When Gu Beichen looked at Jiang Yousheng, his frost-covered expression finally regained a trace of warmth, but the moment his gaze shifted to Gu Jin, his face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
“Beichen.” Gu Jin stopped in his tracks, looking at him with surprise.
Gu Beichen reached out and yanked the woman over to his side. “Thank you, Uncle. I’ll take Sheng Sheng back.” His voice was glacial, his thin lips pressed into a hard line. As he spoke, he stripped Gu Jin’s suit jacket off Jiang Yousheng and shoved it back at him.
“Sheng Sheng, what happened just now? Why did that man lay a hand on you? Are you in some kind of trouble?” Gu Jin ignored him, his eyes filled only with worry for Jiang Yousheng.
Jiang Yousheng kept her head lowered, not daring to look at him. Four years had passed, and he hadn’t changed a bit. But she… she was already drowning in the mud.
“Thank you, Uncle. I’m fine.” She wanted nothing more than to escape. “Beichen, let’s go.” She forced a smile at Gu Jin, then looped her arm through Gu Beichen’s and dragged him toward the elevator.
“So thirsty that you’re throwing yourself at men in the hallway?” Once inside, Gu Beichen shook off her hand and let out a cold sneer, his eyes sharp and piercing.
Fuming, Jiang Yousheng threw his words back at him. “That’s right. Weren’t you the one who handed me over to them anyway?”
Just as the elevator doors slid shut, Gu Beichen spun around. He clamped one hand around her wrist and pinned her against the elevator wall. “Did he touch you?”
Jiang Yousheng’s eyes were red, but she laughed, tilting her neck back. “You saw it all. Do I really need to tell you?”
His grip tightened abruptly. Gu Beichen’s gaze fell on her neck, where the red marks of a five-fingered grip stood out starkly against her ivory skin. “Where did he touch you?” He gritted his teeth, his expression hideous.
Jiang Yousheng was in no mood for this. “Gu Beichen, didn’t you give President Wu your tacit approval? Is there any point in questioning me now?”
Her heart ached. She felt as though a year’s worth of sincerity had been fed to the dogs. When her father was critically ill and the hospital issued a deathbed notice, she and her mother had been terrified. He was the one who appeared, arranged for doctors, and saved him. When the Jiang family went bankrupt and debt collectors were swarming, he was the one who filled the massive financial hole. He had always been good to her, and she was grateful.
But it was also true that he hated her, wasn’t it?
Gu Beichen pinched her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes. “I’m talking about Gu Jin,” he said, his voice deathly cold.
“What does this have to do with Uncle?” Jiang Yousheng found him completely nonsensical. “If it weren’t for him today, I’d be dead here. Let me go!”
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. She began pummeling his shoulder with her bag and stomping on his foot with her heels. His face darkened as he pinned her struggling hands back against the wall.
When they reached the underground garage, Jiang Yousheng still refused to behave, struggling to swing her bag at him again.
“President Gu…” Jiang Huai quickly opened the car door.
Gu Beichen simply swept the woman up into a horizontal carry.
“Let me go!” Suddenly airborne, Jiang Yousheng shrieked reflexively. One of her high heels fell off in the struggle. “My shoe fell! Gu Beichen, put me down! I can walk!”
Gu Beichen retrieved the shoe and tossed it into the car. He then roughly shoved her into the backseat of the Cullinan. Her head hit the door handle, and she hissed in pain.
Her trembling lips looked like dew-stained petals, radiating helplessness. Her makeup was ruined by tears, yet it couldn’t hide the vividness of her features; she looked like a rose ravaged by a storm—a vision of broken beauty.
“Keep screaming. I don’t mind.” Gu Beichen stared at her, his jawline taut with a threatening edge.
Jiang Huai silently raised the privacy partition.
Jiang Yousheng’s face was bloodless. She had no desire to do that with him right now. “Gu Beichen… I don’t feel well today.”
Gu Beichen sneered. “Is it because you’re unwell, or because of my uncle?”
“This has nothing to do with him! Don’t drag him into this!” Her face grew paler, her hands and feet turning ice-cold.
“Defending him already?” Gu Beichen sat beside her, his lips curling into a playful yet dangerous smirk. “To Xingyue Mansion.”
“What are you doing!” Jiang Yousheng sat up, her eyes wide with fury.
That was the place he had demanded she go the day she first sought him out. Now, Su Mumu was living there. His intention in taking her back there was painfully obvious. The thought filled her with a mix of shame and rage; she wanted never to step foot in that place again.
Gu Beichen pinned her hands down, his tall frame looming over her, trapping her against his chest. With nowhere left to retreat, Jiang Yousheng bit her lip, her heart racing in panic. “Gu Beichen… I’m not going back to Xingyue Mansion.”
A single, silent tear traced a path down her pale cheek. Gu Beichen’s dark eyes locked onto that glistening drop of grief. Slowly, he released his grip on her.
He threw his own coat into her lap, tugged at his collar, and barked, “Put it on.”