Chapter 36

Li Shaoze saw everyone at the table drink, including Pei Zeyan. He was the only one who ordered soda.

Qin Meili had died for two years now. He still followed her rules but the recent visit at her grave and his impending succession made him feel quite worse. He didn't know how to deal with such bizarre emotion because his emotions had always been secured at Country E, comfortably hiding himself.

When he came back here, he became easily emotional. He didn't quite like the way he was now. There were too many people and so much variables.

"Do you have allergy reaction to alcohol, Li Shaoze?" Shi Yuan asked, unable to hide his curiosity.

Li Shaoze was staring at his own glass of soda when he replied absentmindedly, "Not an allergy but it's similar,"

"Really? So you can't drink for the rest of your life?" Qi Xifeng the insensitive guy, asked for more information with innocent eyes.

Perhaps because he was in the midst of thinking about something rather complex, Li Shaoze actually answered without thinking, "I last drank around 12 years ago. And it didn't end well,"

Pei Zeyan pursed his lips, where everyone else fell silent. Maybe Li Shaoze had tried to drink too much and was too drunk that he had made some irrevocable mistakes back then? Maybe he became overly violent to people? Or he turned weird and caused so much trouble?

Many assumptions floated in the others' mind but none was closer to the real truth.

"Woah... is that so? What else did you abstain from, Li Shaoze? Do you even smoke?" Qi Xifeng became interested. He leaned on the table and chattered.

"I don't," Li Shaoze answered honestly. He gave off an impression of a robot, answering one sentence per question.

"Wow... truly a man of steel- ack!" before Qi Xifeng could say more, Fu Moran had struck his elbow.

"It's a matter of choice, Xifeng. Don't meddle," he said sternly.

Qi Xifeng pouted, "What's wrong with you? I'm just saying!"

"Well, I also never drank when I played sports during my younger years back then. It helped a lot in muscle building and stamina," Fu Moran justified, trying to tell Li Shaoze that even if he didn't drink, it was fine because it was his choice to do so.

***

Li Shaoze arrived home after the impromptu invitation at the club. He shook his head while recalling that embarrassing situation. He must have caused the atmosphere to become weird.

Sigh, he must have appeared so cold and hard to befriend. He was more than sure that Pei Zeyan's friends would not invite him over for the second time again.

'That would be great, actually,' Li Shaoze went to take a shower before bed. He ignored Li Junfeng who was flying near him.

The next day he woke up, he saw a text message form an unknown number. It wrote 'Are you free today? Come have lunch with us at our house,'

Even though he hadn't saved his number yet, Li Shaoze didn't have to guess who the sender was. It should be Pei Zeyan.

Li Shaoze's brow was furrowed to the extreme. He really didn't know what to say in order to reply to the message. Should he say he would be unavailable? Busy? Or that something came up?

"Sigh..." he shook his head, and the content of the message was accidentally read by Li Junfeng who was sticking very close to his back. He soon raised his brows and convinced Li Shaoze to attend.

"It won't be a loss for you! You should just go," he said and then continued while nodding, as if it had already been decided.

"They're your new neighbors after all. We should show decorum!"

Li Shaoze's mouth twitched when he heard that logic but he didn't want to go against Li Junfeng. This kind of small request, he would do it.

"Okay," he finally resigned to his fate.

Soon, he was already standing in front of the Pei residence. He felt awkward but he tried to act natural. He didn't want to be labeled as someone who didn't have social skills, especially in front of Li Junfeng's former in laws.

Li Shaoze was wearing clothes handpicked by Li Junfeng. He obviously didn't get the idea why Li Junfeng would bother to choose his clothes just for a simple visit to the Pei's. He didn't know that Li Junfeng wanted for him to appeal to the Pei's with his appearance. First impression to the elders was important!

The one who opened the door was Xu Hua, who was the most excited by Li Shaoze's presence. Her eyes trailed over his entire body from up to down as she walked closer to Li Shaoze.

Li Shaoze felt goosebumps all over his arms and he began to regret coming over. Suddenly, Xu Hua went towards him and hugged him unceremoniously, which caused him to jolt in surprise.

"It's nice meeting you for the first time! How are you? Have you had breakfast? What did you do before coming here?" several barrages of questions were fed towards Li Shaoze and he naturally didn't know how to answer.

When she realized he was uncomfortable, she 'unhugged' herself from him and said, "Oh. Was that too sticky for the first time? Nevermind, come on in!"

Li Shaoze didn't get the chance to say anything as he was dragged by his hand to come inside. As he followed after her, his eyes unconsciously trailed over her clasped hand that had a bit of creases of an old lady, and his slightly bigger palm under it.

For some reason, he felt her hand was so warm.

"Let me introduce you to my husband, Pei Jin," Xu Hua laughed as she motioned to Pei Jin.

Li Shaoze glanced at a man who was sitting at the single sofa, his eyes were deep and his face was just the exact copy as Pei Zeyan. He was just a bit older but he seemed like the perfect older version of the man. His aura was rather tamed and he looked approachable at first sight, the total opposite of Li Qinfeng who would automatically frown the moment his and Li Shaoze's eyes met.

Pei Jin stood up slowly and he walked over. His stance was domineering but subdued. Li Shaoze knew he was the famous person behind Pei Holdings, a man who could maintain neutrality and objectivity in the business community and came up winning everything without lifting a finger.

"It's good having you here, Shaoze," Pei Jin smiled. His smile was unnoticeable but the way he grinned was just like his wife, Xu Hua.

"I'm flattered to be invited," Li Shaoze held out a hand for a handshake, his bearing polite and restrained.

"I'm Pei jin. Just call us uncle and aunty Pei," hearing this, Li Shaoze felt conflicted. How could he call someone who he just met an intimate tittle like uncle and aunty? Even he had a hard time calling Liu Gang, the person he had had a decade of relationship with, another tittle other than 'chairman'.

Liu Gang would correct him if he ever called him chairman so Li Shaoze had been trying to call him uncle in a few occasions. But it was still awkward.

"Ai... we're not strangers. You should call us uncle and aunty, okay? We're neighbors plus we know Junfeng too," Xu Hua seemed to recognized Li Shaoze's struggle so she smiled and tried to reason.

When Li Junfeng was mentioned, Li Shaoze had no choice but to concede, "Alright..."

"Mom, dad," a quiet, ethereal figure suddenly came downstairs at this moment. With a simple white dress that flowed to her knees, it fluttered with the wind.

Pei Qian tucked her hair behind her ear as she came down the stairs. Her white face was clear without makeup and her eyes held raw interest towards Li Shaoze, the newcomer. When her eyes met him, they bent like a crescent moon, which showed that it was a pleasure to see him today.