Xu Nansheng pressed against the bedroom door. Listening as the footsteps gradually faded into the distance and did not return, she finally began searching the room for her phone, eventually discovering it neatly placed on the bedside table with a phone charger thoughtfully plugged into it.
Xu Nansheng: “…”
There was simply no way she could have done this herself while dead drunk.
She had to admit that, despite not seeing him for years, her uncle was still exactly the same as before, meticulous about everything, big or small.
Faced with such an unexpected situation last night, he had actually helped her remove her makeup and apply skincare afterwards.
He was no different from how she remembered him.
After all these years apart, he was still him.
Yet vaguely, she also felt that her uncle seemed somehow different this time compared to before.
As the call connected, Xu Nansheng collected her thoughts and hurriedly spoke up.
“Yue-bao, what happened last night? Didn’t I go drinking with you? Why did I end up with Un…”
Before Xu Nansheng could finish her sentence, a hoarse man’s voice came through the earpiece.
“She is still sleeping. Call back a bit later.”
She rolled her eyes and cut straight to the point.
“I am going to count to three. If she does not answer, I am going to summon all her exes to come watch you two, especially that college student who keeps clinging to her!”
The moment those words dropped, a fatigued yet thoroughly refreshed female voice emerged from the earpiece.
“Hi, my one and only precious, why such a huge burst of grievance? Wasn’t that young hottie last night satisfactory?”
“What happened last night?”
Xu Nansheng had a flaw: when she drank too much, her memory tended to blank out completely, and her behavior post-drinking became far more daring than usual.
Though she had been arrogant enough since childhood to cause quite a few large and small troubles, when it came to matters between men and women, she belonged to the conservative faction, upholding the principle of total devotion.
Therefore, despite being childhood sweethearts with Gu Hongyu, she had never crossed that final boundary.
Her best friend in the world, Qi Yue, was the exact opposite.
Qi Yue was a notoriously wild socialite in Jiangcheng’s high society circle. According to Qi Yue’s philosophy of life, men could carouse and play the field, so why couldn’t women? Weren’t her own hard-earned money and freedom meant to be enjoyed?
It was Qi Yue who had chosen the bar last night, claiming that the male models there were drop-dead gorgeous and would definitely help her forget that utter scumbag Gu Hongyu.
She had said: A new flame brings enough excitement, and an old love ceases to matter!
Yet who could have possibly predicted that during her very first time hiring a male model, she would wake up to find out the man was her uncle, the one person she had feared since childhood?
Xu Nansheng’s world had collapsed!
“Last night? We just drank, and then I went to the restroom. When I came back, I saw you chatting up a handsome guy in the hallway. Figuring I should not ruin your fun, I cleared out first. What is wrong? Was the guy terrible in bed? Or is he clinging to you and refusing to let go afterwards? Let me tell you, I have experience with this. You just tell him you have a husband locked up in prison and three crying babies waiting to be fed, and I guarantee he won’t dare pester you again.”
While offering advice to Xu Nansheng, Qi Yue was still dealing with the entanglements of the man beside her, giggling as she told him, “Behave yourself, baby, I am on the phone.”
“I remember it that way too, but when I woke up, I discovered the person sleeping beside me was my uncle.”
“Your uncle? Then you can just… Huh? What uncle? Which uncle? Are you talking about…”
“Gu Beiyan. He has returned to China, and I am guessing he came back to attend the engagement banquet.”
Qi Yue lost all mood to dally with the male model, shoving the man aside to hurriedly jump out of bed. As she walked toward the door, she pulled her dress over her body.
“Where are you? I am coming to find you. This gossip… No, this matter is way too serious. We have to talk face-to-face!”
Xu Nansheng and Qi Yue agreed to meet at a café. Xu Nansheng had not even gone home; she was still wearing the clothes Gu Beiyan had arranged for her that morning.
Unexpectedly, they fit quite well.
“Did you go home? Did your parents… say anything?”
Qi Yue asked as she cupped Xu Nansheng’s face, checking for any traces of tears.
“No, I did not go back. These clothes were prepared by my uncle.”
“Hiss… So, you really slept with Gu Beiyan?”
Xu Nansheng let out a long sigh, lifting her coffee cup to take a sip.
“Although I have no idea how it happened, yes, we definitely slept together.”
Qi Yue stood up, switched seats to sit beside her, squeezed close to Xu Nansheng, and lowered her voice to gossip.
“Hey, speaking of which, Gu Beiyan always looks so ice-cold, what is he like in bed? I genuinely can not imagine someone like him looking as stiff and uninterested as a terracotta warrior in bed; how boring must that be?”
“Cough, cough, cough, cough…”
Xu Nansheng choked on her coffee, coughing a few times as an uncontrolled wave of crimson flushed across her cheeks.
Cold?
He was not cold at all.
Someone who usually looked so aloof and detached could turn out to be so wildly intense, it was like dealing with a completely different person!
Noticing Xu Nansheng’s blushing cheeks, Qi Yue squeezed in even closer.
“Reminiscing? Looks like Gu Beiyan’s skills are not bad at all. He left you pretty satisfied?”
Xu Nansheng glared at her, reaching out to pinch her waist.
“Who is reminiscing? I am trying to figure out what on earth happened last night. I clearly remember looking for a stranger last night just to get back at Gu Hongyu, but when I woke up in the morning, I found out it was my uncle. I was completely dumbfounded.”
“And what did Gu Beiyan say?”
“He said I threw myself at him and he could not push me away…”
Qi Yue furrowed her brows, struggling to recall. “The male model last night had his back to me, so I did not see what he looked like either. I just assumed you had finally figured things out, so I did not go over to disturb you. But do you think there is any chance Gu Beiyan was lying to you?”
With a build as massive as Gu Beiyan’s, he could not push her away? How did that claim sound even remotely believable?
Xu Nansheng nodded. “Actually, I suspected that too. But what would he stand to gain by lying to me?”
Right, what was there to gain?
If it was about money, Gu Beiyan was far wealthier than her.
If it was about status, Xu Nansheng only held a few dry shares in her family’s company, which could not compare to someone sitting at the absolute peak of the pyramid like Gu Beiyan.
Could it be to help Gu Hongyu exact revenge on her?
But in this relationship, wasn’t Gu Hongyu the one who messed up? If anyone was looking for revenge, it should be her getting back at the Gu family!
No matter how she thought about it, Xu Nansheng could not find a logical reason.
Hearing this, however, Qi Yue declared with absolute certainty, “What does he stand to gain? He wants you, of course! My one and only precious, do you have any idea how gorgeous you are? Do you know how many wealthy heirs in Jiangcheng have secret crushes on you and want to marry you? No matter how powerful Gu Beiyan is, he is still a man, and no man can resist a beauty. And you, my one and only precious, are the trial of Gu Beiyan’s lifetime!”
“Doesn’t Gu Hongyu love that Liang Xueqing and refuse to marry anyone else? You should just take the opportunity to marry Gu Beiyan! From then on, every time Gu Hongyu sees you, he will have to respectfully call you Aunt. How satisfying is that? It is literally like the heavens could not stand it anymore and decided to step in to help you deal with this pair of scum! Even though Gu Beiyan is cold and always wears a gloomy face day in and day out, he really is breathtakingly handsome. He has the looks, he has the body, tsk tsk, judging by that frame, I do not even dare to imagine how powerful he is. And with Gu Beiyan’s status in Jiangcheng, if you go out and cause trouble in the future, your parents won’t just refrain from scolding you, they will even praise you by saying that you did a great job! Do you believe me? With him around, you could turn the world upside down and still come out completely unscathed.”
Qi Yue lifted her chin with a smug look as she analyzed the situation for her.
She was already starting to look forward to the expression on Gu Hongyu’s face when he found out Xu Nansheng and Gu Beiyan were together, looking like he had just swallowed filth yet was forced to choke it down.
Xu Nansheng simply rolled her eyes at her. “Have you read too many brainless web novels? That is Gu Beiyan we are talking about, not some random stray cat or dog. What you should be doing right now is uninstalling reading apps!”
Gu Beiyan indeed looked good, and his family background and financial power were beyond reproach, but he was also one of the few untouchable figures in Jiangcheng who absolutely must not be provoked.
She did not dare entertain the fantasy of using this opportunity to marry Gu Beiyan just to spite Gu Hongyu and Liang Xueqing.
While she was still agonizing over what to do, a friend request suddenly popped up on her phone.
[I am Gu Beiyan]