matter, what use are you?" The voice from the back seat grew even colder.

Zhang Xu was on the verge of tears. What could he do about the traffic jam?

He can't exactly use a megaphone to shout: "Those who know what's good for them, get out of the way! Our CEO Pei needs to rush back to see his wife, can he?"

Fortunately, the traffic jam didn't last long, and the taillights in front finally started to move forward. Zhang Xu took advantage of the gap to merge into another lane, and within the legal speed limit, he increased his speed. When he turned into the road leading to Beishan Villa, the tires made a rapid screeching sound as they rolled over the road surface. Before the car had even come to a complete stop, the back door had already opened.

Pei Lin strode across the courtyard and then disappeared at the entrance to the living room.

Two o'clock in the morning.

Shen Jicheng was fast asleep, his cheeks sunken in the pillow, his breathing even and long. Only a nightlight was left on in the room, its dim light illuminating half of his profile. His eyelashes cast a small, fine shadow on his lower eyelids, and his lips were slightly parted, moving occasionally as if he were dreaming of eating something delicious.

The door was pushed open almost silently.

Pei Lin stood at the door and looked at him for a few seconds, his strong smell of alcohol slowly spreading in the quiet room.

He walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed, the mattress sinking slightly. He looked down at Shen Jicheng, his gaze sliding from Shen's closed eyes to the bridge of his nose, and then to his slightly parted, unguarded lips.

The effects of the alcohol surged up like a tide, gradually breaching the barriers he had built up while sober. He raised his hand, his fingertips lightly brushing against Shen Jicheng's lower lip, the movement so gentle, as if afraid of waking him.

But in the end, I couldn't resist.

He leaned down and captured those soft lips with his mouth. The kiss, tinged with the smell of alcohol, landed with a somewhat reckless force. His hands cradled the back of Shen Jicheng's head, his knuckles sinking slightly into his hair. The breaths mingled between their lips and teeth, hot and disordered.

At first, it was domineering and forceful, as if it were demanding something.

But towards the end of the kiss, the force somehow changed, becoming gentle and tender, carefully tracing every inch of the contours.

Then a sentence suddenly popped into my head.

—How could I possibly like Pei Lin?

Those words came without warning, like a bucket of ice water poured over his head. Pei Lin's movements froze instantly, the drunkenness in his eyes gradually clearing and turning cold.

He looked down at the lips of the person beneath him, which were slightly swollen from his kisses, his gaze growing increasingly dark. Finally, he lowered his head and bit Shen Jicheng's lower lip hard.

It was meant to vent anger, and the force was not light.

Shen Jicheng frowned slightly in his sleep and mumbled a "hmm," but did not wake up.

Pei Lin released him, gave him a deep look, and got up to leave the room.

Shen Jicheng was completely unaware of this.

He only felt a slight pain in his lips during his dream, then turned over and fell back into a deep sleep.

He was awakened the next morning by a stinging pain in his mouth. He groggily reached up and touched it, hissing as his fingertips touched his lower lip, instantly dispelling most of his drowsiness. He threw back the covers, got out of bed, went to the bathroom, looked in the mirror, and froze.

My lips were swollen, and there was a small patch of broken skin in the middle of my lower lip, covered with a thin layer of scab.

"Holy crap!" He leaned closer to the mirror and looked at himself from all angles.

"What's going on? Where did this bee come from that stung me?"

He studied himself in the mirror for a long time, unable to figure out why, and finally washed his face and went downstairs. When he bumped into Aunt Chen at the kitchen door, he even asked her a question.

"Aunt Chen, does Pei Lin keep bees?"

Aunt Chen shook her head, looking bewildered. Shen Jicheng was even more confused.

He was standing in the living room, absentmindedly touching his burning lips, when footsteps came from the doorway. He looked up and saw Zhang Xu walking in. Zhang Xu saw his face, paused, and his gaze lingered on his lips, his expression subtly shifting.

"Mr. Shi, what happened to your mouth? Why is it so swollen?"

Shen Jicheng frowned and shook his head.

"I don't know... It was like this when I woke up this morning." He touched it again, hissed, and said, "It still hurts a little."

Zhang Xu was stunned for a moment. After all, he had followed Pei Lin for many years, and he understood certain things after a little thought. He quickly composed himself, coughed lightly, and said, "Then... maybe you bit it in your dream?"

Shen Jicheng paused for a moment.

He stood in the center of the living room, pondered for a moment, and then the dream from last night suddenly surfaced without warning.

His face flushed instantly, burning red from his ears all the way to the base of his neck.

"Well, maybe I bit myself in my dream..." He looked away, feeling a little guilty, and without waiting for Zhang Xu to say anything more, he turned and walked out.

Zhang Xu stood there, watching the figure hurriedly disappear outside the hallway, and scratched his head in bewilderment.

Shen Jicheng went out the door and plopped down on the rattan chair in the yard, covering his burning cheeks with his hands, wishing he could curl up into a ball.

Last night's dream was so vivid.

In his dream, Pei Lin was still angry with him.

Then, for some reason, he "bit" Pei Lin.

Pei Lin stopped being angry.

He vaguely remembered that soft touch, um... warm and hot, but... it felt like that thing would bite. Anyway, his lips did hurt for a moment, but at the time he was so immersed in the joy of Pei Lin forgiving him that he didn't care about anything else.

He sat there with his face covered for a long time, lost in thought, so much so that when a voice suddenly came from behind him, he jumped in fright.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Ah—!" Shen Jicheng almost fell off the rattan chair, scrambling to grab the armrest to steady himself. He turned his head and saw that Pei Lin had been standing behind him for who knows how long.

"You! What are you doing here?" He thought Pei Lin had already gone to the company.

Pei Lin's gaze lingered on his swollen lips for a moment, then casually shifted away.

"I had a drinking party last night, so I'm taking the day off today."

He paused, then said in a flat tone, "Zhang Xu told me your lips are swollen. I came to see what you did to get them like this."