"Ye Cheng, it’s Xiaofeng." Su Xiaofeng’s voice came over the phone somewhat hesitantly, penetrating Ye Cheng’s heart and spreading throughout his body.
Receiving a call from his wife, Ye Cheng’s lips naturally curled up into a smile, "Mm, I can tell."
Xiaofeng, hearing Ye Cheng’s warm and robust voice, suddenly felt settled. The man on the other end of the phone was her man, truly and tangibly hers.
There was nothing awkward about calling her own man. Compared to her hesitance at the beginning of the call, she quickly regained composure, "Ye Cheng, I called you because I wanted to ask if you could come back. My older brother had a car accident yesterday, a very serious one. The doctor says it’s uncertain whether he will wake up, or if he can recover to his pre-accident cognitive level."
Ye Cheng, listening to the faint worry in Xiaofeng’s voice, couldn’t help but respond with concern, "Why are you only thinking to call me now? Don’t worry, I’ll be right there."
Xiaofeng, listening to Ye Cheng’s firm tone, "Will it be inconvenient?"
"With you, I will always have time." Ye Cheng didn’t realize he had just said a line of flirtation, "I guess I’ll only be able to get there by night. Don’t you all worry for now, let’s talk when I arrive."
"Okay." Xiaofeng felt a certain fullness in her heart upon hearing that Ye Cheng was coming.
Xu Xuezi stood less than two meters away from Ye Cheng, able to clearly see every expression on his face, hear every word he said, and become certain of one thing: the person calling Yecheng was definitely a girl.
Didn’t Yecheng dislike women? Then why was he so gentle, so considerate towards another woman?
Xu Xuezi suddenly realized that she seemed never to have truly understood Ye Cheng, not knowing what he liked or disliked.
Without even glancing at Xu Xuezi, Ye Cheng headed home.
Xu Xuezi blocked his path, her tone accusatory, "Yecheng, do you have a woman you like, and that’s why you’ve been deliberately avoiding me?"
Ye Cheng looked at her indifferently, "Xu Xuezi, it’s impossible between us. So, whether your sincerity or pretense, there’s no need to spend it on me. Because I don’t need it." After speaking, Ye Cheng stepped through the gates of the Gu Family home.
Xu Xuezi watched as Ye Cheng ruthlessly ignored her contributions, trampled on her feelings, and she felt an unprecedented humiliation and rage.
Gu Yecheng, do you know, during the three years you were not in the Imperial Capital, I waited for you for three years too. In these three years, I rejected the pursuit of many eligible young men, waiting wholeheartedly for your return. And what do you do? You say my sincere heart is misplaced, unworthy. Yecheng, how can you treat me ? If I can’t marry you, I’ll become the laughingstock of the entire Imperial Capital, and it’s all because of you.
Xiao’ou, looking at the Young Lady gripping her palm tightly, was worried, "Young Lady, are you okay?"
"Xiao’ou." Xu Xuezi’s gaze fixed unmoving on the door of the Gu Family, "Help me set up a meeting with Men Chao, tell him I want to see him."
She was determined to find out who the woman calling Yecheng was. To think that Xu Xuezi would become the joke of the Imperial Capital, she’d have to see if the other party had the skill to make it happen.
Men Chao was the captain of the Xu Family’s security team; in addition to protecting the family’s safety, he was also responsible for gathering intelligence from the outside. He was a core figure in the Xu Family.
After returning to the Xu Family, Men Chao quickly came to see Xu Xuezi.
Men Chao looked fierce, with a pair of eyes like those of a fox: "Young Lady, you wanted to see me?"
"Men Chao." Xu Xuezi sat in her courtyard, quietly playing with the teapot in front of her: "Sit."
"Young Lady, if you have an order, just say the word; there’s no need for such complexity," Men Chao stood his ground, unmoving.
"I want you to help me investigate a person," Xu Xuezi was straightforward with him, "as long as you can find out her whereabouts, you’ll definitely be rewarded handsomely."
"Look at how the Young Lady speaks, it’s my duty to serve the Xu Family, you just say who you want to investigate and I will do my utmost to help the Young Lady," Men Chao’s speech was rough, bearing a sort of military warlord temperament of the Republic era.
"Good," Xu Xuezi had indeed seen this in Men Chao, his sufficient loyalty to the Xu Family: "Help me find out where Gu Yecheng has been these three years, and which woman he has taken up with. I’m giving you three days. After three days, I want results."
She had waited for Gu Yecheng in the Imperial Capital for three years, and she saw no reason to let another woman reap the benefits. No matter who wanted to compete with her for the position of the Gu Family’s Young Madam, she would not allow it.
Compete with her, they didn’t even know who she was, did they?
The Xu Family was a distinguished lineage, one of the four great families of the Imperial Capital; she, Xu Xuezi, the eldest daughter of the Xu Family, considered that in the entire Imperial Capital, none could match the standing that she and Gu Yecheng had.
"Young Lady, this won’t be difficult," the Xu Family had actually long since found where the young master of the Gu Family was, and had even dispatched someone to make a move, though to no avail: "I will immediately send people to follow the young master Gu."
"He seems to be setting out somewhere, you must follow quickly," Xu Xuezi sneered: "Have your people secretly follow Yecheng, and if you discover that woman has any indecently close relationship with him, bring that woman directly to me. I am very curious to see, instead of choosing me, the Xu Family Young Lady, what kind of woman Gu Yecheng has picked."
Just thinking about the tone and expression Yecheng used when speaking to the other person, she could hardly wait to kill that person.
After hanging up the phone, Su Xiaofeng noticed her cheeks were fiercely red. Ye Cheng was the same, normally seeming quite taciturn, but recently his sweet nothings came effortlessly.
Through the phone receiver, her heartbeat sped up by several notches, a scenario that felt very much like... love.
Perhaps, there was already love between her and Ye Cheng.
Xiaofeng shook her head, that’s impossible, right? At best, their fake marriage had become real, but as for love, that probably shouldn’t exist.
They say a man’s mouth is a deceitful ghost, that with just a few words, he can make a woman lose herself.
Love, that thing, could be either present or absent.
She, Su Xiaofeng, didn’t need to have love necessarily; if it came, she would accept it calmly, and if not, then what of it?
In this life, all she wanted to do was protect her pair of treasures, and live the life she desired.
When Lin Jianguo returned home from work, he went straight to his study without eating dinner, nor did he notice whether Luo Yuzhu had come back.
Lin Yue watched Lin Jianguo ascend the stairs without even a greeting as she was about to start dinner, her gaze turning towards Grandma Lin: "Grandma, what’s wrong with Dad? He seems a bit off. And Mom too, it’s this late and she still hasn’t come back."