So What If the Pretty Campus Belle Is a Gold Digger? (42)

Gu Yanshen made no attempt to break free.

He simply lowered his head and looked at her, so close to him.

"You keep saying he sees me as his 'possession,' that he's fighting for me out of possessiveness."

Shi Zheng looked Gu Yanshen straight in the eye. "What about you? How much of what you've said and done came from really thinking I 'deserve someone better'? How much... was just your own possessiveness at work, Gu Yanshen?"

She tilted her head up slightly. "That night, you devoured me whole, then pulled up your pants and left. You weren't like you are today..."

"How can you be sure it's me you want, and not the thrill of snatching me away from Hua Jinchen?"

Her voice was very soft, yet loud enough to reach Hua Jinchen's ears clearly.

Gu Yanshen's pupils contracted sharply.

For a moment, his usually calm, composed expression shifted ever so slightly.

She had brought it up.

Knowing full well that Hua Jinchen was right behind the door, she had brought up that night.

The blood in Hua Jinchen's body seemed to freeze in an instant.

He had heard.

The details he had deliberately ignored came rushing back into his mind like a flood bursting through a broken dam.

Shi Zheng and Gu Yanshen, they had already...

When?

Where?

Why didn't I know?

Hua Jinchen burst through the door.

The door slammed against the wall with a deafening crash.

His face was deathly pale, and his eyes were an unnatural red.

His red hair hung in disarray over his forehead, unable to hide the towering rage churning in his eyes.

Shi Zheng looked at him.

There was no surprise on her face.

Her calm gaze cut into Hua Jinchen's heart, neither too lightly nor too heavily.

She had known all along that he was there.

"You..." Hua Jinchen's voice was hoarse. "When did this happen between you two?"

Gu Yanshen didn't answer.

He turned his face toward Shi Zheng.

Hua Jinchen followed his gaze and looked at her too.

Both seemed to be waiting for her answer.

Shi Zheng said, "The night you threw a bachelor party to celebrate."

Hua Jinchen: "..."

Hua Jinchen: "???"

"You two were already... that early?"

He couldn't go on.

Just then, Gu Yanshen explained, "Zhengzheng and I were both drugged that night. It's not what you think."

Hua Jinchen froze.

Drugged?

"...What about after that?"

Hua Jinchen's eyes were frighteningly red as he said mockingly, "You were both perfectly sober afterward! What you two did in the conference room and at the bar last time, were you drugged then too?"

Shi Zheng quietly met his gaze.

She offered no defense.

Hua Jinchen's voice trembled. "Say something! Was it fun keeping me in the dark like this?"

Shi Zheng merely said softly, "No."

Those words seemed to pierce straight through Hua Jinchen's heart.

It had all been lies.

From beginning to end, it had all been lies.

So he was the fool who had been led around in circles.

Then Gu Yanshen's voice rang out.

He said, "If you can't accept it, you can break up."

"Do it now. It'll be better for both you and her."

Hua Jinchen was so furious at his suggestion that he laughed. "Break up?"

"You think I don't know what you're plotting? You want me to break up with her so you can take my place, right?"

Hua Jinchen's breathing grew heavier and heavier, his chest heaving violently like a cornered beast.

"Gu Yanshen, as long as I'm Shi Zheng's boyfriend, you'll fucking always be a homewrecker who can't show his face in public!"

His smile twisted. "Don't. Even. Think. About. It!"

The moment the words left his mouth, he moved.

There was nothing fancy about it, just a punch thrown with all his strength.

"Bam—!"

The dull thud of fist striking flesh exploded through the lounge.

The punch sent Gu Yanshen staggering back two steps, his back slamming into the bookshelf behind him.

He hadn't dodged.

He hadn't even fought back, taking the punch head-on.

He raised a hand and wiped away the blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

It was as if he were saying, Is that all you've got?

"Show-off!" Hua Jinchen cursed.

He charged again.

"Savage."

Gu Yanshen seized him by the collar and slammed a vicious punch into his left cheekbone.

Hua Jinchen grunted, grabbed his wrist with his other hand, and drove a fist into his stomach.

The bookshelf finally toppled over.

Scattered documents fluttered through the room like snowflakes.

Two men who had always relied on power to solve their problems were now like cornered beasts, casting aside all dignity and reason to tear into each other in the most primal way.

Every last shred of civilization had been ripped to pieces.

Shi Zheng stood three paces away.

"Have you fought enough?"

Her voice wasn't loud, but it was like a basin of ice water, calming them down in an instant.

"Both of you, stop."

It wasn't a request, but an order.

As if some spell had been broken, the two men stopped moving at the same time.

Hua Jinchen released his grip on Gu Yanshen's collar.

His left cheekbone was already badly swollen, a purplish-red bruise spreading beneath the skin.

The corner of Gu Yanshen's mouth was split, and the wound on his forehead was still bleeding, blood running down his brow and over his eyelid.

The two men, both bruised and battered, faced each other from three paces apart.

The air was filled with the smell of rust and the sound of their ragged breathing.

Shi Zheng looked at it all. "Have you calmed down now?"

"...You knew I was here."

Hua Jinchen's hoarse voice came from beside her, carrying a tremor that even he hadn't noticed.

"I knew," Shi Zheng answered frankly.

"Then why..." Hua Jinchen didn't finish.

Why did you say it while I was there?

Why choose now?

Why do it this way?

Why not keep lying to me?