Chapter 69. There are no buts.
Gu Suili stood in the corridor, took out his phone, and dialed the Gu family's secretary's office.
"Second Miss".
"Help me find someone."
Sunlight streamed through the window at the end of the corridor, stretching her tall shadow even longer. The scent of disinfectant, which couldn't be masked by the orange blossom fragrance, made her feel a little nauseous. Her ankle ached a bit, and Gu Sui wanted to lean against the wall to rub it, but after thinking about it, she withdrew her hand.
She took out her phone again, this time to call the housekeeper and instruct her to prepare some light food in advance, thinking that if Shang Shu wanted to eat something later, she wouldn't have to wait for it to be made fresh.
After explaining everything, Gu Sui composed herself and returned to the ward. Seeing Shang Shu still sitting upright, as if she had been waiting for her, she sighed slightly and sat down on the chair by the bed.
"Is anything bothering you?" she asked softly, her hand resting on her knee, making no unnecessary movements.
Shang Shu just stared at her without saying a word, then shook her head.
Actually, she felt very dizzy. She wanted to hold Gu Sui's hand and snuggle into his arms for a hug, but when she thought of that slight dodge just now, she bit her lip and swallowed the thought back.
"Would you like something to eat?" Gu Sui asked again.
Shang Shu shook her head again.
Shaking her head would make her even more dizzy, but she was just that stubborn.
Seeing Shang Shu close her eyes in discomfort, Gu Sui reached out and patted her head: "Don't use too much force."
In that instant, Shang Shu's grievances suddenly became uncontrollable.
From the way he spoke on the phone to his lukewarm attitude after arriving, she felt wronged. She knew Gu Sui was worried and angry, but this distance still hurt her. Words are the easiest thing to fake, but other things are harder to fake. Every look, every expression, and every movement of Gu Sui clearly told her that a distance had grown between them.
Shang Shu started to cry.
"Why are you crying?" Gu Sui asked in a flustered manner, cupping her face in his hands and searching for tissues. His heart ached with worry.
"Gu Sui, I don't want to stay here anymore, I want to go home." Her voice trembled, and tears fell like broken pearls onto the disinfectant-smelling blankets.
For some reason, the moment she saw Gu Sui, she no longer wanted to pretend to be strong.
She wanted to tell Gu Sui that she was really scared, and that every time she looked back at that car, she was worried that she might never see her again.
"Okay, stop crying, let's go home." Gu Sui's heart ached at the sound of crying, and he could only agree again and again, wiping away the other person's tears with his hands.
It's all her fault for being too hasty. She didn't even have time to ask Shang Shu if she was in pain or scared. When she found out that Shang Shu was in the hospital, she was so worried that she didn't even step properly on the stairs and twisted her ankle. On the way here, she heard Song Lan talk about the car accident they had, and she almost lost control of the steering wheel.
She blamed Shang Shu for keeping it from her instead of telling her first thing, and she also blamed herself for being completely unaware of the whole thing as Shang Shu's bedmate.
She was terrified, even more so than she had been back then, and she still hasn't quite recovered from the shock.
Shang Shu cried for a while, and her head was starting to feel numb. But after venting, a little bit of her remaining rationality returned.
With red eyes, she sobbed as she told Gu Sui, "No, I still can't go back to the riverbank."
Feng Yuan already knew about their past, but due to Shang Wei's explicit prohibition and the need to save face for both the Shang and Gu families, she didn't spread it around. If she knew that they were still together, or if she followed her to the waterfront, Shang Shu didn't dare to think any further.
Gu Sui naturally understood Shang Shu's concerns. She handed Shang Shu another tissue, but Shang Shu's nose was red. She glanced at it but didn't take it. Gu Sui had no choice but to continue to wipe away the tears from the corners of the girl's eyes herself.
"She wouldn't dare do anything to me; in fact, it's safest for us to be together."
Gu Sui thought that Feng Yuan was now desperate and dared to attack Shang Shu because she was weak and alone and had no one to back her up. He was sure that this move would scare the naive young girl and make her dare not compete with him anymore. After all, this matter was still Shang's own business behind closed doors, and others could not interfere.
But she knew that no matter how bold Feng Yuan was, she would never dare to easily touch the Gu family, openly oppose the Gu family, or escalate a "family matter" into a big one. Therefore, it was the most appropriate and wisest choice for her to protect Shang Shu.
"But..." Shang Shu had thought about these things, but she was afraid of the worst-case scenario, so how could she gamble with Gu Sui?
"No buts." You believe me.
Gu Sui moved his lips, but the words stuck in his throat.
Shang Shu didn't respond, but bit the soft flesh inside her lower lip, her brows furrowing, which aggravated the wound on her forehead.
"Let's go home." Gu Sui got up, pulled out a chair, and then squatted down to put out Shang Shu's shoes. He staggered a little when he stood up and reached out to hold onto the edge of the bed.
"What's wrong with your foot?" Shang Shu had noticed it as soon as she entered the room, and now that she was closer, she was even more certain that Gu Sui's left foot was indeed a little weak.
"I twisted my ankle in my rush to leave," Gu Sui said casually, then stretched out his arm and glanced at Shang Shu, gesturing for her to help him get out of bed.
Shang Shu shook her head, ignoring the support, and put on her shoes herself, bracing herself against the edge of the bed: "Let's see a doctor, I'm afraid you—"
“Ah Shu,” Gu Sui sighed, her arm hanging back at her side, “now is not the time for you to worry about me.”
Shang Shu swallowed hard, feeling a little wronged again.
Throughout the journey, Gu Sui remained considerate and gentle, carefully adjusting her seat and checking on her when they stopped.
But Shang Shu knew in her heart that they each had something they wanted to say but hadn't.
"Have something to eat first. The housekeeper has made clear soup noodles and vegetable porridge. Which would you like to eat?" Back at the waterfront, Gu Sui stood at the door and helped Shang Shu take off her coat.
Shang Shu didn't have much of an appetite, and even felt a little nauseous, but she really needed this meal. She had to use it to finish what she hadn't said before, so as to eliminate the misunderstanding between them as soon as possible.
"Noodles, please," she replied softly.
“Okay.” Gu Sui replied naturally, then went to the kitchen to wash his hands.
Shang Shu followed Gu Sui and waited for her to finish washing before washing herself. As she washed, she watched Gu Sui serve her a bowl of noodles and then a bowl of porridge.
The two sat at the dining table. Gu Sui didn't look up much, just quietly ate his porridge.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Shang Shu picking at noodles with her chopsticks, but not putting any in her mouth for a long time. She lifted her eyelids and asked, "Don't you have an appetite?"
"No," Shang Shu answered haphazardly, unsure whether her "no" meant denial or simply a lack of appetite.
Looking at the clearly separated bowls of porridge and noodles on the table, she felt a pang of unease. Perhaps at times like this, one tends to view everything with a degree of prejudice, liking to deliberately magnify certain details, as if stubbornly trying to prove something, and then telling oneself after getting the result: See, I knew it would be like this.
Shang Shu tucked her lips into her mouth and forced herself to eat two mouthfuls of noodles: "I have something I want to tell you."
“I know,” Gu Sui said, without putting down the spoon in her hand, and gently raised her eyes. “Let’s get some rest today, and we can talk about this tomorrow, okay?”
She also had something to say and didn't want to avoid the issue. She knew they needed to communicate, but because she cared so much, she was extra cautious about what she hadn't said yet. She knew her mindset wasn't good right now and was afraid that words driven by emotions would have the opposite effect.
Moreover, considering that Shang Shu had just been injured and must be feeling unwell, she didn't want Shang Shu to force herself to explain to her.
One person in a bad state is enough to mess up a lot of things, let alone two. She doesn't want to hurt her partner, so she doesn't think today is a good time to communicate. They need to give each other some time to rest and adjust themselves.
"I'll stay with you for a while." Fearing that Shang Shu might misunderstand, Gu Sui thought for a moment and then added.
"Okay," Shang Shu agreed.
Neither of them touched their food much. After sitting for a while, Shang Shu said she wanted to go upstairs to take a shower. Actually, it's not recommended to take a shower in this situation. Although the CT scan showed nothing wrong, it's always better to be cautious. But Shang Shu refused. Gu Sui couldn't persuade her otherwise, so he told her that she could only take a short shower for about ten minutes and to be gentle.
She paced back and forth at the bathroom door, not daring to sit down for a moment, silently sighing in her heart. When Shang Shu got stubborn, she was just as stubborn as her.
Fortunately, Shang Shu was quite obedient and slowly strolled out when the time was up. Gu Sui was relieved and continued to blow-dry Shang Shu's hair as usual, and then carefully applied medicine to the wound on Shang Shu's forehead.
The girl's forehead was delicate and fair, making the purplish-red mark stand out even more.
"Does it still hurt?" Gu Sui frowned unconsciously again, holding up a cotton swab to gently dab.
“Hmm,” Shang Shu didn’t dare to move, sitting on the edge of the bed staring at Gu Sui’s face, trying to ease the atmosphere, “If you dislike me because of my disfigurement, I can understand.”
Gu Sui paused, looked at Shang Shu, and raised the corners of his lips: "So understanding."
Shang Shu was displeased and pushed aside the hand that was hanging in mid-air, muttering under her breath, "You can't even tell the difference between right and wrong."
"It's not finished applying yet."
"I'm not applying it anymore." Giving someone a way out only made her angry.
Seeing that Shang Shu was about to crawl under the covers, Gu Sui reached out and pulled her back: "Alright, I was just teasing you, don't mind."
The cotton swab got dirty, so she threw it away and took a new one, carefully applying the ointment to the areas she had missed earlier.
"Let me see your feet." Shang Shu tugged at her clothes and shook them twice.
Gu Sui put down what he was holding, picked up a small piece of trouser fabric, and pulled up the trouser leg to reveal his fair ankle: "See, it's okay."
"It's on the left." Shang Shu bit her cheek, trying to fool her without even being precise.
Gu Sui's chest trembled slightly, then he lifted the other trouser leg and examined it carefully for a while: "Are you relieved now?"
That's more like it.
Seeing that she could walk much better, Shang Shu finally felt at ease and lay down in bed.
Around six or seven o'clock, before it got too dark, Gu Sui grabbed the remote control and drew the curtains, dimmed his phone screen, and sat up against the headboard to keep Shang Shu company as she slept.
Afraid of touching Shang Shu's wound, Gu Sui didn't hug or cuddle her, but simply put his arm around her lightly. Shang Shu was content and obediently slept beside him.
At first, Shang Shu slept quite soundly, but she woke up once around eight o'clock from a dream. Seeing her covered in sweat, Gu Sui felt extremely sorry for her, thinking that the little girl must have been terrified today. Later, he didn't care about anything else and simply held her in his arms to sleep.
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