182 But He Still Went Back on His Word

His slightly hoarse voice resembled the sound of one stepping on fallen leaves in late autumn.

Qian Yue felt like an electric current was running through her ears, hitting her nerves and tugging at her heartstrings.

She was forced to look into his eyes. “What do you want to say?”

“I was wrong.” Zhou Yanshen swallowed hard.

He resisted the urge to kiss her crazily and stroked her skin with his fingertips. “Can you forgive me?”

It was an expected question.

Qian Yue said, “Mr. Zhou.” She moved her hands away from his chest. “What I want is your partiality.”

“I can give you.”

“Then I’ll wait until you give me that.”

What she wanted was not just a hollow promise.

Zhou Yanshen moved closer. “I’ll prove it to you with my actions, but you can’t be absent.”

“What do you mean I can’t be absent?”

“You can’t ignore me and refuse to see me.”

Qian Yue nodded slightly.

“I won’t be absent.” Her soft attitude was enough to explain everything. “Let go of me first.”

“Hug me again.”

“No.” She glared at him angrily. “We’re not in a relationship yet?”

Zhou Yanshen knew that she was different from others. Out of respect, he let go of her with regret.

“Qian Yue.” He pushed himself up from the sofa, his throat extremely dry. “Can you get me a glass of water?”

“Wait.” Qian Yue picked up the kettle.

Her beautiful figure was reflected on the wall by the light.

Zhou Yanshen looked away from the wall and raised his left hand to take the glass from her.

He drank half of it. “Are you free tomorrow?”

“Why?”

“There’s a hot spring resort near Xiangnan Mountain. Let’s go and relax?”

Qian Yue caught the nervousness in his eyes, the nervousness of being rejected.

“I don’t have a swimsuit.” She suppressed the smile in her eyes and agreed indirectly.

“It’s fine.” Zhou Yanshen couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief. “I’ll buy it for you tomorrow.”

“They should be selling it at the resort.”

“The style over there might not look good.” He only wanted to do his best to give her the best.

Qian Yue nodded.

She sat in the living room with Zhou Yanshen until eleven o’clock. Neither of them mentioned what happened in Star River again.

After agreeing on a time to meet up tomorrow, Zhou Yanshen looked at her gently before walking to the entrance. “Good night.”

The two words that contained countless emotions were even more touching than a hug.

Qian Yue smiled back. “Good night.”

She held the door handle and stared at the figure wrapped in the corridor light until he disappeared from the corner before closing the door.

#

Under the dark night, a taxi swept past the quiet street and stopped at the entrance of Lufu Bay.

The car door opened and Gu Quan, who reeked of alcohol, walked out.

During this period of time, he had been busy day and night, meeting different partners at different occasions and drinking wine with them.

Gu Quan was very tired. He was so tired that he did not even know how late it was.

However, he knew that this was the only way to secure the position of the general manager of Gu Corporation. He could not slack off.

“Meow—”

Two wild cats ran through the grass with their backs hunched, and the shadows that flashed past condensed beside the bench.

There were two mottled and worn bowls behind the bench. One was filled with water, and the other was filled with brown cat food.

Gu Quan stopped in his tracks and sat on the bench.

He looked down at the two cats. A memory that hadn’t popped up in a long time flashed through his mind, but it was clear enough.

It was midsummer.

Not long after Lin Jiao moved into Lufu Bay, she went out with him on a starry night to familiarize herself with the neighborhood.

“Gu Quan, did you hear the cat meow?” She looked up at the man beside her.

“No.” Gu Quan did not notice.

He watched her look around and followed her to an ordinary bush.

The closer they were, the more audible the meowing became.

Lin Jiao followed the sound and pushed aside the weeds when two skinny wild cats entered their sight.

“They’re too skinny.” She frowned, her clear eyes filled with love. “They probably haven’t eaten for a long time.”

“There’s a convenience store over there.” Gu Quan pushed aside the hair on her cheek and held her hand as they walked forward.

They bought canned cat food, a large bottle of mineral water, and two blue plastic bowls.

He was allergic to cat fur, so he did not approach the cats during the feeding process. He just sat on the bench and watched Lin Jiao play with the cats quietly.

“I won’t hurt you.”

“Xiao Hua, don’t snatch it. There’s more in the bag.”

“Good girl…”

She watched as the two cats finished eating the cat food. In the end, she had no intention of bringing them home to raise. She only said to him with a smile, “Gu Quan, let’s come to feed them every day from now on, okay?”

Gu Quan agreed.

But he went back on his word.

In the beginning, Lin Jiao would talk to him about the two cats. But seeing that Gu Quan didn’t seem to be interested, she stopped mentioning them.

That summer would never come back again.

“Mr. Gu.” The security guard with the flash walked up to him. “Do you need help?”

The dazzling light from the flash and the voice pulled Gu Quan back from his thoughts.

“No need.” He stood up and looked at the two fat cats one last time.

He walked in a different direction from the security guard. With his back facing the flash that seemed to shine into his heart, he walked into the mansion.

The lights in the living room were still on.

Su Tian, who was watching television, heard footsteps. “Quan, did you drink again?”

“I didn’t drink much.” He was still sober.

Gu Quan leaned lazily on the sofa, too tired to say a word.

However, Su Tian, who had something on her mind, could not calm down. “Are you going to take a break tomorrow?”

“No.”

“What about the day after tomorrow?”

“I am not planning to take a break recently.” Gu Quan narrowed his eyes and looked at the oil painting hanging opposite.

Su Tian leaned into his arms. “You promised to bring me home before. It’s been a month.”

This period of time was very difficult for her.

She was asked to keep Xiao Song’s friends entertained twice a week. If she met someone kinky, she would come back home with scars.

Afraid that Gu Quan would see those scars, she had not done it with Gu Quan since she met Xiao Song.

Fortunately, he was busy and was not in the mood to do it with her.

However, living in fear was a torture to her, which made her yearn to marry into the Gu family more and more.