Chapter 3 Is That Gu Shiyan?

“If you take a month off, your counselor will blow up your grandmother’s phone,” Gu Shiyan remarked with a sidelong glance.

Li Zhao looked troubled. “So what should I do...?”

Gu Shiyan gave a careless laugh. “Alright, I’ll help you watch over things. I don’t want to go back to school anyway—too many annoying matters to deal with.”

Li Zhao still hesitated.

Gu Shiyan patted him on the shoulder. “Go on, head back. Otherwise they’ll start calling you any minute now.”

Li Zhao opened his mouth, but Gu Shiyan cut him off. “I barely go to school myself. It’s almost the same.”

Li Zhao thought about it and agreed—whether he was at home or on campus, it made little difference. The counselor knew his father was a busy man and wouldn’t call the house anyway.

“You’ve saved my life. I’ll work for you like a horse or an ox for the rest of my days.”

Gu Shiyan snorted. “Just be a decent human instead.”

Su Mo had waited a long time before the door to the hospital room finally opened. Gu Shiyan stepped inside.

A faint hint of a smile tugged at her lips.

Success.

“Have you two reached a decision?” Su Mo asked.

Gu Shiyan sat on the stool beside her bed, nodded, and continued scrolling through his phone.

Su Mo gave him a cool glance, just as she had the first time she met him.

Indifferent to everything. Wasn’t Su Wan trying to win him over?

If she and Gu Shiyan ended up together, could Su Wan still enter the Gu family?

Would Gu Shiyan’s father tolerate it?

“Is this how you take care of people?” Su Mo asked softly, her gaze drifting toward the window.

Gu Shiyan didn’t even look up. “I’ve called the housekeeper—she’ll be here soon. She’ll look after you.”

“If I’m not mistaken, your friend probably can’t afford her wages for a whole month, can he?”

Gu Shiyan’s low, slightly nasal voice resonated quietly in the room. “All you need is someone to take good care of you for a month. The rest doesn’t concern you.”

Su Mo waved her hand. “I wasn’t eavesdropping on purpose. The walls just aren’t soundproof.”

“I’m hungry. I want to eat something right now.” A faint smile appeared on Su Mo’s face. “Will the housekeeper be here within ten minutes?”

Gu Shiyan stood up. “What would you like to eat?”

Su Mo shook her phone. “Add me—I’ll send you the list. There are a lot of requirements, and I’m afraid you won’t remember.”

Suddenly, Gu Shiyan asked, “It was so late, and the accident happened near the arcades and billiard halls. What were you doing there?”

Su Mo lowered her eyes, aware that he was starting to suspect her.

“I was working part-time at the arcade,” she replied calmly.

Gu Shiyan nodded, opened a QR code on his phone, and handed it to her.

Su Mo scanned it. “Sent it to you.”

As she looked up, she saw that Gu Shiyan had already left the room.

Her gaze darkened. He really was cold and unfeeling.

Early Saturday morning, Li Zhao arrived with a bag of fruit.

Gu Shiyan had already briefed the housekeeper: if she saw Li Zhao, she was to pretend not to know him.

So for now, only Gu Shiyan and Su Mo were in the room.

Li Zhao walked over and set out breakfast for Gu Shiyan.

“Yan, you’ve worked hard. You can go back now. I’ll take over during the day since it’s the weekend.”

Seeing Gu Shiyan unmoved, Li Zhao asked, “Is something wrong?”

Gu Shiyan turned off his phone, no longer looking at the empty chat window. “It’s nothing.”

He picked up the breakfast and left.

His mind was unusually clear. He had hardly slept the night before—not because of the patient.

The housekeeper had arrived after two hours; Gu Shiyan himself had booked a hotel nearby, got up at five in the morning, and went to the hospital to keep up appearances. But in truth, he’d just been lying in the hotel.

He couldn’t sleep at all. His eyes kept drifting toward his phone.

What was wrong with her?

He had never asked anything of her before. Last night was the first time he’d asked her to wait for him.

Someone who had always accommodated him had refused.

She hadn’t even sent him a goodnight message.

All night long, Gu Shiyan kept scrolling to the top of their chat.

He remembered clearly—ever since Luo Xing added him, she had said goodnight to him every single evening.

After they got together, her goodnight messages were often followed by a kiss emoji, a red heart, or a rose.

Last night was the first time she hadn’t said goodnight.

Yi Chuan called. “Where are you? I’ll boot up the PC for you first.”

Gu Shiyan remembered that Yi Chuan had suggested going to the new internet café last night.

“Yeah,” he replied, hanging up.

...

“Little Star, how long has it been since you last hung out with us?”

In the cake shop, groups of students clustered around tables.

iPads and sheets of advanced vocabulary notes littered the surface.

“Here you go, friends of Little Star,” Luo Xing’s brother, Luo Zhou, personally brought out some pastries.

“Try these—they’re new at the shop. Taste them for your big brother.”

Yun Cai squinted with a smile. “They look delicious! Let me take a picture first.”

Luo Zhou ruffled his sister’s hair. “You’re finally willing to grace my little shop with your presence again, busy bee?”

Luo Xing had kept her relationship with Gu Shiyan a secret from her family. In the past, when she didn’t come to Luo Zhou’s shop to do homework, she always said she was going somewhere else.

Luo Zhou had lamented that his skills couldn’t keep his sister around, and kept coming up with new treats just to lure her back.

Luo Xing sipped her grapefruit smoothie. “No, I was just enchanted by another place for a while. But now I realize your food is the best! Mostly because it’s free!”

Luo Zhou was the manager, with three employees who didn’t really need his help. Only when Luo Xing visited would he personally get involved.

“Sigh, no matter how good the free stuff at home is, it can’t compare to things from other places.” Luo Zhou sighed. “I’m off to sketch. If you want anything, just order—it’s on me.”

“Got it, brother,” Luo Xing replied.

No sooner had Luo Zhou left than Yun Cai nudged Luo Xing. “Xing, look outside—isn’t that Gu Shiyan?”

As soon as Gu Shiyan appeared, everyone at the table—whether eating pastries or working on assignments—looked up.

They were all classmates from high school, and everyone knew Gu Shiyan, who was a prominent figure both in high school and college. Naturally, they knew he and Luo Xing were dating.

“Xing, why aren’t you with Gu Shiyan today?” Shen Que asked from the side.

Ming An nudged Shen Que. “Just because they’re dating doesn’t mean she can’t spend time with friends or study. It’s rare for her to come out with us, so don’t be such a buzzkill.”

The last two sentences were whispered in Shen Que’s ear.

Ming An, with her twin braids and sweet looks, lived in the same neighborhood as Luo Xing. They were in the same building, the same class, and had naturally become close.

Shen Que was her grandmother’s next-door neighbor. Luo Xing would visit her grandmother during holidays, and when she was a mischievous child who disliked studying, it was Shen Que who kept her on track.

Yao Xiangming was good friends with Shen Que.

All of them were both talented and lucky, having gotten into the elite Class One at No. 1 High School, and later all being accepted into Xing University. It had only been a few days since the semester started, yet the five quickly bonded and spent every weekend together—until Luo Xing started dating Gu Shiyan.

After that, Luo Xing spent every weekend glued to Gu Shiyan’s side.