Chapter 55: On Getting Married (1)

"Well, I might as well buy a few shares. Maybe I can make a little money."

When Gu Yao uttered these words, she was merely speaking off the cuff. Later, as she sat in her office and mulled it over, she found herself feeling rather perplexed: since when had she developed such an inexplicable sense of trust in Su Yu?

Propping her chin in her hand, she pondered for a full several minutes, her brow tightly furrowed. She was naturally a person who needed to get to the bottom of everything, and the sudden mental block in her train of thought left her thoroughly irritated.

When Cen Xi stepped in and caught sight of her in this state, she quietly retracted the foot she had already crossed over the threshold.

"What's the matter?" Gu Yao sighed, leaning back into her chair and spinning around in a circle.

"Um... I just wanted to ask, should I sell my shares in Hunsheng or not?" Cen Xi asked tentatively.

"Better not, I suggest you hold onto them. They've already plummeted to this extent anyway; keeping them might just yield an unexpected surprise." Gu Yao thought for a moment before deciding to follow her own intuition.

"Then I'll listen to you. Thank you, Yaoyao." Cen Xi let out a sigh of relief, tossed over a packet of snacks, and turned to leave.

Gu Yao caught the package and took a look. Surprisingly, it was a bag of Wangzi small milk puffs—she hadn't eaten these in years. Tearing open the package, she popped one into her mouth. It was slightly sweet with a lingering milky flavor.

Cen Xi was always fond of these childish snacks. Although she was around the same age, she was petite in stature and possessed a baby face, making her look just like a kid.

Yet, even such an endearing person inevitably suffered grievances at work, frequently being scolded to tears by patients' families.

Although Mingxi was an expensive private hospital, it did not mean the patients' families possessed higher standards of conduct. Wealthy people were all the more prone to giving free rein to their tempers, operating under the assumption that a monetary compensation afterward would make everything right.

Before long, Gu Yao heard a commotion outside, mingled with the sound of Cen Xi weeping. Hastening outside to look, she saw that the emergency room area had descended into utter chaos.

An impeccably dressed middle-aged woman with a towering hair bun stood there with a face as dark as water, pointing at Cen Xi and hurling abuse: "Who do you think you are? How dare you casually diagnose my daughter? She's sick to this degree, and you actually have the audacity to claim it's due to psychological factors? Are you implying she's faking her illness?!"

Cen Xi lowered her head, completely cowed by the woman's imposing aura, and stammered timidly, "Ma'am, I—I'm a nurse, not a doctor. I was merely passing on what the doctor said."

"Where is the doctor then? Call them here immediately!"

"What's going on?" A crowd of onlookers had already gathered. Gu Yao squeezed through the throng and glanced down at the hospital bed.

It was the young girl who had previously been brought in rolling around the bed in agony from a headache. She had calmed down considerably now and was currently receiving an intravenous drip. She was a very frail and petite person; even in sleep, she maintained a habitual curled-up posture, as if utterly lacking in a sense of security.

Cen Xi looked up and spotted her, her eyes welling with tears as if on the verge of crying again.

Seeing her state, Gu Yao knew asking her would yield no answers, so she held out a hand. "Medical chart."

Cen Xi hurriedly handed it over. Gu Yao took it, scanned it for a few moments, and understood the situation: "It is clearly stated right here in the diagnosis. Your daughter is suffering from tension headaches. This condition is closely linked to emotional states, but that does not mean the patient is doing it on purpose. I hope you can make that distinction."

"And who might you be?" The woman's gaze was unfriendly; she looked at everyone with suspicion, her eyes bristling with hostility.

Gu Yao sized her up a few times, deducing instantly that this person must possess an extremely faultfinding and rigorous personality, which explained why the child she raised was prone to sensitivity and anxiety.

She opened her mouth, just about to speak, when someone approached from behind and edged her aside. Glancing sideways, Gu Yao offered a calm greeting, "Director Zhang."

"Ah, Xiao Gu, go tend to your duties. I'll handle things here." The middle-aged man wearing glasses nodded, instructed her briefly, and then turned his face toward the middle-aged woman with a ready smile.

Seeing that there was nothing left for her to do, Gu Yao turned and walked away, pulling Cen Xi along with her. Just as they reached the corridor, a tall, slender male doctor hurried past, nearly colliding with them.

"Go on in, Director Zhang is inside." Gu Yao flicked her chin toward the room, her eyes filled with sympathy. Anyone encountering such a difficult family member would find it a headache, to say nothing of the fact that this young Dr. Zhang was newly transferred.

"Young Dr. Zhang was called away by the dean halfway through the diagnosis, which is why he asked me to brief the family beforehand," Cen Xi explained once Director Zhang had gone inside.

"It's fine, don't blame yourself," Gu Yao comforted her.

"I heard that mother runs an educational institution. Who would have thought her character could be so low, screaming at people without distinguishing right from wrong?" Cen Xi calmed herself a bit and remarked with a sigh, then, recalling something, added, "Did you see that kindergarten scandal from a while back? That's part of this person's chain of businesses."

"I know a little about it," Gu Yao nodded, her impression of the woman worsening further. Unwilling to dwell on the topic, she turned back to ask Cen Xi, "Which websites can I find the news about the Hunsheng Group that you mentioned earlier?"

"It's on all major websites, and Weibo too. Just do a search," Cen Xi replied.

Since idleness was as good as anything, Gu Yao took the time after her shift to look into these news reports. She discovered that Hunsheng's primary problems were internal; many senior executives who had supported Su Xingshui were resigning, accompanied by strikes among the rank-and-file workers. As long as Su Yu devised a way to smooth things over, it would simultaneously give him a legitimate pretext to purge dissidents, which actually presented significant benefits, albeit accompanied by some trouble.

As for the stock market, it was bound to fluctuate at the slightest hint of disturbance and would return to normal within a few days.

True to form, for the following three days, Su Yu did not return to the villa once, presumably bogged down by his overwhelming workload.

Gu Yao, for her part, was quite content. Living in his sprawling villa came with the convenience of a dedicated driver for her daily commute, and a chef had suddenly appeared downstairs to prepare meals exclusively for her, allowing her to eat the moment she came down.

Taking some time off that day, she had someone drive her home to pack a large suitcase and brought it back to the villa, right when she received a call from Yi Xun: "Where have you gone off to this time? I rang your doorbell and no one answered."

Gu Yao chuckled and teased her, "I went traveling again, this time in America."

"Hey!" Yi Xun shrieked on the other end. "Don't you have to work?"

She didn't doubt for a second that Gu Yao was lying, simply because she believed deep down that Gu Yao was precisely that kind of person.

"Alright, I'm just kidding. I have some personal matters to attend to and am staying outside for a while," Gu Yao then confessed.

"What kind of matters? Never mind, we'll talk in person. Meet me at Yaoyue tonight." With that, Yi Xun briskly hung up the phone.

Yaoyue was a rather famous bar in the city, a favorite gathering spot for literary youths. Gu Yao herself wasn't particularly fond of such places—given the time, she would rather go home and sleep—but Yi Xun quite enjoyed them. Yi Xun was a sentimental soul with a fervent passion for niche films and independent music.

By the time she left the hospital that evening, it was already past eight o'clock. Too lazy to grab dinner, Gu Yao called Yi Xun and hailed a taxi straight to the venue.

Upon entering the bar, the interior was shrouded in its customary hazy lighting. The space was vast; on the second level, several red-lipped girls in short skirts held bottles of alcohol as they leaned against the railing, gently swaying their bodies to the music.

Gu Yao walked straight ahead until she reached a corner booth where Yi Xun was already waiting for her. Yi Xun was dressed in her usual oversized hoodie and long trousers, the brim of her cap pulled down low, making her look like a young hip-hop artist.

"What are you drinking?" Yi Xun called out upon spotting Gu Yao.

"Whatever," Gu Yao replied as she took a seat. She wasn't picky about drinks and beverages, nor did she have any particular appreciation for them; as long as it was drinkable, it sufficed.

"Two frozen margaritas," Yi Xun signaled the waiter, ordering purely strong drinks since she knew Gu Yao could handle her liquor. Then she asked, "Did you drive?"

"No, my car is out of commission," Gu Yao waved her hand dismissively.

As the two of them drank and chatted, Gu Yao gave Yi Xun a general rundown of recent events.

Yi Xun took a delicate sip of her drink, a flush spreading across her fair cheeks beneath the brim of her cap. Opening her mouth, she lowered her voice with a hint of worry, "Yaoyao, staying at a strange man's house is dangerous. Why don't you move in with me?"

"Dangerous? Do you see *me* as the dangerous one?" Gu Yao tapped the table, smiling playfully.

"Still, you shouldn't..." Yi Xun tried to argue further.

"Relax, it's fine. I trust that man's character," Gu Yao said, patting her hand reassuringly. "Besides, my current situation is indeed a bit precarious, and he's the only one with the capacity to shield me."

"Alright then, call me if anything happens," Yi Xun conceded with a soft sigh. Then, recalling something, she added, "I ran into your younger brother a few days ago."

"Gu Shisheng?"

"Mhm. He's formed a band and is the lead vocalist and guitarist. The bar just signed them a few days ago, and they'll be performing here as house musicians every Friday."

"Does anyone else know about this yet?" Gu Yao frowned, pondering for a moment before asking.

"No one else. Most people who come here are just young folks," Yi Xun replied.

"Oh, well, keep an eye on him for me. Make sure he doesn't cause any trouble," Gu Yao nodded. "By the way, does he still remember you?"

"Probably not," Yi Xun raised a hand to adjust her cap. "Besides, I only caught a few glimpses of him from afar and didn't actually speak to him."