Chapter 74

Chapter 74

The disdainful gazes of the crowd shot toward Hua Qirou like a volley of arrows.

As a wealthy socialite, Hua Qirou was used to a life of luxury. Everywhere she went, people coddled and flattered her; she had never been treated like this before.

Her expression soured visibly.

She turned to the servant behind her and snapped sharply, “What are you standing there for? Get me out of here! Get away from this crazy woman. She’s a lunatic!”

Su Peilan heard her.

She was the type of person who settled her scores on the spot and never let a grudge last through the night.

She stood up abruptly, looking down at Hua Qirou with a sneer as she shouted at the top of her lungs, “You’re the lunatic! You crazy woman! You shameless hussy! You fox spirit! You dead bitch!”

Hua Qirou had a passive-aggressive temperament; she was a bully who feared the strong.

She excelled at plotting behind people’s backs, but she couldn’t hold her own in a direct confrontation.

Especially against someone like Su Peilan, who was fiery, straightforward, and lived for a good vendetta, she couldn’t even muster a proper comeback.

Her face turned ashen as she berated the servant behind her, “I told you to push faster! Faster! Are you deaf? Can’t you hear me?”

The servant didn’t dare delay and began to jog while pushing the wheelchair.

They were moving so fast that they nearly collided with a heavily pregnant woman halfway through the hall.

The pregnant woman was accompanied by her mother-in-law.

As luck would have it, the mother-in-law was a notorious shrew known throughout the surrounding villages.

The old woman planted a hand on her hip and pointed a finger right at Hua Qirou’s nose, cursing up a storm: “Are you blind? Use your eyes when you’re walking! What if you hit my daughter-in-law? My daughter-in-law has been startled! You’ve scared my grandson! Pay up!”

Specks of the old woman’s saliva flew onto Hua Qirou’s face.

She had eaten large leek-filled buns for lunch along with two cloves of garlic. The smell… well, it was pungent, to say the least.

Hua Qirou raised a hand to wipe the spit off her face, nearly gagging from the stench.

The hospital was crowded.

Hearing the commotion, everyone turned to stare at them.

Hua Qirou felt humiliated. She pulled a stack of cash from her wallet, threw it on the ground, and said huffily, “Here’s your money! Take it and get lost!”

Watching Hua Qirou’s predicament from a distance, Su Hua burst out laughing.

It really was a case of the fox spirit meeting Celestial Master Zhang-there was always someone out there to take you down.

Gu Beixian returned after finishing his phone call.

Seeing Su Hua’s eyes curved in a sweet, bright smile, he walked over to her side and sat down. He patted her head and asked, “What happened? Why are you laughing so happily?”

“I just ran into Hua Qirou. I feel like she’s having a pretty rough time.”

Thinking about what she had gone through a few days ago, Gu Beixian’s lips curled into a slight smile. “She is indeed having a rough time.”

Of course, his definition of “rough” was entirely different from Su Hua’s.

To him, what she had suffered was practically inhumane.

However, he didn’t say anything, nor did he ever intend to tell Su Hua. That matter was too dark.

He didn’t want her to see his dark side.

The more you care about someone, the more you want to appear flawless in their eyes.

He accompanied Su Hua for a CT scan. Fortunately, her nasal bone wasn’t fractured.

The doctor helped treat the wound inside her nose and prescribed some anti-inflammatory medication and saline solution.

Gu Beixian also had the doctor prescribe two extra boxes of blood-replenishing oral liquid.

After leaving the hospital, Gu Beixian sent someone to take Su Hua home.

He told her to get some good rest while he headed back to the office to work.

Once home, Su Hua went to the bathroom to wash her face.

She came out, ate a little, and took her medicine.

Sitting down on the sofa, she picked up her phone and saw a missed call from an unfamiliar landline number.

She dialed the number back.

A deep, slightly familiar male voice came through the phone. “Is your mother alright?”

Su Hua thought about it carefully. It was Gu Jinyao’s voice.

She smiled slightly and said, “My mother is fine. Thank you for your concern.”

Gu Jinyao said softly, “That’s good then.”

Su Hua didn’t know what else to say, so she said “thank you” again.

Gu Jinyao didn’t respond immediately.

The two of them were silent for a moment.

Then, Gu Jinyao said, “Take care of your injury.”

Su Hua was slightly surprised. How did he know she was injured?

However, she didn’t ask further and simply said, “Alright, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

At this point, logically, they should have hung up, but Gu Jinyao didn’t.

Su Hua was a woman of few words to begin with, and since she wasn’t very familiar with him, she really didn’t know what else to say.

After several seconds, Gu Jinyao quietly hung up the phone.

Su Hua put her phone down.

She couldn’t help but feel that he was a bit too concerned about her.

But on second thought, she figured he might just be a helpful person, so she didn’t take it to heart.

She didn’t like to overthink the intentions of men other than Gu Beixian.

That evening, Gu Beixian returned home earlier than usual.
He had Aunt Liu prepare red date and lotus seed porridge to help Su Hua replenish her blood.

After finishing their meal and the porridge, Gu Beixian asked her, “Have you taken all your medicine?”

Su Hua nodded obediently. “I have.”

“Did you take the oral iron supplement?”

Su Hua slapped her forehead and laughed. “I forgot.”

She had never heard of needing an iron supplement just for a nosebleed.

Gu Beixian curled his finger and gave her forehead a gentle flick. “You little scatterbrain. Where is it? I’ll go get it for you.”

Su Hua covered her forehead and smiled. “It’s in my bag. I left it on the shoe cabinet by the door.”

Gu Beixian stood up, walked to the shoe cabinet, and opened the bag.

As he was reaching for the supplement, he spotted a silver dagger at the bottom.

The dagger was quite exquisite, with a very unique design. It was engraved with floral patterns and a string of English letters.

Gu Beixian pulled it out and unsheathed it, revealing a sharp, silver blade that glinted coldly under the lights.

He quickly realized this was no ordinary dagger. It was one of the top-ranked combat knives in the world, possessing immense lethality. It could hack, slash, and instantly pierce through prey; even the back of the blade was a deadly weapon.

It wasn’t something an ordinary person could buy.

Gu Beixian calmly placed the dagger back where he found it, took the supplement, and returned to Su Hua.

He opened the box, took out a bottle, inserted a straw, and handed it to her.

Su Hua took it and drained it in one go.

Gu Beixian took the empty bottle from her, tossed it into the trash, and asked in a casual tone, “When did you buy a dagger?”

Only then did Su Hua remember her visit to her mother’s house.

Gu Jinyao had pressed the dagger into her hand for self-defense. She didn’t want to hide it from him, nor did she like lying. Lies were things that, once told, required more lies to cover up, and they would eventually be exposed.

She smiled and told him the truth. “I ran into Mr. Gu, Gu Jinyao, at Tianshou Pavilion today. Just then, I got a call from a neighbor saying something had happened to my mother. Seeing how anxious I was, he gave me the dagger for protection.”

Seeing that she wasn’t lying, the gloom in Gu Beixian’s eyes lightened slightly.

He stood up, took his phone to the balcony, and called his assistant. “Have someone buy ten daggers-the best ones available. Go now.”

The assistant replied, “Understood, President Gu. I’ll handle it personally.”

An hour later, the assistant arrived out of breath, delivering ten brand-new daggers. Every single one was from a top-tier global brand and incredibly sharp.

Gu Beixian lined up the ten daggers in front of Su Hua and said, “Throw away the one he gave you. I had my people buy these for you.”

Su Hua looked at the ten daggers of various designs, caught between laughter and tears. “Is it really necessary to be this petty?”

Gu Beixian lowered his lashes, masking the shadow in his eyes. “I don’t like you using things given by other men,” he said flatly.

Being cared for was a good thing, but this level of possessiveness was a bit much for Su Hua to handle.

She chose her words carefully. “You really don’t have to do this. Gu Jinyao gave me the dagger because I gave him a painting. I gave him the painting because he saved me once back in Longyao Village. I didn’t want to owe him a favor, so I used the painting to settle the debt.”

Gu Beixian pursed his lips and remained silent.

His silence was his way of showing he was unhappy.

Su Hua leaned closer to him and reached out, gently stroking his jaw. “I’m not as popular with men as you think. You don’t need to be so tense, really.”

Gu Beixian lifted his eyelids and looked at her, his gaze as cool as water.

He had never met someone so humble. There was clearly a line of men watching her like hawks, yet she claimed she wasn’t popular.

Seeing that he didn’t believe her, Su Hua started counting on her fingers. “Look, aside from being decent-looking and knowing how to restore ancient paintings, I don’t have much else going for me. Like you told Xiao Yi, I’m a bit blunt and unromantic. I don’t even like talking to people I’m not close with.”

Gu Beixian paused, then lowered his head to kiss her hair. “Don’t throw the dagger away then,” he said softly. “I’ll trade these ten for that one, alright?”

Seeing his persistence, Su Hua didn’t want to ruin the harmony between them. She compromised, “Alright, then.”

The next morning, Gu Beixian sent someone to deliver that silver dagger to Zhengrong Auction House.

When Gu Jinyao returned from outside and entered his office, his eyes darkened the moment he saw the silver dagger sitting on his desk.

He walked over, picked up the dagger, and gazed down at it for a long time.

He traced the engraved patterns with his thumb, reluctant to put it down. It still carried the faint scent of Su Hua.