Chapter 31: A Setup That Soiled Her Body

Hearing Gu Yunci call her his wife, Meng Shutang froze in shock.

In three years of marriage, he had never once called her that.

Even at the height of passion in bed, he would only call her "Sweetie" and the like, yet she had him call her "hubby" — if she accidentally let slip "President Gu," that meant punishment.

Light offenses meant being bound with a necktie; serious ones meant red wine...

At this thought, Meng Shutang was suddenly overwhelmed with mixed feelings; she couldn't figure out what Gu Yunci was playing at.

They had clearly already gone to the civil affairs bureau to file for divorce, and now he was calling her his wife again.

The tangled thoughts flashed by in an instant; she struggled free of Gu Yunci, gathered her skirt, and walked outside.

As soon as she got into the car, she pulled off the jade hairpin and shoved it at Gu Yunci. "Your thing. Returning it to you."

Gu Yunci was bewildered. "My thing? Grandmother gave it to you — how can you say it's mine?"

Meng Shutang said, "Your sweetheart just said that you had given her this hairpin before, she didn't want it and returned it to you, and only then did you give it to Grandmother.

Grandmother didn't know about the passing back and forth between you two, so she gave me the hairpin as a token of her regard."

The man turned slightly. "Cixian said that?"

Meng Shutang nodded. "Even the fine crack on the hairpin is identical. She wouldn't go so far as to lie."

The man rubbed the white jade hairpin without a word.

At this moment his mind went completely blank — he couldn't recall ever giving Bai Cixian this hairpin at all!

If he wasn't mistaken, it seemed he had never given Bai Cixian anything!

He sat there stiffly, his long fingers clenched tight.

Speaking of the hairpin, he couldn't help recalling other things.

Before Bai Cixian parachuted into Gu Group, Meng Shutang had been virtually flawless in her work.

No one didn't speak well of her, no one didn't praise her competence — even he, who was exacting to the extreme about work, felt that Meng Shutang was exceptionally gifted in ancient bead restoration and would surely achieve great things in the future.

But once Bai Cixian arrived, everything changed.

Meng Shutang went all at once from a highly talented artisan of true craftsmanship to a supremely foolish, empty-headed woman capable only of petty jealousy.

First the display rack collapse at Wenlüxiaozhen, then the bead strand slipping during her exhibition talk, and Sister Li openly and covertly saying all manner of things against Meng Shutang...

It seemed there were certain things he needed to get to the bottom of.

He drove Meng Shutang back to Qian Shui Wan, and just as he was about to rest, Bai Cixian's phone call came.

The man's voice was cold and low. "What is it?"

Bai Cixian said, "Yunci-ge, I just had a nightmare and was too scared to stay in my room.

Also, my stomach hurts again. I remembered how you used to take care of me, and I couldn't help coming over.

The night wind is so cold — can you come down and keep me company for a while?"

Gu Yunci had been wanting to find her and get to the bottom of it anyway. "Wait there."

When the man was on the phone with Bai Cixian, Meng Shutang, having come downstairs to wash up, heard every word.

As if she hadn't heard a thing, she passed the man head-on in the corridor and brushed past him indifferently.

Gu Yunci came to the front door and looked at Bai Cixian, shivering in the autumn wind. He raised the white jade hairpin in his hand. "I gave you this hairpin before?"

Bai Cixian gave a faint smile.

She knew that Gu Yunci, busy with countless affairs, wouldn't remember such a small matter at all.

"Yes. One year on my birthday, you drank too much and pressed it on me, and even said it looked good on me.

I was set on going abroad and also felt it was too valuable, so I didn't take it. When I returned it to you, I accidentally dropped it.

Qiao Mo knows about it. If you don't believe me, ask her."

The man had no patience for asking about such things; he only needed to know the outcome.

Just as he turned to leave, his wrist was abruptly seized.

The next second, Bai Cixian's lithe body threw itself against him, clinging tightly around his waist from behind, her voice pitiful and frail, with a deliberate tremor.

"Yunci-ge, don't go... please don't go..."

She paused. "That year, when I took that knife for you, I nearly died on the operating table — even the doctors said if it had been a fraction more, they wouldn't have been able to save me..."

As she spoke, she held him tighter. "The nightmare just now triggered another attack from the panic... please, let me hold you for a moment."

Upstairs, Meng Shutang, having finished washing up, returned and saw this touching scene as she pulled the curtains.

Expressionless, she slowly drew the curtains shut.

Downstairs.

When Bai Cixian threw herself forward and grabbed his waist from behind, Gu Yunci pushed her away almost by reflex, his force carrying unmistakable impatience.

"From the very beginning, we agreed it was just acting. Don't you understand what a contract means?

Show some restraint. Don't do anything beyond the bounds."

She acted alongside him; in exchange, he gave the Meng family opportunities.

That was what had been agreed upon from the start!

With that, he turned and left, took the hairpin to the attic door, hesitated for a moment, and still knocked.

Meng Shutang opened the door.

The man held the hairpin. "I just asked Bai Cixian. She said I gave it to her while drunk — I don't remember.

But I assure you, I have never deliberately given anything to any woman other than you.

This matter was poorly handled on my part, and you were wronged because of it."

He held the hairpin out to Meng Shutang. "Do whatever you want with it."

Meng Shutang took the hairpin, her dark brows slightly furrowed in thought. "All right."

With that, she shut the door with a bang.

She puts the hairpin into the jewelry box.

Today, the moonlight isn't very good.

Meng Shutang lies on the bed and, through the gauze window, sees specks of stars dotted across the night sky.

She has always felt that the ancient pearl and the stars share some connection, and she can't help getting up and going to the balcony to watch the stars.

Mother Zhang says Chu Fu likes this room, Gu Yunci likes it, Gu Jin Xing also likes it; at this moment, Meng Shutang seems to truly understand that feeling.

The second‑floor balcony and the third‑floor loft balcony are staggered and overlapping.

Just after showering, Gu Yunci, who was smoking downstairs, looked up and saw Meng Shutang standing on the third‑floor balcony, alone tilting her head to gaze at the star‑filled sky.

She leans on the railing with both hands, her plain nightgown slightly lifted by the evening breeze, outlining a slender yet curvy figure.

After watching for a while, sleepiness overtakes her; she turns and leaves, noticing the man downstairs staring at her.

After their eyes meet across the height difference, the man does not look away.

His gaze seems to pass beyond her, fixed on the hazy moonlight.

Meng Shutang sighs lightly. Indeed, he was just downstairs hugging Bai Cixian; how could he possibly have thoughts of her?

He came over to apologize, but it was merely a polite apology for delivering the wrong item.

There is no additional meaning.

The next day.

Meng Shutang, puzzled by something, calls Lu Shenyang.

Unable to get through, she goes to the Palace Museum to find him.

Lu Shenyang is in a meeting, so she waits for him on the first floor.

Half an hour later, Lu Shenyang comes out.

When Meng Shutang asks him about the matter, Bai Cixian, who is driving by, sees it.

Bai Cixian does not leave; instead, after Meng Shutang departs, she enters the Palace Museum.

"Hello, what does that quite pretty girl want to consult about?"

The staff are enthusiastic and hand her a flyer, "Cultural creative events at the Palace Museum."

Bai Cixian looks at it and thinks, "Isn't this exactly what the Gu Clan's cultural tourism has been busy with lately!"

"For such a huge project, Little Star Pavilion hopes to win the bid; don't even dream about it."

Bai Cixian doesn't take this matter to heart at all; she now has something more important to do.

Gu Yunci refuses to touch her no matter what.

She thinks this is because, although he and Meng Shutang are publicly arguing about divorce, their marital life is actually still normal, which leads to this.

But if Meng Shutang were slept with by Wang Strong and Gu Yunci saw it with his own eyes, it would be a completely different story.

She pulls out her phone and, watching Meng Shutang walk toward the parking lot, says, "Miss Meng, I have an upset stomach; go to the project dinner at the Flower Banquet Grand Residence tonight!"

Meng Shutang replies, "Supervisor Bai, you must have dialed the wrong number; I'm not an employee of the Gu Clan."

Bai Cixian says, "This is a last‑minute appointment from the partner; we still need to verify the cultural tourism flow plan and the material list. If you don't go, how will the project progress?"

"Oh, right, President Gu will also attend; if you really don't want to go, you can ask him for leave."

Thinking of the 4 million‑yuan final payment, Meng Shutang grits her teeth, "Fine, send me the address."

Bai Cixian hangs up and calls Wang Strong, "President Wang, I've guided Fish to the Flower Banquet Grand Residence; she'll arrive shortly, just wait there."