☆ You're so stupid, even a donkey wouldn't agree.
A sudden, deafening roar filled her head, as if it were about to split open. Gu Li's hand, gripping the phone, trembled violently, and her completely stunned face turned as white as a ghost.
"What happened?" Chu Yaofeng asked worriedly when he saw her like this.
Gu Li was about to rush out when Chu Yaofeng stepped forward and opened his arms to stop her, his brow furrowing slightly. "I'll go back with you."
"No, no." Gu Li shook her head heavily, tears welling up in her eyes almost spilling out. "It's okay, I can handle it myself."
"You really don't need my help." Seeing how anxious she was, he was genuinely worried.
Gu Li bit her lower lip and nodded emphatically.
“You can’t get a taxi here. You can take my car back. You can drive, right?” He took the car keys from the coffee table and handed them to her.
Gu Li clutched the bunch of keys as if they were a lifeline, nodded haphazardly a couple of times, and then ran out in a panic.
Chu Yaofeng stood with his hands on his hips, still worried. He couldn't shake the image of her looking like the sky had fallen, clearly indicating that something terrible had happened. This silly woman, what couldn't she tell him? It would be good to have someone to share the burden with. Why was she being so distant with him? She clearly treated him like an outsider.
Ugh, this realization made him feel even worse. He rubbed his chest a couple of times, picked up his phone from the ground, and turned on the screen. There were several missed calls, with the name displayed as "idiot." He thought to himself that he was a genius; that woman really lived up to the nickname he gave her.
His fingers deftly dialed a number on the touchscreen. After two rings, the call was answered. He said succinctly, "Check what happened at Assistant Gu's house."
……………………
Gu Li sped through red lights, and when she arrived at the entrance of the residential area, she saw a huge fire that even two large water hoses from the firefighters couldn't extinguish. A huge panic overwhelmed her, and she rushed over frantically, crying and shouting, "Chengcheng, Chengcheng, Mommy's here, Chengcheng..."
"The fire inside is too big, you can't go in, miss. Please step back, things might fall from upstairs at any moment," two firefighters said, stopping her.
"Don't stop me, my son is inside, I have to save him." Her beautiful eyes, soaked with tears, glared fiercely at the two firefighters in the reflection of the raging fire, as if they were two sharp daggers.
In the spirit of serving the people, the two firefighters would never stand by and watch her do something foolish.
Gu Li was truly enraged. With a grappling move, she flipped one of the firefighters to the ground. Another firefighter, who had been stunned for a moment, saw her rush in and instinctively reached out to grab her shoulder, pulling her back. Gu Li staggered a couple of steps to regain her balance, grabbed his arm, and was about to throw him down as well when an urgent child's voice rang out.
"Mommy, I'm here." Chengcheng, holding Shuaishuai's hand, squeezed through the crowd and waved to Gu Li.
Gu Li immediately let go of the firefighter's hand, ran towards Chengcheng, hugged him tightly, and cried tears of joy, "Why didn't you answer my calls? You were worried sick about me."
"I left my phone at home when I ran away. I'm sorry, Mom, I made you worry." Chengcheng gently patted her back.
"I'm relieved that you're alright." Gu Li wiped away her tears, looking at her unharmed and safe son. Her heart was still pounding with lingering fear. If something had really happened to Chengcheng, she wouldn't want to live anymore.
"Oh dear, I'm so relieved that you and your son are alright, Miss Gu. I don't know which jinx got into some trouble outside, and the person retaliated, dragging everyone in the whole neighborhood down with them. When I found out, I'm going to make sure he compensates me for my losses," the landlady in her pajamas said indignantly.
Gu Li nodded angrily. She would not let the culprit who almost killed her precious son off easily if she found out.
“This community is full of retired elderly people, all respectable families. Who would have such a deep hatred for someone?” Chengcheng felt something was amiss.
Gu Li casually replied, "Maybe he's just unlucky enough to have run into a lunatic. People with abnormal minds are capable of doing all sorts of abnormal things."
"That's true." Chengcheng nodded, indicating that she had learned her lesson and would never mess with crazy people.
……………………
The fire left nothing but the two people and the wolf. The mother and son stood at the foot of the building, looking at the dilapidated and blackened apartment buildings. They lowered their heads and sighed deeply. They had finally adapted to this environment, and now they had to adapt to a new one. It was exhausting.
"Let's go." Gu Li took Chengcheng's hand and refused the landlady's kindness and the offer of accommodation. It wasn't that she was ungrateful, but they were only willing to take care of her and Chengcheng's accommodation and refused to take in the large and handsome Shuai Shuai.
Shuai Shuai is Cheng Cheng's precious darling, and now he is also his savior. If it weren't for Shuai Shuai's keen sense of smell, which alerted him to the smell of kerosene early in the morning and woke him up, he would probably be buried in the fire by now.
It was already one or two in the morning, and many small hotels had already closed.
Gu left the car and took Chengcheng and Shuaishuai around to more than a dozen hotels, but they all refused to let them check in.
Exhausted, Chengcheng lay on the back seat, staring at the ceiling, her large, wet eyes blinking, looking preoccupied.
Shuai Shuai obediently squatted on the ground, scratching his ears, his wolf eyes, which gleamed green, were also wet.
Despite his large size, Shuai Shuai is actually still a juvenile wolf, so he has a childlike temperament. He can be affectionate, cute, and ingratiating. He has an exceptionally strong learning ability and is absolutely loyal, making him a top-tier wolf.
After driving for so long and visiting so many hotels, Gu Li was really exhausted. She parked the car on the side of the road and glanced at the little guy in the rearview mirror. Although Chengcheng was lying down, he wasn't asleep.
"How about we spend the night in the car?" Gu Li turned to look at Chengcheng and said.
"What about tomorrow? What about the day after tomorrow? Will you be spending all your time in the car from now on?" Chengcheng asked expressionlessly. Usually, when he showed this expression, it meant he was angry.
"No, I'll go look for a house tomorrow, I'm sure I'll find one," Gu Li said with a smile.
"Mommy, is this world not big enough for us?" Chengcheng suddenly looked at her, his big, doe-like eyes slowly shining, as bright as sharp knives piercing Gu Li's heart, making her feel anxious and short of breath.
Why would you have this idea?
Chengcheng continued to gaze at the roof of the car and said slowly, "This world seems so big, but it doesn't have a home for us. We keep moving, just like ants. When it rains or the wind blows, we move. Every time I move to a new place, I have to tell myself that this is just a temporary place to stay, and I can't develop feelings for it. I'll be picky about everything, saying this is bad and that is bad. But even the most annoying things, if you see them every day, you'll miss them once you stop seeing them. You say I have a strange personality and don't play with the neighborhood kids. Now I'm telling you, I really want to be friends with them, but I know I can't stay here for long."
The little guy spoke each word slowly and earnestly, from the bottom of his heart, and after he finished speaking, he let out a deep breath as if he had been relieved of a great burden.
He knew that his words would hurt his mother, so he suppressed his feelings for a long time. He had always spoiled his mother too much, carefully protecting her and not giving anyone a chance to hurt her. But now, several years have passed, and although his mother has many suitors, she is still single. Chengcheng suddenly realized that his actions seemed to be wrong. He was not helping his mother, but harming her.
Given her stubborn and inflexible personality, she would never have taken the courageous step of loving unless he gave her a push from behind.
Chengcheng felt it was time to choose a city to live out his days in, so that his mother could meet someone to grow old with.
He really didn't want to live that kind of nomadic, wandering life anymore.
He wanted a home, one that would protect them from the wind and rain.
He longed for a good father who could provide for him and his child.
It was as if a giant axe had cleaved Gu Li's heart in two. She had always felt guilty towards Chengcheng for not being able to give him a stable life and for stubbornly refusing the charity others offered him. She had never asked Chengcheng if he was willing to live a poor and hard life with her because she was confident that he would say yes. From childhood to adulthood, he had always been so sensible and never caused her any worry.
But it was this confidence that made her overlook Chengcheng's true feelings. As a mother, she felt like a failure. Not only could she not give him a wealthy life, but she also couldn't give him a sense of security and peace of mind, leaving him living in extreme anxiety. She realized how unhappy he was.
"Chengcheng, Mommy promises you, I'll give you a home soon," Gu Li said, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Really?" Chengcheng turned her head slightly to look at her, a faint smile on her face.
"Really," Gu Li assured him, "From now on, we will never live a life of dependence on others again."
Chengcheng's handsome little face instantly blossomed into a smile.
………………
The nearby hotels wouldn't take Shuai Shuai in either. Before they knew it, it was already 2 a.m. Gu Li was still driving around looking for a place to stay for Shuai Shuai. Cheng Cheng was already asleep.
Having driven almost the entire city of B, Gu Li left only the most luxurious Grand Hyatt Hotel untouched. He parked his car at the entrance.
The valet on night shift, seeing that Gu had left in a Hummer, and the most expensive one at that, immediately came over and bowed, asking, "Miss, are you staying at a hotel?"
"Hmm." Gu Li glanced back and saw Shuai Shuai looking at her with pitiful eyes. Having run to so many places, Shuai Shuai seemed to understand that it was being rejected, so it was unusually quiet the whole way. It was clearly behaving very well, but it didn't understand why those people wouldn't accept it. It felt so sad.
Seeing Shuai Shuai's pitiful little face, Gu Li said as if she felt sorry for a child, "Good boy, Auntie won't abandon you."
"Woo~" Shuai Shuai seemed to understand.
Gu Li smiled and turned to ask the valet, "Are there any rooms available?"
"some."
Gu Li hesitated for a moment, "If I book the presidential suite, is there any special treatment I can receive?"
What special treatment would you like?
"Uh..." Gu Li stammered, "I have a pet. It's quite large, but it's very gentle and would never hurt anyone, right, Shuai Shuai?"
When Shuai Shuai heard Gu Li call it, it jumped up from the ground and pounced on Gu Li.
"Ah!!!" The parking attendant was so frightened by Shuai Shuai's sudden attack that he wet his pants, fell to the ground in terror, and crawled backward.
Soon, the hotel manager arrived with two security guards. Perhaps startled by the valet's shrill screams, Gu Li also pushed open the car door and got out.
"Manager, she...wolf..." The parking attendant was so frightened that he stammered, trembling as he grabbed the manager's clothes and hid behind him.
Hearing his vague words, the manager thought Gu Li was some kind of monster and felt a little uneasy. However, with two security guards holding batons present, he gained some courage. "Miss, if you have any complaints about our hotel staff, you can file a complaint, but it is wrong of you to physically assault someone."
"When did I lay a hand on him?" Gu Li looked at him with an expression that said, "I'm a gentle and virtuous woman. I don't know anything about violence."
"Manager, she didn't hit me. She brought a wolf and wanted to stay at our hotel," the valet explained calmly.
Upon hearing the word 'wolf,' the manager's obese face trembled. "I'm sorry, miss, our hotel prohibits 'wolves' from entering."
"I'll take responsibility if anything goes wrong," Gu Li said righteously.
"It really won't work."
"When you open a business, how can you refuse customers? Don't you understand the principle that the customer is God?" Gu Li didn't mean to make things difficult for them, but she really had nowhere else to go. It didn't matter for her, an adult, to sleep in the car, but the key was Chengcheng, who was prone to catching a cold.
"Miss, we are very happy to welcome you, but we really can't bring your belongings in. It would frighten the other guests," the manager said kindly.
"I already said I'll take responsibility if anything goes wrong."
No sooner had Gu Li finished speaking with such force than a gentle male voice called out to her, "Miss Gu."
"Mr. Gu." Gu Li looked at Gu Ziqian, who was dressed in a sharp suit. If she was initially surprised that he would be here, she wasn't surprised now, thinking back to what she had seen at the French restaurant. "What a coincidence."
Gu Ziqian's smile faltered slightly. "You're staying at a hotel too?" he asked, glancing at the Hummer behind her. The driver's and passenger seats were empty. He then added, "Alone."
Hearing this, Gu Li felt a mix of emotions. Had he changed, or was she out of touch with societal trends? Couldn't a person stay in a hotel?
"No, it's me and Chengcheng, and Chengcheng's sex."
"Oh." Gu Ziqian breathed a sigh of relief, but the smile that had returned to his handsome face was frozen again by her next sentence.
"Shuai Shuai is a wolf, fierce in appearance but gentle in nature, and won't hurt anyone, but they won't let it into the hotel." Gu Li didn't say this unintentionally; she did it on purpose. She knew that Gu Ziqian had this privilege to help them, and it was just a matter of whether he was willing to do so.
"Mr. Gu, the hotel has its rules, and we're just doing our jobs," the manager said with a troubled expression.
Gu Ziqian looked at the manager, then at Gu Li, seemingly engaged in a mental tug-of-war.
Seeing his predicament, Gu Li was about to say, "Forget it," but then Gu Ziqian said to the manager, "Let them in. In three or four hours it will be almost dawn. It's not safe for her to be alone with a child so late at night. What do you think, Manager Mu?"
"Mr. Gu is right, please, Miss." The manager nodded hurriedly. How could he dare to disobey when his boss had spoken?
"Thank you, Mr. Gu." Her older brother hadn't disappointed her after all, and Gu Li was so moved that she cried tears of gratitude.
Gu Li hurriedly turned around and opened the back door. Chu Yaofeng saw Chengcheng sleeping inside and, being a gentleman, said, "Let me do it."
"Thank you." Well, she really didn't have a free hand because she had to hold her son and lead the wolf.
When Shuai Shuai jumped out of the car, he really startled everyone, and they all quickly moved away.
Gu Li didn't bother with these cowards, and led Shuai Shuai behind Gu Ziqian, with the manager leading the way.
Gu Ziqian booked a presidential suite for the mother and daughter. Gu Li offered him money, but he refused, feeling that she owed Gu Li. Because of Chengcheng's words, he had backed down and given up on her. The moment he met her, he felt extremely guilty, as if he had done something wrong by cheating on his wife. So, he helped her out of the predicament, just to make some compensation for his selfishness.
After carefully placing Chengcheng on the bed and covering him with a blanket, he casually asked, "Why are you staying at a hotel so late?"
“Our rented house burned down, so we have nowhere to go.” Gu Li took a wet towel from the bathroom and wiped Chengcheng’s face and hands.
Her relaxed tone didn't sound like she was talking about surviving a disaster; it sounded more like she was telling a joke.
Gu Ziqian didn't find it funny at all. His heart sank slightly. Why did she always make him feel a pang of heartache? "It's a good thing you're all alright. Don't worry about the house. I'll send someone to help you find one tomorrow."
Gu Li sat down on the side and wiped her hands with a towel before looking up at him. Her eyes were like a clear spring, and when she looked at him without his knowledge, Gu Ziqian felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
A person can have their face changed, their nose changed, and they can even have their cheekbones and chin surgically altered, but their eyes cannot be changed.
Gu Ziqian suddenly stared wide-eyed at her, but no matter how he looked at her, only her eyes seemed similar. He was daydreaming again.
His Xiao Ai is already dead. No matter how much she resembles her, she can't possibly be Xiao Ai.
"President Gu." Gu Li called him twice before he snapped out of his daze and asked absentmindedly, "What is it?"
"Can you do me a favor?"
Gu Li felt more at ease entrusting the matter of buying a house to him, since he was an expert in this field and knew which locations were good, reasonably priced, and most importantly, convenient for Chengcheng's future schooling.
“No problem.” Gu Ziqian readily agreed.
……………………………………………………
Gu Li skipped two days of work and turned off her phone, deliberately preventing Chu Yaofeng from finding her. The reason was naturally that she was busy moving, so busy that she felt even the time wasted on eating, drinking, sleeping and using the toilet was a luxury.
The apartment Gu Ziqian found for the mother and son was in a better environment than the neighborhood they used to live in, and it would be much more convenient for Chengcheng to go to school, as it was just across the street.
The house is brand new, so naturally there's nothing inside. In the past two days, just buying household items, furniture, and appliances has required Gu Li to make over ten trips back and forth, because she's very forgetful and always misplaces things.
That day, when she returned to work, the group of women on the CEO's floor acted as if they had seen an alien. They either hid from her or avoided her. She wasn't a plague, so why were they so afraid of her?
The president wasn't there in the morning, nor was Director Mai. They were talking about going to discuss a project. When Gu Li went to the company cafeteria for lunch at noon, she finally ran into Ms. Song, who had been hiding and not showing herself.
"Xiao Li, you finally deigned to come back to see me. I've been burning money for you every day these past two days, just hoping you'd come back to see me. You finally have some conscience and showed up." Song Nian hugged her neck tightly, almost choking her.
"Let go, let go! If you don't let go, I'll really become a vengeful ghost and come after you."
Upon hearing this, Song Nian became frightened and quickly let go and jumped away, while Gu Li coughed dryly.
"You're not dead?"
"You sound disappointed."
"How could that be?" Song Nian chuckled dryly. "I heard your house caught fire, and I haven't seen you for the past two days. The whole company is saying that you were burned to death in the fire."
No wonder those people acted like they'd seen a ghost when they saw her.
Nima slammed the table, "Who's so despicable? I have a grudge against him, why would he curse me like this?"
"Director Mai."
"Pfft—" Gu Li spat out the mouthful of soup he had just put in his mouth, choking quite badly.
She thought it would be Chu Yaofeng, or the group of jealous women in the office who saw her as a thorn in their side. She never expected it would be his admirer, Maxi.
"He's insane." That bastard, I'll tear his stinking mouth apart if I ever see him.
"He also asked the whole company to donate to you. Let me do the math: each person in the grassroots department gets 100 yuan, each person in the management gets 1,000 yuan, each person in the leadership gets 10,000 yuan, and those in high positions like General Manager Mai get at least 100,000 yuan. All in all, it must be several million yuan."
"Pfft—" Gu Li spat out another mouthful of soup, saying greedily, "Where's the money? Give it to me, and I'll go die right now."
Millions! More than she'd earned in her entire life. With that money, why would she worry about not being able to provide Chengcheng with a wealthy life?
Song Nian poked her head hard, "Have some self-respect, okay? You don't have much face to lose, so don't embarrass yourself."
“How am I so useless? The money I raised is more than I earned in my entire life. The value of my life is not even as precious as my death. I feel like the earth is no longer suitable for me, and heaven is my home.”
Just like Tengger sings in his lyrics, I love you, my home, my home, my paradise...
Song Nian then launched into another barrage of attacks, saying, "Even a donkey wouldn't agree if I called you stupid. What are a few million? Do you know Director Mai's net worth? It's enough for you to die hundreds of times over."
"Where did you hear this gossip again?" Gu Li stuffed a mouthful of food into her mouth, but she wasn't chewing on the food; she was chewing on the petty person who was talking nonsense behind her back.
Song Nian snatched her plate and dumped all the food into the trash can. Gu Li, with food in her mouth, mumbled, "What are you doing? I'm not full yet."
“My dear young lady, you’re not the type to eat coarse grains. From now on, this bird’s nest will only be used as mouthwash for you. You can eat as much abalone as you want, and you can change Mercedes and BMWs every day. All you have to do is act like a young mistress.”
"Are you running a fever?"
Song Nian removed her hand from her forehead and said with exasperation, "Such a huge pie fell from the sky, and if you don't catch it, believe me, I'll turn into Tang Sanzang and nag you to death every day."
Gu Li thought she was really crazy. "Can you change your tendency to believe everything you hear? People are making a fool of you, and you're still clinging to them. How shameless! I'm a person with principles. If you want to lose your principles, go and grab this big pie."
"It's not my turn, do you need to tell me?" Song Nian snorted coldly.
"Does the whole company know about my relationship with Director Mai?"
Song Nian nodded like a chicken pecking at rice. "Think about it, Director Mai is such a big shot. He's organizing a fundraising event for someone as unknown as you. Anyone with a brain can tell that you two have an unusual relationship. Otherwise, why would people be willing to donate money to you? Do you really think that everyone's money falls from the sky or grows on the ground?"
"I'm going." Gu Li slammed his hands on the table and stood up.
The entire cafeteria was so shocked that everyone turned to look at her, and then they all disappeared in a flash.
Song Nian shook her head. Everyone thought she was dead. If she jumped up like that, wouldn't she scare people away?
"Xiao Li, Xiao Li, you're not dead, you're really not dead."
Gu Li's eyes widened suddenly, and before she could even blink, she was grabbed and hugged by a man who was overjoyed. Her whole body stiffened, and she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Director Mai, are you wiping your nose on my clothes?"
“No,” Maxie sniffed and said, “I was so excited that I drooled a couple of drops.”
Damn, Gu Li looked like she'd been struck by lightning.
A large hand reached out from behind Maxi, grabbed the collar of his nice purple shirt, and made him groan.
Gu Li looked up and saw that Chu Yaofeng's face was expressionless, but he was clearly using force in his hands. Mai Siqi's face was flushed red from being squeezed, and he was shouting, "Xiao Li, help!" as he flailed his arms and legs and was thrown aside.
Miss Song is stunned. What's going on?
After letting him go, Chu Yaofeng looked at Gu Li with unfathomable eyes and said indifferently, "Come to my office."
Skipping work for two days, turning off his phone and disappearing without a trace—tsk, any one of those offenses would be enough for him to give him a thorough dressing-down.
"Xiao Li, it's alright. Director Mai said that you were his person in life, and he will take care of your body when you die." Miss Song said with a smile, "May you have a good journey."
Gu Li wailed, lamenting her misfortune and how she had made the wrong friends.
………………………………………………
The CEO's office.
The door was ajar, seemingly left open for her on purpose, but Gu Li still knocked politely.
"Come in." Chu Yaofeng sat in his CEO chair without even looking up, busy flipping through photos.
Gu Li was prepared to die. He took a deep breath and went in, his head slightly lowered, waiting for his fate—no, for the difficulties he would face.
"Where have you been these past two days?" His tone was slightly cold.
"Looking for a place to live." Since he already knew about the fire at her house, Gu Li didn't want to hide anything from him and told him the truth.
He let out a cold laugh unexpectedly, his handsome face suddenly lifting up, his eyes flashing with a sharp, piercing light, like knives scraping towards her.
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