Chapter 115: Gu Pingsheng, We Cannot Go Back

Gu Pingsheng thrust the medical report into her hands and stared at her with a dark expression.

Wen Zhixia found the situation indescribably strange. “Mr. Gu, I don’t think there’s any need for me to read this.”

They were no longer the close, inseparable couple they had once been. She did not need him to prove anything. Even if something had happened between him and Li Yueting, she had nothing to say about it.

Gu Pingsheng fixed his deep-set eyes on her. He had endured the humiliation of being examined while others watched, and she was saying there was no need to look?

Wen Zhixia neither opened the report nor glanced at the final result on the following page. She simply handed it back to him.

“You really don’t care?”

Wen Zhixia curved her lips into a faint smile. “What I care about more is when Mr. Gu plans to go to the civil affairs bureau with me and finalize our divorce. After all...” She paused. “I’m already married abroad.”

Gu Pingsheng kept one hand in his pocket, his long fingers rubbing a small, exquisite velvet box inside.

It held the diamond ring he had bought at an exorbitant price.

He looked at her heavily but made no move to take the report.

“If you still don’t believe me, I can bring Li—”

“Gu Pingsheng, we can’t go back.” Wen Zhixia’s smile faded slightly. She withdrew the hand holding the report. When he did not take it, she placed it on the hood of the Bugatti. “You should know that when I was with you, even if everyone else objected, I would still have followed you without hesitation. But once I let go, once I decided to begin again, I would never turn back.”

She lifted her eyes slightly. A few loose strands of hair fell beside her ear. She reached up to tuck them away, her fingertips pausing for a moment.

“Look. I used to have long hair, but now it’s short. Every time I instinctively brush the ends of my hair, I’m reminded that everything really has changed...” She smiled gently. “I’m doing very well now. My marriage is harmonious. Let the past remain in the past.”

She had kept her hair long ever since middle school because she liked it that way.

She had worn it long for so many years, only to cut it off herself on the day she left the country.

At the time, she had told herself that there was nothing a person could not grow accustomed to—just as even the deepest feelings one had given could be taken back.

“Some things cannot be left in the past.” The fingers hanging at his side trembled faintly. His thumb rubbed the ring on his ring finger. “Unless I die, this will never be over.”

Long hair could grow back after being cut short. Their feelings could be restored in the same way.

Meeting his dark, ink-colored eyes, Wen Zhixia nearly believed him in that instant.

But he had always been exceptionally good at acting.

He could kiss, embrace, and sleep with another woman, then still look at Wen Zhixia as though his love for her reached the depths of the sea. How could she dare believe him again?

Outside, he was the solemn, imposing, decisive President Gu. Before her, however, he had always retained the heart of a young man. He would cling to her, coax her, and tell her that he loved her, always making her feel that no matter how high or how far her boy went, she would remain the only one.

Reality, however, always shattered innocence.

“Madam, sir said it’s too late. Since you’ve been drinking, he was afraid it wouldn’t be safe for you to go home alone, so he asked me to come pick you up.”

Jin Mao appeared behind Wen Zhixia as though he had seen nothing of the confrontation between them.

Wen Zhixia withdrew her gaze and left with him.

As the car drove out of the parking lot, Wen Zhixia glanced lightly at the rearview mirror. Gu Pingsheng was still standing where she had left him.

“Xiaxia?”

This was already the third time Xu Qichen had called her. Wen Zhixia, who had been peeling an orange, came back to herself. Her eyes flickered twice before she handed him the peeled orange.

Xu Qichen accepted it. “Something on your mind?”

Wen Zhixia shook her head gently.

“Is it because the company made the news?” Xu Qichen asked tentatively.

“Making the news isn’t necessarily a bad thing. At least...” Wen Zhixia smiled. “The publicity has certainly been effective.”

Xu Qichen raised a hand and tapped her lightly on the forehead. “It’s good that you can think of it that way. It seems I don’t need to comfort you after all.”

“It’s only a minor problem. When has doing business ever been completely smooth?” she said.

“Go home and rest early. Jin Mao can stay here. You’ve been exhausted all day—go back, get some proper rest, and sleep. You won’t sleep well here.” Originally, Xu Qichen had asked Jin Mao to pick her up from the company so he could take her straight home, but Wen Zhixia had insisted on coming to see him.

Wen Zhixia nodded lightly and rested her head on his lap. Her soft hair fell across her cheek.

“What did the doctor say?”

At her intimate gesture, Xu Qichen raised a hand and smoothed back her hair. “It’s nothing serious. You don’t need to worry.”

“Really?”

Xu Qichen lowered his eyes to her fluttering lashes. Knowing she was tired, he smiled. “You don’t believe me? Go home. Come pick me up when I’m discharged tomorrow.”

Xu Qichen raised his hand and gestured for Jin Mao to take her home. When Wen Zhixia walked out of the hospital room, she yawned. Social engagements were mentally exhausting to begin with, and after rushing around all day, fatigue had already settled between her brows.

On the way, Jin Mao finally could not hold back. He spoke quietly to Wen Zhixia in the back seat, though her eyes were closed and he could not tell whether she was asleep.

“Madam?”

Wen Zhixia did not open her eyes. She remained leaning against the seat. “Hm?”

“Will you... leave sir?” Before she could answer, Jin Mao continued, “These past few years, with you by his side, I feel that he has truly been happy.”

How should one describe the Xu Qichen of the past?

He had been like... a perfect robot.

He was wise and powerful, and from the moment he was born, he had stood at a destination many people could never reach in a lifetime. Every road led to Rome. If some people were born in Rome, then half of Rome belonged to Xu Qichen’s family.

Those innate advantages, together with the education reserved for the heir of the family, made him seem utterly out of place among those around him. His reserved nature meant that he had never had many friends. Perhaps that was the price of extraordinary talent.

Heaven gave a person advantages others could never hope to attain, but it always took something away in return.

Jin Mao had remained at Xu Qichen’s side for years. The only times he had ever seen him truly relaxed were during his first acquaintance with Wen Zhixia in their youth and now.

In the back seat, Wen Zhixia slowly opened her eyes. Several seconds later, she said, “No.”

No matter when it was, Xu Qichen occupied a private corner of her heart.

Hearing this, Jin Mao smiled. It was a smile of relief, and of reassurance.

Beyond the car window, the night flowed quietly through Four-Sided City, while neon lights flickered in the distance.

The Gu Xia Group.

The moment Li Yueting arrived at the company, she received a termination agreement from the Human Resources Department.

“What does this mean?”

The young woman from Human Resources had only recently joined the company. Faced with Li Yueting’s raised voice, she hesitated before answering, “It’s an order from above.”

An order from above...

For all these years, Li Yueting’s promotions and appointments had required only Gu Pingsheng’s approval. Now she was already a department manager within the group. Who else could dismiss her so easily, without the slightest warning or hint of news?

Clutching the termination agreement tightly, Li Yueting crossed the office in her high heels and knocked on the door of the president’s office.

What she had not expected was to find Zhang Zhiyan there as well.

“What is it?” Gu Pingsheng looked up at her and asked in a deep, emotionless voice.

Li Yueting tightened her grip on the termination agreement and hesitated briefly.

“Secretary Li—no, I suppose I should call you Manager Li now...” Zhang Zhiyan glanced at the document in her hand and deliberately misunderstood. “What are you holding? A resignation agreement? Should I congratulate you both and wish you a happy marriage and a lifetime together?”

Since Zhang Zhiyan had already brought up the document, there was no difference in when she spoke. Li Yueting walked directly to Gu Pingsheng’s desk.

“President Gu, are you dismissing me?”

Gu Pingsheng said nothing. Instead, he tossed a medical report onto the desk. It was the report from his examination the previous day, sufficient to prove that he had not had sexual intercourse in the recent period. Yet everything Li Yueting had said and done the day before had clearly implied that she had slept with him after he was drugged.

A flash of humiliation crossed Li Yueting’s face. She had never imagined that a man accustomed to standing above everyone else would actually undergo such an examination.

“Sign the labor agreement. This is the last dignity I’m willing to give you,” Gu Pingsheng said heavily.

Li Yueting clenched her fists. She was unwilling—unwilling to accept that after lying low for so many years, after outlasting all the women around him, after seeing off Zhao Fuhe and Wen Zhixia, she had still ended up with nothing.

Wen Zhixia’s return after three years had filled her with a sense of danger. Li Yueting had tried to pressure Gu Pingsheng through the media and several executives who had witnessed what happened. She had believed that after accompanying him for so many years, she held a place in his heart. That was why she had come up with such a risky plan.

She had even imagined finally being recognized as his wife and holding her head high before Wen Zhixia.

But she had never expected that after doing so much, all she would receive in return was dismissal.

“You can’t dismiss me because of what happened yesterday.” Li Yueting clenched her fists and raised her head. “I couldn’t get in touch with you, President Gu. When I heard something happening in the conference room, I went in to take a look. I had no way of knowing that you had suffered an accident. You were delirious and lunged at me. I... I was simply frightened and failed to react in time. Even if I couldn’t explain myself immediately, you still can’t dismiss me for that reason.”

To find such a clear excuse for her actions in so short a time proved that Li Yueting had not spent all these years at the group for nothing.

Gu Pingsheng interlaced his fingers and rested them atop the enormous desk. “Are you finished?”

Li Yueting fell silent, but continued looking at him.

“If you’re finished, then leave,” Gu Pingsheng said coldly.

Her words had clearly made no difference whatsoever. Li Yueting pressed her lips together.

“If President Gu truly intends to dismiss Manager Li, the Zhang Corporation would be delighted to welcome her,” Zhang Zhiyan said.

Gu Pingsheng’s dark eyes swept over him.

Zhang Zhiyan smiled back. “What is it? Has President Gu changed his mind?”

“Now that her labor contract has been terminated, the Gu Xia Group will no longer concern itself with where its former employee goes,” Gu Pingsheng said coldly.

Hearing this, Zhang Zhiyan nodded and looked toward Li Yueting. “Manager Li, what do you think? The Zhang Corporation would be delighted to have you. Furthermore...” He smiled. “We can offer you the same position and compensation.”

It was an open challenge to Gu Pingsheng.

Li Yueting was still hoping that Gu Pingsheng would withdraw his decision. After all, she had worked at the Gu Xia Group for years. She knew that once she left for the Zhang Corporation, she would take with her all the inside information, resources, and connections she had accumulated.

But he did not.

From beginning to end, he never did.

Li Yueting clenched her teeth. “Then I’ll be counting on you to look after me in the future, President Zhang.”

The corners of Zhang Zhiyan’s lips lifted.

At a certain hotel, Hua Qianjiao was indulging her love of food. Having heard that the chef there was exceptionally talented, she invited Wen Zhixia to lunch shortly before noon.

The hotel was not far from the company, and there was enough time to make the trip there and back during the lunch break, so Wen Zhixia readily agreed.

She had not expected that after lunch, when she went to the restroom to touch up her makeup, she would be startled by the sudden opening of a private-room door with a loud bang.

A woman inside seemed to be trying to escape, but two men who followed close behind seized her and pinned her to the floor. They immediately began slapping her across the face.

“You little bitch! Who do you think you are? I took you out of the underground club and paid for you, so you could serve me properly—not throw an attitude in my face. You’re nothing but a whore, yet you don’t even know the rules!”

“Please, let me go! I know I was wrong. Please forgive me! I didn’t mean to. I really am not feeling well today.” The woman covered her face and begged repeatedly.

But the man clearly had no intention of letting her off so easily. “You said you’d do anything, didn’t you?”

He glanced at his companion. The other man took a bottle of liquor from the private room and poured it over the first man’s shoes.

“Lick it clean. If you do that, I’ll pretend this never happened.”

The woman knelt on the floor without moving, covering her face as she began to cry.

Wen Zhixia frowned at the scene. She was not someone who liked meddling in other people’s affairs, and it was obvious that there were still more people inside the private room.

From their conversation, the woman appeared to be some kind of escort, while the two men were her clients.

“What are you waiting for?” The man kicked the woman in the shoulder and shouted impatiently.

Wen Zhixia had no intention of interfering. She was about to turn and leave when she heard another voice.

“Don’t be so rough. Look, you’ve frightened our beauty. In any case, she used to serve President Gu. It’s only natural that she has some pride. And that tongue of hers—she has a tongue piercing, perfect for licking shoes. Putting it to such use would be a waste.”

Wen Zhixia’s eyes narrowed as she looked toward the woman on the floor.

At that moment, the woman raised her head, allowing Wen Zhixia to see her face clearly.

It was Zhao Fuhe.

“Well, well. There’s another beauty here watching the show. What’s the matter? Want to come in and have some fun?”

This was a gathering of spoiled heirs. There was little they dared not do, and they especially enjoyed seeking out thrills.

Wen Zhixia had seen enough of such things not to be surprised. She simply had not expected Zhao Fuhe to end up in such a state.

The lecherous man was about to step forward when his companion grabbed him and whispered, “Don’t act recklessly. I’ve seen this woman before. She’s Wen Zhixia.”

The moment Zhao Fuhe heard her name from the man’s mouth, her entire body stiffened. She suddenly lifted her head.

Wen Zhixia.