Gu Jingzhan saw that she said nothing, let out a short, faint laugh, and then said in a cold tone, "Xiang Wanniao, open your eyes and look closely. I am Gu Jingzhan, the one you hate the most, not your beloved Xiao Xu'an."
Xiang Wanniao raised her eyes, red as a rabbit's, and looked at him. "Gu Jingzhan, I really know I was wrong. Please... please don't abandon me."
Gu Jingzhan met her gaze, the emotions deep in his heart stirring quietly.
He would never abandon her; it was she who had always wanted to run away from him.
Seeing her tear-filled eyes, Gu Jingzhan's heart, which he had tried so hard to harden, instantly softened. He raised a hand and gently wiped the tears from her face.
"You don't love Xiao Xu'an anymore? You don't want to be with him?"
His tone softened a fraction, carrying a hint of probing.
Xiang Wanniao shook her head, answering decisively, "I don't love him. Never again."
Gu Jingzhan gazed at her in silence. After a moment, he reached out, grasped her chin, leaned down, and slowly moved closer to her.
"Xiang Wanniao, do I look that easy to fool?"
"No, I'm not lying to you." Xiang Wanniao grasped his hand tightly, her gaze earnest. "Gu Jingzhan, from now on I will never run away again. I beg you, give me a chance to turn over a new leaf, okay?"
To prove her sincerity, she leaned forward and kissed his thin lips.
Gu Jingzhan's pupils constricted sharply, a flash of astonishment crossing his eyes.
She had just kissed him?
His Qiaoqiao... had kissed him!
With an unnatural expression, the man ducked away, gave a light cough, and, continuing to put on a cold front, pulled her out of his arms and made her lie back down on the hospital bed.
Seeing that he gave no response, Xiang Wanniao felt her heart flutter anxiously, her eyes fixed straight on him.
Noticing the gauze on her wrist was seeping blood, Gu Jingzhan felt a wave of worry rise in his eyes and immediately called the nurse over to tend to her wound.
Afterward, the ward fell into silence once more.
Gu Jingzhan sat expressionless in the chair beside the hospital bed, his long legs crossed, his sharply-jointed hands resting casually on his thighs, radiating a cold and stern aura.
Xiang Wanniao looked up at him and asked tentatively, "Gu Jingzhan, do you still want to divorce me?"
Gu Jingzhan pressed his thin lips together, his gaze devoid of ripples, and replied indifferently, "If you want a divorce, we'll get one."
"I don't want to!"
Xiang Wanniao spoke with excitement, once more expressing to him that she had no desire for a divorce.
Her reaction left Gu Jingzhan both surprised and suspicious.
At this moment, he could not bring himself to say anything harsh, so he merely gave a faint hum and asked, "Are you hungry?"
Xiang Wanniao nodded obediently.
Gu Jingzhan took out his phone and made a call to Guiyuan.
Xiang Wanniao's gaze remained fixed on Gu Jingzhan, not looking away for even a second, fearing that if she blinked, he would vanish.
Thinking of everything from her past life, tears welled up in her eyes again.
Since heaven had given her a second chance, in this lifetime she would never again fail the man who loved her so deeply.
Gu Jingzhan hung up the phone, and the moment he looked up, he met her complex expression.
He sneered inwardly, put his legs down, stood up from the chair, adjusted his suit, and said, "Sister Li will be sending some food over soon. Eat it, and then get some rest."
Seeing that Gu Jingzhan was about to leave again, Xiang Wanniao asked hurriedly, "Aren't you going to stay here with me?"
"I still have things to deal with at the company." His deep voice still wrapped in a hint of coldness.
"Then will you come to see me tonight?" Xiang Wanniao pressed.
Gu Jingzhan was momentarily stunned, then replied indifferently, "I'll come if I have time."
With that, he left the hospital room.
Xiang Wanniao watched Gu Jingzhan's retreating figure as it gradually disappeared, a sense of loneliness coloring her eyes, her chest feeling heavy.
Sigh!
The road to winning back her husband was truly a long one!
After stepping out of Xiang Wanniao's hospital room, Gu Jingzhan did not leave the hospital immediately, but instead took the elevator up to Lu Qingzhou's office on the eighth floor.
Lu Qingzhou poured him a cup of tea and said with a teasing tone, "Instead of staying in the ward watching over your little wife who was just making a fuss over ending her life, how do you have time to come running over here?"
Gu Jingzhan pondered for a moment and asked in all seriousness, "Does excessive blood loss affect the brain's nerves?"
"What? Has Xiang Wanniao gone stupid?" Lu Qingzhou thought for a second, then frowned and said, "That shouldn't be! Aside from being a bit physically weak, all her other indicators showed normal."
Gu Jingzhan leaned back against the sofa, raising a hand to massage his tired brow. "I brought up the divorce with her, and she won't agree."
"What!" Lu Qingzhou could not suppress the smile on his face at all, and even slapped his thigh in approval. "Brother Zhan, you've finally woken up and decided to divorce that woman Xiang Wanniao!"
Gu Jingzhan's hand paused, and he glanced at him indifferently. "What? Are you that happy about my divorce?"
"Of course I am!" he muttered under his breath. "Who asked that person to be Xiang Wanniao? I wouldn't be this happy if it were anyone else."
Lu Qingzhou had never liked Xiang Wanniao. For the half-year she had been married to Gu Jingzhan, she had spent the entire time stirring up trouble, pulling all sorts of stunts to self-destruct, and now it had even reached the point of attempting suicide.
To this day, he couldn't understand why, with so many noble and accomplished ladies in Kyoto, Gu Jingzhan had to have Xiang Wanniao.
For her sake, every principle and bottom line could be cast aside.
Though people say, "It is better to demolish ten temples than to wreck a single marriage," this distressing marriage between Gu Jingzhan and Xiang Wanniao was better off ended.
"Think about it, have you had a single day of peace since you married Xiang Wanniao? Every day it's one drama after another. Anyway, your marriage with her is one in name only anyway, so divorcing won't have any impact on either of you."
Gu Jingzhan remained silent, taking a sip of tea.
Originally, he had truly planned to let go, but the attitude Xiang Wanniao had just displayed stirred a sliver of unrealistic fantasy in his heart.
Perhaps his Qiaoqiao really had come to her senses and would no longer try to run away.
"But then again, why doesn't Xiang Wanniao want a divorce? Isn't this the result she's always wanted? She even went as far as attempting suicide just to be with Xiao Xu'an."
At the mention of Xiang Wanniao's suicide attempt last night, Gu Jingzhan's expression changed abruptly, turning extremely ugly.
Catching sight of this, Lu Qingzhou gave a light cough. "Look... Brother Zhan, no matter what anyone says this time, you have to divorce that woman Xiang Wanniao, lest she collude with Xiao Xu'an and hatch some malicious plot against you."
Gu Jingzhan tightened his sharply-jointed fingers around the teacup, still maintaining his silence.
Seeing that he didn't say a word, Lu Qingzhou frowned and asked, "Brother Zhan, did you hear a word I said?"
"I heard it," Gu Jingzhan replied indifferently.
Lu Qingzhou was somewhat exasperated. "If you heard it, say something then!"
"When it comes to my own matters, I know what I'm doing."