"President Pei, hello. Do you still remember me?"
Ren Yuan, who had been silently drinking on the side, finally spoke. He raised his glass toward Pei Shaoze, a fawning smile plastered on his face.
But that didn't seem to change anything.
Pei Shaoze was a picky man—picky about life, picky about women, and especially picky about those who tried to get close to him.
So, Ren Yuan's proactive greeting was met with Pei Shaoze's deliberate disregard.
Everyone watched the awkward atmosphere unfold. No, to be precise, only Ren Yuan and Gu Feifei were awkward—after all, they were in the same boat.
This scene wasn't what Ye Hengtian had expected.
Ren Yuan and Gu Feifei's presence was due to Ye Lan. To be honest, Ye Hengtian had no interest in dealing with two nobodies.
He had only planned to have them fill the seats, but he never expected Ren Yuan to humiliate himself.
The mood was tense. Ye Hengtian let out a laugh and said, "Since we rarely get a chance to have fun, how about we all have a drink together?"
As he spoke, he raised his glass toward Pei Shaoze.
Ren Yuan, who had been toasting Pei Shaoze, was still holding his glass up since Pei Shaoze hadn't responded.
At least Ren Yuan was grateful to Ye Hengtian for stepping in to ease the tension.
But Pei Shaoze didn't seem inclined to drink with them. He just lowered his gaze to the glass in his hand, the corners of his mouth curling upward in an unmistakably arrogant expression.
Gu Feifei wanted to do something, but with both men already offering toasts, she, as a woman, felt even less able to speak up.
The atmosphere grew increasingly awkward.
Ren Yuan couldn't back down, and neither could Ye Hengtian.
Since they had initiated the toast, it was technically the other person's business if they refused to drink. But at this moment, Pei Shaoze was clearly deliberately making them squirm.
Everyone had their own agenda, so they could only wait for Pei Shaoze to react.
The tension in the private room was palpable. Even the most oblivious person could sense it. Ye Lan looked at the three of them, momentarily unsure of what to do.
To be honest, she was nervous—really nervous.
She was afraid her brother would lose his temper over Pei Shaoze's behavior, and even more afraid that Pei Shaoze would turn against the Ye family.
She didn't know what to do, but she couldn't just do nothing.
She suddenly stood up from her seat and walked over to Pei Shaoze. Crouching slightly beside him, she said, "Brother Shaoze, let me pour you a drink!"
She was beautiful, and her voice was pleasant. From Pei Shaoze's angle, she looked quite alluring.
But Pei Shaoze didn't look at her.
Instead, when she reached for the glass in his hand to pour the drink, he moved his hand away, taking the glass with him.
This action stunned Ye Lan, as well as the two men still holding their glasses.
Su Banxia had been quietly observing from the sidelines, calmly watching everything unfold—Pei Shaoze's arrogance, Ye Hengtian's probing and caution, Ren Yuan's sycophancy, and their collective embarrassment. She didn't participate, like an outsider.
To put it bluntly, aside from being Pei Shaoze's secretary, she had no connection to these people. So, playing the role of an observer seemed most fitting.
But she didn't expect Pei Shaoze to suddenly turn his gaze toward her. The corners of his mouth lifted, his eyes narrowing slightly as he handed her his glass with a smile.
His tone was casual and warm. "My lady, could you pour me a drink?"
Su Banxia: "..."
What was this man doing?
Seeing him hand her the glass and then look at her with a smile, Su Banxia had no idea what his intentions were. Under Ye Lan's murderous glare and the displeased yet surprised looks from the other three, she obediently poured Pei Shaoze a drink.
After she poured it, Pei Shaoze took the glass and looked at her. "Pour yourself one too. Let's have a drink together."
Su Banxia nodded and poured herself a glass. Pei Shaoze held his glass.
He didn't clink glasses with Ye Hengtian or Ren Yuan.
Instead, after Su Banxia had poured her drink and held it up, he raised his glass and deliberately clinked it with hers, smiling. "Let's have a drink."
Su Banxia smiled back, unsure of his intentions, so she simply complied.
The others watched as he clinked glasses with her, assuming he would naturally follow up by clinking with them.
But Pei Shaoze just downed his drink.
Su Banxia frowned deeply as she looked at the two men who had offered toasts but still hadn't drunk theirs.
What was Pei Shaoze doing?
In front of two men who could at least be called "bosses," he was deliberately giving her face while ignoring—or rather, insulting—them.
Was he trying to make enemies for her?
Or was he just finding a way to flaunt his arrogance?
Though she didn't understand his intentions, Su Banxia wasn't foolish. So, with a smile on her face, she turned to the two men who had originally raised their glasses to toast Pei Shaoze.
"President Pei usually doesn't talk much. President Ye, Mr. Ren, let me toast you both!"
With that, she proactively clinked glasses with the two men.
Then she tilted her head back and downed her drink.
At this point, this seemed like the best possible outcome.
Taking the cue from Su Banxia, the two men forced stiff smiles and drank their glasses.
As for the atmosphere afterward, it was less awkward but still far from pleasant.
The conversation between Pei Shaoze and Ye Hengtian had been going poorly from the start. Eventually, Pei Shaoze simply stopped talking.
Instead, he deliberately steered the topic toward Su Banxia.
Pei Shaoze finished the red wine in his glass, glanced at Ye Lan, then looked at Su Banxia. "Banxia, I remember a few days ago, you were inexplicably slapped by someone in the company. Why?"
Banxia?
Su Banxia: "..."
She still couldn't wrap her head around this man's train of thought.
She simply nodded along. "What happened?"
Bringing this up in such a setting was clearly inappropriate. The others didn't know Pei Shaoze's intentions, but Su Banxia could guess about seventy or eighty percent. He was mentioning it because it involved the Ye family.
She didn't know how he had found out.
But Su Banxia had no intention of lying. She just said calmly, "I had a minor argument with someone in the company, so..."
As she spoke, Ye Lan's face turned deathly pale.
She lowered her head, almost able to guess the recent moves Pei Shaoze had made against the Ye family.
But why?
What was so good about a woman like Su Banxia?
What made her worthy of his protection?
The others didn't understand why he had suddenly brought this up, so they remained silent.
Hearing that Su Banxia had been hit by someone, Gu Feifei was delighted. She was very interested in hearing how this bitch had been dealt with.
Seeing that Su Banxia had stopped talking, Pei Shaoze took a sip of his drink and looked at her. "Was it someone from the company who did it?"
Su Banxia shook her head. "No."
"Who?"
He asked casually, but the coldness in his eyes revealed his true thoughts.
Su Banxia glanced at him, then at the others. Gu Feifei seemed eager to hear more, Ren Yuan was half-squinting, and Ye Hengtian was looking at her with a smile, his gaze deep and unreadable.
She looked at Pei Shaoze, who was leaning back on the sofa, his long frame reclining lazily, looking carefree.
Su Banxia lowered her eyes and said, "An outsider."
"Name."
He seemed determined to make her say it.
But at that moment, Su Banxia didn't want to. She didn't understand Pei Shaoze's thoughts, but regarding Ye Lan's feelings for him, she didn't think it was a good thing for someone's affection to be trampled on.
So, she said, "President Pei, I haven't been with the company long. I don't really know her."
Ye Lan had expected Su Banxia to directly complain to Pei Shaoze about how she had bullied her back then. But now, she had brushed it off lightly.
Looking at her, Ye Lan was momentarily stunned.