Chapter 97: A Peaceful Life

What is the most badass way to spoil a girlfriend you've ever seen...

Buying flowers? Buying designer bags? Or eating a luxurious lunch?

In Zhou Xiaoru's view, none of those!

Although she didn't identify herself as the girlfriend Gu Liyan, this guy, was talking about.

But the way this guy was excessively willful in spoiling his girlfriend truly opened her eyes.

She couldn't help but daydream, could it be that when this guy was with Fang Qingkong before, he used these same methods on her?

No wonder that woman has come back looking for him now.

A walking ATM like this, where else would you find one?

Although she said that, she, Zhou Xiaoru, was a person with integrity and principles.

Who knows what kind of crooked ideas this guy is cooking up again.

What's more, when it comes to money, she still needs to be cautious.

Lest she accidentally fall into this guy's trap!

Seeing that she seemed to be thinking about something again, Gu Liyan curled his handsome lips and asked.

"What's wrong? Not enough?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xiaoru immediately looked at the man standing so very close to her as if he were a monster.

Why is this guy so fickle, acting on a whim? What does he take her for? Just because he says something, it has to be that way? Does she not have her own personality!

A certain pet cat begins to fight back...

"Gu Liyan, what do you take me for? You want to start, so we start; you want to end, so we end. Do you think dating is doing business or making a deal! Is it something that can be bought with money!"

After roaring these words, Zhou Xiaoru was suddenly a bit dazed. Why did these words feel inexplicably familiar!

At this moment, a song with a familiar melody began to sing in her mind.

'It was you who wanted to break up in the beginning, break up then break up, now you want to use true love to coax me back. Love is not something you can sell just because you want to sell or buy, let me break free, let me understand, let go of your love.'

So it was "Love Trade"!

She really wanted to take out her phone right now and play this song for this guy to hear!

Feeling her pants pocket, how could she have forgotten again, her phone was left in the office and not brought out.

Sigh... what a pity.

And as for Young Master Gu, what flashed through his mind at this moment was exactly this song, because Zhou Xiaoru had used this song as her ringtone before, so he remembered the lyrics very clearly.

He even saw through what this girl wanted to do at this moment...

"Are you trying to play 'Love Trade' for me to hear!"

Zhou Xiaoru was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, then admitted it.

"Yes! This is exactly what you're doing—a love trade. My love is priceless, go find someone else to sell it to!"

As long as he wants, there are plenty of women lining up waiting.

A certain gentleman shook his head helplessly upon hearing this.

All kinds of romantic love talk and tropes turned into a different meaning in front of this girl.

And these tropes of his were all thought up by Shen Andong, Zhou Ding, and the others.

They even guaranteed him that no woman could withstand such an offensive and temptation.

But clearly, Zhou Xiaoru was not in that category of women.

It looks like he needs to find his bad-influence friends again and discuss this anew.

Facing the person within arm's reach, looking at her flushed little face and the little mouth she pouted from time to time, Big Boss Gu felt a stir in his heart.

He hugged her again, and then, while a certain Xiaoru was in a state of shock, he used his hand to lift her chin, and the man's lips pressed down directly!

No sooner said than done!

The moment Zhou Xiaoru saw those lips about to press down, before her little heart could jump out, she quickly tilted her head...

Only, she tilted her head a bit too much, and the man's lips landed directly on her fair neck!

And the impact of this neck kiss was far greater than the impact of kissing her lips directly.

Miss Zhou was so shocked and embarrassed she nearly went into shock on the spot!

She even screamed in her heart, Heavens! Let her just die!

If she had known, she should have just let him kiss her; now this guy had really taken advantage of her.

Her face turned red from her hairline all the way to her toes!

She was still a very innocent young girl, okay? She didn't want to be exposed to this overly adult world too soon.

At this moment, Gu Liyan was smiling like a cat that had successfully stolen a fish. Although he didn't kiss Zhou Xiaoru, ending it in this way wasn't bad either.

A certain gentleman slightly raised his head, leaned in close to a certain little ear that was already red enough to drip blood, and said one sentence.

"Your heart is beating very fast."

As soon as Zhou Xiaoru heard this voice that drilled directly into her ear, she was startled and pushed hard with her hands, successfully pushing the gentleman away from her.

She hurriedly wiped her neck with her sleeve, cursing viciously under her breath.

"You dirty pervert! You lecher! Shameless!"

She had thought he had changed his ways; truly, a leopard cannot change its spots, and a dog cannot stop eating dung!

(Author's note: Is it appropriate for you to compare yourself to dung? Why bother, being so pessimistic, sigh...)

In the end, this transaction concluded with Zhou Xiaoru fleeing in a panic.

Until she got off work in the evening, Zhou Xiaoru still hadn't recovered from that massive seduction at noon.

And in her mind, she kept replaying a song that was very popular in short videos.

'The sea of people! Vast and boundless! Drifting with the tide, floating and sinking, life! Like a dream...'

She felt that her life's path had long since deviated from its intended trajectory.

This current path was truly becoming wilder by the day, and she had to pull herself back.

It wasn't until evening that Zhou Xiaoru remembered she had stood Du Feng up at noon.

In her mobile phone's WeChat and call logs lay several missed calls and messages from Du Feng.

Yet, she had been so thick-headed that she hadn't even noticed them.

Gu Liyan was truly like a contagious virus; every time she encountered him, she was bound to be infected.

By evening, two bank transfer notifications arrived on her phone.

What she considered an astronomical internship salary had already been transferred to her account.

At noon, she had thought Gu Liyan was just talking, but she hadn't expected him to actually transfer every single cent!

Are all Big Bosses this arrogant and cocky?

Zhou Xiaoru decided to keep the portion of the salary that belonged to her and withdraw the excess to return to Gu Liyan.

She had also decided that if that guy refused to take it, she would donate the money to Project Hope in Gu Liyan's name, which could be considered accumulating some virtue for him.

She just didn't know that Tengyuan Company had a Fujiwara Foundation specifically established for donating to Project Hope, so there was no need for her to help Gu Liyan accumulate virtue and do good deeds.

Now, in the Personnel Department and the Administrative Department, everyone gossiped daily about her relationship with the Big Boss Gu.

Even though Zhou Xiaoru wore her lips thin every day explaining that they were just alumni and had no other relationship.

Yet, a crowd of women did not believe what she said.

Moreover, she clearly felt that several female colleagues looked at her with obvious hostility.

Sigh... the thing she worried about most had happened after all.

But Zhang Yao comforted her every day, telling her not to overthink it; women were all like that—envy, jealousy, and hate were perfectly normal things.

It was just that, as of now, Zhou Xiaoru hadn't encountered the kind of colleagues seen in TV dramas who would do bad things to her behind her back.

She had to be careful and guarded, otherwise, she wouldn't even know how she died one day.

After Monday, Zhou Xiaoru didn't see Gu Liyan again, and she didn't receive a reply to the message she sent back to Du Feng either.

She couldn't help but wonder if Du Feng was angry because he had been stood up.

Just as she was hesitating whether to call and apologize to him in person, Zhang Yao told her that on Tuesday, Gu Liyan, along with the special assistant and secretary from the President's Office, had already gone out of town.

It was said that there had been an accident with last week's bidding cooperation project, so the Big Boss and the Vice Boss, Su Poyang, had both gone on a business trip again.

Upon hearing this news, Zhou Xiaoru felt inexplicably relieved.

So, the reason this group had been quiet was that they had all gone on a business trip.

While everyone else was busy with their own affairs, she wasn't idle either; the day of her thesis defense arrived as scheduled.

She even snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, passed the defense, and graduated smoothly.

A new weekend was approaching; starting next week, after taking graduation photos, everyone could move out of the Dormitory one after another.

Before the end of June, they would completely bid farewell to campus, step into society, and go their separate ways.

Currently, there were only two apartments left in the Tengyuan Company staff dormitory that were unoccupied; the others were already full.

To prevent herself from ending up with nowhere to live, Zhou Xiaoru planned to start moving next week.

Moving to the new apartment earlier would also allow her to settle her mind sooner.

Everything in life and everything at work seemed to become exceptionally smooth because some people were away on business.

However, such peaceful days did not last long; with the arrival of another unexpected event, the rare tranquility of her life was broken once again...

Weekend.

The people in the Dormitory agreed to go out for a meal together.

Now, every time they gathered, it was one time fewer.

After four years of being together day and night, from being strangers to being very close, what was rare was that they shared the same interests.

Although they would occasionally have small arguments, it didn't affect their friendship.

All four of them had one thing they liked to eat in common: grilled fish.

This time, they changed to a grilled fish restaurant with a different flavor.

They had already arranged to eat grilled fish first and then go to KTV to sing.

They wanted to have one last carnival belonging to the four of them before graduation.

It was already past seven in the evening, the grilled fish restaurant was full of people, and the grilled fish operation of Zhou Xiaoru and the others was underway.

The topic of conversation while eating revolved around Zhou Xiaoru.

Xiao Lan, "Why haven't I heard you complaining in the Dormitory lately? Have you and Young Master Gu declared a truce?"

Zhou Xiaoru was eating big mouthfuls of food, looking like a starving ghost who hadn't eaten for a month.

As soon as Jiang Bufan saw her like that, she shook her head repeatedly.

"Tsk tsk tsk... I think President Gu will have to open a pig farm in the future..."

With this eating style and this appetite, it wasn't something an ordinary family could afford to raise.

Zhou Xiaoru rolled her eyes, put down her chopsticks, and pulled out a tissue to wipe her mouth.

"I told Bufan the day before yesterday that Gu Liyan went on a business trip again this week, and it seems he hasn't come back yet."

Yao Xiang, who was on the side, had a look of sudden realization; no wonder, it turned out the male lead wasn't home.

Xiao Lan, "You say that Young Master Gu has done so much for you, how much longer are you going to torture him?"

Yao Xiang immediately chimed in, "Exactly, exactly. I said it long ago, you and Gu Liyan won't end so easily. A prodigal who returns is worth more than gold; just give him another chance."

Hearing this one-sided talk, Zhou Xiaoru couldn't help but narrow her eyes.

"How much benefit did you guys get from that guy to actually turn against me!"

While speaking, she looked at Jiang Bufan, who was still eating beside her.

She asked, "Xiaofan, you aren't going to be like them, are you?"

At this moment, Jiang Bufan was picking through the chili peppers in the pot, somewhat absent-minded.

Seeing that she didn't react, Zhou Xiaoru couldn't help but nudge her with her arm.

"Fanfan?"

She discovered that Jiang Bufan seemed a bit abnormal these past two days.

Last night, after she got off work and returned, she called Xiao Lan to go to the cafeteria to eat together; at the time, only Jiang Bufan was in the dormitory.

In the end, the two of them went to the cafeteria to eat dinner together, and at that time, Jiang Bufan ate very little.

This was completely unlike this person's usual style; when asked what was wrong, Jiang Bufan only said she was a bit tired and had no appetite.

She didn't think much of it, but this morning, she discovered Jiang Bufan at the washbasin again, actually spacing out while brushing her teeth...

This person definitely has something on her mind.

At this time, Jiang Bufan came back to her senses, put down her chopsticks, and asked with a dry laugh.

"What are you all talking about? I wasn't paying attention just now..."

Xiao Lan and Yao Xiang did not notice her abnormality and repeated the conversation they had just been having.

Jiang Bufan then only replied with a couple of perfunctory remarks.

But all of this, in Zhou Xiaoru's eyes, was highly suspicious...