Chapter 62: Blocking Her Path, Not Letting Her Leave

At three in the afternoon, Meng Shutang called Gu Yunci.

Qin Zheng answered. "Teacher Meng, President Gu is in a meeting that will wrap up soon. If it's urgent, you can come up and wait for him!"

Meng Shutang carried her notebook upstairs.

In the elevator, she ran into Bai Cixian and Qiao Mo.

Qiao Mo said, "How many times last night did you and President Gu go at it? I can see several red marks on your neck, and you're walking a little unsteady."

Bai Cixian said, "Stop it, there's someone in the elevator."

Qiao Mo said, "Oh, her! But I have to say, your relationship with President Gu is really something—it's been four years and you two are still going at it like that!"

She paused. "When are you getting married?"

The elevator reached the seventh floor, and the two of them stepped out as they talked.

Meng Shutang watched their retreating figures, her dark brows lifting slightly. What? Gu Yunci and Bai Cixian weren't married!

It had been four years—how could they not be married?

Wasn't Gu Yunci deeply in love with her, unable to be without her?

A few minutes later, the elevator stopped at the twenty-eighth floor.

Setting foot here again after four years, Meng Shutang felt that the things remained but the people had changed.

Little Zhou and Wang Jiaojiao saw her coming and excitedly stood up.

"Teacher Meng, we thought we'd never see you again in this lifetime."

"We heard you're in charge of the donation work for the Palace Museum, and the two of us really wanted to come find you, but Special Assistant Qin said the second basement level is for collections and you can't just go in and out."

"We went to the parking garage several times but never ran into you."

Meng Shutang was also very happy to see Little Zhou and Wang Jiaojiao.

In the past, she had received a lot of help from them.

"How have you two been these past few years?"

Little Zhou nodded. "Doing alright."

Wang Jiaojiao thought of something, and her tone suddenly grew low. "Actually, these past few years, you have no idea—President Gu went mad trying to find you.

"We really couldn't imagine that someone so rational and wise could one day become that crazed."

"On the street, even if a girl's back slightly resembled yours, he'd grab her to check."

"He traveled to every corner of the world, even going to desolate, uninhabited deserts. No one could talk him out of it."

Meng Shutang listened indifferently, as though hearing a stranger's story—touching, perhaps, but having nothing to do with her.

Wang Jiaojiao was herself moved to teary-eyed blur, and seeing Meng Shutang's indifference, said, "Teacher Meng, aren't you moved? This is President Gu we're talking about!"

Meng Shutang's expression remained calm. "It's all in the past."

Little Zhou saw this and said, "Teacher Meng, please have a seat first. President Gu probably needs another forty minutes before he'll be done..."

Before she could finish, the executive-exclusive elevator opened with a ding.

Meng Shutang turned and saw Gu Yunci step out from inside.

The man was strikingly handsome, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, his black custom-tailored suit lending him a cold, commanding presence.

His jawline was as perfectly sculpted as if cut by a knife, his features deep and striking. When he smiled, he was composed and gentle as porcelain; when he didn't, he radiated an innate sense of pressure—aloof and unapproachable.

Looking at him, Meng Shutang suddenly understood why so many girls in the group were infatuated with him to the point of forgoing marriage, and she also understood why Bai Cixian had stayed by his side for four years without title or status.

Back then, in her heart, he had shone bright as the stars—someone who, with just one glance upward, made her feel the entire world light up!

Little Zhou looked at the man in shock. "President Gu, didn't you say it would take two hours?"

The man's gaze fell on Meng Shutang. "It ended early."

He noticed that ever since she stepped out of the elevator, Meng Shutang had been staring at him.

Looking at her, he smiled, warm as a breeze. "Shall we go in?"

Meng Shutang gave a slight nod.

The two of them crossed the central staircase and arrived at the upper executive zone.

Gu Yunci had originally wanted to show off the room full of begonia flowers.

But Meng Shutang didn't even glance at them, opening her laptop directly. "President Gu, I came..."

Before she could finish, Qin Zheng arrived carrying a food box, and Gu Yunci cut her off as well.

"Work is over, Teacher Meng. Let's eat first and then talk!"

He cherished every minute and every second spent with Meng Shutang, and very much wanted to share dinner with her.

"No need, I'm not troubling myself here. It's really just a few words."

"I have something to tell you."

Gu Yunci pulled off his jacket and tossed it onto the back of the chair. His long, well-defined fingers then unhurriedly undid the top two buttons of his shirt, the movement languid yet deliberate, his taut waist and abdomen pressing against the high-end shirt to reveal the faint outline of his abs.

But from the corner of his eye, he kept his gaze locked tightly on Meng Shutang.

In the past, she had loved looking at his abs.

But this time, Meng Shutang didn't look at him at all. She picked up her laptop and left.

"Minister Lu just called me. I'm going down to eat with him."

Gu Yunci had been standing there. He hesitated for a moment, but still couldn't help walking over to her and blocking her path.

The gesture wasn't aggressive, yet it carried an unquestionable dominance.

"Are you in that much of a hurry to leave?"

Meng Shutang froze where she stood, her heartbeat skipping half a beat. "We made plans!"

With that, she intended to go around him.

But the man, as if he had anticipated this, reached out and grasped her slender arm. "We? You and him—we?"

Meng Shutang's delicate brows furrowed slightly as she scolded mildly, "Move."

"No."

He was stubbornly childish, yet his gaze was deep and full of calculation. "Is having a meal with me really that hard?"

Meng Shutang didn't want to waste any more words. She pushed him aside and left without a backward glance.

Gu Yunci stood frozen there; it was a long while before he finally walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window.

Qin Zheng slowly stepped forward. "President Gu, the meal… are we still eating it?"

"No appetite."

He irritably pulled out a cigarette and lit it, his fingertips turning pale, the curling blue smoke making his expression dark and unreadable.

Qin Zheng glanced downstairs and saw Meng Shutang walking out of the first-floor lobby with a smile, heading toward Lu Shenyang by the flower bed.

Lu Shenyang stood with his hands in his pockets, bathed in the twilight, looking clear-eyed and gentle—indeed more approachable than the cold, domineering president before him.

He then saw Lu Shenyang take the laptop from Meng Shutang's arms, and the two walked close together to a nearby Hong Kong-style restaurant.

The man had seen it too. Jealousy surged in his chest, a fire raging through his heart. He immediately pulled out his phone, about to call Meng Shutang and tell her to come over.

At a time like this, that phone call would be courting death.

Meng Shutang wasn't even a Gu Clan employee—at most, they had a strategic partnership.

Besides, she had been assigned over by the Palace Museum; she wouldn't listen to Gu Yunci.

Qin Zheng hurried over. "President Gu, artifact appraisal and restoration are mentally taxing. Teacher Meng has been busy all afternoon and hasn't eaten yet!"

The man's hand paused slightly.

Qin Zheng saw this. "I think at this time, you should have a few bites too.

Looking at the time, by the time Teacher Meng comes back over, she'll be working overtime no matter what."

Gu Yunci's sword-shaped brows twitched slightly.

True enough—Meng Shutang's dinner time belonged to Lu Shenyang, so he would make her late-night snack time belong to him.

He sat down at once. When Qin Zheng went to get the food, he even instructed, "Don't take too much; we won't finish it."

But after turning his eyes to glance downstairs, he changed his mind. "The food today is quite good. Bring out two more boxes."

After the meal, he waited left and right but Meng Shutang still didn't come.

Gu Yunci was afraid she had already left. "Teacher Meng, it's been forty-five minutes and you still haven't finished eating?

I'm still in the office waiting to discuss work with you. When are you coming over?"