Yun’er had been taken care of by her sister since she was little. Although it had fostered a strong sense of dependence in her, she still wanted to look after her sister in return—not just when she was sick, but also to be able to step up when something big happened.
“Got it. Stay safe out there.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got Brother Li looking out for me.”
Gu Wan’er hummed in acknowledgment, then turned and walked toward the elevator bank. But the way she moved was still a bit awkward—as if she’d been wounded by something.
When she reached the top floor, Gu Wan’er glanced over at the desk nearby. Sure enough, Yu Xiaoduo was already sitting there bright and early.
Yu Xiaoduo had half-expected Gu Wan’er to skip work today, but it looked like she had some nerve after all. Fine then—get ready to be chewed out by your big bro.
Yan Li, who was sitting nearby, stood up respectfully and greeted, “Good morning, President Gu.”
“Good morning,” Gu Wan’er replied softly.
Yu Xiaoduo got to his feet with a grin. “Good morning, President Gu. I have something to report to you.” With that, he stepped forward and pushed open the office door.
This was exactly what Gu Wan’er had anticipated. If he didn’t do something, that would’ve been the real surprise.
As Gu Wan’er walked into her office, Yu Xiaoduo closed the door behind them. Outside, Yan Li found herself pondering the relationship between President Gu and Yu Xiaoduo.
The moment the door clicked shut, the smile on Yu Xiaoduo’s face vanished. “You—”
Before he could even finish, Gu Wan’er clutched her forehead and collapsed onto the sofa, her face twisted in pain. “My head hurts so much.”
“Serves you right,” Yu Xiaoduo grumbled as he plopped down on the sofa across from her. She’d completely thrown off his rhythm.
Gu Wan’er cursed under her breath. If you had even the slightest bit of consideration for a girl, you wouldn’t have stayed single this long.
“Ahhh~” She let out a pained moan and flopped all the way down onto the couch.
Yu Xiaoduo watched her pathetic act and refused to take the bait. “Stop faking it. Look at what you did last night—some residents already filed a complaint with the property management. They’ll probably track it down to my place soon. How am I supposed to show my face in the neighborhood after this?”
“I didn’t mean to,” Gu Wan’er said weakly, her soft, pitiful voice enough to stir any man’s sympathy.
Yu Xiaoduo felt like he was punching a pillow. According to his original script, Gu Wan’er would’ve tried to explain her way out of it with some far-fetched excuse. Instead, she’d gone with the soft-and-suffering strategy and was selling it like a pro. If she swapped places with Yun’er, she’d definitely win an Oscar.
“Come on, a grown woman like you watching that kind of stuff? Want me to just give you my whole hard drive?”
Gu Wan’er continued in her frail voice, “I knew you liked watching it, so I downloaded it for you. But I accidentally tapped too fast, and in the panic, I turned the volume the wrong way. Tell you what—I’ll go apologize to your parents and clear your name.” She even made a move to get up, acting too weak to stand.
Yu Xiaoduo had seen it all now. Using the excuse of “doing it for my own good” while enjoying the show herself—and going to apologize? More like going to throw him under the bus. “Yeah, yeah, don’t bother. Like anyone would believe you.”
“Then I can’t let others wrongly accuse you either. It’s all my fault.”
Yu Xiaoduo was completely floored. He’d marched in like a general commanding a vast army, only to have her disarm him with a single conciliatory move—like facing an empty-city ploy.
“Forget it. Just seeing you annoys me.” Fuming, Yu Xiaoduo stormed out of the office.
The moment she heard the door close, Gu Wan’er let out a long, relieved sigh. She glanced over with her beautiful eyes to make sure he was really gone.
“Hmph. That wasn’t so tough.” She rubbed her forehead. I barely even tried, and you backed off. You say seeing me annoys you, but you weren’t annoyed when you were checking out my legs just now.
Heh. Men.
As he walked out of the office, Yu Xiaoduo couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Wasn’t he supposed to be giving her a proper lecture? How did he end up walking out?
Something wasn’t right. When she was lying on the couch just now, she’d deliberately positioned her legs—and she was even wearing those letter-patterned black stockings he liked. This was a calculated defense strategy!
Wait—a honey trap!
After all these years on the battlefield, Yu Xiaoduo couldn’t believe he’d fallen for a simple honey trap. He must’ve let that perverted Fatty corrupt his brain, eroding the iron will he once had.
That Gu Wan’er—she really had him figured out. She knew exactly what buttons to push.
No way. He’d suffered such a huge injustice—he couldn’t let her brush it off with just a few words. He at least had to get some compensation for emotional damages.
His phone rang, snapping him out of his thoughts.
Seeing it was Lu Zhengzhi calling, Yu Xiaoduo answered with a grin. “Brother Lu!”
“Hahaha, Brother Yu! How was your weekend with President Gu?”
“Same old, same old. Women are clingy, you know how it is.” Yu Xiaoduo sneered internally. You try to mess with me? I’ll mess with you right back.
“Brother Yu, you’re a lucky man! Oh, by the way, what’s your bank account number? I need to transfer the winnings from last time.”
Yu Xiaoduo smacked his forehead—he’d almost forgotten about that. “Sure, I’ll send it to you on WeChat. Thanks for the trouble, Brother Lu. President Gu’s treating us to dinner tonight.”
“Count me in if the sister-in-law’s buying!”
“Then it’s settled. I’ll let Brother Fu know too.”
“Great.”
After hanging up, Yu Xiaoduo called Fu Quan and got the dinner plans set.
Wait a minute—that woman had made his life miserable, so why was he arranging a dinner party on her behalf?
Oh, right—she was his future sister-in-law, after all. They’d be seeing each other around, no point making things too awkward.
A ding came from his phone—a text message had arrived.
“Your card ending 9001 received a transfer of 500,000.00 RMB at 8:31 on July 27 from Industrial and Commercial Bank (incoming from other bank). Balance: 731,873.00 RMB. Sender: Lu Zhengzhi. Sender’s account ending: 3241.”
Staring at that beautiful number, Yu Xiaoduo felt a small sense of comfort. But soon, regret crept in.
He’d originally planned to bet his entire savings that day, but in the end, he’d chickened out and only put down a hundred thousand—because, well, Gu Wan’er wasn’t exactly reliable.
Ah well, better to have something than nothing. He was almost a millionaire now. That pie-in-the-sky promise from Gu Wan’er? Who knew when that would actually materialize.
Just then, the phone on his desk rang.
“Hello.”
“Is this Yu Xiaoduo?”
“Yeah.”
“This is HR. You’ve been reassigned to the Security Department. Report there before ten. Click—”
Yu Xiaoduo stared at the dead line, his lips twitching. Oh, you are so dead, Gu Wan’er. If I don’t pin you to the ground and give you a piece of my mind today, I’ll take your last name.
But then he paused. Something didn’t add up. Gu Wan’er wouldn’t just burn bridges like that. Could her two cousins have made a move?
Yu Xiaoduo marched straight into Gu Wan’er’s office. The moment he stepped in, he heard her shouting into the phone: “What right do you have to interfere with things over here?! We had an agreement! You’re going back on your word!”
“Wan’er, your mother already knows about you and that Yu Xiaoduo. Not firing him is already pushing it. If you keep getting upset over this, it won’t do you any favors. Don’t throw away your future for some man!” With that, the caller hung up.
Gu Wan’er’s hand trembled as she gripped the phone, and finally, she hurled it to the ground. From behind her, Yu Xiaoduo mentally screamed wasteful!
He walked over, picked up the phone from the floor, and said, “Good thing you put a case on it.”
