Although Qiyue was her absolute best friend in the world, Xu Nansheng did not believe a single word she said.
Gu Beiyan liked her?
Saying that Qiyue had a secret crush on her would be more believable than saying Gu Beiyan liked her.
Qibao: [What is so hard to believe about this? A man is unmarried, a woman is unmarried. You are so pretty, and he took this matter so seriously. If it is not because he likes you, what else could it be? Do you seriously think Gu Beiyan is some kind of major idler who went through such a massive roundabout way just to watch the show? Do you think he is the type to gossip? Not like me.]
Qibao: [Alright, stop overthinking it. Come find me, and sister will show you a good time.]
Qibao: [Photo of male nightclub models]
In the photo, several male models wearing only translucent white shirts and black dress pants were kneeling in the corners of the stage.
Supporting themselves backward with one hand and puffing out their chests to reveal just the right amount of muscle, their other hands rested on their necks, stroking from top to bottom. Their expressions were intoxicated, their gazes alluring, and warm yellow light cast down from above, turning the atmosphere ambiguous.
Water fell from overhead, dampening the white shirts and outlining the contours underneath. Even through the screen, one could feel the ignited atmosphere of the scene.
Xu Nansheng had originally intended to say she was not going. The refusal message was already edited, but before she had a chance to send it, Qiyue’s message came in first.
Qibao: [I found the male model who hit on you in the hallway last night. Once you get here, we will go look for him together and see what on earth happened last night.]
She had suffered a total blackout last drinking session, and her memory was disjointed.
However, Xu Nansheng distinctly remembered looking for a stranger in the hallway.
As to why it turned out to be Gu Beiyan when she woke up in bed, she had zero recollection whatsoever.
Xu Nansheng hurriedly deleted her message, grabbed her car keys, and drove off to find Qiyue.
When she found Qiyue, the latter was surrounded by a group of male models, swaying freely in the middle of the dance floor.
Xu Nansheng found her booth, asked the waiter for a glass of lemon water, and quietly sat on the sofa waiting for her to finish dancing.
Meanwhile, in the second-floor private room.
Gu Beiyan sat in the corner of the sofa, dressed in a white shirt and black pants, looking completely indifferent.
His well-articulated fingers held a glass, and the liquor inside swirled, reflecting the colorful rays of the lights.
Today’s gathering was organized by Guo Yueze, supposedly to welcome him back to the country.
Yet while the group of people was lively, chatting, drinking, and playing cards, Gu Beiyan sat coldly and lonely in the corner, looking not even remotely like the guest of honor of the party.
Seeing this, Guo Yueze picked up his wine glass and sat down beside him.
“What is it? Still upset about yesterday’s events? Have a drink. Alcohol is a good thing; it can wash away a thousand sorrows.”
Gu Beiyan raised his glass to clink with him, took a sip with his head tilted back, and rubbed the glass as he asked him.
“Do you know how to pursue a girl? The kind that is fast.”
He was a bit anxious. Having waited more than ten years, he could not wait any longer, fearing she might get carried away by someone else again.
Just as the alcohol entered Guo Yueze’s mouth, Gu Beiyan’s words caused him to choke and cough repeatedly.
“Cough, cough, cough, cough. Who are you chasing? You didn’t change your target, did you? So suddenly?”
That was impossible. This guy had secretly loved the little one for so many years and had hidden it extremely deeply.
If he hadn’t happened to overhear him chanting her name over and over again after getting drunk last year, he, a longtime friend, would never have known that the person Gu Beiyan had been yearning for in his heart was actually his own nephew’s girlfriend, the younger-generation Xu Nansheng.
Knowing that Xu Nansheng was going to get engaged to Gu Hongyu, this guy went so far as to defy Gu Yanjun and fly right back, preparing to hijack the wedding at the engagement venue.
Guo Yueze had even prepared himself to help the two of them escape the scene the moment Gu Beiyan snatched her away. But as it turned out, Gu Hongyu, that brat, never showed up, and the expressions of the Xu family and Xu Nansheng at the time were utterly unsightly.
The hall was packed with guests, gathering practically all the elites of Jiangcheng.
And just like that, their face was thoroughly thrown out the window.
Guo Yueze still remembered that Gu Beiyan was sitting in the audience at the time, straightening his suit jacket and preparing to let the engagement continue with a replacement groom, only to find that before he could even step forward, Xu Nansheng publicly announced the cancellation of the engagement.
To suddenly change his target, could it be that the little white rabbit taking away a male model last night had shattered his eternal iron-tree heart?
Sure enough, people who were this infatuated and devoted were prone to becoming extreme and radical.
“Listen to me, the person in the bar yesterday might not even have been Xu Nansheng. The lighting was so dim, it is completely normal to mistake someone else.
Besides, you’ve liked her for so many years; you surely can’t just give up because of a misunderstanding, right? Think about the purpose of your return this trip! Think about your forbearance and restraint all these years! Think about how many late, drunken nights your mind was lingering on—wasn’t it Xu Nansheng?”
Guo Yueze had read countless people, but he had never encountered anyone who truly loved him for himself; they were all fucking in love with his money.
It was rare to run into such a pure, die-hard romantic, and he couldn’t bear to ruin it.
Guo Yueze tilted his head slightly, giving his friend a look as if looking at an absolute fool.
“Who said I changed my target?”
A massive pile of arguments blocked up in his throat, leaving Guo Yueze speechless.
“Then the girl you said you wanted to chase is Xu Nansheng?”
No way. His nephew’s girlfriend, his former engagement target, and he, the paternal uncle, was going to openly pursue her?
Guo Yueze raised an eyebrow. “Otherwise?”
For a split second, Gu Beiyan even felt that the fact the Guo family could prosper to this day was a miracle.
Guo Yueze patted his chest and let out a long sigh of relief. Good, the patron saint of pure romance was saved.
After chugging half a glass of wine to soothe his recently tense nerves, Guo Yueze offered his advice with the demeanor of someone who had been through it all.
“When it comes to chasing a girl, the main strategy is to be thick-skinned. Haven’t you heard that a persistent monk wins over the most steadfast maiden? No matter how hard a girl is to chase, as long as your skin is thick enough and you cling tightly enough, you’ll win her over sooner or later.”
Listening to his flow of eloquence without a single useful word, Gu Beiyan felt he might have asked the wrong person.
He put down his wine glass, stood up, grabbed his jacket, and prepared to leave.
“Hey, hey, hey, I haven’t finished talking yet. Where are you going?”
“Overtime work.”
Dropping those simple words, he strode out on his long legs.
Inside the room, the rest of the group looked at Guo Yueze in surprise. “Why did Third Master leave?”
Gu Beiyan ranked third, and everyone in Jiangcheng respectfully referred to him as Third Master.
Guo Yueze poured himself a drink and replied, “He’s a workaholic. He has wine and won’t drink it, going back to work overtime instead. He’s an absolute freak!”
Yet it was precisely this freak who, in the span of just a few short years, had expanded the Gu family’s commercial empire globally.
His industries stretched from the domestic market to Europe, the Americas, Australia, and even Africa, where he had several pillar industries.
The more he thought about it, the more jealous Guo Yueze became.
If he had that kind of capability, he wouldn’t have to deal with his eldest sister’s attitude every single day.
Just as his words trailed off and before his glass was even filled, the figure who had just walked out hurried back into the private room and then nonchalantly slumped onto the sofa as if nothing had happened.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m drunk.”
Guo Yueze looked at the half-glass of whiskey still sitting on the coffee table and broke out into black lines.
Every time they drank, he was the one pouring while Gu Beiyan remained utterly calm and completely fine.
The only time he had ever gotten drunk was when he found out about Xu Nansheng and Gu Hongyu officially announcing their relationship, drinking himself into a massive stupor and chanting Xu Nansheng’s name all night long.
“You…”
Before Guo Yueze’s puzzled question could leave his mouth, he heard him say, “Go find someone to send me back.”
When Guo Yueze walked out of the private room, his entire mind was blank.
However, the moment he reached the spiral staircase leading from the first floor to the second and caught a glimpse of Xu Nansheng sitting in the first-floor booth, he instantly understood why this old iron tree had suddenly gotten drunk.
It turned out that the drinker’s heart was not in the cup, but in the beauty!