The Man in the Black Sweater - Chapter 10 – Sudden Trouble

Chapter 10 – Sudden Trouble

In such a romantic setting, under soft, intimate lighting—it would have been the perfect atmosphere for a date.

That was exactly what Lin Ru had planned.
But with Luo Xu suddenly tagging along, her well-laid plans were completely ruined.

“This lamb chop is so good!” Luo Xu exclaimed exaggeratedly, savoring bite after bite, clearly loving the dish.

Lin Ru smiled politely. “That’s their signature dish. You made the right choice.”

“Then… can I order another one?” Luo Xu asked hopefully, looking at her with wide, expectant eyes.

Lin Ru, of course, wasn’t stingy about it. In fact, she couldn’t be happier for Luo Xu to keep eating—it meant she wouldn’t interrupt the private time Lin Ru hoped to have later with Pei Yan.

“Of course you can,” she said sweetly.
Though normally, people who dined here would never order two portions of the same main course, it was clear that Luo Xu didn’t frequent places like this—and simply didn’t know the unspoken rules.

Pei Yan interrupted calmly, “Order her a steak instead. Too much lamb isn’t good for you.”

“Steak? That’s fine too,” Luo Xu said easily. She wasn’t picky—anything edible was good enough.

Pei Yan called over a waiter and ordered her another steak.

Luo Xu smiled contentedly as she finished the last bite of her lamb chop, utterly satisfied.

Lin Ru, watching their dynamic, noticed how familiar and natural Pei Yan’s tone was with Luo Xu. It unsettled her. Still, she smiled and asked,
“So, Miss Luo, what do you do for work?”

“I’m currently unemployed,” Luo Xu said bluntly, spearing a lettuce leaf dipped in dressing.

Lin Ru, who had excellent manners, was still caught off guard by such a candid answer. “Then where are you staying right now?”
She couldn’t help but wonder—did she even have a home?

Before Luo Xu could answer, Pei Yan looked up and said, “She’s staying at my place.”

“Your… place?” Lin Ru’s expression froze. She glanced at Luo Xu, who was focused on her salad, then turned back to Pei Yan with a strained smile. “Miss Luo isn’t from City S, is she?”

Swallowing her food, Luo Xu replied, “Technically, my nationality’s American. But I’m Chinese at heart—and I love it here.”

“Oh, I see,” Lin Ru said with a mild laugh, finally making sense of it. “No wonder. Tang Huang studied in the U.S. too, didn’t he?”

“Hehe, yeah…” Luo Xu gave an awkward chuckle.

Dinner, which was harmonious in form but mismatched in spirit, finally came to an end. The three of them headed toward the sports arena.

Luo Xu had picked courtside seats—VIP level. She didn’t actually know which seats offered the best view, but she’d simply chosen the most expensive ones, trusting her instinct that “the pricier, the better.”

Entering through the special VIP passage, they found the arena already buzzing with excitement. The players were warming up, taking turns shooting baskets.

Luo Xu, who thrived on lively atmospheres, grew visibly more animated. The louder and more crowded it got, the more energized she became.

“You see? You two said not to buy this stuff, but look—everyone else has!” Luo Xu said gleefully, pointing toward the stands, clearly pleased that her taste matched that of the enthusiastic crowd.

Pei Yan looked at the little face painting sticker on Luo Xu’s cheek and said, “When you wash your face tonight, don’t cry if you rub the skin off.”

Luo Xu blinked at him, puzzled. “Wow, you really don’t know me at all. I’m a pro at this.”

Pei Yan sneered. “Oh? I might’ve actually underestimated you in that department.”

As the two bickered, they completely ignored Lin Ru sitting beside them. She found it strange—by logic, her nephew’s girlfriend should be polite and reserved around Pei Yan, but he seemed unusually attentive to Luo Xu.

More importantly, he had never spoken to her in that kind of tone before.
Even if it sounded like teasing, it hinted at a kind of familiarity—something more intimate than ordinary acquaintanceship.

A man and a woman, from different generations or not, that kind of ease between them was hard to overlook.

There were three seats in total, which meant one of them had to sit in the middle.
Logically, Pei Yan should have taken that seat—he was the bridge between the two women.

But while he and Luo Xu were busy exchanging jabs, Lin Ru quietly slid into the middle seat and smiled, gesturing to them. “Don’t just stand there—it’s about to start.”

Luo Xu raised an eyebrow but didn’t argue, simply sitting down on Lin Ru’s side.

The game began, and the atmosphere instantly ignited. The home team’s fans were thunderously loud, their cheers practically shaking the arena.

On the court, the players fought fiercely, their bodies slick with sweat and muscles tensing under the bright lights. The energy in the air was intoxicating—it was impossible not to get swept up in it.

Luo Xu locked onto one of the visiting team’s forwards, cheering him on passionately every time he scored. She clapped so hard her palms were turning red.

Lin Ru had thought sitting in the middle would be an advantage—a chance to casually chat with Pei Yan and close the distance between them.
But to her frustration, he seemed completely absorbed in the game, watching with focused intensity, clearly uninterested in small talk.

And on his other side, Luo Xu was even more enthusiastic—so much so that Lin Ru had to tug on her sleeve once or twice, afraid she might actually leap down to the court in excitement.

By halftime, Lin Ru had barely exchanged two sentences with Pei Yan and was starting to feel rather deflated.

Then Luo Xu leaned across Lin Ru, cheeks flushed red from excitement, and called out, “Pei Yan! Did you see that forward from the visiting team? He’s so hot!”

“Not bad,” Pei Yan said, nodding in mild agreement.

“Right?! I knew I had great taste!” Luo Xu said triumphantly, hands on her hips, grinning like she’d just won a prize.

The crowd was so loud and rowdy that her antics didn’t even stand out.

“Sit down and be quiet,” Pei Yan said, sounding half exasperated. “You’re disturbing others.”

“The others are way louder than me—listen.” Luo Xu pointed behind them, where a group of fans were loudly debating the score, their voices booming even louder than hers.

Pei Yan had no response. He simply sighed and let her be.

When the second half began, Luo Xu was tired from all the shouting and kept sipping water. Still, whenever that same visiting team forward scored, she cheered like she was his personal fangirl.

Lin Ru, as someone of a certain social standing, couldn’t afford to behave that way. Though she understood Luo Xu’s excitement, sitting beside her made her feel secondhand embarrassment.

“I can’t hold it anymore—I need to use the bathroom,” Luo Xu said suddenly, getting up and bending slightly as she made her way toward the exit.

“Ah—!”
A wave of deafening screams erupted from the crowd—the home team’s player was about to take a shot.

Luo Xu didn’t want to miss the moment. She turned her head just in time to see—

In the blink of an eye, a fast-spinning ball came flying straight toward her.

“Thud!”

The basketball slammed straight into her face. Luo Xu staggered back several steps, her nose instantly going numb.

“She got hit!” someone shouted. The audience saw it clearly, and even the big screen switched to the scene.

Before Lin Ru could react, the man beside her had already rushed forward.

“Brother Pei…”

The spectators nearby helped Luo Xu up. She tilted her head back, bl00d streaming from her nose. A kind onlooker handed her some tissues.
“Thanks, I’m fine…” she said, waving weakly.

Pei Yan pushed through the crowd and spotted her immediately—eyes watery, face smeared with bl00d.

Seeing his expression darken, Luo Xu raised a hand to wave him off. “I’m fine—it just stings a bit…”

Pei Yan supported her and checked her injury. The player who’d thrown the ball ran over, apologizing profusely.
“I’m so sorry, I’m really sorry—let our team doctor check her.”

The team doctor arrived with a medical kit and examined Luo Xu’s nose. “The bridge isn’t broken, fortunately. Still, I recommend a hospital visit for some medication—it’ll help with the swelling.”

Pei Yan nodded. One of his plainclothes bodyguards appeared discreetly, carrying their coats and Luo Xu’s bag.

“Wait—was it you who threw that ball?” Luo Xu asked, one hand clutching her nose and the other pointing accusingly at the player. The tissue was soaked with bl00d, making her look a little terrifying.

“Yeah, it was me. I’m really sorry. I didn’t see what was happening courtside.” He’d dunked the ball too forcefully and lost control. Knowing his own strength, he felt even more guilty.

Luo Xu gave him a thumbs-up and grinned—well, as much as she could with her swollen face. “I was just cheering for you earlier. Not bad, not bad.”

The player: “……”

He glanced awkwardly at Pei Yan. “She’s… gonna be okay, right?”

“She’s fine,” Pei Yan said flatly.

“Then I—” Before he could finish, Pei Yan had already shielded Luo Xu with one arm, guiding her protectively through the crowd toward the exit.

“Ugh, the bl00d’s flowing back into my mouth…” she muttered, tasting iron.

“Only you could manage to get injured watching a game,” Pei Yan said, helping her into the car and buckling her seatbelt.

“Someone’s bound to get hit sooner or later. If it wasn’t me, it’d be someone else. It’s not exactly something we can control,” Luo Xu said nonchalantly, completely unfazed.

“Stop talking,” Pei Yan ordered, frowning at the bl00d still dripping from her nose.

Luo Xu leaned her head back. “Drive slow, I’m a little dizzy.”

“You’re not concussed, are you?” Pei Yan asked, glancing at her as the car stopped at a red light.

“I can’t shake my head—I’m dizzy,” she said woozily.

“You were already slow. This just makes it worse.”

“……”

At the hospital, the doctor removed the wads of tissue from her nose and examined her carefully. “Good first aid. Nothing serious—no fracture, no internal bleeding.”

He took off his gloves. “I’ll prescribe a topical ointment. Apply it once a day.”

A nurse dabbed away the dried bl00d on her face—it looked quite gruesome.

“Hss…” Luo Xu hissed. The pain finally hit her like fire across her nose bridge. She instinctively reached up to touch it, but Pei Yan smacked her hand away.

“Don’t touch it. Your hands have bacteria.”

“You’re lucky—it’s just a scrape on the bridge. I once had a patient who broke his entire nose,” the doctor said cheerfully.

“Doctor, you really don’t know how to comfort people,” Luo Xu said with a pained grin. “You picked the worst example possible.”

The doctor chuckled as he packed up his tools. “Have your boyfriend pay and pick up the medicine. You can go home afterward.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Luo Xu said quickly, scrunching her nose—only to wince again from the pain.

Pei Yan turned to the doctor. “She’s pregnant. Is this topical medicine safe for her?”

“Pregnant?” The doctor blinked in surprise, eyeing her stomach. “Two months? I can’t even tell.”

“Three months and two weeks,” Luo Xu corrected him.

The doctor nodded, impressed. “You’ve kept your figure well—I wouldn’t have guessed.”

Luo Xu just smiled politely.

“In that case, I won’t prescribe Western medicine,” the doctor continued. “I’ll write you some herbal ointment instead. Boil it and apply it as a compress—it’ll work just as well.”

“Will it hurt?”

“What do you think?” the doctor teased, dodging the question with a grin.

Luo Xu sighed. Looked like there was no escaping the pain.

The bodyguard returned with the medicine after paying the bill. Pei Yan helped Luo Xu to her feet, and she waved goodbye to the doctor—almost like they’d become friends.

“That doctor was so funny,” Luo Xu said, laughing once they got in the car.

The movement tugged at her wound again, and she groaned. “Ow, ow, ow…”

As the car drove on, she suddenly looked up. “Oh, right—what about Miss Lin Ru?”

“I had someone take her home,” Pei Yan said simply.

“Oh.”

A few minutes later, she perked up again and asked the driver to pull over.

Pei Yan glanced at her suspiciously. Luo Xu chuckled and pointed at the glowing green Subway sign by the roadside. “I’m a little hungry. I’ll grab a sandwich.”

Pei Yan: “……”

“I lost a lot of bl00d just now…” she added sheepishly.