Spoiled Eldest Miss x Two-faced Madman

CHAPTER 128 – Extra 3: As Long As She Loves Him, He's Willing To Pretend For A Lifetime.

　　Honestly, Pei Ji’s actions completely slapped An Qing in the face. Watching her cheap third uncle’s expression as they left, An Jiu couldn’t help but feel a bit satisfied.

　　On the way home from the restaurant, An Jiu got a message from An Yue.

　　An Yue: Don’t get too full of yourself.

　　An Yue had almost never contacted her privately before. Other than the usual holiday group messages, this was the first time An Yue had ever reached out to her directly.

　　An Jiu sent her a question mark in reply.

　　An Yue: Do you really think Pei Ji is serious about you?

　　An Jiu: What are you trying to say?

　　An Yue: I don’t like you, but we’re still family. Grandpa values you, and the company will be yours in the future. I don’t want to see you get tricked and let the company fall into someone else’s hands.

　　An Yue: Pei Ji isn’t as simple as he looks. He may seem gentle, but deep down he’s cold and ruthless. He won’t stop until he gets what he wants. That man is dangerous. I’m warning you to stay away from him.

　　Reading the messages on the screen, An Jiu’s eyes flickered slightly.

　　She quietly typed back: I heard you offended him once?

　　An Yue: …　　

　　An Yue: He told you about it? I admit I was stupid and did some messed-up things back then, but I didn’t even get in his way, did I? Yet he still kicked me out like that, with all those people around. Now I’ve become a joke in the social circle, and I don’t even dare go outside.

　　An Yue used to be one of those spoiled rich girls, always splurging with her besties, shopping, clubbing, traveling, going to fashion shows. But in recent years, she’s been a lot quieter, barely posting anything on her socials.

　　Just a few days ago, Zheng Lan mentioned that she actually started writing novels. Honestly, it was hard to believe.

　　Everyone thought maybe she’d changed. Turns out it was all because of that incident.

　　An Jiu lowered her eyes thoughtfully, just in time to see another string of messages from An Yue, the screen full of complaints.

　　An Yue: If he wasn’t into me, he could’ve just rejected me. I’ve never met a guy like him, not even a shred of basic decency.

　　An Yue: Plus, his reputation over in Sucheng isn’t that great. We in Bincheng might not know, but over there, everyone’s aware how terrifying Pei Ji can be. Last year, there was this foreign pharma company trying to break into the domestic market, and in the end, the deal just vanished. You think it was for no reason? It was Fengren Pharmaceuticals pulling the strings.

　　An Yue: You really think Fengren Pharmaceuticals got to where it is by luck?

　　An Jiu and An Yue ran in different circles. An Jiu had been raised by their grandfather since she was little, and the people around her were all handpicked by him — elite members from all kinds of powerful families. She’d never really dealt with spoiled heirs like An Yue.

　　So when it came to gossip and rumors floating around in other circles, she usually didn’t hear much.

　　But she had done some research on Fengren Pharmaceuticals these past few years. As a pharmaceutical company, the reason Fengren Pharmaceuticals stayed at the top wasn’t just because their drugs were effective, but also because of their leadership and decision-making.

　　Unlike its lukewarm performance in earlier years, lately Fengren Pharmaceuticals had been pushing hard — researching foreign breakthrough medicines and even starting to export. It was clear they had big ambitions.

　　To be honest, being able to grow a pharma company to this level made them the first of their kind in the country.

　　An Jiu wasn’t stupid. She quickly realized something was off.

　　Had he tricked her again?

　　But this time, there was no system alert, no reference from the original novel. It took her a while to even notice.

　　To her surprise, once it hit her, she wasn’t even mad. Instead, there was this weird sense of — so that’s how it is.

　　This was him. This was the real Pei Ji, the villain from the novel.

　　These past few days, the version of Pei Ji she’d seen had felt too perfect. It never quite felt real.

　　Sure, the flawless Pei Ji made hearts flutter, but that was all.

　　He was calm, polite, gentle, and elegant. He gave off this vibe like he didn’t belong in this world at all.

　　But could someone like that really exist? No flaws at all?

　　If they did, it had to be fake. No one’s perfect.

　　With that thought, a smile slowly curled on An Jiu’s lips.

　　An Jiu: Thanks.

　　An Yue: Just don’t let him fool you. I’m not trying to ruin your relationship or anything. I’m just scared you’ll end up losing your whole company over this.

　　An Jiu: “Nope.”

　　She wanted to see just how long he could keep pretending.

　　The car ride home was smooth, and as soon as An Jiu stepped inside, she saw her grandfather playing chess with someone in the living room.

　　“Xiao Jiu's back?” The other man was also a retiree who lived in the same villa community. He greeted her with a smile.

　　“Hi, Grandpa. Hi, Grandpa Liu.”

　　The house was warm with the heater on. One of the aunties came over to take An Jiu’s coat and handed her a bowl of ginger soup.

　　“You're home pretty late. Who did you have dinner with?” Grandpa Liu asked with a grin.

　　Her own grandfather also subtly turned his head to look at her.

　　Meeting the two pairs of curious eyes, An Jiu smiled and replied, “A friend.”

　　She didn’t say anything more than that.

　　The two old men didn’t push for answers either. After a while, Grandpa Liu left, and her grandfather called her over.

　　“Come play a round with me.”

　　“Sure.”

　　Evenings after dinner were usually their bonding time. Sometimes they played chess, sometimes they watched TV. If An Jiu had questions about the company, she would ask her grandfather then and he would teach her.

　　“Grandpa, do you know the Pei family from Fengren Pharmaceuticals?” she asked suddenly while placing a piece on the board.

　　Grandpa An lifted his eyelids. “I do.”

　　“I had dinner with someone from their family today,” she said.

　　His expression didn’t change. “Hmm, and?”

　　An Jiu was a little surprised. “You knew?”

　　“Your third uncle told me,” he replied slowly, placing another piece. “You looked like you had a plan, so I didn’t ask too much.”

　　An Jiu smiled. “You really have faith in your granddaughter.”

　　“Of course. I raised you, didn’t I? How could I not know what kind of person you are? With your personality, there’s no way you'd let emotions cloud your judgment. You’re grown up now, so when it comes to relationships, I won’t get involved. You make your own choices.”

　　Among An Donglin’s three children, the eldest daughter was ruled by her heart, the second son also tripped over love, and only the youngest son had never suffered a heartbreak. But he was a bit dull and didn’t have what it took to take charge.

　　Grandpa An had learned from those mistakes. Now, what made him proudest was raising such a good granddaughter. She was clear-headed, rational, and smart — so much so that all his old buddies were jealous.

　　“I only have one request. When you have kids in the future, at least one of them must have the surname An. As for everything else — whether you get married or not, who you marry, even if you want to keep a few pretty boys — that’s all up to you.” Grandpa An waved his hand grandly. “Oh, and I just won.”

　　An Jiu looked at the old man in front of her, smiling from ear to ear, and felt a warm rush in her heart.

　　Third Uncle probably didn’t say anything nice to Grandpa on the phone, but Grandpa didn’t show a single hint of it.

　　He had gone against everyone else’s opinion to name her as the successor, and raised her by his side since she was little. Even though she never got love from her parents, what Grandpa gave her was already more than enough.

　　That was the reason she insisted on coming back.

　　She never once regretted it.

　　The only thing she couldn’t figure out right now was… what exactly is going on with Pei Ji?

　　Even though An Jiu had already seen another side of him, she still acted like she didn’t know anything.

　　Sure, he lied to her. But she was lying to him too. They were even. Neither of them had the right to call the other out.

　　In the next few days, Pei Ji showed up downstairs at her company every evening when she got off work. Sometimes he’d ask her out to dinner. If she said no, he’d say it was on his way.

　　Though, no one knew what route he was talking about.

　　Word quickly got around the company that An Jiu had a suitor.

　　Zheng Lan was stunned when she heard. “You’re saying Pei Ji is chasing after you?”

　　An Jiu was reviewing a report. She glanced up when she heard that. “You’re that surprised?”

　　Zheng Lan said, “Not really. It’s just hard to picture. Pei Ji always seemed like the cold, untouchable type…”

　　An Jiu let out a soft laugh.

　　Him? Cold and untouchable?

　　Zheng Lan asked again, “So what do you think of him?”　　

　　An Jiu’s face stayed calm as she answered casually, “Nothing much. He’s just whatever.”

　　Zheng Lan gave her a thumbs up. “Manager, you’re awesome. By the way, those handsome guys you used to know, are they still trying to get in touch? Compared to them, how’s Pei Ji?”

　　An Jiu raised an eyebrow and picked up her phone to take a look.

　　There were always people who thought women were easily swayed by emotions. Her aunt and Third Uncle were classic examples.

　　Ever since An Jiu joined the company, she’d been running into all kinds of men, either by accident or maybe not so accidentally. There was the sunny guy she met at the golf course, a popular actor they worked with for a brand deal, a gentle college professor she bumped into at a restaurant, and even a hot personal trainer from the gym.

　　All kinds of styles, all kinds of types. You name it, she had it.

　　They’d send her good morning and good night messages every day, check in whenever the weather changed, always being extra thoughtful. An Jiu pretty much ignored them all.

　　She opened WeChat and skipped right past the message from Pei Ji asking if she wanted to spend the weekend at some mountain resort. Instead, she clicked into another chat window.

　　An Jiu: “That bar you mentioned last time, the one you said was pretty good. Where is it?”

　　The reply came instantly:

　　“Sister An, you finally messaged me back! You wanna go to the bar? It’s kind of hard to find though. Want me to drive over and pick you up?”

　　An Jiu: “Sure. I get off work in the evening. Come get me then.”

　　After sending that, she went back to Pei Ji’s chat. With a smile tugging at her lips, she typed,

　　“It’s too cold. Don’t feel like going out this weekend. Oh, and no need to pick me up today. I’ll take a ride home on my own.”

　　His phone buzzed lightly on the desk. At that moment, Pei Ji frowned silently.

　　Was he coming on too strong?

　　But honestly, this was already him holding back as much as he could.

　　He shut his eyes hard. What came to mind was a recurring dream he’d been having since he was eighteen.

　　In that dream, he forgot who he was in real life. He lived as someone else.

　　That person was called Pei Ji.

　　In the dream, he grew up with that name. He met a girl named An Jiu. He fell in love with her. And in the end, he died a miserable death in that dream.

　　Pei Ji used to think it was just a random nightmare, even though it left him restless and in pain, unable to sleep through the night.

　　But as the dream repeated again and again, becoming clearer and more vivid each time, he started to lose the ability to tell dream from reality.

　　He sought out a wise monk, who told him that what he saw was his past life, and the dream was his lingering obsession.

　　It was that obsession, deeply rooted and unresolved, that allowed him to remember everything from before. A memory that should have been buried by time, but he had forced his way through reincarnation, all to find her again.

　　And lucky for him, he really did find her.

　　She didn’t remember anything. She forgot all the pain he once caused her. This was a new beginning, a chance to do it right. He would never make the same mistakes again.

　　Pei Ji could never forget what she said to him before she died. She told him, clearly, that she had never loved him. A man as full of sins as he was, how could he ever deserve real love?

　　Luckily, she had no memory of any of it. He could pretend to be someone pure, someone good. He could quietly fight for her attention, carefully earn her affection.

　　As long as she liked him, as long as there was a chance she could fall for him, he didn’t mind pretending for a lifetime.

　　By the time evening rolled around, even though An Jiu had told him not to come, Pei Ji still had the driver pull up in front of her office building.

　　Just catching a glimpse of her through the window was enough.

　　The sky was glowing with the last light of sunset. Sitting in the backseat, Pei Ji slowly rolled the window halfway down. His dark eyes stared quietly at the building entrance.

　　And then he saw it. The girl who had just told him she was going home… sitting in a ¹convertible with a young guy, laughing brightly. The deep blue sports car roared arrogantly and sped away.

　　His hand clenched into a fist without thinking. His palm nearly bled from how tightly he was gripping it.

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Glossary:

A convertible is a type of car with a roof that can be folded down or removed, allowing it to be driven open-air. They're often seen as stylish or flashy, especially when paired with descriptions like a ‘deep blue sports car.’

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Author's Note:

Tsk tsk, look at pitiful little Pei Pei.

…..

T/N: (stares silently at the author) Can you be less mofo? 😑

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