Gu Xia, who had been staying at her rented apartment for the past few days, was feeling a bit anxious and overwhelmed. That night, she had a terrible nightmare.
She dreamed that Lu Shaoting kept putting off meeting her.
Later, her stomach suddenly swelled to an enormous size—so big that she looked like a ball, as if she were about to float away.
Lu Shaoting suddenly appeared before her and said with contempt and cruelty:
“Gu Xia, do you really think I’d agree to help you? You’re dreaming. I, Lu Shaoting, detest being deceived or threatened more than anything.”
“This is your just punishment for deceiving me. If you don’t want to have an abortion, go ahead and give birth on your own. I’ll see how you manage to raise the child.”
“An unmarried woman with a huge belly—no one at the hospital will even deliver your baby.”
Gu Xia suddenly woke up from the nightmare, drenched in cold sweat.
She sat up immediately and turned on a small bedside lamp.
After calming down for a long while, Gu Xia drank some water. Looking at her empty surroundings, she felt so afraid she wanted to cry.
She missed her parents and her older sister.
She lifted her shirt to look at her flat stomach.
Thank goodness, thank goodness—it wasn’t like in the dream, where her belly had suddenly swelled to the size of a ball.
She had to figure out a way to get Lu Shaoting to contact her, and she needed him to help arrange jobs for her parents and older sister.
Otherwise, what would be the point of all her hard work and scheming to manipulate Lu Shaoting?
As soon as dawn broke, Gu Xia went out to find a payphone to call Lu Shaoting.
She called once, but no one answered.
Late autumn mornings in Beicheng were really quite cold, and she was still wearing only thin pants and a light jacket, so she felt a bit chilly.
Standing outside the phone booth, she paced back and forth a few steps and rubbed her hands together, which warmed them up a little.
She muttered to herself that she must have gotten up too early; Lu Shaoting probably hadn’t gone to work yet, which was why no one answered when she called.
When it was almost eight o’clock, she called again, but still no one answered.
Gu Xia was already feeling panicked. She was truly afraid that her worst nightmare would come true—that Lu Shaoting would rent her an apartment and then just disappear.
How could she have been so foolish? She’d actually believed Lu Shaoting’s words and let himself sweet-talk her with just a few words.
Lu Shaoting had told her to stop making a fuss.
And she’d naively obeyed and kept quiet.
In fact, when she first moved in here, she’d held back for a whole week.
It had been seven days now, and Lu Shaoting hadn’t contacted her or sent anyone to pass along a message.
That’s when she decided to call Lu Shaoting to check in.
But to her surprise, she couldn’t get through.
Gu Xia didn’t know what to do anymore. She had no choice but to go to the Lu residence to find him, just like last time.
The Lu family was clearly on guard against her. When she said she was there to see Lu Shaoting, the security guard this time didn’t let her in after simply signing in, as he had last time.
Gu Xia was stopped at the gate.
It wasn’t until she saw Lu’s second aunt that Gu Xia immediately stepped forward and called out, “Aunt Lu.”
Lu Xiaoyan had come to bring her parents a gift—some Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs she’d received for the Double Ninth Festival, which she’d brought specifically for them.
Lu Xiaoyan knew her parents didn’t need these things, but she was a dutiful daughter who often brought them gifts to show her respect.
Word had it that today, one of her father’s old comrades-in-arms was going to set up a blind date for the Fourth Son.
After Gu Xia came to the house and caused a scene that day, the Fourth Son quickly took her away.
Lu Xiaoyan—and even the rest of the Lu family—assumed that the Fourth Son had already taken care of the matter regarding Gu Xia’s pregnancy.
So why was Gu Xia back at the Lu family’s doorstep now?
Lu Xiaoyan frowned as she looked at Gu Xia and asked her:
“Why are you here again? Didn’t the Fourth Brother say he’d take care of this?”
However, seeing Gu Xia’s face turn blue from the cold, Lu Xiaoyan couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sympathy.
“It’s getting cold now—why aren’t you wearing anything warmer?”
Gu Xia was a very well-behaved girl.
The school staff housing complex where her parents lived was just across the street from this military compound.
Usually, the children from both compounds would play together.
When Lu Xiaoyan visited her parents’ home, she would often run into Gu Xia and her older sister, Gu Mingyuan.
The Gu sisters were beautiful; everyone said they were a pair of lovely sisters.
Gu Xia was cold too, but she really didn’t have any extra money to buy clothes.
She just shook her head slightly, without offering any further explanation.
“Auntie, can you take me inside? I want to find Lu Shaoting—he didn’t keep his promise to me. I won’t make a scene; I just want to talk to him.”
Lu Xiaoyan watched Gu Xia clinging to the Fourth Brother. Out of an elder’s concern, she tried to dissuade her.
“Gu Xia, I don’t know what’s going on between you and the Fourth Brother, but pestering him like this won’t do any good. He doesn’t like you, and there’s too big an age gap between you two.”
“Besides, given my mother’s temper, if I let you in, she’d tear me to pieces.”
“Also, I should let you know that Fourth Brother has a blind date at home today. I’d advise you to give up on him.”
“Here’s what we’ll do. I have a little money here—take this for now and go home. Go back to your parents. Being together as a family is better than freezing and starving here.”
As she spoke, Lu Xiaoyan pulled some money out of her purse.
She counted it out and handed her twenty yuan.
Lu Xiaoyan was being quite generous—she only made a little over seventy yuan a month.
The girl bit her lip, and tears fell helplessly down her cheeks.
She really didn’t want to cry, but just that small gesture of kindness from Lu Xiaoyan moved her deeply.
“Auntie, I don’t want your money. I didn’t come here for money—I want to see Lu Shaoting.”
“I’m not going inside. Please call him out for me.”
“He doesn’t have to help me, but he can’t lie to me. I really did listen to him.”
Watching Gu Xia bite her lip, struggling to hold back her tears,
Lu Xiaoyan felt torn inside, so she forcefully shoved the twenty yuan into Gu Xia’s hand.
Lu Xiaoyan said, “Wait here a moment. I’ll go in and find Fourth Brother; I’ll pass your message on to him. Gu Xia, I truly want to advise you—you and Fourth Brother really aren’t a good match. If he doesn’t come out in half an hour, just go home.”
Gu Xia said nothing; she just stood alone by the doorway, waiting.
While she waited, Gu Xia wondered: If Lu Shaoting really did abandon her, what should she do?
What kind of conditions could she set to ensure her parents and older sister could leave the Northwest safely?
Ask for money? But how much would be enough?
Just as she was thinking this, Lu Shaoting actually came in from outside.
A horn blared as a military jeep drove through the gates of the military compound.
Sitting in the back seat, Lu Shaoting spotted Gu Xia standing at the entrance at a glance.
He signaled the driver to stop and rolled down the window.
He looked at Gu Xia, his voice cold and distant, even tinged with anger.
“Gu Xia, who told you to come here?”
Hearing Lu Shaoting’s voice, Gu Xia immediately looked up, the tears in her eyes still not wiped away.
She stared at Lu Shaoting.
She spoke directly: “You didn’t come looking for me. You didn’t give me any news. I called you, but you didn’t answer. You’re deceiving me—why are you lying to me?”
“Deceiving you?” Lu Shaoting sneered. “ “What about you? Didn’t you deceive me?”
Lu Shaoting got out of the car and told the driver to drive away.
Gu Xia’s expression froze; she suddenly realized something.
It turned out that Lu Shaoting had been seeking revenge on her all along.
Because she had deceived him first.
Everything he was doing now was deliberate—he was trying to deceive her right back.