Chapter 46: Four Years Later, She Comes Bearing Light

Chen Man shook her head.

The man didn't believe it.

Chen Mu also shook his head, "Indeed, not here."

The man didn't hesitate further and turned to leave.

He drove again to the east of the city to look for Ruan An.

The result was the same.

Ruan An's boyfriend was also there; Meng Shutang, as always measured, couldn't stay overnight at such a late hour, so she turned and left.

Not at home, nor at her best friend's house.

There was only one place: Lu Shenyang's home.

Lu Shenyang cared for and cherished Meng Shutang…

She was pregnant and divorced; seeking solace at Lu Shenyang's place was understandable.

Lu Shenyang's house.

On the balcony.

Meng Shutang looked at the man with clear, sharp features in the night, "Brother Shenyang, I'm really sorry to trouble you at this hour, but I need you to see me off."

Lu Shenyang, with one hand in his pocket, wore a white sweater; the sharp, restrained aura of the institution faded, leaving only familial thoughtfulness and gentleness. "It's my duty."

Just then, urgent knocking sounded from outside the door.

"Shutang, I know you're inside. I beg you to come out quickly and see me."

Lu Shenyang glanced toward the doorway, then at Meng Shutang, "Do you… still see him?"

Meng Shutang's hand tightened slightly; she hadn't expected Gu Yunci to find this place.

"I don't see him."

"Alright, I'll follow your lead."

After speaking, Lu Shenyang walked toward the door.

When the door opened, Lu Shenyang saw a man standing outside, his sideburns slightly disheveled, dust‑covered, clearly having searched frantically for a long time.

"Please call my wife out; it's late, and I'll take her home."

Lu Shenyang, still with one hand in his pocket, said, "President Gu, you're divorced; calling her Shutang like that isn't appropriate, is it?!"

The man could intensely sense Meng Shutang's aura, even smell the fragrance on her, a feeling he never experienced elsewhere.

He didn't want any small talk; he just wanted to see Meng Shutang quickly and hold her in his arms.

She could hit him, scold him—any way to vent her anger would do.

He pushed the door to enter, but Lu Shenyang reached out to block it.

"President Gu, this is my home; you can't come in."

In an instant, the man panicked completely, looking at the pink suitcase placed by the dining table, "She's here, and you don't want me to see her?"

Lu Shenyang glanced at the suitcase with a faint smile, "You're mistaken; that's my cousin's."

As he spoke, he lifted his hand to glance at his wristwatch, "Sorry, it's too late; I'm going to sleep."

After speaking, he gave Gu Yunci no further chance to speak and slowly closed the door.

The man stood outside the door; after a while, the property management came to drive him away.

Having no other choice, he could only wait downstairs.

The room's light was on, the curtains drawn tightly; he stood by the car, a cigarette pinched between his fingers, looking up at the stairwell entrance.

She was upstairs, just refusing to see him.

He kept waiting for her, waiting until she would come down.

At that moment, an ordinary private car slowly turned from the back alley of the residential complex onto the main road leading to the airport.

It passed quietly behind him.

Inside the car, Meng Shutang wore a baseball cap and a mask, her eyes vacant.

Though she was only a few meters away, it felt as if a whole world separated them.

His peripheral glance flicked at the car's body, then his focus returned to the stairwell and the lit room.

The white car drove away smoothly, merging into traffic, becoming a single sparkle like a star on the dark night road.

Gu Yunci stood where he was, completely unaware of what he had missed.

Three days later.

He frantically dug up all contact information of her close acquaintances.

His fingertips trembled, almost missing the screen; his voice was hoarse, each word trembling with a cracking panic: "Where is she? Have you seen her? Did she go looking for you?"

Grandmother, Chen Man, Ruan An… almost everyone he could think of connected to Meng Shutang, he asked again and again in an almost pleading manner.

The man who once was aloof and never showed any emotion now spoke with utter, extreme panic.

Each time he heard "no contact," his heart sank a little more.

But he didn't give up; he trampled every street in Jiangcheng, from sunrise to deep night, the car lights dazzling his eyes to pain, and his phone forever rang with a busy tone no one answered.

He scoured every corner of the world she might have visited—Antarctica, Iceland, the forests of Norway… even the small town she later longed to go to, where he had broken his promise.

In the small foreign town where they once vacationed, he would grab anyone's arm and ask, "Have you seen her?" his voice hoarse as if rubbed with sandpaper.

Or, on a bustling street, spotting a vaguely similar silhouette or a voice like hers, he would dash over like a madman.

When it wasn't her, he would freeze in place as if his very marrow had been ripped out.

After searching every place bearing her trace, only silence and no replies remained, and he finally couldn't hold on.

Qi Chang's tall figure, leaning against the wall, slipped to the ground, his eyes a deep crimson.

He really had completely lost her.

Bai Cixian saw him, walked over slowly, and crouched down beside him.

"You've been looking for her for so long, and she never came out to see you. She… probably doesn't want to see you anymore!"

"Brother Yunci, seeing you torment yourself like this really breaks my heart."

"I don't mean anything else; I just… want to stay with you. You don't have to pay attention to me or respond to me; as long as I can stay by your side, that's enough."

"Even if it's only watching you from afar, I'm willingly content."

The man struggled to stand, dizzy and unsteady, and suddenly staggered.

Bai Cixian steadied him.

The man pushed her away, "My affairs are none of your business. Finding her is fate; not finding her is also fate. You don't need to waste your time on me."

"Go away, stay back, and don't come looking for me."

Gu Yunci returned to Qian Shui Wan, and Zhang Ma, seeing someone who once was so precious and fastidious that not a speck of dust could be tolerated, now disheveled, with a tangled beard and blood‑shot eyes, felt only heartache.

"President Gu, you're back. What happened to you!"

These past days, Gu Yunci hasn't had a decent meal or a sound night's sleep; his body swayed, and, lacking strength, he walked in and, feebly, called out, "Zhang Ma."

Zhang Ma, seeing him, rushed over and steadied him, "Young master."

At this moment, she couldn't recall that he was the lofty President Gu; he was simply the young master whom Chu Fu had rolled down the stairs, and before dying had grabbed her hand, asking her to take good care of him.

Gu Yunci struggled to stand, stumbling as he made his way upstairs.

"You have a fever; let's go to the hospital."

"No."

Zhang Ma dared not take a single step away, and the two of them went up to the attic.

Gu Yunci stood there, looking at everything inside, covered his face, and began to cry.

Tears spilled from the clear joints of his fingers, and his whole body trembled.

The high fever and despair simultaneously crushed him; he held on until his last ounce of strength was spent, his vision went black, and he slammed onto the ground with a thud.

"Young master, young master, don't scare me…"

Four years later.

President's office.

Bai Cixian, dressed in a fitted pink professional dress that fell below the knee, as usual, carried a cup of coffee and placed it on the desk.

"President Gu, you've been working nonstop for a month; would you like to take a break?"

The man didn't even lift his head, replying coldly, "Just leave it on the desk, and go out."

Bai Cixian was slightly startled.

Since the day Meng Shutang disappeared, he has been cold toward her, even unwilling to look at her once.

It's been four years; even a stone should have warmed up by now, right?

But Gu Yunci hasn't.

Bai Cixian placed the coffee steadily on the desk.

"Later, at the Gu Clan auction, I'm the host, Brother Yunci, could you…"

"I've told you countless times, when working, address me by my title."

When she's with him, there's never a private moment; even when going to a bar, she schemed to create a chance encounter, and he also made her address him by his title.

"I heard many masters in the industry will attend; President Gu, if you're free, you could really go and see."

Bai Cixian finished speaking and left.

The man paused, his cyan‑green fountain pen trembling, and turned his gaze to a shop on the lower floor of the Gu Clan building's annex.

That place had previously been Star Studio; four years ago it was transferred to a dessert shop.

Will he ever see her again?