At the Gu family villa.
Gu Tingyan had the servants take Gu Yichen upstairs, and the boy obediently went up to do his homework with his little schoolbag on his back.
Gu Tingyan carried the medical kit and pulled Qin Shu to sit on the sofa. He carefully dabbed alcohol on a cotton swab and tended to the wound on her arm.
Gu Tingyan looked down at her, his voice gentle: “Next time something like this happens, just call me directly.”
“Your husband will have your back.”
Qin Shu lowered her eyes, jealousy churning in her heart. She curled her lips and said flatly: “How would I dare call you? If Chu Sheng answers the phone and then kills herself, I’d become the villain.”
“Wouldn’t you hate me to death?”
Gu Tingyan knew she was upset.
He watched her keep her head down, refusing to look at him. He sighed and ruffled her hair: “Yesterday was my fault. I shouldn’t have lost my temper at you.”
“I’m apologizing. Can you forgive me?”
Qin Shu’s lowered eyes reddened slightly at the rims. Her lips pressed together, and a sour feeling rose in her nose.
Seeing her nose tip red and her eyes welling up like a little rabbit, Gu Tingyan reached out and pulled her onto his lap.
He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and coaxed her softly: “Feeling wronged?”
Qin Shu pressed her lips together, tears glistening at the corners of her eyes. She stubbornly turned her head away, refusing to look at him.
“I’ll clear some time tomorrow and take you and the kids out to play.”
“I promise I won’t lose my temper at you again.”
“Hmm?”
Qin Shu reached out and hugged his waist tightly, nodding as she held him: “Last time!”
Actually, she was easy to appease.
Looking at Gu Tingyan’s face, it was hard for her to stay angry.
As long as he coaxed her a little, she could forgive him.
Qin Shu rested her head against his chest and caught a faint scent of perfume. Her body stiffened slightly.
Even though the fragrance was subtle, she still noticed it.
That perfume on Gu Tingyan belonged to Chu Sheng.
How close would someone have to be to pick up another woman’s scent? Or maybe they had embraced, and that was why the fragrance lingered on him.
Qin Shu’s heart instantly became a mess, as if engulfed by a violent storm.
She lifted her head, grabbed his clothes, and sniffed them. Looking at the suit he hadn’t changed all night, she wrinkled her nose in disgust: “You stink.”
Gu Tingyan was someone with a cleanliness obsession, usually very particular about hygiene.
He paused, lowered his head, and sniffed himself. It didn’t smell bad, but there was a faint trace of perfume.
Was Qin Shu’s nose that sharp?
He paused, then curled his lips and said: “I didn’t change at the hospital, so there might be a smell of disinfectant.”
“Chu Sheng’s condition isn’t good. Someone had to stay with her.”
Qin Shu pouted: “If I get sick in the future, will you stay by my bedside like a devoted son?”
Gu Tingyan smiled and curled his lips: “What else would I do?”
“Also, I’m not a devoted son—I’m your man.”
“You’re not allowed to get sick. I couldn’t bear it.”
He explained: “Jiang Xubai came last night too. I wasn’t there alone.”
Jiang Xubai had arrived later, and the two of them had kept watch together through the night.
Jiang Xubai was Gu Tingyan’s childhood friend. He didn’t like Qin Shu and harbored strong hostility toward her, which was why Gu Tingyan rarely brought her out to meet his circle of friends.
After Gu Tingyan finished dressing her wound, he went upstairs to shower and change into clean clothes: “Huahua, I’m heading to the company.”
“Call me if anything comes up.”
Qin Shu: “Okay.”
The sound of an engine started outside, and Gu Tingyan left for the office.
Qin Shu’s phone buzzed. It was a text from an unknown number: “Come meet me.”
Her intuition told her it was Chu Sheng.
Looking at the message, Qin Shu thought—it had been years since they last met. She felt like going to see what Chu Sheng wanted.
At the café.
When Qin Shu walked in carrying her bag, Chu Sheng was leaning by the window in a white dress. Sunlight fell on her, seeming to cast a glow around her, her skin dazzlingly pale.
That innocent, pretty face was even fairer than five years ago. She also had more of a womanly charm. Qin Shu hadn’t expected her to ask her out right after attempting suicide by slitting her wrists.
She walked over calmly and sat down across from Chu Sheng, placing her bag on the table. Her voice was indifferent: “You wanted to see me?”
Qin Shu’s gaze fell on her pale wrist, wrapped in gauze with faint traces of blood showing through.
Chu Sheng’s eyelids drooped slightly, and a faint sadness spread across her face. She shrank her wrist back, tucking her hand under the table. Her face was as pale as paper, as if she was terrified of Qin Shu.
As if Qin Shu were some wicked old hag out to persecute her.
Her delicate face looked on the verge of tears, the corners of her eyes reddened, her pitiful appearance so fragile that a gust of wind might knock her over. Her thin frame was as flimsy as a sheet of paper.
She really did know how to stir a man’s protective instincts.
Chu Sheng, her face pale, looked at Qin Shu and said in a weak voice: “Can you leave Tingyan?”
Qin Shu sat down and ordered herself a coffee. At those words, she raised an eyebrow lazily and crossed her arms: “No.”
Chu Sheng hadn’t expected such a blunt refusal. She spoke calmly: “I can give you money.”
“Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you!”
Qin Shu pondered for a moment, stroking her chin, and a meaningful smile spread across her face: “Really?”
Chu Sheng: “Yes!”
She handed Qin Shu a check with a faint smile on her face. “Whatever amount you fill in, I can satisfy you.”
“As long as you leave Tingyan.”
Qin Shu took the check and gave it a little shake, then asked the waiter for a pen. She bent over the table, carefully filled in the numbers, and scribbled across every single box until it was completely full!
Chu Sheng gave her a cold, indifferent glance. Qin Shu’s greed was written all over her face, completely unashamed. The corner of Chu Sheng’s lips curled slightly, her eyes filled with contempt.
This kind of woman didn’t deserve Tingyan.
He deserved someone better—someone like herself!
Being able to get rid of Qin Shu with money was the best possible outcome.
After Qin Shu finished filling out the check, she handed it to Chu Sheng. “I’m not asking for much, just this little bit.”
She sat on the chair like an obedient student waiting for the teacher’s praise.
Chu Sheng took the fully filled check, gave a contemptuous sneer, her eyes full of disdain. The next second, when she saw the number Qin Shu had written, her face turned ashen.
What Qin Shu had shamelessly written was: 999,999,999.99 yuan (one cent short of 1 billion yuan).
Chu Sheng: “…”
“You’re messing with me?”
Qin Shu gripped her coffee cup and said with complete confidence, “Gu Tingyan is my most beloved husband—he’s worth extra!”
“What? You don’t have the money?”
Qin Shu rolled her eyes. “If you’re broke, why are you putting on airs?”
A smile played at the corner of Qin Shu’s lips as she stirred her coffee on the table. “Or what—you don’t actually truly love Gu Tingyan?”
She clicked her tongue a few times and said disdainfully, “You can’t even bear to spend this much on him, and you still say you love him.”
“If I had five hundred, I’d spend it all on him. If I had a billion, I’d gladly give it to him too!”
Qin Shu actually did have five hundred in cash in her bag, but even after turning every single pocket inside out, she couldn’t find a billion anywhere.
Chu Sheng’s face darkened. “You’re asking for the moon!”
Qin Shu crossed her arms, completely unbothered, with the classic scumbag line plastered on her face: “If that’s how you want to see it, then there’s nothing I can do.”
“Whatever you say goes.”
Chu Sheng was the type who could pull off a suicide stunt just from a phone call with her—she was no innocent little flower.
If anything really happened, Gu Tingyan would hate her to death.
For the rest of her life, she and Gu Tingyan would never have a peaceful day.
Seeing that Qin Shu didn’t know when to back off, Chu Sheng sneered inwardly. There was no way she was handing over a billion.
She forced herself to calm down and looked at Qin Shu. “I am the person Tingyan loves most.”
Qin Shu: “Gu Tingyan and I have been married for five years, and we have a son.”
Chu Sheng’s expression turned ugly in an instant.
Qin Shu held up four fingers and looked at her. “That’s four more years together than you.”