Chapter 86: Madam, You’re Quite Skilled at Setting People Straight

She watched her collapse and fall, a thin shadow darkening the depths of her eyes. Then she lifted her gaze toward Gu Pingsheng as if asking: What does President Gu intend to do?

Gu Pingsheng looked at Zhao Fuhe lying on the floor. His fingers twitched slightly.

“Bring her inside first,” he said.

Wen Zhixia’s bright, exquisite eyes were calm, yet cold. She gave a soft, ironic laugh, shook off his hand, and left him with a single sentence: “Do as you please.”

Gu Pingsheng drew a deep breath. Frost gathered between his brows as he watched her retreating figure. A surge of irritation rose in his chest and flared into fierce flames in an instant. He waved for Aunt Zhao and Aunt Wang to come over and help the person inside first.

Aunt Wang did not know Zhao Fuhe, but Aunt Zhao had seen her at the hospital, and could not help glancing toward Wen Zhixia, who was sitting on the sofa nearby, playing on her phone and replying to messages.

Seeing that there was nothing unusual about her, Aunt Zhao looked at Gu Pingsheng and asked, “President Gu, then... what should we do about her?”

Madam was still here watching. They could not possibly leave the woman lying there.

“First help her change out of those clothes, then take her to the hospital and have her checked,” Gu Pingsheng said, his gaze as deep as night sweeping over Zhao Fuhe’s somewhat pale face.

Wen Zhixia’s hand, busy replying to messages, paused slightly. When she was tapping on an emoji, her finger slipped, and a crying face was sent.

A call came through at once. The vibration of the phone snapped her senses back. She still did not realize what was wrong with the message she had just sent, and was momentarily surprised to see that it was Xu Qichen calling.

Still, she answered.

She opened her mouth, not yet having time to call his name, when his urgent voice came through, followed by a burst of muffled coughing, though he seemed to be trying hard to suppress it.

Wen Zhixia frowned. “What happened? Weren’t you better already? Why are you still coughing so badly?”

“Sir.” Jin Mao handed him a glass of water.

After Xu Qichen took a couple of sips, his breathing gradually steadied and there was no longer anything amiss. “I’m fine. I’ve just caught a bit of a cold lately.”

“...Have you been taking your medicine properly?” she asked. “Give the phone to Jin Mao. I’ll ask him.”

She did not believe what Xu Qichen said himself. No matter how steady and gentle a person might be, after taking medicine for years on end, he would always develop some rejection, some aversion.

Gu Pingsheng watched the woman on the sofa chatting on the phone with another man as if no one else were there. In those deep eyes of his, strange, shifting lights flashed, leaving only a wash of black.

The name Jin Mao instantly made him think of the heir of the Xu family, who was far away overseas.

And on the other end of the call, Xu Qichen glanced at Jin Mao beside him, his fingers brushing the rim of the water glass. “He’s gone out to take care of something.”

Jin Mao, standing right there beside him: “...”

Wen Zhixia: “Really?”

Xu Qichen: “Mm.”

Wen Zhixia looked at the watch on her wrist. “Shouldn’t you be taking your medicine now?”

This time it was Xu Qichen’s turn to fall silent, while Jin Mao wordlessly prepared the medicine and placed it beside him. Xu Qichen gave him a solemn look; Jin Mao kept his head lowered, pretending he saw nothing at all.

“Just about time to take it.”

Wen Zhixia said, “Then take it. I’m listening.”

Xu Qichen gave a light laugh and said half-jokingly, “Why are you still the same as when you were little? Why not just come here and keep watch over me taking medicine every day?”

In the past, Wen Zhixia would simply listen to such jokes and let them pass. Her answer never changed: she always had to stay and keep Gu Pingsheng company.

But this time she said, “...Wait a little longer.”

When she was divorced, homeless, and had nowhere else to go, she would always have to visit an old friend.

At her words, a smile slowly curved at the corner of Xu Qichen’s lips. “I’ll be waiting whenever you come. Then... I’ll come and pick you up myself.”

If she came, no matter how hard the wind and rain, he would go personally to meet her.

“President Gu, which dress should Miss Zhao change into?” Aunt Zhao asked as she came out of the guest room.

Gu Pingsheng’s brows drew together. His dark eyes were so deep they seemed to hold no light at all. “There aren’t any women’s clothes in the house?”

“There are, but... none of ours really fit. As for Madam’s...” Aunt Zhao hesitated.

Zhao Fuhe’s style of dress and her age were about the same as Wen Zhixia’s. In theory, the clothes should have suited her. But remembering what had happened at the hospital, Aunt Zhao had an instinctive feeling that if Zhao Fuhe really put on Wen Zhixia’s clothes, it would most likely enrage her.

So, with no way to settle the matter with Aunt Wang, she had come out to ask Gu Pingsheng for his opinion.

Wen Zhixia ended the call and looked at the chat window, where only the last sent crying-face emoji remained. Only then did she understand why Xu Qichen had suddenly called.

Her fingertips moved slightly, and she sent another message: I clicked the wrong emoji just now.

Gu Pingsheng watched the smile at the corner of her lips. How long had it been since she had smiled at him like that?

Aunt Zhao said, “President Gu?”

Gu Pingsheng’s cold eyes narrowed slightly. “Find something suitable for her to change into.”

Aunt Zhao was a little uncertain about what “suitable” meant. “By President Gu’s meaning...”

At that moment, Wen Zhixia stood up, her gaze passing over Gu Pingsheng as she prepared to go straight upstairs and rest.

Gu Pingsheng took hold of her shoulder. “...Do you keep in touch with Xu Qichen often?”

“If President Gu has so much free time, why not go take better care of your deeply affectionate junior schoolmate? My affairs do not require—”

“Senior, senior, don’t fight because of me. I... cough, cough, cough...” Zhao Fuhe came out of the guest room wrapped in a bathrobe, with Aunt Wang hurrying behind her. “Miss Zhao, what are you doing? The master of the house is still here. How can you come out like that?”

She had only turned away for a moment. Since Aunt Zhao had not yet brought the clothes over, Aunt Wang had first draped one of the guest room bathrobes over her shoulders. Who would have thought she would actually come out like this?

Aunt Wang was advanced in years and rather old-fashioned. In her view, however old a woman might be, appearing in a bathrobe in the host’s house, especially with the male head of the household present, was hardly decent conduct.

So when she said this, her tone unconsciously carried a hint of reproach.

Zhao Fuhe clutched the bathrobe and looked at Wen Zhixia with a pitiful, hesitant expression. “I-I was only too anxious. I didn’t mean anything else, Senior. Please don’t mind me.”

At last, Wen Zhixia deeply understood what it meant for a fly not to bite, but to be vexing.

“Since Miss Zhao is awake, you may go back,” Wen Zhixia said, then looked at Aunt Wang. “Aunt Wang, please trouble yourself to escort her to the door personally.”

Aunt Wang paused, then immediately understood what Wen Zhixia meant. She was slightly surprised, as if she had not expected the usually gentle and quiet Madam to be... quite so good at dealing with people.

“Miss Zhao, this way, please.”

Zhao Fuhe shot Wen Zhixia a resentful glance and tugged at Gu Pingsheng’s sleeve. “Senior, I’m a girl. How can I go out wearing a bathrobe? Senior... Senior, she...”