Chapter 85: Suspecting Her Daughter's Identity, She Fled from Him for the First Time

Meng Shutang's body stiffened, her pupils contracted slightly, and her mind went blank.

Not until he loosened his grip slightly, his forehead pressed against hers, his breathing a complete mess.

"Don't look at him again. Don't... you can only be mine."

Meng Shutang shoved him hard. "Gu Yunci, have you lost your mind?"

The man's eyes still churned with undissipated dark currents, his Adam's apple bobbing. "I just..."

She looked at him, her gaze cold and astringent, carrying the trauma and distance of someone who had been betrayed.

"Just what? Just because you found out that Shenyang and I are perfectly innocent and not as sordid as you imagined, you can kiss me whenever you please?

We divorced a long time ago. You have no right to touch me."

That last line she said with clarity and cruelty.

After speaking, she opened the car door, got in, and sped away.

When Meng Shutang got home, Xin Xin was already asleep. She opened the door quietly and went in, saw that she was sleeping soundly, placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, then tiptoed back out and returned to her own room.

But her heart was in turmoil. She lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

When she came back, she had thought she would never cross paths with Gu Yunci again in this life, but this man refused to let her go.

Gu Yunci barely slept either.

When he woke the next day, there was a faint weariness in his eyes, but his features remained refined and elegant — nobility and handsomeness were innate, and to outsiders not a trace of decadence could cling to him.

The moment the alarm rang, he still rose with self-discipline and called for Song Yilin.

Auntie Zhang had breakfast ready; they finished eating and headed to the kindergarten.

The autumn rain pattered ceaselessly. He rested his chin on his hand and gazed out the window, and the memory of that rainy night suddenly surfaced in his mind.

He and Meng Shutang had just finished being intimate in the car when he cruelly tossed a divorce agreement at her.

He hardly dared to recall it — the sound of those pages slicing through the air that day must have been colder than the autumn rain outside the window.

Song Yilin saw him looking out the window and followed his gaze.

The next second, he pointed at a spot. "Xin Xin! Xin Xin is over there."

The man focused his gaze and saw Xin Xin holding an oil-paper umbrella, standing at the entrance of a convenience store, her little yellow rain boots splashing back and forth in the puddles on the ground — utterly adorable.

The driver stopped the car. The man and Song Yilin got out. From a distance, Song Yilin shouted toward the small figure at the entrance, "Xin Xin!"

Xin Xin recognized Song Yilin's voice and looked their way.

"Song Yilin!" Once she made out the man walking beside him under the umbrella, Xin Xin couldn't hide her delight. "Uncle Gu."

The three of them came together. Song Yilin was surprised. "You two know each other!"

Xin Xin nodded. "Uncle Gu and I have met a few times. So he's your uncle — we really are so fated."

Seeing Xin Xin, Gu Yunci's heart went completely soft as well.

Ever since that one time they ran into each other at the entrance of Jiangcheng Yiyuan, they hadn't seen each other again.

Even when he went to Zhonglin Dasha or Jiangcheng Yiyuan hoping for a chance encounter, he never could.

He hadn't expected that today, just as his mood had plummeted to rock bottom, Xin Xin would appear again.

He remembered that the time they met at Zhonglin Dasha was also when he was in his worst mood.

Just like Meng Shutang back then, she was the only light in all his wretchedness and collapse.

Seeing how much Gu Yunci liked Xin Xin, Song Yilin brought up his earlier suggestion again.

"Uncle, why don't you marry Xin Xin's mommy? Then I'd have a little sister, and our whole family could see each other every day!"

Gu Yunci was somewhat speechless. He didn't know how to respond to his little nephew's whimsical idea.

Seeing his awkwardness, Xin Xin started teasing him. "So that means... Uncle Gu will be my daddy from now on?"

Gu Yunci didn't know whether to laugh or cry, his heart both achy and soft.

He liked Xin Xin very much — a bone-deep kind of liking — but if you asked him to marry a woman he didn't know, he would rather die than agree.

He loved Meng Shutang. Even in his youth, he had told himself that he would marry no one but her.

That love was heavy and full, leaving no room for anyone else.

He was about to explain to them that even if they weren't one family, he would still dote on her, love her, and protect her.

The next second, a woman's voice came from the convenience store. "Xin Xin."

Hearing it, Xin Xin turned around with a smile and called back, "Mommy, I'm over here."

Gu Yunci's heart jolted to a stop. He raised his eyes to look — but the person standing at the convenience store entrance was not the one he yearned for day and night.

That wasn't right. That voice just now should have been Meng Shutang's.

If Xin Xin was Meng Shutang's daughter, and her features so closely resembled his, then she must also be his daughter.