CHAPTER 289: CHAPTER 269: GETTING VERY CLOSE WITH A MINOR CELEBRITY

Mu Shuoqian saw the distracted Gu Qili suddenly dash onto the car lane; his heart nearly stopped. With all his might, he pushed open the car door, almost without any thought, ready to rush out.

Just as one of his legs stepped out, it stiffened alive; a swift figure suddenly appeared behind her, pulling her to the side of the road just in time. Holding her hand, he seemed to be scolding her with his head down, but there was not a trace of harshness in his eyes, only full of concern.

All the while, Gu Qili hung her head like a child who had made a mistake, unaware if she was listening. After they spoke for a while, she got into his car and left.

Mu Shuoqian returned to his car; despite the air conditioning being on, he felt waves of chill down his spine, gripping the leather seat beside him uncontrollably, his fingers almost digging deep into it.

Turns out, seeing another man by her side, he would experience such piercing heartache, as if someone was forcibly ripping his heart out from his chest.

But wasn’t this his intention? To push her away from him, to let her start a new life. She would love and be loved by someone else, and from then on, they would be worlds apart, irrelevant to each other.

"Young Master Qian." Yuan Yi had called out to him several times, and on the tenth call, he looked over with deep sadness and conflict that he had yet to conceal.

"What’s the matter?" The moment he spoke, his voice trembled slightly.

"Shall we continue to follow?" For the past few days, Yuan Yi had been accompanying Mu Shuoqian every other day for surveillance. To avoid being recognized, they changed cars and disguised themselves when driving.

In fact, they did nothing but follow. Sometimes, the lady would spend half a day in the mall without coming out, and they would wait outside.

Once, the lady had gone to a real estate agency, and after she left, Young Master Qian went in to inquire, only to find out that the lady intended to sell the villa of the winery.

After Young Master Qian returned, he immediately had someone purchase that villa. However, during the transfer of ownership, he still exercised some maneuvers. The villa remained in the lady’s name, only she was unaware.

Yuan Yi drove the car, following all the way onto the highway, and then to Perfume Bay.

No sooner had he parked the car than he saw Tang Tianyou carrying the lady into the building.

His heart quivered with them, and he hurriedly observed Young Master Qian’s expression through the rearview mirror. He appeared to have a calm expression, seemingly unaffected, but Yuan Yi knew that

Mu Shuoqian’s mind had crashed for quite a while, and he had not yet recovered from the image he had just seen until those two figures disappeared at the entrance of the corridor.

Had their relationship developed to this extent? When did this happen? He had been following her for a month and hadn’t seen them together.

He knew what kind of girl she was; she would never casually let a man carry her, especially considering the destination was her home. The fact that she didn’t refuse must mean she had him in her heart, right? She intended to develop a relationship with him?

Upon this thought, Mu Shuoqian felt an unreasonable bout of panic and emptiness, sweat breaking out on his forehead layer by layer.

He irritably pulled at his tie, looking up at the building again.

He knew she lived in apartment 402, so he just kept staring at the window of 402, without even blinking.

～

Tang Tianyou carried Gu Qili to the sofa in the living room. Seeing her swollen ankle, he immediately went to the kitchen fridge, searching for something, and failing to find ice, he wrapped a few popsicles with a towel to make a makeshift ice pack.

He elevated her injured foot onto the coffee table and removed her shoes and socks.

Gu Qili hastily said, "I can do it myself."

He didn’t make a sound but silently wrapped the ice pack around her ankle.

After finishing all this, he was also drenched in sweat.

Gu Qili looked at him apologetically, "My home doesn’t have air conditioning, but there is cold-pressed juice in the fridge. Have some."

Tang Tianyou didn’t stand on ceremony with her, having climbed up to the fourth floor in the scorching heat and busying himself back and forth, he was indeed about to pass out from the heat.

He opened the fridge and took out a bottle of juice. Probably because the lid was not tight, the bottle tilted, and half of the watermelon juice inside spilled out, drenching his white T-shirt.

He looked down at his shirt stained red by the watermelon juice, rather innocently shouting to Gu Qili, "Look what your watermelon juice did?"

Gu Qili glanced over and couldn’t help laughing mischievously, "Are you a three-year-old child? Can’t you be a little slower?"

"How was I supposed to know your bottle wasn’t screwed on tightly?" He pulled several paper towels to wipe it, but it was completely ineffective.

Gu Qili said, "Don’t bother wiping; it’s no use. Better go wash it quickly."

Tang Tianyou had no desire to walk back wearing a shirt covered in watermelon stains, so he reluctantly took off his T-shirt and went into the bathroom.

Although it was a rented apartment, under Gu Qili’s decoration, it immediately had the atmosphere of a home, filled with warm yellow and light pink colors, and a row of Arale-patterned hooks on the walls.

For the first time entering deep into her boudoir, Tang Tianyou was excited, couldn’t help but slap his face in the mirror, fearing that this was just a naive dream.

It wasn’t until Gu Qili’s voice came from outside: "The laundry detergent is under the sink in the cupboard. You should soak the clothes first before washing them."

Tang Tianyou finally snapped out of his trance and bent down to open the cupboard below and took out the laundry detergent.

"Just use a third of a bottle cap, and make sure the water covers the clothes," she instructed.

"Got it," Tang Tianyou followed her instructions to soak the clothes and washed his hands under the tap before taking a rag to wipe up the spilled watermelon juice.

Gu Qili saw him shirtless, revealing his well-built physique, with his belt slung low, faintly revealing the outline of his abs. Her face suddenly flushed, and she quickly turned her gaze away.

"I owe you a lot for last time. I might have died in that forest if it weren’t for you." Tang Tianyou poured her a glass of watermelon juice and placed it on the coffee table. Concerned about her foot, he simply stuffed it into her hand.

"I haven’t even visited you afterwards, not even a phone call. Are you angry with me?" She held the glass somewhat guiltily. He had been seriously injured, and she only indirectly asked about him through Xiong Da. She had just seen several ferocious scars on his body, probably from the car accident last time.

Tang Tianyou smiled gently, his eyes growing more tender: "You did it for my own good. I know."

Gu Qili didn’t expect him to respond that way. She looked up at him blankly, and only when she caught sight of his pure black pupils did she smile in relief.

"I’m recovering well, but I still have to go for rehabilitation every week." Tang Tianyou suddenly remembered the clothes in the bathroom, "I’ll go wash the clothes first."

~

Mu Shuoqian sat in the car downstairs, staring towards the fourth floor in a near self-destructive manner.

He knew that waiting here would only make him more heartbroken, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave.

At that moment, the balcony door on the fourth floor suddenly opened, and a tall figure walked out.

Mu Shuoqian sat up straight, watching intently.

He saw Tang Tianyou shirtless, holding a white T-shirt and a clothes hanger. After setting up the hanger and arranging the clothes, Tianyou went back inside.

Mu Shuoqian’s gaze fixed on the motionless T-shirt, his fist at his side clenching tighter, his eyes filling with red veins. Hanging out the laundry on the balcony was like a blatant declaration of territory.

He violently grabbed the car door handle as if about to fling open the door and rush out recklessly,

The piercing sound of a ringtone abruptly rang at just the right time, causing his action to suddenly stutter. It was then he realized he had once again been impulsively.

He thought he would gradually get used to her absence with time. However, the truth proved otherwise. Far from getting used to it, he felt lost and miserable every day without her, as if time were dragging on interminably.

Mu Shuoqian felt he would go mad if it continued like this.

"Young Master Qian, your phone has been ringing constantly. Don’t you want to answer it?" Yuan Yi, who had been resting his eyes in the front seat, was woken by the ringing and turned his head to kindly remind him.

It was then Mu Shuoqian realized he had been staring blankly at the phone screen for a while. He checked the caller ID and picked up the call unhurriedly.

"Shuoqian, where are you? Mom made your favorite cod fillets. Drive over here," said the voice from the other end.

"I’m not coming over. I’ve got a card game scheduled."

"Then come and get some tomorrow. I made a lot."

"Alright, I know." Mu Shuoqian still stared in the direction of the fourth floor. The white T-shirt was glaringly white, conspicuously white, white to the point where he wanted to tear it to shreds.

"Shuoqian, have you been getting close to a young starlet recently?"

"Don’t you already know?" Mu Shuoqian’s tone revealed his displeasure.

"Shuoqian, don’t you feel sick when you’re with that little starlet?"

If he had direct physical contact with a woman for more than a minute, he would feel nauseous and would vomit up everything in his stomach.

For many years, Qiu Lan had never seen him take the initiative to like any woman, except for the daughter of Gu Dezhong.

"No, I quite like her," Mu Shuoqian said somewhat impatiently, glancing at his watch, "I have to hang up if there’s nothing else."

Qiu Lan hung up the phone, her delicately made-up face inscrutable.

"Mom, did Shuoqian brother say he’s really broken up with Gu Qili? Is it true?"

Qiu Lan’s lips slightly curled into a smile: "True or false, we’ll know if we try."