My Weak Lover Became A Weird Boss - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: I Think You’re Tired of This Life

Wen Zhu, lick your lips…

As a result, Pei Qingshan’s arm received a deep bite mark from a speechless Wen Zhu. It remained there, boldly displayed, even when he woke up during the day for a video conference.

The eye-catching tooth marks were branded onto the outer curve of his arm like a reddened stamp. The man sat in his loungewear, lounging lazily on the sofa while listening to reports. His sharp, deep eyes were hidden beneath his messy hair, making him look like a sated lion finally willing to cease fire.

“Commander, are you injured?” A fresh recruit broke the eerie but knowing atmosphere of the meeting.

“Don’t pry into the Commander’s private affairs!” the Adjutant immediately barked with severity.

The recruit froze, eyes wide with “clear and stupid” bewilderment, and hurriedly apologized in shame.

From the screen came the slow, drawling voice of the “Light of Humanity,” sounding disapproving: “Adjutant Liao, why be so harsh to our newcomer? You have no sense of colleague camaraderie.”

“…”

Pei Qingshan casually lifted his arm: “You mean this? I haven’t been home in a while; my spouse is just a bit clingy.”

“…”

“Really, for a grown man, what’s the big deal about a business trip? It’s like he lost his backbone, sticking to me like life and death depends on it, worrying about this and that.” Pei Qingshan clicked his tongue. “It’s quite a headache.”

Who asked you?

The polite smile on Adjutant Liao’s face was nearly crumbling. It’s a public meeting, a public meeting—I have to give this guy named Pei some face as the Commander.

But while he was giving Pei Qingshan face, did this man look like he actually wanted it?

Why are you showing off to your subordinates who are still stuck at the Security Headquarters working overtime?!

For the 34th time this year, Adjutant Liao decided he was going to flip the table and quit.

The next second, a pair of long, straight legs appeared on screen.

Beside the black casual pants hung a porcelain-white wrist. Blue-purple veins crisscrossed beneath the skin, fitting the sickly complexion of the Commander’s frail “Little Mister”—though the owner of this wrist was clearly not in a good mood today.

The officers squeezed into the meeting felt the air in the Commander’s camera feed turn strangely stagnant for an instant.

“Pei Qingshan,” a cold, low voice rang out, tinged with a lingering hoarseness. The next moment, that hand reached out with swift precision and grabbed the Light of Humanity by the earlobe, his fingertips applying unyielding pressure. “It’s early morning and you haven’t washed the dishes or mopped the floor. Are you planning a rebellion?”

Due to the specialized nature of their profession, the remote equipment they used for meetings was equipped with security-grade shielding. In other words, in Wen Zhu’s eyes, Pei Qingshan was just sitting in the living room doing absolutely nothing after waking up early, refusing to even touch the dishes.

“…!”

Adjutant Liao was horrified.

He… he just lifted the Commander by the ear like it was nothing?

The meeting went dead silent. Beady eyes darted everywhere at the ceiling, at the floor anywhere but the screen. The probability of losing one’s job after witnessing the Commander being “domestic-violenced” might not be 100%, but it was definitely not zero!

The next second, the video conference was unilaterally cut off by the tyrant on the other side.

Adjutant Liao and the subordinates stared at the blackened screen, which reflected back their gossipy and hungry faces. They belatedly controlled their facial muscles, coughed twice, and maintained the Commander’s reputation with professional dignity: “Stop worrying about the Commander’s household affairs! Think more about how to take down more Aberrants and raise your KPIs!”

To be fair, with Professor Wen’s “Lin Daiyu-like” fragile constitution, his pinching couldn’t actually hurt. However, being pulled by the ear in front of his subordinates was indeed a significant blow to Pei Qingshan’s masculine pride.

“I was working!” the head of the household defended himself.

Wen Zhu let out a scoff: “So advanced? You police officers now just stare into thin air and the bad guys tie themselves up like dumplings and drop themselves off at the station?”

“…”

Professor Wen licked his lips and realized he had “poisoned” himself with his own words.

Pei Qingshan quickly called for a professional cleaner, but he didn’t tell Wen Zhu—this man’s germaphobia was so bizarre that even psychologists couldn’t figure it out. During the first two years of their acquaintance, Wen Zhu wouldn’t even acknowledge him once they got out of bed; the entire house was spotless and strictly partitioned. Yet, in certain aspects, Wen Zhu didn’t seem like someone with a germaphobia at all.

“Don’t you have an early class? I’ll drive you to the university.” Pei Qingshan caught a glimpse of the sports jacket draped over Wen Zhu’s arm and remarked casually, “When did you buy that? I don’t think I’ve seen you wear it.”

Wen Zhu clearly didn’t want to talk: “I bought it recently.”

“Is that so? It doesn’t look like your style.”

“What is ‘my style’?” Wen Zhu looked up at him.

Pei Qingshan opened his mouth but paused. He searched his memories, only to realize that most of the images he had of Wen Zhu were… without clothes.

For these two, who had been married for seven years, whether you called them an old married couple or “sharing a bed but dreaming different dreams,” their understanding of each other was evidently quite superficial.

While Professor Wen was packing his things, Pei Qingshan went to the balcony to have a cigarette. The phone in his pocket vibrated.

“Oho! Boss Pei, haven’t seen you in a while. How have you been?”

Pei Qingshan was expressionless: “Do you know how to spell the word ‘vacation’?”

He had just been scolded during a video conference because of a work hand-off!

“A Hybrid was found near Linjing University,” hearing that the “King of Hell” was in a foul mood, the voice on the other end immediately switched to a concise work mode. “Suspected amphibian type.”

Pei Qingshan crushed the cigarette in his palm: “Did you send a team to clear it?”

“The Hybrid was already dead when it was discovered.”

“Who did it?”

“Unknown. However, we found an eyewitness—a student from the Physical Education department at Linjing University.”

“Interrogated?”

“He says… he has amnesia.”

Pei Qingshan scoffed, amused: “What did the polygraph say?”

“The polygraph screamed. Loudly. Incredibly loudly.” The voice on the other end was also speechless. “The Hybrid was found at midnight yesterday. Its mutated giant tongue had been ripped out, the root of the tongue was torn, and there was a puncture wound from a steel rebar through its body. I’ve sent the photos to you.”

He concluded: “We currently suspect it wasn’t human work.”

Linjing was the capital, a Safe Zone with a massive population and heavy military presence. Generally, it was rare for such Aberrants to suddenly appear in public view.

The photo clearly showed the Aberrant’s death was both brutal and efficient. Viscous blood was splattered everywhere, and the twisted, shriveled blood-tongue lay limp on the ground in the distance.

This was very similar to the mutual slaughter between Aberrants that Pei Qingshan had seen at the edge of the abyss cold-blooded, ruthless, primitive, and a savage “you-die-or-I-die” struggle. They had no mercy for their own kind; or rather, Aberrants simply lacked such complex emotions.

This meant that if the suspicion was correct, there was currently a monster in Linjing far more dangerous than this amphibian Hybrid, hiding among the crowds.

It was an truly unpleasant theory.

“Ten minutes.” Pei Qingshan paused. “Keep that lying student there for me.”

Just as Wen Zhu stepped out of the bedroom, he was met with Pei Qingshan throwing out the line: “Babe, something came up at the office, I have to head over.”

“Wash the dishes first.”

Pei Qingshan opened the door, emphasizing: “It’s a very urgent job.”

“Is everyone else in this house just a hobbyist?” Professor Wen remained unmoved, saying coolly, “You busy man.”

“I’ll wash them when I get back.”

“Wash them now.”

“Don’t be unreasonable.”

“Say that one more time if you have the guts.”

The air felt as if a vacuum had suddenly sucked part of it out; the airflow stopped dead.

“Do we have to fight right now?” Pei Qingshan frowned slightly.

Generally, tall people subconsciously slouch during daily conversations because they usually need to keep their eye level aligned with the person they are talking to as a sign of humility and friendliness.

But the guy named Pei was clearly not “general.” He found it perfectly normal that others had to tilt their heads back or stretch their necks to talk to him. His naturally thin, sharp eyes cast a glance that carried an innate, awe-inspiring contempt—a highly superior and scrutinizing gesture.

He was like a bright, rational, and heartless mirror that left you speechless.

Perhaps it was this look that added fuel to Wen Zhu’s already burning rage, as he also let out a cold laugh: “You go on business trips for one or two months at a time, and when you’re home for a few hours, you have work again”

“Pei Qingshan, I think you’re tired of living this life.”

The clearly articulated sentence echoed through the empty living room. The two had been “respectfully” married for many years; this was the first time in seven years Wen Zhu had said something so harsh.

Pei Qingshan was stunned for a moment: “I didn’t…”

“Speaking of which, half the time you’re on those trips would be enough for you to start two more families outside.” Wen Zhu clearly had no patience left for explanations, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Wen Zhu, what the hell do you mean?” Pei Qingshan’s face darkened as he gritted his teeth. “You suspect me of cheating?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Isn’t that exactly what you meant?”

“Don’t you know the answer yourself?” Wen Zhu frowned as he scanned him. “What kind of civil servant goes on business trips like you do?”

At least so far, Professor Wen’s suspicion was logical, reasonable, and legally sound.

Pei Qingshan’s pitch-black eyes stared at him unblinkingly, clearly infuriated by the accusation: “You suspect I have someone else out there?”

“Shouldn’t I?”

“I’m out there working myself to death to support this family, and you say I’m cheating?”

After years of dominating the corridors of power, Pei Qingshan was, for the first time, reduced to a furious human “repeat button” in a non-logical negotiation commonly known as an argument—before he even realized it.

“…I don’t want to talk about this right now.”

Wen Zhu opened his mouth and then closed it. After a moment, he instinctively wanted to explain a bit, but then he heard Pei Qingshan say in a low voice: “Then let’s talk about something else.”

“That jacket isn’t yours, is it?”

The topic took a sharp, jagged turn.

Pei Qingshan glanced down at the jacket on Wen Zhu’s arm. When he made deductions about an object, he was clearly far more logical and methodical than when he was arguing with Wen Zhu.

“It’s obviously not your usual size. The logo is a brand for a very young demographic—what, is he a student? There’s a woody fragrance sprayed on that sports jacket; it seems he valued your meeting quite highly. The scent hasn’t dissipated—were you in a very confined space? The bite mark on your collarbone from an adult male isn’t shallow. Tsk… you must have spent a long time trying to cover it up last night.”

“So, why don’t you tell me where you were during those four to five hours yesterday when I couldn’t reach you?”

He was an expert at seizing every inconsistent detail and piecing together a chain of precise, aggressive interrogations skills usually reserved for cunning and heinous criminals.

But Wen Zhu wasn’t one.

The only thing in the air was the sound of their heavy heartbeats during the standoff and the sound of Wen Zhu’s gaze shifting away first, admitting defeat in this particular battle of wits. Neither side was willing to back down.

Wen Zhu suddenly realized that this marriage seemed to be a struggle for both of them to sustain. The soreness in his body hadn’t faded; the clock hands ticked forward with a rhythmic “drip-drop.” The atmosphere was quiet.

The sound of a door handle turning at the end of the long hallway sounded incredibly piercing.

“Bye-bye, Daddy!”

“Aww, be good at home with Mommy, okay? Daddy will take you out for a big dinner after work…”

It was the warm farewell ritual of their neighbors, occurring right on schedule.

The neighbor, Mr. Zhang, saw Wen Zhu. Seeing the two of them standing at their door like pillars, he greeted them friendly: “Professor Wen, haven’t left for class yet?”

Seeing Pei Qingshan standing by the door, he said with surprise: “Oh, Mr. Pei! Long time no see!”

“…Zhang, heading to work?”

Pei Qingshan leaned against the doorframe and put a cigarette in his mouth. Seeing the child huddled in the mother’s arms, he paused and didn’t light it.

“Yeah—what’s up with you two? You don’t look quite right.”

Mr. Zhang began to sense something. Why were they both wearing such sour faces so early in the morning?

“It’s nothing, just messing around.” Wen Zhu looked up, his expression already back to normal. He glanced at his watch and reminded: “You’re going to be late, Zhang.”

“Oh, look at you!” The neighbor’s wife gave Zhang a light slap on the back with practiced insight. “Professor Wen needs to get to work!”

Pei Qingshan stood up straight: “I’ll take you…”

“No need, I’ll take the campus shuttle.” Wen Zhu walked into the elevator without looking back.

Pei Qingshan looked at Wen Zhu’s profile as it was about to be cut off by the closing elevator doors. It felt as if the argument just now was a hallucination, yet also as if a long time had passed and the harsh words had already turned into a pile of grey-black ruins.

There was only that face of his, forever composed seeming gentle to everyone, yet truly intimate with no one.

The elevator doors slowly slid shut. Until the familiar face was reduced to a vertical line, the two people inside and outside the door never met eyes again.