“Ah!”
Zhang Xiaowei cried out in pain and jumped to his feet.
“You damn woman, what are you doing?”
Li Mingyue, who had been standing behind Zhang Xiaowei, had no idea what had happened. His sudden shout startled her. Before she could react, Zhang Xiaowei, who had jumped up in pain, crashed into her, knocking her down. The two of them tumbled to the floor together.
Clutching the jade pendant, Gu Wan stood up and looked down at the two disheveled people.
Li Mingyue was just about to lose her temper when she suddenly remembered that she had yet to get the job. She immediately put on a concerned expression.
“Gu Wan, you’re awake! That’s wonderful!”
She shoved Zhang Xiaowei, who had fallen on top of her.
“Get up… Why did you suddenly jump like that? You scared me.”
Zhang Xiaowei wiped his burning neck and found his hand covered in blood. He immediately began howling in alarm.
Li Mingyue glanced at the deep red mark and was startled as well. At the same time, she noticed that the jade pendant was no longer hanging around Zhang Xiaowei’s neck.
She hurriedly looked at Gu Wan and saw the red cord dangling from her hand. She immediately complained reproachfully, “Gu Wan, why did you snatch Zhang Xiaowei’s jade pendant? Look, you’ve even made his neck bleed!”
Gu Wan gave a cold snort.
“His jade pendant?”
The tone of Gu Wan’s voice made Li Mingyue’s heart tighten. She looked up at Gu Wan’s stern expression, then at Zhang Xiaowei, who was still howling in pain.
As though she had thought of something, she laughed awkwardly.
“You gave it to him, so of course it belongs to him. Even if you’re angry with him, you can’t just snatch it back, can you? Look what you’ve done. Don’t you feel sorry for him?”
Gu Wan looked at the howling Zhang Xiaowei and the distressed expression on Li Mingyue’s face.
“You seem… pretty concerned about him?”
Li Mingyue immediately withdrew the hand that had nearly reached Zhang Xiaowei and awkwardly tried to cover it up.
“You two… are such a pair of bickering lovers. One minute you’re arguing, the next you’re making up, and in the end, I’m always the one who has to clean up the mess, aren’t I?”
“Enough. He pushed you, and you injured his neck like this. You two are even now. Stop being angry with each other.”
Li Mingyue glanced at the jade pendant in Gu Wan’s hand and casually reached out to take it.
“That’s the token of your love that you gave him. How can you just take it back whenever you feel like it? That would be so hurtful. You mustn’t do that again.”
Gu Wan raised her hand, and Li Mingyue grabbed nothing. Her hand remained suspended in midair as she looked at Gu Wan in confusion.
Gu Wan held up the jade pendant and looked at Li Mingyue with a faint, knowing smile.
“You said this is the token of love I gave him. Then tell me, what did he give me?”
Li Mingyue stared at Gu Wan, feeling that something about her gaze was different.
It was almost as if she had become a completely different person.
And how had she suddenly thought to ask such a question?
She glanced at Zhang Xiaowei, who had finally stopped howling, and awkwardly explained, “You know Zhang Xiaowei is just an ordinary worker. His family isn’t like yours, with so many valuable treasures. He loves you so deeply, and his whole heart belongs to you. Isn’t that enough? Free love is about freedom of the heart, after all. It shouldn’t be influenced by material things from the outside world, and you certainly shouldn’t use worldly possessions to bind your relationship.”
Li Mingyue had always used excuses like these to manipulate the original Gu Wan. After being repeatedly brainwashed by her, the original Gu Wan had become increasingly obsessed with love, practically doing whatever they told her.
Gu Wan nodded.
“Hmm. That actually sounds quite reasonable.”
Seeing that her manipulation had worked, Li Mingyue immediately reached out, trying to snatch the jade pendant from Gu Wan’s hand.
“So you shouldn’t care too much about these material things.”
Gu Wan sidestepped her.
Li Mingyue’s hand missed again. She awkwardly left it hanging in midair before withdrawing it.
As though she hadn’t noticed what Li Mingyue had done, Gu Wan continued.
“Then all the more reason I shouldn’t use these vulgar possessions to sully our pure love.”
She casually slipped the jade pendant into her pocket and gently patted the outside.
Both Li Mingyue and Zhang Xiaowei’s eyes followed the pendant as it disappeared into her pocket.
Her pocket?
Wait…
After everything had been said to this point, shouldn’t she have been clutching the jade pendant, begging for forgiveness and asking him to take it back, promising that she would never do it again, and then, to show her sincerity, giving him even more treasures?
How did she just… put it in her pocket?
Gu Wan looked innocently at the two people who were staring at her in shock. She raised an eyebrow.
“Do you two… still need something?”
Li Mingyue immediately gave Zhang Xiaowei a meaningful look.
Zhang Xiaowei also realized that the Gu Wan before him was very different from the one he knew.
It seemed she was no longer under his control.
How could that be allowed?
It was time to display his handsome charms and give Gu Wan a little reminder of why she had fallen for him.
Zhang Xiaowei endured the pain in his neck, his irritation, and his dissatisfaction with Gu Wan.
He took a deep breath and slowly lifted his chin. He swallowed deliberately, controlling the movement of his Adam’s apple. Then he raised a hand and smoothed the strands of hair that had been firmly fixed in place by hair pomade.
He struck a pose at a forty-five-degree angle, gazing toward the heavens and deliberately displaying his long neck and barely visible jawline…
Of course, if it weren’t for the ring of red marks around his neck that looked like something left by hanging himself, perhaps the effect wouldn’t have been quite so ridiculous.
Zhang Xiaowei knew that his side profile looked the most handsome from this angle. He was no less attractive than that famous male actor.
After this whole series of moves, he believed that no woman could resist his charm.
Wasn’t Li Mingyue already swallowing repeatedly beside him?
That foolish woman Gu Wan had looked like a lovestruck idiot from the very first day she met him. She was exceptionally infatuated with his face. He had only coaxed her with a few sweet words, and she had fallen head over heels for him.
She had eagerly given him money, bought him things, and treated him to meals.
Hmph. A woman was just a woman.
If she weren’t rich, foolish, and so easy to deceive, why would he ever have treated her nicely?
He had a psychological trauma when it came to pregnant women. The fact that he had gone this far was already an enormous sacrifice!
Zhang Xiaowei saw Gu Wan staring at him with a stunned expression.
He sneered inwardly.
Stupid woman. Did you really think falling down a flight of stairs had made you smarter?
With just a little effort, he could still have you completely wrapped around his finger.
Hmph. What a stupid lovesick fool!
Gu Wan really was stunned.
If I have committed a crime, then please punish me! Why do my eyes have to suffer like this?
When a peacock spreads its feathers, at least it has the looks to back it up.
What was wrong with this wild duck?
How could someone this ugly be so confident?
“Ugh…”
Gu Wan couldn’t help dry-heaving.
Zhang Xiaowei’s face immediately fell.
What was wrong with this pregnant woman?
She was actually dry-heaving at his supposedly stunning looks.
It seemed they really should get her to have an abortion first.
Seeing Gu Wan retching again and again, Li Mingyue could barely straighten her back. She was disgusted as well.
She finally couldn’t stand it anymore and pretended to be concerned as she walked over to Gu Wan.
“You’re not feeling well. Why don’t you go lie down and rest for a while?”
Gu Wan had exactly the same idea.
If she had to look at Zhang Xiaowei’s disgusting face for even a moment longer, she feared she would vomit up bile.
She waved her hand.
“I’m going back to sleep for a while. Make yourselves comfortable, but don’t disturb me.”
After saying that, Gu Wan ignored them and walked straight back to her room without looking back.