Su Nuohan glanced out of the corner of her eye at the man busy with his official work. Seeing that his expression remained normal, she picked up a pen and paper and began to sketch and write.
Fortunately, she had cut her left hand, or even drawing would have been a struggle.
From time to time, Su Nuohan looked up at the man attending to his documents while earnestly doodling on the paper.
Soon, Su Nuohan's drawing was finished. Looking at the man in her drawing with two wolf ears on his head and willow-leaf eyebrows slightly raised, she thought: *Gu Junyan, so what if you are a big gray wolf? I'm not afraid of you at all!*
"It's getting late. Go get some rest," Gu Junyan said indifferently when he saw her put down her pen.
Su Nuohan set the drawing aside and walked over to the desk. "Aren't you going to rest?"
"I still have official business to finish. You go take a shower and sleep first."
"I'm not tired either. I'll stay with you."
Gu Junyan paused. "What on earth are you trying to do?"
Su Nuohan lowered her head, her face flushing slightly. "I... I want you to sleep with me."
...
Gu Junyan stood up and pulled her thickly bandaged hand without any gentleness, his expression dark. "Sleep with you, and then what? Then watch you slit your wrists again?"
"It's not like that, I... I..."
Su Nuohan wanted to explain, but no matter how many times she opened her mouth, she couldn't make any coherent sense of it.
Although Gu Junyan hadn't used much force, her hand was injured, and now that it was gripped in his hand, the white gauze instantly stained red.
Gu Junyan abruptly pulled back his hand, frowning at the glaring crimson on her wrist. "Go back to your room and rest."
Watching Su Nuohan leave dejectedly, Gu Junyan pinched the bridge of his nose. If she had said just one more word a moment ago, he might not have cared about her injury and repeated what happened last night all over again.
As soon as Su Nuohan lay down on the bed, Auntie Yun walked in carrying gauze and medicine. "Madam, Sir said your wrist was bleeding again, and asked me to come change your bandages."
Su Nuohan's eyes lit up. As expected, he still cared about her. She knew he wasn't good with words and would only protect her silently behind the scenes. In her past life, she hadn't understood his love or his forbearance; in this lifetime, she would definitely make up for every bit of debt she owed him from before!
"Oh my, look at such delicate, fair hands—how did they end up like this? No wonder Sir looked so heartbroken when he saw the wound on your hand. Madam, you have no idea, when Sir called us after you slit your wrists, his eyes were red! Don't let his usual icy demeanor fool you; he really cares about you a lot."
Su Nuohan sighed. It wasn't that she didn't know Gu Junyan was good to her now; it was a matter of how to make Gu Junyan believe she genuinely wanted to be with him. Besides, she desperately wanted to return to the Su Family to see her grandfather and her brother.
In her past life, Qin Yu and Su Yue'er had caused the Gu Corporation—*[Correction per character memory/context: Su Corporation]*—to go bankrupt, which triggered a sudden heart attack in her grandfather from which he never woke up, and even her brother was reduced to a vegetative state after they hired someone to run him down. What was most hateful was that they had pinned this crime on Gu Junyan. Seeking revenge, she had stolen the secrets of the Gu Corporation and caused its bankruptcy... In the end, not only did she implicate Gu Junyan, but she also caused the death of their child...
"Qin Yu, Su Yue'er, I will never let you off!"
After finishing his paperwork, Gu Junyan softly opened the bedroom door. Even without turning on the lights, he quickly walked over to the bedside.Because Su Nuohan disliked him entering her bedroom, he could only sneak in while she was asleep to gaze foolishly at her sleeping face. Only when she was asleep could he truly look at her, and only when she was asleep would she not look at him with eyes full of disgust.
"Nuonuo, can't you be a little more obedient? Can't you stop thinking every single day about how to escape from me?"
Gu Junyan gently tucked Su Nuohan's hand, which had been resting outside the blanket, back inside, stared at her sleeping face for a long time, and then stood up to leave.
Inside Yi Jian Qing Xin, Xiao Heng sat on the sofa, took a sip from his glass, and looked with a flippant tone at the man beside him who was silently drinking away his sorrows.
"I say, Boss, you dragged me out in the middle of the night surely not just to watch you mope and drink alone, right? Tell me what's making you unhappy so your buddy can share in the joy!"
Seeing that Gu Junyan remained silent, Xiao Heng raised an eyebrow. Well, of course—who else could possibly drive the mighty Head of the Gu Family to drink his sorrows away in the middle of the night, other than that little troublemaker Su Nuohan, whom he treated like precious jade, afraid she'd melt in his mouth or shatter in his palms?
"I heard she threw another tantrum today? I must say, she is truly ruthless, even willing to hurt herself like that. If you hadn't gotten back in time, you'd probably be burning paper offerings for her right now, wouldn't you?"
Meeting a glare from Gu Junyan, Xiao Heng let out a soft scoff. Fine, Boss's woman was off-limits.
"Has the Third Brother been in touch with you lately?" Gu Junyan held his glass in one hand, leaning back lazily against the sofa as he spoke.
Xiao Heng nodded. Just yesterday, he had been sitting right here watching the Third Brother drink his sorrows away too. These two brothers of his were each more troublesome than the last. The crux of the matter was that both of them were drowning their sorrows over the exact same person: Gu Junyan was suffering from an unrequited love, while the Third Brother was furious because Gu Junyan had forcibly married his sister. Caught between his best friend and his own sister, Xiao Heng knew the Third Brother was in a terribly difficult position.
Yet Father Su, eager to latch onto the Gu Family, had willingly delivered Su Nuohan right to their doorstep. The Third Brother had gone to visit Su Nuohan at the Gu Family once, but Su Nuohan had clung to him and wept uncontrollably, begging him to take her home. Naturally, Gu Junyan was unwilling. Everyone in City A knew that no one could ever take away someone Gu Junyan was determined to keep. And just like that, the Boss and the Third Brother had a falling out.
"I'd say you really lost both the bride and your brother over this!"
Gu Junyan cast a cold glance at the gloating man beside him. "Did I call you out here just to watch you make fun of me?"
"I know you called me out to keep you company while you drink, but what's the point of a guy like me sitting here drinking with you?"
Xiao Heng lifted his glass and took a deep sniff. "Fine wine should naturally be paired with beauties!"
Before long, three women dressed in ultra-short skirts, with ample chests and long legs, walked over to the two men.
"Master Xiao, you finally remembered us! We thought you'd completely forgotten about us!"
All three chattered as they crowded around Xiao Heng, sitting down with various fruits in hand, ready to feed him.
Xiao Heng swallowed a grape that had been brought to his lips, one arm wrapped around the woman who had fed it to him, and then turned to the other two. "See him? Today your mission is to make him happy. If you do a good job, this check is yours!"