Chapter 36 Glimmer (5) He's a mad dog, one that only recognizes you...
When Wen Chen returned to the apartment, she stood in the entryway for a while.
The motion-sensor lights weren't on, and the dark space felt empty, as if someone wasn't there. This realization made his fingertips curl slightly.
Since the party ended badly, the man who was always by Wen Chen's side has never appeared in Wen Chen's sight again.
Neon lights streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting dappled shadows on the floor. Wen Chen slowly changed her shoes, her fingertips tracing the light switch in the entryway before finally letting go.
He let the darkness engulf him, but instead followed his memories to the sofa, where he sat down with his back straight. Closing his eyes, what lingered in his mind wasn't the argument at the party, but the image of the man leaning against the sink, blood dripping from his fingertips.
"Tick-tock".
The sound seemed to return, repeatedly striking her eardrums in the silence. Wen Chen raised her hand to press her temples, then got up and walked towards the kitchen. The glass made a soft sound as it filled with water, and just as the water was adjusted to a comfortable temperature, the phone on the coffee table suddenly started vibrating wildly.
Caller ID: Qin Shu. Gu Moheng's special assistant, who had been with him for seven years and whose very breathing exuded meticulousness, had always been an extension of his boss's will.
Wen Chen stared at the screen for three seconds, then hung up.
The next second, the phone rang relentlessly again. A sense of foreboding crept up his spine like a venomous snake. Wen Chen stared at the screen, his fingertip hovering over the hang-up button for two seconds before finally swiping to answer. His voice was calm and emotionless: "Speak."
"Mr. Wen! Please come to the First Municipal Hospital!" Qin Shu's voice was completely devoid of its usual composure, trembling noticeably with anxiety. "President Gu... he has a high fever of 40 degrees Celsius and is in a coma. His wound has become severely infected, leading to sepsis. He's still in the emergency room! He was clutching his phone when he came in, and the screen was full of your call logs..."
Wen Chen's knuckles tightened abruptly, leaving white marks on the glass. Water spilled over the rim, splashing onto the back of his hand, the coolness seeping into his heart through his veins. He didn't hang up, but said in a deep voice, "Give me the exact location." The calmness in his tone made Qin Shu on the other end of the line catch his breath instantly.
...
Outside the emergency room of the First Municipal Hospital, Qin Shu was checking the medication prescription on the computer at the nurses' station when he saw Wen Chen and almost knocked over the treatment cart behind him.
Just as he was about to speak, Wen Chen raised his hand and pressed down on his shoulder. The movement was very light, but it acted like a stabilizer, gradually calming Qin Shu down.
"Explain the situation clearly." Wen Chen took the receipt from Qin Shu, and her eyelashes trembled almost imperceptibly when her gaze swept over the words "septicemia." "Why did the wound get infected? Didn't his private doctor follow up?"
"President Gu told me not to say..." Qin Shu lowered his head, "He had a fever that night at the party, but he scolded the doctor away. Last night he was working on documents until three in the morning, and his wound was bleeding and soaking through the gauze. I insisted on taking him here today, but he fainted on the way..."
Wen Chen didn't ask any further questions, but simply folded the receipt and stuffed it into his suit pocket. At that moment, the light in the emergency room went out, and the doctor came out and said, "Temporarily out of danger, transfer to the special care ward." Only then did he lift his foot to follow, his steps steady, but he was half a beat faster than Qin Shu.
The ward was extremely quiet, with only the monotonous "beep-beep" sound of the monitor.
Gu Moheng lay on the pure white hospital bed, his usual domineering aura gone. This decisive man in the business world was now as fragile as a sheet of paper. His eyes were closed, his brows were slightly furrowed, his face was flushed with a sickly pallor, and his chapped lips parted slightly.
That once slender right hand was now terribly swollen, with purplish-black bruises seeping from the edges of the gauze and spreading all the way to the wrist.
Wen Chen stood by the bed, looking down at his face. The blanket only covered him up to his waist, and two buttons on Gu Moheng's hospital gown were undone. With each breath, the collar opened slightly. On his left chest, closest to his heart, lay a hideous old scar. Although it had healed for many years, the skin was slightly sunken, still a shocking sight against his pale skin.
Wen Chen reached out to test the temperature of the ward's air conditioner, found the airflow too low, adjusted the deflector, and then pulled over a chair next to the bed to sit down. His posture remained upright, but when his gaze fell on the person on the bed, it softened slightly compared to when their eyes met.
"He used to be so imposing, but now he looks pathetic." Wen Chen said in a low voice, his tone flat, making it impossible to tell whether he was being sarcastic or sighing.
The person on the bed was unresponsive; the flush from the high fever spread to the base of their ears, and their breathing was heavy and scalding.
Wen Chen reached out and placed his fingertips on Gu Moheng's burning forehead. The burning sensation traveled from his fingertips all the way to Wen Chen's heart, cracking the facade of coldness he had maintained.
Just then, the person on the bed suddenly struggled very restlessly.
"Hmm..." Gu Moheng's brows furrowed, as if he had fallen into a bottomless nightmare.
“Wen Chen…” A hoarse, broken murmur escaped from his chapped lips.
The next second, he was suddenly grabbed. Before he could react, the uninjured left hand suddenly rose and firmly gripped his wrist.
"Don't go..." Gu Moheng didn't wake up. His eyes were tightly closed, and his brows were furrowed into a deep frown.
"This time... don't go..." Gu Moheng's eyes were tightly closed, his long, thick eyelashes glistening with cold sweat. His chapped lips murmured repeatedly, his voice weak and feeble, carrying the fear and pleading of an abandoned child. Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by rapid breathing, his chest heaving violently, as if he were enduring immense pain.
Wen Chen felt a sharp pain from the scalding palm, but she couldn't pull away from it. Qin Shu's words, spoken with red eyes in the corridor, still echoed in her ears: "President Gu had a fever that night at the party. When his private doctor came to change his dressing, he scolded him and sent him away, saying, 'Don't let Mr. Wen know. He's busy with projects lately and can't afford to be distracted.'"
Wen Chen took out a crumpled note from Qin Shu's pocket. It was written in Gu Moheng's handwriting: "Remember to buy Wen Chen's favorite strawberry cake."
He looked at Gu Moheng's pale face, a face that always wore a nonchalant smile, now as fragile as porcelain that would shatter at the slightest touch. The wall in his heart seemed to crack open at that plea.
Having spent several years together in college, Wen Chen knew all too well Gu Moheng's obsession.
"Gu Moheng."
Wen Chen leaned down to the side of that face covered in cold sweat and said, word by word, "Trying to be tough again." Her voice was extremely soft, like coaxing a child throwing a tantrum, but her fingertips pressed down on Gu Moheng's tense shoulder line, preventing him from struggling because of the nightmare. "Eight years ago, you pushed me away, saying you were afraid of implicating me; eight years later, you're carrying the burden yourself, without even telling the truth."
His thumb gently stroked the other's sweaty temples, where the soft hair clung to his skin, damp with cold sweat. His tone carried a hint of exasperated helplessness. "Gu Moheng, do you really think deep down that I, Wen Chen, am just a parasitic vine that can only hide behind you?" He leaned down, his breath brushing against Gu Moheng's earlobe. "Am I really that unworthy of your reliance?"
The man on the hospital bed seemed to understand his accusation, his eyelashes trembling violently. A tear, without warning, slid down from Gu Moheng's tightly closed eye. It ran down his thin cheek, disappeared into his temple, and soaked the white pillowcase.
All of Wen Chen's resentment shattered into dust in that single tear. He raised his hand and gently smoothed the other's furrowed brows with his fingertips. Then he withdrew his hand, his gaze sliding down Gu Moheng's sharp brow bone, finally settling on his chapped lips.
"You've landed yourself in the ICU, is this how you, Gu Moheng, try to win someone back?" Wen Chen chuckled lightly, the smile not reaching her eyes, but carrying a hint of faint annoyance.
He paused, "I've looked into the Gu family's debts back then. During the day, you were bossed around in investment banks, and at night you worked as a sparring partner in underground boxing rings. In the first two years after you went to the United States, you turned yourself into an emotionless money-making machine. You never mentioned the 1.5 billion debt, the bet with the Lin family... you never mentioned these hardships."
Wen Chen leaned down, no more than half a foot from Gu Moheng's face, her warm breath falling on the other's chapped lips. "I believe that your love for me is real, but your self-righteous 'for my own good' attitude is also real in hurting me."
As soon as he finished speaking, he stared at Gu Moheng's tightly closed eyelashes for two seconds. Those long eyelashes were still trembling slightly, as if responding to his words. Wen Chen's tone finally softened, "I'll give you a chance to pursue him again. I can consider it." He paused deliberately, observing Gu Moheng's reaction. Seeing the other's Adam's apple bob slightly, he then curled his lips into a smile.
After speaking, he glanced at the steady curve on the monitor. His heart rate and blood pressure were approaching normal, and even his breathing had become much more stable. Only then did Wen Chen gently withdraw his hand.
As he got up, he tucked the blanket around Gu Moheng's neck to make sure it covered his wrist and wouldn't press on his injured hand. Finally, he glanced at Gu Moheng and whispered, "Never mind if you didn't hear me."
After saying that, he turned and walked towards the door without pausing.
The ward fell silent once more.
One second.
Two seconds.
On the hospital bed, the man, who had been breathing heavily and seemed to be in a deep coma, suddenly had his eyelashes flutter violently, and then slowly opened his eyes. There was no trace of the confusion of just waking up in his dark eyes; they were misty with moisture, like a sky full of starlight.
Gu Moheng turned his head and stared intently at the tightly closed door, his gaze so intense it seemed it could burn through the door. It was the wild joy and greed of a beast that had been lurking in the darkness for a long time, finally waiting for its prey to step into the trap.
His fingertips curled up unconsciously, as if he were holding onto the light that had been lost and regained. He could even clearly guess the expression on Wen Chen's face when she said "pursue her again," a slightly arrogant expression that was so sweet it made his heart tremble.
"I heard it, how could I not hear it?" Gu Moheng's hoarse voice trembled with barely suppressed satisfaction. The smile in his eyes was so thick it was almost overflowing, even the pain from his wounds seemed insignificant. "Mr. Wen, I will definitely pursue you properly and never push you away again."
The neon lights outside the window shone through the frosted glass, casting a dazzling glow in his smiling eyes.
-
Pushing open the door, a blast of cold air from the corridor hit me.
Wen Chen leaned against the wall.
Footsteps came from the side.
Wen Chen looked up. Lin Zixuan leaned against the window at the end of the corridor, an unlit cigarette between his fingers. Gone was the frivolous and dissolute man from the party; a heavy gloom weighed on his eyes. He looked at Wen Chen, his gaze complex.
Lin Zixuan held the unlit cigarette between his fingers and made a virtual tap in the air.
"Gu Moheng's life is tough, but it becomes cheap when he meets you."
Wen Chen's gaze swept coldly over Lin Zixuan's face, which was noticeably more serious than it had been at the party.
"Is Young Master Lin feeling indignant on his behalf, or is he just bored?" The voice was soft, yet it was like a knife wrapped in cotton.
Lin Zixuan chuckled, brought the cigarette to his nose and took a deep breath. "Injustice? How dare I?" He chuckled again and straightened up.
"I'm just bored, so bored that I'm watching someone put on a show of 'deep affection but short life' while being 'stubborn to the end'."
Wen Chen frowned and lifted her foot to leave.
"You only know one side of Gu Moheng's betting agreement from back then, and not the other side, right?"
Lin Zixuan's casual remark successfully stopped Wen Chen in her tracks.
Wen Chen had her back to him.
"The Gu family's mess, plus 1.5 billion in debt, do you think he can pay it off just by working his way up on Wall Street?" Lin Zixuan walked behind Wen Chen and lowered his voice. "Back then, the Gu family was like fish on a chopping board, and everyone wanted to take a bite. My sister was attracted to him because of his ruthless willingness to die for you."
His gaze fell on Wen Chen's long, slender, and clean fingers.
"Gu Moheng said that your hands are too clean and he can't bear to let you get a single drop of mud on them."
"Do you know what he's hiding in his New York apartment?"
"The whole room is full of your models."
Lin Zixuan took a USB drive out of his pocket and casually tossed it to Wen Chen. Wen Chen caught it instinctively, the cold metallic touch making his palm hurt.
"I accidentally copied this from his computer."
Wen Chen gripped the USB drive tightly, his knuckles turning white.
"He's a mad dog, a mad dog that only recognizes you as its master. For eight years, he didn't even have a female mosquito around him."
"I originally went there with the mindset of watching a show." Lin Zixuan lowered his eyes, recalling the dark and hopeless time in New York. "I wanted to see how this once high and mighty young master of the Gu family would roll around in the mud and beg for mercy."
Lin Zixuan paused, a hint of admiration creeping into his voice, "I witnessed the birth of a madman."
"Later, I borrowed his first sum of money without the Lin family's knowledge." Lin Zixuan looked at Wen Chen and smiled self-deprecatingly. "It wasn't because I was suddenly kind-hearted, but because I was impressed by him. That kind of ruthlessness, willing to risk his life for a goal, is something I've only ever seen in him in my life. No wonder those old guys at the Lin family went to such lengths to facilitate this betting agreement; win or lose, it was a sure thing. What a pity, such a good candidate for sister-in-law... It was that sum of money that became the first cornerstone of 'Mosheng Capital' later on. I am the largest hidden shareholder behind Mosheng, which is why I can stand here today."
After Lin Zixuan finished speaking, he let out a long sigh of relief, as if he had completed a difficult task. He suddenly leaned closer to Wen Chen, lowered his voice, and said mysteriously, "Oh, right, there's another secret, which I shouldn't have told you."
Wen Chen looked at him subconsciously, her eyes blank, "Do you know why Gu Moheng's company is called 'Mosheng'?"
Mo Sheng.
Is the "Mo" in Gu Moheng the same as the "Sheng" in "prosperity and flourishing"?
This is the most common yet most auspicious name in the business world.
Seeing Wen Chen's reaction, Lin Zixuan's lips curled into a meaningful smile. He tilted his head slightly, his warm breath brushing against Wen Chen's ear, as if he were whispering a forbidden incantation.
"Everyone thought that the character '盛' was pronounced shèng and meant lush and prosperous."
Lin Zixuan's voice was as light as a feather, yet as heavy as a mountain.
"But in fact, from the beginning until now, Gu Moheng has never pronounced it as shèng."
Wen Chen's heart skipped a beat.
“That’s…Chéng.”
Lin Zixuan spoke slowly and deliberately, his gaze sharp and piercing into Wen Chen's eyes.
“盛 (shèng) is interchangeable with '成 (chéng)' and also with '诚 (chéng),' and also carries the meaning of 'to accommodate.' But in Gu Moheng’s mind, this sound only has one corresponding character.”
Lin Zixuan didn't say the word, but in Wen Chen's mind, countless fireworks exploded in that instant.
Chéng……Chén……
morning.
Mo Chen.
Wen Chen belonged only to Gu Moheng. That man, in the most subtle and domineering way, engraved his name at the pinnacle of his empire. The whole world was calling out his name, yet no one knew the deeper meaning behind it.
Only Gu Moheng himself knew that every time he signed a document, every time he was addressed as "President Gu," he was silently repeating that name in his heart, over and over again.
“He…” Wen Chen opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
"Wen Chen, he risked his life for you."
Lin Zixuan waved his hand, seemingly tired of the dull atmosphere, "Alright, I'm not here to be a mediator, I just can't stand his half-dead look."
After saying that, Lin Zixuan turned to leave.
He took two steps, then stopped and turned his head to the side.
"Oh, right, there's one more thing."
Lin Zixuan pointed to the USB drive.
"Before returning to China, he had all his assets notarized."
"You are the beneficiary."
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