Chapter 56: Plans Go Awry: The Clever Are Misled by Their Own Cleverness

After listening to her mother’s words, Bai Wei still felt unwilling to give up. She couldn’t abandon this relationship so easily.

She had to figure out a way to win over Gu Yan’an before that woman arrived in Jingshi. But what should she do?

After pondering for a while…

She had an idea!

“Little sister, why don’t you invite Tingting out this Saturday afternoon? Let’s all go boating on the lake in the park.”

“Boating in this chilly autumn wind? Second sister, you’re not still holding onto hope for Elder Brother Gu, are you? Planning to make a move through Tingting? I suggest you save your energy! If you want to invite Tingting, do it yourself. I’m busy anyway.”

Hadn’t her sister already caused her enough trouble? Clearly, Xiaobei hadn’t come looking for her, yet her sister had lied just to get her to the Gu family. It was truly despicable.

“Fine, if you won’t go, then don’t. I’ll just ask Yanni to come with me instead.”

Bai Wei invited Gu Yanni to go boating on Saturday. Gu Yanni was initially quite pleased—her brother had liked Sister Weiwei for so many years, and she wanted to take this opportunity to chat more with Sister Weiwei and put in a good word for her elder brother.

But who would have thought that Bai Wei would also ask her to bring Tingting along? Was she still thinking about their elder cousin, Gu Yan’an?

Yet, she didn’t want to miss this chance, so she mentioned the matter to her brother, Gu Yandong.

Gu Yandong wished them a fun time and even took five yuan from his pocket to give to Gu Yanni, telling her to buy some melon seeds and candies to enjoy during the outing.

On Friday, Gu Yanni went to invite Gu Yanting. When her cousin asked her to hang out, she agreed without a second thought.

On Saturday afternoon, Gu Yanni and Gu Yanting waited by the lake for Bai Wei to arrive.

“Cousin, why are we just standing here by the lake? Let’s take a walk around!”

“Let’s wait a little longer. Sister Weiwei will be here soon. Here, Tingting, have a candy first.”

Was Sister Weiwei coming? Cousin hadn’t mentioned she would be here yesterday. If she had known, she wouldn’t have come. This was going to be so awkward.

Gu Yanting absentmindedly took the candy and put it in her mouth, gazing at the sparkling lake surface, lost in thought.

Bai Wei had actually arrived a while ago, but she didn’t approach them. Instead, she stood quietly behind a large tree not far away, watching them.

She was waiting for an opportunity—a good chance to make her move. If she succeeded, she could smoothly marry Gu Yan’an.

After Gu Yanting finished the candy, Gu Yanni handed her a handful of melon seeds. The two of them began cracking melon seeds contentedly by the lake.

Then…

Bai Wei tiptoed up behind Gu Yanni. She pulled a syringe needle from her pocket and quickly jabbed it into Gu Yanni’s back, suddenly exclaiming loudly, “Nini, have you been waiting long?”

Before Gu Yanni could react, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her back. Her body reflexively jerked, and with a cry of “Ah!”, she pushed Gu Yanting, who was standing in front of her, into the lake.

“Splash!”

The calm lake surface suddenly erupted with a huge spray of water.

One moment, Gu Yanting had been cracking melon seeds; the next, she found herself inexplicably falling into the water.

Bai Wei suddenly screamed, “Oh my goodness, Yanni, how could you push Yanting into the water?”

The opportunity had finally come. She had to find a way to rescue Yanting.

With a loud splash, Bai Wei quickly jumped in…

Only then did the stunned Gu Yanni snap out of it. She had accidentally pushed her younger cousin into the lake.

She finally began to panic. Oh no, what if both of them drowned?

Gu Yanni screamed in terror, “Someone, help! Help, someone’s fallen into the lake!”

Gu Yanting actually knew a little swimming, but having been suddenly pushed into the water, she hadn’t reacted in time and had thrashed around for a while, swallowing several mouthfuls of lake water.

By the time she regained her senses, Bai Wei had already jumped into the water and was swimming toward her.

Just as she managed to stop flailing and was about to adjust her posture to swim to shore, an arm tightly wrapped around her neck from behind.

This was it. She hadn’t even fully coughed up the water in her stomach, and now she was being choked from behind. Gu Yanting felt like she wanted to die right then.

“Cough! Cough, cough!” Gu Yanting coughed while thrashing in the water, creating splashes. “He… help… me…!”

Bai Wei had thought she could quickly rescue Gu Yanting and bring her ashore, but Gu Yanting struggled in the water and even kicked her.

It was just her luck. Gu Yanting’s kick landed right on her pants pocket. That wouldn’t have been a big deal, but the problem was there was still a large needle in her pocket that she hadn’t thrown away.

“Ah!”

A sudden sharp pain shot through her thigh, and Bai Wei immediately let go.

Gu Yanting could finally breathe freely again. She turned around and quickly swam toward the shore. If she didn’t leave now, would she stay and let that idiot Bai Wei choke her to death?

Even if she didn’t choke to death, if this continued, she’d probably drown because of Bai Wei. That Bai Wei was truly useless—not only couldn’t she save anyone, but she also jumped in to cause trouble.

Bai Wei paddled in the water while reaching into her pocket to pull out the needle and quickly tossing it into the lake. Perhaps she had moved too abruptly when retrieving the needle, because as soon as she threw it away, her left leg began to cramp.

“Ah… ah, ah…”

Even worse, it felt like something was flowing out from inside her body. Was her period starting?

“Hel… glug… glug…”

Bai Wei slowly sank. Just as the water was about to cover her head, Gu Yanni on the shore was as frantic as an ant on a hot pan.

“Help! Someone, save her!”

Gu Yandong strode over, covering the distance in just a few steps.

Gu Yanting had just climbed ashore and hadn’t even had time to look back to see what was happening when a dark figure flashed past her.

With a splash, it jumped into the water…

“E… Elder… Elder Brother?” Gu Yanni stammered.

Why had her elder brother come here?

By now, Bai Wei had swallowed so much water that her mind was foggy. Elder Brother? Could it be that Elder Brother Gu had come?

She forced her eyelids open slightly. In her blurred vision, the person’s features seemed somewhat similar to Gu Yan’an.

So tired… Unfortunately, she couldn’t hold on any longer…

Glug… glug…

Bai Wei swallowed several more mouthfuls of water and slowly slipped beneath the surface, her head soon disappearing from sight…

Suddenly, a pair of strong hands lifted her out of the water from below. She was too exhausted, too tired to open her eyes, and leaned weakly against Gu Yandong’s shoulder.

“Cough! Cough, cough, cough!”

After pulling Bai Wei out of the lake and onto the shore, Gu Yandong gently patted her face.

“Weiwei, wake up!”

Gu Yanni looked at Bai Wei lying pale on the ground and said, “Elder Brother, is Weiwei not breathing? Hurry and give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Oh, and you also need to perform chest compressions for CPR.”

Sister Weiwei was a nurse, and she had specifically taught them this knowledge. Who would have thought it would come in handy now?

Bai Wei’s mind was a blur. Who? Who was calling Elder Brother? Who was Elder Brother? Had he come?

Gu Yandong couldn’t care too much anymore. He knelt directly beside Bai Wei and began performing chest compressions on her—one, two, three… As he pressed, he leaned down and repeatedly blew air into Bai Wei’s mouth.

“Cough, cough, cough!”

Bai Wei couldn’t help but cough again…

Her mind slowly began to clear. She distinctly felt someone pressing on her chest, and her mouth also felt a bit strange.

Who was it?

Who was kissing her? Was it Elder Brother Gu?

This was wonderful. At this moment, she didn’t want to open her eyes at all…

When Gu Yandong leaned down again to blow air into her mouth, she couldn’t help but stick out her tongue and messily tangled it around.

Gu Yandong was stunned at first, his heart trembling slightly. Without thinking, he shamefully responded twice.

“Elder Brother, what are you doing?”

As soon as Gu Yanni called out, Gu Yandong snapped back to his senses and slumped onto the grass.

Why had he stopped?

Had Elder Brother Gu just kissed her because she had saved Tingting?

Bai Wei slowly opened her eyes. Looking at the man before her, she suddenly let out a scream, “Ah…! Why is it you?”