Chapter 40 Suspicion
It was late at night. Su Qing quickly fell asleep on the tatami, breathing evenly.
Yu Ling, however, was not sleepy at all. She stood alone on the terrace, dressed in a soft bathrobe. The cool night breeze from the mountains ruffled her damp hair. In the distance, the black mountains stretched out in a hushed silence, the only sounds to be heard were the faint chirping of insects and the rustling of leaves.
The phone stubbornly displayed "No Service." She repeatedly tried to dial, but only got a busy tone. This absolute, isolated state caused a sense of unease to grow like a weed in her heart.
She stared at her phone screen and, for some reason, opened the browser. The signal was weak, and the page loaded extremely slowly. Biting her lower lip, she typed the name that lingered in her mind like a curse, word by word, into the search box:
Gu Qianqian.
The signal was intermittent, and the page spun in circles with difficulty. Yu Ling's heartbeat accelerated along with the spinning circles. The waiting time seemed to be infinitely stretched out, and every second was filled with the torment of the unknown.
Finally, the page popped up! Although the images weren't fully loaded, the large chunks of text were still legible.
The first thing that caught my eye was a few loaded photos, blurry in the pixels but still revealing the luxurious backgrounds. The women in the photos were incredibly beautiful, with exquisite makeup and outstanding temperament, wearing expensive gowns. They were either at a yacht party or a celebrity dinner, surrounded by the rich and powerful.
In one of the photos, she was arm in arm with a handsome and elegant middle-aged man with a gentle smile. The caption under the photo was: "Attending a charity dinner with my father Gu Changhai."
Gu Changhai? This name...seems familiar. Yu Ling tried to recall. I think I've seen it on the cover of a financial magazine.
She continued to scroll down the page, and related information under the search term popped up:
Gu Qianqian, the only daughter of Gu Changhai, Chairman of the Haicheng Gu Group. A graduate of an Ivy League university, a socialite and philanthropist, she is also one of the primary heirs to the Gu Group...
Gu Group!
Yu Ling's pupils suddenly contracted! The "Gu family" whose fate was sealed in Zhao Chen's cold phone call?!
The largest shareholder of the priceless "Whisper of the Galaxy" dress brand?!
That Zhao Chen who once said on the phone in an emotionless voice, "Deal with it as planned"... Gu's?!
A chill instantly rushed from the soles of her feet to the top of her head! Yu Ling's fingers holding the phone became cold, and her fingertips were trembling slightly!
Gu Qianqian! The daughter of the Gu Group! Zhao Chen's ex-girlfriend? Or is there something more complicated going on?
Who was that person on the phone, anxiously trying to persuade Zhao Chen? Why did she mention "Qianqian is still looking for you"? What does "looking for" mean? Was it harassment? Or... revenge?
Countless terrifying conjectures, like cold, poisonous snakes, instantly wrapped around Yu Ling's heart, making it almost impossible for her to breathe! She looked at the photo of Gu Qianqian, beautiful yet with a hint of gloom in her eyes, and thought of the cold and violent outburst of Zhao Chen when he received the call... A clear realization exploded in her mind like thunder:
Zhao Chen's so-called "ordinary employee" identity was a complete joke! Not only was he no ordinary person, but he very likely had a deep, even life-or-death, entanglement with the behemoth Gu Group! His so-called "trouble" wasn't just a minor incident; it was a turbulent wave capable of upending an entire business empire!
And she, Yu Ling, an ordinary woman who married him by accident, is being drawn into the center of this unfathomable vortex that she can't understand at all!
A huge fear and a sense of rage at being completely deceived and put in danger instantly seized her! She could no longer endure this isolation! She had to contact him! Now! Immediately! Immediately!
Yu Ling turned abruptly and rushed back to the room, not caring if she would wake Su Qing. She grabbed her coat and room card and rushed out the door! She needed a signal! She had to hear his voice immediately! She had to know what was going on!
The corridor of the villa was silent at night, with only her hurried footsteps echoing in the empty space. Like a headless fly, she ran towards the villa lobby, where the terrain was open and there might be a signal!
However, just as she turned the corner of a corridor,
A tall and familiar figure, like a ghost, appeared silently in the dim light of the corridor, blocking her way.
Zhao Chen!
He was dressed in dark casual clothes, with a light windbreaker casually thrown over him. He seemed to have just arrived. The night dew from the mountains seemed to stain the tips of his hair, bringing a slightly damp coolness.
There wasn't a trace of surprise on his face, only an inextricable worry and a barely perceptible hint of fatigue. His amber eyes, deep as an ancient well in the dim light, locked firmly on Yu Ling, who was running towards him.
"Lingling?" His low voice rang out in the silent corridor, a little hoarse, but strangely it soothed Yu Ling's rapid breathing caused by running frantically. "It's so late, why are you running? What happened?" He took a step forward and stretched out his hand very naturally, trying to support her slightly trembling shoulders.
Yu Ling abruptly stopped, her chest heaving violently as she stared at the man who had suddenly appeared before her, still in shock. She was still clutching her phone, which still displayed "No Service," and hadn't yet closed the "Gu Qianqian" search page on the screen.
He looked at the familiar, gentle expression of worry on Zhao Chen's face, and then thought of the prominent and gloomy-eyed Gu Qianqian on the phone. A huge sense of absurdity and cold anger instantly overwhelmed her last bit of sanity!
"Zhao Chen!" She slammed his outstretched hand away, her voice shrill and inflected with excitement and fear, piercing the silence of the hallway. She held her phone up, the screen almost touching his face, the beautiful yet distant photo of Gu Qianqian clearly visible.
"Tell me!" Yu Ling stared into his eyes, each word coming out through her teeth, a thick nasal tone and uncontrollable trembling. "Who is this Gu Qianqian?! What's going on with the Gu Group?! What exactly is your 'ordinary job'?! And that phone call! The one that made your face change when you heard it! How many more things are you lying to me about?!"
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