Tears shimmered in He Meiwei's beautiful eyes as she looked toward Long Yubei, but he refused to meet her gaze. She turned abruptly and fled.
Gu Lili spread her hands toward Long Yubei. "Your former lover just ran out—aren't you going after her?"
He rose and wrapped an arm around her, leading her upstairs. "What for? So it's true—she really is Gu Xichen's girlfriend?"
"You don't believe me?" Gu Lili slid her arms around his waist. "You can check if you like. I honestly don't know what she was thinking, denying it right to my face. She came with Gu Xiyun to my master's memorial service—and the moment she heard my master's spirit might return home, she bolted. Honestly though, with the way she dresses—so refined—you'd never guess she was suffering from uremia."
"I didn't expect it either."
He Meiwei deliberately slowed her steps after leaving the estate, hoping he might come after her. But ten minutes passed, and no one appeared.
Disheartened, she returned to the place she shared with Gu Xichen—only to find her suitcase and belongings waiting for her outside the door.
Startled, she quickly tried her password to enter, but it had been changed.
She pounded the doorbell in a panic. "Xichen, open the door. I know you're in there!"
Inside, Gu Xichen stood on the balcony, a coffee cup in hand, his face veiled in the shadows of the night. Fury roared within him like a surging tide.
He could not comprehend her actions—her words.
The brazenness of her betrayal humiliated him.
Especially in front of his former fiancée.
Hearing the things she said, he realized, with painful clarity, that she had never truly loved him.
His affection, his efforts—they meant nothing to her.
And what, in her eyes, did he amount to?
She had hidden her illness, deceived him, trampled his dignity.
If that was the case—then let it end here. He was not a man to be trifled with.
The doorbell rang on and on. Yet he had no intention of opening the door.
Half an hour later, He Meiwei finally stopped pressing the bell. She slumped by the door, regret gnawing at her.
I must have lost my mind to do what I did.
Now what?
She had let the watermelon slip through her fingers, and lost the sesame seeds as well.
Gu Lili was roused from sleep by a pressing urge to use the bathroom.
The space beside her was empty—Long Yubei was gone.
She relieved herself, then padded downstairs in her pajamas and asked the night guard, Xiao A, "Where's your young master?"
"He left about half an hour ago, ma'am."
"Did he say where he was going?"
"I'm afraid not."
Gu Lili returned upstairs, no longer sleepy in the slightest.
That bastard—could he have gone to find He Meiwei?
Should she call to check?
She wrestled with the thought, again and again—but in the end, she didn't make the call.
She simply waited. Quietly. For Long Yubei to come back and explain.
But she waited, and waited—he never came.
Not until two in the morning.
In the stillness of the night, she finally heard footsteps approaching the bedroom door.
Her instinct was not to rise and question him, but instead to quickly shut her eyes and feign sleep.
And the moment she did, she wanted to slap herself.
He sneaks out in the middle of the night, and I pretend to be asleep?
But since she'd already started, she might as well keep up the act.
The door creaked open. He didn't turn on the light, just closed the door softly behind him.
His footsteps moved toward the bed. He undressed, climbed in, and wrapped an arm around her, planting a gentle kiss on her forehead.
Gu Lili reached out and gave his waist a sharp pinch.
"Ah!" He cried out in pain. "You little minx—I knew you were pretending to sleep."