The temperature on Gu Qingtong’s cheeks quickly rose in response, spreading all the way to her earlobes and the area behind her ears.
Yan Chi’s cool fingertips greedily absorbed this scorching heat, as if they were about to ignite at the tips.
Blushing a rosy white, exuding an alluring and naturally captivating charm, just like that night after drinking, the things that Gu Qingtong didn’t know.
Only craving for a moment, she withdrew her hand from the edge of the other person’s ear, and as she left, her fingertips unintentionally brushed against Gu Qingtong’s small, pink earlobe, carrying a hint of indescribable tenderness.
“Mmm…”
Gu Qingtong couldn’t help but make a soft sound, instinctively covering one side of her ear with her hand.
In her embarrassment, she finally regained a bit of clarity and suddenly remembered that they were in a public place in her company. Anxiously, she pressed her throat and asked: “You, you, you, how did you come here?”
Before Yan Chi could say anything, Gu Qingtong grabbed her hand and ran towards the elevator entrance, saying: “We’ll be discovered. Let’s go first.”
Yan Chi allowed herself to be pulled along by her, her gaze wandering until it finally settled on the palms of their hands pressed together.
When the two of them stood in the enclosed and narrow elevator, Gu Qingtong belatedly withdrew her hand quickly.
Feeling awkward no matter how she placed her hands, she uncomfortably twisted them together.
Then, as she lifted her head, she saw Yan Chi calmly putting on sunglasses, covering half of her face and making her already distant and cold demeanor even more chilling.
“Oh, so you brought sunglasses…” Gu Qingtong’s voice buzzed like a mosquito.
“What’s the matter? Regretting taking the initiative to hold my hand just now?” Yan Chi unexpectedly asked Gu Qingtong, her face devoid of any expression. However, her words directly left the other party speechless, causing her to cough several times in embarrassment.
“Ah? Cough, cough…!” Gu Qingtong was exposed directly and instantly became flustered.
Why did she suddenly panic and grab Yan Chi’s hand? In order to maintain a distance from Yan Chi, Gu Qingtong had been acting reserved even in her walking. When did she dare to take the initiative to touch her?
Before she could explain, the elevator door opened, and several unfamiliar people from other floors entered.
The space inside the elevator was once again compressed, forcing Gu Qingtong to lean towards Yan Chi’s side. As a result, she was accidentally bumped by the hurried people entering the elevator, causing her to lose her balance and press her entire body against Yan Chi’s.
In the brief moment of contact, Yan Chi could clearly feel the contours under Gu Qingtong’s neat white shirt, as if her entire body, including her bones, was soft. Despite looking so delicate, she was incredibly supple.
Yan Chi understood her own thoughts well, as well as when her desire for Gu Qingtong began.
Under her sunglasses, she slowly closed her eyes.
❖❖❖❖❖
When they arrived at the underground parking lot, Gu Qingtong followed her and got into the back seat of the car.
Xiao Jun was not accompanying them today, but the driver was a familiar face. He was Yan Chi’s butler, and Gu Qingtong immediately recognized him. Strangely, the butler seemed quite gloomy today and didn’t even glance at Gu Qingtong.
Of course, the butler was feeling down. He only found out a few days ago when he was called to the Civil Affairs Bureau to make an appointment that his young lady was going to be engaged and even planned to register for marriage right away.
He couldn’t understand why Yan Chi suddenly got involved with that clueless Miss Gu from the Gu family.
However, as the butler was being impolite to Gu Qingtong, Yan Chi’s eyes instantly turned cold, and he truly realized that everything his young lady was doing was serious.
After learning these truths, the butler couldn’t help but recall the first time he saw Gu Qingtong.
It was during the Yan family banquet when Gu Qingtong appeared as the fiancée of Yan Song, ready to be married into the family.
At that time, Yan Chi was standing alone on the second floor, watching the elegantly dressed prospective sister-in-law from a distance. She even left without attending the banquet.
Now, the butler couldn’t help but feel a shock. Could it be that Yan Chi had set her sights on Miss Gu from the Gu family since then…?
Or perhaps, it started even earlier than he had imagined?
Of course, only Yan Chi herself knew the answers to these questions.
“Yan Chi, just now in front of the door, you heard those words, didn’t you?” Gu Qingtong, who had been staring out of the window all along, suddenly spoke, “If those words were true, how would you see me?”
After the fleeting moment of excitement gradually cooled, she also understood that what had just been said was merely Yan Chi’s way of comforting her.
“I like” didn’t mean “I like you,” but rather a retort to the person’s words, “No one would ever like someone with this kind of personality, right?”
The word “like” that Yan Chi used… perhaps it would be more appropriate to interpret it as “not dislike.”
Gu Qingtong never overthought things. She was just afraid that as her negative aspects gradually unfolded in front of Yan Chi, even this comfort would cease to exist.
“I may understand you better than you think.”
Yan Chi’s voice was calm and composed, each word carrying an inexplicable sense of security. “If you’re willing, you can choose to join my talent agency.”
After a moment of bewilderment, Gu Qingtong finally realized that Yan Chi was suggesting she join Hua Yan.
She hastily shook her head. “No need! I’m far from having the ability… “
Hua Yan only signed top-tier artists, directors, and screenwriters. It was widely regarded as the most difficult company to enter in the entertainment industry, and it had nothing to do with Gu Qingtong.
“I don’t have any connections with them either. We only bumped into each other because we were shooting promotional photos together. Besides, the resources I have here aren’t that bad.”
Gu Qingtong took the opportunity to mention her participation in a popular variety show. “I recently received an offer to be a regular cast member… Well, it’s a dating show, but I received a script for a non-official supporting role without any ambiguous lines. Sister Sun assured me of that.”
She wanted to present the script as evidence of her innocence, afraid that Yan Chi might misunderstand.
“It shouldn’t affect our engagement, right?”
As she spoke, Gu Qingtong discreetly observed Yan Chi’s expression, feeling a bit nervous.
Yan Chi seemed pleased with her earnest explanation, even chuckling lightly before saying: “It’s fine.”
As she let out a long sigh, Gu Qingtong also decided not to continue talking about her variety show. She thought she would tell Yan Chi once the episodes were released.
Afterwards, they had official business to attend to.
Yan Chi had already made all the arrangements, and Gu Qingtong only needed to eat, take photos, and sign documents.
After half a day, holding the little red book in her hands, Gu Qingtong still felt a sense of disbelief. Just last week, she and Yan Chi were still strangers who had never formally met. But now, they have truly become legal partners.
The parents from both the Gu and Yan families were clearly concerned about their progress, calling from time to time to inquire about the proceedings. They also wished to be there in person to supervise.
Ever since the night when Gu Qingtong got drunk and didn’t return home, the Gu couple had already assumed that Gu Qingtong and Yan Chi had spent the night together. Gu Qingtong felt utterly unable to clear up the misunderstanding.
Just when Gu Qingtong was anxiously anticipating that Yan Chi would bring up the topic of living together after marriage, Yan Chi informed her that she would be leaving City A on a two-week business trip, with tonight’s flight as the scheduled departure.
“Where are you going?” Perhaps the news came too suddenly, and Gu Qingtong was momentarily confused. She foolishly asked, but as soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted it. After all, Yan Chi wasn’t truly with her, so why did she care about her itinerary? “It’s nothing, forget I said anything.”
“Just going to take care of some company matters. I’ll come back as soon as possible.”
Yan Chi didn’t mind and spoke in a softer tone, as if comforting Gu Qingtong.
In this way, the two of them didn’t have to deal with their parents, which should have been a good thing. However, Gu Qingtong inexplicably felt like a newlywed bride left alone on her wedding night in a luxurious mansion. She couldn’t help but show a bit of a temper, muttering, “Well, if you say so, you better keep your word.”
To her surprise, Yan Chi reached out and tousled her hair: “Got it, I’ll remember.”
❖❖❖❖❖
Throughout the week, aside from the photoshoot for the magazine, Gu Qingtong had been diligently preparing for the live debut of the weekend romance variety show, “Love Game.”
After all, she knew that this time the attention was extraordinary, as the first impression often determined an artist’s reputation on variety shows.
Strangely enough, the script that was supposed to be given to her on the day of signing the contract didn’t arrive.
The explanation from the production team was that due to personnel changes, the original script for the female third lead was completely unusable. At least for this live broadcast, Gu Qingtong had to rely on her improvisation skills.
Wasn’t it supposed to be a slice-of-life comedy script about observing and shipping couples? Even if the previous guest had a scandal, it shouldn’t affect the direction of the script…
Gu Qingtong had some doubts in her mind, but variety shows were different from acting in regular dramas; they had a lot of creative freedom.
Even without a script, as long as she didn’t have any ambiguous or inappropriate interactions with the other guests, the production team couldn’t possibly create some inexplicable romantic storyline out of thin air, no matter how skilled they were.
Thinking about this, Gu Qingtong felt that there was nothing to worry about.
The pre-show live broadcast was conducted by the guests themselves at home, mainly for self-introductions, interactive games and Q&A sessions with the program team.
The guest who received the most gifts in the live chat would be rewarded with a mysterious ability, which was said to have a significant impact on the later episodes of the show.
On the weekend, the program team arrived at the Gu family’s villa with a large group of people carrying cameras at the agreed time, starting with a close-up shot of their villa.
As the live broadcast began, the number of viewers in the chat room gradually increased.
Because everyone was curious about the new guest, the barrage of comments kept flowing:
“Wow, this house?!”
“Whose house is this? Hurry up and announce the guest, I can’t wait!”
“Oh, um…is this the runaway princess from Disney?”
It’s not uncommon for celebrities to live in mansions, and the production team was a professional reality show team who had seen it all.
But when they first saw Gu Shuyu’s artistic mansion, they were stunned and speechless.
The building itself was a Western-style architecture with a history of nearly a hundred years. Gu Shuyu had meticulously preserved and cared for it. There were fountains and white doves, and every copper-carved windowsill was covered with blooming roses. The mottled red walls were adorned with lush ivy.
The garden was decorated with Gu Shuyu’s collection, proudly displayed for everyone to see, just to embellish his own garden.
Even Director Bu couldn’t help but exclaim that Gu Shuyu was truly an ultimate romanticist.
The camera scanned every corner of the villa, as if capturing scenes from an art film, and finally settled on a shot from an upward angle.
Gu Qingtong, dressed in a vintage white dress, stood among the pink roses on the balcony of the second floor, raising her feet and waving at them with a smile.
At that moment, everyone seemed to catch a whiff of the fragrance of pink roses.
