Chapter 65 Gu Shiyan’s Unsuccessful Confession

Everyone from Luo Xing’s group suddenly froze, her leg still suspended in mid-air from the kick she had just delivered. She stared back in bewilderment, as if she had seen a ghost.

Someone she could never get to meet before, who was always impossible to arrange an encounter with, now appeared before her as if by chance. Luo Xing remembered what her grandmother said on the phone—she was to have dinner with Gu Shiyan that evening. She thought he had already left, but here he was, just stepping out of the airport.

“Stunned?” he asked, lifting his wrist and swiping his finger across the watch. The crisp sound made Luo Xing’s eyelashes flutter.

She looked at Gu Shiyan intently. He seemed not to have rested well on the flight—fatigue clouded his features, his eyelids drooping as he stared at her. The sleeves of his black, hoodless sweatshirt were rolled up, his arms hanging lazily at his sides. A watch circled his wrist, and his distinct fingers gripped a charcoal-gray overcoat.

“Why did you send that kind of message in the group?” she demanded.

Gu Shiyan nodded, “I’m hungry, too. Let’s go eat first.”

Luo Xing: ?

She evaded his hand. “Aren’t you going home for dinner?”

“I messaged right after I landed that I wouldn’t be home for dinner,” Gu Shiyan replied, pointing to the nearest restaurant. “How about this one?”

Luo Xing looked over; it was a restaurant with a Jiangnan courtyard style. Gu Shiyan spoke up beside her, “Alright, enough hesitation.” He gently nudged her forward and spoke close to her ear, “Let me apologize. I accidentally tagged you in the group; this meal is on me.”

“Let go of me, Gu Shiyan. I don’t want to have dinner with you,” she said seriously, the last words heavy with resolve.

Gu Shiyan’s hand still rested on her back, his expression freezing, but he said nothing.

“Luo Xing, what I said to you at TH—I meant it.” He pressed his aching temples, his eyelids lowering as he gazed at her. “Let’s talk inside. I haven’t eaten all day; my head’s spinning.”

It was more than just a day. After going back to deal with matters concerning Gu Liang and the Liu family, Gu Shiyan had barely slept. He only managed a brief nap on the plane after everything was settled. He had intended to go home for dinner—he just wanted to see her. The message to Assistant Song saying he wouldn’t be home was sent only after he spotted Luo Xing at the airport. He’d watched her from behind, seeing her hunched over as she kicked forward. He’d thought she was about to fall, which was why he stepped forward.

Gu Shiyan pressed his palm to the side of his neck, tilting his head until his bones cracked audibly.

Luo Xing’s gaze fell upon the scars peeking out from his shoulder and neck... She recalled that Gu Shiyan’s father had a terrible temper, and now, after Gu Shiyan publicly embarrassed the Liu family in front of so many reporters, his father was likely furious.

Luo Xing said nothing more, but stepped further inside. “Good. There are things I need to make clear to you.”

Gu Shiyan watched her retreating figure and sighed softly, pinching his earlobe as if to clear his head.

When Luo Xing entered, Gu Shiyan followed. The server seemed to instantly assume they were a couple and approached Gu Shiyan directly with the menu. The restaurant was styled like a Jiangnan courtyard, and the meal was to be served on a black-awning boat. Luo Xing and Gu Shiyan boarded a boat by themselves.

“Don’t order too much—it’s just the two of us,” Luo Xing reminded him when she saw Gu Shiyan pointing to several dishes.

He nodded to the server and stopped ordering.

“Speak,” Luo Xing said bluntly.

“I heard from the old man that you’ve been going to the library these days?” Gu Shiyan diverted the subject. Luo Xing looked at him.

“What does me going to the library have to do with what I need to say to you?”

“You want to participate in the physics experiment competition—I can...”

Luo Xing interrupted, frowning, “No need.”

Silence fell.

“Tell me—what do I have to do for things to go back to the way they were?” Gu Shiyan’s eyes locked onto hers.

Luo Xing shook her head. “There’s no going back.”

Glancing at her phone, she saw that Yun Cai was asking in their small group chat if she had added Gu Shiyan back as a friend. Staring at those three words on the screen, Luo Xing glanced at Gu Shiyan, then typed a reply to Yun Cai: No.

Clearly, none of them quite believed it.

“I can explain everything you mentioned,” Gu Shiyan said, exhaling.

A plate of fruit was brought and placed between them by the server. Luo Xing watched as Gu Shiyan picked up a fruit fork, speared a piece of mango, rotated the plate, and pushed it toward her.

Luo Xing lowered her eyes, feeling a tangle of thoughts. Another message came in from Yun Cai, saying she didn’t believe her. She said that if Gu Shiyan had gone to such lengths, Luo Xing would surely go back to him.

Indeed—even her best friend didn’t believe she would truly give up on Gu Shiyan. It was no wonder people on the forum said she must have posted from Gu Shiyan’s phone herself. Luo Xing didn’t know how to respond. Frustrated, she simply took a screenshot of her rejected friend request and sent it to the group before turning off her phone.

She looked at Gu Shiyan. “You tagged me in the group chat—do you know what’s being said on the school forum?”

Gu Shiyan frowned, looking over. “I rarely read posts on the school site,” he admitted.

Luo Xing said nothing.

Gu Shiyan pulled out his phone, ready to check now.

“They’re saying I stole your phone to post that message, that I’m delusional, shamelessly pursuing you,” Luo Xing said quietly. “Worse things, too.”

Gu Shiyan had Li Zhao send him the link to the post. He opened it—the thread had already grown several pages deep.

He scrolled down and saw the insults Luo Xing hadn’t voiced aloud.

Things like:

“She’s clever, clearly after the Gu family’s money, desperate to marry into wealth—just a gold-digger.”

“Didn’t Gu have rumors about an engagement? Haha, she’s just trying to be the mistress.”

“Honestly, can Luo the B get expelled? She’s ruining our university’s reputation.”

“I’ve never seen anyone so shameless, so ridiculous. How did Gu ever agree to date her?”

“Clinging on for over a year—he must be sick of her, just toying with her.”

Some even labeled Luo Xing as a gold-digger, a homewrecker, a vain slut.

Gu Shiyan could hardly breathe.

Staring at the filth, he took a screenshot and sent it to Assistant Song.

“I’m sorry,” he said, head bowed, pressing his fingers against the edge of his phone until his skin turned white. “I’ll have it taken care of.”

Luo Xing shrugged and leaned back, exhaustion in her voice. “So you really didn’t know…”

She sounded spent. “Well, you never cared about these things.”

Perhaps, she meant, he never cared about her.

“It doesn’t matter. Ever since the first day I started pursuing you, these posts have appeared almost daily. Before you agreed to date me, it was even worse. After we got together, I felt like I was dreaming.”

She rolled the fruit fork between her fingers, ignoring the mango piece Gu Shiyan had chosen for her, and picked another.

“I used to think I’d regret it. But now I don’t. Who hasn’t done something foolish in their youth?” There was a hint of irony in her words.

Gu Shiyan turned away, swallowing hard. “The day you confessed to me… when I heard you say you liked me…”

His phone screen lit up. Assistant Song had sent him a message.

It was the address of a hospital.