Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Did Chu Tang Get a Boyfriend? Do You Know About This? When Gu Zechuan was driven back to the villa by his chauffeur, it was already three in the morning. He stumbled his way back to the bedroom, collapsed onto the bed, and fell into a deep sleep. Gu Zechuan opened his eyes again—awakened by pain. "Chu Tang, my stomach hurts." Gu Zechuan mumbled groggily. "Get me a box of stomach medicine." No response. Gu Zechuan called out a few more times: "Chu Tang, Chu Tang—" Suddenly, he snapped his eyes open and sat up in bed. As consciousness returned, Gu Zechuan remembered that Ruan Chutang had already moved out of here. His mood was complicated—he felt an emptiness in his heart, and a suffocating tightness as well. Holding his stomach, he got out of bed and rummaged through the house, searching everywhere but still failing to find the stomach medicine. The pain was unbearable. He took out his phone and called the live-in housekeeper. Auntie Zhang was completely dazed when she answered the call. "Where is the stomach medicine?" Gu Zechuan's voice came through. Aunt Zhang clenched her fist, took a deep breath, and kept gaslighting herself in her mind. It's fine, it's fine. He pays well. Losing a bit of sleep is worth it. Then her gaze drifted to the phone screen—four in the morning. Seriously, is he insane? This is rest time! She took several deep breaths before suppressing the urge to quit on the spot, and replied in a patient tone: "The medicine kit is in the first drawer of the cabinet in Miss Ruan's room." Gu Zechuan hung up, opened the door to Ruan Chutang's bedroom, and walked unsteadily to the cabinet while bracing against the wall. He pulled open the drawer—sure enough, there was a medicine kit inside, containing several different kinds of medicine that made his head spin. The medicine was found, but... he didn't know which one to take. In the past, whenever his stomach condition flared up, Ruan Chutang would personally feed him the medicine. He had no choice. Enduring the twisting pain in his stomach, he roughly skimmed through the instruction leaflets of the various medicines and finally popped two pills as a makeshift solution. It won't kill me anyway, he thought. As the medicine took effect, Gu Zechuan sank back into sleep. When Gu Zechuan woke up, it was already noon. He called for the housekeeper. "Cook me a bowl of stomach-soothing congee." The housekeeper's lips twitched. "Sir, you mean the stomach-soothing congee that Miss Ruan used to make?" "Yeah." The housekeeper shook her head and waved her hands. "I can't make that." Gu Zechuan's expression darkened slightly. "Why not?" The housekeeper explained: "For that congee, you need to soak the lily bulbs and pearl barley overnight in advance, and you also need to buy fresh yam and beef. There's no time to soak them now." "Besides, I only know the ingredients—I don't know the exact method or how to season it. So I can't make it." Gu Zechuan's brow twitched. "You can at least make plain congee, right?" Auntie Zhang smiled. "That I can do." "Then cook me a bowl of plain congee." Gu Zechuan's head was throbbing badly. After speaking, he leaned against the bedside, closed his eyes, and massaged his temples to rest. "Knock, knock, knock—" A knock sounded at the door. Gu Zechuan's eyes flew open, and joy rose in his heart. Was Chu Tang coming back to find him? He knew it—Chu Tang wouldn't be so heartless as to leave. "Come in." The moment Gu Zechuan finished speaking, Chen Wan pushed the door open. The smile on Gu Zechuan's lips froze instantly, and his tone carried obvious disappointment. "Why is it you?" Chen Wan caught the flicker of disappointment in his eyes and secretly clenched her fists. She didn't ask who else it could be—she knew full well who Gu Zechuan had been hoping for. Chen Wan put on a smile and said with concern, "I heard from Auntie Zhang that you weren't feeling well, so I came to check on you. Are you feeling better, Zechuan?" Gu Zechuan shook his head. "I'm fine now." Chen Wan walked over and sat down by the bed, pulling out her phone to show Gu Zechuan. "Zechuan, look—this is a travel guide I found online for a trip to Xinjiang. We can do a self-driving tour and bring two drivers to take turns. Xinjiang is vast, so driving makes things much more convenient. After we visit Kanas, we can also go to..." At that moment, Gu Zechuan suddenly found Chen Wan very noisy. His head was already hurting, and she kept chattering endlessly in his ear—it was truly irritating. If it were Ruan Chutang, she would definitely be caring for him right now. She would personally cook congee in the kitchen and feed it to him spoonful by spoonful. "Enough." Gu Zechuan interrupted impatiently. "Let's talk about it tomorrow. I'm a bit tired today." Chen Wan put away her phone and lowered her head with a sorrowful expression. "Zechuan, are you tired of me?" Her tone was full of grievance. Gu Zechuan let out a sigh. In the end, he couldn't bear to say anything harsh to her. "No, I just have a bit of a headache right now. There's no rush for the trip—let's discuss it after I've rested." "Okay." Chen Wan leaned into Gu Zechuan's arms and gently wrapped her arms around his waist. ... Jiangcheng. In the card room of a leisure club, a few young men from wealthy families were sitting together playing cards. Zhou Zheng'an caught a glimpse of the watch on Jiang Shixu's wrist. With a cigarette dangling from his lips and a rakish smile, he teased, "Oho, got a new watch, huh?" Jiang Shixu played a card, his grin stretching almost ear to ear. "How is it? Looks good, right? Tangtang gave it to me." "Tsk tsk, Tangtang gave this to you? I'm so jealous. A man with a fiancée is really something else." Qin Yan teased with a laugh. Zhou Zheng'an looked puzzled. "By the way, how did you end up in an arranged marriage with the Ruan family? Was it your parents' idea? That doesn't seem right." Although he and Ruan Chutang were from the same circle, even within the same social circle, there were hierarchies of status. Jiang Shixu was at the top of the circle, and the Jiang family held the most power. As the legitimate heir of the Jiang family, his first choice for a marriage alliance would never have been the Ruan family. Jiang Shixu smiled, his gaze softening. "It's not an arranged marriage." "Huh?" Qin Yan was shocked. "If it's not an arranged marriage, then what is it?" "Three years ago, I approached Ruan Shaodong on my own initiative," Jiang Shixu said. "I waited so long for Tangtang to graduate. The moment she did, I went straight to Ruan Shaodong." "At the time, I told him he could name any condition—whatever it took to marry Tangtang, I'd give him anything." At the memory, Jiang Shixu's eyes lit up. After all these years, he was finally about to get what he'd been longing for. "So you'd already set your sights on little sister Chutang long ago?" Qin Yan clicked his tongue twice, looking utterly incredulous. "You hid it well. I've been your brother for all these years and I never even noticed." Zhou Zheng'an chuckled and teased, "So you were playing the secret crush game all along? You should've said something earlier. I thought you were gay, seeing how you've acted like you had no interest in women all these years." Qin Yan perked up with interest and started digging for gossip. "When exactly did you start liking little sister Chutang?" Jiang Shixu stared at the cards in his hand without even lifting his eyelids. "Secret." "Tsk tsk tsk, still putting on airs." Qin Yan wore a smug, insufferable expression. "Little sister Chutang ran away from home back then just to avoid the marriage arrangement. For all you know, she might not even have you in her heart at all. That gift was probably just a polite return gesture. Don't get your hopes up too soon." Hearing this, Zhou Zheng'an looked up and said in a flat tone, "I heard Chutang has a boyfriend now. Did you know about that?"