Gu Jingxing stood by the window and smoked a cigarette, the swirling smoke veering to conceal the unpredictable glint in his eyes.
Then, without even glancing at Qiao An, he walked straight out of the private room.
Qiao An removed the tie from her neck and walked over to the window, just in time to see Gu Jingxing get into his car and drive away.
She gave a sarcastic smile, folded the tie and tucked it into her bag, then went downstairs to hail a cab back to the hotel.
Lin Xi returned home from the Gu Family Old Residence, stumbling slightly as she reached the entryway.
The vase placed on the shoe cabinet tilted, crashing onto the floor with a loud clatter and shattering into pieces.
Her mother, Nan Yu, came down from upstairs and asked with concern, "Xixi, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, just accidentally broke a vase." Lin Xi kept her head down as she changed her shoes, the dim light of the entryway masking her expression. "Mom, go back and rest."
Before Nan Yu could say anything more, Lin Xi went upstairs via the other staircase and returned to her room.
After locking the bedroom door, Lin Xi's expression turned unmistakably grim. Feeling around for her cigarette case, she pulled one out and took a few heavy drags, only then managing to calm her emotions.
After a while, she walked over to her dressing table, felt for the secret compartment beneath the mirror, and took out a phone.
After turning it on, she dialed the only number stored inside.
Walking over to the window, Lin Xi closed her eyes and tapped the ash from her cigarette. "Blame it on my loose lips—Gu Jingxing found the tracking software and deleted it."
Back at the hotel, Qiao An showed the contract to Zhang Ling. "I start work tomorrow."
Zhang Ling looked at her approvingly. "You've always been exceptional. Congratulations."
"Now that my work is all sorted out, can you finally rest easy? Dr. Zhang, there's no need for you to keep staying with me. It delays your work so much."
Zhang Ling raised an eyebrow and handed her several kraft paper envelopes from beside him. "It doesn't delay anything."
Surprised, Qiao An took the envelopes and opened them one by one.
Each kraft paper envelope contained a hospital employment contract. There were a full five of them laid out in front of her!
Qiao An clicked her tongue in amazement. "Aren't you showing off a bit too much?"
"Knowing you'll be staying in Haicheng for a long time, I couldn't very well stay idle either. Now that your job is settled, I can get back to practicing medicine."
Zhang Ling smiled. "Besides, since we'll be living together for the long term... stop calling me Dr. Zhang. Call me Brother Zhang."
With that, he took out his phone and used a mapping app to search the addresses on the contracts one by one, determining the distance from each hospital to the Gu Group.
Ten minutes later, he tapped one of the contracts lightly with his finger. "Let's go with this one."
Qiao An took a look and saw it was Saint Anna Hospital.
"Why choose this one?"
"It's the closest to your company, and the hospital has advanced equipment and great facilities." Zhang Ling looked thoroughly satisfied. "This way, I can feel much more at ease when you go for check-ups in the future."
A wave of guilt washed over Qiao An. "You didn't have to do this."
Zhang Ling smiled and shook his head. "Alright, with work settled, the next step is finding a place to live."
Surprise and confusion flashed across her pretty, peach-blossom eyes. "What?"
"Before I came, Mr. Jin gave me an open-ended check. I'll pick a place midway between the hospital and the Gu Group. The only question now is: will you live with me in the same place, or be neighbors?"
Qiao An looked at him. Zhang Ling's smile remained gentle as he met her gaze, his eyes holding both indulgence and persistence.
After a few seconds of silence, Qiao An answered, "Let's be neighbors."
Zhang Ling's smile faded slightly, his eyelids drooping. "I'll screen some options as soon as possible."
After Zhang Ling left, Qiao An took Gu Jingxing's tie out of her bag and stuffed it into her suitcase.
While rummaging through her clothes, something thin and hard scraped her hand. Qiao An fished it out and saw it was the business card Gu Jingxing had thrown at her in the hotel last time.
The sleek, elegant card had a string of calligraphy-font phone numbers printed right in the center, with the owner's name written in the bottom right corner.
—Xie Jibai.
Qiao An raised an eyebrow, took out her phone, and saved the number.
Gu Residence.
Gu Jingxing had just seen Lin Xi out. Upon returning, the moment he reached the entryway, a walnut came flying through the air and struck his shoulder.
His footsteps halted. "Mom."
"So you still remember you have a mother!" Mother Gu gave a cold huff. "The way you treated Lin Xi with such indifference just now, I thought you didn't want to acknowledge me as your mother anymore!"
Her son's marriage to Lin Xi was entirely her doing; for Gu Jingxing to treat Lin Xi coldly was a sign of his dissatisfaction with her as his mother!
Chen Wang hurriedly poured a cup of tea for Mother Gu. "Aunt Lou, Brother Gu is very filial to you. Don't be angry, please don't be angry."
Mother Gu pushed him away. "You boys just cover for him!
Look at all of you, old enough yet neither dating nor marrying—do you have any idea how anxious the elders at home are?"
She turned her gaze back to Gu Jingxing. "Third, you and Lin Xi have been dating for three years. You refuse to get engaged, and you refuse to get married. What exactly do you want?"
Realizing he was about to get caught in the crossfire, Chen Wang didn't dare say another word.
Father Gu came down from upstairs, glanced at the living room, and guessed right away that his wife was giving their son a hard time again. He gave a light cough. "Yuanyin, do you know where my blood pressure medication is? I've been looking for it forever and can't find it."
"Isn't it on the bedside table?" Mother Gu bustled to her feet and headed straight upstairs.
"I just couldn't find it, that's all. I'm not as meticulous as you; I'm always misplacing things." With his hands behind his back, Father Gu followed closely behind Mother Gu upstairs while "reflecting" on himself.
"You father and son were born to be the bane of my existence!" Mother Gu muttered under her breath, though her tone had already softened.
Gu Jingxing gave Xie Jibai and Chen Wang a look, and the three of them went into the study together.
Once the door was closed, Chen Wang let out a sigh of relief. "Auntie's menopause still hasn't passed?"
Xie Jibai picked up an orange and began peeling it, chuckling at the remark. "That's not menopause. That's pure, unadulterated maternal love."
Chen Wang wore a rueful expression. "Boss, thank goodness Uncle is on your side, otherwise, tsk tsk."
Gu Jingxing pulled over a chair and sat down. "Was it you who installed that couple app on my phone?"
"Yeah," Chen Wang grinned sheepishly. "Sister Xi was just telling me about it earlier—she forgot to mention it to you.
Remember when we all got together before the trip to Country M? During a game, I lost and picked Truth or Dare, so I took the chance while you were in the restroom to install that app for you."
Xie Jibai accidentally bit into a sour orange and frowned. "You know the boss's phone password?"
"I don't. Sister Xi told me." Chen Wang grabbed an apple and took a couple of bites.
Xie Jibai glanced at Gu Jingxing.
Gu Jingxing remained silent.
Chen Wang swallowed his bite of apple and spoke up. "Boss, what on earth is going on between you and Sister Xi? I thought she looked quite unhappy just now.
Even though Auntie can be a bit nagging, she's not wrong. You two have been dating for three years; it's about time you settled down. Engagement or marriage—either way, it's just a word from you.
Dragging it out like this is bad for both of you."
With that, he remembered the phone call he had received while in Country M, and carefully gauged Gu Jingxing's expression. "You didn't... actually cheat, did you?"
Xie Jibai ignored him and looked at Gu Jingxing instead. "Shall I have someone look into it?"
Chen Wang asked, "Look into what?"
Gu Jingxing dismissed the idea. "Let's handle official business first."
Early the next morning, Qiao An chose a black bodycon mini skirt suit to wear, applied light makeup, and hailed a cab to the company.
Upon arriving at the Gu Group, Qiao An's appearance instantly attracted a multitude of gazes.
She walked straight up to the front desk. "Hello, I'm a new employee in the Business Department. Could you tell me where I can get my employee badge made?"
The receptionist was almost lost in the beauty of the stunning woman and only snapped back to reality at her words. "Employee badges are made right here!"
She pulled out a registration log and handed it to Qiao An. "Fill out your information, right here..."
Qiao An was naturally beautiful. Even though she was dressed in a mature and conservative outfit today, the alluring charm in her bones was still hard to conceal.
Quite a few people merely glanced at her before pulling out the company software to search for her profile.
After filling out the registration form, Qiao An took her temporary badge and headed for the elevators, going straight to the Business Department.
The Business Department was on the fifth floor. The elevator paused when it reached the third floor.
The elevator doors slid open, and Gu Jingxing's figure appeared outside.