Chapter 50: Pressed into His Arms, No Escape

Meng Shutang's hand paused slightly, and she shyly lowered her head.

Lu Shenyang saw it and said coldly, with a sting, "This is our private matter; President Gu's curiosity is a bit too strong."

Gu Yunci truly felt what a heart attack feels like at this moment.

Just a breath away, she ignored him, and Lu Shenyang answered for her; this bone‑deep loss and remorse gradually constricted and devoured him.

Normally, he would have turned and left.

But facing Meng Shutang and this question, he not only didn't retreat; he stepped half a pace forward.

The man stared at Meng Shutang, his voice growing cold, "I'm asking you! Are you two living together?"

Meng Shutang's hand paused, and she remained silent.

"Gu Yunci, what are you doing?" Lu Shenyang set down his chopsticks, glaring at the man.

Meng Shutang pressed him, picked up a dish for him, and said, "Brother Shenyang, eat."

She put down her chopsticks and said, "I'm going to the hospital to see my mother!"

After Meng Shutang left, Gu Yunci also left.

The two, one after the other, ran into Bai Cixian there.

"Yunci brother, are you coming to see Aunt Zhou?"

Gu Yunci nodded slightly, "Mm."

Bai Cixian pinched the test results in her hand, "The doctor said that miscarriage scarred the foundation; whether I can get pregnant again depends on fate."

Actually, my cold constitution isn't suitable for pregnancy; we got pregnant once, and that child was truly fated to us.

It's my fault for not protecting him.

As he said that, he reached out and embraced Gu Yunci's arm.

Gu Yunci stepped back early, "The hospital is chilly; if nothing's wrong, go back early!"

Seeing his distant attitude, Bai Cixian's smile turned bitter, but when she turned her head and saw Meng Shutang beside her, her eyes lit up with a smile again.

"Miss Meng, long time no see."

Meng Shutang stood there; Bai Cixian came up to her and smiled, "Long time no see."

In the past few days since returning, she hadn't inquired about Gu Yunci's marital status; they should have married by now, right!

But she wasn't sure, so not addressing him was the safest.

"Thanks to you, my body still hasn't recovered."

"But the doctor said soon we'll have our own child again."

Meng Shutang pressed her lips, "Why doesn't your child exist? You know it well inside your heart."

"To harm me, you even killed your own child with your own hands."

"Bai Cixian, you are truly terrifying!"

After saying that, she glanced at Gu Yunci and slipped away.

She went to the ward, and a few minutes later, Gu Yunci came in.

He skillfully swept the floor with a broom and watered the flowers on the windowsill.

"What are you doing here?"

She placed the items she bought for Zhou Xingfan on the nightstand one by one, looked at him, and demanded sharply.

"I heard Mom's condition hasn't been good these two days, so I came to check."

The man set the flowers down and slowly turned around.

"The nurse said you stayed here all night last night; after finishing work and coming back, your body won't be able to handle it."

"You rest; I've taken care of all the chores."

"You're not needed here; please leave immediately."

The man wore a clean, fresh, high‑end suit, and even his hair exuded a faint scent of bath.

The hasty, sloppy demeanor he showed when questioning her and Lu Shenyang about cohabiting at lunch in Wanxing Ge was completely different now.

Meng Shutang found it both glaring and annoying, "Also, this is my mother, not yours; please change how you address her from now on."

The man's hand paused briefly, hesitated, then lifted the champagne rose from the table, grabbed an orange juice, and walked slowly to her side.

His gaze, unblinking for a moment, fixed on her slender face, "The flower you once loved most, and the temperature and sweetness you liked best."

Meng Shutang didn't look at him, as if the figure beside her were just a wisp of air.

Her cold, distant indifference deeply pricked Gu Yunci; the man's Adam's apple rolled with effort, as if he were about to speak.

Meng Shutang suddenly faced him, and those eyes that once brimmed with tenderness now held only bone‑cold contempt and disgust.

"Take it away."

She spoke, her voice devoid of any lingering affection, crisp and decisive.

The man pleaded, "Tangtang, I only want…"

"I ask you to take it away."

Meng Shutang suddenly raised her voice, cutting him off, a long‑suppressed fury swirling in her eyes, "Gu Yunci, can't you understand human words?"

"This is my mother's ward; you're not welcome here. We have no use for your things."

The man's heart clenched sharply as he reached out and seized her wrist.

His palm was scorching hot, the force astonishing, clamping her wrist bone like an iron band, with undeniable hardness, pulling her whole body back.

Caught off guard, Meng Shutang staggered a step from the pull and crashed straight into his arms.

A familiar scent of snow‑softness hit her, she froze, as if struck by a blaze, desperately trying to break free, "Let go of me!"

"I won't let go."

He pressed his forehead against hers, breaths intertwined, his other hand gripping her waist, holding her tightly in his embrace, "If I let you go, will you disappear from my world again?"

"We have been over for a long time!"

After saying that, Meng Shutang stamped him hard with her foot, pushing him away.

She turned around, grabbed the delicately packaged champagne roses in one hand, didn't even look at them, and tossed them straight into the trash can by the door.

The beautiful petals scattered on the ground in a messy heap.

It resembled the love she once gave her all to, only to have it crushed in the end.

"Don't do that."

The man begged her.

Meng Shutang, as if she hadn't heard, seized the orange juice in his hand, flicked her wrist—splattering it all over his exquisitely tailored suit.

The juice ran down the front of his chest, soaking a large area.

Meng Shutang held the empty cup, her knuckles paling, and said each word clearly and cruelly, "Gu Yunci, stop disgusting me.

Anything you do is worthless in my eyes.

My mother here doesn't need your concern either; from now on, if he dares to step in again, I'll call the police."

The man's thin lips quivered, and he croaked, "This morning... you weren't like this with me?"

"That was work; now it's personal!"

After speaking, she stepped aside and told him to get lost.

Gu Yunci froze in place, his eyes reddening, "Then I...

I don't want to hear anything beyond work."

With a bang, Meng Shutang slammed the door shut.

Gu Yunci stood at the doorway for a long time, realizing that her 'kindness' toward him was never genuine.

It was merely courteous professionalism, business as usual.

Privately, he was, in her eyes, essentially a stranger.

He didn't even have the right to enter her mother's ward.

Gu Yunci felt his heart as if a hand were gripping it tightly, and even his breathing throbbed with a dull, pounding pain.

He felt he could barely hold on.

At that moment, the phone rang.

It was an international long-distance call from Huo Yanchen.

"Yunci, the school's situation has changed; I'm afraid I won't be able to return to Jiangcheng Yiyuan to assume my position for another month…"

Before Huo Yanchen could finish speaking, Gu Yunci saw Zhou Xingfan's ward door swing open, and Meng Shutang, pale as death, rushed out from inside, shouting, "Doctor, doctor, save my mother!"

A junior nurse at the triage desk was the first to rush over, glanced and shouted, "The patient can't hold on, call a doctor quickly!"

Gu Yunci said, "Yanchen, there's something here; I'll tell you about it later."

After speaking, he hung up, stood in the hallway, and quietly observed the situation.

Two on‑call doctors hurriedly gathered in the ward, "The patient's lung infection has caused acute respiratory failure; we must transfer them to the ICU immediately for rescue.

But Director Zhang and Chief Physician Luo are both absent, so we can't perform this surgery."

Meng Shutang listened nearby, panicking to the point of collapse.

Earlier, Director Zhang had told her that her mother had been bedridden for 14 years, her body extremely frail, organs aged, and her immunity almost nonexistent.

Any minor issue could be fatal.

Just as everyone was at a loss, one of the doctors' phones rang; after answering, they looked at Meng Shutang, their expression changed.

"Miss Meng, rest assured, Director Zhang and the hospital's top experts are already on the way and will arrive shortly."