The air in the private room seemed to freeze.
Gu Chi stood at the doorway, looking at the beautiful girl in his brother's arms, her face full of astonishment, and then at his brother's eternally stoic expression. For a moment, he couldn't process the scene before him.
His brother, Gu Yanshen, the famous "living Yama" of the Beicheng Military District, who hadn't had a single female mosquito by his side in thirty years, was now... holding a woman?
And using that tone that brooks no argument, saying "She's mine"?
"Brother, this..." Gu Chi struggled to find words, trying to comprehend this magical scene.
Gu Yanshen didn't respond, merely cast a glance over.
That gaze held no warmth but choked all the words in Gu Chi's throat. He understood the warning and command in those eyes.
Gu Chi's Adam's apple bobbed once. In the end, he asked nothing, silently retreating while considerately closing the door behind him.
"Click."
The sound of the door lock falling was particularly clear in the silent private room.
Gu Yanshen released the arm that was around Lin Wan Yi's shoulders.
Lin Wan Yi's body went limp, staggering back two steps until her back hit the cold wall to barely stand still. She kept her head down, not daring to look into the man's eyes, her cheeks burning fiercely.
In that moment earlier, she could almost hear the drum-beating sound of her heartbeat in her chest. The heat from the man, transmitted through the fabric, was astonishingly hot.
"Sit," Gu Yanshen's voice resumed its previous cold hardness. He walked back to the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down with a steady demeanor, as if his earlier actions were just an illusion.
Lin Wan Yi clenched the corner of her clothing, slowly and reluctantly walking over to sit across from him. A rosewood round table separated them, and the atmosphere was so awkward it could be wrung out.
Her mind was a tangled mess, not knowing what this man intended to do.
He had exposed her scheme but then helped her out of the situation.
To call him a good person, his gaze on her was as if he wanted to cut her to pieces. To call him bad, he had truly not let her social reputation end in front of Gu Chi.
"Speak, whose idea was it?" Gu Yanshen crossed his legs, his slender fingers gently tapping on the table, each tap felt on Lin Wan Yi's heart.
"It... it was my own idea," Lin Wan Yi's voice was as soft as a mosquito. At this point, lying would be pointless, only making him look down on her more. She couldn't betray Gu Lan either.
Gu Yanshen let out a barely audible chuckle, as if mocking her overestimation of her capabilities.
Just when Lin Wan Yi felt she was about to be crushed by the silence, a noisy commotion of footsteps and a sharp female voice erupted outside the private room.
"It's here! I saw her go in with my own eyes!" It was Zhang Qianqian's voice, filled with unabashed schadenfreude, "Messing around with a wild man in the private room, how shameless!"
"Zhang Qianqian, don't talk nonsense! Manager Wang of the restaurant and Mr. Li of the textile mill are both here, catching the thief with the loot, catching the adultery with the pair. We'll expose her true colors today!" Another female voice chimed in.
All color drained from Lin Wan Yi's face.
She realized this was a trap. Zhang Qianqian not only spread rumors of her trying to rise above her station but also found people to "catch her in the act," intending to completely ruin her reputation and lose her last chance of being a temporary worker at the textile mill!
In the seventies, if a girl's reputation was ruined, her life would be over.
The door was banged on with "bang, bang" sounds.
"Open the door! The people inside, open up! We're conducting an inspection!" A rough male voice shouted.
Lin Wan Yi panicked, standing up from the chair with cold hands and feet, feeling completely at a loss.
Just when she thought she was doomed, Gu Yanshen opposite her also stood up. He showed no signs of panic, his tall silhouette like a mountain, instantly blocking all her sight.
Without a word, he grabbed Lin Wan Yi's cold wrist, pulling her with large strides towards a small door in the corner of the private room.
It was a storage room.
Gu Yanshen pushed open the door, directly stuffing Lin Wan Yi inside, following her in, and closing the door behind them.
"Mmm..."
The storage room was pitch dark, the space pathetically small and piled high with clutter. Lin Wan Yi, dragged inside, lost balance and crashed into his arms.
Her cheek pressed against his firm military uniform shirt, the cold mixture of soap and tobacco scent from him surrounded her nose. Through the thin fabric, she could clearly feel the contours of his chest muscles, hard and burning.
The man's strong arm was around her waist, more of a restraint than an embrace, preventing her from moving recklessly.
Outside, the pounding on the door continued.
"Bang!"
The door to the private room was finally forced open.
"Where are they?" Zhang Qianqian rushed in first, but the private room was empty, not a shadow in sight.
"Impossible! I clearly saw her come in!" Zhang Qianqian screamed, searching around the private room, even checking under the table.
Mr. Li, who followed in, frowned at the mess in the private room, his tone displeased, "Comrade Zhang Qianqian, you said someone was engaging in inappropriate relations here? Where are they?"
"I... I..." Zhang Qianqian was dumbfounded as well, refusing to believe it. Her eyes wandered around the room, finally settling on the door to the storage room, "They must be in there! They must be hiding inside!"
As she spoke, she rushed over to open the door.
Just then, the door to the storage room was pulled open from the inside.
Gu Yanshen's tall figure appeared at the door. His face was expressionless, and his military uniform was perfectly pressed, though there were still some wet spots on the sleeves. His gaze coldly swept over everyone present, the killing aura honed from the mountains of corpses and seas of blood causing the entire room's temperature to drop.
"Who let you in?" His voice wasn't loud, but it carried immense weight.
Zhang Qianqian and the others, who were arrogant moments ago, began to tremble at the sight of Gu Yanshen's face.
Mr. Li from the textile factory shuddered in fear and stammered, "Gu, Mr. Gu? What are you doing here?"
Who was Gu Yanshen? The youngest regimental commander in the military district, the eldest son of the Gu Family, a person of such stature they could only dream of meeting!
"I asked, who let you break in?" Gu Yanshen repeated, his gaze landing on Mr. Li.
Mr. Li, drenched in cold sweat, hurriedly pointed at Zhang Qianqian, "It's her! She reported that... that someone was here doing... doing..."
"Doing what?" Gu Yanshen's gaze cut across Zhang Qianqian's face like a knife.
Zhang Qianqian turned pale with fright, trembling too much to speak. She couldn't have imagined that the person staying with Lin Wan Yi, this fallen woman, would actually be Gu Yanshen!
Gu Yanshen no longer paid them any mind. He stepped aside, revealing the scene inside the storage room.
Lin Wan Yi stood behind him, her face ashen, eyes red-rimmed, hair slightly disheveled, looking absolutely terrified and aggrieved. Her hands clutched tightly at the hem of Gu Yanshen's clothes, as if holding onto the last straw of hope.
Everyone now understood the situation.
This wasn't a caught-in-the-act moment but a couple's rendezvous interrupted!
Mr. Li wished he could slap himself on the spot; he had led people to disrupt Mr. Gu's "good times"!
"Misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding! Mr. Gu, we'll leave, we'll leave right away!" Mr. Li apologized repeatedly, dragging the terrified Zhang Qianqian and others out in a panic.
The room returned to silence.
Gu Yanshen closed the door and turned to face her.
Lin Wan Yi still clung to his clothes, not letting go.
Everything had happened so quickly; she hadn't fully grasped it yet. But she knew, she owed him once again.
"Thank you." She looked up, her eyes misty, her voice carrying a tremor of narrowly escaping disaster.
However, she quickly sensed something was wrong.
A strange heat surged from deep within her, her limbs growing weak. Gu Yanshen's handsome face in front of her started to blur.
So hot...
She remembered drinking a glass of water from a "sister" she knew before coming to the restaurant. At that time, she hadn't thought much of it... It turned out the trap had started then.
Lin Wan Yi swayed, nearly unable to stand.
Gu Yanshen reached out and supported her arm, feeling its scorching heat.
He lowered his gaze, noting her unnatural flush and hazy eyes, his brows furrowing deeply.
"Hot..." Lin Wan Yi unconsciously murmured, her body instinctively leaning towards the only source of coolness. She released his clothes and wrapped her arms around his slender waist, her cheek pressed against his firm chest, like a kitten seeking shelter, snuggling incessantly.
"...Help me."
The girl's soft body clung tightly to him, a sweet scent invading his senses, her soft plea like a feather brushing lightly over his taut nerves.
Gu Yanshen's muscles tensed completely.
He had lived for thirty years, from military school to the battlefield, his willpower as strong as steel. But now, the soft, hot woman in his arms was causing the self-control he prided himself on to crack inch by inch.
He grasped her shoulders, intending to push her away.
But her skin was alarmingly hot, and her moist eyes were clouded, helplessly looking at him, continuing to plead softly.
Gu Yanshen's breath hitched.
His Adam's apple bobbed, the veins in his arms protruding slightly.
Finally, his hands, resting on her shoulders, slowly tightened.
"Lin Wan Yi," he whispered, his hot breath brushing her ear, his voice unbearably hoarse, "look carefully, see who I am."
Lin Wan Yi tried hard to open her eyes wide, but she could only see the sharp line of his jaw.
She didn't know who he was; she only knew that holding onto him meant salvation.
Her arms tightened further, rising on her tiptoes, offering herself up completely.
The last trace of clarity in the man's eyes was completely swallowed by the surging darkness.
"You asked for this."
He growled, grasping the back of her head, bending to fiercely capture her lips.