Trouble at the company

Yu Hui looked at me, his face covered in injuries. "What other options do you have? There are only a few days left. Sis, are you planning to ask Gu Hansheng for it?"

I didn't know how to answer him. After a long silence, I said, "Focus on recovering first. I'll scrape together the rest."

After reassuring Yu Hui, I left the hospital, feeling a little dizzy. Perhaps my fever had only just broken and I hadn't fully recovered. I steadied myself against the wall for a while, gradually feeling better.

Apart from the four million An'an had lent me, there were still six million I had no idea where to find.

There was no one left in my phone I could borrow from.

Remembering Yu Hui's words, I wondered, Should I ask Gu Hansheng?

But how could I bring myself to ask? Even if I did, given his current attitude toward me, he probably wouldn't lend me the money and would only heap ridicule on me instead.

Then I reconsidered. If enduring Gu Hansheng's ridicule could get me those six million, what did a few mocking words matter?

Dignity was still utterly worthless when weighed against staying alive.

Gu Hansheng was my best chance now. If he wouldn't lend it to me, I would think of something else.

I stopped walking and sent him a message.

[Are you at home or at the office?]

He replied instantly.

[Office]

I thought it would be better to ask for the loan in person, to show my sincerity. Though I knew his mockery would be inevitable, I decided to go to his office and try anyway.

When I arrived at Gu Hansheng's company, I sensed something was wrong as soon as I stepped inside. Several reception staff were huddled together, whispering, and quite a few people were staring at the elevators.

Without thinking much of it, I entered an elevator. Several people riding with me were talking.

"Apparently, it's President Gu's mother-in-law..."

"What mother-in-law? Haven't you heard? President Gu is divorced. His former mother-in-law..."

I couldn't help clenching my hands, trembling.

As the elevator doors opened, a burst of shrill, piercing abuse nearly split my eardrums.

My mother's voice stabbed straight at me like a sharp knife.

"You little vixen! Of all the things you could be, you chose to be a homewrecker. Have you no shame? Did your mother give birth to you but never teach you any manners?

If I had a shameless daughter like you, breaking up someone else's family, I'd beat you to death. I could never raise such a shameless daughter!"

My mother swung the bag in her hand at a woman.

As the woman dodged, I caught sight of her face. Wasn't that Gu Hansheng's white moonlight, Shen Nian?

My body stiffened. I ran over and grabbed my mother. "Stop making a scene!"

The moment my mother saw me, she seemed to think her backer had arrived and immediately grew smug.

"Hanhan, I heard about it in the elevator just now. It's her. She's been going everywhere with Hansheng, meddling in your marriage."

She acted as though she were standing up for me, not knowing that I was now a mistress who couldn't be acknowledged in public.

The onlookers around us were all whispering. My face burned as I pulled my mother away, trying to leave.

How could my mother possibly let it go? She shook off my hand and tried to attack Shen Nian again. I trembled all over with anger.

"You shameless thing! You saw my son-in-law soaring to success, so you threw yourself at him? What a born slut.

I'm telling you, if my daughter and son-in-law get divorced because of a homewrecker like you, just see if I don't tear that mouth of yours apart!"

"Mom, stop it. Gu Hansheng and I are already divorced. Whoever he's with now has nothing to do with me."

I lowered my voice, but my mother didn't believe me at all.

"My girl, why are you still defending this woman? Other people might not know how much Gu Hansheng likes you, but how could I not know?"

"Mom, stop talking."

"Gu Hansheng wouldn't divorce you even if you beat him to death..."

Beside myself with anger, I blurted out recklessly, "I was the one who asked for a divorce, all right? Just seeing Gu Hansheng annoys me. I don't even like him, and you know perfectly well I can't stand him!"

"Oh? You don't even like me? You can't stand me?" Gu Hansheng's voice came from behind me, and I turned around stiffly.

A faint trace of a smile hung on his face, but his eyes were dark.

Looking utterly wronged, Shen Nian leaned against Gu Hansheng.

"Brother Hansheng, hurry and clear this up. You and Sister Hanhan are already divorced. I'm not some homewrecker."

Shen Nian's voice choked with sobs.

The hint of a smile on Gu Hansheng's face froze instantly, and he looked at me with an icy gaze.

I was just about to speak when my mother interrupted me, carrying herself as though she were still his mother-in-law.

"Hansheng, how could a painted common thing like her compare to our Hanhan? Surely you wouldn't be so foolish as to choose a vixen like her over Hanhan?

I know just how much you like our Hanhan. You really did indulge her every whim."

My mother's eyes shifted, and I knew what she was about to say. Praising Gu Hansheng was nothing more than a way to ask for money.

"Who told you I liked her?"

Gu Hansheng glanced at me. My back went rigid, and I didn't even dare move, as though any reaction I gave now would only invite humiliation.

Thinking back, he really did seem never to have said outright that he liked me.

It had only been because of one wild night, which the media had misconstrued and made public, that he had been forced to become a live-in son-in-law.

After all the humiliation and contempt I had subjected him to back then, how could he have liked me?

In the end, he had merely been forced to marry me.

Hearing Gu Hansheng's words, my mother refused to face the fact that we were already divorced. "You liked our Hanhan so much. Even if you got divorced, it must have been because this vixen egged you on."

As she spoke, my mother raised her hand to slap Shen Nian. I hurried to hold her back, while Gu Hansheng shielded Shen Nian behind him.