The Self-cultivation of Omega Running with the Ball

Wen Qiu took a deep breath and whispered, "I won't tear it down..."

"what happened?"

Wen Qiu's eyes were red, "You must want to see me cry..."

I've prepared so much, of course I want to make you cry, Pei Du looked at him with a smile. He looked really good when he cried, his eyes covered with mist, like green lotus seeds hidden in lotus petals.

"No, there are still a lot of good stuff in there. Let me help you."

As he spoke, he knelt on the other side of the blanket and opened the gifts with Wen Qiu. It took them a full hour to empty the big box. Pei Du explained the origin of each gift and the thoughts he put into it.

The largest item was a rabbit doll. Wen Qiu took it apart bit by bit and hugged it full at once. He buried his head in the doll's belly and smelled its sweet smell. "Why did you give me this?"

Pei Du looked at him with a smile, seeing his legs crossed and wrapped around the rabbit's waist, his soft hair buried in the rabbit's furry belly, like two young and harmless animals.

"When I passed by the mall, I saw a balloon shooting booth. The owner said that if you can hit all the balloons at once, you can win the first prize - which is this rabbit."

"You hit them all?"

"The feel of a toy gun is different from that of a real gun, so I was a little uncomfortable at first. It took me several tries before I succeeded." Pei Du spoke calmly about something illegal and criminal.

Wen Qiu listened with great interest, "I was really good at this kind of game when I was a kid. The stall owner would get a headache when he saw me, and would buy me an ice cream and tell me to leave quickly. Haha... But I haven't played this for many years, and I don't know if the feel for it is still there."

Pei Du looked at his expression and knew that he really didn't remember his childhood. Why was he always so generous, easily forgetting and forgiving those sufferings?
His big hand passed over the rabbit's head and rubbed Wen Qiu's head, "Next time I'll take you to the shooting gallery."

"Okay!" Wen Qiu agreed enthusiastically.

The unwrapped gifts piled up all over the floor. Wen Qiu carefully wrapped them up one by one and put them back into the gift boxes.

He then realized that displaying gifts was a technical job. It was actually very cramped to put so many gifts in, and he had to think carefully about how to arrange them, not to mention that Pei Du also put so many white roses in there.

Finally, Wen Qiu found that he couldn't stuff all the gifts back perfectly no matter what he did. There was always a bulge in the corner. He asked Pei Du with a headache: "How long have you kept these things?"

"Including packaging and assembly, it only takes one night." Pei Du said proudly.

Wen Qiu's mind immediately popped up the image of him repairing the treadmill. Thinking of this 1.9-meter-tall ALPHA sitting cross-legged on the carpet in the living room, spending an entire evening folding wrapping paper to stuff gifts into the wrapping paper, that image was truly filled with... tenderness and sweetness.

How could he be so worthy of such a heart? Even if it was a compensation for the hurt, it was far more than he expected. The lake in his heart was filled with melted spring water, rippling warmly. Even though he knew he was beginning to feel dizzy again, he didn't want to wake up this time.

Wen Qiu took two steps forward on his knees, pushed Pei Du down on the carpet, and pressed his chest with a smile to prevent him from getting up: "It took a whole night, but something went wrong. Tell me the truth, why are there only 20 pieces in total?"

"You can count them so clearly." Pei Du let him push him down, then raised his chin slightly to show him the red ribbon tied into a bow around his neck. "Here, this is the last one."

Wen Qiu seemed to be tempted by something and couldn't help but want to remove the bow, just like unwrapping a gift, roughly tearing open the man's exquisite packaging to possess the deepest core inside.

But at this time, Pei Du held his hand and said, "This is the last gift. How about saving it for last? The cake hasn't been cut yet, and the longevity noodles haven't been eaten yet."

Wen Qiu had never eaten longevity noodles. Before his family fell into poverty, his family had never cooked noodles for the birthday boy. He began to yearn for it again: "Okay, cook for me."

The two of them sat down at the dining table, and the dishes prepared by the chef were served one by one, surrounding the big cake in the middle. It was a golden osmanthus-decorated cake with 21 birthday candles.

Then they sang, made wishes, blew out candles, divided the cake, drank and toasted... Pei Du completed every step of the birthday celebration for him very rigorously, and then he personally went into the kitchen and cooked a bowl of longevity noodles for him.

The steaming hot noodles in red soup with chopped green onions were served on the table. Wen Qiu held the bowl of noodles and sniffed, as if he was about to cry. But when Pei Du looked at him carefully, he lowered his head again and began to eat noodles in big mouthfuls.

"Eat slowly, be careful of the heat." Pei Du sat on the other side of the table, holding his chin with one hand and looking at him.

Then he said slowly: "I want to end this relationship with you."

Wen Qiu suddenly raised his head from the noodles, his eyes wide open, looking at him in disbelief.

"I don't want to put a price tag on your companionship. You and I both deserve a better relationship." Pei Du looked at him gently. He hadn't revealed his true feelings to anyone for a long time. "After spending some time together, you should be able to feel that it's difficult for me to establish a close relationship with others... No, it's better to say that it's difficult for me to establish trust."

Influenced by such a family environment, he matured too early and experienced a period of cynicism, jealousy, sensitivity and suspicion. It seemed that after a certain point in adolescence, he no longer trusted anyone. It was like a ship with its doors closed, carrying only passengers who had already boarded, and then exiled itself to the endless sea.

Just like An Yunqi, he is essentially no different from other playboys, but just because he showed up early, he got the ticket for this ship.

But after drifting for too long, there will be a moment when he wants to dock, to open the cabin door and welcome a new passenger - that is a sweet-smelling OMGEA, whose appearance and soul attract people to chase after her. Pei Du was a little excited and even a little nervous. He took the first step very cautiously, "This is just a proposal, you can decide whether to accept it or not. I want to offer you a formal position."

"Position?" Wen Qiu tilted his head curiously. In fact, he thought it would be something else.

"Do you want to hear the truth?"

Wen Qiu pushed his arm: "You say."

"Actually, I've always had a crush on you, and you know that. But I really can't make any promises to you right now, because I'm a very pessimistic person about relationships." Pei Du said frankly, "But I'm also very selfish, and I would like to keep you by my side, and we can slowly build trust, okay?"

"I understand," Wen Qiu nodded. He felt a little guilty when he heard the word "trust". "Actually, I can't be completely honest with you... We still need time."

"Well, it's time to make some adjustments." Pei Du said, taking the document aside and handing it to Wen Qiu, "Open it and take a look."

Wen Qiu flipped open the file and found that it was a contract from Fenghua Entertainment. Because he had not graduated yet, his position was an intern assistant, responsible for assisting the vice president in all official and personal matters.

"The vice president of Fenghua Entertainment?" Wen Qiu looked up at him in disbelief.

"It's just a figurehead." Pei Du said calmly.

Wen Qiu thought about it and realized that it was his family's business. Wouldn't it be easy for him to be a boss? However, this company that was out of his reach was just in the pocket of the man in front of him. While he felt disappointed, his vanity also subtly expanded.

"Assistant Jiang is pregnant, so the assistant position was originally recruited, but I don't think there is anyone more suitable than you." Pei Du continued, "If you want to be a screenwriter in the future, Fenghua Entertainment will be a good internship experience. If you start from freshman year, you can accumulate a lot of valuable experience."

"The salary is 3 a month, so much?" Wen Qiu noticed the salary column. He quickly calculated in his mind, that is 30 hours of companionship time.

It was obvious that this was the friendship price Pei Du offered him. However, there was a world of difference between giving it as a work remuneration and giving it as a sponsor.

From then on, he had the confidence to stay with Pei Du. He was no longer a pet or lover, but a legitimate assistant. Earning money through labor is many times better than exchanging dignity for money.

This man always knew what he was struggling with and what he longed for, and everything depended on whether he wanted to give and how he wanted to give. But even so, Wen Qiu still had to be grateful to him - he gave her so many things, and all he wanted was just illusory love.

"Do you think it's a lot? In fact, compared to the workload, it's not much at all. Just think about the work Assistant Jiang does." Pei Du smiled like a black-hearted capitalist. "Besides, I will severely squeeze your time after get off work and ask you to accompany me to eat, go shopping, and watch movies. You must be mentally prepared for this."

"Can I? I'm not familiar with your company at all," Wen Qiu was madly excited, but hesitant, "I don't know anything about the entertainment industry either..."

"So this is a good learning opportunity. You should first arrange your free time according to your schedule, and then see how many days you can arrange for internship." Pei Du held his cheek, "Don't be afraid, I will teach you step by step. You are a smart and good student, right?"

Wen Qiu's fevered cheeks were held in his palms. She looked at him quietly, and big tears rolled out of her wet eyes and fell like beads from a broken string.

"Why are you crying?" Pei Du asked with amusement. The gift that he had prepared with great care just now didn't make anyone cry, but now this trivial work made people cry.

However, Wen Qiu knew why he was crying.

Before he met Pei Du, his life was nothing but stinking dog shit in the mud, with only endless struggles and rolling. He remembered every moment clearly: his hands and feet were cold and he had a high fever on a winter night, he banged his head against the wall while reviewing for the college entrance examination amid the crying of his children, he counted his thin savings over and over again with red eyes, he quarreled with an auntie over a few cents in the vegetable market, he hid in the bathroom on his first day at work at the club and didn't dare to go out...

But he just got the favor of ALPHA, and suddenly he no longer had to worry about his livelihood. He had money, free time to take care of children, the opportunity to pursue his dreams, and now he could get a dream job.

What came to his mind at that moment was a complex emotion mixed with melancholy, sadness and relief, and perhaps some unspeakable love. All the thoughts condensed together and turned into hot tears.

Pei Du gently stroked his cheek and wiped away his tears. "Don't cry, okay? Finish your noodles first, or they won't taste good."

"Hmm..." Wen Qiu responded with a nasal tone, lowered his head and continued to eat noodles. He drank while eating and finished half a bottle in a blink of an eye.

Pei Du looked at him deeply, still recalling those tears. His thoughts drifted back to the day when the two met for the first time, when Wen Qiu was also bullied by him and cried.

But at that time he was very thin and haggard, like an abandoned breed cat, with drooping ears and tail. Now he has gradually raised him up, making him handsome, well-behaved and docile, which is indeed something to be proud of.

Suddenly, the cell phone vibrated. Pei Du looked down and saw that it was an email from Assistant Jiang.

He raised an eyebrow. It must be something unusual for this woman who put labor laws under her workstation to send an email on a Sunday night.

(End of this chapter)