Chapter 433: You Are Certainly Not Innocent (Bonus Update 6)

After Gu Sen learned what had happened to Jiang Lai, he thanked Nian Zhaoning and Ke Yue, then got up to leave.

Ms. Nian rose as well: "I'll walk you out."

Gu Sen had wanted to say there was no need, but seeing Nian Zhaoning's expression, she probably had something to say to him, so he didn't refuse.

Ke Yue didn't follow along—it was perfectly normal for old friends to share a few private words.

Walking him to the door, Ms. Nian looked at Gu Sen: "I know this is your family matter, and even the closest of friends shouldn't overstep their bounds to pry. My son likes Jiang Lai very much, my daughter likes Jiang Lai very much too, and Ke Yue and I also like Jiang Lai. As Jiang Lai's future mother-in-law, I should have the standing to demand an explanation from you, shouldn't I?"

Facing his old friend's cold, hard tone, Gu Sen didn't feel offended. Instead, he felt a twinge of envy. The fact that Nian Zhaoning could openly call herself Jiang Lai's future mother-in-law naturally meant she had received Jiang Lai's permission.

Even now, he still didn't dare call himself Jiang Lai's biological father in front of others.

He felt ashamed.

"Alright." Gu Sen nodded. "Given Zhongyu's abilities, I imagine you already know most of what happened back then."

"Yes." Ms. Nian got angry just looking at Gu Sen, but mentioning Song Shiwei made her even angrier. "Song Shiwei gave birth to her and then discarded her. You, for the sake of the Gu family, for your brother, for your wife, also treated your own biological daughter like dirt. Gu Sen, what use is your concern for Jiang Lai now? If all harm can be forgiven, then do the people who were hurt deserve it?"

Gu Sen bore Ms. Nian's rebuke and admitted frankly: "Yes, I am not innocent."

"Of course you're not innocent." Ms. Nian stared at him coldly. "When Chongying was just born, I was afraid that whoever held her might grip too hard and hurt her or leave bruises. Song Shiwei, on the other hand, just left the baby out in the freezing snow!"

"She really should go lie in the freezing snow herself for a day and a night, and taste what that's like."

Ms. Nian grew more and more agitated as she spoke. She was getting on in years and considered herself to have seen quite a bit of the world, able to keep calm no matter how serious the matter, but when it came to Jiang Lai, every time she thought about it she could get so angry she couldn't breathe.

"Gu Sen, if Chongying's maternal grandparents hadn't once lived for a time in the presence of your Gu family's old ancestors and always remembered that debt of gratitude, the moment we found out about Jiang Lai being abandoned, the relationship between our two families should have been severed."

"The Nian Family and the Gu Family do have close ties, but I am now a member of the Ke Family, and I can still make decisions for the Ke Family. Our Ke Family will absolutely never have anything to do with the Gu Family again. Jiang Lai's surname is Jiang."

"I'm making my position clear to you today, and I hope you take this message back to Song Shiwei and the Gu Family: the matter between the two children is just between the two children. No matter whether it's my parents or anyone else—if anyone brings up Jiang Lai being part of the Gu family, or mentions my son marrying a Gu family daughter, I'll fall out with them over it."

"You should go."

"Understood." Gu Sen turned and left.

Nian Zhaoning hadn't walked back more than a few steps before she saw her husband waiting for her, holding the mung bean cakes she loved to eat.

Ke Yue: "Cool down."

Ms. Nian: "Too cloying."

The next second, she still took a bite from her husband's hand—biting off half the cake in one go—and stood there chewing and chewing with her lips pursed.

Ke Yue felt she wasn't chewing mung bean cake but chewing on a person.

It seemed the fire bottled up in her heart hadn't been fully vented at Gu Sen either.

In truth, his wife wasn't only indignant on Jiang Lai's behalf. Even if it weren't Jiang Lai, if someone else had suffered such a fate, his wife would still react the same way.

But the anger in there was also directed at her good friend—anger at the friend's inaction, anger that the friend would rather wrong his own biological daughter than do right by every person in the Gu family.

……

Ke Zhongyu learned from his father that Gu Sen had come to A City, and also learned that his mother had scolded Gu Sen. He called to check on Ms. Nian: "How angry is she?"

"She's eaten three mung bean cakes in a row, says she feels stuffed and cloyed, and she's still over there chewing."

"Keep an eye on Ms. Nian."

"I've already had someone prepare something to aid digestion."

Ke Zhongyu gave an "mm," and his father's concerned voice came through the phone again: "How is Jiang Lai? Has her fever gone down? Is she eating well?"

"Not bad. She has a small appetite, so she only eats a little bit of everything." Ke Zhongyu looked toward the sofa—Jiang Lai seemed to have fallen asleep again.

"Dad."

"Go ahead."

"Do you think proposing after three months together is too fast?"

Ke Fu: "You're asking me? Your mother and I got our marriage certificate and held the wedding banquet after meeting just three times."

Click.

Ke Zhongyu hung up the phone with a cold expression and walked toward Jiang Lai, who had fallen asleep on the sofa.

He crouched down.

He quietly watched Jiang Lai for a moment, then bent down to carry her to bed to rest. The moment he picked her up, the person in his arms drowsily opened her eyes, and upon seeing it was him, burrowed deeper into his embrace instead.

Jiang Lai didn't say much, but her eyes held many emotions.

Her temperament was cool and reserved, yet she was very clingy with those close to her.

When unhappy, she would lift his arm herself and burrow into his arms, then curl up.

When sick, she craved physical contact—even asleep, she hoped someone could be by her side.

She was too endearing to him.

Ke Zhongyu kissed her hair and said softly: "Sleep peacefully, I'm not going anywhere."

"Mm." Jiang Lai nodded gently.

Ke Zhongyu promised again: "Ke Zhongyu will always be by Jiang Lai's side."

Jiang Lai, buried against Ke Zhongyu's chest, revealed a smile, and after being laid on the bed, she fell asleep quickly, sleeping very soundly.

Even in her sleep, sensing movement beside her, she would turn to press close to Ke Zhongyu, her slender fingers lightly clutching his clothes.

Ke Zhongyu held her close and also slept well.

The next day.

Jiang Lai woke up earlier than Ke Zhongyu. Apart from the soreness in her body that hadn't fully faded, everything else felt as if she had come back to life, especially her head, which was no longer groggy.

She shifted her body, and the next second was held tightly again.

Held so tightly that certain physical changes became hard to ignore.

"You're awake?"

Ke Zhongyu ignored it completely, simply burying his head into Jiang Lai's neck and saying softly: "No, sleeping a bit more."

Jiang Lai didn't plan to get up either. This kind of all-over soreness was like someone who hadn't exercised in a long time suddenly climbing a tall mountain, then going home, sleeping, and waking up with sore muscles—and soreness like that couldn't be relieved in just a day or two.

She couldn't be bothered to move either.

Besides, the sky outside was only dimly lit.

Ke Zhongyu was still like a furnace, wrapping her so warmly that she was hot, but she couldn't bear to push him away.

Not only couldn't she bear it, she even wanted to press closer.

She had no romantic thoughts—she just really liked the feeling from yesterday morning, skin pressed to skin, each holding the other tightly.

Ke Zhongyu's breathing and heartbeat would amplify many times beside her ear, and her own breathing and heartbeat would also speed up or slow down under his influence.

This was two utterly distinct lives connecting, colliding—life influencing life.

Jiang Lai tilted her head up slightly, her lips resting against Ke Zhongyu's Adam's apple—not kissing, just resting there.

She suspected she had skin hunger.

The Adam's apple by her lips rolled up and down once, and from above her came the man's low, magnetic voice: "A Lai, please have some pity on yourself, and have some pity on me too. I don't want to sleep in separate beds."

He rubbed Jiang Lai's waist with his palm, unable to stop himself from recalling how yesterday morning Jiang Lai had said in a teary voice that her waist was going to break.