“Huahua, let’s go check out the old town.” Su Tuantuan called up to her from downstairs.
“Mm.”
Qin Shu got up and headed downstairs.
The ancient town was bustling with tourists, and Su Tuantuan was hopping along cheerfully.
Qin Shu followed behind her with a smile on her face. The next second, her smile vanished abruptly. Qin Shu stood frozen in place, her eyes locked dead ahead on the man and woman in front of her.
Chu Sheng was wearing a white dress, her face blooming with smiles as she clung to the man’s arm. The two looked like a perfectly matched couple.
Chu Sheng walked over to the sugar figurine stall and turned to look at Gu Tingyan, speaking in a sweet, coquettish voice: “Tingyan, I want this sugar figurine.”
The stall owner looked at the handsome man and beautiful woman and smiled brightly: “Sir, why don’t you buy a sugar figurine for your girlfriend?”
Girlfriend?
The smile on Chu Sheng’s face grew a little wider as she turned back to look at him.
Gu Tingyan frowned slightly, then looked down at Chu Sheng’s genuine smile, his gaze soft. He didn’t refute it, but simply took out his phone to pay.
Qin Shu stood there, her hands and feet ice-cold. Only after they left did she step out from around the corner.
She had heard every word of that conversation.
Qin Shu took out her phone and called Gu Tingyan, staring at their retreating figures.
She watched with her own eyes as Gu Tingyan took out his phone, glanced at it, and then ruthlessly hung up the call.
She lowered her head and sent him a WeChat message: “Gu Tingyan, where are you?”
She refused to give up, wanting only one confirmation—whether he would choose to lie to her.
After a long moment, Gu Tingyan coldly replied:
“On a business trip. I’ll be back tomorrow.”
Seeing the message he sent back, a chill ran through Qin Shu’s entire body, and her heart went numb along with it.
He lied to her.
The man who was supposedly on a business trip had appeared here, and the one by his side was Chu Sheng.
“Huahua? What’s wrong?” Su Tuantuan came running over with a newly bought palm-leaf fan. She followed Qin Shu’s gaze and her expression changed instantly: “Damn!”
“Those two bastards!”
“Wasn’t your Gu Tingyan supposed to be on a business trip?”
Su Tuantuan’s eyes blazed with fury: “So he was actually out with his old flame!”
She started to march over to confront them, but Qin Shu quickly grabbed her arm, her voice trembling: “Don’t go.”
She couldn’t go.
In the end, only she would end up humiliated.
“Huahua, are you okay?” Seeing how pale Qin Shu looked, Su Tuantuan quickly turned around to support her.
Qin Shu took a deep, shaky breath, her nose stinging with bitterness. She forced a smile: “I’m fine.”
Seeing how miserable she was, Su Tuantuan’s eyes reddened: “Ugh! What bad luck!”
“Forget it, let’s not wander around anymore. Let’s go back.”
Qin Shu nodded, and the two turned to head back. As they walked along the stone-paved path in the alley, they ran straight into Gu Tingyan and Chu Sheng.
Chu Sheng was holding a sugar figurine in one hand and clinging to Gu Tingyan’s arm with the other. The two looked inseparable, like lovers.
Qin Shu stood still, her gaze landing on their intertwined arms, a trace of mockery flickering across her face.
When Gu Tingyan saw Qin Shu, he subtly pulled away from Chu Sheng.
Chu Sheng let go of his arm, meeting Qin Shu’s gaze with a composed expression, a faint sneer curling at the corner of her lips.
Gu Tingyan looked at Qin Shu’s icy face, his heart sinking slightly. His lips moved: “Qin Shu—”
Before he could finish, urgent shouts came from above: “Get out of the way!”
“Something’s falling!”
A heavy billboard from the rooftop came crashing down, bringing a large shower of bricks with it. Pedestrians screamed and scattered in all directions.
Gu Tingyan’s expression changed: “Huahua!”
Su Tuantuan: “Huahua!”
Chu Sheng’s face turned pale. She grabbed at Gu Tingyan’s clothes, her body swaying as if she might collapse: “Tingyan, save me!”
Gu Tingyan looked up at the falling bricks, then turned and wrapped his arms tightly around Chu Sheng, shielding her. The bricks slammed heavily into his back.
Su Tuantuan was shoved aside by Qin Shu and collapsed to the ground. Watching the massive billboard come crashing down, she screamed at the top of her lungs: “Huahua!”
The huge billboard and bricks were falling from above—if they hit someone in the head, it would kill them!
Hearing Qin Shu’s name, Gu Tingyan’s head snapped up. His face instantly turned as pale as paper, filled with panic.
Seeing the horrifying scene before him, Gu Tingyan’s pupils dilated violently. His entire body trembled, his eyes bloodshot as he roared: “Qin Shu!”
Chu Sheng screamed and raised both hands to shield his head. She glanced toward Qin Shu’s direction and clung tightly to him: “Tingyan, don’t go over there! It’s dangerous!”
“You’ll die!”
Qin Shu couldn’t dodge in time. A brick struck her directly on the shoulder. She let out a muffled groan of pain, raised her hands to protect her head, and tried to run—but it was too late.
The billboard and bricks from the rooftop came straight down toward Qin Shu.
Gu Tingyan’s eyes nearly split open with terror. His heart felt like it was being squeezed by a giant hand, yanked up into his throat.
“Qin Shu!”
Qin Shu closed her eyes, certain she wouldn’t survive this day.
Just as she thought she was done for, someone behind her yanked her backward with force, and she tumbled directly into a man’s arms.
“Watch out!”
“Huahua!”
“BANG!”
Huge billboards and countless bricks crashed to the ground, leaving craters in the pavement and kicking up thick layers of dust—landing precisely where Qin Shu had been standing moments before.
Qin Shu’s face was deathly pale. Facing the terror and threat of death for the first time, her body trembled uncontrollably, her legs too weak to support her.
If not for the person behind her pulling her back…
She might have truly died.
Qin Shu heard Gu Tingyan’s voice. She looked up with her pallid face and saw Gu Tingyan shielding Chu Sheng in his arms like a precious treasure, blood seeping from wounds on his own back.
Her face burned as if she had been slapped hard. Her nose stung with bitterness, and a single round tear hovered precariously on her lower lashes, trembling as if it might shatter at any moment.
Gu Tingyan held Chu Sheng tightly to his chest, then looked up at Qin Shu. Seeing she was unharmed, he let out a breath of relief. His gaze landed on the tear at the corner of her eye, and his body stiffened slightly.
Qin Shu stared at the scene, a heart-wrenching pain assaulting her like countless electric currents surging through her body, leaving her numb and agonized.
Gu Tingyan would rather be hurt himself than let Chu Sheng come to any harm. From beginning to end, he held her close, terrified she might be injured.
In his eyes, there had never been room for her.
They say that in the moment danger strikes, a man instinctively protects the person most important to him.
Between her and Chu Sheng, Gu Tingyan had chosen to save Chu Sheng.
For five years, she had lived like a joke—her own husband had saved another woman.
If no one had pulled her back, she would have been crushed to death today.
Qin Shu wanted to laugh, but she couldn’t. Her heart felt as if a knife had been viciously plunged into it. Her entire body ached.
Qin Shu trembled slightly, her face frighteningly pale. She looked at Gu Tingyan, deep sorrow radiating from her eyes.
Gu Tingyan lifted his head while holding Chu Sheng, and the despair and grief in Qin Shu’s gaze made his heart lurch violently.
He watched as Qin Shu’s lips quivered, as if she wanted to speak but couldn’t find the words.
On one side stood his wife, who had been by his side for years.
On the other, the woman he had once loved most.
Chu Sheng had died in the year Gu Tingyan loved her the most.
The dead white moonlight had returned.
And he had already married and had a child.
It was as if fate had played a cruel joke, mercilessly snatching away the person he treasured most in his heart.
His love for Chu Sheng burned like a blazing fire—fierce and intense—yet that flame had been extinguished by a sudden gust of wind at its most brilliant moment.
Qin Shu knew that from the moment Chu Sheng returned, she had completely lost.
Five years of her time hadn’t earned her Gu Tingyan’s favor.
Someone in the crowd recognized Gu Tingyan first: “Ah, isn’t that President Gu of Gu Group?”
Seeing the woman in his arms, their eyes widened with surprise.
Who would have thought that the cold, aloof, desireless President Gu—who never touched women—actually had a girlfriend!
And his girlfriend was so beautiful!
Gu Tingyan and Qin Shu had been secretly married for five years. No one knew he was already married and had a child.
“President Gu!”
“It really is Gu Tingyan! Oh my god!”
“He’s so handsome! Even more handsome than on TV!”
“President Gu, is the woman in your arms your girlfriend?!”
“President Gu, you’re so good to your girlfriend!”
“President Gu got hurt protecting his girlfriend.”
Qin Shu listened to the crowd’s chatter, the irony on her face growing more pronounced.
Gu Tingyan was a constant presence in the news, blessed with an extraordinarily handsome face. After the car accident five years ago, everyone assumed Gu Group would change hands.
But who would have guessed that even confined to a wheelchair, Gu Tingyan acted with swift and decisive force, ruthlessly purging the internal executives who had tried to take advantage of the chaos.
In just five years, he had led Gu Group to even greater heights!
When Gu Tingyan realized someone had recognized him and a crowd was swarming around with phones raised to take photos, his expression turned grim. He pressed Chu Sheng’s face tightly against his chest, shielding her from view.
He barked sharply: “Stop taking photos!”
Chu Sheng cowered in his arms, trembling uncontrollably. Her hands clutched desperately at his clothes, panicked and uneasy, as she whispered weakly: “Tingyan, I’m scared.”
Chu Sheng’s illness had flared up.
She suffered from severe depression, to the point of having suicidal tendencies.
Gu Tingyan’s heart ached for her. He lowered his head and patted her back soothingly, his movements gentle, his voice tender: “Don’t be afraid. I’m here. No one will hurt you.”
The tenderness in the man’s eyes was practically overflowing.
His movements were soft, his demeanor cautious—like someone handling fragile porcelain, protecting his most treasured possession.
In five years of marriage, Gu Tingyan had never treated her with such care and devotion.