Chapter 442: Agreeing to Settle

Chi Ce had been sitting in the car watching the third-floor restaurant's location—one-way glass; nothing could be seen from outside, and even if it could, Fu Daxiaojie and Li Dan might not necessarily be sitting by this side of the window.

The car window was open; though it was already spring, the wind blowing in at night was still cold.

Before long, he saw Li Dan come out and walk straight toward the car parked by the roadside, but there was no sign of Fu Daxiaojie.

Chi Ce watched Li Dan's car drive away and couldn't help frowning, picking up his phone to ask Li Dan what urgent business had made him leave midway—leaving Fu Daxiaojie alone at the restaurant?

He agitatedly typed out two lines, but didn't impulsively send them.

What reason did he have to question Li Dan?

A friend?

Whose friend?

He was close with Li Dan and Fu Daxiaojie—put nicely, it was a childhood bond; put less nicely, he was just a hanger-on among this crowd of wealthy young masters and young ladies, the relationship neither here nor there, yet still able to say a few words in front of them.

Chi Ce instead sent a message to Fu Daxiaojie: 【Busy?】

My Daxiaojie: 【Eating.】

Chi Ce: 【With whom?】

My Daxiaojie: 【Li Dan, who else.】

Chi Ce felt a suffocating tightness in his chest, suddenly not knowing how to reply—he had asked the question himself, yet felt uncomfortable hearing the answer.

Fu Daxiaojie didn't seem to care whether he replied or not, and sent no further messages, until he saw her walking to the roadside alone with her bag, apparently about to hail a car.

Li Dan had gone to the Fu household to pick up Fu Youqing, so naturally he hadn't driven himself, and with Li Dan leaving midway, Fu Youqing would either call a driver to come get her or hail a cab herself.

Fu Youqing still had some personal matters to attend to and didn't plan to have the family driver come over; just as she was about to raise her hand to hail a car, a vehicle reversed and stopped in front of her—a familiar model and license plate.

The window rolled down, Chi Ce turned his head to look over and said with a smile, "Fu Daxiaojie, I'll take you home."

Fu Youqing stared at Chi Ce for a moment, then opened the door and got in; while fastening her seatbelt, she said, "When did you get here?"

"Passing by." Chi Ce told a lie anyone could see through.

Fu Youqing's look made it perfectly clear she didn't believe him; Chi Ce changed the subject as if nothing happened, asking where she was going, and when Fu Youqing didn't answer, he could only drive forward.

"Since you already knew I was eating with Li Dan, why ask again on your phone? Li Dan had barely left for a few minutes when you sent a message—you saw him leave, didn't you."

Chi Ce fell silent.

Fu Youqing: "Chi Ce, what do you mean by this? I asked you what you were thinking back then, and you didn't say, and now you're doing something like following me."

Chi Ce's hands gripping the steering wheel tightened.

Fu Youqing: "If it's really just a relationship in bed, you've crossed a line, Chi Ce."

After a long moment, Chi Ce could only squeeze out three words: "I know."

Fu Youqing nearly choked on a breath, turned her head to look out the window; the road was becoming increasingly familiar.

Chi Ce dropped Fu Youqing off at the private villa where she usually stayed.

The car had barely stopped when Fu Youqing unfastened her seatbelt, got out, and walked away without looking back.

The lights were on inside the villa; the nanny who came to clean once a week walked out from inside, carrying a garbage bag, and called out "Daxiaojie"—Daxiaojie gave a cold "Mm" in response, looking as if she had just had a fight with someone.

The nanny subconsciously glanced at the ordinary car parked at the entrance, and got a clear look at the person before the window went up.

Isn't that Doctor Chi?

Why wasn't it Young Master Li who brought Daxiaojie back?

The nanny thought it over for a moment, then reported the matter to Mr. Fu.

……

The first person Li Dan saw when he rushed to the police station was Shen Xun.

Bruises around his eyes, blood at the corner of his mouth.

Even though his suit had been straightened out, the creases and the dirt and water stains were still visible.

From the look of it, Shen Xun had no intention of settling; Gu Zhiyan would face detention—detention could at least allow bail pending trial, but Li Dan still hoped Shen Xun would be willing to settle.

He walked over and offered a cigarette: "You okay?"

Shen Xun glanced at Li Dan; he had no need to be at odds with the person in front of him—everyone was in A City, and they might cross paths at work.

He reached out and took the cigarette, holding it between his fingers: "Not bad."

Li Dan explained: "He didn't hit you because of Lin Shutong—it's because of Jiang Lai. Jiang Lai is his own younger sister."

Shen Xun's hand holding the cigarette paused: "I never saw him treat Jiang Lai particularly well before; he doted on Gu Yinxue as a sister."

Li Dan: "Lin Shutong told him everything, including conspiring with Gu Yinxue to deceive him and teaming up against Jiang Lai. During this time he personally made a trip to G Province, also to find Gu Yinxue's biological parents."

Shen Xun had never had much real sense of the fact that Jiang Lai was the true eldest daughter of the Gu clan's tourism division—because that wasn't what he cared about most; what he cared about most was the relationship between Jiang Lai and Ke Zhongyu.

Li Dan looked at Shen Xun: "A person can't be kept in the dark forever—just like you, you should understand. Gu Zhiyan was furious, or rather, so angry he lost his head."

As for how Shen Xun had treated Jiang Lai in the past, he wouldn't bring it up—saying it out loud would only make people uncomfortable; Shen Xun could understand that himself.

Shen Xun rolled the unlit cigarette between his fingers, stood up, and said to the police: "I agree to settle."

As for any apology or compensation, Shen Xun asked for neither; he walked out of the police station.

Li Dan let out a breath of relief, followed the police over to Gu Zhiyan—Gu Zhiyan was just sitting on the ground, eyes lowered, and didn't look up even when he heard the commotion, as if it had nothing to do with him.

His face still carried anger.

Angry at himself, angry at Shen Xun.

Since returning from G Province, his chest had been stuffed with several breaths of stifled rage; he couldn't imagine Jiang Lai growing up in such a harsh environment, and even less could he imagine that the chief culprit behind all of it was their own biological mother.

Jiang Lai had had a hard enough time growing up—she had met Shen Xun, a bastard who spent all his money keeping a mistress, then encountered a biological older brother who cursed her out without distinguishing right from wrong, as well as a fox full of schemes from head to toe.

The fox had joined forces with the poisonous flower to encircle and attack Jiang Lai, and he himself had once been a blade in that encirclement, stabbing at Jiang Lai with words.

Shen Xun had been even worse than him.

He couldn't even forgive himself—how could he forgive Shen Xun, who had bullied his own younger sister?

So he found Shen Xun and, without a word, knocked him to the ground and beat him savagely; if someone hadn't intervened and even called the police, he would have loved to beat Shen Xun into paralysis.

As for him, being detained was just being detained.

Leaving a record was just leaving a record.

He didn't want to go back to B City anymore.

Marriage alliance? He couldn't possibly listen to his mother's words again and enter a marriage alliance with anyone — besides, whether he was infected with the virus was still undetermined, so he'd spare the Qu Family's second young lady.

Gu Zhiyan had originally wanted to use this opportunity to calm himself down; Li Dan had arrived, and Shen Xun had also agreed to a settlement.

He frowned slightly: "What did you say to Shen Xun?"

Li Dan: "Told him why you beat him up."

Gu Zhiyan: "There was no why."

"But I know it was for Jiang Lai." Li Dan looked him up and down. "Seeing how reluctant you look — do you think that beating up Shen Xun and getting yourself detained will lighten your burden? You'd be better off apologizing to Jiang Lai face to face."

Gu Zhiyan didn't deny the first part of what Li Dan said, but rebutted the last sentence: "It's still better not to mention people like us in front of Jiang Lai. She's doing quite well now."

In that instant, Gu Zhiyan seemed to understand why his father, upon learning early on that Jiang Lai was his own biological daughter, had not acknowledged her — and why, even after acknowledging her, he hadn't forcibly intruded into Jiang Lai's life.

One reason was having no face to appear before Jiang Lai; the other was not wanting to cause Jiang Lai needless trouble.

These so-called family members of theirs had created pain and trouble for Jiang Lai and then stayed far away — to go over and disturb her after she had built a happy life through her own efforts would be utterly shameless.

Gu Zhiyan was dragged out of the police station by Li Dan, and by the roadside he saw his father, who was approaching sixty — looking much older than before.