Chapter 158: The Staged

Meng Shutang suddenly felt her whole body turn icy, her mind went blank.

She completely forgot why she had come, and all she could think of was one thing.

Does Gu Yunci really have that kind of relationship with Bai Cixian? From the server's tone just now, the server seemed very familiar with Bai Cixian!

She decided to go and see whether any of this was true.

If she really saw Gu Yunci tangled up with Bai Cixian on the bedroom bed, she would let go completely.

The Parkjoy Hotel is a high‑end business hotel; it was her first time there, so she was unfamiliar with it.

The hotel rooms are designed in a bizarre way, making it easy to get lost inside.

Fearing that Bai Cixian would notice her tailing, she kept a great distance, eventually losing the person altogether.

But she remembered the room number and, after winding around many corners, found her way back.

Standing at the doorway of 1608, looking at the tightly closed door, Meng Shutang felt a chill at her fingertips.

Seeing someone rush into the room, a keycard left forgotten on the door, Meng Shutang felt a tingling numbness in her chest.

She clenched her hand slightly, hearing the continual laughter of men and women from other rooms, steeling herself, Snap—, she opened the door.

Inside the room only a dim floor lamp was lit, and it was very quiet.

Meng Shutang's mind was filled with the scene from four years ago when Gu Yunci pressed her onto the bed, kissing her and silencing her whimpers.

Today, would he do the same—becoming deeply entangled with Bai Cixian, then brutally ravaging her, his thin lips sealing hers so she could not utter a single sound?

Her heart tightened slightly as she slowly stepped inside.

The room was large and luxurious, and a curtain stood in front of the bed.

The curtain was drawn tight, as if hiding some unspeakable secret behind it.

Meng Shutang walked over, her slender fingertips gripping the partition curtain, turning white.

For some reason, the anger and courage she had felt before entering seemed to be drained in an instant.

Now all that surrounded her was tranquility and helplessness.

She hesitated to pull it open, but after being frozen in fear and despair for a long while, she finally, eyes closed, yanked the curtain wide.

The bed was smooth and empty, lacking the imagined disgrace, with no tangled figure.

She froze there, the choking, sour tightness in her chest easing for a moment, then becoming even emptier.

A sudden thought crossed her mind, and she gave herself a self‑deprecating laugh.

She was truly foolish today, having been lured by such a clumsy trick.

She turned to leave, only to hear a 'Clack' behind her as the door was shut from inside and locked.

She spun around abruptly and saw Gu Yunci leaning against a cabinet, standing still.

The man was tall and erect, his broad shoulders and narrow waist sharply defined, long legs casually crossed, and within his lazy, languid posture lay a suffocating aura of hormones.

He held a cigarette between his fingers, lowered his eyes to the lighter, lit it, took a muffled drag, and exhaled slowly.

Meng Shutang stared at him, her throat tightening, and for a moment she didn't know what to say.

The man seemed not to notice her, smoking at an unhurried pace.

As time ticked by, Meng Shutang suddenly remembered that Gu Jin Xing was injured; she still had to go care for him, and she hurried toward this side.

When she passed by him, the man showed no sign of anything unusual.

Only the moment she placed her hand on the doorknob to open it, the man abruptly extinguished the cigarette in the ashtray, rose, seized her hand, and pulled her into his arms.

"Just walking away, not planning to say anything to me?"

Gu Yunci embraced her from behind, trapping her in his embrace, his chin resting on her shoulder as he tilted his head to look at her.

His affection toward her seemed as if they had never had a cold war or any quarrel.

Meng Shutang bit her lip, forced a calm tone, "Sorry, I took a wrong turn."

"A wrong turn?"

Gu Yunci let out a light laugh, released her, then lifted both her hands above her head and pressed them against the wall, "Then who were you looking for just now?"

Meng Shutang stared at him, silent.

"Or perhaps you didn't walk wrong at all; you came in to test whether I'm rolling around with other women, and then… completely abandon me?"

Gu Yunci's words were like a block of ice, striking straight into her heart, instantly freezing all her thoughts.

She was already born with an extremely pitiable beauty, skin whiter than snow, temperament cold and ethereal.

Now, amidst her helpless panic, her clear eyes were bright, her red lips soft, making anyone who saw her instantly feel a predatory desire.

Gu Yunci had completely forgotten the reason he had arranged for her to come; at this moment his mind was filled with an absurdly evil thought: to hoist Meng Shutang sideways onto the bed and brutally bully her, watching her eyes redden with feigned weakness.

Meng Shutang met Gu Yunci's eyes, and in an instant all the blood in her body solidified.

Those eyes, usually cloaked in a layer of ice, now churned with a heat so dense it could not melt.

This inevitable, aggressive desire wrapped her tightly, making even breathing a luxury.

She instinctively began to struggle, but her strength was too weak, like a slight wriggle beneath him.

Seeing her trembling eyelashes and slightly parted lips, Gu Yunci lowered his head and, subconsciously, pressed his mouth to hers.

He can't change; he'll never be able to stay in control around Meng Shutang in this lifetime.

Just then, Qin Zheng's voice came from outside the door, "President Gu, Miss Bai has been briefed."

Gu Yunci took a deep breath, closed his eyes and tilted his head back, and after a while finally released Meng Shutang from his arms.

He then, as if nothing had happened, stepped back to the cabinet behind him and leaned against it.

"Now you can tell me, who sent you?"

Meng Shutang's delicate, captivating eyebrows and eyes lowered slowly, "I myself."

"You yourself?" Gu Yunci snorted lightly, "At this hour, according to your habit, you should be working at home or keeping Xin Xin company; the only one who could make you dare come here so late is my younger brother."

Meng Shutang didn't want to discuss Gu Jin Xing with Gu Yunci; she held a deep prejudice against him, and further talk would be useless.

She stood up to leave, the man stood up and blocked her path.

"Let me guess how he lured you here—injuring himself to win your sympathy, right?"

Gu Yunci said, carefully watching Meng Shutang's expression, "Seems I wasn't wrong; ever since childhood he's used these kinds of tricks."

"Gu Yunci, what exactly are you trying to say?"

"What I want to say is, my brother has never been as simple as you think. He's the overseas‑capital nouveau riche Peter; he returned to ruin you and me, but even he didn't anticipate that he'd fall in love with you again."

Meng Shutang, shocked, "Gu Yunci, what nonsense are you spouting?"

Gu Jin Xing had told me he only does some small trades.

Gu Yunci gave no further reply; he opened the door, took a file bundle from Qin Zheng's hand, and opened it in front of Meng Shutang.

"The one who injected capital into the Meng family, reviving it, was him."

A while ago, the whole net was blackened with rumors of an affair between me and Bai Cixian, and that was also his doing.

After Bai Cixian's car accident left her facially disfigured, his people immediately arranged a light‑scar program for her to lure me."

Meng Shutang couldn't listen any longer, "Enough, Gu Yunci. Whatever you say, I won't believe."

Gu Yunci, seeing Meng Shutang so agitated, felt a flicker of suppressed fire in his throat, his brows unmoved, only his pupils darkening, "Tang Tang, there are things I've never had the heart to tell you."

Seven years ago, during that Imperial View Shang K incident, a senior executive tried to pull you away, and Gu Jin Xing was actually right beside him.

"The love you thought you felt may… from start to finish, not be what you believed it to be."