novelraw Chapter 233 You're not going?
Chapter 233 You're not going?
"Auntie said she didn't go back." Lu Xiran quickly recalled, "Yinuo is at her parents' house, the villa... Xin Mubai said she hasn't been there."
When she mentioned "Xin Mubai," she couldn't help but glance at Gu Yanshen. Gu Yanshen's brow twitched very slightly, and something flashed in his eyes—like jealousy, or perhaps resentment—but he said nothing, only subtly tightening his grip on her shoulder.
"Where else will she go?" Lin Chen asked.
Lu Xiran suddenly looked up, her eyes lighting up.
"She also has a large single-level apartment," she said, "near the Xin family's place. It was a gift for her eighteenth birthday—her parents wanted her to live closer to home."
"Give me the address." Lin Chen had already closed his laptop, his coat draped over his forearm.
Lu Xiran quickly pulled out her phone and sent the address. Lin Chen glanced at it, tucked his laptop under his arm, and said without looking up, "I'll bring some people over. You stay with Ranran."
Before the words were even finished, the person had already arrived at the study door.
The door closed gently behind him.
The city was asleep. The streetlights shone alone, casting long, distorted shadows of the roadside trees. The lights were off in the large apartment. Jin Qiqi was curled up on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket, drifting off to sleep.
She seemed to be dreaming of something from a long time ago. The kindergarten stage, the lights blindingly bright, and the little girl next to her, with a bow hair clip, smiled at her, then reached out and took off one of the clips, handing it to her—
Click.
The sound of the door lock turning.
It's very light.
Jin Qiqi suddenly opened her eyes, her pupils reflecting the faint light from the bedroom doorway.
"……who?"
Her voice was hoarse and weak, as if someone were choking her. No one answered.
The floor lamp in the living room wasn't on; only a sliver of light seeped in through the curtains, casting a pale glow on the coffee table. Jin Qiqi instinctively reached for her phone—it wasn't on the sofa. She'd placed it on her bedside table before bed, and now she was separated from that room by a dark hallway.
Then came the sound of footsteps.
Not one person, but at least two. The leather shoes clattered on the marble floor, making a dull, rhythmic sound, like some kind of countdown.
The light in the entryway suddenly turned on.
Jin Qiqi squinted and, in the dim light, saw a person standing in the center of the living room, followed by two men in dark coats.
Gu Yanxu.
He stood there in her living room, wearing a light gray overcoat with one button undone at the collar, revealing a glimpse of his collarbone. His expression was indifferent, as if he were looking at an object unrelated to him, yet something churned in his eyes—like guilt, or perhaps a cold calm born of having mentally prepared himself for anything.
Jin Qiqi's pupils suddenly contracted.
"You..." Her voice trembled, but she wouldn't allow herself to back down. "How did you get in?"
Gu Yanxu didn't answer. He simply tilted his head slightly, signaling the two people behind him to close the door. The heavy security door slammed shut behind him with a dull, sentence-like sound.
Jin Qiqi's heart skipped a beat.
She finally got a good look at the two men. The one on the left was burly, with his hands in his pockets and a blank expression; the one on the right was thinner, but his eyes were sharp as nails, and he was carrying a black sports bag.
This doesn't sound like a conversation.
This is an operation.
Jin Qiqi slowly stood up from the sofa, the blanket slipping off her shoulders. Her legs were slightly weak, but she kept her back straight, her nails digging into her palms, using the pain to keep herself awake.
"Gu Yanxu," her voice steadied slightly, a somewhat sarcastic smile even appearing on her lips, "Don't you have a security gate? Breaking into a single woman's home in the middle of the night with two bodyguards—do you think you're not good enough to be trending?"
Gu Yanxu's expression finally changed. A crack appeared in that cold shell, revealing something so complex that it was impossible to see through.
"Kiki," he began, his voice lower than usual, like a cello with its strings pulled back, "Sit down. Let's talk."
"Talk to me?" Jin Qiqi almost laughed out loud. "At two in the morning, you broke into my house, and now you want to talk to me?"
"I didn't break in," Gu Yanxu said, his tone as calm as a still lake. "There's a spare key to this house."
Jin Qiqi was stunned for a moment, and then felt a chill rise up from the soles of her feet.
A spare key. This means he can come in anytime. Had he been here before this moment? Had he stood in this dark living room, watching her curl up on the sofa and fall asleep, without her knowing?
She didn't want to think about it anymore.
"What do you want to talk about?" Jin Qiqi crossed her arms, her chin slightly raised. She knew she must look terrible—wearing an old T-shirt, her hair a mess, no makeup, and traces of tears in her eyes. But she wouldn't allow herself to show any vulnerability in front of this person.
Gu Yanxu was silent for two seconds, then said something that made Jin Qiqi's heart stop.
You can't attend next week's court hearing.
The living room was silent for a full five seconds. The silence wasn't like stillness; it was more like something had been pushed to its limit, ready to snap at any moment.
Jin Qiqi stared at Gu Yanxu's face as if she were looking at a stranger.
"What did you say?"
"You should have heard me clearly," Gu Yanxu said in a flat voice, "You cannot testify in court."
Jin Qiqi felt as if a lump of red-hot coal had been stuffed into her chest. She shook her head in disbelief, her lips trembling slightly before her voice finally rose: "Gu Yanxu, your mother wants to kill Ranran!"
"She didn't." Gu Yanxu's pupils contracted sharply; the shell shattered completely, revealing the scorching magma beneath. "Qiqi—"
Gu Yanxu's Adam's apple bobbed up and down. His jawline was taut like a fully drawn bow, with veins throbbing faintly.
"Qiqi." He called her name again, but his voice had changed, carrying a different tone—like a plea, or perhaps a compromise made after being driven to a dead end. "Between you and my mother... I know you hate Ranran because of her. But she is, after all, my mother. You can't treat her like this."
Jin Qiqi's eyes immediately reddened.
"Gu Yanxu, your mother tried to kill Ranran twice! Both times she used me—"
Her voice choked, but she managed to hold it in.
"You feel sorry for your mother, but have you ever thought about Ranran? Have you ever thought about the three years they missed? How can you be so heartless?"
Something shattered in Gu Yanxu's eyes. But the next second, his eyes turned cold again, as if an iron gate had fallen, keeping all the softness out.
"I didn't ask you to commit perjury," he said, his voice almost a whisper. "I just want you... not to go."