Zhao Chengyan followed her gaze to the window and saw Gu Yuerou already entering the courtyard with her son in tow.
He felt a surge of irritation. He'd told her to wait outside—why had she come in anyway?
"Isn't she your friend? You two get along so well."
Gu Wanxing let out a laugh.
"Zhao Chengyan, have some shame. I don't share your… tastes."
Though she was smiling, the smile didn't reach her eyes.
Zhao Chengyan grew increasingly uneasy, his gaze turning probing as he looked at her.
Still, he protested loudly: "What nonsense are you talking about? Spreading rumors is illegal."
"So is seducing a married man."
"You—"
Zhao Chengyan pointed at Gu Wanxing furiously, his finger trembling with rage.
Just then, the mother and son in the courtyard had already entered the house and were about to come into the bedroom.
"A-Yan? A-Yan? Are you in there?" Gu Yuerou's sweet, gentle voice drifted in from the outer room.
"I'm here. Give me a moment."
Zhao Chengyan responded warmly toward the outside first.
Then he shot Gu Wanxing a look of disgust before walking straight to the door.
Gu Wanxing sneered inwardly. If it weren't for the law, she'd grab a pair of scissors and stab him right now.
Zhao Chengyan was about to step out to stop the visitors from coming in, but the door curtain was already pushed aside.
Gu Wanxing sat on the bed, the quilt she'd just folded beside her. The bed was a bit messy, with clothes Zhao Chengfang had changed Zhao Chao out of lying around.
At the foot of the bed hung her own wet clothes she'd just changed out of.
This made Gu Yuerou assume Gu Wanxing had just woken up.
Her eyes flickered slightly as she feigned an accidental exclamation:
"Oh my, Wanxing, you're just getting up this late in the afternoon?"
She covered her mouth with one hand, as if realizing she'd misspoken—but not a single word went unsaid.
A flash of embarrassment crossed Zhao Chengyan's face.
"Uh, she's not feeling well. Yuerou, wait a moment, I'll get the money for you."
Hearing he was going to get the money, Gu Yuerou couldn't suppress the smile tugging at her lips. She'd been annoyed that this fool was defending Gu Wanxing, but she'd let it slide for now.
Getting the money in hand was what mattered most.
At that, a faint, barely perceptible smile curved at the corner of Gu Wanxing's mouth. Money? The money was in her Spatial Dimension, lying there nice and warm.
She crossed her arms leisurely, watching Zhao Chengyan walk toward the cabinet, eagerly anticipating the show that was about to unfold.
Gu Yuerou's eyes darted around before she spoke in a hesitant, pitiful tone: "Wanxing, I'm a bit short on cash lately, so I asked A-Yan to lend me some money. You don't mind, do you?"
Gu Wanxing caught the provocation in her eyes and raised an eyebrow slightly:
"Zhao Chengyan, your daughter almost drowned in the river. There's no money to take her to the hospital, and you're still lending money to her?"
Zhao Chengyan's irritated expression froze. He whipped his head around. "What do you mean?"
"What do I mean? Zhao Chao fell into the river and almost drowned. I haven't gotten my wages yet, so I borrowed money from everyone I could just to get the child to the hospital."
"Where's Chaochao? Where is she now?" Zhao Chengyan strode quickly to the bedside, asking urgently.
Seeing that Gu Wanxing ignored him, he pressed on relentlessly: "Tell me right now—is Chaochao okay or not? Where is she?"
"Yeah, Wanxing, just say it already. Do you want to worry A-Yan to death?" Gu Yuerou had no idea that her son had done something earth-shattering by the river that morning. Her eyes were full of schadenfreude.
She secretly thought to herself: why didn't those two drown?
And so she failed to notice the terror in her son's eyes.
A five-year-old child already had a sense of right and wrong. When he heard Gu Wanxing mention a child falling into the water, he knew he'd gotten into trouble.
Because he'd heard an old woman shouting at the child in the water, calling her Chaochao.
"Say it."
Zhao Chengyan grabbed Gu Wanxing's shoulder and roared.
Gu Wanxing's face was ice-cold as she violently shook off the scumbag's hand: "Say what? Chaochao is at the hospital, of course."
Her voice rose as well.
Hearing this, Zhao Chengyan turned and bolted for the door.
But Gu Yuerou blocked his path: "A-Yan, you promised me…"
"Yuerou, I'm in a hurry to get to the hospital to see the child. Can we do it another day?" Though Zhao Chengyan was anxious, his tone naturally softened when addressing Gu Yuerou.
Gu Yuerou lowered her eyes, biting her lip gently, and gave a small nod: "Alright, then go see the child first. Worst case, I'll just let him hit me. The child is more important."
Gu Wanxing was genuinely amused into a laugh: "Really now. So if Zhao Chengyan doesn't lend you the money, you'll go home and get beaten? I wonder if your husband knows you're badmouthing him like this behind his back."
She knew very well that Gu Yuerou and her husband had a good relationship at first. And where did her "professor" title come from in her past life?
She'd stolen it from her sister-in-law. After graduating from university, the sister-in-law had been assigned to teach at a middle school, then died suddenly at school without leaving any children. The job opportunity couldn't very well go back to her husband's family.
So the couple put their heads together, and Gu Yuerou attended some night school and took over the woman's position.
How she eventually ended up in a professor's position, she had no idea. Whether it was something she bragged about or she actually went abroad for further studies, in her past life, both Zhao Chao and his son had called her a professor.
Which university she was a professor at was anyone's guess.
A flicker of panic passed through Gu Yuerou's swollen, puffy eyes, but she quickly suppressed it.
Forcing herself to stay calm, she said, "Wanxing, what are you talking about? In front of the child, can you stop spouting nonsense?"
"Well said—vague and evasive, and you're even using the child as a shield. Are you trying to make Zhao Chengyan think this is my fault? Is it that I shouldn't have mentioned you getting beaten in front of the child, or are you afraid the child will find out what you've been up to outside and go back to tattle to his father?"
"You, you…" Gu Yuerou was so furious she bit down hard on her lower lip, putting on a look of being deeply wronged. She swayed as if she might collapse, yet somehow remained standing firm.
"Enough—"
Zhao Chengyan shot Gu Wanxing a fierce glare, then turned and walked back into the bedroom. This time, he went straight to the tall cabinet.
He opened the cabinet door directly and, with clear purpose, reached his hand into the inner pocket of that coat.
But when he felt around, there was nothing there.
His heart skipped a beat…
So he pulled the coat out entirely and started checking the other pockets.
After going through all four pockets, inside and out, he moved on to rummaging through the other clothes in the cabinet.
In the end, he turned every piece of clothing inside out, leaving the floor a complete mess, but still couldn't find his newly issued bankbook.
"Gu Wanxing, where's the bankbook that was in my coat pocket?"
He clenched his back teeth and asked with a trembling voice.
Gu Wanxing cast a casual glance at him and asked with feigned confusion, "What bankbook? Do we even have a bankbook in this house?"
Zhao Chengyan: …
That money hadn't come from legitimate means, so he'd never told Gu Wanxing about it. She spent her days either at work or fussing over the child, and never had any need for money.
But now the money was gone, and the woman in front of him claimed to know nothing about it.
"You really don't know? If you took it, hand it over right now."
Gu Wanxing rolled her eyes in exasperation. "If I'd known there was money, would I have been running around borrowing from everyone to take Chaochao to the hospital?"
Hearing that the money was gone, Gu Yuerou wished she could strangle Gu Wanxing, so naturally she seized the opportunity to nitpick. "But you didn't go to the hospital, did you?"
"I didn't, but my sister-in-law and mother-in-law went. Is there something wrong with that?"