novelraw Chapter 175 I Choose Her
Chapter 175 I Choose Her
Gu Yanshen did not look at Li Fengche.
He walked up to Song Zhihe and looked down at her. Her lips were trembling, sealed shut with tape, and she could only utter muffled whimpers. He reached out and ripped the tape off her mouth. The movement was rough; as he tore the tape off, he pulled out a few hairs from her lips, and she winced in pain.
"Are you alright?" His voice was very soft, as if he were comforting an injured animal.
Song Zhihe was stunned.
She looked at him, into his eyes—there was something in those eyes she had never seen before. A tenderness, a tenderness, as if she were looking at someone she cared deeply about. Suddenly, she burst into tears, her whole body trembling.
"Yan Shen... I'm so scared..."
He raised his hand and wiped away her tears. The movement was slow, as if he were wiping something precious. "Don't be afraid. I'm here."
Lu Xiran stood in the shadows outside the door, watching all of this.
Lu Xiran arrived in Gu Yanshen's car. She didn't dare get too close, stopping far behind the black Maybach, watching him get out and walk alone into the white house. She waited a long time. Long enough for the wind to cool her hands, long enough for the sun to peek through the clouds and then retreat again.
She went around to the side window, found a piece of black cloth that wasn't completely sealed, and lifted a corner of it.
She saw him.
He stood before Song Zhihe and reached out to wipe away her tears. She knew that gesture all too well—he used to wipe her tears like that too. His thumb lightly brushed across her cheekbone, his fingertip pausing at the corner of her eye, as if to check if she was holding back.
Her fingers clenched the black cloth tightly.
He lowered his head, bringing his face close to Song Zhihe's, his lips almost touching her forehead. Her heart skipped a beat. Then she heard his voice, muffled through the glass, but she heard every single word.
"Don't be afraid. I'm here."
He had said those words to her before. At the airport, when she was being chased. On countless nights when she was afraid, he held her and said those same words. Now he was saying them to someone else.
Li Fengche clapped. The applause was slow, echoing in the empty hall. "President Gu is indeed deeply devoted. He'd even risk his life for Miss Song."
Gu Yanshen turned around and stood in front of Song Zhihe. "What do you want?"
"What do I want?" Li Fengche tilted his head, as if seriously considering the question. "I want many things. For example, the materials you took. For example, your influence in Haicheng. For example—" he smiled, "your life."
Gu Yanshen didn't move. "You know I won't give it to you."
"I know." Li Fengche took a step forward. "That's why I prepared something even better."
He clapped his hands. The side door of the hall opened. Two people carried a figure out—Lu Xiran. Her hands were tied behind her back, her mouth was gagged with a strip of cloth, and her hair hung down in disarray, obscuring half her face. But he knew it was her. He knew it all too well. Her frame, her posture, her habit of leaning slightly forward when she walked—he could recognize her even with his eyes closed.
Gu Yanshen's body stiffened. It was only for a moment, so fast it was almost imperceptible. Then he resumed his calm expression, even more indifferent than before, as if he hadn't seen anything at all.
Li Fengche observed his expression. "President Gu, you should know this gentleman, right?"
Gu Yanshen glanced at Lu Xiran. It was a very short glance, as short as if he had casually glanced at something insignificant.
"I know her." His voice was indifferent. "My ex-wife."
Li Fengche laughed. It was a wide laugh, so wide that his eyes crinkled. "Ex-wife? Just an ex-wife?" He walked up to Lu Xiran, pinched her chin, and lifted her face. "Then why did she come with you? Why was she spying outside?"
Gu Yanshen did not speak.
Li Fengche released his grip and turned to look at him. "President Gu, I'm giving you a choice." He pointed at Song Zhihe, then at Lu Xiran. "Two women, choose one. Whoever you choose, I'll let them go."
Song Zhihe's eyes widened, and her lips trembled. "Yan Shen..." Her voice broke into fragments.
Lu Xiran stood there, a strip of cloth covering her mouth, preventing her from making a sound. She simply looked at him, a few steps away, through the dim light of the emergency lamp, and through Li Fengche's triumphant laughter.
Gu Yanshen looked at her. That gaze was long, like an eternity. There was something in his eyes that she couldn't understand—not heartache, not reluctance, but a very deep, profound calm she had never seen before. A calmness as if he were making a decision he had already made long ago.
He turned around to face Song Zhihe. He reached out and took Song Zhihe's hand in his. Her hands were trembling, icy cold, and her fingertips were curled up in his palm.
"I'll take her away."
His voice was very soft, as if he were talking about something insignificant.
Something exploded in Lu Xiran's mind. She could hear her own heart pounding, heavy and pounding. She heard Li Fengche's laughter echoing in the empty hall. She saw his back, blocking Song Zhihe like a wall. She suddenly remembered a long time ago, when he had also blocked her in the same way. Now that wall was blocking someone else.
Her tears fell silently, scalding hot, crashing onto the floor and shattering into an invisible mist.
He didn't turn around.
Li Fengche's laughter echoed in the hall, like a blunt instrument striking Gu Yanshen's nerves.
"Choose her?" Li Fengche tilted his head, his gaze shifting back and forth between Song Zhihe and Lu Xiran. "President Gu, have you thought this through? This one—" He walked up to Lu Xiran, pinched her chin, and lifted her face, "is the one who took a bullet for you."
Gu Yanshen's eyelid twitched.
Only once.
"So what?" His voice was so indifferent, as if he were talking about something that had nothing to do with him. "Taking the bullet for her was her choice, not something I asked her to do."
Lu Xiran's eyelashes trembled. A strip of cloth gagged her, preventing her from making a sound, but her eyes spoke volumes. Those eyes held shock, confusion, and something slowly crumbling within them.
Li Fengche observed her expression, then looked at Gu Yanshen. "Mr. Gu, your words are rather harsh. That young lady is deeply in love with you—"
"Deeply in love?" Gu Yanshen interrupted him, a slight smile even appearing on his lips, a smile so faint it was as if he were listening to a joke. "President Li, you've investigated her, you should know she was my ex-wife three years ago. A deeply in love person won't get a divorce."