CEFYMA: Chapter 71

Lights were lit around the basketball court. The beams of light gathered on the two people on the court from all directions, illuminating their every movement.

You Mian skillfully dribbled the ball and stood in front of Pei Huaiji. “How about five balls per person?”

In a one-on-one confrontation, one person shot first and the other defended.

Pei Huaiji didn’t take off his coat like You Mian did. The man was standing in place with a suit and leather shoes. However, he raised his hand and slightly loosened the elastic neckline. The action of leaning over was obviously showing he was ready.

“Come on,” Pei Huaiji said in a hoarse voice.

You Mian rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt to his forearms, leaving his tie on. It hung loosely along his open collar, making him look chic and wanton.

The ball was in his hand and You Mian turned sideways to knock Pei Huaiji away. The two of them jumped at the same time. You Mian stretched out his right hand and threw the ball in a smooth, parabolic arc.

Even though Pei Huaiji tried to block it, he was still a few seconds late. He could only watch helplessly as You Mian’s first ball steadily entered the basket.

There was a bang. It was the sound of the basketball bouncing off the ground.

You Mian ran over and took the basketball in his hands again. The young man smiled with his eyes curved. “Chairman Pei is pretty good.”

Pei Huaiji’s eyes became more serious and he said in a deep voice, “Come again.”

The sound of leather shoes scraping on the ground and balls hitting the basketball court late at night could be heard.

Pei Huaiji and You Mian fought heartily, chasing each other.

The young man bent over and supported both hands on his knees. A thin layer of sweat appeared on the tip of his nose as he looked up at Pei Huaiji in front of him and said, “Chairman Pei, if you score the last ball, you will win. If you lose, the sculpture room is mine.”

Pei Huaiji had also taken off his suit jacket and threw it on the bench outside the court. The man’s powerful figure and broad shoulders were a few sizes bigger in front of You Mian. Even so, You Mian still wasn’t afraid. The two of them fought back and forth.

Pei Huaiji slapped his big hand. The basketball fell to the ground with a loud thud and bounced back into his palm.

The power was great enough to make people speechless.

You Mian wrinkled his nose lightly and hissed. If he was accidentally hit by the ball, it would definitely hurt to death.

Pei Huaiji raised an eyebrow and put the ball into his palm. Upon seeing this, You Mian immediately retracted his previous thoughts. He blocked the opponent in one quick step and jumped up.

The moment Pei Huaiji saw that You Mian was trying to block him, he immediately changed his throwing posture and turned the direction of the ball toward the ground. The ball wasn’t thrown out by him.

You Mian continued to defend.

The young man was aggressive at this moment and his usual gentle smile could no longer be seen. He was full of ambition and ran rampant. He looked more like a college student his age.

Pei Huaiji hadn’t expected You Mian’s style to be so reckless. The enthusiasm in his heart hadn’t disappeared.

The sculpture room might’ve been a gift he wanted to give to You Mian, but he didn’t want to deliberately throw the game in this one-on-one competition.

It was because Pei Huaiji knew that You Mian could always win on his own.

Thus, Pei Huaiji also exerted his strength and desperately wanted to throw this last ball.

The final defensive back-and-forth lasted for nearly four minutes. You Mian couldn’t stop him, but Pei Huaiji couldn’t find an opening to shoot.

Suddenly, Pei Huaiji saw You Mian pause for two seconds. He immediately found the opportunity to throw the basketball in his hand.

Then in the next second, Pei Huaiji lowered his head and saw You Mian smile. The young man’s amber eyes were filled with sharp determination. He said, “Chairman Pei, aren’t you too anxious?”

Pei Huaiji’s heart skipped a beat when he saw You Mian running toward the basket. He hadn’t expected that You Mian would give up on a close-range defense and directly grab the ball in front of the frame.

You Mian jumped up high with his knees bent. His hands were stretching upwards as much as possible.

The basketball with the autograph on it spun toward the basket. You Mian jumped too high, which was a bit dangerous.

Just when Pei Huaiji stepped forward, You Mian’s index finger touched the basketball and pushed it out!

There was a loud bang. You Mian fell to the ground with the basketball.

Unlike the basketball, which bounded toward the sidelines with a bang, You Mian fell sideways on a soft ‘cushion.’

It wasn’t the hard ground that You Mian imagined, but a warm touch…

You Mian stood up with one hand on Pei Huaiji’s chest. Unexpectedly, he heard Pei Huaiji under him groan.

You Mian was startled. He actually fell on Pei Huaiji’s body.

No, Pei Huaiji actually came to grab him just now and became a meat shield.

On the empty and silent basketball court, all the lights focused on the two people in the shape of beams.

You Mian’s night blindness didn’t work. Under such a bright light, he could clearly see all the small movements of Pei Huaiji underneath him.

The man’s heroic brow, the bridge of his nose, his cold and dark eyes, and the thin lips that were already tightly pursed at this moment.

Pei Huaiji was worried that You Mian would fall and ran up. He hadn’t expected the two of them to fall together.

You Mian lay on his chest. The young man’s body was thin and his waist was extremely narrow. The close distance when he leaned over made alarm bells ring in his ears.

It was too close.

They could both hear each other’s breathing and feel each other’s body temperature at this moment.

Pei Huaiji saw You Mian’s gently fluttering eyelashes.

The tip of the young man’s nose was shining with fine sweat. His eyes were particularly bright, and his curly hair fell slightly downward due to his posture. Once You Mian used the ground beside him to get up, it suddenly swept across the bridge of Pei Huaiji’s nose.

It was also like a small comb sweeping over Pei Huaiji’s heart.

“Sorry. You aren’t hurt, are you?” You Mian hurriedly got up first. Then he bent down and extended a hand toward Pei Huaiji, his eyes full of worry.

You Mian instinctively asked a question. “Why did you come here to be a meat cushion? Aren’t you afraid…”

You Mian paused abruptly in the middle of speaking.

When he played basketball with his classmates, no one would take the initiative to rush to be a meat cushion. Therefore, Pei Huaiji’s actions showed a bit of an out of character ambiguity.

The young man’s voice might’ve stopped, but the light of the court still illuminated the strange atmosphere more clearly.

You Mian didn’t feel hot after playing half the game, but now he suddenly felt his cheeks and neck heating up.

Pei Huaiji raised an eyebrow as he lay on the ground. He didn’t ask the half question You Mian asked just now. He directly held You Mian’s hand and was pulled up.

The man patted his trouser legs. “Shouldn’t I ask if you are injured? You jumped so high. Aren’t you afraid of falling down hard?”

Pei Huaiji couldn’t describe his feelings when he saw You Mian jump so high just now. He could only say that he was scared.

You Mian glanced over and found that Pei Huaiji wasn’t injured. Then he smiled with curved eyes. The residual heat in his eyes didn’t fade and he said softly, “I just want to win against you.”

You Mian raised his hand and touched the tip of his nose very unnaturally. He looked away and said, “Chairman Pei, don’t forget to fulfill your promise.”

You Mian didn’t know that his expression at this moment was like a cute kitten who wanted a small reward after doing well. He stretched out his paws and licked his fur as if nothing had happened, but his tail was already sweeping around. He seemed to be looking forward to it.

Pei Huaiji stood in place. Then he reached out and took out an access card with a star keychain from his pocket. He handed it to You Mian.

The man’s movements were neat and fast. It was as if he had long expected such an outcome.

You Mian was stunned for a moment. Then he heard Pei Huaiji laugh deeply. “I have fulfilled it.”

You Mian hadn’t expected Pei Huaiji to give away a JL sculpture room like this. He couldn’t help pausing slightly when he took the key card.

He noticed the keychain on the key card.

“Chairman Pei, do you like stars?”

Pei Huaiji didn’t say that he thought of You Mian when he saw the keychain. He just nodded lightly and agreed.

The two of them were standing on the basketball court when they heard a person shouting from outside the court. “Mr Pei, Mr You, the lady is calling for you to come back!”

It was the first time You Mian was called ‘Mr.’ For a moment, he felt that he was getting older.

Pei Huaiji’s eyes seemed to soften for a moment because of the title Mr You. It wasn’t known what he was thinking about.

You Mian immediately walked to the bench and picked up his coat. The boy grabbed the curly hair over his forehead with a slightly regretful expression on his face. “What should I do? I was so focused on playing that my hair was messed up.”

The moment Pei Huaiji heard this, he raised a hand to mess up his neat black hair.

You Mian’s eyes widened slightly.

Pei Huaiji turned his head and lowered his eyes. He said in a low voice, “It doesn’t matter. No one will notice if it is all messed up.”

You Mian suddenly felt that the sound of his heartbeat was a bit obvious.

—

Qian Li sat at the mahjong table and reached out to touch a chicken hand. She sighed and played it.

“Why can’t I get the east wind?” The woman muttered.

Pei Yande, Pei Yanjing, and Pei Yanjing’s husband sitting in the other three seats all smiled.

Pei Yanjing said, “You said it, but I won’t touch you even if I get it.”

Qian Li sighed. She was about to continue the joke when she heard footsteps and soft conversations from the door.

Everyone at the mahjong table slowed down their movements by a few beats. The movements of throwing the mahjong tiles were even lighter.

Qian Li looked at the door. Finally, she saw You Mian and Pei Huaiji walking in side by side.

The two young men with outstanding looks and handsome figures walked over side by side. It really made everyone’s eyes light up. They were so eye-catching.

They didn’t know what happened, but the hair of the two juniors was messed up.

Fortunately, no one asked.

Qian Li immediately raised his hand and beckoned. “Xiao Mian, come over and help me play a few rounds.”

You Mian blinked. He had never been exposed to this type of communication circle when he was in the You house. He was a bit stunned for a moment.

It was Pei Huaiji who pressed calmly against his shoulder and slowly pushed him toward the mahjong table.

Among the many unfamiliar people, You Mian instinctively turned around to draw a sense of security from Pei Huaiji.

You Mian turned sideways and whispered, “I can’t.”

Pei Huaiji asked You Mian to sit down where Qian Li got up. He raised his head and said to Pei Yande and the others, “Uncle, Aunt, Uncle, You Mian and I are in a team, okay?”

Qian Li heard ‘team’ and clapped her hands. She said with a smile, “It’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Pei Yande was quite confident in his skills. He raised his hand and waved. “Okay, the two of you will beat the three of us.”

You Mian passively sat at the mahjong table. There was a row of tiles laid out in front of him that made him dazzled.

Fortunately, Pei Yande’s attention wasn’t on him. Pei Yande kept talking softly about stocks, land and other things.

The mahjong tiles were thrown out and taken in an orderly manner. The clear sound of collisions didn’t stop.

You Mian let Pei Huaiji sit beside him and instruct him softly.

“Hit this three of a kind,” Pei Huaiji said.

You Mian was like a robot that listened to instructions. He would hit whatever Pei Huaiji said.

When Pei Yanjing heard the sound of ‘huh’ on the other side, Pei Yande hissed and said with a smile, “Huaiji has grown up and will take care of his friends.”

You Mian’s palm touching the card was slightly hot.

You Mian continued to listen to Pei Huaiji’s instructions. He gradually mastered some skills and was able to decide on his own when to play which tiles.

After playing a few rounds of mahjong, You Mian not only listened to the business district’s economy but also learned how to play mahjong.

In the midst of the lively chatter and laughter, Pei Huaiji watched You Mian look up again with a happy smile.

As the night deepened, the Pei family’s housekeeper came over and said, “The lady is upstairs and said that she has something to show Mr You.”

You Mian had become accustomed to the title of Mr You.

The two of them headed up the stairs. Pei Huaiji reached out and pinched the back of You Mian’s neck to make him relax. He hadn’t expected for You Mian to become agitated due to this action. His whole body trembled.

There was a bang. The electric fire crackled with the spring rain and fell in Pei Huaiji’s heart.

He didn’t expect You Mian to react so strongly. He also realized that his actions just now frightened the other person.

Pei Huaiji was about to apologize in a hoarse voice when he saw You Mian turning his head. The amber eyes seemed moist and very frightened.

You Mian was stunned and whispered, “Itchy.”

You Mian himself hadn’t expected the back of his neck to be so sensitive. It was itchy when it was touched. He felt so numb that his whole body trembled uncontrollably.

Qian Li called out softly from a room not far away. “Xiao Mian. Have you come up?”

You Mian quickly walked up the last few steps. “I’m here.”

Pei Huaiji fell back. He suddenly looked down at his right hand, opening and releasing it, opening and releasing it.

Finally, at the entrance of the staircase, the man placed his palms together and clenched them tightly.