Chapter 142: A Virtuous Young Matron

Wen Zhixia frowned slightly. Deciding not to explain further, she shoved the documents directly into his hands: "Take a look yourself."

Gu Pingsheng flipped through a couple of pages, then looked at her with a teasing smirk: "Is this how perfunctory you are with other clients too? Making them read it themselves?"

Wen Zhixia stood up and straightened her clothes: "President Gu is a special case. Please make yourself at home, or would you prefer I find a male employee for you?"

"Angry?" Gu Pingsheng set the papers aside, pulled a small velvet box from his pocket, and handed it to her: "This is for you, as an apology, hmm?"

It was a square-shaped ring box; one didn't need to guess what was inside. "It's easy to see that President Gu is rolling in money these days, carrying around a diamond ring everywhere just in case someone doesn't know how rich you are."

Gu Pingsheng chuckled softly: "Such heavy jealousy? It's a gift for you, sized specifically for you. Do you really think I'd trick you with something like this?"

As he spoke, he used one hand to pop open the velvet box. A brilliant diamond ring, sparkling like a pigeon's egg, flashed with a dazzling radiance—enough to melt the heart of any woman. With his other hand, he picked up her fingers, his thumb pressing over the glaringly obnoxious ring on her ring finger, preparing to pull it off.

But Wen Zhixia, snapping out of her daze, jerked her hand back.

Gu Pingsheng's outstretched hand froze mid-air, holding the brilliant diamond ring.

He gazed at her with extremely profound eyes, tightening his grip on the velvet box: "You don't like it?"

Wen Zhixia lowered her eyes halfway, offering no answer, and instead changed the subject: "This morning... I ran into Liu Lei."

Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say she had bumped into Liu Lei a few days ago.

Gu Pingsheng didn't reply, merely waiting for what she had to say next, as he didn't find this topic worth discussing.

He was back, so what? Did he expect him to throw a welcome ceremony for an old employee?

"He told me that when he and Zhang Yuan left the Gu-Xia Group headquarters and transferred to the subsidiary, it was your deliberate arrangement," she continued.

Gu Pingsheng: "And?"

"Why didn't you ever mention before that you had them leave as part of the company's arrangements?" she asked.

Gu Pingsheng raised an eyebrow slightly: "It was a routine corporate transfer. You weren't even with the company anymore; did I really need to give you a special briefing on that?"

Back when she was still at the company, she had shown a certain degree of preferential care toward those three. Now that she was completely removed from company affairs, she still wanted to manage them?

If he hadn't been afraid of making her angry, he would have loved to transfer those three to some remote corner where they could never appear before her eyes again.

It saved them from constantly hanging around her, claiming absolute loyalty and respect for the young President Wen. Who could guarantee that such respect didn't harbor other hidden intentions? The wife he had worked so painstakingly to win back—if she were to be seduced away right under his nose, wouldn't he become a laughingstock?

His words left Wen Zhixia with no immediate reason to retort.

At that time... she indeed no longer managed company affairs. Matters of personnel allocation were truly none of her business, and there was indeed no need for him to mention them to her.

"You're bringing up this ancient history out of nowhere just to avoid accepting my gift, aren't you?" He grabbed her chin with a somewhat forceful grip, making her look up at him: "Is my diamond ring smaller than the one he gave you, or not as pretty as his? Also, what did you do with the ring from our past marriage?"

Wen Zhixia swatted his hand away, but he caught her by the waist and pressed her down against the wide executive desk nearby. The sudden backward lean caught her off guard, causing her to instinctively reach out to grab anything for support. Her hand landed squarely on his tie, gripping it tightly. With a soft "click," their wildly ambiguous posture was captured and frozen in a cell phone photo.

Gu Pingsheng looked at her with a half-smile as she clutched his collar: "I thought you were the passive type. But looking at it now, you like a little excitement too."

At his core, he was a wild and dissolute soul, unruly and untamable since his youth. Yet, he had inexplicably fallen head over heels for a little bookworm who was as obedient as they come. Even if it meant acting, even if it meant hiding his true nature, he forced himself to look like a good guy in front of her.

The urge to chase excitement and novelty had been ruthlessly suppressed. Even so, she had rarely enjoyed intimacy with him, often complaining that it was uncomfortable before anything even really started.

If he didn't stop, she would look at him with reddened eyes, as if she had suffered the greatest grievance in the world.

At that moment, Gu Pingsheng had truly felt like a beastly scumbag.

He had no idea how other couples managed, but as for him, he only knew stifling frustration. She was right there beside him—visible yet untouchable—while he also had to endure soul-crushing torment. It was simply not a life for a human being.

For a long time afterward, the results were more or less the same. Gu Pingsheng grew accustomed to taking cold showers, convinced that she would eventually drive him out of his mind with torment.

Even after the two of them officially got together, Gu Pingsheng still felt like he was living the life of a monk.

Every single physical contact required coaxing and deception. He could only credit that period for turning him into an expert who had practically researched all related adult films, while still having to sneak around daily. There was no helping it; if she saw anything, she would lecture him.

He was already married, for goodness' sake—how else was he supposed to act normally?

"What nonsense are you spouting." Wen Zhixia pressed her arms against his chest to prevent him from getting any closer. This time, Gu Pingsheng didn't push her any further. He merely looked at the photo on his screen and asked, "Tell me, if I sent this photo to that sickly weakling, what do you think he would do?"

Hearing this, Wen Zhixia's expression turned chillingly sharp: "Don't you dare!"

"Ha," Gu Pingsheng sneered: "Want to try?"

Wen Zhixia pressed her lips together. Trying to match him in shamelessness and lack of boundaries was a losing battle from the start.

"The private room is booked. Be a good girl and come with me later, and this photo will be seen by no one else, hmm?" His slender fingers gently traced her cheek, his thumb naturally resting upon her lips, pressing down lightly to stain them with a vibrant red from her lipstick. He lifted his thumb and brushed it across his own lips.

Clearly, there had been no direct kiss, yet somehow, it felt far more lingering and intimate than a deep embrace.

Wen Zhixia averted her face. None of the young masters she had seen at the Yulouchun club knew how to flirt like this.

The corners of Gu Pingsheng's thin lips curved upward, his low, magnetic voice murmuring right beside her ear: "Why won't you look at me? What kind of... indecent things are you thinking about?"

"Enough is enough." Wen Zhixia pressed her lips together in a flash of annoyance, "Let me go right now."

Her waist was bent at an uncomfortable angle, yet he still looked utterly at ease.

"Have you agreed or not?" Amidst his questioning, a knock sounded on the office door.

Wen Zhixia's body stiffened. She pushed against him with all her might and whispered angrily, "Let go of me right now! Have you no shame?"

"I've never had any face left in front of you anyway. What is there for me to be ashamed of?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ever since their high school days, whenever they had a falling out, felt unhappy, or squabbled, wasn't it always him who lowered his head to apologize?

The so-called dominant pride of his peers completely vanished when it came to her; he possessed zero ego in front of her.

His buddies who hung out with him would have their jaws drop to the floor if they ever saw him speaking in such a soft, coaxing tone.

Wen Zhixia: "You!"

"President Wen, it's time to get off work. Everyone asked me to check... is Secretary Zhou's idea of going out to dinner still happening?" It was the voice of her assistant, Xiao Chen.

And Zhou Anbei was standing right outside the door, waiting for a response from within as well.

Gu Pingsheng: "President Wen, they're waiting for your answer."

Wen Zhixia knew that if she didn't agree, he would have the nerve to keep this up indefinitely. She grabbed his arm and bit down hard on his rolled-up cuff.

As he sucked in a sharp breath of cold air, Wen Zhixia called out toward the doorway: "We're going."

A cheer erupted from outside the door. Gu Pingsheng released his grip on her waist, holding his arm. Wen Zhixia straightened up from the desk, smoothed down her slightly rumpled clothes, shot him a fierce glare, and walked out.

Seeing this, Gu Pingsheng chuckled softly, lowering his gaze to look at his bitten arm. The teeth marks were clear, with a few spots faintly tinged with blood. She really knew how to bite hard.

However...

Looking at the photo on his phone, Gu Pingsheng suddenly recalled something from the past.

Back in their days at No. 2 High School, model students were always entrusted with heavy responsibilities. Even though she was as quiet and obedient as she was, serving as the class study commissioner meant she occasionally had to take on supervisory duties.

For instance—

If a bad boy like him did something detrimental to class unity or violated school rules, she had to report it to the teachers.

At the time, Gu Pingsheng hadn't cared at all, figuring that since they had known each other for so long, they shared some sort of bond; surely she wouldn't actually run to the teachers like a grade-schooler to snitch.

That day, he hadn't come to early self-study. His face bore a few bruises, and he was leaning against the top-floor stairwell smoking, looking thoroughly sullen and brooding. Based on his usual observations, nobody ever came up here.

Unfortunately for him, Wen Zhixia was looking for a quiet place to recite her texts and ended up wandering all the way to the rooftop. When she crossed paths with him in the stairwell, book in hand, the only two words in Gu Pingsheng's mind at that moment were—fate.

Yet Wen Zhixia had only wrinkled her nose, because he was holding half a cigarette, the smell of smoke was heavy on him, and combined with the bruises on his face, he looked the spitting image of a hooligan.

"You were smoking," she said. "Smoking is prohibited for students on campus. You violated the school rules."

Hearing her deadpan, earnest words, Gu Pingsheng's gloomy, irritable mood instantly vanished, and he let out a sudden bark of laughter. This little bookworm was simply too amusing. "Oh? Are you going to tell the teacher?"

He assumed that under these circumstances, anyone would say no to avoid trouble, regardless of whether they actually snitched later.

Instead, he ran into someone who marched to the beat of a different drum: "Yes."

Yes?!

Gu Pingsheng was thoroughly tickled. As she turned to leave, he grabbed her by the collar from behind, "Hey, little bookworm, haven't you ever heard of 'showing mercy whenever possible'?"

He was tall and strong. With her collar caught from behind, she couldn't even take a step forward: "What are you doing?"

Gu Pingsheng pinched her shoulders with both hands, "moved" her over to the corner, and slammed his arm against the wall to block her escape route. Staring directly into her eyes and down at her bright, red lips, he said, "I'm not doing anything. I just wanted to ask you for some guidance. Little bookworm, you... have probably never broken a school rule in your life, right?"

He was essentially just making small talk out of nothing. Given Wen Zhixia's devout, mini-nun-like lifestyle, she was the absolute benchmark of "law-abiding" in the eyes of teachers and the school administration—a loyal guardian of the student handbook.

A mischievous glint flashed in Gu Pingsheng's peach-blossom eyes. Pulling out his phone before she could react, he planted a quick kiss on her cheek and simultaneously snapped a photo with a crisp "click" to serve as evidence.

Amidst her look of utter shock, he squinted his eyes, shook his phone, and asked, "Little bookworm, tell me... is a bad student smoking a bigger deal, or... is a top student—the teachers' little pet—engaging in puppy love far more serious?"

Her mouth hung slightly agape, revealing a hint of blank bewilderment. She looked so utterly stunned by his actions that she remained speechless for a long time.

Gu Pingsheng thought her dazed, soft expression made her exceptionally easy to bully. He reached out and poked her cheek; sure enough, it felt just like a marshmallow. "Now you have a weakness in my hands, so you better be nice to me from now on, you hear? Otherwise..." he said, "I'll go tell the head teacher that you're in puppy love with me and that you like me to death."

After a hearty feast, the group remained high-spirited and reluctant to call it a night, suggesting they head to a disco club. The proposal was quickly approved by the majority.

President Gu waved his hand grandly and immediately ordered reservations to be made, earning another wave of cheers.

Wen Zhixia's daily schedule was very stable now, and she had no desire to tag along with them. She prepared to find an excuse to leave, but before she could even open her mouth, Gu Pingsheng saw right through her. A casual, "President Wen wouldn't want to ruin everyone's fun, would she?" completely blocked any escape route.

When Wen Zhixia got into the car, she was squeezed right up against his side. In a fit of annoyance, she pinched his waist.

With the thick winter clothes she wore, her pinch felt more like a tickle. When no one was paying attention, his large palm slid across her slender waist, gripping her as he murmured softly: "If you pinch me two more times, we won't need to go to the club—I'm taking you straight home."

Wen Zhixia pressed her lips together, grinding the heel of her high heel down over his shoe, looking as proud and aloof as a swan who refused to associate with a toad.

Watching her feisty demeanor, Gu Pingsheng felt a surge of heat in his chest, a faint smile playing at the corners of his thin lips.

Zhou Anbei watched from the side, concluding that their President Gu must have completely lost his mind. To be treated with such utter indifference and still act like a puppy desperate to cling to her—it was downright pathetic.

Upon arriving at the club, since everyone had already consumed some alcohol during dinner, they completely let loose. Especially knowing that all expenses were being covered by someone else, they played without any reservations.

Having learned her lesson from the previous day, Wen Zhixia didn't drink a single drop of alcohol, terrified that her alcohol tolerance, which had regressed to a primitive state, might lead to more uncontrollable incidents.

"Not going out to dance?" Because the music at the venue was deafeningly loud, Gu Pingsheng spoke almost directly against her ear.

Wen Zhixia shifted slightly to put some distance between them and shook her head.

Compared to this chaotic scene of mass dancing, she much preferred quieter settings.

She slid an inch away; he closed the distance by another. Frowning, Wen Zhixia said, "Would you just—"

"President Gu, President Wen, we'd like to propose a toast to you both. Thank you, President Gu, for treating us."

Employees taking a break walked over one after another with their glasses to express their gratitude. Gu Pingsheng accepted them all, taking a small sip from his glass each time. Wen Zhixia didn't drink alcohol; she had a glass of fruit juice and a fruit platter placed in front of her, watching the others drink.

Midway through, she received a message from Xu Qichen. She asked him how his matters were being handled. Xu Qichen didn't give specifics, only saying he would return as soon as possible and reminding her to take care of her health and look after herself.

The two of them exchanged back-and-forth texts for about ten minutes when someone pressed up against Wen Zhixia's side—it was Gu Pingsheng.

She tried to shuffle to the side, but there was no more room left. She reached out to push him: "Gu Pingsheng, sit properly."

"Xiashia, I'm drunk," he said.

Wen Zhixia didn't believe a single word of it. How much had he even drunk? There was no way he was drunk. "Gu Pingsheng!"

He leaned closer still, pressing fully half his body against hers, lifting a large palm to massage his brow: "Be a good girl, let me rest for a moment. Stop moving around."

He told her not to move around, but under the cover of the club's lighting—which was so dim it rendered minor movements invisible—his hands took full advantage of the situation.

Anyone would be a fool to believe he was genuinely unwell. Wen Zhixia wished she could sink her teeth into him: "Don't go too far."

"Kiss me, and I'll let go," he said.

"Gu Pingsheng, have you lost your mind wanting a woman?!" she raged, "We have nothing to do with each other anymore, I've already—"

"Xiashia, don't say you aren't divorced from me yet... Even if I really stood here with some virtuous married woman, if I crooked my finger, she'd throw herself at me—do you believe it? Do you think I, Gu Pingsheng, would ever worry about lacking women?" He lifted his gaze and said.

Hearing his words, Wen Zhixia was angry enough to laugh: "I believe it. I've long since witnessed that President Gu is never short of women. Since that's the case, why are you still clinging to me like a piece of dog-skin plaster? Go find your virtuous married women and gentle maidens!"

There was no winning an argument with her.

Gu Pingsheng leaned in, pulling her into his embrace with a helpless resignation: "So what if I misspoke? There are no virtuous married women or gentle maidens; I only have you, I love only you. Other women aren't worth a thing; you're the only one I can't live without."

While speaking, he kissed her.

"Stop being jealous, hmm?"

Wen Zhixia was so entangled by him that she didn't even have a chance to speak. It took her a long while to push his face away, her breathing slightly unsteady. Fortunately, everyone else was too engrossed in having fun to notice their corner.

"We are a legally wedded couple. Do you really have to make it look like we're having a secret affair?"

Gu Pingsheng wiped the corner of his lips, somewhat displeased by her flustered reaction.

"I'm married to Qichen. What you're doing right now is having a secret affair!" Wen Zhixia blurted out without thinking.

Gu Pingsheng was about to fly into a rage, anger already gathering in his eyes, but the next second, a wicked smile spread across his face: "Good, very good. You're something else, Wen Zhixia. A secret affair, is it? Then let's just go all the way. Let's see if I can anger that sickly weakling to death and take his place!"