Chapter 91 - 91: Seduction
Drunk and pushed into the artificial lake, Gu Ci smiled and said, “You were too harsh, Third Master.”
“Are you awake?” Lu Zhiyuan’s calm tone contained a hint of gritted teeth.
Gu Ci wiped her face. “I’m sorry, my tolerance for alcohol is poor. If 1 said anything strange or did anything strange, please forgive me, Third Master. Don’t hold it against me.”
Lu Zhiyuan stared at her face, and Gu Ci’s vision darkened. She fell softly to the ground. Lu Zhiyuan reached out and supported her waist as Gu Ci leaned against his chest, losing consciousness.
Silence enveloped them. Lu Zhiyuan looked down at her, and a strand of her long hair stuck to her cheek. He wanted to brush it away but restrained himself. Gu Ci’s phone kept ringing; it was Zhou Li calling. Lu Zhiyuan declined the call, turned off the phone, and carried Gu Ci in his arms.
With the moon behind him, a lingering shadow trailed.
Global Center, 78th floor.
When Gu Ci woke up, she was at Lu Zhiyuan’s place. She had a splitting headache. She shouldn’t have drunk two bottles of Jiang Xiaobai. Her memories were fragmented. She clung to Lu Zhiyuan, asking him why he didn’t love her anymore, if it was because of her appearance.
Gu Ci could suppress her madness when she was sober, but when she was drunk, she couldn’t control her inner craziness and obsession.
“So disheveled…” Gu Ci seemed to see her crazed self from a previous life, the one who went mad for Lu Zhiyuan. But Lu Zhiyuan pushed her into the artificial lake. “You were ruthless enough.”
There was no trace of compassion.
She got up, her bare feet stepping on the floor. She went to find Lu Zhiyuan.
Lu Zhiyuan was in the living room, using a tablet to handle some documents. He was dressed in a white sweater, contrasting the dark aura around him. He heard footsteps and saw Gu Ci walking out barefoot.
Walking on the cashmere carpet made her delicate feet look even whiter.
“Don’t let this happen again.” Lu Zhiyuan’s warning was light but carried a strong deterrent force.
Gu Ci chuckled. “But 1 can’t control myself.”
He turned his head, looking at her dangerously. “Gu Ci, don’t test my limits.”
“If I don’t test, how will I know where the limits are?” Gu Ci had no fear. When she was drunk, she was a lovesick madwoman, plagued by obsessions. But when she was sober, she showed no signs of weakness.
Lu Zhiyuan closed the tablet and stood up. “Let me ask on his behalf, who are you exactly?”
“I’m Gu Ci.” Gu Ci spread her hands. “Absolutely genuine.”
“The 18-year-old Gu Ci wouldn’t hold a scalpel or play with capital skillfully.” Lu Zhiyuan looked at her pale face. “You’re not Gu Ci.”
“Exchange your secret for mine, and I’ll tell you.” Gu Ci hooked her finger onto his shirt. “Who are you? Why can you teleport? Are you human or a ghost?”
Her posture was somewhat yandere-like.
Lu Zhiyuan let go of her hand. “No comment.”
“Likewise!” Gu Ci said. “I have no comment either.”
“You should leave.” Lu Zhiyuan issued an eviction order after a moment of silence.
Gu Ci looked into his eyes. “Lu Zhiyuan, one day, you will fall in love with me.”
“Delusional!”
“Then let’s wait and see!” Gu Ci, leaving behind a declaration of war, turned and left.
Li Jiang stood outside the door, keeping quiet and observing. Gu Ci asked, “When did you come back?”
“Just now.”
Gu Ci didn’t say anything else and went downstairs. The young servant had already fallen asleep. She took a shower and curled up in the bed. She felt cold, both in her body and in her heart.
Although she had issued the challenge, her heart was uncertain. San Ye rejected her from a distance, and she needed to get drunk to muster the courage to stand in front of him and say that she liked him.
Clearly, they were the same person!
Gu Ci firmly believed that they were the same person!
In the middle of the night, Gu Ci developed a high fever. She woke up and took two fever-reducing pills, but they didn’t help. The fever wouldn’t go down. It must have been because she got chilled after Lu Zhiyuan pushed her into the water while she was drunk.
Gu Ziyu went to work at the Ministry of State Security on weekends and wasn’t at home. Gu Ci felt groggy and hungry, so she sent a text message to Lu Zhiyuan.
Lu Zhiyuan came down within three minutes. Gu Ci lay on the bed, weak like a wisp of air. It had been a long time since Lu Zhiyuan had seen her since she confessed her feelings that day. He gently placed his hand on her forehead. “How did you get this fever?”
“Someone pushed me into the water like a jerk, and 1 caught a chill,” Gu Ci said weakly, leaning affectionately against his palm.
“Who was it?” Lu Zhiyuan thought to himself. He would kill him!
Gu Ci smiled but didn’t say anything.
“Let’s go to the hospital.”
“I don’t want to!” Gu Ci didn’t want to go to the hospital at all. Her eyes were burning red. Lu Zhiyuan called the team doctor, and Gu Ci watched his back as he walked away. She smiled and sat up.
Lu Zhiyuan hung up the phone and approached her, his brow furrowed. Gu Ci looked pitiful as she said, “I thought… you didn’t want to see me again.”
“I don’t want to see you because you did something wrong?” Lu Zhiyuan’s tone was somewhat sinister, as if testing her or being nonchalant.
Gu Ci’s eyes welled up with tears. She looked fragile. Third Master seemed indifferent to her. Was he distancing himself from her too? Because she was no longer the childhood Gu Ci he knew.
“I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Lu Zhiyuan looked at her with a smile that was both genuine and fake. His eyes looked beautiful when he smiled, full of emotion and charm. But to Gu Ci, they were like a gentle knife.
“You’re avoiding me.” Gu Ci counted the days. “Fourteen days.”
“I’ve been busy.” Lu Zhiyuan smiled. “Training, business trips, meetings.”
“I sent you messages, but you didn’t reply.” Gu Ci coughed, becoming more fragile. “And… you used to reply instantly.”
Lu Zhiyuan fell silent. Gu Ci kept coughing persistently, her face turning red.
Lu Zhiyuan turned around and awkwardly patted her back. There was a layer of sweat on Gu Ci’s forehead.
Lu Zhiyuan went into the bathroom, soaked a towel in hot water, wrung it out, and wiped the sweat off Gu Ci’s forehead. “Lie down and rest.”
“I’m hungry.”
Lu Zhiyuan had Li Jiang bring breakfast. Since Gu Ci was sick, Li Jiang asked her what she wanted to eat, but she couldn’t decide. Li Jiang brought over a dozen types of breakfast and placed them in front of Gu Ci.
Dumplings, pan-fried dumplings, pan-fried buns, fried dough sticks with soy milk, preserved egg and lean meat congee, seafood congee, noodles, toasted bread, and more… Gu Ci looked at the array of breakfast options in silence.
“What do you want to eat?”
“Seafood congee.”
Lu Zhiyuan brought the seafood congee and placed it in front of her. Gu Ci drank it slowly. “In idol dramas, when the female lead gets sick, the male lead would stay by her side and make congee for her.”
“Are we acting in an idol drama?” Lu Zhiyuan lazily smiled. “Should 1 make a pot of congee and take you to the emergency room?”
Gu Ci remained silent.
Once again, it was the familiar, sharp-tongued Lu Zhiyuan.
Gu Ci finished the congee and lay down to rest. But she kept her eyes open, gazing at Lu Zhiyuan with an affectionate and greedy look. Lu Zhiyuan covered her eyes with one hand, his tone harsh. “Go to sleep!”
Her eyelashes trembled gently in his palm, scratching at his heart.
“If I fall asleep, will you leave again?” Gu Ci asked. The warmth of her breath blew onto his wrist, scalding his skin and igniting the blood in his veins.
“If you don’t fall asleep, i will leave..”