Seeing Su Hua so protective of Ah-Yao made Gu Beixian feel very uncomfortable inside.

His face remained unchanged, but his eyes betrayed restrained and enduring emotions.

"I'm going out for a smoke," he said coolly, then turned and walked out.

The door closed with more force than usual.

But Su Hua didn't notice.

Her mind was consumed by the night thirteen years ago, that nightmare of a night, with howling winds, raging fires, endless pain, and desperate cries.

Ah-Yao was the key that unlocked that nightmare.

Just mentioning it made her heart ache, stirring up a storm of emotions that took a long time to calm.

A tear silently slid down her cheek, landing on the blurred photograph.

It took a long while for Su Hua to regain her composure.

She wiped her wet eyes with the back of her hand and refocused on the photograph.

She wondered, who could be helping her from the shadows?

Only a few people, including Gu Beixian, knew about her injured hand, as she hadn't even told her own mother to avoid worrying her.

Gu Beixian was out of the question; he wouldn't harm his beloved.

Could it be Shen Huai?

Su Hua picked up her phone and called Shen Huai, asking, "Mr. Shen, do you know Chu Suosuo?"

Shen Huai paused before replying, "I seem to have heard the name somewhere. What about her?"

"Her hand was smashed with a hammer last night."

Shen Huai let out an "Oh," then asked, "Do you need help finding a doctor for her?"

"No need, it's all taken care of," Su Hua hung up the phone.

Clearly, it wasn't Shen Huai either.

Su Hua picked up the photograph again, examining it closely.

Ever since marrying Gu Beixian, she had lived a secluded life, quiet and reserved by nature, with very few friends, and even fewer male friends.

She racked her brain but couldn't recognize whose silhouette it was in the photo.

Gu Beixian smoked half a pack of cigarettes outside before his emotions settled.

He pushed the door open and entered.

He saw Su Hua sitting on the hospital bed, clutching the photograph, her brows furrowed with worry.

He paused, then sat down beside her, gently smoothing out the creases between her eyebrows with his hand.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

His gaze fixed on her eyes for a long while before he pulled her into his embrace.

The hug lasted longer than a normal one.

Su Hua, catching the strong scent of smoke on him, asked softly, "Did you smoke a lot?"

"Mhm."

"You had quit for a while, don't smoke anymore, it's bad for your health."

"Alright."

After a while, he added, "Sorry for upsetting you earlier."

Su Hua wanted to say something but couldn't find the words, so she simply said, "I'm hungry, let's eat."

Gu Beixian released her and called the bodyguard to bring in the food.

After eating, Gu Beixian left for the company.

In the evening, Gu Nanyin arrived with a large bouquet of flowers to visit Su Hua.

As soon as she sat down, she complained, "Sister-in-law, why didn't you tell me you were injured? If Brother Mochen hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have known you were hospitalized."

Su Hua smiled, "You have school, visiting me would affect your studies."

"I'm about to graduate, I don't need to find a job, and I don't want to take the postgraduate entrance examination. I'm so bored every day. If you had told me earlier, I would have come to chat with you to save you from boredom, as long as you don't find me annoying."

"I wouldn't," Su Hua said softly.

Gu Nanyin glanced at Su Hua's swollen hand in a splint and said angrily, "Who's the scumbag who did this to you?"

"I got involved with some tomb raiders a while back, and one of them, a bald guy, got jailed. His sister came for revenge."

Su Hua briefly explained the situation to her.

Gu Nanyin was furious after hearing the story.

They chatted for a while until it got dark.

Gu Nanyin checked her watch, picked up her phone, and called Gu Beixian, "Brother, I'm at the hospital visiting sister-in-law. I want to drink tea with milk. Can you bring me one on your way back? You remember what I like, right? Don't forget to bring one for sister-in-law too."

Gu Beixian's indifferent voice came through the phone, "I'm in the hospital. If you want to drink, ask the bodyguard to buy it."

"I'm in sister-in-law's room, I didn't see you."

"I'm here to see Suosuo, I'll be back in half an hour."

Gu Nanyin couldn't sit still any longer, stood up from her chair, and walked to the window, "Brother, you're really disappointing me. Sister-in-law is already upset because of her injury, and you're still making her angry. Don't you know that the last thing a woman wants is for her man to be too close to an ex-girlfriend?"

Gu Beixian was silent for a moment, then said, "I'll be back soon."

"Come back now, hurry."

Gu Beixian hung up the phone.

Gu Nanyin sat down in front of Su Hua's bed, looking like she had something to say but hesitated. Finally, she couldn't help but blurt out, "Sister-in-law, has my brother been getting close to Chu Suosuo lately?"

Su Hua hummed in acknowledgment.

Gu Nanyin sighed, "Sister-in-law, you're too straightforward and can't outplay her. She's been cunning since she was young, especially sly and bitchy, even I can't outplay her."

Su Hua listened absentmindedly and casually replied, "Really?"

"Yeah, she's been trying to steal my brother since we were kids. Our families do business together and often gather for meals during holidays. She would cling to my brother, cooing 'Oh, Beixian Brother' this and 'Eek, Beixian Brother' that, asking him to serve her food and peel shrimp for her, acting all sweet and coy. My brother was like bewitched, treating her so well and indulging her in everything."

Su Hua felt a sharp pain in her heart, but her face showed no emotion.

Gu Nanyin continued, "Later, I got so annoyed that I started to fight back by going after her brother. I called him 'Brother Mochen' and had him running around for me, just to irritate her."

Su Hua had a rather good impression of Chu Mochen and said, "It feels like the siblings are quite different, like they don't seem to come from the same family."

"They have the same father but different mothers. Chu Suosuo's mom was Brother Mochen's biological aunt, a mistress who rose to the top, a real bitch," Gu Nanyin rolled her eyes.

Su Hua listened quietly.

"Speaking of which, Brother Mochen is quite pitiful," Gu Nanyin's mood suddenly dropped, and she lamented, "His biological sister died in an accident not long after she was born, and his mother went mad from the shock. His sister was betrothed to my brother as a child bride. If she were alive, she'd be about your age."

Su Hua didn't know what to say, so she just curved her lips into a smile.

Soon after, Gu Beixian returned.

He carried two cups of tea with milk and some desserts, one was Su Hua's favorite mango pomelo sago, and the other was Gu Nanyin's favorite strawberry milkshake from Cloudtop.

Gu Beixian inserted the straw into the tea with milk and handed it to Su Hua, "I got it from your favorite shop."

Su Hua reached out to take it, smelling the faint sweet fragrance on his suit sleeve.

It was the perfume that Chu Suosuo often wore.

Her gaze casually swept over his shirt collar, where there was a cherry-red mark the size of a fingernail, wet and glossy.

The last time she saw Chu Suosuo, she was wearing lipstick of that exact color.

Su Hua felt as if she had been bitten by a cat, the pain causing her heart to skip several beats.

It wasn't the first time she had experienced this, but it was just as painful each time, torturous like hell.

Su Hua gripped the cup tightly, laughed at herself, and said, "You went through the trouble of buying us tea with milk despite being so busy."

Gu Beixian casually replied, "I had the driver get it."

Gu Nanyin took the tea with milk from him, giving him a look of disdain, "Brother, keep it up, and you'll lose your wife with your antics. A woman as good as sister-in-law is one in a million. If you lose her, it'll be hard to find another."

Gu Beixian's gaze fell on Su Hua, who was sipping her tea with milk, her long eyelashes casting a shadow, her expression unreadable.

He said nonchalantly, "Kids shouldn't meddle in adult affairs."

Gu Nanyin looked exasperated, "I'm saying this for your own good. If you don't listen to me, you'll regret it later, hmph!"

Ten days later, at noon.

Gu Beixian returned to the hospital after inspecting a subsidiary company.

The two bodyguards who were supposed to be on guard at the door were missing, which slightly displeased him.

He pushed open the door to the ward and saw a stranger lying on the bed.

Gu Beixian's heart jolted and he quickly asked the approaching nurse, "Where's the patient who was here before, Su Hua?"

The nurse thought for a moment and said, "She's been discharged. She left early this morning."

Gu Beixian's face darkened. They had agreed to wait for him to pick her up for discharge.

But she left without even saying goodbye.

He took out his phone and dialed Su Hua's number.

The mechanical female voice on the phone said, "The user you are calling has powered off."

He opened WeChat and sent a message to Su Hua, but it wouldn't go through.

She had blocked him.