novelraw Chapter 232 Bow Hair Clip
Chapter 232 Bow Hair Clip
Lin Chen nodded, his movement very light, yet like a stone sinking to the bottom of a lake.
"Gu Yanxu." When Gu Yanshen uttered this name, the last trace of warmth was drained from his voice. "In the end, he still chose to be our enemy."
He paused for a moment, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly.
"I didn't expect it," he said, "that he could be so heartless as to lay a hand on Jin Qiqi."
There was a moment of silence in the study. It wasn't a peaceful silence, but rather like the extremely low air pressure before a storm, making one's chest feel tight.
Just then, the door was pushed open. Lu Xiran stood in the doorway, clutching her phone, her fingertips turning white from the pressure. She glanced at Gu Yanshen, then at Lin Chen, her brows furrowed into an unresolved knot.
"Uncle," she called Lin Chen first, then turned to Gu Yanshen, "Uncle."
Gu Yanshen's gaze immediately fell on the phone in her hand. His first reaction wasn't anything else, but a sharp pang of heartache—he thought she had seen those comments online. Those overwhelming, vicious words, as if they had crawled out of the gutter.
He immediately stood up, strode over, and reached out to support her shoulder, his arm unconsciously tightening as if protecting a fragile object.
"slowly."
"Uncle." Lu Xiran didn't pull away from his embrace, but instead showed him her phone screen. The chat interface was filled with a dense array of green chat bubbles, but the other party hadn't replied to a single one. The latest message was from two hours ago—"Qiqi, where are you?"
"Qiqi still hasn't replied to me."
Gu Yanshen's tense shoulders relaxed slightly.
He helped her sit down on the sofa, then squatted down and looked her straight in the eye.
"Ranran, I know you care about Qiqi." His voice was low, as if afraid of disturbing something. "But she needs time. She's feeling extremely guilty right now. This afternoon, she contacted me and said she wanted to testify in court."
Lu Xiran's eyes lit up instantly, and she grabbed his sleeve eagerly, "She contacted you? Why didn't you tell me? I want to see her—right now."
"Ranran." Gu Yanshen reached out and patiently tucked a stray strand of hair that had fallen beside her face behind her ear. His movements were slow, so slow that it was as if every detail was magnified. "She needs time."
Lu Xiran pouted slightly, like a cat whose dried fish had been stolen. That childlike grievance suddenly seemed especially heartbreaking on such a tense night.
Lin Chen watched this scene from the side and gently shook his head. "Your boss, Mr. Gu, was worried that you would be affected by those comments online," he said, his tone tinged with a helpless amusement, "He worried about you all day."
Lu Xiran blinked and turned her head to look at Gu Yanshen, who was squatting in front of her. His sword-like eyebrows were still slightly furrowed, the wrinkles between his brows looking as if they had been carved in by a knife, impossible to hide. She suddenly smiled, a very light and faint smile, yet like a small beam of light shining into the heavy atmosphere of the room.
"Being able to be by your side," she said, "means that strangers can't affect me."
Gu Yanshen stared at her for two seconds, as if to confirm whether she was telling the truth. Then, he finally let out a long sigh of relief, a breath that seemed to come from a very deep place, carrying the fatigue of the day and the anxiety in his heart.
"Don't worry," he said, reaching into his pocket and taking something out. "Kiki said she can't face you right now. Give her some time, she said she'll come and apologize to you herself."
He opened his palm, revealing a bow-shaped hair clip in his hand. The off-white satin surface was slightly yellowed and frayed at the edges, indicating that it had been preserved for a long time, yet it remained clean.
"She said she saw all the WeChat messages you sent," Gu Yanshen placed the hair clip into Lu Xiran's palm, "so you don't need to worry about her."
Lu Xiran lowered her head, staring at the hair clip. Her eyelashes trembled slightly, then again. Then she recognized it—
That was back in kindergarten. On stage, the lights were bright, and Jin Qiqi's hair clip had fallen off somewhere; she was almost crying. Lu Xiran took a bow hair clip from her own head and casually handed it to her, saying, "Here, take this."
It's been almost twenty years.
Twenty years, more than seven thousand days and nights. Lu Xiran had long since lost her own hair clip, but Jin Qiqi's was kept in perfect condition, without a single wrinkle on the satin surface, as if it had been repeatedly caressed and then carefully put back.
Lu Xiran clenched the hair clip in her palm and nodded vigorously.
"Uncle," she looked up, her voice steadying slightly, "do you know who's manipulating those comments online?"
Lin Chen glanced at Gu Yanshen, exchanging a silent confirmation.
Gu Yanshen nodded.
"Liu Mingyuan".
Lu Xiran's pupils dilated slightly, as if struck by something. She almost blurted out, "Lian Bichen's lawyer?"
Lin Chen hummed in agreement.
"Does Gu Yanxu know about this?"
The air in the study grew even heavier. Gu Yanshen remained silent for a moment, the answer stuck in his throat, unable to be swallowed or spit out. Finally, he said:
"I'm afraid... it was with his tacit approval."
His sharp eyebrows furrowed again.
Lu Xiran stared at him in disbelief, her lips parting slightly before closing again. "Impossible," she said, her voice rising. "Those things said online, smearing Qiqi like that—how could he possibly have condoned it?"
Gu Yanshen reached out and put his arm around her shoulder, his thumb gently stroking her shoulder. "Ranran," his voice was low and slow, "I never thought he would do this."
Even he himself felt a sense of estrangement when he uttered those words. Only then did he realize that some people stand on the edge of a cliff, and you never know when they will take the leap.
Lu Xiran suddenly realized something, and her expression changed abruptly.
"Will Qiqi be in danger?"
Gu Yanshen and Lin Chen's eyes met in mid-air, sparks flying.
Their eyes were saying the same thing—they had completely overlooked that.
"That's something we definitely need to consider." Gu Yanshen lowered his eyelashes, his voice deepening. "They've already used the same tactic of making Bichen faint once. They can't use the same trick again. So, what's next—"
"They'll find another way to prevent Jin Qiqi from appearing in court," Lin Chen interjected, his fingers already flying across the keyboard. The screen light illuminated his face, dividing his expression into two distinct halves. "Liu Mingyuan has no bottom line. He'll do anything to win a lawsuit. We must find her first."
Gu Yanshen turned to Lu Xiran, "Ranran, you and she grew up together. Think about it, where is she most likely to be?"