Chapter 14 Intertwined Fingers
The Pei family held a banquet.
Gu Yan invited me to go with her.
I heard her parents had just returned from abroad and were there.
I agreed.
The manor looked stunning, filled with guests who were either wealthy or influential.
Gu Yan linked arms with me, grinning. “Let’s go grab some food. They have so many good things over there.”
She stuffed her mouth as she walked, then suddenly sighed.
She mumbled, “You know, my brother’s been acting weird lately. Keeps staring at his phone and smiling like an idiot.”
“Gu Xu says he’s still hung up on that ex who dumped him. They’re talking again.”
“I don’t want him getting hurt by the same person twice. I’m trying to figure out how to talk him out of it.”
I opened my mouth to explain, but Lady Gu walked into the tea room right then.
I had come to this banquet to find her.
Gu Yan got called away to mingle, so I approached Lady Gu.
She didn’t look surprised to see me. She even smiled.
“Wen You, sit.”
I took the seat across from her.
She poured tea with steady hands and slid a cup toward me.
The tea room had glass walls. Through them, I could see Pei Yuchuan outside, surrounded by people.
He wore a sharp custom suit and moved through the crowd with calm ease.
I drank the tea and got straight to the point.
“Auntie, I want to be with Pei Yuchuan again.”
She didn’t flinch. She just smiled. “Wen You, you’re different from three years ago.”
“Back then, you could barely look me in the eye.”
I had just graduated. I hadn’t been shaped by the world yet, and Lady Gu carried such strong presence as Pei Yuchuan’s mother.
I had been nervous, almost afraid.
“These three years, I’ve been watching you,” she said.
“I know you work hard. You send money every month to girls left behind in the mountains.”
“You volunteer at the Disability Association.”
“When you learned disabled artisans were struggling to sell their work, you fought your company for resources and built them an online platform.”
She let out a soft sigh.
“My marriage to Yuchuan’s father was arranged. We planned the same path for him. He benefits from the family—he should give back to it.”
“But after all these years, I see I was the narrow-minded one.”
“Some feelings are stronger than any alliance.”
Her face softened. She looked at me sincerely.
“Wen You, follow your heart. I won’t stand in the way anymore.”
Pei Yuchuan spotted us through the glass. He excused himself from the crowd and headed over.
Lady Gu started to leave us alone, but she paused after two steps and turned back.
“Yuchuan wanted to reach out to you before but didn’t know how. I suggested sending photos of Pei Xi.”
“He refused. He said it wasn’t right to tie a mother down with her child. If you came back to him, he wanted it to be for love—not duty.”
That sounded exactly like him. He always respected my choices.
She left as he arrived—one passing the other.
“What did you and my mom talk about?” he asked, curious.
“Secret.”
I smiled and reached out, slipping my fingertips into his palm.
He stilled for a second, then laced his fingers through mine.
“Wen You, I need to tell you—”
We stepped out of the tea room and nearly ran into Gu Yan.
She came rushing over, clearly dying to share gossip.
Her eyes landed on our joined hands. She finally noticed what was between us.
“You two… what’s going on?”
I winked at her. “I’m the ex you keep calling a slag.”
Pei Yuchuan smiled. “She’s Pei Xi’s mom. Her real mom.”
Silence.
Then Gu Yan let out a shrill scream and glared at Pei Yuchuan.
“Then why did you push me to bring Wen You home to set her up with Gu Xu? Are you insane?”
“Oh, I get it. I was just your tool. You used me to get her here.”
It seemed what I'd thought was a chance reunion had been his careful plan all along.