This was perhaps what it meant to not be loved.
“Look! Isn’t that Qin Shu?!” Someone in the crowd with sharp eyes recognized Qin Shu.
Qin Shu had a face that was alluring and seductive—her features striking, fiercely beautiful, so stunning that anyone who saw her once would never forget her.
Everyone’s attention had been on Gu Tingyan just moments ago, nearly causing them to overlook her.
Qin Shu had entered the entertainment industry a year ago. With that impossibly gorgeous face that could withstand any scrutiny, she wasn’t quite A-list, but she had gained considerable fame and a sizable fanbase.
The first person to spot Qin Shu drew countless eyes her way, and the crowd surged toward her.
“Oh my god! It’s Qin Shu!”
“She’s so beautiful! She’s even prettier in person than on TV.”
“Her face is so small—about the size of my palm.”
Qin Shu was surrounded by a throng of people, her face pale as she was jostled and pushed, barely able to stay on her feet.
Gu Tingyan looked up and glanced at Qin Shu. Seeing her standing there steadily, he bent down and scooped Chu Sheng into his arms, shielding her tightly against his chest.
“Everyone, get the hell out of my way!”
Gu Tingyan’s face was dark and sinister, radiating a chilling, menacing aura that made people involuntarily shiver. Everyone instinctively stepped back.
Gu Tingyan carried Chu Sheng away without looking back.
Qin Shu watched his retreating figure, her eyes reddening. An indescribable ache spread from the depths of her heart, as if a wound had been torn open in her chest, cold wind rushing through it—it hurt, so much.
Her husband had walked away holding another woman.
He hadn’t even asked about her injuries.
“You’re hurt. We need to get that treated first.”
Qin Shu heard the familiar voice and paused slightly. She looked up and froze: “Ji Yanli?”
“You’re back in the country?”
Ji Yanli reached out and pulled her into his protective embrace, looking at her with pain in his eyes: “Mm.”
The day Qin Shu married Gu Tingyan, Ji Yanli had gone abroad.
Five whole years—he hadn’t returned once.
Ji Yanli looked at her and let out a sigh: “Xiao Hua, you still haven’t learned your lesson.”
“Is it worth giving up everything to love someone who doesn’t love you?”
Qin Shu’s lips trembled, her face pale, feeling drained of strength. Her heart, which she thought was impervious to pain, constricted violently at his words.
Su Tuantuan picked herself up from the ground and rushed over to Qin Shu, checking her from head to toe.
She saw the bruise spreading across Qin Shu’s shoulder—the delicate fair skin broken, blood seeping through in large patches. She drew in a sharp breath.
Su Tuantuan’s eyes reddened with fury as she cursed under her breath: “Damn it! That bastard Gu Tingyan!”
His own wife was injured and he didn’t even care—he just ran off holding another woman!
Su Tuantuan’s tears fell uncontrollably from heartache: “Why doesn’t he just die?!”
Ji Yanli pulled Qin Shu toward the exit: “Let’s get to the hospital first.”
“Right, right, right—hospital first.” Su Tuantuan quickly wiped away her tears.
Su Tuantuan pushed forcefully through the crowd, saying anxiously: “Excuse us, please make way! My artist is injured—we need to get to the hospital!”
Hearing that Qin Shu was hurt, the crowd grew worried and quickly parted to make a path.
At the hospital.
Qin Shu had just arrived when she ran straight into Gu Tingyan at the entrance.
Seeing him holding another woman while ignoring his own wife, Su Tuantuan let out a cold laugh: “President Gu, your wife is injured too. Are you blind?”
Gu Tingyan paused mid-step and looked toward Qin Shu: “You’re hurt?”
Qin Shu stared at him, her voice calm: “I’m fine.”
Chu Sheng lifted her head from his arms and looked at Qin Shu, a magnanimous smile spreading across her frail face.
She patted Gu Tingyan’s arm and said softly: “Tingyan, put me down.”
She glanced at Qin Shu, her smile gentle: “I’m fine. Go check on Miss Qin first.”
Chu Sheng looked at Qin Shu timidly, seeming somewhat afraid of her: “Miss Qin doesn’t seem to like me.”
She tugged at the corner of Gu Tingyan’s clothes and said cautiously: “Go to her. I’ll be fine.”
She lowered her gaze: “Don’t let me hurt the relationship between you two.”
She looked utterly pitiful, as if Qin Shu were some bullying tyrant.
Qin Shu stood there, finding it almost laughable.
Gu Tingyan was her husband. She was injured, and for him to come check on her, she needed his ex-girlfriend’s magnanimous concession.
A wave of endless desolation surged from the depths of her heart.
Qin Shu watched how intimately close they were, finding it almost blinding.
As if she were the third party in this marriage.
As if she were the outsider.
Chu Sheng looked at Gu Tingyan with tender eyes: “Thank you for protecting me earlier. If it weren’t for you, I might have died.”
Gu Tingyan’s arms tightened around Chu Sheng, his lips pressed into a thin line, his voice hoarse: “Don’t say such ominous things.”
A smile curved at the corner of Chu Sheng’s lips. She took Gu Tingyan’s hand, lifted her head from his embrace, and in a corner he couldn’t see, cast a pitying look at Qin Shu.
That gaze was both a show of triumph and a look at a pitiful creature.
See? All I have to do is show a little weakness, and Gu Tingyan will dote on me.
So what if you’ve possessed Gu Tingyan for five years?
You still haven’t won his heart.
Now that she was back, if Qin Shu had any sense and didn’t want to be humiliated or bring shame upon herself, she should voluntarily step aside.
Let her have Gu Tingyan.
Whether in the past or now.
As long as Chu Sheng stood before Gu Tingyan, Qin Shu could never compete with her.
Qin Shu’s fingers dug into her palms, her heart cramping with pain.
She stood there, watching her husband hold another woman intimately in his arms. The sight was blindingly harsh.
Qin Shu gave a bitter smile and turned away without hesitation.
She couldn’t be bothered to play these mind games with Chu Sheng.
If she had the guts, let her make Gu Tingyan divorce her.
Qin Shu had truly tried—tried to love Gu Tingyan, tried to warm his heart.
She had spent nine years loving one person. Even if she had taken the wrong path, she accepted it.
What wasn’t hers would never be hers.
What Chu Sheng could take away was never something that belonged to her in the first place.
Qin Shu accepted that she had misjudged him, accepted that her efforts went unrewarded, accepted that her sincerity had been deceived, accepted the pain of love and separation, accepted the agony of unfulfilled desires, and accepted everything that went against her wishes.
Life was never smooth sailing.
Su Tuantuan cursed and fumed behind her, tears falling again in anger, wishing she could go up and punch Chu Sheng!
But that was Qin Shu’s own marriage. No matter how much she wanted to, she couldn’t interfere.
Ji Yanli watched Qin Shu’s retreating figure, then turned back to nod at Chu Sheng and Gu Tingyan.
Between her and Qin Shu, Gu Tingyan had chosen her.
Chu Sheng watched Ji Yanli follow the direction Qin Shu had gone, her fingers digging into her palms. The Ji family was a financial magnate in North America.
Ji Yanli was handsome and elegant, refined and cultured. Chu Sheng had once admired him and confessed her feelings, but was rejected.
She never expected him to be so close to Qin Shu. A flicker of jealousy and resentment passed through Chu Sheng’s eyes.
Just as Gu Tingyan was about to step forward to chase after Qin Shu, Chu Sheng beside him suddenly fainted.
“Sheng Sheng!”
Gu Tingyan’s expression changed. He scooped Chu Sheng up in his arms and rushed inside anxiously.
The vicious wound on Qin Shu’s shoulder had been treated. Ji Yanli leaned against the wall, looking down at her with lowered eyes. “Teacher misses you very much.”