☆, A sleeping potion was put in the coffee.
Blue Mountain Cafe.
Gu Li pushed open the heavy glass door, looked around, and spotted Max in an inconspicuous corner.
Gu Li realized that he had deliberately chosen such an inconspicuous corner to talk to him, and his already uneasy heart became even more tense.
She walked over and, feigning nonchalance, exchanged a casual greeting with him, "Have you been waiting long?"
Max lifted his eyelids, looked at her, and said politely, "I just arrived a little while ago."
Gu Li sat down opposite him, a steaming cup of coffee already placed in front of her. She took a small sip and looked at the gentle and refined Max Qi in front of her, feeling a sense of distance as if they were strangers.
She had imagined Maxie's gentle and polite demeanor, and at the time, she thought it would be hilarious. But at this moment, she couldn't laugh at all.
Indeed, ideals are often grand, but reality is often harsh.
"Is the coffee to your liking?"
"Hmm." Gu Li nodded. She hadn't had a sip of water while running around and was indeed quite thirsty. She downed most of her coffee in one gulp, wiped her mouth, and asked, "What do you want to tell me?"
Maxie's fingers, which were tucked under the table and resting on her lower abdomen, tightened slightly after she drank the coffee, and his gaze deepened as well.
He pushed a square piece of paper that he had placed on the table beforehand to Gu Li's left.
"What?" Gu Li stammered, picked up the paper and glanced at it. It was a check with many zeros on it. She didn't count them, but just seeing the number 5, she guessed that the check might be for five million. Why would Max give her so much money for no reason?
"This money is enough for you to buy a three-bedroom apartment. As long as you don't squander it, you'll be set for life."
His emotionless words brought Gu Li back to her senses.
They just tried to pay her off, what kind of person do they take her for?
She laughed angrily, "Director Mai, you're really generous. Five million to support an older single woman like me? Isn't that too expensive?"
Maxi was holding a coffee in one hand, and after taking a sip, he spat it out.
His face turned bright red from coughing.
Gu Li glanced at him calmly, "Are you alright?"
He waved his hand, "I...I didn't mean that..."
"I know." Gu Li returned the check to him, smiled slightly, and looked harmless. "Director Mai, may I ask what heinous thing I did to make you so afraid of me getting close to President Chu?"
Maxi coughed for a long time before finally catching his breath. He wiped his mouth with a tissue and then handed her a sealed document.
Gu Li's unease grew stronger. He opened the document and pulled out two A4 sheets of paper. It contained personnel information that seemed to be quite old, as the format used for registration was very different from the current format.
Upon seeing the name Gu Xiaoai, Gu Li's mind went blank. Her lips turned pale, and she trembled slightly. Her beautiful eyes were filled with shock and disbelief. "You..."
What exactly happened? Why did Maxie investigate her? When did he begin to suspect her?
Even she could see through her flaws, so what about Chu Yaofeng? Did he know too? Then why was he still pursuing her? What was his purpose?
"Yaofeng still doesn't know?" Max said. "You've disguised yourself very well. If we hadn't heard your story, I think Yaofeng and I would have been kept in the dark for the rest of our lives. Why are you still alive? And if you're alive, why don't you show yourself? Why use fake death to deceive everyone? What exactly is your purpose?"
Since the truth had already been revealed, Gu Li had no intention of hiding it any longer. "Yes, I am Gu Xiaoai, and I am not dead yet."
Maxi gasped. Although he knew she was Gu Xiaoai, hearing her admit it was still quite shocking.
He didn't know much about the Chu family, and even less about Gu Xiaoai. He only knew that she was an ugly woman. Later, he only heard Yaofeng mention her once or twice, saying that although she was ugly, she had a very gentle personality.
At the time, he was quite interested in this ugly woman and wanted to meet her, because Yaofeng had never commented on any woman in front of him, not even Qu Xiangwan.
Not long after, Yaofeng told me that the ugly woman was dead, dead in Bali. That man killed her, and he wanted to avenge her…
That day, Chu Yaofeng drank a lot of alcohol. Although he wouldn't admit it, Mai Siqi could tell that he was quite interested in that ugly woman. If it weren't for Qu Xiangwan, he would have suspected that Yaofeng had fallen in love with that ugly woman.
After getting drunk, he told him: That ugly woman made him experience what it feels like to be cared for, even Qu Xiangwan had never taken such good care of him.
Chu Yaofeng is a man of great loyalty and affection. He will remember those who are good to him, but he is not good at expressing it.
……………………
After a brief silence, the only sound in the quiet atmosphere was Maxi's cold gasp. He leaned back slightly, his pupils wide. "Why did you fake your death?"
“Because…” Gu Li frowned, pursed her lips, then touched her face. After a while, she chuckled softly, her tone light, “I don’t like Chu Tianze.”
"Just because of this?" Maxi was a little incredulous, but after thinking about it carefully, he found it believable. Chu Tianze, that playboy, changed women faster than he changed clothes. He heard that his behavior remained the same after marriage, or even worse, and he would beat and scold his wife at home. It was understandable that Gu Xiao... Gu Li didn't like her.
After nodding to himself, Maxi immediately frowned again. "Your death...it's not related to Chu Tianze, is it?"
He had heard that she was deliberately pushed into the sea by Chu Tianze.
This matter caused quite a stir among the Gu family at the time, and even caused a considerable uproar, but in the end, it was dropped due to insufficient evidence.
Gu Li clenched her fists under the table, gritted her teeth, and sneered, "I accidentally fell into the sea; it has nothing to do with him."
That bastard, if it weren't for Chengcheng's sake, she would have killed him long ago!
"Really?" Maxi also heard that on their wedding day, Chu Tianze embarrassed her by removing her veil in front of all their relatives, friends, and the media, and even called her an ugly monster on the spot, cursing her for being so ugly and asking why she didn't just die.
Because of the Chu family's extensive connections, the matter was suppressed; the media did not expose it, and not even a single photo of the bride was leaked.
This is why Max has never met Gu Xiaoai.
"Of course it's true..."
Before the word "的" could even be uttered, Gu Li fainted.
……………………
"Save me, Tianze, save me..."
"Save you, you ugly freak! Do you know I wish you were dead every day? Save you? Ha, dream on..."
"Help me, help me... Tianze... Tianze..."
"Don't call me! Why don't you take a piss and look at yourself? How horrible are you? It's because of you that I'm being laughed at by everyone. The whole world is laughing at me, Chu Tianze, for marrying an ugly woman! I hate you so much! Go to hell, you ugly thing! In your next life, and the life after that, don't be born human again, so you don't hurt anyone..."
………………
"ah!"
Gu Li woke up from a nightmare, sat up halfway, her pale face covered in cold sweat from fright.
Just as Maxi put down the porridge, he saw that she had woken up. He sat down beside her and asked, "What's wrong? Why are you sweating so much?"
"It's nothing." Gu Li wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve, smelled the aroma of the eight-treasure porridge, turned his head, and sure enough, saw a bowl of delicious-looking multigrain porridge on the bedside table.
"Did you make this?" She didn't stand on ceremony at all, picking up the bowl and feeding him a spoonful. "Mmm, it tastes delicious, very tasty."
Seeing how much she was enjoying her food, Maxie frowned. "Aren't you going to ask where we are?"
"This is your room, right? Your taste is really out of sync with yours." Gu Li pouted. Although she hadn't looked at the room closely, judging from the decor, it definitely wasn't a woman's bedroom. Dark gray tones were most suitable for men with rugged and masculine features, but Max looked like a submissive type and couldn't pull off this style at all.
"Oh, it's not suitable for me? Then what color do you think suits me?"
"pink."
“Pink?” Maxie exclaimed. “Are you insulting me?”
"You insulted me first!" Gu Li retorted loudly.
"..." Maxie looked ashamed. "You knew?"
Gu Li rolled her eyes at him. "I don't think there's something wrong with my body if I faint for no reason."
She had a physical examination not long ago, and all her indicators were healthy.
Therefore, the only reasonable explanation is that he put a drug in the coffee.
Max continued to keep his head down, and only after Gu Li had finished the entire bowl of fragrant porridge did he manage to utter three words in one breath, "I'm sorry."
"Huh?" Gu Li heard it, but pretended not to.
“I swear, I did nothing,” Maxie raised his hand to show his apology.
“I believe you,” Gu Li said. “If you really wanted to get rid of me, you wouldn’t have told me all the truths you know. You wanted me to leave President Chu because you were afraid I would use him to get revenge on Chu Tianze. Now that I’ve told you the truth, you have no more reservations about me. I no longer pose a threat to President Chu, so you have no reason to still try to harm me, right?”
"You are really smart." Hearing these clear and logical words, Maxi felt that she had not misjudged her. Her intelligence, calmness, and understanding were all worthy of her admiration.
Having been tricked by her time and time again, Max was somewhat resentful. "I may not have a reason to hurt you, but that doesn't mean I'm a gentleman. Don't forget, I still like you."
Gu Li said "you won't" but she was actually very scared. She immediately threw off the covers and jumped off the bed. She took a few steps and felt no discomfort at all.
Now it was Max's turn to burst into laughter. "See, you're still scared."
"Boring." Gu Li gritted her teeth, wanting to slap him across the face.
Such jokes are not to be made lightly.
……………………
When Chu Yaofeng brought Chengcheng over... no, when they came looking for him, Gu Li and Mai Siqi were having a meal at a restaurant, chatting and laughing, and even getting physical.
Maxi always gave in to her, which gave Gu Li a huge advantage. She left several chicken claw marks on his devilishly handsome face and couldn't stop smiling.
"Mommy." Chengcheng rushed into Gu Li's arms, looking at Mai Siqi with a mischievous glint in her eyes and asking, "Who is he? He looks so effeminate."
Maxi was stunned when he saw the miniature version of his friend that looked exactly like him.
"If you don't say anything, I'll take that as a yes." Chengcheng made a face at him, squinted her nose, and stuck out her tender tongue.
"He is...you and...cough..."
Max was always outspoken, and if Gu Li hadn't kicked him, he probably would have given himself away.
"Your son?" After calming down, he still looked blankly at him.
"Yes. Chengcheng, call him Uncle."
Chengcheng was unhappy, her pouting lips could hold a soy sauce bottle.
The man, who had been ignored and looked unhappy, walked over and put his arm around Gu Li's shoulder. Watching this scene, Max Qi felt from the bottom of his heart that he and Gu Li were a perfect match, a match made in heaven.
His opponent was his best friend, so he was honored even in defeat and accepted the defeat wholeheartedly.
"Why are you here?" Gu Li shrank her shoulders, not dodging his hand.
“We came because we saw through your lies,” Chengcheng said.
Gu Li felt guilty and glanced at Chu Yaofeng. Meeting his chilling gaze, she swallowed hard. "Uh, well... I just didn't want you to worry."
"Worried? Why would I?" Chu Yaofeng said with a forced smile. "Siqi is no outsider."
"..." Damn it, why are you pinching my shoulder if I'm not angry?
Gu Li had only one feeling: pain! Gritting her teeth, she stood up to say goodbye, "Director Mai, I'm sorry to have bothered you. Thank you for your hospitality. I should go back now."
"Alright." Knowing what she was worried about, Maxie didn't try to stop her.
He glanced at his friend, whose handsome face was completely black with rage, and said with a heavy heart, "Yaofeng, I take back what I said to you at the hospital. Xiaoli is a good person. I think you two are a good match. There are plenty of fish in the sea. I won't be hung up on her alone, so don't feel guilty, don't feel burdened, don't feel guilty towards me, don't..."
"You're overthinking it. She's my woman, why should I feel guilty? You're the one who should be reflecting on your actions. You even dared to take advantage of your friend's wife, are you even human?"
Even more scathing than his barbed words was his accusatory gaze.
Maxie wanted to spit in his face: "Can't we just be friends anymore?"
"Sorry, I'm not familiar with *. Do I know you?"
"you……"
"You've crossed the river and burned the bridge, you're ungrateful and heartless!" Maxi charged forward menacingly.
Chu Yaofeng's noble and aloof handsome face seemed to say, "Who cares about you?" He grabbed Gu Li and left, walking away with great nonchalance, without even glancing at his friend who had fallen face-first into the mud.
"I hate you..."
Behind them came Maxi's heart-wrenching roar.
………………………………
The air pressure inside the car was very low.
The air conditioner seemed to be turned up too high, and she felt a bit cold. Luckily, she was holding a heater in her arms, otherwise she wondered if she would freeze to death.
She asked Chengcheng, "How did you find me?"
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