“Ansheng, take a look—what a wonderful girl this is. She’s a Chinese teacher at an elementary school, well-educated and well-mannered. And both her parents are dual-income workers. When they’re old, you won’t have to worry about supporting them at all…”
The moment she heard this, Zhu Queqi’s heart skipped a beat.
They couldn’t possibly be… on a blind date, could they?
There was no time to feel embarrassed anymore. She hurried forward with quick little steps, and only then did she see clearly that the table in the center of the main room was surrounded by people.
Among them, Gu Ansheng was sitting next to an unfamiliar woman wearing a pink dress.
He was still dressed in a white shirt and black trousers as usual, though this time his sleeves were slightly rolled up. His hair, however, looked different—it had obviously been freshly trimmed, making him appear neat and sharp, yet also somewhat distant.
Gu Ansheng’s expression was cold and indifferent. When the woman beside him asked him questions, he merely responded with brief, casual replies.
He looked completely different from the man he was when he was with her.
Perhaps sensing someone staring at him, Gu Ansheng suddenly turned his head. His gaze met Zhu Queqi’s directly.
At first, a flash of disbelief crossed his eyes. Then his expression darkened slightly as he suppressed the emotions surging beneath the surface. His tongue pressed lightly against the inside of his cheek, and his lips tightened.
The woman beside him noticed him turn and followed his gaze.
Only then did Zhu Queqi get a good look at her face.
She was quite pretty—around twenty years old, with a delicate face and a graceful figure. Most noticeably, she carried an air of refinement, a scholarly temperament that made her seem different from others.
While Zhu Queqi was sizing up the woman, the woman was also sizing up her.
Soon, a hint of wariness appeared in her eyes. Clearly, Zhu Queqi’s sudden arrival had made her feel a sense of threat.
At some point the room had grown quiet.
The next moment, Zhu Queqi heard Gu Ansheng’s somewhat cold voice beside her ear.
“Comrade Zhu Queqi, may I ask why you’ve come to my house? Do you need something from me?”
His icy tone made Zhu Queqi freeze for a moment. A sour feeling rose in her chest.
So she had come too late.
He had once said he loved her so much he couldn’t bear to be without her, yet it had only been one day—and he was already sitting here on a blind date.
Hmph. You really can’t judge a person just by their face.
Very quickly, she gathered herself again. Chin raised high and back straight, she carried herself like a proud swan and spoke calmly:
“I happened to pass by, so I thought I’d stop in and see you. Since you’re busy, I won’t disturb you. Goodbye.”
With that, she turned to leave.
“Stop!”
Gu Ansheng’s voice rang out instantly.
His face darkened as he stood up from his chair. In a tone that brooked no argument, he said,
“Who said you could leave? Go wait in my room first.”
As he spoke, he pointed toward the location of his room.
The woman beside him bit her red lips lightly. Her expression instantly turned unpleasant as her eyes darted back and forth between the two of them.
What kind of relationship do these two have? Why is he letting her go into his room?
Finally, a middle-aged woman who looked unfamiliar was the first to react. She forced a smile to ease the awkwardness and asked curiously,
“Ansheng, who is this young lady? What’s the relationship between the two of you?”
Before Gu Ansheng could answer, his mother spoke first.
“She’s probably just one of the educated youths he met while he was sent down to the countryside.”
As she spoke, she shot Gu Ansheng a meaningful glance.
Unfortunately, her son’s gaze was completely fixed on Zhu Queqi. He didn’t even turn his head toward her.
Mother Gu looked at him with a frustrated expression, secretly glaring at him. Sadly, Gu Ansheng didn’t notice—and even if he had, he likely wouldn’t have cared.
Zhu Queqi quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Since Gu Ansheng had asked her to stay, that meant he still had feelings for her. Based on what she knew about him, he probably hadn’t known about this blind date much earlier than she had.
After realizing that, Zhu Queqi regained her usual confidence. Her posture straightened proudly again.
With a crisp little “Mm,” she walked toward the room Gu Ansheng had just pointed out.
She was very familiar with this room.
Just like in her previous life, it was still clean and tidy, with very little furniture.
In this regard, Gu Ansheng was very different from her. She liked her room to be “filled up” with things—it made her feel safe. But Gu Ansheng believed the fewer things there were, the better. As long as the essentials were there, that was enough.
Of course, after they got married in her previous life, the arrangement of this room was no longer up to him.
Aside from a bed and a wardrobe, the room only contained a desk and a chair.
There was nothing interesting to look at. Zhu Queqi turned around and sat down on the only chair, bored.
She deliberately left the door open.
The people outside either didn’t notice, or simply didn’t care.
Mother Gu forced an awkward laugh and invited everyone to continue chatting. Everyone present tacitly avoided mentioning what had just happened. They simply picked up the previous conversation and continued talking as if nothing had occurred.
After listening for a while, Zhu Queqi roughly understood the situation.
The woman who had come for the blind date was named Lin Ping. She was the same age as Gu Ansheng.
Because Lin Ping worked at the same school as Gu Ansheng’s sister-in-law, she had seen Gu Ansheng’s photograph once and had been asking repeatedly for an introduction.
Originally, Gu Ansheng’s sister-in-law had refused.
She believed her mother-in-law had extremely high standards. No matter how good someone was, she could always find a long list of faults.
Just like the first time she herself had visited their house—she hadn’t even finished sitting down before Mother Gu had given her a harsh dressing-down. This wasn’t good, that wasn’t right, until she was so embarrassed she could barely lift her head.
Thinking back on it was unbearable. In short, she really didn’t want to get involved in such matters again.
But somehow, the day before yesterday, something strange had happened.
Her younger brother-in-law had left the house in the morning in a perfectly good mood, yet when he came back in the afternoon, he looked like a lost soul. His face was pale, and he didn’t say a word to anyone.
The moment he entered his room, he locked the door.
No matter who called for him, he wouldn’t respond…