So What If the Beautiful Campus Belle Loves Money? (45)

A few days later.

Shi Zheng pushed open the office door.

The person inside seemed not to have heard her and was working.

"Gu Yanshen!" Shi Zheng stormed in.

Gu Yanshen looked up.

Then he froze.

Her makeup was more than a notch more refined than before.

The faint weariness around her eyes was gone, replaced by the languor of someone who had been pampered with care.

Her lips were just the right shade of dusty rose, making her look like a high-society heiress.

She looked like a completely different person.

Gu Yanshen spoke. "...Hua Jinchen has taken very good care of you."

He regretted it.

He shouldn't have opened Hua Jinchen's eyes ahead of time.

Shi Zheng ignored his compliment.

She walked straight up to his desk. "Gu Yanshen, when are you going to do what I asked you to do?"

Gu Yanshen looked at her utterly self-assured attitude. It was as if he weren't the Student Council President, but her subordinate instead.

After just a few days apart, even her attitude toward him had changed.

Was it because she had Hua Jinchen backing her up?

His tone was businesslike. "There are still some details to confirm. It can't be handled hastily."

Shi Zheng frowned. "How long will it take?"

"Hard to say." Gu Yanshen leaned back in his chair. "The Student Council's internal procedures are rather complicated—"

Shi Zheng cut him off. "Gu Yanshen, just tell me how much longer."

"So angry? Are you so angry you won't even call me 'President' anymore?"

Gu Yanshen looked at her like this, and the corners of his lips curved slightly.

He abruptly changed the subject. "Does your boyfriend know you came to see me?"

Shi Zheng suddenly fell silent.

"Apparently not."

He sighed softly, his tone sounding as though he were worried about her. "If he finds out, I'm afraid he'll get jealous again. Last time in the lounge... you saw it too."

"Hua Jinchen is possessive and has a violent temper. You came to see me behind his back. If he finds out... won't things get ugly again?"

Shi Zheng looked at his "I'm only doing this for your own good" expression, listening as every word he said sowed discord, all wrapped in a sugar coating of concern.

"So?" she asked.

Gu Yanshen said, "So I was wondering how you're going to explain this visit to him when you get back. Will you tell him the truth, or..."

He left the sentence unfinished, making it almost believable that he really was thinking of her.

"President, if you're so worried about me, why don't you do what you're supposed to first? If Su Qingqing's matter is settled sooner, I won't have to come see you behind his back."

Shi Zheng put on an "I've seen right through you" attitude. "How long will it take to confirm the details? Can you get it done tomorrow?"

There was a trace of impatience in her voice. Clearly, she didn't want to keep going back and forth over this.

Gu Yanshen looked at her acting as though she had every right to order him around.

"Tomorrow?" He softly repeated the word. "Zhengzheng, if you want the horse to run, you have to feed it grass."

Shi Zheng raised an eyebrow and waited for him to continue.

Gu Yanshen leaned forward slightly, bringing his face close to her ear. "You have to give me some benefit, Zhengzheng."

The distance between them abruptly shrank.

He could smell her new perfume—it was the brand Hua Jinchen liked.

The discovery made his gaze darken slightly.

"So you've been deliberately dragging your feet these past few days?" There was no telling from Shi Zheng's voice whether she was pleased or angry.

Gu Yanshen didn't deny it.

"Hua Jinchen has spent the past few days guarding you as if he were fending off wolves. Any breathing male creature near you gets treated as a romantic rival by him—let alone me."

He spread his hands slightly, looking utterly innocent. "He wouldn't let you come see me, so I could only... wait for you to come to me of your own accord."

"Then what benefit do you want?" Shi Zheng asked, raising an eyebrow.

Her reaction took Gu Yanshen by surprise.

He lowered his eyes, seemingly giving the question serious thought.

After a moment, he said, "Don't stop me from pursuing you."

He didn't ask her to respond, didn't ask her to make a promise, didn't ask her to betray Hua Jinchen.

He only said: don't stop me.

"...Do you know what you're saying?" Shi Zheng asked.

Gu Yanshen was the kind of man who insisted on making the "third party" label stick.

"I do." Gu Yanshen answered frankly. "I'll help you settle Su Qingqing's matter."

"In exchange, don't stand in my way—let me keep liking you."

Shi Zheng was pleased by what he said.

She remarked, "Gu Yanshen, you're really quite brazen about being a third party."

Before long, Hua Jinchen found out that Shi Zheng had gone to see Gu Yanshen behind his back after all.

That night.

Hua Jinchen pinned her down on the bed.

His short hair hung in disarray over his forehead, the rims of his eyes were red, and intense jealousy and grievance churned in his eyes.

"Was seeing him that important?" he demanded. "Important enough to hide it from me?"