Volume One, Chapter 16: Gu Moting Saw Her
That look made Shao Shanshan extremely uncomfortable. The more uneasy she felt, the sharper her voice became: “Don’t you understand what I mean? I’m calling the police!”
Just then, the elevator doors opened.
Shao Shanshan immediately stretched out her hand to block the elevator entrance, unwilling to let them in.
A voice from inside the elevator shouted, “What are you doing?”
A middle-aged man pushed an elderly man in a wheelchair out, shooting her a fierce glare.
The elderly man immediately grabbed Su Qiuyu to pull her inside.
“Stop right there!” Shao Shanshan followed and chased into the elevator.
The space grew tight. Crossing her arms, she wore a domineering expression. “Don’t think you’re above the law just because you’re old. I want clear answers today.”
Su Qiuyu reached out to press the elevator button, but Shao Shanshan stepped forward to block her, raising her eyebrows in provocation.
Seeing this, the old man could no longer hold back and said softly, “Young lady, do you know what job I held before retirement?”
Shao Shanshan snapped back, “I don’t care what your job was.”
The old man looked at her with amusement. “I was a professor in the Political Science and Law Department at Haicheng University.”
Shao Shanshan was stunned. “You? A professor?”
She looked at the old man, then at the middle-aged woman standing closely guarded by him.
Both father and daughter were tall and slender.
The old man, despite his white hair, had surprising vigor when he had rushed over earlier.
The middle-aged woman had an even more refined air. Though her hair was streaked with silver, her posture was straight and lean, her limbs long and graceful—she must have had many admirers in her youth.
There was indeed a certain cultured aura about her, the kind only a well-educated family could nurture.
Shao Shanshan studied her closely and suddenly asked, “Why are you wearing a mask?”
Su Qiuyu said nothing, standing coldly.
Shao Shanshan frowned. In that brief moment, the middle-aged woman seemed strangely familiar.
And recently, she felt as if she had encountered someone just like her.
Suddenly, the elevator moved.
Someone on the first floor pressed the “up” button.
Shao Shanshan immediately turned to press the door-open button.
The old man sneered coldly. Quietly glancing at Su Qiuyu, he proudly raised his white eyebrows at her.
The elevator doors opened on the first floor.
Su Qiuyu followed the old man out.
Clutching her bag and phone tightly, Shao Shanshan suddenly quickened her pace, keeping a close distance of about ten steps behind them.
Gu Moting was calling Liang Jun, asking him to send a few people to remove Shao Shanshan.
Seeing Shao Shanshan following the father and daughter, Gu Moting told Liang Jun it was no longer necessary and hung up.
It was easy to tell that Shao Shanshan was tailing a tall father and daughter pair—one with a head of white hair, the other with half silver strands.
The daughter lowered her head, staying close to her elderly father. Both were well-mannered as they headed to the street corner to wait for a car.
Gu Moting furrowed his brows, inexplicably drawn to the daughter.
The longer he looked, the deeper his gaze became, as if a hidden current stirred violently in his eyes.
It wasn’t without reason.
The daughter’s height and bearing were very familiar, and it was precisely this familiarity that caught his eye.
For a moment, a thought flashed through Gu Moting’s mind—
If she were still alive, holding her hand as they aged together, would her figure one day overlap with this daughter’s, graceful and composed even with silvery hair?
A taxi stopped. The daughter helped her elderly father in first, then was about to get in herself when Shao Shanshan suddenly quickened her pace and shouted, “Stop!”
Another voice rang out sharply: “You stop right there too!”
Shao Shanshan paused and turned around.
Zhu Lizhen was out of breath, glaring angrily at her. “Are you crazy, Shao Shanshan?”
Zhu Lizhen’s car had been parked across the street. The moment the three of them appeared, she saw Shao Shanshan stubbornly trailing Su Qiuyu and the old man like a persistent shadow.
She immediately opened her car door and rushed over.
Seizing the moment Shao Shanshan turned her head distractedly, Su Qiuyu promptly got into the taxi.
Shao Shanshan was shocked and ran after them, shouting, “Stop!”
Zhu Lizhen stepped forward and grabbed her. “I told you to stop!”
Shao Shanshan quickly shook her off. “Don’t touch me!”
Then, both of them took out wet wipes and quickly began wiping their hands and arms.
Shao Shanshan broke down, “So filthy, so filthy!”
Zhu Lizhen went crazy, “How could I touch such a filthy thing like you!”
Shao Shanshan angrily pointed at her, “What did you just say?”
Zhu Lizhen glared at her with disgust and turned toward her car. “I don’t want to waste words on filth!”
“Stop right there!”
“Get lost!”
Su Qiuyu’s taxi turned its head and came back.
She was looking down, texting Zhu Lizhen to explain the situation and sending a series of obedient kneeling emojis, thanking her for being more timely than a timely rain.
The returning taxi was on the same lane as Zhu Lizhen’s car. Su Qiuyu looked up at Zhu Lizhen opening her car door.
Because Shao Shanshan was across the street, Su Qiuyu didn’t want to get out and go to her.
Gu Moting sat inside his car, watching the taxi slowly turn around ahead of him.
Due to the speed limit near the nursing home entrance, the taxi moved slowly.
The light inside the back seat came from the daughter’s phone, faintly illuminating the contours of her face beneath the mask.
Gu Moting sighed deeply, pulled out a cigarette, and was about to light it when the daughter suddenly lifted her head to look at Zhu Lizhen.
The curve of her neck, long and fair, was lit by the phone’s glow, revealing a straight, elegant nose and a smooth, sharp jawline.
Gu Moting’s dark eyes tightened as if a thunderous sound exploded in his ears, like a long-silent river suddenly swelling, a tempest raging beneath the clouds.
Zhu Lizhen cursed under her breath and returned to her car, completely unaware of the taxi passing by.
Su Qiuyu smiled faintly inside the car, lowering her head to send Zhu Lizhen a message.
Gu Moting’s head buzzed, as if he had finally found his breath again.
He watched the taxi approach directly in line with his own car, passing by in an instant.
Everything happened in less than ten seconds.
Fast as a single sentence.
Yet slow, as if time and space stretched wide like distant mountains and rivers.
No thought had time to form in Gu Moting’s mind. He quickly discarded his cigarette and lighter, started the engine, and drove off.