Chapter 35

Chapter 35

It was true that Su Hua had slapped Chu Suosuo yesterday, but she had only hit one side of her face, and it hadn’t swollen this badly.

Clearly, someone else had finished the job.

Su Hua found Gu Nanyin’s number and dialed it. “Nanyin, what happened to Chu Suosuo’s face?”

Gu Nanyin burst into loud laughter. She laughed for a long while before stopping to say, “She went to a bar last night and stayed until midnight. On her way home, someone intercepted her, dragged her out of the car, and knocked her out cold. Then they beat her face until it looked like a pig’s head. She had bodyguards with her, but they were knocked out too. Oh, I can’t help it-let me laugh a bit more, hahaha!”

Su Hua waited for her to finish laughing before asking, “Did she call the police?”

“She did. The police checked the surveillance footage, but it turns out the cameras on that stretch of road were broken. They can’t solve the case.”

Su Hua secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Regardless of who had beaten Chu Suosuo, the enemy of her enemy was her friend.

She paused for a moment and asked, “Did you go to see her?”

What she actually wanted to ask was whether Gu Beixian had gone to see her.

Some things were almost subconscious; she couldn’t control them.

As if guessing her thoughts, Gu Nanyin said, “Don’t worry, Sister-in-law. My brother didn’t go. Something came up yesterday afternoon, and he had to fly out. My dad and I went to see her. Chu Suosuo’s crying was absolutely pathetic-she deserved it!”

After chatting with Gu Nanyin for a while longer, Su Hua hung up.

After washing up, she went into the living room.

Breakfast was laid out on the dining table; Su Peilan had already gone to the hospital.

The household registration booklet was sitting next to the breakfast with a note on top of it.

Su Hua picked it up. The note read: Sweetie, I’ve found the registration booklet for you. Happy divorce! The sooner you leave, the sooner you escape that sea of misery! In a few days, Mom will arrange blind dates for you! Two a day-one in the morning and one in the evening! We’ll show Gu Beixian! We’ll show that old bastard Gu Aoting!

Su Hua let out a short laugh, but as she laughed, she felt a wave of sadness.

She felt that after the divorce, she might not be able to accept another man for a very long time.

After finishing breakfast, Su Hua put the registration booklet and her ID card into her bag. She and Gu Beixian had agreed to go through with the divorce today.

Her phone suddenly rang; it was Gu Beixian.

His voice sounded a bit distant as he said, “A situation came up at the overseas branch yesterday afternoon. I’ve come over to handle it. We’ll talk about the divorce when I get back.”

Su Hua breathed a small sigh of relief, but her heart quickly tightened again. “How long will you be gone?”

“A week at the shortest, half a month at the longest.”

Su Hua paused. “Then I’ll wait for you to return.”

“Alright.”

Just as she was about to hang up, she remembered something. “Someone beat Chu Suosuo’s face last night. It wasn’t my doing.”

Gu Beixian’s tone was calm. “I know.”

Su Hua was slightly surprised. “You know?”

“Yes. It’s likely the same person who crushed her left hand last time.”

“Who?”

“Ah Yao.”

Those two short syllables instantly pierced Su Hua’s heart.

Her emotions suddenly flared up, and she shouted almost instinctively, “It’s not him!”

Her usually gentle voice was sharp and brittle, sounding foreign even to her own ears.

After a moment of stunned silence, she softened her voice. “It’s not him. He passed away a long time ago in a fire. I took you to see his grave at Grandpa’s place last time. Surely you remember?”

Gu Beixian said nothing, only giving a faint hum of acknowledgment.

Su Hua felt that he still didn’t believe her; that dismissive hum was just to get her to be quiet.

However, she didn’t want to argue further. Calming her emotions, she said, “Call me when you’re back in the country.”

“Okay.”

A week later.

A young woman named Shen Yuan came to the door. As soon as she entered, she called out, “Hello, Senior! My name is Shen Yuan. Shen Huai is my brother.”

Su Hua had already received a call from Shen Huai beforehand, so she showed her inside.

She invited her to sit and served a cup of tea.

Shen Yuan introduced herself: “I’m also from the Archaeology Department at Jingdu University, but I only studied there for half a year before going abroad as an exchange student to study international archaeology. I just graduated this year and am now working at the City Museum. I’ve heard of your great reputation for a long time, Senior. You were quite the legendary figure at our school back then.”

Su Hua smiled. “You don’t need to call me ‘Senior.’ Just use my name. I started school early and skipped grades in elementary school. Although I graduated earlier, I might actually be younger than you.”

When they compared their ages, they discovered they were born on the exact same day of the same month and year.

Su Hua was only a few hours younger than Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan had come on behalf of the museum to invite Su Hua to participate in the restoration of an ancient painting.

It was only when Su Hua followed her to the City Museum that she realized the piece to be restored was a Seclusion Painting by Wang Meng, one of the Four Masters of the Yuan Dynasty.

This Seclusion Painting was the very same one that the Tall and Thin Man and the Bald Man had kidnapped her to restore two or three months ago.
At the time, the painting had only been separated, and the case was solved before there was a chance to restore it.

Su Hua was puzzled. “Why has it taken so long? Hasn’t it been restored yet?”

Shen Yuan let out a sigh. “Stolen goods have to go through a whole process. Once the legal procedures are finished, they’re handed over to the national treasury and then distributed to museums. Once it’s in a museum, experts have to identify and study it before restoration specialists can draft a proposal. By the time that’s all done, two or three months have passed. We invited you here this time to participate in the restoration alongside other experts because you were the one who separated the layers. Of course, this was also my brother’s idea.”

Su Hua understood. Shen Huai was doing this for her own good.

In the private sector, no matter how good one’s work was, there was always a bit of an ‘unorthodox’ stigma attached to it.

Working with official institutions lent an air of legitimacy.

Participating in this restoration would add a prestigious credential to her resume, even if she didn’t strictly need it.

They arrived at the Cultural Relics Protection Department.

As soon as Su Hua entered the restoration room, she saw a dense crowd of experts seated inside.

The youngest person present was at least in their late forties or fifties, and most were gray-haired-elite talents invited from all over the country.

Su Hua was the youngest by far.

However, because she was Su Wenmai’s granddaughter and already had a modest reputation in the industry, no one dared to look down on her.

She spent the entire morning discussing restoration plans with the experts.

When lunchtime arrived, Su Hua didn’t really want to share a table with a room full of older men, so she stepped out.

Outside, Shen Yuan was already waiting for her at the door. She said with a smile, “Our director told me to entertain you personally.”

Both of them had studied archaeology, shared a common language, and were about the same age, so it didn’t take long for them to hit it off.

Of course, the main reason was Shen Yuan’s lively and outgoing personality.

As they walked, Su Hua received a WeChat message from Shen Huai, asking how things were going today.

Su Hua replied to him as she walked.

Suddenly, Shen Yuan’s eyes lit up. She covered her mouth and gasped, “Wow, look at that handsome guy! Our director is walking this way with a total heartthrob. My god, he’s way too handsome!”

She hurriedly touched her face, fixed her hair, and straightened her clothes. Nudging Su Hua with her elbow, she whispered, “Quick, check for me-is my makeup okay? Are my hair and clothes alright?”

Su Hua, who had been looking down at her messages, glanced up at her and said, “You look fine.”

Shen Yuan blushed. “That handsome guy is looking at me. He even smiled! Do you think he’s interested in me?”

Su Hua followed her gaze.

The man was indeed handsome.

Young, striking, tall and upright, with pale skin and a refined, sculpted bone structure. His features were as exquisite as a statue.

Dressed in a dark formal suit, he looked elegant and possessed an extraordinary aura.

But this handsome man was Gu Beixian, the husband she was about to divorce.

His gaze was clearly fixed on her, not Shen Yuan.

‘Perhaps women just like to indulge in wishful thinking,’ Su Hua thought.

Their eyes met. Gu Beixian gave her a slight nod with a faint smile. After exchanging a few words with the director, he strode toward them.

Shen Yuan stopped in her tracks and frantically wiped her hands on her clothes.

Su Hua also stopped, looking at her with slight confusion. “Why did you stop walking?”

Shen Yuan’s eyes were glazed over as she stared intently at Gu Beixian. She was too excited to even bother answering Su Hua.

When Gu Beixian reached them, Shen Yuan was the first to reach out her hand. She said enthusiastically, “Hello, handsome! My name is Shen Yuan. Yuan as in ‘kite’ or ‘eagle.’ It’s a pleasure to meet you. How should I address you?”

Gu Beixian didn’t reach out to shake her hand. He only gave her an indifferent glance and said, “I’m looking for Su Hua.”

Shen Yuan quickly grabbed Su Hua’s arm and said with a beaming smile, “She’s my best friend! We were born on the same day of the same month of the same year. Looking for her is the same as looking for me.”

Su Hua didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

She hadn’t expected Shen Yuan to have such a comical personality.

Gu Beixian clearly lacked the patience to deal with her. He reached out, placed his hand on Su Hua’s shoulder, and pulled her into his arms. “Lunch together?”

“Okay,” Su Hua replied.

Shen Yuan was stunned. “Su Hua, you know this hunk? Who is he to you? Why is he holding you like that?”

Su Hua smiled faintly. “I know him. We have a… rather close relationship.”

They were husband and wife, after all-the closest of relations yet the most distant. When they were close, they were inseparable; when distant, they were like strangers.

Hearing that they had a “close relationship,” Shen Yuan assumed they were relatives. Her eyes began to sparkle again, and just as she was about to speak, Gu Beixian’s patience finally ran out.

He simply kept his arm around Su Hua and led her away.

Shen Yuan was left standing there in a daze.