Chapter 121: I Miss You

Gu Pingsheng’s breath hitched, and he spoke with a trace of irritation, “Watch your language?” He let out a cold laugh. “Why don’t you tell him to show some restraint? Coming to the Gu Xia Group so openly to provoke me!”

He truly wanted to pry open her head to see why she couldn’t perceive what Xu Qichen was really plotting. She would pick holes in everything he did all day long, yet she remained protective of that stray man.

“I came today solely to discuss the divorce proceedings between Xia and you,” Xu Qichen said in a low, steady voice. “As for provocation, President Gu, you are overthinking it.”

Gu Pingsheng sneered darkly, “For Mr. Xu, a third party, to talk to me about divorce matters—I’m afraid you are the one overthinking things.”

As if he were even worth talking to!

Wen Zhixia took Xu Qichen’s hand. “Let’s go.” She knew all too well that given Gu Pingsheng’s temper, talking to him was a futile effort.

Xu Qichen added, “Whenever President Gu decides to agree, the contract mentioned earlier will remain valid.”

“Bang—”

Just as Wen Zhixia reached the door of the conference room, Gu Pingsheng kicked the chair in front of him over.

Wen Zhixia paused for a moment while opening the door. As she walked out, she saw Li Yueting, who had not yet left. Li Yueting’s gaze flickered as she looked at the hands of Wen Zhixia and Xu Qichen clasped together.

After Wen Zhixia left, Li Yueting glanced at the dark-faced Gu Pingsheng inside the conference room and stepped inside slowly. When Zhou Anbei tried to stop her, Li Yueting had already shut the door.

“President Gu, let go of your anger.” Li Yueting’s fingers pressed gently against his chest; it was called a consolation, but it felt more like a provocation.

“Get out!” Gu Pingsheng gripped her wrist and flung her aside.

Li Yueting swayed, biting her lip. “Why must you be like this? Wen Zhixia doesn’t care about you at all. Otherwise, why would she be inseparable from Xu Qichen? You waited three years for her, yet she is affectionate with another man, while you… Ngh…”

Gu Pingsheng clamped his hand around her throat, his eyes grim.

Li Yueting pried at his hand, and though her breathing was labored, she continued, “Only I truly love you. We have been together for so many years—can you really… not feel it?”

Gu Pingsheng increased the pressure, his expression and tone cold and sharp. “Your love—what does that have to do with me?!”

Whether she loved him or not, what did it have to do with him!

His cold words caused Li Yueting’s already struggling face to turn deathly pale.

Gu Pingsheng shoved her away. “Get out!”

Li Yueting steadied herself against the table, clutching her throat and taking deep, ragged breaths. “Because of you, I can never be a mother for the rest of my life. Wen Zhixia accompanied you in starting your business for five years, and I have also been by your side for over five years. Why can’t you turn back and look at me? You said that as long as I was willing, I could always be your secretary, but now I’m not even an employee of the Gu Xia Group… Is this the promise you gave me?”

As she spoke, tears streamed down her face. “I just want to be by your side. I haven’t asked for anything. I’ve offered you my heart; even if you hold it in contempt, couldn’t you be a little kinder to me?”

Gu Pingsheng’s fingers slowly tightened. He sat down and rubbed his temples. “I will have the accountant transfer five million to your card. Go back.”

“Five years ago, I didn’t take your money. Do you think I’m lacking that money now, five years later?” Li Yueting wiped away her tears and looked at him stubbornly. “I don’t want your money. If I were after money, I’ve had plenty of other executives show interest in me over the years. Why would I have remained single until now?”

She continued, “Wen Zhixia is already with Xu Qichen. Can you really accept a woman who has slept with another man? When you hold her, can you truly still accept her?”

The fingers Gu Pingsheng used to rub his temples froze.

Li Yueting slowly sat on his lap. Her makeup, meticulously applied, now showed a different kind of allure amidst her tear-streaked face. “I would give my life for you, and I can remain chaste for you for the rest of my life. You are the only man I have ever had. I am clean. Look…”

Xu Qichen’s gloves had been left in the conference room. Jin Mao returned to retrieve them, pushing the door open, never expecting to witness such a salacious scene.

He froze in place, unsure whether he should enter, and could only hastily lower his head. “Apologies, President Gu, I… came to get Mr. Xu’s gloves.”

In the car, Wen Zhixia looked at Jin Mao as he returned empty-handed, without Xu Qichen’s gloves. She asked with surprise, “You didn’t find them?”

Jin Mao, in the passenger seat, glanced at Wen Zhixia in the rearview mirror. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but remained silent, merely answering, “F-found them.”

Xu Qichen, who was checking his emails, looked up. “Why are you stuttering?”

Wen Zhixia also looked at Jin Mao suspiciously. “Did Gu Pingsheng give you a hard time?”

“No, it’s just… when I went back to the conference room to get the gloves, I saw…” Jin Mao swallowed hard before saying, “I saw the woman who came by earlier and President Gu… being intimate.”

Having interrupted someone’s good deed, there was no way to get the items back.

Hearing this, Xu Qichen put down his tablet, took Wen Zhixia’s hand, and shot a glance at Jin Mao.

Jin Mao fell silent and turned away.

“Why are you threatening Jin Mao again? He and I are already in the past. Who he is with, or what he does, has nothing to do with me,” Wen Zhixia said, chiding him as she looked up.

Xu Qichen looked up and brushed her cheek. “Have you really let go?”

“Haven’t I already married you?” Wen Zhixia retorted.

Xu Qichen smiled and gently pressed her head against his shoulder. “Yes, we are already married.”

For so many years, he had never thought about marriage or children—in the end, wasn’t he just waiting for her? At first, he was waiting for her to grow up; later, he was waiting for her to get a divorce.

At Jing Garden.

When Wen Zhixia entered and saw Chu Man in the living room, she suddenly remembered that she had left in such a hurry she had forgotten to arrange for Chu Man’s accommodations.

Xu Qichen, having taken off his coat, frowned slightly at the sight of the strange woman in the living room.

After sizing him up, Chu Man looked straight at Wen Zhixia and stood up. “When I woke up, the housekeeper said you had gone out, so I waited for you in the living room.”

Wen Zhixia nodded and looked at Xu Qichen. “This is Chu Man, a friend of mine. Something happened yesterday, so I arranged for her to stay in the guest room temporarily, but I hadn’t had the chance to tell you…” She paused, then added, “I recall you have a property on Huashan Road with excellent security. I was thinking of letting her stay there for now. Is that alright?”

Xu Qichen unwound her scarf layer by layer. “You handle it; there’s no need to ask me about such things. You two talk; I’m going to the study to take care of some business.”

Before going upstairs, he nodded slightly at Chu Man, his manner not overly familiar but marked by the grace and politeness of a gentleman.

Seeing this, Chu Man couldn’t help but sigh with emotion, “The man you’ve found is quite impressive.”

Compared to her exhaustion the day before, Chu Man looked much more vibrant today. The sunlight fell upon her, making her appear like a delicate, blooming rose.

“You can stay at the house on Huashan Road for now. However, the matter between you and Chuan is something you will ultimately have to resolve yourselves.”

Chu Man, unsure if she had truly heard her, nodded casually.

As her advertising company got on track, Wen Zhixia hosted a dinner for her employees that evening.

It was a restaurant where the average cost per person was seven or eight hundred, a place rarely frequented by ordinary white-collar workers. Hearing that Wen Zhixia was hosting, the staff were naturally overjoyed, especially since they were allowed to leave work an hour early.

However, despite having made a reservation in advance, they were told upon arrival that all private rooms were fully booked.

The employee in charge of the reservation was stunned. “If there were no rooms, why didn’t you inform us earlier? We’re all here now—are you suggesting we take this many people and just go back?!”

The young receptionist apologized profusely, quickly alerting the lobby manager, who inquired about the situation and soon proposed a solution.

“President Wen, this is a lapse on our part. Here is what we can do: I just made some calls, and there is a private room you can use, but… I wonder if you would be open to sharing?”

Wen Zhixia raised an eyebrow. “Sharing?”

“It’s like this: two regular customers booked a large room that can hold thirty or forty people, but they canceled at the last minute. Currently, there are only two guests in there. If you don’t mind, President Wen, you and your staff can join them. To express our restaurant’s apologies, all beverages in the room tonight will be on the house,” the lobby manager explained.

“President Wen, why not…” a nearby staff member whispered.

It wasn't very realistic to find another restaurant of this scale at this hour. Since everyone had arrived and the manager had provided a solution, Wen Zhixia nodded in agreement.

However, as she and her employees were led by the waiter in a grand procession to the room, she suddenly felt a pang of regret upon seeing who the so-called two regular customers were. She regretted not having asked for their names earlier.

“It’s President Gu!” a female employee exclaimed in delight.

Over these years, Gu Pingsheng’s fame rivaled that of a celebrity. He was a regular fixture in finance magazines and channels, attracting a throng of fans, not to mention a fair number of purely aesthetic admirers.

Wen Zhixia felt a sudden, inexplicable headache upon seeing him.

Gu Pingsheng leaned back on the sofa, his long legs crossed. His narrow, sharp black eyes swept across her face. With his thin, slightly pursed lips and chiseled features, he looked like a wolf king in the night—imposing, arrogant, and radiating an intense sense of dominance as he sat in solitary majesty.

“It seems the people the lobby manager mentioned are you. Sit down. Let’s have a drink; feel free to use the space,” Ye Lanzhou said.

To be able to sit and drink with the legendary president of the Gu Xia Group at such close range was something many wouldn't even dare to dream of. They were naturally elated—everyone except Wen Zhixia.

Because even before she had walked through the door, she had wanted to turn around and leave.

The idea that the rooms were full and the restaurant had made a mistake—she now suspected that Gu Pingsheng was behind it all.

At first, everyone was a bit reserved, but after two drinks, the atmosphere warmed up. Many were curious about Gu Pingsheng and asked him a few questions. They had only been testing the waters, but to their surprise, he actually answered, causing his favorability rating among them to soar.

Ye Lanzhou watched Gu Pingsheng, who was patiently infiltrating the enemy’s ranks, and could only think of one phrase: “Able to bend and stretch.”

One had to know that back at the group, President Gu was the type who could leave you speechless in two or three sentences and then kill you with a cold look. Now, sitting with these green, inexperienced youngsters, the fact that he could be so patient was simply…

“Buzz—”

Wen Zhixia’s phone vibrated. It was a message from Gu Pingsheng: “I miss you.”

Wen Zhixia glanced at it and flipped her phone face down.

Gu Pingsheng’s fingertips tapped lightly, and he sent another one. Wen Zhixia didn't even look at it.

His thin lips pursed, and then…

“Buzz—”

“Buzz—”

“Buzz—”

“Buzz—”