Chapter 54 Engagement Banquet (Part 4) "Gu Qingyan! Get out! How could you..."

As night deepened, Zhou Xubai's car smoothly entered the underground parking lot of Lin Yuwei's apartment. The engine was turned off, and the suffocating silence inside the car was broken by a "click" as the door unlocked.

The chauffeur in the driver's seat turned around and politely reminded him, "Sir, we've arrived at our destination." Zhou Xubai rubbed his temples and replied, "Okay."

At this moment, Lin Yuwei, who was beside him, seemed to be awakened by the noise. She slowly opened her eyes, looked at the familiar surroundings outside the window with a dazed expression, and said in a hoarse and indistinct voice, "Are we here?... Thank you, I can go upstairs by myself... You can have the designated driver take you home." As she spoke, she subconsciously reached for the car door.

Perhaps it was Gu Qingyan's presence tonight that felt like a thorn in his heart, causing Zhou Xubai to hesitate inexplicably! He remembered the last time she was drunk, she was willing to, even dependent on, him to take her upstairs. But tonight, this subconscious, distant rejection, like a fine needle, precisely pierced his usually gentle and tolerant facade, and a mix of unease, disappointment, and even offense suddenly surged into his heart.

“I’ll take you up.” His tone unusually carried a hint of unyielding stubbornness.

The designated driver asked at the opportune moment, "Then I need to wait for you here, sir?"

Zhou Xubai looked at Lin Yuwei, who already had one foot out of the car, and quickly said to the designated driver, "Please wait a moment, I'll take her upstairs and come down. I'll pay extra for the waiting time, so you won't have to wait for nothing."

However, Lin Yuwei seemed determined to walk by herself. She had already staggered out of the car, and Zhou Xubai quickly followed, trying to support her swaying body.

“Really, it’s not necessary…it’s just a few steps…I can…I can…” Lin Yuwei broke free from his support, instinctively pressed the elevator’s up button, then turned back to wave at him, her drunken face filled with exhaustion and a desire for solitude: “You should go back…there are still people waiting in the car…”

Her vulnerable yet desperate attempt to escape him and push him away pierced Zhou Xubai's taut nerves. The unease of the past few days, the jealousy he felt upon witnessing Gu Qingyan's predatory gaze tonight, and the immense fear of losing her all collapsed in that instant! Zhou Xubai felt that he was losing her, right now, right before his eyes!

The elevator lobby was lit in a cool, quiet light.

Just as the elevator doors were about to open but hadn't yet, Zhou Xubai suddenly reached out and grabbed Lin Yuwei's wrist. The force was so great that she winced in pain. He pulled her into his arms, turned her around, and roughly slammed her against the cold, tiled wall.

"Xu Bai?" Lin Yuwei was stunned by the sudden restraint. She slowly raised her head, her eyes hazy and confused as she looked at him. The alcohol had numbed her senses, even her panic came slowly; she only instinctively felt uncomfortable and afraid: "What... are you doing? Let go..."

Zhou Xubai looked at her, drunk and unguarded yet subconsciously rejecting him. Her usually gentle eyes were filled with unprecedented pain and a desperate urgency. The underground parking garage was empty and quiet, and the pale lights cast long shadows of the two of them.

He didn't speak, as if all words were useless. He suddenly lowered his head and kissed her with a broken resolve. This kiss was no longer a gentle probing, but filled with possessive panic and bitterness, an urgent desire to prove something, to confirm something.

All of this was witnessed by Gu Qingyan, who had followed them all the way here and got out of the car. Through the floor-to-ceiling glass doors of the elevator hall, he watched Zhou Xubai hold Lin Yuwei in his arms and kiss her. At that moment, his heart felt like it was being torn apart, his blood froze, and he was overwhelmed by immense despair and pain. He almost rushed forward.

However, in the next second, he saw it.

He saw that even in her drunken stupor and sluggish state, Lin Yuwei's body still showed the most instinctive resistance. Her hands were weakly pressed against Zhou Xubai's chest, and her head was struggling to turn to one side, trying to avoid the kiss. Her entire body language was telling the story of her unwillingness and rejection.

From hell to heaven, it only takes a moment.

Gu Qingyan's heart, which had almost stopped, suddenly started pounding violently again! Hope, like a frenzied vine, instantly wrapped around him; Zhou Xubai's insistence was his chance!

On the other side, Lin Yuwei's clearly visible resistance was like a bucket of cold water, instantly waking Zhou Xubai from his panic. He stopped abruptly, releasing her as if he had been scalded, his breathing rapid, his eyes filled with lingering panic and a hint of embarrassed regret.

Looking at Lin Yuwei's pale face, pale from drunkenness and fright, and at her unconscious gesture of wiping her lips with her fingers, Zhou Xubai was overwhelmed by a huge sense of bitterness and helplessness.

"I'm sorry..." He took a step back dejectedly, his voice hoarse. "I...I lost control. You...be careful going upstairs." After Zhou Xubai finished speaking, he turned and left the elevator lobby almost as if he were fleeing. Not long after, Lin Yuwei heard the roar of an engine in the underground parking garage, which quickly disappeared into the distance.

Lin Yuwei leaned against the cold wall in a daze. The alcohol and the shock from earlier had left her mind a blur. She was breathing heavily, trying to make sense of what had happened.

As night deepened, Zhou Xubai's car finally disappeared around the corner of the garage exit. Lin Yuwei leaned against the cold wall alone, and after a while, she managed to suppress the turmoil caused by shock and alcohol. She shook her dizzy head and staggered towards the elevator, pressing the up button again.

The elevator slowly descended and then ascended again. She was alone in the cramped space. The mirror reflected her pale, bewildered face and slightly swollen lips. The forced kiss and Zhou Xubai's painful gaze flashed alternately in her muddled mind, leaving her feeling utterly confused.

"Ding—" The elevator arrived, and she stumbled to the apartment door. After several attempts, she finally managed to open the fingerprint lock with trembling hands.

Pushing open the door, the familiar scent of home enveloped her, causing Lin Yuwei's tense nerves to relax slightly. She reached out to close the door, wanting to completely isolate herself from the chaos outside.

However, just as the door was about to close, a large, bony hand suddenly reached in from outside and forcefully blocked the door! Lin Yuwei gasped in fright, her drunkenness almost completely sobering her up. She instinctively tried to close the door, but she was no match for the immense force outside.

The door was suddenly pushed open with an irresistible force! Gu Qingyan's tall figure, shrouded in the chill of the night and an overwhelming sense of pent-up tension, burst in!

With a loud "bang!", the door was slammed shut behind him, making the walls seem to tremble slightly.

Lin Yuwei took two steps back in shock, her back pressed against the shoe cabinet in the entryway, with nowhere left to retreat! Only a dim hallway light was on in the apartment, outlining Gu Qingyan's tense profile and his eyes burning with pain and anger in the darkness.

He approached step by step, the immense pressure almost suffocating her. The air was filled with his faint scent of cedar and a dangerous, almost uncontrollable emotion.

"Gu Qingyan! Get out! How dare you barge in!" Lin Yuwei's voice trembled with fear and anger as she tried to cover up her panic with a show of bravado.

Gu Qingyan suddenly stopped very close to her, his chest trembling rapidly due to the intense emotional turmoil. The oppressive aura emanating from him instantly enveloped Lin Yuwei, as if even the air itself had become thin.

He leaned down, his hot breath, heavy with the smell of alcohol and pain, scorching her cheeks and neck. Every word seemed to be squeezed out with difficulty from his torn heart and lungs, filled with desperate hoarseness and incredulous questioning: "How could I dare?"

He growled, his voice distorted by extreme pain and rage: "Then let me ask you! Just now downstairs! How dare Zhou Xubai treat you like that?! What right did he have to force you like that?!"

He saw it! He saw it all!

Lin Yuwei suddenly opened her eyes, abruptly colliding with the depths of his eyes, so close to hers, churning with pain and madness. Her heart felt as if it had been gripped tightly by an invisible hand, suddenly constricting. All the cold words she tried to use to defend herself were instantly crushed, stuck in her throat, suffocating her.

Before she could break free from that terrifying gaze, the string of reason within Gu Qingyan seemed to snap completely at that moment! He suddenly raised his hand, gripping her chin with irresistible force, forcing her to tilt her head back and look down. With a devastating despair and a longing that had been building up for too long and was almost burning him to death, he fiercely and precisely captured her lips!

This kiss was completely different from Zhou Xubai's panicked demands in the garage. It was full of punitive intent, possessive madness, and boundless pain. Like a sudden storm, it brutally crushed her soft lips, pried open her teeth, went deep, and entangled her with a kind of resolute determination to perish together. It was undeniable, as if he wanted to confirm her existence in this way, to completely devour her, and to integrate her into his own blood and bones, so as to quell the jealousy and pain that was almost tearing him apart.

"Ugh... Let... me go!" Lin Yuwei was stunned by this sudden, aggressive assault. The alcohol had dulled her senses, making her resistance weak and futile. Her hands weakly pushed against his chest, which felt like an impenetrable wall. Shock, grievance, and a tremor she didn't want to admit, all intertwined, and tears instantly broke through her defenses, gushing out and rolling down her cheeks, silently disappearing between their passionately intertwined lips, the salty taste particularly clear.

The icy tears seemed to carry a scalding temperature, suddenly waking Gu Qingyan from his near-madness. As if pricked by a needle, he abruptly released his grip on her, his breathing heaving violently, his chest pounding like a bellows, a moment of bewilderment and regret in his eyes.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lin Yuwei suddenly broke free and leaned against the cold entryway shoe cabinet. Almost instinctively, she raised her hand—"Slap!"