Silence filled the booth, with Geng Wangqi frozen on the sofa, and everyone else watching the spectacle.
Silent, silent—the silence in the booth was deafening.
Seeing that no one spoke, Pei Qingjian had to break the silence again. “So, which one of you will pay?”
His words hit like a stone dropped in water, sending ripples across the room.
Everyone looked at Geng Wangqi, thinking: Wait, the rich heir actually owes money? And not millions, just around 150,000?
How pathetic!
And didn’t Pei Qingjian just say he had bought Geng Wangqi clothes, shoes, bags, and watches while they were together? This was classic mooching.
Geng Wangqi’s face turned red with anger. He never imagined that Pei Qingjian’s message would be like this.
He genuinely hadn’t seen it. He had blocked Pei Qingjian’s messages when Pei Qingjian kept sending them daily, wanting him back.
Yet now, Pei Qingjian had sent a message like this.
Geng Wangqi angrily asked, “Is this revenge for me not wanting to be with you?”
Pei Qingjian: ???
Pei Qingjian shook his head. “I just want my money back.”
“And what belongs to you.”
Pei Qingjian: …
“You’re overthinking.”
Who said you belonged to me?!
“Enough!” Li Xin snapped. “Pei Qingjian, do you think causing this scene in front of me and insulting Wangqi will make me give up or break up with him?”
Pei Qingjian: ???
“I only want him to repay the debt. How is that insulting?”
“You’re calling out his debt in front of everyone—don’t you see that’s an insult?”
“Didn’t you ask me to read it aloud in front of everyone?”
Li Xin: …
He gritted his teeth. “You really want to sow discord.”
Pei Qingjian was speechless.
“Ah, fine, fine,” he gave up arguing with Li Xin. “So, will you repay the debt for him?”
Li Xin: …
Of course, Li Xin wouldn’t. Ten-plus thousand yuan wasn’t pocket change.
Seeing this, Pei Qingjian looked at Geng Wangqi. “And yet you still claim he loves you.”
Geng Wangqi hadn’t considered it this way. Hearing Pei Qingjian, he looked at Li Xin and thought: Right, just over 150,000 yuan, and he’s unwilling to help? And he still claims to love him!
Li Xin never expected Pei Qingjian to say that; he immediately thought, “He’s clearly trying to stir us up!”
“I’m not unwilling to help you repay it.”
“So that means you will repay it?” Pei Qingjian picked up his phone. “WeChat, Alipay, or bank transfer? Your choice.”
Li Xin: !!!
“Who the hell wants to give you money!”
Pei Qingjian spread his hands and looked at Geng Wangqi. “See? He clearly doesn’t love you.”
Li Xin: !!!!
He was practically about to explode with anger.
“You still say you’re not trying to stir things up between us!”
“I never said I wasn’t,” Pei Qingjian replied frankly. “Didn’t I just say, ‘Ah, right, right’?”
Li Xin: …
He nearly choked on his anger.
Pei Qingjian calmly pointed at Geng Wangqi. “See? Now you know he owes me over a hundred thousand behind your back, and he won’t pay—no sense of morality.”
Then he turned to Geng Wangqi and pointed at Li Xin. “Now you know he won’t share hardship with you. He claims to love you, yet not a penny toward repayment—not true love.”
“One has no morals, the other lacks true love—what does that make you?”
“This is the legendary ‘two broken pots make a perfect match!’” Pei Qingjian clapped his hands. “A perfect couple, a genius and a prodigy, made for each other.”
Li Xin, red with shame and anger, grabbed a glass from the table and hurled it at his face.
Pei Qingjian hadn’t expected an attack. He was about to dodge when someone’s arms suddenly wrapped around his head from behind.
A fresh, familiar scent of flowers and lemon enveloped him instantly.
His eyes were covered, ears and cheeks felt the warmth of fingers.
The person gently tilted his head to the right, pressing it into their chest.
For a moment, the world seemed to fall silent.
Pei Qingjian could only feel the warmth of that hand, the fragrance lingering around him.
He heard Lin Xingchen’s voice through the quiet, like pure, untarnished snow: “Are you all right?”
Pei Qingjian shook his head.
Lin Xingchen released his hand slowly, lowering it from in front of Pei Qingjian’s face.
Finally, Pei Qingjian could see light again.
He was about to speak when he noticed Lin Xingchen pick up the glass on the coffee table and splash it toward Li Xin.
Smack.
Li Xin was caught off guard, getting splashed in the face. As he prepared to yell, Lin Xingchen grabbed another cup of liquid and splashed him again before he could react.
He put down the glass, his sleeves rolled up, revealing slender, fair wrists like jade cooled in ice.
“My boyfriend doesn’t drink,” he said, voice cold yet magnetic.
Li Xin stared, stunned, as Lin Xingchen lifted his eyelids slightly, a half-smile playing in his eyes, frost lining his words: “As a return gift, you may drink it slowly yourself.”
The lights reflected across his face, neon colors dancing in his eyes. He looked otherworldly yet undeniably real.
Li Xin couldn’t believe what he just heard.
Boyfriend?
Whose boyfriend?
Then he saw Lin Xingchen’s hand resting on Pei Qingjian’s shoulder.
“You done with your call?” Pei Qingjian asked.
Lin Xingchen nodded, scanning the booth. “Looks like you didn’t collect your money.”
Pei Qingjian sighed. “I knew he’d try to shirk.”
“I didn’t,” Geng Wangqi spoke up, turning to Lin Xingchen.
What a joke—Pei Qingjian could never have a boyfriend! He was supposed to pine for him forever, never letting go! How could he possibly have a boyfriend already?
“This is…” Geng Wangqi asked rhetorically.
Pei Qingjian wasn’t about to ruin Lin Xingchen’s moment, smiling instead. “My boyfriend.”
“No way!” Li Xin refused to believe it.
Pei Qingjian could never find a boyfriend this handsome!
“How much did you buy him in clothes and shoes this time?” Li Xin mocked. “Seems like that’s the only way you get a boyfriend.”
Pei Qingjian: …
He was about to answer, but Lin Xingchen spoke first. “What a joke. Do I need him to buy me things? If anything, I buy for him.”
Pei Qingjian nodded. Of course—Lin Xingchen was his sugar daddy, not the other way around.
Li Xin gritted his teeth. “Who’d believe that?”
If Pei Qingjian didn’t pay, what reason did he have to be with him? True love? Li Xin didn’t buy it.
And looking at Lin Xingchen—someone that handsome, he could have any boyfriend he wanted. How could he possibly choose Pei Qingjian? Likely, it was still for money.
Lin Xingchen didn’t want to hear that.
He took out his phone, looking at Pei Qingjian. “Let me see your Alipay.”
Pei Qingjian obediently handed over his phone.
Lin Xingchen scanned it, and a crisp automated voice echoed through the booth:
“Alipay transfer received: 150,000 yuan.”
“Alipay transfer received: 150,000 yuan.”
“Alipay transfer received: 150,000 yuan.”
Pei Qingjian: !!!
He quickly grabbed his phone. “What are you doing?”
Lin Xingchen was calm. “Someone didn’t believe you, so I transferred some pocket money.”
Then he looked at Li Xin. “Want me to transfer more?”
Li Xin: …
Lin Xingchen, full of disdain: “Just 450,000 yuan. As long as Qingqing is happy, I’d gladly give him 4.5 million.”
Pei Qingjian: … Well, that made sense—after all, the contract clearly stated Lin Xingchen would cover the original owner for a year, priced at 5 million.
Li Xin was so taken aback by Pei Qingjian’s retort that he was momentarily speechless.
Geng Wangqi felt a scorching heat across his face. He realized it was deliberate—Pei Qingjian had intentionally transferred only 150,000 each time, flaunting it openly just to mock him.
“If you were really that rich, would he even care about the fifteen thousand?” Geng Wangqi protested.
Lin Xingchen nodded, his gaze shifting to Pei Qingjian with a look of complete agreement. “Exactly. Fifteen thousand—worth wasting your time coming all the way here? Forget it. I’ll just give you a red envelope when we get back—fifty thousand?”
Li Xin: …
Others: …
Damn! This guy is showing off his wealth!
Li Xin’s gaze toward Lin Xingchen turned sharp.
Pei Qingjian shook his head. “I know you don’t care. You’ve always treated me well, giving me everything. But just because of that, I want to give my all to you too.”
He looked at Lin Xingchen earnestly. “So both my people and my money should belong to you. How could they be in someone else’s hands? That’s unfair to you—I don’t like it.”
Everyone around thought: he’s not wrong! It is unfair to let someone else benefit.
Lin Xingchen clicked his tongue and glanced at Geng Wangqi. “See? What can I do? Even if your boyfriend doesn’t love you, my boyfriend clearly loves me.”
Geng Wangqi: !!!
He suddenly realized that Li Xin hadn’t even been willing to help him pay back that fifteen thousand.
“Who’s to say he loves you and not your money?” Geng Wangqi said indignantly. “Back then, he was far more devoted to me than he is to you now!”
“That’s nonsense!” Pei Qingjian shot back. “Back then you were living off me, being lazy and ungrateful. I was kind-hearted, too tolerant to argue. And yet you dare compare yourself to my darling husband? You’re a frog blindly leaping, utterly clueless!”
Having said that, he wrapped Lin Xingchen in a warm embrace, soft and sweet. “Husband, don’t believe him. How could I possibly like him? I’m not blind. I only like a handsome man like you.”
“Mwah~”
Lin Xingchen: …
He couldn’t help but laugh.
Looking down at Pei Qingjian, he thought: no wonder he’s such a good actor—he can improvise effortlessly.
“‘Husband,’ ‘darling husband’…”
He leaned closer, voice soft and melodic near Pei Qingjian’s ear. “When you asked him to pretend to be your boyfriend back then, did you call him that too?”