Extreme Pampering
Chapter 183: The New Year.

Chapter 183: Chapter 183: The New Year.

The day before New Year’s Day, Shen Zhiyi finished recording the evening show and came out late at night. Although it was snowing and the weather was cold, there were still many people out celebrating New Year’s Eve, waiting for the midnight chimes to ring.

She stood by the roadside waiting for her ride, scarf and hat in place, making her unrecognizable even to fans.

A moment later, a McLaren approached her with Pei Yu sitting in the driver’s seat. Seeing her standing outside in the cold, he frowned.

She opened the door and got in, a bit surprised, "Why are you driving?"

"Secretary Qin has a blind date," Pei Yu casually replied, turning up the temperature in the car and reaching out to touch her face. His hand was warm, and only then did his eyebrows relax, "I gave him the day off."

Shen Zhiyi smiled, "Then he definitely deserves the day off."

Not only Secretary Qin was off, but Xiaodong and the housekeeper had taken a few days off too. As a result, the two of them had to settle their dinner at an outside restaurant.

Since it was New Year’s Eve, restaurant seats were in high demand. Shen Zhiyi noticed that almost every restaurant on the street had a queue and was glad that she had booked a table weeks in advance.

She hadn’t told Pei Yu in advance and when they arrived, he realized she had chosen a hot pot restaurant. He turned to look at her, "Aren’t you afraid of being recognized?"

"I reserved a private room," Shen Zhiyi replied with due diligence, "I’m wearing a scarf and hat. They won’t recognize me unless I take them off."

Pei Yu raised an eyebrow, neither endorsing nor dismissing her words, and followed her into the restaurant.

The restaurant was full of customers and the aroma of hot pot filled the air. Once inside, Shen Zhiyi dared not speak for fear of being recognized by her voice. Pei Yu, enjoying the chaos, deliberately teased her.

"It’s quite lively outside, why don’t we eat in the main hall?"

Shen Zhiyi glared at him secretly and tugged at the hem of his coat.

"Hmm?" Pei Yu acted as if he didn’t understand her signal, "Are you willing or not?"

Shen Zhiyi stayed silent, slipping her fingers up his sleeve cuff and pinched his forearm twice, annoyed that he was deliberately causing trouble.

Pei Yu chuckled softly, taking her hand and no longer causing a stir.

However, neither of them noticed that the guests at the table behind them had looked up at them with a somewhat suspicious expression.

Once in the private room, Shen Zhiyi could finally speak.

"You’re so annoying," she tossed her scarf to Pei Yu, asking him to put it away, "If I get recognized, you’ll definitely get caught on camera."

That was actually her biggest concern.

"So what if they take pictures? I’m out in the open," said Pei Yu nonchalantly.

They weren’t having a secret affair; he had nothing to hide.

Shen Zhiyi uttered an "Oh" and deliberately asked, "Then why don’t you post my photos online? You’ve taken so many, and I’m legitimate too."

Pei Yu: "..."

He didn’t post them, of course, because he was possessive. He took the photos for his eyes only, unwilling to share them with others, not even with fans who eagerly called him brother-in-law.

Seeing his expression, Shen Zhiyi knew he had no argument, smiling, "I feel the same way you do, so you’d better take good care of yourself. I don’t want to see your high-definition mugshot online."

Such talk was very effective in mollifying Pei Yu. Sure enough, he nodded in agreement, understanding Shen Zhiyi’s point of view.

However, not half an hour after this conversation, someone knocked on the private room’s door. Thinking it was the waiter, Shen Zhiyi thoughtlessly told them to come in.

Instead, two young girls entered.

Caught off guard while eating, her face bare without any disguise, Shen Zhiyi met their gazes and saw the excitement dawning on their faces, a mix of surprise and resignation in her own.

She waved her hand slightly, "Hello everyone."

The two girls were thrilled, "Zhiyi! It really is you!"

They brought paper and pen over, and Shen Zhiyi obligingly signed for them, asking curiously, "How did you recognize me?"

When she entered the store, she was sure she hadn’t said a word, and her face was well-covered.

"It’s not that we recognized you," the girl said with a smile, "it’s that we recognized your brother-in-law."

"Yeah, yeah," the other girl joined in, "hasn’t brother-in-law’s voice appeared in the livestream before? His voice is very distinct, I recognized it right away!"

Shen Zhiyi silently turned her head to look at Pei Yu, who could only shrug innocently.

How was he to know that fans these days could rival Sherlock Holmes.

"Don’t tell anyone, okay?" Shen Zhiyi whispered. "You didn’t take any pictures of him, right?"

"No, no," the girls shook their heads vigorously. "We understand, you don’t even show us half of brother-in-law’s face on a regular basis, we wouldn’t dare to take pictures without permission."

Shen Zhiyi felt embarrassed to admit it, so she vaguely denied it, "It’s not that I didn’t let you see... He’s just not photogenic, he doesn’t look good in pictures."

The two girls sneakily took another couple of glances at Pei Yu, skeptical of her words.

With a face like that, how bad could he look on camera.

After seeing off the fans, the private room returned to quiet, Pei Yu crossed his arms and his tone lifted slightly, "I’m not photogenic?"

Shen Zhiyi ignored him and said to herself, "It seems that you’ve appeared in my livestreams too often."

To the extent that you could be recognized just by your voice.

Pei Yu, feeling helpless, suggested, "You might as well blame it on the hotpot meal today."

The hotpot was Shen Zhiyi’s idea—blaming the hotpot meant blaming herself, right?

She picked up her chopsticks, "Let’s not blame anyone."

After finishing dinner, the two of them strolled along the roadside, planning to walk to a nearby square to wait for the stroke of midnight.

The snow had stopped, leaving a thin layer of snow on the road. Shen Zhiyi glanced back occasionally, and saw the two clear sets of footprints that stretched from under her feet to behind her, feeling a profound sense of stability and fulfillment from deep within.

The square was filled with many people who had come to celebrate the new year. The arrival of Shen Zhiyi and Pei Yu didn’t attract anyone’s attention, they embraced as they watched the last few seconds of the countdown amidst the crowd.

The chime of the clock signifying the arrival of midnight rang out, and a new year was officially ushered in, as fireworks blossomed brilliantly in the sky.

Shen Zhiyi looked at Pei Yu, "It’s been a year."

Nearly a year had passed since they reunited.

So much had happened over the year: farewells to some people, encounters with others, stepping into a new path in her career, and the destined partner coming into her life—all beyond Shen Zhiyi’s expectations.

"Hmm." Pei Yu interlocked his fingers with hers, the two silver rings on their fingers marking the perfect end of their year.

"Shall we kiss?" Shen Zhiyi asked, her face lifted and her smile brimming.

Surrounded by couples hugging and kissing, neither Shen Zhiyi nor Pei Yu, who were both usually the center of attention, minded blending into the ordinary life, being just another inconspicuous couple.

Like all couples immersed in happiness, they shared a long kiss in the reverberation of the chimes, turning the first page of the new year.