Chapter 181 - Chapter 181: Don’t Leave Me
Chapter 181: Don’t Leave Me
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Gu Ci has always been a bit of a tsundere. This trait showed from a young age, as she always had a sour expression. She can be fierce enough to go down with you when she’s really angry. Just by observing her fierce fighting with Gu Chuyun, you can see that.
As she grew older, she hid it well, because there were few people in this world that she cared about.
After her eighteenth birthday, Gu Ziyu came into her life. Her background was exposed, and with the Jiang family’s protection, she buried her tsundere tendencies even deeper. Tonight, after a provocation, it was completely revealed in front of Lu Zhiyuan.
Gu Ci stood up, took a step back, and turned around to leave. However, she suddenly felt dizzy, and the world seemed to spin. In the moment she was about to fall, Lu Zhiyuan reached out and caught her, holding her in his arms.
He looked at the unconscious Gu Ci, his eyebrows furrowed. Under the light, her face was as pale as paper, devoid of any color. Her thick eyelashes were like small fans, resting on her face. Fragile and pitiful, there was no trace of the madness she had just shown when biting him.
He carried Gu Ci horizontally, walking outside. Seeing this, Li Jiang also followed them. Lu Zhiyuan calmly said, “You don’t need to follow.”
Lu Zhiyuan placed Gu Ci in the passenger seat, just as his phone rang. It was Gu Ziyu calling, “I can’t find Mom. She…”
“I’m bringing her back.”
“Oh…” Gu Ziyu frowned. He had been busy tonight, in a meeting with Chen Liangdong. By the time he realized Gu Ci wasn’t at home, it was already one in the morning. The cell signal was gone. He immediately called Lu Zhiyuan. So, she had gone to look for Dad. But why was her phone off?
Seeing Lu Zhiyuan’s car parked at the door, Gu Ziyu opened the door and saw him holding Gu Ci. His expression changed slightly, “What happened to Mom?”
“She’s asleep,” Lu Zhiyuan said lightly. He carried Gu Ci into the house. As he went upstairs, he laid her on the bed. Gu Ziyu’s expression was blank. It was clear that she had lost consciousness; she wasn’t just sleeping.
Lu Zhiyuan pulled the blanket over her and glanced at Gu Ziyu, “When she wakes up, ask her.”
“Okay!” Gu Ziyu didn’t ask further. When Lu Zhiyuan stood on the second floor, he saw the laboratory on the basement level. His brow twitched. He descended to the basement, and Gu Ziyu asked, “What are you doing?”
The basement was quite spacious, covering an area of three hundred square meters. Aside from the study and laboratory, there was indeed a dimly lit room. On the wall, Lu Zhiyuan saw handcuffs and chains.
Gu Ci wasn’t joking; she was serious!
Gu Ziyu followed him and naturally saw the handcuffs and chains as well. After a moment of thought, he said, “Mom conducts experiments that require living subjects. This is the… area for those subjects.”
These living subjects were quite intelligent.
Lu Zhiyuan looked at Gu Ziyu. With his peach blossom eyes so similar to his, he looked innocently naive.
“Get some rest, don’t stay up too late,” Lu Zhiyuan said, then left Blue Fields Villa.
At the hospital, Pei Qiuying wore a hospital gown and stared at her phone with a gloomy expression. It was an email. Her gaze moved away from the screen, and she recalled the scene on the cruise ship.
Lu Zhiyuan had dived into the sea, saving both her and Gu Ci. Pei Qiuying had accidentally discovered Lu Zhiyuan’s superpower a few years ago, which had surprised her greatly.
She was delighted that Lu Zhiyuan had come to her side when she was in danger.
“Third Master…” Her damp long hair hung down, and her wet dress clung to her body, exuding both sexiness and maturity. Having survived a disaster, she wanted a hug. But just as her fingertips touched Lu Zhiyuan, he grabbed her by the neck, lifting her up.
With a grip on her neck, Pei Qiuying’s legs dangled, and her face turned red from lack of air. “Third… Third Master…”
He walked to the side of the ship, holding her over the water. When Pei Qiuying lowered her head, all she could see was the unfathomable depths of the sea. Panicking, she said, “Third Master, it’s me, Qiuying.”
Lu Zhiyuan coldly stared at her. The bright moon in the night sky reflected in his eyes, imbuing them with a chilling coldness. “Pei Qiuying, who gave you the right to touch her?”
“Third Master…” Pei Qiuying’s neck throbbed painfully. She clutched Lu Zhiyuan’s hand, hoping he would let go, but she couldn’t budge him.
With a light chuckle, Lu Zhiyuan’s laughter was unfamiliar to Pei Qiuying. How should one describe that smile? It didn’t seem like the Third Master at all. It was unrestrained, enchanting, and ostentatious, more like Lu Zhiyuan. “Do you enjoy threatening people so much?”
Pei Qiuying felt the aura of killing intent emanating from Third Master, “You… you… you’re not Third Master, you’re Lu Zhiyuan!”
Third Master wouldn’t treat her like this, nor would he smile like that!
“If there’s a next time, I’ll take your life!” Third Master said coldly, letting go of her. Pei Qiuying screamed and fell into the sea. Her bodyguards heard the commotion and rushed over. Third Master had already carried Gu Ci and left the cruise ship.
Pei Qiuying soaked in the cold seawater, shivering like a fallen leaf when she was rescued. Now, waking up from her recollections, she still shivered, her heart still pounding.
In that moment, Lu Zhiyuan had truly wanted to kill her.
That wasn’t Third Master; it was Lu Zhiyuan. Third Master wouldn’t be so cruel to her.
“Third Master, it’s not you!” Pei Qiuying thought fiercely, “It must not be you!”
When Gu Ci woke up, her head was pounding, feeling cold and also catching a cold. Gu Ziyu helped her measure her temperature, which was thirty-nine degrees, a high fever. There were fever-reducing medications and injections at home. Gu Ci gave herself an injection expressionlessly. Gu Ziyu ordered some preserved egg and lean meat congee for her. She didn’t have classes in the morning, so she could rest at home.
“Ziyu, go to class.”
“I’ve taken a leave to take care of Mom,” Gu Ziyu hoped to accompany her while she was sick. Gu Ci shook her head gently, “I’ve received a fever-reducing injection. I want to sleep for a while. Don’t worry, 1 can take care of myself.”
“Mom…”
“Be good!”
Gu Ziyu placed another phone on the bedside table, “Alright, if there’s anything, remember to call me.”
“Okay!”
With a full schedule of classes every day and heavy academic load, Gu Ziyu, his mind not entirely on his studies, relaxed when he saw Lu Zhiyuan approaching through the surveillance.
The autumn nights were cool, and the sea water was icy. Gu Ci had caught a chill after falling into the water. Coupled with the shock she had experienced, her emotions had been tumultuous. Stricken with a high fever, she had nightmares, reliving memories from a past life that tormented her physically and mentally. She cried, shouted, and desperately longed for Lu Zhiyuan in her fever-induced dreams, but no one responded.
In the nightmares, there was a cage imprisoning her.
Someone was calling her name, a voice she recognized that shattered her heart. In the dark cage, she heard a familiar and missed voice. The person she loved had returned.
“Lu Zhiyuan, don’t leave me… Lu Zhiyuan…”
She woke up with tears streaming down her face. Lu Zhiyuan sat by her bedside, wiping her tears away, his eyes full of tenderness. Gu Ci suddenly sat up and hugged him tightly. She clung to him like a drowning person grasping onto the last piece of driftwood.
“Did you have a nightmare?”
Gu Ci shook her head. It wasn’t a nightmare; it was something that had happened before. She didn’t dare to dwell on it. Weakly, she leaned against his shoulder. Lu Zhiyuan touched her neck, feeling a thin layer of sweat and a burning temperature. She was in so much discomfort.
In her nightmares, she had been calling his name repeatedly..