Now that her sister was back, Gu Tingyan was her brother-in-law.
He could still treat her well like before.
Hospital room.
Chu Sheng had been resuscitated and remained unconscious for two hours before waking up. Gu Tingyan had stayed by her bedside the entire time, watching over her without leaving her side.
Chu Sheng lay on the hospital bed in a patient gown, her pale face haggard, her wrist wrapped in white bandages, her face completely devoid of color.
Jiang Chenxue sobbed beside her, covering her mouth, looking at Gu Tingyan with a pleading expression: “The doctor said she cut her main artery. If we’d come any later, she wouldn’t have made it.”
“Tingyan, Sheng Sheng doesn’t want to live anymore.”
She looked at Gu Tingyan with reddened eyes and cried: “Please save her.”
“My daughter finally came back. She can’t just disappear like this.”
“What sin have I committed that it has to be repaid on my daughter?”
Gu Tingyan felt a sharp pain in his chest. His expression was solemn as his thin lips parted slightly: “I will save her.”
“Don’t worry.”
Chu Sheng’s eyelashes trembled. Hearing this familiar voice, she opened her eyes and saw Gu Tingyan sitting beside her.
She looked at him, dazed, afraid to look away, terrified that he would disappear the next second.
“Tingyan.”
A smile appeared on Chu Sheng’s pale face. She raised her eyes and stared fixedly at him, not daring to look away, sobbing softly: “I dreamed of you again.”
She smiled bitterly: “That’s nice.”
Gu Tingyan felt a dull, stabbing pain in his chest. He lifted his eyes slightly, looking at Chu Sheng with a gentle voice: “Why are you so foolish?”
Chu Sheng was stunned. A line of clear tears flowed from the corner of her eyes. She raised her hand to caress his cheek, her voice carrying a hint of pleading and sorrow: “Let me touch you.”
Gu Tingyan didn’t move. Something was crashing violently in his chest. His eyes were bloodshot, and he remained silent.
“I always feel like I’m dreaming.”
She looked at the familiar handsome face before her, her eyes reddening: “When the dream ends, you’re still by my side.”
“We can go back to how we were before.”
Gu Tingyan took a deep breath, his chest heavy with suffocating weight. He rubbed his brow and explained to her in a low voice: “Sheng Sheng, I’m married.”
No one could have predicted things would come to this.
The two who had once loved each other so deeply were forced apart. He had married and had a child, yet she had come back.
Gu Tingyan said in a low voice: “I’m not the only man in this world. Look forward.”
Chu Sheng’s eyes instantly reddened, tears streaming down uncontrollably. She looked at Gu Tingyan with sorrow: “Why?”
“Why couldn’t you wait for me?”
“Only five years, and your child is already four years old.”
A faint sadness showed in her eyes as she mocked herself: “I thought you would at least wait for me.”
Gu Tingyan’s guilt continued to spread. After a moment of silence, he said: “I’m sorry.”
Chu Sheng’s eyes reddened: “I don’t want to hear your apology.”
Gu Tingyan looked up at her, trying desperately to restrain his emotions, a hint of exhaustion and helplessness on his face as he said: “Whatever you want, I’ll compensate you.”
Chu Sheng’s eyes glistened with tears as she stared at him stubbornly: “I want you.”
Gu Tingyan frowned deeply: “That’s impossible.”
His handsome face revealed a hint of coldness. He leaned against the wall with his long legs, casually playing with a lighter in his hand: “I’m married.”
“I’ve never thought about having an affair.”
Gu Tingyan looked at Chu Sheng’s pale face and said: “If you need financial help, just ask. If I can help, I’ll do my best.”
Chu Sheng closed her eyes, tears flowing from the corners, her voice hoarse: “You know exactly what I want most.”
“Yet you still come to pierce my heart.”
“Gu Tingyan, don’t you think you’re being too cruel to me?”
Her lashes glistened with tears as she looked at him: “Is your wife better than me?”
“Why don’t you dare look at me?”
Gu Tingyan didn’t answer her. He kept one hand in his pocket, looking out the window, his lips pressed together.
Some things could never go back. Everything had already changed.
If Chu Sheng had come back earlier, perhaps things wouldn’t have come to this.
Chu Sheng looked at Gu Tingyan’s cold, indifferent, and heartless demeanor and couldn’t say anything more, only weeping silently.
In the hospital room, only her continuous sobbing could be heard.
Seeing her crying so sorrowfully, the IV needle being pulled, blood starting to flow backward, Gu Tingyan let out a helpless sigh and gently patted her back: “Stop crying.”
Chu Sheng raised her arms and tightly hugged his waist, refusing to let go, crying: “Tingyan, I really can’t live without you.”
“Why? Why did everything change the moment I came back?”
“Why did you marry another woman?”
Gu Tingyan’s body stiffened. He was about to pull her hands away, but upon hearing these words, he didn’t move, confusion and pain filling his eyes.
In the hospital room, they embraced each other, like a pair of star-crossed lovers.
Through the glass window, Chu Yu watched Gu Tingyan and Chu Sheng holding each other inside, and raised her phone to capture the scene.
She casually played with her phone, looking at the glaring photo before her, jealousy on her face and a cold smile at the corner of her lips.
One day, this photo would come in handy.
She couldn’t just let her suffer alone in her lovelorn misery, could she?
Qin Shu leaned against the bed reading a book, with only a small lamp lit beside the bed. Gu Tingyan’s words kept echoing in her ears, and as she gripped the book in her hands, she felt nothing but unease and anxiety.
Qin Shu carefully flipped through the book in her hands, jotting down annotations with a pen. When she heard the phone on the nearby table vibrate, she picked it up and saw it was Gu Tingyan.
Gu Tingyan had sent her a message: “Go to sleep early. I won’t be coming back tonight, no need to wait for me.”
“I’m at the hospital keeping her company for a while. Sheng Sheng’s emotions are very unstable.”
Qin Shu felt an inexplicable tightness in her chest. She replied: “Okay.”
Qin Shu cautiously asked: “Is she alright?”
If Chu Sheng really died because of her, Gu Tingyan might hate her for the rest of his life.
Gu Tingyan: “Qin Shu, I’m already married to you. There’s no need for you to provoke Sheng Sheng in the future.”
Qin Shu’s heart suddenly seized up: “If I said I didn’t mean to provoke her, would you believe me?”
Gu Tingyan said: “I won’t divorce you. You can rest assured.”
“Even if Sheng Sheng has come back, she can’t threaten your position.”
When Qin Shu saw these words, she was so angry she didn’t want to bother with Gu Tingyan at all.
How exactly was she supposed to explain?
She truly hadn’t meant to provoke Chu Sheng!
She hadn’t even recognized whose voice it was on the other end!
But Gu Tingyan didn’t believe her.
Qin Shu inexplicably felt wronged. She tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep, then forced herself to read for another half hour. Only when it reached 11 o’clock did she turn off the light and go to sleep.
That night, just as Gu Tingyan had said, he never came back.
He stayed at the hospital the entire time, taking care of Chu Sheng.
The next day.
When Chu Sheng woke up, she saw Gu Tingyan lying by her hospital bed, having watched over her all night.
Jiang Chenxue sent her a message, feeling very anxious: “Chen Chen and I came back and crashed into Qin Shu’s car.”
“Sheng Sheng, will Gu Tingyan really divorce her for you?”