trouble

When Ye Xu received the message from Gu Nan inviting him to dinner, and sensed that Gu Nan seemed to be troubled by some problems, he instantly felt that his image had become more impressive. He changed into a "highly educated" outfit, secretly put on frameless glasses, and prepared to suppress Gu Nan's "sharpness" when they met.

But the moment he pushed open the door, he suppressed all his teasing thoughts.

"What happened? Tsk tsk, your dark circles are almost bigger than your eyes."

Gu Nan brushed away the tablet Ye Xu handed her. She had looked in the mirror before leaving home, intending to cover herself up, but then she thought, since she was coming to see Ye Xu anyway, it didn't matter if she looked haggard.

"Analyze it for me."

Ye Xu adjusted his glasses with a cheeky grin, spread his right hand, and smiled dignifiedly. With his black-rimmed glasses, he did indeed have the air of a high-ranking professor.

"Speaking."

Gu Nan moved her lips, but couldn't muster the energy to play around. She half-lyed on the table, lazily fiddling with the handle of her water glass.

He didn't speak for a long time.

Ye Xu raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself, "This seems to be a serious matter."

"Don't tell me you called me here to watch how you spin the cup. I'm probably more interested in watching the sheriff spin the cup than watching you."

"Hiss." Gu Nan rolled her eyes, resting her chin on her hand.

It wasn't that she was deliberately teasing Ye Xu; she simply hadn't figured out how to explain it to Ye Xu. She couldn't tell him why she got close to Lu Yushi, nor could she tell him the story of how she conspired with Shen Ming to frame Lu Yushi.

The process cannot be explained, and the result cannot be expressed either.

She flicked her wrist, pushing the bowls and plates out and arranging them, along with the spoons, on the table.

"To give an example, the soup bowl and the bone plate are mortal enemies, while the spoon and the soup bowl are... a pair. Due to some necessary reasons, the spoon has to secretly team up with the bone plate to sabotage the soup bowl. The soup bowl suffers a great loss and accidentally discovers the spoon and the bone plate eating together, but doesn't confront the spoon. When the spoon goes to find the soup bowl, it finds that apart from a somewhat cold expression and distant actions, there is no other reaction, and it doesn't mention breaking up. What do you think the soup bowl means?"

After speaking for quite a while, the person opposite seemed to fall asleep, keeping their head down the whole time and occasionally smacking their lips.

Gu Nan chuckled, "Did I make you hungry?"

Ye Xu finally looked up, his expression extremely complicated, and his lips trembled several times before he said, "If someone else had told me this story, I might have thought that Tang Wan was deeply in love and waiting for Spoon to take the initiative to admit his mistake. But... in your story, Tang Wan is most likely Lu Yushi."

"..."

"I can only think that he might be plotting how to kill you."

Gu Nan was furious: "You came up with this after all this time?"

Ye Xu shook his head solemnly: "No, I'm thinking about whether I should draw a line between us."

Gu Nan: ?

“I remember, in your last story, Lu Yushi was the male protagonist who got aroused and then you ran away. Less than three months later, you made him discover that you had conspired with outsiders to frame him.”

"Well."

"Why aren't you questioning me?"

"yes……"

"What are we waiting for if we don't run?" Ye Xu clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Does Lu Yushi seem like a good-tempered person?"

Gu Nan rested her chin on her hand and nodded seriously.

"He does seem to have a pretty good temper."

No matter what she did, Lu Yushi didn't seem to react much, except that he looked a little grumpy.

Belatedly realizing what was happening, he exclaimed, "Oh my god, could it be that I'm holding in a huge one?"

The proposal was rejected the moment it was submitted.

If Lu Yushi is planning something big, wouldn't his current coldness towards her be like stirring up trouble?

But if there's no intention to pursue her, what does this limbo mean?

"Ugh." Gu Nan continued to rub her head. The things she couldn't figure out last night were now even more of a headache.

Ye Xu's eyes were filled with pity: "Run, child, run! If he catches you, you're finished. You run, he chases, you can sprout wings... ugh."

My mouth was stuffed with dry, oil-soaked bread crust, but it couldn't stop the horrifying noise from reaching my ears.

"Difficult to fly."

Gu Nan sighed: "Actually, I'm pretty good to him."

"The key is what he thinks," Ye Xu suddenly realized, "Wait a minute, aren't you... are you deeply in love?"

"Get lost." Gu Nan angrily took back the soup bowl and spoon, glanced at the bone plate, and threw it far away.

Ye Xu caught the bone plate spinning on the table, put away his joke, and said seriously, "If you like him, just be clear about what's going on. Tell him yourself why you have to deal with him. The impression you leave on him will definitely be different from if he finds out from someone else."

Gu Nan pursed her lips and sighed. How should she put it? That she intentionally approached him, did everything she could to sow discord between him and Shen Ming in order to achieve her goal, and incidentally gained some benefits by leveraging his influence.

Let him feel at ease being used and framed, and stop him from overthinking.

Listen to this, is this even human language?

"If you like each other, be together properly, don't be silent."

"dislike."

"Tsk," Ye Xu clearly didn't believe it and didn't like having plates and bowls here. He muttered under his breath, "Stubborn as a mule."

I'm serious.

"Yes, yes, you're serious. If you don't like it, what are you hesitating about? Just work hard with the disc."

"...I have come to see you for no reason."

"oh."

Gu Nan rested her chin on her arm, troubled. How should she express this to Ye Xu? She was struggling with the inexplicable guilt in her heart.

Ever since she learned that Shen Ming had betrayed her, she had imagined countless scenarios of confronting Lu Yushi. Whether it was demanding an explanation or coldly questioning him, it would all be reasonable.

He remained silent, seemingly knowing everything, yet refusing to ask a single question. Was he waiting for her to confess, or...?

Even if it's a fit of rage, that's fine.

With J's identity, if all else fails, there are countless ways to curry favor with Lu Yushi using Xingzi Tower. But Lu Yushi remains completely silent as if nothing happened, so even the best methods are like punching cotton.

There's no way to get started.

The chat box remained as quiet as ever, even the profile picture exuded aloofness. Gu Nan swiped back and forth across the screen, and Meng Qing's message popped up at the top.

[Lu family, did you do this?]

Gu Nan forced a bitter smile; this was the only good news that could make Meng Qing believe her.

Now you believe me, right?

It'll be soon, just wait until spring. Then you can point to me and I'll go wherever you want.

Meng Qing: [I've always believed in you.]

"Heh," Gu Nan muttered to herself, "Trust me? That's just calling me heartless. He's been so lenient with me, and I still have to scheme against him."

Just as she was about to put her phone away, Meng Qing said again: "[The Buddha's Hand icon seems to be in some trouble. Do you want to help?]"

Gu Nan's expression tightened, and she immediately dialed the number, not even bothering to say hello, and asked, "What's the trouble?"

Meng Qing was quite surprised.

"Why are you so worried about her? It's nothing serious. There's a little rascal in her village who's been causing trouble for her several times, saying that she's old and has no children, so she should enjoy her old age with him. When that old lady heard that, she was furious. She grabbed an axe and started chopping at him."

"Is something wrong with her?" Gu Nan asked urgently, her tone anxious, as if she wanted to get to the scene immediately.

Meng Qing found her reaction increasingly strange and said bluntly, "The thug had eight stitches in his head, a broken arm, and many other wounds on his body."

Gu Nan breathed a sigh of relief: "It's good that you're alright."

"However, this hoodlum has quite a background. His older brother works for Kang Shengtai of Far East Capital, and his childhood friend is on very good terms with Wan Sizong. So, as soon as he got into trouble, Wan Sizong immediately arranged for him to be admitted to a VIP ward at Ping An Hospital."

Gu Nan narrowed her eyes; she knew Wan Sizong's character all too well.

"What do you want, you little punk?" Gu Nan asked, tilting her head and holding her phone between her fingers. She grabbed a piece of clothing from the closet, picked up her car keys, and ran out to the stair railing to slide down the stairs.

"They don't want compensation, they want to kneel down and apologize. The Buddha's Hand statue is unwilling, so there's a stalemate. But judging by the time, the thug's brothers should be on their way."

Gu Nan's face darkened: "I understand, thank you. Give me the name of that hoodlum."

After hanging up the phone, I hurriedly sent a message to Wan Yi.

Please help; someone needs saving at Ping An Hospital.

He copied the hoodlum's name from Meng Qing and sent it to Wan Yi.

Hesitantly while typing: [The woman's name is Xue Li. Do whatever you want with that thug, just don't let him bully Xue Li. Remember, don't mention my name.]

Wan Yi sarcastically asked: "[You also have times when you do good deeds anonymously?]"

Enough with the nonsense.

He left with a remark and drove off to Xuncheng.

Xue Li, 48, has been living alone since her husband and daughter passed away. Her heart was pounding.

Hearing the words "no children," Gu Nan's expression turned icy cold. While waiting at a red light, she clenched her fist and slammed it against the car door to vent her anger.

The sharp pain brought back a sliver of reason.

His remaining rationality vanished when he saw the slap mark on Xue Li's face.

“Peng”.

He kicked aside the bodyguard who was blocking his way and then slapped the thug across the face with both hands.

The sound of "slapping" echoed continuously in the ward.

It wasn't until the thug cried out in pain that everyone reacted. The bodyguards surrounded him, and Wan Yi, unable to bear seeing Gu Nan suffer, immediately confronted him. Only Xue Li stood still, puzzled.

She's a lonely old woman; when will she ever have a friend who would dare to stand up against the Wan family for her sake?

She was certain that the young man who had rushed over to support her two hours earlier had no connection with her. The young woman who entered the ward was wearing a mask, but judging from her figure and demeanor, she didn't seem to know her either.

Why did he fight so fiercely for her?

No one could answer her questions.

Numerous bodyguards were watching the three people in front of the hospital bed intently.

Xue Li's heart skipped a beat, and she silently shook her head.

Ping An Hospital is owned by the Wan family. These bodyguards were sent specifically to force her to submit. Even if the two kind-hearted children could beat them, how could the Wan family let them leave peacefully?

“Thank you, kids. This is between him and me,” Xue Li said, pointing to the thug lying on the hospital bed groaning. She noticed blood seeping from the thug’s head and her heart tightened again. “I won’t trouble you any further.”

Upon hearing this, Wan Yi turned to look at Gu Nan, catching a glimpse of her trembling fingertips out of the corner of his eye. He then looked away, his expression cold and stern: "You dare to lay a hand on me?"

The bodyguards, however, remained unfazed: "Young Master Yi, we don't want to hurt you, but he is someone our young master specifically instructed us to protect. If you insist on standing with your friend, we will have no choice but to offend him."

Wan Yi clenched his fists tighter and tighter. He couldn't enter the Wan family after all, and he wasn't qualified to give orders to these people.

He kicked aside the nearest bodyguard, tilted his head slightly, and said to Gu Nan, "Take her away first."

Before he could finish speaking, the door to the ward was pushed open, and a young man dressed in a suit walked in. Upon seeing the scene inside the ward, he stopped in his tracks.

Just as everyone was confused about friend and foe, the thug yelled, "Brother—"