Chapter 40
The moment Gu Yuetong said that, Qi Baizi immediately sentenced herself to death in her mind.
She was prepared to lose her job and go back to working part-time day and night. She was also prepared for Gu Yuetong to scold her for her improper thoughts. But she never expected Gu Yuetong to ask her to ask again.
Was it because she had been too long-winded the first time, making it difficult to reject her outright?
Bitterness spread through her chest and mouth. Even with the familiar scent of Gu Yuetong’s aromatherapy lingering at the tip of her nose, she still felt that this world and this person were terrifyingly unfamiliar. The thought of struggling and escaping crossed her mind.
But on second thought, it was her own one-sided wishful thinking. Gu Yuetong’s care and concern for her had always been on the borderline between a boss and a friend. If anyone had crossed a line, it was she who had crossed the line in her own heart and developed different feelings for her.
Everything Han Zhiyu had said was true. Gu Yuetong was a witch who made anyone who got close to her fall in love, making them helplessly smitten.
In just a few short seconds, she understood Han Zhiyu’s warning from back then.
Taking a deep breath and then exhaling, Qi Baizi spoke, “President Gu, I like you. Do you like me?”
She closed her eyes, her vision turning from blurry to nothingness, as she waited for Gu Yuetong to deliver her final judgment.
But in the next second, she was met with Gu Yuetong’s passionate kiss.
Apart from her ragged breathing, Gu Yuetong was perfectly normal, while Qi Baizi was trembling all over, so embarrassed that she had started to cry.
Gu Yuetong carefully wiped away her tears, then got up and returned to her original position.
“I like you.”
Qi Baizi’s crying came to an abrupt halt. She opened her tear-blurred eyes, trying hard to see Gu Yuetong’s expression.
Gu Yuetong looked utterly composed, her arms crossed as she said, “But I’m sorry, given the current situation, we can only have a secret relationship.”
Qi Baizi didn’t know what expression to make, but the surprise was real. Seeing her jaw drop, Gu Yuetong couldn’t help but laugh and said with feigned helplessness, “If you’re not willing, then forget it.”
“I’m willing—”
How could she not be willing? She had summoned all her courage to speak up. No matter the outcome, hearing Gu Yuetong say “I like you” was already more than she could have hoped for.
“Um… I just wanted to ask, are we… going to tell Auntie Qin?”
Qi Baizi had no experience with relationships, let alone a secret one. Auntie Qin had been openly and subtly pushing them together. Now that they were together, Qi Baizi felt a little guilty about not telling her.
Of course, Gu Yuetong guessed what she was thinking. She just thought the kid was kind and innocent. The situation at the company was already tense enough; she had to let her feel that some places and some people were safe.
“We can, but not right now.” Gu Yuetong gently stroked Qi Baizi’s hair. Suddenly remembering something, Qi Baizi sat up abruptly. “President Gu, did you take your medicine?”
“What medicine?”
“The… painkiller.”
“I took it.”
“Oh…”
Qi Baizi felt a little awkward. With Gu Yuetong’s help, she slowly lay back down on the pillow.
“I have to go back to the company for a bit. I just received an email from Xu Li. She wants to see me.” Gu Yuetong asked comfortingly, “I’ll have Auntie Qin eat dinner with you. I’ll come see you after work, okay?”
Gu Yuetong’s gentle tone was like she was coaxing a child. Qi Baizi found it strangely awkward but couldn’t quite put her finger on why. It felt like something was stuck in her chest, unable to go up or down. She could only hum in agreement and then close her eyes, feigning sleep.
Seeing her like this, Gu Yuetong opened her mouth to apologize, then closed it again. She stood up and went outside to call Auntie Qin. Auntie Qin and Duan Ying were buying coffee from a vending machine around the corner. Seeing the caller ID, Auntie Qin poked her head out. “Over here.”
Gu Yuetong put away her phone and walked towards them.
“How is she? We saw the doctor go in just now.”
“Mm… The doctor said it might be a hematoma pressing on her optic nerve. She…” Gu Yuetong frowned and pointed to her own eyes.
Auntie Qin almost dropped her coffee cup. “Little Bai can’t see?”
“Don’t get excited,” Duan Ying said from the side. “Can she recover?”
Gu Yuetong nodded helplessly. “She just can’t see clearly.”
“As long as she can recover, don’t worry too much,” Duan Ying said. “Is it necessary to inform her relatives? Would it be better for her to have family around in this situation?”
“She only has an uncle, and her aunt is rather…” Realizing she had said too much, Gu Yuetong quickly stopped, cleared her throat, and changed the subject. “She probably doesn’t want her family to worry. She didn’t mention it.”
“Alright.” Duan Ying nodded.
Auntie Qin offered, “I can take care of her. You two go do what you need to do.”
Then, Auntie Qin gave Gu Yuetong a meaningful look and said, “But she definitely still hopes you can be by her side more. The little girl is probably in the hospital for the first time. She might be lonely and scared.”
Gu Yuetong knew what she meant. Besides, she had already accepted Qi Baizi’s confession, so she understood this principle even better.
But she hadn’t told Qi Baizi the whole truth. It wasn’t just Xu Li who had emailed her; many, many others had contacted her, including, of course, Han Zhiyu and Gu Hezhu.
The press conference had been a mess, ending in chaos. The media, fearing they would miss a golden opportunity, rushed to report on it. Now, all sorts of rumors were flying around online. Zhou Qin had run herself ragged, but no media outlet was willing to delete their posts.
Although this was also the effect she wanted, there was one person who would inevitably be worried upon seeing this scene—Zheng Juan.
She heard that a few of the leading workers at the Gu Corporation building were demanding to see Gu Yuetong by name.
“I’ll be right back. The three of you can have dinner together. I’ll cover it.” Gu Yuetong thought for a moment and said to Duan Ying, “Thanks for your hard work.”
“Someone’s paying for my meal. What’s so hard about that?” Duan Ying smiled. “Besides, she kind of took a hit for me. I should be thanking her.”
Gu Yuetong lowered her eyes, somewhat at a loss for words.
Auntie Qin, who had been listening to their cryptic conversation, was stunned and asked, “What do you mean, ‘kind of took a hit for you’? What does that mean?”
Gu Yuetong looked at her watch. “I’m running out of time. Xu Li wants to meet me at six. Duan Ying, you can explain.”
Just as she finished speaking, Gu Yuetong received another call. It seemed to be one of the Gu Corporation’s shareholders. The moment the call connected, a roar came through. Gu Yuetong remained unfazed, replying respectfully as she walked away.
Duan Ying inserted a straw and took a sip of her coffee as she watched her retreating back. “Being a big president isn’t easy.”
Auntie Qin interrupted her. “First, tell me what you two were talking about just now.”
Duan Ying blinked and smiled without saying a word.
“Lawyer Duan, you can’t do this. Yuetong told you to tell me.” Auntie Qin’s voice suddenly rose, her heart pounding with anxiety.
“But you don’t need to know.” Duan Ying took another sip of coffee and pulled out her phone. “I’ll order the food. You go ask the patient what she wants to eat.”
***
Gu Yuetong hailed a cab and entered the Gu Corporation building through the underground garage.
Xu Li had just emailed to say she was in the basement cafeteria. Gu Yuetong took the elevator down to the first basement level and saw Xu Li as soon as she got out.
“It’s not convenient to talk here. Follow me.” Without another word, Xu Li grabbed Gu Yuetong’s arm and led her into a storage room.
After closing the door, Gu Yuetong shook off her hand and looked around. This was where they kept the cleaning supplies. The mops in the corner emitted a strong odor, a mixture of disinfectant and stench. Gu Yuetong couldn’t help but gag.
Xu Li said irritably, “At a time like this, are you still being so delicate?”
Gu Yuetong glanced at her. “If you have something to say, say it quickly.”
“I got Han Zhiyu’s file from the detention center today purely by coincidence…”
“I know all this. You went to the detention center to find Chen Hao and happened to run into Han Zhiyu being bailed out. You were curious, so you took her file and learned the truth about her disappearance these past few days. When you got back to the company, you couldn’t find me, so you wanted to complain to Zhou Qin, but you ran into Auntie Qin and Qi Baizi instead. So this just happened to become the evidence I used to take down Han Zhiyu at the press conference.” Gu Yuetong recited what Xu Li was about to say verbatim.
Xu Li wasn’t shocked. Whether it was Zhou Qin, Qi Baizi, or even that Auntie Qin, any of them could have relayed this to Gu Yuetong. But that wasn’t what she wanted to talk about.
“I wanted to say, Chen Hao is gone.”
“What?” Gu Yuetong was stunned. “Isn’t he in the detention center?”
“I don’t know. I go to see him every other day, but when I went today, I couldn’t find him. I asked the staff at the detention center, and they told me he had already been bailed out.”
“Didn’t he already admit to deliberately causing my allergic reaction? The evidence is ironclad. The trial hasn’t even started. How was he bailed out?”
Xu Li shook her head. “Calm down first…”
“It’s just one thing after another when I’m busy.” Gu Yuetong’s face darkened, her fingertips gripping her phone so tightly they turned white.
Xu Li said, “Actually, I haven’t been idle these past few days. The person who could spend so much money to bail him out… I think it must be someone you know.”
“Couldn’t his family have used some connections?” Gu Yuetong was curious about the source of Xu Li’s speculation. “He’s just a guy who sponges off women everywhere. What kind of person around him could possibly have a connection to me?”
Xu Li hummed in agreement, seeming to concur with Gu Yuetong’s words.
“After he went in, I found an unfamiliar email in his work inbox. It was a phone number. I used the convenience store’s landline to call it, and the person who answered was the front desk of the Huobu Group.”
Gu Yuetong was stunned. Huobu Group?
“I originally planned to tell you after Chen Hao’s matter was settled, but I can’t contact him now, and… the company is in such a mess. I think it’s better to tell you now.”
“A long time ago, Chen Hao told me that someone from Huobu Group wanted to poach him. But Huobu is an internet company and has almost no involvement in physical construction. He didn’t really trust the promises they were making, so he wanted to try harder at the Gu Corporation.”
“It just so happened that Director Han took a long leave of absence. People strive for better things, and I also had some ideas. So last time, I joined him in filing a false report against Assistant Qi. One reason was to clear the way for him, and the other… I thought that after he replaced Assistant Qi, he could put in a good word for me, and maybe I could get a promotion.”
“It’s my fault, President Gu. Please apologize to Assistant Qi for me.”
After a long silence, Gu Yuetong spoke. “Your idea wasn’t wrong. It’s just that his heart is too black, and he blinded you, making you use the wrong method.”
“Similarly, I won’t hold this against you, but I won’t thank you for what happened today either, because I was already fully prepared to take down Han Zhiyu myself.”
Gu Yuetong’s words confused Xu Li, but then she remembered the look Gu Yuetong had given Duan Ying after entering the conference hall.
“So you…”
“Work hard.” Gu Yuetong interrupted the wide-eyed Xu Li, who had just figured something out, and said seriously, “The position of HR Director is still vacant. You still have a chance.”
With that, Gu Yuetong eagerly squeezed her way out of the dirty, narrow storage room.