In the evening, at the top of the Gu Group headquarters building, long tables were lined up around the spacious helipad. White tablecloths fluttered in the evening breeze, piled high with a dazzling variety of desserts, snacks, and drinks.
Right in the middle of the helipad sat an airplane model, built to scale based on Gu Xuan’s private plane.
Gu Xuan had invited many good friends, including several well-liked classmates from school, alongside people who had shown up uninvited—all of them from affluent backgrounds, specifically here to support Gu Xuan and cozy up to the Gu family.
When Song Wan appeared, the group of people who had been chatting together instantly fell silent.
“Isn’t that… him?”
“Why would he be here? Did he come to the wrong place…”
“No way, how could Gu Xuan possibly invite him?!”
In the book, Jiang Shen and Gu Xuan were a talented match made in heaven, and quite a few students at school even shipped their pairing.
Song Wan didn’t care what anyone else was saying. He scanned the entire venue, but the male lead, Jiang Shen, didn’t seem to be around.
“Song Wan, over here!” Gu Xuan suddenly waved at him from a distance.
Underneath the astonished gazes of everyone present, Song Wan walked over from the side of the long table.
“Try this.” Gu Xuan shoved a cupcake into Song Wan’s hand, her eyes sparkling.
Like everyone else, she used to think Song Wan had a terrible personality and was difficult to get along with, but after last night’s events, her view of Song Wan had completely refreshed.
Having eaten dinner, Song Wan wasn’t hungry at all, but he took a symbolic bite: “Didn’t your boyfriend come?”
Gu Xuan puffed out her cheeks like a pufferfish: “Don’t mention him. It doesn’t matter whether he comes or not. Thanks for comforting me last night; I don’t care anymore.”
Song Wan hadn’t actually said much; he had simply handed over a tissue when Gu Xuan was weeping in tears.
“Right.” Song Wan licked the sugar crumbs from the corner of his mouth, suddenly recalling something. “I forgot to take my jacket back from you last night. If you have time, could you send someone to deliver it to me, or I can go pick it up myself.”
Gu Xuan wore a puzzled look: “Jacket?”
She had been too drunk last night, and her memory of the later part was a bit hazy. She only remembered that Song Wan had sent her back, but she didn’t recall Song Wan putting a jacket over her shoulders.
Furthermore, as soon as she got back last night, she had been helped into her bedroom by the servants to rest. When she woke up in the morning, she hadn’t even changed her clothes, nor had she seen any jacket in her room.
“I’ll go check and look for it; my memory is a bit vague,” Gu Xuan tapped her head.
Song Wan coughed twice in a muffled voice: “Never mind, don’t bother, it’s just a jacket.”
His throat had been hurting since morning. During this time, he had drunk plenty of water and even taken throat lozenges, but not only did it have no effect, it seemed to be getting worse.
Gu Xuan leaned in abruptly: “Are you feeling unwell somewhere? Your complexion looks kind of bad.”
The suddenly magnified face made Song Wan lean back involuntarily as he rubbed his face: “Really? Maybe I just didn’t rest well last night…”
The rooftop wind whipped against his face, but instead of feeling cold, Song Wan felt as though his entire body was radiating heat: “I’m going to the restroom.”
Gu Xuan nodded: “Alright, make it quick then. The restroom is downstairs, you know.”
Due to the building’s unique structure, the elevator couldn’t reach this floor directly, so Song Wan had to take the stairs down to the next level.
He finished eating the cupcake wrapper, and the moment he stepped out of the stairwell, he bumped right into a staff member pushing a cleaning cart.
This floor was empty, and the clean, polished floor reflected the bright lights overhead. The staff member was wearing a uniform and a hat while mopping the floor.
Song Wan tossed the empty cupcake wrapper into the trash bag on the cleaning cart: “Excuse me, is there a restroom on this floor?”
He swallowed with difficulty, his voice raspy.
The staff member was diligently mopping the floor without turning back, merely pointing to the right hand side with a casual gesture.
Song Wan nodded: “Thank you.”
Every floor of the building was enormous, and the long corridor seemed to have no end.
Song Wan surveyed his surroundings as he walked. Perhaps because the helipad right above was too noisy, this floor seemed to have been deserted ever since construction and renovation were completed.
Rounding a corner, Song Wan finally spotted the restroom sign.
He walked inside, turned on the faucet, and bent down to splash water on his face.
The cool water temperature made him feel a bit more comfortable. Song Wan caught his breath and looked up at himself in the mirror, only to notice that his face was flushed with an unnatural red hue.
A series of approaching footsteps echoed outside the restroom door.
When Song Wan had walked over earlier, he had only run into that mopping staff member. Assuming the worker needed to use the restroom too, he didn’t think much of it and pulled a paper towel from the dispenser to dry his hands.
Yet the footsteps abruptly stopped right at the doorway.
Through the mirror, Song Wan saw a rather tall figure standing at the entrance.
That person was also wearing the same work uniform and even had a mask on.
Strange, it seemed to be the same staff member from before, but was he this tall earlier?
A scene flashed back through Song Wan’s mind: previously, that person had been hunched over the whole time while mopping, never straightening up even when asked for directions. That was precisely why he had assumed the person was short.
Meeting the person’s pitch-black eyes, an inexplicable sense of bad premonition welled up in Song Wan’s chest. He instantly turned around—
“Thud.”
The restroom door was pulled shut by someone, followed by a sharp “click” as the lock engaged.
Song Wan pushed hard against it, but the heavy door didn’t budge an inch: “Hey! Who are you? What are you doing? Open the door!”
However, the person outside uttered not a word; the only response was the sound of their retreating footsteps.
Song Wan immediately pulled out his phone.
“Damn…” His throat felt as though it had been rubbed by gravel.
There was actually no cell signal down here.
On the rooftop, Gu Xuan couldn’t laugh anymore. She waved her hand: “You guys go ahead and play, I’m going to rest for a bit.”
Scanning her surroundings, she couldn’t find Song Wan’s figure anywhere.
Could he have gotten lost downstairs?
Gu Xuan pulled out her phone, ready to give Song Wan a call, when suddenly her friend tugged at her sleeve, her tone brimming with teasing amusement: “Quick, look who’s here.”
Gu Xuan raised her head, her expression freezing for a fraction of a second.
Jiang Shen had arrived.
Because of his special relationship with Gu Xuan, Jiang Shen became the center of attention the moment he appeared.
Wearing a trench coat and holding a bouquet of fresh flowers, he walked slowly toward Gu Xuan under everyone’s watchful eyes.
“My attitude earlier made you sad, and I’m here to apologize to you. I’m sorry.”
“I hope I’m not too late coming here today.”
Gu Xuan’s heartbeat skipped a beat, her eye rims growing warm as she instinctively tightened her grip on her phone.
She had already given up hope and had even truly made up her mind to break up, but Jiang Shen’s arrival made her hesitate all over again.
“So moved you’re speechless?” A friend behind Gu Xuan gently nudged her, “What are you staring for? Take them.”
Gu Xuan opened her mouth, dazedly accepting the bouquet of flowers from Jiang Shen’s hands.
A chorus of whistling erupted from the crowd; everyone was cheering for this well-matched young couple.
“Wait a minute.” Gu Xuan snapped back to reality, remembering she still hadn’t called Song Wan.
Jiang Shen’s hand rested lightly on her shoulder, guiding her toward the airplane model: “I prepared a gift for you too. Come take a look first.”
“But…”
Gu Xuan looked at her phone in conflicted hesitation. Although she didn’t know the exact reason, she knew Jiang Shen and Song Wan had a bad relationship, with the atmosphere turning explosive every time they crossed paths.
Pondering for a moment, Gu Xuan ultimately swallowed the words she was about to say. She glanced back at one of the servers.
That server was a Gu family bodyguard. Even for the smallest banquets, she always planted a few of her own people within the crowd; it was a long-standing tradition of the Gu family.
The bodyguard immediately caught the hint and quietly slipped away from the crowd.
Meanwhile,
“President Gu, these are the documents needed for tomorrow’s meeting.”
On the eightieth floor, Gao Xiang walked briskly into the office. Once this task was completed, he could finally punch out for the day, and his cheerful mood was entirely unmasked across his face.
Gu Jingzhou gave a hum of acknowledgment: “Leave it here.”
Before Gao Xiang could grow wings and fly out, Gu Jingzhou asked, “The party upstairs hasn’t ended yet?”
Gao Xiang slammed on the brakes: “Yes, would you like to go up and take a look?”
Working overtime wasn’t so bad after all, especially since the pay was truly generous.
Gu Jingzhou snatched the jacket off the back of his chair and stood up: “Let’s go.”
Gu Xuan loved making friends and had reportedly invited quite a few people tonight, spending three days on the layout alone. Since Gu Xuan valued this party so much, he, as her older brother, should also make an appearance.
The two took the private elevator up.
“Ding-dong”
As the elevator doors slid open, the moment Gu Jingzhou stepped out, he ran into several Gu family bodyguards.
“What happened?” Gu Jingzhou asked.
When expressionless, he resembled an iceberg, carrying an invisible sense of oppression. No one dared to guess whether the waters beneath the iceberg were calm or riddled with undercurrents.
The bodyguards didn’t dare conceal anything: “Someone is missing, and Miss sent us to look for them.”
Gao Xiang was startled: “Who?”
“The Song family’s young master, Song Wan.”