Chapter 27: Who Are You Thinking Of While In My Arms? The Jealous King Gu Is Always Ready to Pout

HC Mall.

One of the most bustling shopping centers in Hong Kong, and a property of the Gu family.

There was not a single sales associate at the luxury boutiques who didn't recognize Su Ruanyuan’s face; after all, she was the pampered darling of Hong Kong's top elite family.

Su Ruanyuan sat in the VVIP lounge, sipping milk tea while handing a glass of plain water to Mu Xin'er.

Mu Xin'er patted her stomach. "Are you abusing me?"

Su Ruanyuan replied, "So you do remember you’re pregnant."

The two chatted idly while browsing through handbags. Suddenly, Su Ruanyuan dismissed the store manager and the sales staff.

Mu Xin'er asked, "Why did you send them away?"

Su Ruanyuan lowered her voice. "There’s something I’ve been considering for a long time, and I think it’s better if I tell you."

Mu Xin'er said, "Is this why you made me return to the country early?"

Su Ruanyuan replied, "Rong Xiu is cheating."

The words struck like a bolt of lightning.

Mu Xin'er blinked and took a sip of water. She wasn't being calm; she simply didn't believe a word of it. As the saying goes, the bystander sees more than the player. Mu Xin'er and Rong Xiu were childhood sweethearts who had grown up together. She wasn't sure how deep her own feelings for Rong Xiu were, but looking at Gu Jinzhou and Su Ruanyuan—who were as inseparable and sweet as honey—she assumed her relationship with Rong Xiu was the same.

"Ruanyuan, if someone told you Gu Jinzhou was cheating, would you believe them?"

"I wouldn't."

Very well, the conversation reached a stalemate.

The two ended the topic, bought a few bags, and left Hermès.

Rong Xiu walked out of the Chanel boutique opposite them, and the three collided unexpectedly.

Rong Xiu froze for a second before approaching Mu Xin'er with a delighted expression. "Xin'er, why didn’t you tell me you were back in the country?"

Mu Xin'er’s gaze flickered; she clung to his arm and acted coy. "I wanted to give you a surprise!"

Su Ruanyuan looked at the bag in Rong Xiu’s hand. "Who is that bag for?"

Rong Xiu’s smile didn't waver, and he replied quickly, "A friend told me Chanel had some nice new arrivals, so I thought I’d buy it for Xin'er."

Su Ruanyuan: "..."

*Keep making things up! That is clearly a bag for Su Lan'er!*

Mu Xin'er believed him. Rong Xiu immediately took the bag out and asked her to try it on. Su Ruanyuan wanted to say more, but seeing how sweet they were with each other, she swallowed her words.

*Brother Feng Yan is truly useless; he couldn't even bewitch the mother of his child!*

Thinking of the tragic fate that awaited Xin'er—being sent to an asylum—Su Ruanyuan decided she couldn't just stand by. Suddenly, she saw a poster of Su Lan'er. Her dainty, fairy-like demeanor shifted, replaced by the aura of a spoiled and vicious socialite.

Mu Xin'er asked, "Ruanyuan?"

Su Ruanyuan lifted her delicate, fair chin. "See that poster? That’s Su Lan'er, the one who fought me for favor in the Su family. I don't know what kind of dark arts she used to bewitch the Su couple. When she scrapes her skin, the whole family panics, but when I was pinned under a stage, no one cared."

Mu Xin'er shared her indignation. "She looks like a total bitch! But Ruanyuan, there's no need for you to compete with her; it only lowers your status."

Rong Xiu remarked, "I heard Su Lan'er does a lot of charity work."

Mu Xin'er’s expression turned somber as she looked at him. "Do you know her that well?"

Rong Xiu laughed. "She’s a celebrity; I don't need to know her personally. I can see her just by opening my phone. Are you jealous?"

Mu Xin'er rolled her eyes at him, though her mood was no longer as sweet as before. While Rong Xiu was generally gentle toward women, if she disliked someone, he usually stood by her side and joined in the criticism. Had his personality changed in the two years she was abroad? Or had his heart changed?

Suddenly, Mu Xin'er handed the Chanel bag back to Rong Xiu, her bright and free-spirited face looking decisive. "I’m tired of it. You keep it and wear it yourself."

Rong Xiu: "..."

*I give up on these two sisters.*

Mu Xin'er was as willful as Su Ruanyuan was delicate.

Rong Xiu put the Chanel bag back into its box. Seeing this, Su Ruanyuan was 'horrified.' *Could it be that Rong Xiu intends to give a used bag to Su Lan'er? Good heavens. Rong Xiu has no taste at all!*

—

Gu Jinzhou got off work on time and came to HC Mall to pick her up.

The man was tall and handsome, dressed in a crisp, expensive cool-gray suit that lent him the mature, profound aura of someone in power. His fingers tapped impatiently against the steering wheel.

It wasn't until the pure and beautiful girl climbed into the passenger seat, enveloped in a faint fragrance, that Gu Jinzhou’s low, lazy voice sounded: "Your husband came to pick you up personally; doesn't Ruanyuan have anything to say?"

Su Ruanyuan kissed him on the cheek twice.

Gu Jinzhou was barely satisfied; his long, clean fingers gripped the back of her head, drawing her into a deep, intense kiss until she was breathless and whimpering.

*I hate Gu Jinzhou so much!*

Looking in the rearview mirror, Ruanyuan saw that her lips had swollen into sausages again. *One of these days, I’ll buy a pair of sausages and let him kiss those to his heart's content.*

"Brother Jinzhou, I discovered something today," she said.

"I’m all ears."

"Rong Xiu doesn't seem very generous to Xin'er at all!"

"In my treasure's heart, what defines generosity?"

"You are very generous to me."

Gu Jinzhou curled his lips, his refined, cool face covered in a faint smile of pleasant surprise. "I am very pleased to be the standard by which you measure such things."

Su Ruanyuan’s clear, watery eyes darted around, revealing the slyness of a little fox.

She wasn't the only one who wanted to break up Rong Xiu and Mu Xin'er. Third Brother certainly didn't want them together either!

Su Ruanyuan immediately sent a WeChat message to Gu Fengyan.

*Ruanyuan: Third Brother, buy a few bags and give them to Xin'er right now. Strike while the iron is hot!*

*Gu Fengyan: Send them now? Wouldn't that be too presumptuous?*

*Ruanyuan: Third Brother, if you can win Xin'er over, you’ll be saving a life!*

Gu Fengyan didn't reply.

At that moment, Liu Qing sent Su Ruanyuan a few messages. The gist was that the girl group’s practice progress was slow, and they wanted to ask Teacher Su to teach them dance personally. If Teacher Su didn't want to go to Longteng Entertainment, they could rent a dance studio outside so it wouldn't cause any conflict.

Su Ruanyuan agreed. Since she had chosen to work, she should be prepared to endure some hardship. She didn't want to become a caged bird, incapable of weathering risks and serving only as a burden to Gu Jinzhou.

On the first day of her rebirth, she had sworn to protect Gu Jinzhou and not let him be erased for no reason as he was in her previous life. Although she hadn't figured it all out yet, she would eventually find a way to prevent his erasure.

—

With dance lessons for the girl group scheduled for tomorrow, Su Ruanyuan rested for a while after dinner and went to the studio.

To earn others' respect, one must first become strong.

She practiced the girl group’s choreography intensely for over an hour, not stopping until the movements became muscle memory.

Her black miniskirt clung to her sweat-drenched, snow-white body. Her confident, beautiful face was dazzling, like a fairylike white flower—delicate and fragile, yet unyielding.

Gu Jinzhou had been standing at the door for a long time. His narrow, phoenix-like eyes held both admiration and desire. In his cool-gray vest, one hand tucked into his pocket with veins bulging, his relaxed, languid posture only added to his aristocratic air.

Su Ruanyuan had no backbone; she loved the refined, rogue-like, and elegant aura the man projected.

She ran over to him.

Gu Jinzhou caught her firmly, slowly weighing the little person in his arms. With a faint smile in his eyes and a sexy, low voice, he whispered in her ear: "So proactive? Exercising yourself every day must make your skin tender and succulent. I’ll have a good taste tonight."

"Gu Jinzhou, oh my, why do you have to do this every day? It’s like eating lunch and dinner. Do you have four kidneys or something?"

Su Ruanyuan wrapped her arms around his neck, recalling that summer she had successfully lost weight and accompanied him to the U.S. She had her own room in that apartment, and one time when she was lying on the pink bed listening to music and reading magazines, she hadn't noticed her pleated skirt had hitched up.

Gu Jinzhou had opened the door to call her for dinner and caught a glimpse of such a fair and beautiful sight. His ears and neck had turned bright red, and he had slammed the door shut—though he didn't forget to call her for dinner.

Now, Gu Jinzhou wouldn't even blush; the word 'shame' had long since been erased from his dictionary. Ruanyuan found herself missing that self-disciplined, conservative, and introverted Brother Jinzhou.

"Who are you thinking about?" the man’s voice was cold and deep.

"I was thinking about you from before," Ruanyuan responded in a coy voice.