Chapter 36
Chapter 36
Pei Yuming looked at him with a complicated expression, saying nothing, as if waiting for him to confess.
Pei Yucheng couldn’t stand his scrutinizing gaze, so he turned away to fiddle with the tea set on the coffee table.
Pei Yuming grabbed his arm as he was about to pour water and said quietly, “I’m not drinking. Don’t pour.”
“Oh.” Pei Yucheng rubbed his hands together and shuffled to the side a bit.
The two brothers were speechless for a moment, and the room was very quiet.
Seeing that his younger brother ultimately showed no intention of speaking, Pei Yuming felt a bit disappointed. As expected, his previous obedience was just an act.
After a long while, Pei Yuming spoke again. “If I’m asking you, I must already know something. Ah Cheng, I still hope you’ll tell me yourself. I’m your big brother. Whatever it is, we can talk it over and solve it together. But if you deliberately hide it from me, I’ll really get angry. You know my temper. I’m giving you one last chance.”
Pei Yucheng’s eyes flickered, but he still didn’t dare meet his brother’s gaze. He licked his lips, thinking about what he had done behind his back, and ultimately didn’t dare make a sound.
His reasoning was that if he didn’t say anything, he might get away with it by luck; if he spoke, there would truly be no room to maneuver.
Pei Yuming was utterly disappointed. He calmly dropped a bombshell. “You’ve known for a long time that your sister-in-law’s affair partner was Lu Dong. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Pei Yucheng was stunned. He never imagined that his big brother would know about this too.
Of course, his refusal to confess to the gambling was also because he was afraid his big brother would find out he’d asked his sister-in-law for money.
In his view, although his big brother was a bit quiet, he actually valued emotions a great deal. As for money, while important, if he had to choose only one, he would definitely choose loyalty.
If he discovered the debt, he might get scolded fiercely, but if he found out he’d helped others deceive him, then it was over. A beating would be unavoidable.
So when Pei Yucheng heard him ask this, he immediately panicked. As he got up to move away from his big brother, he stammered, “B-b-big brother, you already know?”
But today, his big brother was calmer than he expected. He just stared at him fiercely. “I want to hear the truth.”
Pei Yucheng avoided his brother’s stern gaze, lowered his head, and was silent for a while before whispering, “On the evening of Qixi, I made plans with a few friends to have a seafood buffet at a hotel. The hotel’s buffet restaurant was on the first floor, an open-style layout. Our table was diagonally opposite the hotel entrance. Although it was far, I recognized my sister-in-law and Lu Dong as soon as they walked in. They were holding hands, walking towards the reception desk together. I was so angry I wanted to go stop them right then, but I remembered my friends were there. If I went over like that, who knows how the story would spread. I could only wait for a while, make an excuse to go to the restroom, and then follow them.”
“And then?” As Pei Yuming listened to his brother’s description, the conflicts he’d deliberately pushed to the back of his mind were stirred up again. He felt a faint swelling in his temples, caused by excessive anger.
Pei Yucheng glanced at his brother’s expression and continued, “When I went upstairs, as soon as I stepped out of the elevator, I ran into my sister-in-law. It turned out she’d seen me when she entered too. She was afraid I’d go straight to you, so she wanted to come down and stop me.”
These were details he hadn’t heard before. Pei Yuming listened especially attentively. He deliberately asked, “So it was she who persuaded you not to tell me?”
He didn’t even notice that when he asked this question, both his expression and tone bore an uncanny resemblance to Cao Lei’s.
As expected, his brother jumped at the excuse. “Uh… yeah, more or less. Also, I was afraid that if I told you directly, you wouldn’t be able to take it. I know you can’t leave my sister-in-law, and besides, this kind of thing would affect your relationship. She promised me then that she’d never see Lu Dong again. Did she break her word and you found out?”
Pei Yuming didn’t answer him. Instead, he mocked, “Whatever she says, you just go along with it.”
“No,” Pei Yucheng hastily denied. “I was mainly worried about you. Besides, even if you found out, would you really divorce your wife? You’d just end up arguing every day and then compromising, making the household so chaotic that Xiaobei wouldn’t even want to come home. I admit I kept this from you, but Big Brother, honestly, I did it for your own good. You can’t hold a grudge against me!”
If he hadn’t known the truth beforehand, he might have actually believed what his brother said.
Maybe it was a big brother’s natural bias, but for all these years, in his eyes, his brother had been someone with no great ambitions, a bit lazy, but honest and sincere.
But those words just now had completely shattered that illusion. Add in the previous time he had helped Lu Dong against him, and now this unabashed lying-it made him feel like the person in front of him was a stranger. Was this really his brother? Such distortion of facts, such smooth talk-he was practically a second Lu Dong!
Pei Yuming raked his hands through his hair, then suddenly roared, “For my own good?! How dare you say that! Ah Cheng, I really never noticed-your ability to twist the truth is even better than Lu Dong’s!”
When his brother suddenly exploded, Pei Yucheng was startled. His eyes darted around nervously as he quickly stepped back, afraid his older brother might chase him and beat him up.
“Hey, Big Brother, what’s wrong with you? Did someone say something to you?”
Seeing his brother’s guilty look and stubborn mouth, Pei Yuming felt rage boiling up. “If you had a clear conscience, why would you be afraid of what others tell me?”
“I’m innocent, bro! How can you believe others but not your own blood brother!”
Pei Yuming pointed a finger at him and said through gritted teeth, “Fine. Then give me your phone right now. I want to see what you’ve been up to lately. You said you haven’t been gambling, right? I’ll know once I take a look.”
“I’m not a kid, getting my phone checked by my parents!” Pei Yucheng quickly unplugged his charging phone and, right in front of his brother, stuffed it into his pocket, acting like a complete rascal.
Pei Yuming was so angry his hands were shaking. He grabbed something from the sofa and hurled it-only after it landed did he realize it was the TV remote.
Pei Yucheng dodged his brother’s sudden attack, his expression sour. Both of them were men past forty, yet whenever his older brother got angry, he still treated him like a child. Thank goodness there was no one else around; if anyone had seen, where would his face go?
“Give me your phone, now!” Pei Yuming ordered.
“Big Brother, I really didn’t lie to you!”
“Then why won’t you let me see your phone?”
“This is personal property. I have the right to refuse.”
Pei Yuming nodded, gritting out, “Fine, personal property!”
With that, he stood up and stormed straight to the kitchen. He had intended to grab a knife to scare him, but after searching around and not finding one, he finally came out holding an iron spatula.
“Ah Cheng, I can do without seeing your phone. But today you have to honestly confess all the things you’ve done, or don’t blame me for not going easy on you!”