novelraw Chapter 174 You Have Quite a Few Bounds
Chapter 174 You Have Quite a Few Bounds
"Gu Yanshen!" She pulled away from his embrace, sat up, and the blanket slipped down to her waist. "Why won't you believe me?"
"You don't tell me anything, you just want to control me. You make me go back to Switzerland whenever you want, and you make me stay whenever you want, and you even want to control my life. I'm not your property, you can't restrict my freedom just because you love me!"
As she finished speaking, her chest was still heaving violently, her lips were pressed tightly together, and her chin was slightly raised, as if waiting for him to refute her, or as if waiting for him to admit his mistake.
He didn't speak.
He just looked at her, for a long time. He reached out and pulled her back into his arms. She didn't struggle; her body stiffened for a moment, then went limp, her forehead resting on his shoulder, her breath falling on his neck, warm and carrying a slightly sour taste.
"I don't know what to do." His voice came from above, very low. "I'm so scared."
She froze, lifting her head from his embrace. He looked at her, his eyes filled with weariness, guilt, and something she rarely saw on his face—a sense of defeat.
"I really don't know what else to do." His voice was very soft, as if he were confessing something shameful. "I don't know how to protect you without making you feel controlled. I don't know how to love you without hurting you. I tried pushing you away, but you came back. I tried hurting you, but you still wouldn't leave."
His fingers ran through her hair, his fingertips slightly cool. "Ranran, it's not that I don't trust you." He paused. "I'm afraid. I'm afraid you'll put yourself in danger for me. You've already done it twice. The first time was with the child, the second time was taking a bullet for me. I'm really scared."
She looked at him. She looked at the fear in his eyes that he couldn't suppress, and at his lips that were pressed into a thin line.
"Gu Yanshen," she called his name.
Before I could even speak, the phone rang.
—It's Jin Qiqi.
"Ranran!" Her voice boomed from the receiver, "Have you arrived in Switzerland? I haven't heard from you at all, I was so worried, so I had to call you."
Lu Xiran traced circles on the bed sheet with her finger. "Qiqi, I didn't go."
"What?" The voice on the other end rose eight octaves.
Lu Xiran glanced towards the office. Gu Yanshen had gone out to handle work after seeing it was Jin Qiqi's call. The door was ajar, and Gu Yanshen was inside processing documents sent by Lin Chen. She lowered her voice. "He didn't sleep well, I..."
"Lu Xiran!" Jin Qiqi interrupted her, exasperated. "Don't you have any backbone! He bullied you like that last time, and you still care about him?" She paused, as if remembering something, and her tone suddenly turned volatile. "Besides, isn't my cousin better than him? He put in so much effort—fireworks, roses, a river-view restaurant—can't you give him a chance?"
"Qiqi, you know me," Lu Xiran said softly. "I love him, and only him."
There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone. Then Jin Qiqi sighed, a long, drawn-out sigh that made Lu Xiran think she was going to hang up. But she didn't. Her voice suddenly became lighter, like a dark cloud being blown away by the wind.
"Really, I just can't teach you," she muttered, then laughed. "But if you stay in Haicheng, I can see you more often! That's not bad!"
Lu Xiran smiled too.
Gu Yanshen's phone rang.
Li Fengche sent me a photo.
Song Zhihe was tied to a chair, with a window behind her that revealed a gray sky. Her hair hung down in disarray, obscuring half her face; her lips were chapped, and her eyes were red and swollen, as if she had been crying for a long time. There were several tears in her clothes, revealing a small bruise on her shoulder.
【You do it yourself. Otherwise, Song Zhihe's secret will be exposed across the entire internet.】 The next message popped up immediately.
Gu Yanshen handed his phone to Lin Chen. "Make the arrangements."
He originally didn't want to pay attention to it.
What Song Zhihe did was enough to warrant her death a hundred times over. She lied to him for eight years, framing him for Gu Yanbo's child and making him believe it was his. She conspired with Li Fengche to set a trap on the island. She secretly encouraged Song Kexin to drug Ranran. He had a thousand reasons not to care about her.
His phone rang again. This time it was a video call. He hesitated for a moment, then clicked to open it.
On the screen, Song Zhihe's face was very close, her eyes were red as if they were about to bleed, and her voice was so hoarse that it was almost inaudible. "Yan Shen, please... he's going to make those things public... I'll be ruined..." She choked up, as if desperately holding back something. "Otherwise, I'll go live and tell everyone how much you love... and I know who it is. That person from the Gu family—I know who it is."
Gu Yanshen's finger hovered at the edge of the screen. Song Zhihe knew his weakness was Ranran, and that Ranran had considerable influence. If she revealed this during the live stream, Ranran would truly become the target of public criticism.
A message popped up below the video: [Countdown begins. 2 hours. If you don't come, everything about her will explode online. Including your affairs.]
In the upper right corner of the screen, red numbers began to jump.
2:59:58.
2:59:57.
Gu Yanshen put down his phone. "Make arrangements." His voice was calm, as if he were arranging a routine business negotiation. "I'll go alone."
Lin Chen looked at him. "How should I tell her?" He glanced towards the lounge.
Gu Yanshen was silent for a moment. "Don't let her know."
Lu Xiran had just hung up the phone when Gu Yanshen left. She quickly chased after him, asking, "Where did he go?"
"There's an urgent matter at the company, he needs to take care of it." Lin Chen glanced at his watch. "He'll be back soon. You stay here, don't go anywhere."
She nodded.
At the same time, she received a text message from an unknown number: "Want to know where Gu Yanshen went?"
A location is attached below.
Lu Xiran didn't hesitate. She picked up her car keys, dodged the bodyguards, and went directly down to the garage via the private elevator. She chose his second most frequently driven car—the one with his car's GPS tracking information.
Lu Xiran watched as Gu Yanshen's car drove toward the location indicated, and then followed his car.
Li Fengche's villa stood alone in a barren, gray wasteland on the outskirts of Haicheng. The four-story building, its exterior painted a stark white, with windows covered in black cloth, resembled a giant beast with its eyes closed from afar. Cars could only be parked 500 meters away. When Gu Yanshen got out of the car, the wind blew across the open field, carrying the scent of earth and withered grass.
Gu Yanshen went inside alone. The door wasn't locked.
The hall was dark, with only a few emergency lights on, casting a dim, yellowish glow that illuminated the empty space and long shadows. Song Zhihe was tied to a chair in the center, her mouth taped shut. When she saw him enter, she struggled violently, the chair legs scraping against the floor with a screeching sound. Her eyes were wide open, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Li Fengche emerged from the shadows. He had lost a lot of weight, his cheekbones were prominent, and his eye sockets were deeply sunken. He wore a gray jacket, zipped up all the way to cover half of his chin. But his eyes were still the same, unnaturally bright, like two clusters of will-o'-the-wisps.
"Mr. Gu, as expected, you came alone." He smiled, a very slight smile, as if he were appreciating something he had anticipated. "Ms. Song, you have quite the influence."