Chapter 18

Chapter 18

“He died a long time ago. A dead man can’t hurt anyone. Someone else smashed Chu Suosuo’s fingers. As for who that person is, and why they wanted revenge on her-I really don’t know.” Su Hua’s voice was perfectly steady, yet a layer of tears slowly gathered on her lower lashes.

Gu Beixian lowered his gaze to the grave mound.

It was so ordinary it could hardly be more ordinary.

It looked like it had been there for years. A bunch of wilted wildflowers lay in front of it, and the ground was littered with the gray remnants of burnt joss paper.

The grave was extremely crude-just a pile of yellow earth, without even a headstone.

There was no way to tell whose it was.

Gu Beixian’s lips hooked in the faintest curve. Earlier, when he’d asked her who Ah Yao was, she’d dodged the question. And after he’d pulled up a shot of Ah Yao’s back from the surveillance footage, she’d come out and found some random little mound to fob him off.

What she didn’t know was that the moment she’d called out “Ay Yao” the first time in her sleep, he’d already sent people to this small mountain village to investigate Ah Yao in secret.

The whole village-ninety-eight households in total-men and women, young and old, every single one of them gave the exact same answer: there was no one named Ah Yao in the village.

So whoever was buried in this mound, it couldn’t possibly be Ah Yao.

She’d always been genuine and sincere, yet now, to protect her Ay Yao, she was lying.

Gu Beixian felt an uncomfortable knot in his chest, anger quietly rearing its head.

He was just about to call her out when he saw her eyes-at some point-had filled with tears. She stared at the mound, her gaze wet and fixed, her expression heavy with grief.

The wild wind swept past. Her thin body swayed as if she might topple any second, pitiful enough to make anyone’s heart soften.

It instantly stirred his protective instinct.

His anger eased.

He lifted a hand, pulled her into his arms, and said gently, “All right. I won’t pursue it. Stop crying.”

Su Hua pressed her face to his collar and cried without a sound.

In no time, a small patch of fabric was soaked through, her narrow shoulders trembling.

Gu Beixian stroked her bony back, his voice holding a scolding edge that still sounded indulgent. “Next time you go out, tell me beforehand. Remember?”

Su Hua didn’t answer.

Suddenly, a “gurgle, gurgle” rang out-so clear in the silence of the open fields.

Gu Beixian let out a quiet laugh. Only now did he feel how hungry he was.

Su Hua reacted a beat later.

She raised a hand to wipe her eyes, slipped out of his arms, and looked up at him. “Was that your stomach? Are you hungry?”

“Yeah. I haven’t eaten a bite since yesterday noon. Of course I’m hungry.” His tone was faintly aggrieved.

“Why didn’t you eat?”

“You went missing. I was busy taking people everywhere to look for you-how would I have any appetite?”

Su Hua couldn’t help feeling a little sad.

The way he acted made it so easy for her to get the wrong idea-to think he actually cared.

But the last time she’d let herself think that, he’d brought up breaking up with her in Chu Suosuo’s name.

“Let’s go back and eat. Aunt Liu should have the food ready. After we eat, you should go back,” Su Hua said softly.

Gu Beixian paused slightly, then gave a quiet “Mm.”

They walked back toward the village side by side.

When they got home, Shen Huai was setting up a table in the courtyard. Aunt Liu came out of the kitchen carrying bowls.

The moment Gu Beixian saw Shen Huai, he reached out and took Su Hua’s hand.

Su Hua tried to pull away, but couldn’t.

Shen Huai’s gaze fell on their clasped hands, and his eyes darkened a shade.

Seeing Gu Beixian, Aunt Liu said with lingering fear, “President Gu, my phone ran out of battery yesterday. I didn’t get your calls.”

Gu Beixian didn’t make a big deal of it. “It’s fine. Let’s eat.”

They sat down.

Gu Beixian picked up an egg and peeled it. Once he was done, he set it in front of Su Hua. “Eat.”

Su Hua handed it back to him. “You’re hungry. You eat first.”

Shen Huai smiled lightly. “You cousins are really close.”

Gu Beixian’s gaze turned cold, his tone flat. “I am her…”

“Cousin. He’s my distant cousin,” Su Hua cut him off, speaking out of sheer stubbornness. “I’m his poor country relative. I was a nanny at his house for three years, in charge of taking care of his day-to-day needs.”

Shen Huai looked genuinely regretful. “With skills as good as yours, going to work as a nanny is such a waste.”

Su Hua flicked a glance at Gu Beixian, her words loaded with meaning. “Well, it worked out. His family paid pretty well.”

The moment she finished speaking, she felt a hand appear on her thigh.

And then that hand gave her leg a squeeze under the table-itchy, and a little obscene.
The sensation made her heart race.

Su Hua’s ears turned red. She tilted her head and shot Gu Beixian a subtle, sideways glare, signaling for him to take his hand away.

Yet, his expression remained perfectly serious. He held his spoon, calmly sipping his porridge with impeccable manners.

One couldn’t tell at all that he was up to such little tricks under the table.

Su Hua reached out to grab that restless hand, intending to move it off her lap, but it wouldn’t budge. Instead, he caught her hand in his.

He held her hand, their fingers interlacing.

He even used his thumb to gently stroke her palm.

He rubbed it until her palm began to sweat.

With one hand injured and the other held captive by Gu Beixian, Su Hua couldn’t eat. She could only sit there stiffly, unable to move.

Gu Beixian tilted his head to look at her, a smile in his eyes as he asked deliberately, “Huahua, why aren’t you eating?”

He usually called her Su Hua, but now he was pointedly calling her “Huahua.”

Su Hua shot him a look of feigned indignation.

Gu Beixian just laughed. “Not eating? Are you waiting for your cousin to feed you?”

He scooped up a spoonful of porridge with his own spoon, even tested the temperature with his lips, and held it up to Su Hua’s mouth. “Be good. Open up, and let your cousin feed you.”

His voice was equal parts suggestive and seductive, but mostly teasing.

Su Hua’s face flushed crimson instantly.

She pressed her lips tight, refusing to open her mouth.

Gu Beixian’s smile deepened. “Not satisfied with a spoon? Then should your cousin feed you with his mouth?”

Su Hua hadn’t expected him to be so relentless.

She gave him a slightly disgusted look and said, “You’ve already used that spoon. Get me a clean one.”

Taking advantage of the moment she opened her mouth to speak, Gu Beixian shoved the spoon right in. “We used to share a spoon all the time, and you never minded. Now that there’s an outsider here, you’re suddenly picky? That’s a bad habit.”

Forced to take a mouthful of porridge, Su Hua glared at Gu Beixian and began to chew with gritted teeth.

Shen Huai shrugged and said helplessly, “Su Hua, your cousin really dotes on you.”

Under the table, Gu Beixian gave Su Hua’s hand a firm squeeze and said with a smile, “Of course. A little cousin is meant to be doted on.”

Aunt Liu almost buried her face in her porridge bowl.

She thought to herself: *Rich people really know how to have fun. They’re clearly husband and wife, yet they insist on playing ‘cousins’ for the thrill of it.*

With great difficulty, they finally finished the meal.

Aunt Liu stood up to clear the dishes.

Su Hua spoke to Gu Beixian with polite detachment. “You’re quite busy with work. You should head back now that you’ve eaten.”

Gu Beixian looked at her, his gaze tender. “Come back with me. This place is in the middle of nowhere; it’s inconvenient. Your cousin misses you terribly if he doesn’t see you for even a day.”

Su Hua’s ears felt numb from his flirting.

She never expected to shoot herself in the foot like this.

After a pause, she looked at her injured left hand and said, “I can’t work for three months because of my hand. There’s nothing for me to do back there anyway, so I’ll just stay here to recover.”

“That works too. Then your cousin will come find you again tonight.”

He placed a deliberate emphasis on the words “tonight” and “find you.”

It was as if he were coming to do something monumental with her that night.

Su Hua said hurriedly, “There’s no need. This place is quite far from the city. It takes several hours to drive; it’ll interfere with your rest.”

Gu Beixian reached out and affectionately pinched the tip of her nose. “You… why are you getting more and more stubborn?”

Su Hua tilted her head to avoid him and said in a low, warning tone, “Please keep your hands to yourself, alright?”

“I’m your cousin. Isn’t it normal for a cousin to act like this with his little cousin?”

He raised his hand to caress her cheek, his thumb gently grazing her crimson lips, his smile carrying a hint of danger.

That elegant, stoic face of his now looked wicked-it was far too seductive.

Su Hua had lived with him in mutual respect for three years.

He was either despondent and irritable, elegant and stoic, or gentle as jade.

Even when they were doing *that* in bed, he always maintained an air of dignified composure.

She had never seen this side of him before. He looked like a complete playboy, a total rogue.

Flustered and red-faced, she felt a restless fire burning in her heart.

She quickly turned away to escape his touch.

By now, Shen Huai’s expression was very grim. Unable to stay any longer, he stood up and left.

Su Hua couldn’t sit still either. She stood up and headed toward the house.

Gu Beixian followed her.

Once they entered the bedroom, Gu Beixian pulled her into his arms from behind and turned her around. He moved her injured hand out of the way with one hand, while the other pinched her chin as he leaned down to kiss her.