That rainy day, she and Gu Hongyu had quarreled fiercely. Every single word of his was full of partiality toward Liang Xueqing and utter disgust for herself.
He said that Xueqing was gentle, considerate, and empathetic, and that she frequently spoke up on her behalf. As for Xu Nansheng, she had been arrogant and overbearing since childhood, never knowing how to consider other people’s feelings and always remaining self-centered.
He said that Xueqing was hardworking and ambitious, and that the stubborn drive within her refusing to bow to fate was what he admired most, whereas Xu Nansheng only knew how to rely on her family, and without the Xu family, she was nothing at all.
Yet Gu Hongyu had forgotten that if it hadn’t been for her arrogance and the powerful Xu family standing behind her, he would have been beaten to a pulp by others countless times back in their school days.
Whenever he found himself in danger, wasn’t it Xu Nansheng who shielded him to safety? Now, that very same overbearing nature had become his reason for resenting her.
Gu Hongyu also forgot that the only reason Liang Xueqing was able to come to Jiangcheng and appear before him in the first place was because of her, Xu Nansheng.
If it weren’t for her, Liang Xueqing would probably have long since become someone else’s breeding machine in some remote rural village, with zero opportunity to break into high society and hook up with him!
Even her ability to join Xu Media was due to her begging her older brother to make an exception. She never expected that, thanks to her favor, Gu Hongyu would spin it into a tale of ambition, hard work, and defiance against fate.
He claimed she was nothing without the Xu family, yet she was someone who had won international art awards, bagged multiple scholarships in university, frequently taken the stage as a student representative to give speeches, and even represented the school in hosting international guests on several occasions, ultimately graduating as an outstanding student representative!
Times had changed and people had grown apart. Xu Nansheng was long since exhausted and simply wanted a clean break where each went their separate ways. Yet two days later, Gu Hongyu showed up at the Xu family estate once again, dropping to his knees before her to beg for forgiveness and reconciliation while exhausting every sweet word in the book.
Gu Hongyu’s parents were even more anxious to lock in the engagement banquet, and Gu Hongyu himself made repeated guarantees right in front of both sets of parents that he would completely cut ties with Liang Xueqing and properly settle down with Xu Nansheng.
Little did she expect that on the day of the engagement banquet yesterday, Liang Xueqing would artificially manufacture a car accident to lure him away halfway through.
Qi Yue put down her coffee cup and asked with a serious expression.
“What are you planning to do next? Are you just going to sit back and watch that stinking lotus bloom get away with this? That doesn’t sound like you, our proud Miss Xu.”
Xu Nansheng took a shallow sip of her coffee, her brows curving as a wicked, playful smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
“Since Liang Xueqing wants so badly to be the Young Mistress of the Gu family, I’ll just hand the title over to her. As for everything else, she’s going to return every single thing to me, piece by piece.”
She was the one who had brought her into this social circle in the first place; she was going to make Liang Xueqing understand that without her, Xu Nansheng, she didn’t even possess the qualifications to step foot into this circle.
Even the career that Gu Hongyu was so proud of for her would be destroyed with her own hands!
Clouds and mud were naturally worlds apart, yet she had actually dared to delusionally dream of competing with her in radiance. Clearly, she had no idea of her own true worth!
The next second, Qi Yue brought her palm down hard onto Xu Nansheng’s shoulder, exclaiming excitedly.
“That’s right! This is the Miss Xu I know, the one who returns every inch of respect tenfold! You have no idea how infuriating it was watching you repeatedly forgive that spineless wretch Gu Hongyu over and over again!”
In truth, Qi Yue’s force wasn’t exceptionally heavy, but after everything they had been through the previous night, coupled with the fact that it was her very first time, Xu Nansheng was bound to feel overwhelmed, her entire body aching as though she had fallen apart.
Stung by the impact, she reached out with a slight wince to massage her shoulder.
Qi Yue furrowed her brows. “What’s wrong? Did Gu Beiyan beat you up last night? Is he that much of a psycho?”
As she spoke, she reached out to pull back Xu Nansheng’s collar to inspect the injury on her shoulder.
It was already too late for Xu Nansheng to stop her. With lightning-fast reflexes, Qi Yue flipped open the collar, exposing the mottled red marks hidden beneath the fabric.
“Tsk tsk tsk, I never would’ve guessed. Gu Beiyan usually looks so ice-cold during the day, but in bed, he actually gets this intense? You…”
She broke into a mischievous, wicked grin. “How was the experience last night?”
Xu Nansheng bit her lip to hold back her laughter, an unbidden blush creeping across her cheeks as she lowered her voice.
“Setting seniority aside, the uncle’s skills are indeed quite good.”
Though he had seemed overbearing and urgent, acting like a starving man who hadn’t tasted meat in years and was desperate to dig in, he had still remained mindful of the fact that it was her first time, showering her with exceptional gentleness.
The only downside was that his stamina was entirely too terrifying, leaving her struggling to keep up.
Stepping out of the bathroom, Xu Nansheng had genuinely felt like she was about to fall apart.
Noticing the shyness in the depths of her eyes, Qi Yue teased.
“Why set seniority aside? Just thinking about it is thrilling enough.”
In private, Qi Yue had always spoken without a filter. Before she could spew any more wild remarks, Xu Nansheng hurriedly reached out to clamp a hand over her mouth, whispering a warning.
“Stop reading so much trashy romance fiction; your brain cells are completely dyed yellow.”
Qi Yue batted her hand away, raising an eyebrow with a wicked smirk.
“Yellow is great. You’ve officially blossomed into a woman now, so later I’m going to send you some adult reading material so you can mature even more.”
Qi Yue was a woman of action. Not long after the two of them parted ways, she flooded her phone with a string of cloud storage links. Although the titles looked reasonably normal, knowing Qi Yue as well as she did, the contents were guaranteed to be anything but normal, let alone suitable to open in broad daylight.
Therefore, upon seeing the cascade of links, Xu Nansheng didn’t reply, nor did she click on them to extract anything.
Instead, the moment she backed out of the chat, that friend request popped up once more.
[I am Gu Beiyan]
Gu Beiyan, Gu Beiyan, Gu Beiyan…
Xu Nansheng rolled the name around in her mind, and just as she was about to tap the button to accept the request, the car came to a smooth halt right in front of the Xu family villa.
Hearing the roar of the car engine, her father, mother, and older brother all rushed anxiously out to meet her.
After the chaos of yesterday, followed by her vanishing act to drown her sorrows with Qi Yue where they remained completely out of reach all night long, the three of them had been worried sick like ants on a hot pan. When they finally managed to get in touch, Gu Beiyan hadn’t given any details, simply stating that she was with him.
Her brother, Xu Jingze, hadn’t dared let his heart settle down for a single second all night.
Seeing Xu Nansheng safe and sound right before his eyes, the massive boulder in his chest finally dropped.
Yet the next second, Xu Jingze’s face darkened, and he demanded angrily in an accusing tone.
“Weren’t you supposed to be leaving with Qi Yue last night? How on earth did you end up tangling with Gu Beiyan?”
Out of all people, why did it have to be that living Yama!
Xu Nansheng’s mesmerizing, rippling eyes flashed with surprise. Yesterday, after being stood up at her engagement banquet and receiving the news that Gu Hongyu had accompanied Liang Xueqing to the hospital, she had flown into a rage and dragged Qi Yue away.
She had originally planned to use Qi Yue as an alibi, claiming she had spent the entire night with her. How on earth did her big brother find out she was with Gu Beiyan?
Could it be that someone had actually spotted the two of them leaving the hotel one after the other?
Her mind racing at lightning speed, Xu Nansheng replied smoothly, “I ran into him while I was drinking with Yue-bao at the bar, so I just took the opportunity to file a complaint against Gu Hongyu.”
Her expression remained utterly composed, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Xu Jingze shot her a sideways glance, harboring no suspicions as he offered words of comfort before turning away.
“Dad, Mom, and I will definitely have your back regarding this incident and force the Gu family to give us an explanation. But look at you, acting like a little kid running off to complain to the elders.”
Xu Nansheng reached out, linking her arm through Xu Jingze’s while puffing out her cheeks in an aggrieved pout.
“Who told him to go too far? Dad, Mom, Brother, I’m telling you right now, even if he comes crawling back on his knees to slap himself and beg for forgiveness, I will never forgive him again, and none of you are allowed to plead on his behalf.”
Whenever they had a fight in the past, Gu Hongyu would invariably show up at their doorstep within three days to beg for mercy wrapped in a thorn branch.
He would apologize, kowtow, slap himself in the face, and swear oaths of absolute devotion. Xu Nansheng was completely sick of it, but the Gu family’s Second Aunt always managed to bring up that old life-saving debt under the guise of an innocent remark, making her parents feel guilty enough to join in and urge her to forgive him.
Hearing this, Xu Linyue pondered for a moment before giving a firm nod.
“The gratitude from back then is something our Xu family will naturally never forget, but we cannot sacrifice Sheng Sheng’s lifelong happiness to repay it. As for your marriage with Gu Hongyu, let’s just call it off for good.”