Chapter 107 Piecing Together [VIP]
Chapter Summary: Do whatever you want, Fu Xianyin, I'll cover for you.
On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Gu Linzhao arrived at the hotel around 10 a.m.
Fu Xianyin put on light makeup, wore a red scarf, and carried a small bag before going downstairs.
As she entered the elevator, she nervously looked at herself in the elevator mirror several times.
Check if your clothes are neat, your hair is messy, and your makeup is smudged.
When I went downstairs, Gu Linzhao's car was already parked at the door.
Fu Xianyin was about to instinctively open the back door, but upon closer inspection, she realized that there was no one inside the car.
She paused, took a step forward, and opened the passenger door.
The car was well-heated, so Fu Xianyin took off her coat and scarf, and held them in her arms.
There were too many things in front of her, and she couldn't get the seatbelt buckle right. Just as she was about to lean down to take a closer look, her hand was covered by something warm.
Gu Linzhao took her hand and fastened her seatbelt.
After picking her up, the next person to pick up was Lin Anxu.
Lin Anxu seemed to have been waiting for a long time. As soon as he saw Gu Linzhao's car, he strode over and opened the passenger door.
A cold wind blew in, and before Fu Xianyin could react, she and Lin Anxu were already staring at each other.
Lin Anxu was stunned for a moment: "No, this..."
Fu Xianyin, clutching her clothes, frantically tried to unbuckle her seatbelt, but Gu Linzhao stopped her just as she moved her hand to the side.
He glanced at me and said in a neutral tone, "Go sit in the back."
"Oh, oh, oh."
Lin Anxu nodded hurriedly, but his gaze was clearly fixed on the intertwined hands of the two people in the front row.
The passenger door closed, and Lin Anxu went around to the back seat. He quickly got in the car, put his things down, and said to Fu Xianyin familiarly, "Hello, sister, long time no see."
Fu Xianyin pursed her lips and said with a smile, "Long time no see."
She and Gu Linzhao didn't talk much, but Lin Anxu's arrival in the car made the whole car lively.
He sighed in the back row, "Sigh, it's already the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. How come the holidays go by so fast?"
Gu Linzhao chuckled and said, "You still have more than ten days before school starts, what are you worried about?"
Lin Anxu said, "Ten days will pass in the blink of an eye. By the way, when are you two going back to Beijing?"
Gu Linzhao said, "The eighth day."
Lin Anxu chuckled and said, "Okay, then I feel better."
He leaned into the gap next to the passenger seat and asked curiously, "Sis, how long are you going to stay in China this time?"
Fu Xianyin said, "It was originally supposed to take two months, but the project is progressing quite quickly, so we can go back earlier."
Gu Linzhao asked, "Has the return date been set?"
Fu Xianyin nodded and said, "I told Teacher Lu that I'm leaving on February 25th."
Gu Linzhao gave a soft "hmm" and said nothing more.
So only Lin Anxu was talking.
He and Alex are actually the same type of person; they're both the kind who can talk a lot even when everyone else is silent.
There won't be any awkward silences.
As Fu Xianyin listened to him recount his experiences over the past few years, she keenly noticed Gu Linzhao's occasional appearances in his words.
He seems to have been very busy these past few years.
Xingfan Technology was the company he started during his junior year of college. The Gu family must have provided him with some funding at the time, so he didn't have to start from scratch, but he still had to do all the necessary work and errands.
Fu Xianyin had found out these things after joining Xingfan Technology.
At this moment, it seemed that some different information was being heard from Lin Anxu.
For example, Gu Linzhao seems to have been so busy these past few years that he hasn't had time to go back to Beichuan for years.
There are also some things hidden in those six years that she knew nothing about: Gu Linzhao's scattered university days.
Lin Anxu hadn't finished speaking when they arrived at Cheng Zhaozhao's house.
Chen Nianke and Cheng Zhaozhao got into the car together, and the car became very lively.
In the back row, Chen Nianke sat in the middle. From Fu Xianyin's perspective, it looked as if Chen Nianke was practically pushed into the car by Cheng Zhaozhao.
Cheng Zhaozhao and Lin Anxu started bickering as soon as they met.
Fu Xianyin couldn't even remember which tiny spark ignited this whole conflict. She only remembered that in the end, Chen Nianke couldn't take it anymore and turned to Cheng Zhaozhao, saying, "How about we switch places?"
Cheng Zhaozhao refused righteously and firmly: "No!"
Chen Nianke then asked Lin Anxu, "So, what about the two of us...?"
She was interrupted by Lin Anxu before she could finish speaking.
Lin Anxu stretched out his arm, made an X in front of his chest, and shook his head so hard it was practically a rattle drum: "No, no, no, absolutely not!"
Fu Xianyin watched the three people in the back seat making a ruckus and chuckled softly.
The restaurant was chosen by Gu Linzhao, and its storefront didn't look like an ordinary place.
There was even a small river in the spacious courtyard. Cheng Zhaozhao looked at the artificial hill and flowing water and exclaimed "Wow!" softly. Then she asked with a grin, "Is President Gu treating us?"
Gu Linzhao nodded and said, "Please."
Cheng Zhaozhao was satisfied.
She grabbed Fu Xianyin's arm and said, "Let's go, let's go, let's beat him up!"
Fu Xianyin whispered, "Kill him, kill him badly!"
As soon as she finished speaking, she met Gu Linzhao's eyes, which seemed to be smiling but not smiling.
This scene is so similar to what happened six years ago.
Fu Xianyin was even in a daze for a moment, as if it were a holiday during her senior year of high school, when the five of them went out to eat together.
There were no barriers, no awkwardness.
It was as familiar as ever.
This feeling... how should I put it?
It's quite amazing.
Cheng Zhaozhao found the courtyard fascinating and dragged Fu Xianyin around to look at it. Since they weren't particularly hungry, Fu Xianyin just followed her.
The two were standing in front of the artificial hill, looking at the small artificial waterfall, when a surprised female voice suddenly came from behind them:
"Gu Linzhao?"
Fu Xianyin turned her head away almost reflexively.
A woman stood by the roadside not far away, wearing a beige coat and with long chestnut curly hair draped over her shoulders.
Her makeup was exquisite, and she was beautiful. When she saw Gu Linzhao, she showed a look of surprise and delight. She took a few steps forward and said, "It really is you. Oh, Lin Anxu is here too."
She stretched out her hand, waved at Lin Anxu, and said with a smile, "Long time no see."
Lin Anxu greeted her with a smile, saying, "Long time no see."
He introduced them to everyone in a very familiar way: "These are my and Brother Zhao's high school classmates, and this is Brother Zhao's college classmate, Xu Aiya."
Xu Aiya smiled at Fu Xianyin, and Fu Xianyin nodded back.
He was said to be Gu Linzhao's college classmate, but he also seemed to know Lin Anxu quite well.
Lin Anxu asked, "Are you here in Beichuan for tourism?"
Xu Aiya said, "Yes, I happen to have some friends in Beichuan, so I'm here to play for a couple of days. Speaking of which, Brother Zhao actually went back to Beichuan for the Spring Festival this year. If I had known, I could have asked Brother Zhao to take me around for a couple of days."
She winked playfully at Gu Linzhao and asked, "I wonder if it's too late to book a time with Brother Zhao now?"
Gu Linzhao smiled slightly, his tone carrying a polite distance: "It's getting late."
Hearing the rejection, Xu Aiya didn't seem upset. She nodded and sighed, "I knew it. Brother Zhao must still be very busy. Back in college, he was always busy with Xingfan. It was hard to find time to hang out with him back then..."
Xu Aiya's red lips opened and closed, and her expression was extremely vivid.
Fu Xianyin stared at her, slightly lost in thought.
Xu Aiya recounts Gu Linzhao's university years, things she knew nothing about.
Perhaps because they knew each other well, Fu Xianyin's feeling of emptiness wasn't as strong when she heard Lin Anxu talk about it in the car earlier.
But now.
Fu Xianyin pursed her lips.
She had never felt or understood the intensity of these six years of separation so strongly.
It was a past she could only piece together from fragments of other people's words.
It was a past she had never seen before, and could never see again.
Fu Xianyin felt her heart throbbing with pain.
She suddenly realized and regretted why she had never returned in the past six years.
Why has she refused to return to China for the past six years?
She knew perfectly well where he was studying, even if she could only catch a glimpse of him from afar.
That doesn't mean you completely missed out.
But what if she really came back, what if I really saw her?
Will she be able to get through these six years so calmly?
Fu Xianyin did not know the answer.
A gentle breeze blew by, and Fu Xianyin tucked herself deeper into her scarf.
Xu Aiya's long hair was blown into disarray. She raised her hand to press her hair down and said with a smile, "I heard that the project that Brother Zhao has been busy with lately is progressing quite well."
Gu Linzhao chuckled softly, his tone gentle: "We've brought in some very capable outside help, which is why we've made such a fast progress."
As he spoke, his gaze fell on Fu Xianyin.
Fu Xianyin was suddenly brought up and looked a little dazed. When she saw that Xu Aiya's gaze was also following her, she could only nod and say politely, "President Gu is too kind."
Xu Aiya looked at her and exclaimed, "Huh? Didn't Lin Anxu just say you two were high school classmates? How come..."
She suddenly realized: "So it's both a high school classmate and an outside helper."
She took two steps forward and extended her hand to Fu Xianyin: "My name is Xu Aiya. I don't know your name yet."
"Fu Xianyin".
After giving their names, they touched hands lightly.
Xu Aiya smiled and said, "Okay, I'll remember. By the way, I haven't heard them mention you before, so I don't know which university you went to?"
She stuck out her tongue playfully and said, "Zhao and I were classmates in college. You should know which college Zhao went to, right?"
Fu Xianyin nodded and said, "I know."
She said, "I went to university abroad."
Xu Aiya exclaimed "Wow!" and said, "Then you must have been much happier in high school than I was. You didn't have to study as hard as I did. I also have friends who went abroad to study for university. When I was preparing for the college entrance exam, I was so envious of them because they didn't have to study every day."
Fu Xianyin smiled slightly but said nothing.
Xu Aiya continued, "I heard that Brother Zhao was doing very well in his studies at Beichuan No. 1 Middle School. I even got a certificate from Brother Zhao."
As she spoke, she raised her head and glanced in Gu Linzhao's direction, saying, "Brother Zhao told me back then that rumors shouldn't be believed, and that he was only second in his grade at Beichuan No. 1 Middle School."
Xu Aiya said, "But being second in the grade is still amazing, unlike me. I was only in the top ten in the grade back then, and my grades are nowhere near as good."
Fu Xianyin looked down at her.
She was over 1.7 meters tall in high school, and after going abroad, she grew another two centimeters because of the change in her living environment. Wearing shoes with a slight sole, she was almost 1.75 meters tall, which is considered very tall for a girl.
Xu Aiya isn't short, but compared to Fu Xianyin, she's noticeably four or five centimeters shorter.
The flowers that Fu Xianyin wanted to look at at eye level actually had to bow their heads slightly.
But she didn't.
She simply lowered her eyes, as if glancing at something unimportant.
This top-down, condescending view made Xu Aiya feel somewhat uncomfortable.
However, the next second, she heard something that made her even more upset.
Fu Xianyin said lightly, "It's incomparable."
Xu Aiya's smile froze for a moment.
Her voice was a little dry: "But I still don't know why Teacher Fu chose to go abroad back then. My friend who went abroad told me that it was because he wanted to escape the college entrance examination in China, so going abroad would be easier."
Fu Xianyin's expression was languid and casual, and her tone was also nonchalant.
She said, "Going abroad was my family's idea, but it doesn't really count as skipping the college entrance exam. Even if I hadn't gone abroad, I could basically choose any university in China."
"After all, he's the top student in the grade who surpasses Gu Linzhao."
Fu Xianyin pointed to herself and said slowly, "It's me."
Xu Aiya's expression was on the verge of breaking down.
She pouted and turned to look at Gu Linzhao.
However, Gu Linzhao's gaze did not fall on her at all.
He looked at Fu Xianyin, his brows furrowed slightly, and asked, "Aren't you cold?"
"It's freezing."
Fu Xianyin put her hands back in her pockets and muttered to herself.
Gu Linzhao started walking in this direction.
People are getting closer and closer.
Xu Aiya could even feel that he was blocking part of the wind that was blowing towards her.
But the next second, Gu Linzhao walked past her.
He didn't even pause for a moment, nor did he spare her a glance.
It was as if she didn't exist.
She heard a hint of helplessness in Gu Linzhao's voice: "It's cold, why aren't you going inside?"
Fu Xianyin then said in a petulant tone, "Isn't this a chat with your college classmate? It wouldn't be right to just leave like this."
The two walked away, but the wind carried Gu Linzhao's words clearly into Xu Aiya's ears.
She heard Gu Linzhao say:
"I'm here, what do you have to worry about?"
"Do whatever you want, Fu Xianyin, I'll cover for you."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com