Chapter 59: My Dad's Surname Is Meng, and Mine Is Bai Because I Took Mom's Surname

"How did you get in?"

Seeing Bai Cixian approach, Meng Shutang was somewhat surprised—after all, before leaving, Gu Yunci had said that unrelated people were not allowed in here.

As the manager of the Gu Clan's cultural tourism department, Bai Cixian's access card had clearance to the second underground level storage room.

She waved the access card in her hand. "Besides this place, I also have access to Yunci-gege's office."

Meng Shutang lifted her gaze faintly and said nothing more.

Four years had passed—they must be married by now!

"Time is tight and the workload is heavy. You and Miss Ruan can't manage with just the two of you, right?

Shutang, we're old friends. I was idle anyway, so I came over to help."

"No need," Meng Shutang refused bluntly. "Young Madam had better wait somewhere else. The two of us sisters are enough here."

Hearing Meng Shutang address her as "Young Madam," Bai Cixian froze for a moment.

But she smiled faintly and offered no explanation.

She walked toward them. "Don't stand on ceremony. Yunci-gege just said to let me help you all out a bit."

Meng Shutang and Ruan An were afraid she would cause trouble, so after she came in they kept a careful eye on her.

But they had work to do, after all. After watching for a while and confirming she was behaving reasonably well, they left her alone.

Seeing this, Bai Cixian secretly hid the donation list among other documents.

Before long, Ruan An noticed something was wrong. "Where's the artifact list? I clearly put it right here just now."

Meng Shutang also helped search.

But neither of them could find it!

Just then, Gu Yunci came over.

Gu Yunci was somewhat surprised to see Bai Cixian here. "Why are you here?"

Bai Cixian said, "I was cataloging a batch of artifacts and was worried about errors, so I came to double-check."

Gu Yunci said coolly, "Are the items managed by your cultural tourism department on this floor?"

Bai Cixian was taken aback. "Yunci-gege, I just heard Miss Meng was here. We haven't seen each other in four years—old friends catching up."

Meng Shutang could hear the distance in Gu Yunci's tone toward Bai Cixian, and knew he hadn't been the one to send her over.

But she had no mind to dwell on such things.

Gu Yunci didn't pay any more attention to Bai Cixian either. Seeing Meng Shutang and the others searching with sweat beading on their foreheads, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Just now, while An-an and I were working, I jotted down some important work information on the donation list, figuring I'd enter it into the computer once we finished.

But now it's gone. We can't find it no matter how we look."

Bai Cixian walked to Gu Yunci's side. "I saw that piece of paper just now."

Gu Yunci said, "Where did you see it?"

Bai Cixian glanced at Meng Shutang and, the thief crying thief, said, "I clearly put it away properly. Could it be that Miss Meng has a poor memory and casually set it somewhere else?

I'm sure Miss Meng didn't do it on purpose. Let's look together!"

Gu Yunci glanced at Meng Shutang and said nothing.

Bai Cixian also started searching. Since she was the one who had placed it, she quickly found it and brought it before Gu Yunci. "Yunci-gege, is this the one?"

Gu Yunci took it and handed it to Meng Shutang. "Is this the one?"

Meng Shutang nodded.

Seeing this, Bai Cixian said, "Miss Meng, make sure to put it away properly this time. Don't just leave it lying around."

Meng Shutang said nothing.

With Gu Yunci here, whatever she said, he wouldn't believe—it would only make her look unprofessional.

Who knew, in the next second—

"She put it there? Are you sure?" The man looked at Bai Cixian with cold eyes, his voice low.

Bai Cixian said aggrievedly, "Yunci-gege, you don't believe me?"

Gu Yunci said, "She's in the work area, with this large partition in the middle. She'd have nothing better to do than walk all the way around to put the list over there?

I'd say it's more likely you, wandering around here with nothing to do, glanced at it and tossed it over there!"

As Gu Yunci's words fell, everyone in the room was stunned.

No one was more shocked than Meng Shutang.

In the past, whenever she and Bai Cixian appeared at the same time, if anything went wrong, it was always her fault.

How was today... different!

The thought merely drifted through everyone's minds before they resumed working normally.

Bai Cixian saw Gu Yunci sit down on the leather sofa and couldn't help glancing that way.

Noticing the sofa was cream-colored, she asked Qin Zheng, "Doesn't Yunci-gege hate light-colored furniture the most?"

Qin Zheng lifted his gaze and glanced at Meng Shutang. "Teacher Meng likes light tones."

Bai Cixian gave a cold smile, walked over, and sat down beside Gu Yunci. She gave him a rundown of the cultural tourism department's recent work.

But the man wasn't listening at all. His dark gaze was fixed on Meng Shutang in the distance—even the strands of hair brushing across her cheek, he watched with extraordinary attentiveness.

Bai Cixian felt stifled inside. Suddenly she noticed a freshly restored ancient bead placed on Meng Shutang's side.

Finding it fascinating, she walked over to take a look.

But after a single glance, an idea popped into her head.

Just now, with the artifact list, she had deliberately shifted the blame onto Meng Shutang, and Gu Yunci had seen right through it.

But what if she made a mistake—and within that mistake, Meng Shutang also shared some of the "credit"? This time, Gu Yunci would surely blame Meng Shutang!

Anyway, these past four years, he had been cold and distant toward her. She was long used to it.

She stood up and walked over.

Seeing this, Gu Yunci rose as well, without batting an eye.

Seeing this, Bai Cixian suddenly felt delighted inside—didn't this mean that Gu Yunci still cared very much about her?

She swaggered over to the work area, leaned down to observe closely, and let out sounds of admiration from time to time.

"Miss Meng, your craftsmanship is truly superb."

Meng Shutang sensed someone approaching and turned around.

When she saw Bai Cixian standing before the ancient bead, with the man standing beside keeping her company, a flash of displeasure crossed her heart.

It wasn't that she found their public display of affection an eyesore; she simply felt they were in the way, worried they might damage the already-restored ancient bead.

Gu Yunci saw her look over and met her gaze.

In the instant their eyes met, something searing surged in the depths of his eyes.

After just one second, Meng Shutang shifted her gaze away.

The next second, the ancient bead rolled off its display stand; the faint sound of its fall, though soft, still broke the quiet space.

Bai Cixian stumbled a step back, her face pale as paper, her hand clutching her chest tightly. "I'm sorry, I didn't do it on purpose… I just wanted to lean in for a closer look. I never expected something like this to happen."

Even as she said this, she was thrilled inside.

The ancient bead had fallen from such a high stand—at best it would suffer a shallow nick, at worst it would crack.

Either way, all of Meng Shutang's earlier effort had gone to waste.

Restoring the ancient bead was extremely draining on energy and eyesight; let her eyes go blind from exhaustion, and see how she could still seduce Gu Yunci.

The instant Gu Yunci and Meng Shutang heard the commotion, they reached out to protect the ancient bead before they could even think.

Their fingertips touched as they caught the ancient bead between them, and it came to rest steadily on the stand.

"Teacher Meng, take a look and see if there's anything wrong with this bead."

At the moment their fingertips inadvertently touched, he froze as if burned; when she heard him speak, she didn't even look at him, merely withdrew her hand with indifference, without the slightest pause.

"It's fine, there's a soft pad on the stand."

This was completely beyond Bai Cixian's expectations. She had staged this accident only to make Gu Yunci blame Meng Shutang—how did it end with them being intimate!

She could clearly see that in the instant Gu Yunci's fingertips touched Meng Shutang's, he was reluctant to pull away—he was enjoying it.

Her body went limp and she collapsed onto the floor, her eyes looking weakly at Gu Yunci, her voice thin and trembling. "Perhaps it's because I had a miscarriage four years ago, which left my body weak all along.

But I don't think it's entirely my fault either—it's that the bead was placed too close to the edge."

Meng Shutang saw this and said, "Miss Bai, when you came in, I told you this is the work area and not to come over here.

If you want to look, keep your distance."

"She's the one who knocked the ancient bead off. It has nothing to do with you, so don't take it to heart."

After the man finished speaking, his gaze swept over Bai Cixian, who sat on the floor playing the victim, his tone devoid of any warmth. "This ancient bead is to be donated to the Palace Museum.

Fortunately, it's fine. If anything had gone wrong, I would have made your Meng family pay until you were destitute!"

Mealtime arrived, and the staff brought lunch to the rest area.

Seeing that the food looked good, Bai Cixian offered to stay.

Gu Yunci said, "There's no food for you here. Go eat at the canteen."

Meng Shutang had something to ask her, so she offered to let her stay. "Let Miss Bai eat here. There's so much, An An and I can't finish it all anyway."

Gu Yunci did not eat here.

The three of them sat down, and Meng Shutang took the initiative to ask Bai Cixian, "Miss Bai, your surname is Bai, so why did I just hear President Gu mention your… Meng family?"

Bai Cixian smiled faintly, and as she reached for the dishes, she revealed that camellia pendant.

"Because my father's surname is Meng. I took my mother's surname."