Ah! The Villains I Forced to Turn Evil Can Read My Mind

Pei Buxian hung up the phone with a puzzled expression just as a message popped up on his phone—

Pei Yuan: "@everyone, come home immediately, there's a major situation at home."

Pei Che: "Busy."

Pei Fengnong: "I'm in a meeting. What's so urgent? Did Pei Buxian fall in love with Xia Xuechun?"

Pei Youchuan: "If it's just about that, I don't have time to go back right now. Besides, didn't we agree that if Pei Buxian falls for Xia Xuechun, we'd send him to a mental hospital? So just send him there."

Pei Ci: "Which mental hospital? I can have my assistant send flowers to visit him."

Pei Mu: "Same here."

Pei Buxian: "...How badly do you all want me to fall in love with Xia Xuechun?!"

Pei Youchuan: "Oh my, Pei Buxian, you're still in the group? Since you're already in love with Xia Xuechun, you should be kicked out. Sorry about that!"

System notification: [Pei Youchuan has removed you from the group chat.]

Pei Buxian: "????"

System notification: [Pei Yuan has added you back to the group chat.]

Pei Buxian: "...This has nothing to do with me, stop making things up!"

Pei Youchuan: "Well, other than this, what urgent matter requires us to go back? We're very busy, we don't have time to waste here with you."

Pei Yuan: "Qiao Chuchu almost got hit by a car, was unconscious in the hospital, and just got discharged. Can that get you to come?"

...

...

...

The group fell silent for a minute.

The other five replied in unison: "We'll handle our current business and be home in an hour."

Pei Buxian: "? Weren't you all busy?"

The five: "We're only busy when it comes to you."

Pei Buxian: "???"

For some reason, he felt an inexplicable anger rising within him.

He turned around irritably to check if Qiao Chuchu was following.

Qiao Chuchu was lost in thought and accidentally bumped into his chest, looking up in confusion.

Her reddish-brown curls were slightly messy, making her look like a carefree witch from a fairy tale.

Pei Buxian: "..."

Qiao Chuchu looked at him puzzled: "What's wrong?"

Pei Buxian didn't say anything, just gave her an odd look for a moment before turning away.

Qiao Chuchu was bewildered and followed a few steps behind him. Suddenly, Pei Buxian came to his senses, pulled off his own scarf, and roughly wrapped it around her.

He bundled her up like a zongzi, covering her head and ears, then pulled up her hood before walking away without looking back.

Qiao Chuchu stood there with the warm scarf, feeling surprisingly touched.

[The sun must be rising from the west today! Pei Buxian actually knows to keep me warm? Last time when I fainted in front of him, he didn't even bat an eye.]

Pei Buxian paused his steps: "Hurry up and follow me!"

Qiao Chuchu snapped back to reality and quickly ran to his side: "Coming!"

Pei Buxian frowned impatiently, watching as Qiao Chuchu, wrapped up like a zongzi in his scarf, playfully ran toward him, flashing him a carefree smile.

His eyes brightened slightly, and the corner of his mouth twitched almost imperceptibly before he continued walking toward the parking lot.

A young girl waiting nearby for her test results was reading a novel on her phone, her voice melting with emotion: "Every time I read Buxian's works, I feel like he puts such genuine emotion into his female lead."

Another young man nodded in agreement: "He must have a girl named Qiao Chu in his life. The female lead in all his books is Qiao Chu."

The girl was shocked: "In every book?"

The young man nodded: "Yes, the male leads may change, but Qiao Chu remains constant. She's the goddess of many readers!"

Meanwhile, on the girl's phone, a passage from the novel read—

[After not seeing Qiao Chu for a long time, Zhang Shuo found that she hadn't aged at all, with her fluffy reddish-brown curls reaching down to her waist, always messy, with a Staedtler pencil sharpened needle-thin tucked behind her ear. Yet this appearance never looked unkempt; rather, it gave Zhang Shuo a strange thought.]

[If the Little Mermaid had legs, she must have looked just like Qiao Chu.]

[Except this little mermaid wasn't good at singing, but rather at drawing and fighting.]

Back at home, Pei Buxian silently watched as Qiao Chuchu went upstairs to rest.

He put down the West Highland Terrier and, after some hesitation, headed to the kitchen.

Little Xie, who was in charge of the kitchen, was surprised to see him: "Mr. Seventh?"

Pei Buxian said nothing, washed his hands, and started baking a cake.

Qiao Chuchu, staying on the second floor, caught a whiff of an indescribable sweetness.

She came thumping down the stairs: "Is someone making dessert in the kitchen?"

Little Xie was about to answer when Pei Buxian slammed the kitchen door shut with lightning speed and even locked it!

"Don't tell her what I'm doing!" Pei Buxian threatened Little Xie fiercely: "Got it?!"

Little Xie was startled, finding it strange, but nervously nodded anyway.

Qiao Chuchu walked to the kitchen door and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge.

There was clearly the sweet smell of cake coming from inside.

She asked curiously: "Is someone cooking in there?"

Pei Buxian immediately tensed up.

Little Xie, being quick-witted, took out her phone and typed: [Don't worry, sir! Leave it to me!]

She went to the kitchen door: "I'm sorry, Miss Qiao, I'm baking cookies right now. Would you like me to bring some to your room with tea later?"

Qiao Chuchu walked away disappointed: "No need, I don't really like cookies. Next time you make desserts, maybe consider making a strawberry cake, I'd really like that."

Pei Buxian froze, looking at the green grapes he had prepared.

He immediately threw the grapes into the trash bin!

Little Xie: "?!"

The grapes were innocent!

She whispered: "Sir, unwanted fruit can be returned to the kitchen storage instead of being thrown away."

Pei Buxian was silent for a moment, then picked them up: "I forgot."

Little Xie: "..."

He put them in a basket: "Give them to Pei Youchuan, he's missing a few screws, he won't be able to tell the difference."

Little Xie: "????"

Why was this young master who couldn't even handle such simple things in the kitchen?

Was he trying to make a nuclear bomb?

She watched nervously as Pei Buxian took out strawberries and stepped forward: "Let me wash those."

She was truly afraid he might throw the strawberries away too.

Pei Buxian coldly replied: "I'll do it myself."

Little Xie: "?"

Pei Buxian carefully washed and cut the strawberries, skillfully making the cake.

Little Xie stood there watching in a daze the whole time.

Pei Buxian paused while piping cream and turned to give her a cold look: "Stop staring at me."

Little Xie: "..."

She awkwardly turned around and took out her phone to post on Xiaohongshu.

She was a small internet celebrity blogger whose profile read: [Kitchen maid working for seven handsome young masters.]

She occasionally posted short stories about the seven Pei brothers, anonymously sharing their bizarre incidents.

Though many people questioned whether her stories were real, the unique content made her quite popular, with many followers waiting for her updates.

She typed frantically, with the title: [The autistic Seventh Young Master seems to be making a strawberry cake for his eighth sister who hasn't been home for years!]

[Everyone, can you believe it? The Seventh Young Master, who's always been lazy and reluctant to talk to people, suddenly burst into the kitchen and started baking a cake without a word. When the Eighth Miss smelled it and asked, he got super nervous and locked the kitchen door, not wanting her to know.]

[When the Eighth Miss came by, I lied about baking cookies (covering for the Seventh Young Master). The Eighth Miss left quite disappointed, mentioning that she'd like a strawberry cake sometime. The Young Master had originally planned to make a grape cake, but after hearing what the Eighth Miss said, he threw the grapes straight into the trash bin! (After I quietly reminded him, the Young Master picked them up and said to give them to the Third Young Master.)]

The post included a picture of the plump, large grapes sitting lonely in the basket.