Chapter 58

Chapter 58

Chu Suosuo couldn’t believe her eyes and rubbed them hard.

It was true!

The worker standing before her was the same one who had thrown the iron bucket down from the scaffolding that day.

Her father had sent someone to secretly bribe him so she could play out a ruse of self-injury, seizing the opportunity to capture Gu Beixian’s heart.

But this worker had suddenly appeared in the living room of the Gu Family Old Residence.

It was over!

Only one thought remained in Chu Suosuo’s mind: the secret was out!

Even though it was a warm and pleasant April in late spring, she felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar, shivering from the cold inside and out.

She desperately wanted to pounce on that worker and strangle him to death.

That would be one way to silence the witness.

She regretted being too confident and careless earlier even more. She should have been on guard sooner to take countermeasures; she had wasted such a perfect opportunity.

Gu Beixian shot a cold, indifferent glance at Chu Suosuo. “Miss Chu, do you have nothing to say?”

Chu Suosuo’s entire body, including her tongue, was rapidly turning to stone.

She sat there blankly.

She couldn’t utter a single word.

Gu Aoting looked at her, then at Gu Beixian. Finding it quite bizarre, he scolded, “What are you playing at? Look at how you’ve frightened Suosuo.”

A mocking smile curled on Gu Beixian’s lips. “If Miss Chu doesn’t want to speak, then I’ll say it for her.”

Chu Suosuo spoke with difficulty. “Beixian, there… there might be a misunderstanding.”

Her voice was trembling.

Gu Beixian curled his lip. “I haven’t even started yet. How do you know there’s a misunderstanding?”

“I…” Chu Suosuo choked up.

The Old Madam, unable to contain her curiosity, urged, “Beixian, stop being so cryptic. Hurry up and tell us; we’re all waiting to hear it.”

Gu Beixian’s gaze landed on Chu Suosuo’s face. He said expressionlessly, “Four days ago in the afternoon, I went to the Binjiang Mingzhu development to inspect the construction progress with Assistant Chu, the Director’s Assistant sent by the Chu Group. While passing by Building 13, which is under construction, a worker pretended to be careless and ‘dropped’ an iron construction bucket from the scaffolding. Assistant Chu was quick to act and pushed me out of the way, and the bucket hit her on the head. Although Assistant Chu was wearing a safety helmet, she still suffered a mild concussion and fell unconscious. In Chairman Gu’s eyes, Assistant Chu disregarded her own life to save me, but little did he know this was all intentional.”

When he said “dropped,” he paused deliberately for emphasis.

The Old Madam clicked her tongue. “Using a ruse of self-injury like that… how clever!”

Gu Aoting’s expression turned extremely ugly.

He gave Chu Suosuo a cold, piercing look before finally turning to the worker. He asked sternly, “Is what he said true?”

With things having reached this point, the worker wouldn’t dare hide the truth even if he had a hundred times the courage.

He said tremblingly, “Yes, it’s true. Someone gave me a hundred thousand yuan and told me to throw the bucket toward President Gu’s head when he passed by, saying they’d make sure nothing went wrong. Chairman Gu, I know I was wrong. I won’t ever do it again.”

Gu Aoting had never been so humiliated.

To think he had protected Chu Suosuo so much, repeating over and over how she had risked her life to save Gu Beixian.

It turned out to be a farce!

Gu Aoting’s gaze was like needles as he glared at Chu Suosuo. “You truly disappoint me!”

Chu Suosuo’s tears began to flow instantly. “Uncle Gu, this was my mother’s idea. I didn’t know anything about it; I only found out after the fact. I’m innocent, truly.”

Gu Aoting locked his suspicious gaze onto her.

He seemed to be weighing how much of her words were true and how much were false.

With red-rimmed eyes and tearful vision, Chu Suosuo said, “My mother saw how much I liked Beixian-how I was so lovesick I couldn’t eat or sleep-so she wanted to help me.”

She already had a delicate, dainty face. When she cried, she looked like a pear blossom bathed in rain, which was particularly deceptive.

The expression on Gu Aoting’s face softened for a moment.

Chu Suosuo caught this and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

She reached out to pull his sleeve, saying in a wheedling tone, “Uncle Gu, please forgive my mother for the sake of her good intentions. I really was injured, too. When I saw that bucket falling toward Beixian’s head, I didn’t think of anything else and just pushed him away. I truly love Beixian with my life…”

Gu Beixian found it nauseating to listen to.

He frowned slightly and interrupted her. “Miss Chu, I am a married man. Please mind your words.”

Chu Suosuo’s expression froze.

The Old Madam looked at Gu Aoting with a beaming smile. “My brilliant Great Chairman Gu, do you have anything else to say now?”

Her tone was quite gloating.

Gu Aoting let out a cold snort. He pushed his chair back with a loud thud, stood up, and marched away.

As he passed the worker, he stopped.

After sizing the worker up coldly for a few moments, Gu Aoting instructed the assistant standing nearby, “Fire this man and blacklist him from ever being hired again! Withhold all his wages and bonuses!”

The assistant replied respectfully, “Yes, Chairman Gu.”

Gu Aoting swept out of the room.

He slammed the door hard when he left to vent his anger.

Seeing that her backer had gone, Chu Suosuo had no choice but to stand up as well. She said timidly to Gu Beixian, “Beixian, you have to believe me. It really was my mother’s rotten idea. I only found out after the fact.”

Gu Beixian’s handsome face remained indifferent. He said nonchalantly, “Miss Chu, your tactic of sacrificing a pawn to save the king is quite impressive.”

It was a backhanded compliment.

The underlying meaning was clear: now that things had gone wrong, she was pushing all the blame onto her mother to protect herself and her father.
Chu Suosuo waved her hands frantically. “No, I wasn’t sacrificing a pawn to save the rook. It really was my mother. She’s always been short-sighted and impulsive. If she hadn’t interfered three years ago, we wouldn’t have broken up. If we hadn’t separated, the one sitting by your side today would be me.”

As she spoke, tears began to well up in her eyes again.

Su Hua actually admired Chu Suosuo sometimes.

How were her tears so cheap? They fell the moment she wanted them to.

The old madam had long since seen enough. She curled her lip and said, “If you want to cry, go home and do it. Our family finally managed to get together for a meal, and I don’t want to watch you blubbering. It’s a mood killer.”

Chu Suosuo wanted to say more, but she saw the look of impatience on everyone’s faces.

Gu Aoting had already left.

There wasn’t a single person left to speak up for her.

Outnumbered and unwanted, she had no choice but to leave with her tail between her legs.

She walked out and got into her car.

Chu Suosuo picked up her phone and called Chu Yanru, complaining, “Dad, what kind of nobodies did you hire? Didn’t you say they were tight-lipped and reliable?”

Chu Yanru was stunned. “The secret is out?”

Chu Suosuo snapped impatiently, “What do you think? Beixian brought the man straight to the Gu Family Old Residence. I was humiliated today! I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life!”

Chu Yanru’s face darkened. “What did your Uncle Gu say?”

“What else could he say? He’s angry!”

Chu Yanru frowned deeply. “How did you handle it?”

“How else? I pushed everything onto Mom. Uncle Gu seemed to believe it. I just hope it doesn’t affect your business partnership.”

Chu Yanru breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ll find an opportunity to explain things to him properly later. You don’t need to worry about this anymore.”

Chu Suosuo gave a curt response and hung up, tossing the phone onto the seat.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became.

A perfectly good ‘bitter meat’ trap had somehow been completely ruined!

She had suffered for nothing; her head was still throbbing even now.

Who exactly had leaked the information?

Only she and her parents knew about this, along with her father’s confidant.

Her father’s confidant would never betray her, so the problem must be with the worker.

It had to be that worker who sold her out!

A lowly worker had the audacity to betray her! Where did he get the nerve?

Chu Suosuo was fuming. She barked at the driver, “Go after that worker! Damn it, he made such a fool out of me! Now Beixian hates me even more! This is so annoying!”

The driver quickly replied, “Understood, Second Miss.”

He started the car and went to find the construction worker.

After leaving the Gu Family Old Residence, the worker was walking silently along the road.

This was a wealthy residential area; there were no buses, and not even a taxi in sight.

His legs were aching from walking, yet he still hadn’t encountered a single cab.

Just as he was looking around for a car, a piece of clothing was suddenly thrown over his head.

Immediately after, he was dragged behind the bushes by the roadside and pinned to the ground, followed by a barrage of punches and kicks.

He had only been beaten for a few moments when the wail of police sirens reached their ears.

The driver lost his nerve, abandoned the worker, and tried to flee.

Unfortunately, before he could reach the car, he was intercepted by police officers jumping out of their vehicle.

The driver was arrested for assault and intentional injury.

Taken away along with him was the second miss of the Chu Family, Chu Suosuo.

At the same time, back at the Gu Family Old Residence.

Gu Beixian’s phone rang.

Once he picked up, his assistant reported, “President Gu, everything happened exactly as you expected. After Miss Chu left the residence, she sent someone to assault the worker. The police I arranged beforehand have already arrested her.”

Gu Beixian gave a low hum of acknowledgement and instructed, “Have someone call their bureau chief. Tell them to ensure the law is enforced fairly and that no favoritism is shown.”

“Understood, President Gu. I’ll get right on it.”

He hung up the phone.

Gu Beixian gave a faint smile and told the group, “Chu Suosuo sent someone to beat up the worker. She’s just been arrested by the police.”

The old madam burst into laughter. “I told you, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. She deserves it!”

Su Hua smiled and looked at Gu Beixian. “Thank you for putting on such a good show for us. It was brilliant.”

Gu Beixian raised an eyebrow slightly. “Are you still angry with me?”

That day, seeing him carry Chu Suosuo out of the construction site gate had made Su Hua so angry she felt like she couldn’t breathe.

At the time, she really wanted to just walk away and never look back.

Later, after visiting the hospital, her anger had mostly dissipated.

By now, it was long gone.

However, she couldn’t just say that. She adopted a warning tone and said, “You’re not allowed to hold Chu Suosuo ever again. No matter how urgent the situation is, you can’t.”

She was usually gentle, and it was rare for her to be so assertive.

Gu Beixian actually found her occasional assertiveness quite endearing.

He smiled and rubbed her head, saying dotingly, “You’re not very old, little girl, but you’re quite possessive.”

“I’m only a few years younger than you. I’m not a ‘little girl,’ so don’t take advantage of me,” Su Hua grumbled, though she couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across her face.

She really was beautiful when she smiled.

The joy danced in her large eyes, making her brows, the corners of her lips, her chin, and even the strands of her hair look incredibly vivid. There was a hint of pride and a touch of mischief in her expression.

It was a type of allure that was as innocent as it was bright.

Her smile made Gu Beixian’s heart itch with affection.

The old madam watched the young couple flirting with a beaming smile and secretly gave the old master a nudge with her foot.