Lu Shaoting felt that Gu Xia was definitely not as simple as she appeared. She was just adept at using those overly innocent eyes to bewitch a man’s mind.
Considering Lu Shaoting himself, no matter what, at thirty-six or thirty-seven years old, he naturally couldn’t be like a young, inexperienced lad who would get carried away by a young female comrade’s flirtations.
After calming his mind, Lu Shaoting stepped on the gas and drove away from the hotel, no longer thinking about Gu Xia.
Gu Xia stayed at the hotel for three days, eating and drinking there, all charged to Lu Shaoting’s account.
After coming to the capital, Gu Xia didn’t have much money on her.
When she had drugged Lu Shaoting before, it was after her rebirth, thinking of her parents’ and sister’s fate in her previous life, and how Lu Shaoting had condoned the Lu family’s despicable actions against their Gu family.
Gu Xia’s impulse for revenge had taken over, and she hadn’t considered anything else.
But Lu Shaoting’s words had reminded her.
Now she was only thinking about her parents and sister, but what about her own future?
If she really had an abortion, Gu Xia didn’t plan to return to her parents and sister’s side.
If they found out that their jobs were obtained through her selling her body, her parents and sister would definitely refuse.
She thought about whether she could go somewhere else to find work, to earn money and support herself.
Save up a little money.
After one or two years, or maybe three, time would fade everything.
By then, she thought, she could return to her parents and sister.
Even if she told the truth, they wouldn’t be as angry.
Right now, Gu Xia was completely childlike in her thinking.
Afraid that her parents and sister would be angry if they found out, she chose not to return to their side.
Gu Xia had grown up under the protection of her parents and sister.
What her family told her most often was, “Xiaxia, you must be good. Mom, Dad, and your sister will protect you for a lifetime.”
Growing up loved in such a family environment, what Gu Xia feared most was the anger that would come from her family’s disappointment in her.
Gu Xia waited in the hotel for three days.
From morning until night, just as she began to think Lu Shaoting had lied to her, and she was about to call him to remind him that the agreed time had come and ask why he hadn’t arrived, Gu Xia was heading to the hotel front desk to make the call.
She heard someone ask, “Which room is Comrade Gu Xia staying in?”
Gu Xia turned to look. The young male comrade asking was about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, tall and thin.
Gu Xia looked at him and said, “I am Gu Xia.”
The male comrade looked at Gu Xia very politely, his tone serious, and said:
“Our chief sent me to pick you up. Do you have anything else to pack? I can help carry it.”
Gu Xia shook her head lightly and said, “I don’t have much.”
Without needing to ask further, she knew this young male comrade had definitely come to pick her up.
As for where they were going, Lu Shaoting had told her he had rented a separate place for her.
Gu Xia knew Lu Shaoting simply didn’t want her to go to the Lu family again.
But Gu Xia didn’t understand what Lu Shaoting’s purpose was in doing this.
After placating her and preventing her from causing trouble at the Lu family, what would he do next?
Would he really arrange jobs for her parents and sister as she had asked, or was he just temporarily fooling her?
Gu Xia’s heart was filled with anxiety and unease.
But she still reminded the male comrade, saying:
“But please settle the accommodation and meal expenses. Your superior promised to cover them.”
Gu Xia had no money. Besides, it was Lu Shaoting who brought her to the hotel, so he should pay.
The male comrade didn’t say anything and turned to pay the bill.
However, he muttered to himself, The chief didn’t mention anything about me paying for this. I’ll have to get reimbursed by him later, right?
After settling the bill, the male comrade took Gu Xia and left the hotel.
The driver arrived around six in the evening. During autumn and winter, it was already dark by that time.
After driving for over an hour, the driver dropped Gu Xia off at the house Lu Shaoting had rented for her. It was almost eight o’clock.
On the way, Gu Xia learned the name of the male comrade who had picked her up. He was Li Weidong, Lu Shaoting’s driver.
After settling Gu Xia in, Li Weidong handed her the door key. After some thought, he also gave her the remaining money in his pocket.
“Comrade Gu Xia, take this money.”
Gu Xia assumed Lu Shaoting had instructed him to give it to her.
Since she didn’t have much money on her anyway, she accepted it directly.
She said, “Thank you for your trouble.”
It wasn’t appropriate for a man and a woman to talk too much alone, especially since it was already dark.
After Li Weidong drove away, Gu Xia entered the house and turned on the light.
She looked around the small rented room.
It was a standalone little house—not very big, but quite nice.
She had no reason to complain.
After all, having spent over a year in the northwest, she had adapted to things she once couldn’t.
Before Li Weidong left, Gu Xia asked him a few more questions.
From Li Weidong, she learned that Lu Shaoting hadn’t disclosed their relationship to him.
He had only said that Gu Xia was the daughter of a friend who had returned to the city with nowhere to go, which was why he had specifically sought him out.
Gu Xia asked Li Weidong directly, “When will Lu Shushu come to see me?”
Li Weidong was straightforward and replied, “I’m not sure. The chief didn’t mention it.”
He didn’t say anything more, and Gu Xia didn’t ask further.
Although she didn’t understand much about the military, she knew that some actions taken by leaders and cadres weren’t disclosed to their subordinates.
The house was fully furnished, though she didn’t know whether the original landlord had left the items or if Lu Shaoting had arranged for them.
Even though she now had a place to stay, not being able to see Lu Shaoting left her feeling unsettled.
She was also acutely aware that she had just become pregnant and that it was still possible to have an abortion.
But if she waited until her belly grew larger and Lu Shaoting then refused to take responsibility, what would she do?
Troubled by these thoughts, Gu Xia lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.
It wasn’t until nearly dawn that exhaustion finally overcame her, and she fell asleep.
Lu Shaoting was also lying awake, unable to sleep.
He hadn’t contacted Gu Xia, but his innate sense of responsibility told him that her existence was a problem he had to resolve.
On his dark red wooden desk lay the pregnancy test report Gu Xia had given him. His heart was tangled with hesitation.
He knew very well that he and Gu Xia were not the same kind of people, yet he hesitated about whether to keep the child…
At seventeen or eighteen, he had joined the military and, without telling his family, gone to the battlefield.
It was a critical time for his physical development, and the experience had damaged his health.
For years afterward, he lacked the typical youthful impulses.
Lu Shaoting had assumed something was wrong with his body.
Later, as he immersed himself in his work, he had always exercised restraint in matters of personal desire.
During this time, some superiors had tried to introduce him to potential partners.
He had also seen it before, and he never hid his physical condition.
He would always speak openly about it, perhaps unable to have offspring…
For a normal man, this would be a reason to choose to conceal.
But Lu Shaoting was different from others; he spoke about it naturally.
He even hoped that after learning about his physical condition, the person he was set up with would choose to end the relationship.
To put it bluntly, he simply wasn’t interested in the women he was set up with and casually made up an excuse, with this being the main reason.
But he underestimated a man’s own desires.
Before experiencing that kind of sensation, he simply didn’t understand.
Yet once he personally went through a thoroughly satisfying act of passion, his body seemed to have tasted the finest delicacy.
Fiercely, deeply, it remembered that bone-deep sensation.
“Gu Xia, you really know how to create trouble for me.”
Stubbing out the cigarette butt, amidst the swirling smoke.
It was impossible to discern whether the expression on Lu Shaoting’s face was disgust or… desire, something that had never appeared on his face before.