Gu Fengsheng’s words struck like a deafening thunderclap. The elegant private room, faintly scented with sandalwood, fell abruptly silent.
Ning Shao met his smiling, inscrutable gaze for a second, then looked away.
In high school, she hadn’t understood the way Gu Fengsheng looked at her. She’d assumed it was because she always came first and he was perpetually second, and that he resented her for it.
Back then, students were simple-minded and didn’t think in other terms.
It took Ning Shao until she was twenty-five to see clearly. He hid it well, but there was still an unmistakable predatory edge to his gaze. He looked at her as if she were an auction item he was determined to win—resentful, yes, but even more consumed by wanting what he couldn’t have.
And just as she’d thought, Gu Fengsheng had been spoiled and indulged since childhood. Anything he wanted, he could get. First place in class? That wasn’t what he cared about.
He was handsome, and his family was well-off. All he had to do was crook a finger, and girls would come flocking to him. If one was aloof, he merely had to use a few more tricks.
But there was one exception: Ning Shao.
He had tried every trick in the book to win her over, and every one of them had failed. It was like tossing pebbles into the sea. In front of her, he was nothing but a clown.
Gu Fengsheng wanted to shatter her spine, straight as pine and bamboo, and stir up the calm, pool-like depths of her eyes.
Then, of all things, an unexpected obstacle appeared.
Lin Yan! Even after all this time, the man still haunted him like a nightmare.
Thank God he was dead—dead for good!
……
Gu Fengsheng let out a long breath, expelling the foul air in his lungs.
“I’m going to the restroom.” Ning Shao stood up then without answering him. She hurried toward the door, stumbling as she went.
Li An’an wanted to follow, but Ning Shao stopped her.
Left behind, Li An’an couldn’t help glaring at Gu Fengsheng, angry at what he’d just said.
The moment Li An’an heard that Lin Yan had died, she’d come all the way from a remote town—and fallen ill, too. Gu Fengsheng really knew how to bring up the one thing that should’ve been left alone.
Li An’an didn’t want to be alone with Gu Fengsheng, either, so she got up and left the private room.
Gu Fengsheng didn’t care that Li An’an had suddenly left.
He wheeled himself toward the floor-to-ceiling window and let the golden sunlight outside fall over him. It was as if he’d stepped out of the gloom and returned to the light.
‘What a lovely day.’
Gu Fengsheng couldn’t help remarking to himself.
It seemed like ages since he’d been out.
Thinking of the bright future ahead—and of Ning Shao—he let his lips twitch into a smile. Filthy, excited calculations welled up in the depths of his one good eye.
He’d pursued her and tried to please her all through high school, and she’d never spared him a glance. Even then, Gu Fengsheng had thought of using despicable methods: drug her, have his way with her, take videos and pictures. He was sure she wouldn’t be able to keep acting so pure after that.
What Gu Fengsheng hadn’t expected was that Ning Shao would get together with Lin Yan.
That wild, vicious wolf looked at everyone as if they were already dead.
Whenever Gu Fengsheng saw him, he felt inexplicably afraid.
And Lin Yan’s family was even more powerful than his own—powerful enough to call all the shots. Gu Fengsheng could only keep out of his way, too afraid to provoke him.
Yet that seemingly cold-blooded man had actually crouched in front of Ning Shao like a dog, wagging his tail and begging for her affection.
Gu Fengsheng would never forget what had happened that night. Just thinking of Lin Yan made his heart jolt, sweat break out across his back, and phantom pain throb through his amputated limb, again and again, until he could barely breathe.
Suddenly, a face caught the edge of his vision.
At some point, the sunlight outside had vanished completely. The lights inside were on, casting a face against the glass.
It was a face of exquisite handsomeness, with deep-set features and sharply defined lines. His thin, pale lips were pressed together, giving him a cold, vicious look. Through the glass, his pitch-black eyes—so dark they were horrifying—stared fixedly at Gu Fengsheng.
“Die, die, die, die, die!”
The hoarse, chilling words crept into his ears like a madman’s delirious muttering.
“Ah—!”
Gu Fengsheng let out a piercing scream and flung himself backward. The wheelchair tipped with him, momentum sending it crashing onto the hard floor with a bang.
……
When Ning Shao, Li An’an, and a few other classmates came into the private room, they saw the scene.
A waiter carrying a tray rushed over, gripped the wheelchair handles with both hands, and hauled it upright.
Gu Fengsheng was in a wretched state. His shoulder-length black hair was disheveled, his face as pale as paper, and cold sweat had soaked the hair at his forehead, clumping it into strands. He looked ridiculous.
No one knew what had happened. It took Gu Fengsheng a long while to recover. He didn’t even have time to respond to their greetings before letting the waiter wheel him out of the room.
As Gu Fengsheng passed by in his wheelchair, Ning Shao noticed the fear he could barely conceal in his eyes, as if he’d seen a ghost.
She couldn’t help frowning.
Gu Fengsheng had been alone in the room. What had happened to frighten him so badly that he’d fallen over along with his wheelchair?
“Strange. What’s wrong with Gu Fengsheng?”
“He looked so terrified—just like when he saw… when he saw Lin Yan.”
“Speaking of Lin Yan, Ning Shao, are you still together?”
Several of her high-school classmates turned to look at Ning Shao.
Back then, the whole school had known she and Lin Yan were dating. At first, some people had mocked her for seeming so devoted to her studies, such a model student, while really being calculating. Everyone knew Lin Yan was the only son of the Lin family, and that one day the whole vast Lin family would belong to him.
After that, no one dared speak ill of her. The people who spread rumors about Ning Shao or envied her were dealt with by Lin Yan.
“Yeah, you two were inseparable back in high school. Why aren’t you together now? Did you break up?” asked a potbellied man wearing a gold chain around his neck, curiosity in his voice.
Ning Shao hadn’t known them well, and she’d never been in touch with them since graduating. She didn’t recognize the man, but she answered him out of politeness.
She had agreed to come to the reunion with Li An’an. Ignoring everyone would be rude not only to them, but to Li An’an as well.
“He died.”
Ning Shao said it calmly.
The classmates who had leaned in to hear her answer reacted quite differently. It was as if a bomb had gone off: everyone’s eyes widened, and the private room sank into deathly silence once again.
Unless they’d made a point of asking about Lin Yan, no one knew he was dead.
The topic soon passed. It was lunchtime, and more people began to fill the private room. Ning Shao remained as she was: apart from Li An’an, she couldn’t recognize anyone else.
People came over to strike up conversations, usually asking what work she did, how much she earned, and where she worked. Ning Shao answered each question honestly.
She had nothing to hide.
But when they heard she worked as a doctor in a remote town, some looked at her with sympathy, some with schadenfreude, and others with disbelief.
After all, Ning Shao had always ranked near the top of her class in high school. Even dating Lin Yan had never affected her studies, which was why the teachers had turned a blind eye.