The abandoned daughter of the Lu family turns around and marries a celibate tycoon.

Chapter 94 The Most Familiar Stranger

Six months later.

"You have no idea how I've survived these past few months!"

Jin Qiqi, ten months pregnant, slumped on the sofa like a turtle turned upside down. One hand supported her lower back, while the other waved in the air, her expression exaggerated as if she were performing in a stage play.

"You know, I used to be Haicheng's top socialite," her voice rose and fell, "and now? I can't wear makeup! I can't eat this! I can't eat that! I have to wear maternity clothes every day! Ranran—"

She drawled out the last syllable, looking at Lu Xiran with a pitiful expression.

"I'm so bored!"

Lu Xiran stood in the entryway, looking at her like this, and couldn't help but laugh.

Six months.

This was the first time she had laughed out loud.

"Apart from your belly," Lu Xiran walked over and sat down next to her, her tone both helpless and gentle, "you haven't gained weight anywhere else."

She looked at Jin Qiqi, a faint smile in her eyes.

"Still the most beautiful hot mom in Haicheng."

"Ranran!" Jin Qiqi nudged her. "Stop making fun of me!"

"Okay, okay." Lu Xiran raised her hands in surrender. "But it's all worth it for the baby in my belly!"

"That's right!" Jin Qiqi grabbed Lu Xiran's hand and pressed it against her stomach. "He's moving, you know that?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Jin Qiqi's belly suddenly moved slightly.

It looks like a small fish wagging its tail, or a butterfly flapping its wings.

Lu Xiran's hand froze.

The warmth emanated through the thin fabric, so light yet so heavy.

"Look!" Jin Qiqi's voice lit up, "He likes his godmother! He's greeting her!"

Lu Xiran lowered her head and stared at the raised curve.

My eyes suddenly started to sting.

Over the past six months, she has thought of that child countless times in the dead of night—the child who left before he even had a chance to see this world.

If she could protect him, would everything be different?

If she had been more careful and cautious, could she now feel a little life gently kicking inside her belly, just like Qiqi?

"Little darling," she heard her own voice, very soft, as if afraid of disturbing something, "can you kick me again?"

The voice just fell.

My belly moved again.

Lu Xiran almost burst into tears.

"Look," Jin Qiqi said, holding her hand, her voice softening, "he likes you so much."

Lu Xiran nodded without saying anything.

She was afraid that if she opened her mouth, the fragile calm she was maintaining would shatter.

Lu Xiran stayed with Jin Qiqi until almost eight o'clock before getting up to leave.

Maybe I haven't adjusted to the time difference yet, or maybe I've been too tired these past few days.

Her mind was foggy, and her body felt completely drained, with only muscle memory operating mechanically.

drive.

Turn.

Enter the underground parking garage.

parking.

Everything was so natural, so natural that she didn't even realize it—

This is not where she should stop.

She got out of the car and headed for the elevator.

Press the button and go inside.

Leaning against the elevator wall, she closed her eyes.

Her mind was filled with Qiqi's words, the feeling of that little life kicking, and the "what ifs" she dared not think about.

in case……

"bite."

The elevator has stopped.

Lu Xiran opened her eyes and saw the numbers on the floor display screen—

36 floors.

This is Gu Yanshen's floor.

She froze. Looking down at the button panel, she realized that she had just habitually entered Gu Yanshen's private elevator.

That's too late.

The elevator doors are already open.

There was a person standing outside the door.

—Gu Yanshen.

The moment their eyes met, Lu Xiran felt her heart skip a beat.

He stood at the elevator entrance, impeccably dressed in a suit, car keys in his hand. He was clearly about to leave.

It's been half a year since I last saw you.

His eye sockets were deeper, and a deep, unyielding darkness settled in his eyes. There was something in his brows and eyes that she couldn't understand—like weariness, or perhaps a kind of numb emptiness.

His already angular face appeared even sharper due to his thinness. His jawline was taut, as if cut by a knife; his Adam's apple bobbed slightly, tracing a restrained arc above his shirt collar. He was like a sharpened sword, cold and fierce, shrouded in a layer of frost that kept strangers at bay.

They've matured.

And it also makes people... afraid to get close.

The moment the elevator doors opened, Gu Yanshen's gaze fell on her.

That glance was too fast. So fast that if she hadn't happened to look up, if she hadn't repeatedly sketched that face in countless late nights over the past six months—she wouldn't have caught that fleeting emotion at all.

That slight surprise was like a ripple on the surface of water, appearing only for a moment before he ruthlessly suppressed it.

It was as fast as her illusion.

Then his eyes went completely blank. Calm, detached, as if he were looking at a stranger he barely knew.

Lu Xiran was the first to look away.

She can't.

I can't be like him, hiding all my emotions so completely.

"I..." she heard her own voice, a little hoarse, "I might have gone the wrong way."

She stepped aside, wanting to wait for him to come in.

Gu Yanshen didn't move.

He was standing at the elevator door.

One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

Perhaps longer—

Then he spoke, uttering only one word:

"Um."

The voice was deep and low, as if it came from the depths of the chest.

He stepped into the elevator.

As I passed by her, I carried a faint scent of cedar.

It still tastes the same.

Lu Xiran subconsciously held her breath.

Gu Yanshen stood in the elevator, turned around, and pressed the password.

"30 floors," he said.

It was as if it was telling her, yet also as if it was merely stating a fact.

Lu Xiran was stunned for a moment before she realized that he was telling her that he had pressed the floor button for her.

She opened her mouth, as if to say thank you.

But those two words were stuck in his throat, and he couldn't spit them out no matter what he did.

The elevator doors slowly closed.

In the enclosed space, only the two of them remained.

Lu Xiran stared at the fluctuating floor numbers. 36, 35, 34… Every second seemed to stretch tenfold. She could hear her own breathing, her own heartbeat, and even the sound of her blood rushing through her veins.

too fast.

She was so fast she was afraid he would hear her.

She secretly looked at him through the mirror on the elevator wall.

He stood with his back to her, ramrod straight, his shoulders taut. He was also looking at the fluctuating numbers—or perhaps he was just pretending.

His fingers were slightly curled and hung at his sides.

33, 32, 31...

The elevator was eerily quiet.

Gu Yanshen remained silent.

He stood there, back straight, motionless.

Only in a place Lu Xiran couldn't see—his hand hanging by his side, his knuckles white from the force he was using.

"bite."

The elevator doors slowly opened.

Lu Xiran practically fled as she stepped out of the elevator.

His steps were a little unsteady, making a slight thud as he stepped on the carpet in the corridor.

She took one step forward, two steps, three steps—

She didn't dare stop.

She was afraid that if she stopped, she wouldn't be able to resist turning back.

Behind me, the elevator doors were slowly closing.

Just as the door was about to close completely—

Lu Xiran finally turned her head.

But the elevator doors closed completely.

It severed the last vestige of separation between them.

Her heart was beating so fast that she could barely stand.

Lu Xiran finally took a step, almost fleeing, towards Lin Chen's door.

My hands were shaking so badly that I had to press the fingerprint lock three times before it opened.