12 – I’m Just Concerned About Sister
“I’m just worried about you, sister.”
Chi Yu held her wrist, his clear eyes full of sincerity. Seeming to think she was in a bad mood, he lowered his head with a dejected expression.
“There are so many two-faced bad people around you, sister, but I’m someone who genuinely cares about you. If you’re unhappy, I won’t ask anymore…”
—I’ll just secretly look it up. 🙂
Le Meng: “??”
Damn! Since when does Sister Yuan need some pretty boy like you to worry about her? Am I not a person?!
Gu Yuan’s mouth twitched. Her gaze landed on the marks on his neck, and she looked at his shirt with one button undone with a knowing smile. “Actor Chi, the way you look right now is remarkably similar to my cousin…”
She wondered if Gu Qing had learned it from him.
Chi Yu looked at her with a dazed, innocent expression.
Sensing the ambiguous stares around them, he seemed to finally realize something and hastily pulled at his collar. “Sorry, sister, I let others misunderstand. I’ll button it up right away…”
Gu Yuan was silent for a moment. Everyone’s already gotten the wrong idea—what’s the point of covering up now? “Actor Chi, do you know what ‘protesting too much’ means?”
Chi Yu tried to say something.
Gu Yuan raised her hand and pressed her index finger to his lips. “Stop. Don’t say anything. You’re a decent person in every way, but unfortunately, you’ve got a mouth that drips with lotus-scented innocence, making me want to cruelly crush that flower…”
Chi Yu: “…”
“Go cool off somewhere.”
Gu Yuan ruffled his hair and dismissed him. “I’m going to visit my second uncle, who’s bedridden with illness.”
With that, she left with Le Meng.
Le Meng was shaking with laughter as she followed behind Gu Yuan, making faces at Chi Yu. “Hahahahaha! Did you hear that, pretty boy? She’s calling you a white lotus!”
Chi Yu: “…”
He decided to selectively hear the first half of Gu Yuan’s words—so, she said he was decent in every way…
Gu Yuan’s figure disappeared from view.
Chi Yu withdrew his gaze. Seeming to sense something, he casually glanced at the crowd.
Lin Bo stood among the crowd, conversing with someone.
Chi Yu’s gaze turned deep and dark as he walked toward the direction Gu Yuan had gone. She had gone upstairs to the second floor to see Gu Yi.
He stood at the stairwell on the second floor, his hand resting on the wooden railing. At some point, he had acquired a fruit knife in his hand. After a moment, he leaned against the wall.
The young man stood there quietly.
Sunlight streamed through the window in the stairwell, outlining the perfect contours of his profile. From afar, he looked as beautiful as a painting; up close, the sunlight cast a shadow across his face, his expression murky and indistinct, hard to read clearly.
Suddenly, someone stopped in front of him.
Blocking the sunlight that fell upon him.
Lin Bo seemed to be passing by by chance, pausing before Chi Yu. His expression was arrogant, a flicker of disdain in his eyes. “You’re Actor Chi, I presume?”
Chi Yu slowly raised his gaze. His eyes, untouched by the sunlight, were pitch black—like a bottomless abyss.
“Something I can do for you, Young Master Lin?”
Lin Bo adjusted the cufflinks of his high-end suit. “I heard Actor Chi has run into some difficulties. Perhaps out of desperation, you’ve inserted yourself as a third party between me and Yuanyuan…”
“Third party?”
Chi Yu’s gaze was dark and inscrutable.
If Gu Yuan and the others were here and heard Lin Bo’s words, they’d probably laugh their heads off.
He was nothing more than a shameless scoundrel who shamelessly clung to power and influence, using a casual joke between their parents to climb up and ingratiate himself—yet at critical moments, he’d distance himself from the connection. And he’d cheated on Gu Yuan with her cousin for over four years. What kind of fiancé did that make him?
Had Gu Yuan’s parents ever formally approved of him?
Just setting up “the wife’s” airs right here.
Who the hell does he think he is?
Lin Bo had no such self-awareness.
He only found the person before him extremely irritating—that bitch Gu Yuan, arrogant even at death’s door, would rather keep a pretty boy than spare him a single glance.
She was only fit to be with a pretty boy now.
Lin Bo sneered inwardly, a flicker of disgust flashing through his eyes. With a hint of condescension in his expression, he said, “Whatever Gu Yuan pays you, I’ll give you double. Leave her side, or else…”
His voice turned threatening. “I’ll show you the power of the Lin family. Understood?”
Just a nobody in the entertainment industry.
The Lin family could crush him with a flick of their finger.
“You want me to leave her?”
Chi Yu’s voice was cold and sinister, as if a taboo had been touched. The blade in his hand glinted with chill.
Only then did Lin Bo sense something wrong. He looked up and met Chi Yu’s vicious, bloodthirsty gaze, noticed the fruit knife he was toying with, and felt a chill run down his spine.
The young man’s voice sounded like a death sentence from the Grim Reaper. “Why don’t you leave this world instead…”
Lin Bo stumbled back in terror, slamming hard into the stair railing. People were coming and going downstairs.
As if hearing the sound of the wooden railing cracking, he lost his balance entirely.
Lin Bo’s eyes were filled with panic.
Reflected in them was the young man’s eerie smile.
…
Gu Yuan was in the middle of a warm uncle-niece bonding session with Gu Yi, pulling over a chair and smiling. “Second Uncle, your niece has good news for you…”
Gu Yi lay sprawled in bed like a fat pig on a chopping block in a slaughterhouse, staring at her with wary eyes while forcing a smile onto his face.
“What good news…”
The servant attending to Gu Yi was flustered, wanting to tell her that Gu Yi couldn’t handle any shocks.
Le Meng swiftly dragged the irrelevant people out. “They’re having a family bonding moment between uncle and niece—what are you doing hanging around here?”
Only Gu Yi and Gu Yuan remained in the room.
Gu Yi had a foreboding feeling in his heart.
Gu Yuan spoke with a beaming smile. “Second Uncle, I’ll be taking back my mother’s Lanyue Pictures. No need to trouble you with managing it anymore…”
Gu Yi’s heart bled, his breathing growing rapid as he squeezed out a few words through clenched teeth. “My niece is still young—I’m afraid she can’t manage a company well yet…”
“Second Uncle needn’t worry.”
Gu Yuan leaned back in her chair, looking relaxed and carefree. “You just focus on resting and recovering. Whether it’s Lanyue Pictures, Jinhui Entertainment, or the Gu Corporation, your niece can manage it all just fine…”
Le Meng came back to watch the show. “Yuan-jie is right. You’re an old man—don’t worry about so much stuff. It’ll shorten your life…”
“N-No need for you to…”
Gu Yi tried to say something, but his face flushed red, his breathing rapid and his speech difficult.
Then she considerately draped the thick quilt over him in this beautiful summer weather, saying gently, “Just rest easy and recover. Stay sick as long as you like—even if you never get out of bed again, that’s fine…”
“You!”
Gu Yi couldn’t catch his breath.
Gu Yuan was about to say more niece-uncle bonding words when she heard a muffled thud from outside.
“Bang!”
Followed by screams.
Gu Yuan frowned slightly and rose from her chair. “What’s happening outside?”
The two of them left the room.
The servant who had been shut outside hurried in and saw Gu Yi wrapped in the quilt. The corner of his mouth twitched. Looking closer, he had already passed out.
Frightened unconscious yesterday, angered unconscious today.
Gu Yuan walked out, passed through a corridor, and turned a corner to reach the stairwell, where she saw Chi Yu and the broken railing beside him.
Lin Bo, who had fallen down the stairs, lay sprawled on the marble floor, covered in blood, his life hanging in the balance.
Gu Qing stood at the bottom of the stairs, pointing at him with red-rimmed eyes, demanding, “Why did you push Brother Lin?!”
Gu Yuan raised an eyebrow and looked at Chi Yu.
Chi Yu’s expression was one of panic and innocence as he hid behind her, tugging at the hem of her clothes. “Sister, she’s slandering me. I didn’t push Young Master Lin…”
Author’s Note:
It’s currently 5:20 AM Beijing time. From now on, unless something unexpected comes up, this will be my update time, because Whale wants to say “I love you” (520) to you all every day. I hope everyone, like me, will go to bed early and wake up early. Good morning, my darlings. I love you all.