Chapter 73: The villain has always been only you.

After washing up quickly, the three of them were about to go to sleep.

But the bed had been taken over by Liang Ye. Once that guy fell asleep, he was heavier than a stone slab.

Han Mo tried to move him onto the sofa, but almost got beaten to death by his flailing fists: "Mm-hmm... Don't touch me! So annoying!"

With no other choice, they let him sleep there.

The three of them sat down on the sofa bed, which wasn't very big. Han Mo got up and went into the room to grab an old mattress pad: "You two take the bed. I'll just sleep on the floor."

"Fine."

He Huanhuan was just about to lie down on the edge of the bed when Qi Meili shoved her aside with her butt: "Why are you getting so close? Don't you know to keep some distance?"

She stared at He Huanhuan with a very serious expression: "How old are you this year?"

He Huanhuan: "Eighteen."

Qi Meili nodded: "Kids aren't allowed to date, got it?"

He Huanhuan couldn't help but fight back: "But you're only twenty this year, and you were dating two years ago. And when you were seventeen, you—"

Her mouth was instantly covered. Qi Meili refused to admit a thing: "Nonsense! I've never dated anyone in my life!"

She raised her SpongeBob-patterned arm and threatened Han Mo: "Our Huanhuan has had a tough life before. She's not allowed to date until she's twenty, you hear me?"

Han Mo wanted to say that logic didn't quite hold up, but when he met Qi Meili's serious gaze, he earnestly nodded: "Twenty's fine, twenty-five's fine too. Whatever works."

Qi Meili curled her lip: "Let's skip twenty-five. Don't want you breaking up later and people saying our Huanhuan wasted your time and turned you into an old geezer."

Han Mo: "...I'm not that old."

Liang Zheng was two years older than him, anyway.

Qi Meili: "Oh my god, dude! You're not old? You're already an old geezer!"

That sounded familiar. He Huanhuan had said something like that before...

The Old Geezer silently lay down on the floor. Sleep, just sleep. Not sleeping well would only age him faster.

The three of them lay quietly. Qi Meili couldn't sleep, and she didn't want to either.

Today had been way too intense. She was afraid that if she woke up, she'd find it was all a dream.

He Huanhuan was still lying in the hospital, and she herself would have to go back to work at the factory.

"Oh right, Huanhuan, guess what? Liang Zheng just paid me fifty thousand yuan in compensation."

She faced He Huanhuan and whispered: "Fifty thousand. That's so much. We don't even have to work anymore."

He Huanhuan smiled and leaned in close to whisper back: "There's a few hundred thousand in my phone, you know~"

In a few days, she'd bring Meili back to the Gu family estate.

Show her what the rich life was like. Let her know what it felt like to have come to the right place.

Qi Meili's eyes were wide as saucers: "Where did you get that much money? Did that cheap dad of yours give it to you?"

That cheap dad was way better than her real dad. Her real dad had taken every last bit of her compensation money!

He Huanhuan shook her head: "Part of it was from Han Mo, part of it was from my two cheap brothers."

As for Old Man Gu (her father), he hadn't even seemed to think about it.

But He Huanhuan didn't really care. After all, he wasn't her biological dad.

Whether Old Man Gu had some genuine feelings for her didn't matter much to her.

Qi Meili let out a soft sigh: "That old geezer Han Mo isn't such a bad guy after all."

He Huanhuan nodded: "Setting everything else aside, he's still pretty generous."

"Those two brothers of yours are decent too."

He Huanhuan nodded again: "The eldest brother is pretty cold and distant, and you rarely see him around. The second brother is a bit of an idiot, but he's not a bad person."

Qi Meili couldn't help but ask: "And what about Han Mo and you going missing like this? Are your brothers even looking for you?"

He Huanhuan shook her head: "No idea. Probably not much? I haven't been back that long anyway. There's not that much of a bond yet."

Growing up, aside from her grandparents, she'd only ever felt love from Meili.

When it came to love, she didn't feel she deserved much of it.

Especially since she wasn't even the real daughter of the Gu family. She couldn't imagine those two brothers loving her all that much.

They'd been nice to her. Really, they had.

But they probably wouldn't worry about her that much, right?

Probably... right?

——

In the hotel parking garage, Gu Jinghan was sleeping in his car, completely miserable.

Ever since that fight with his dad, he hadn't gone back home.

He'd been staying at the hotel directly, staking out around the clock for Gu Chacha and Han Xuan.

He refused to believe he couldn't catch them!

"Hey, hey, boss, boss, do you copy? Your sister and Second Young Master Han are back for another room!"

The manager's voice crackled through the earpiece, and Gu Jinghan shot upright in his seat!

He didn't even bother wiping the sleep crust from his eyes. He immediately activated his wiretap equipment and hit record the second it was on.

This time, he was going to succeed for sure!

As usual, there were two minutes of foreplay sounds at the start. After that came over ten minutes of dead silence.

Gu Jinghan tapped the equipment in confusion. What's wrong? Did it break?

Or had Han Xuan knocked himself out from exhaustion?

Two minutes? That couldn't be it, right?

"Chacha, I'm planning to sell the company. When that's done, come with me."

Han Xuan's voice suddenly cut through. Gu Jinghan straightened up and listened closely.

Gu Chacha let out a cold laugh: "Come with you? Go where?"

Han Xuan leaned against the bed, smoking a cigarette: "How about New Zealand?"

Gu Chacha nodded: "Sure, that's nice. I'll come visit you when I get the chance."

"You're not coming?"

Gu Chacha stood in front of the mirror, reaching up to touch her face: "Han Xuan, I'm only twenty. I'm still so young. My career is just taking off. How could I retire now?"

Retire? That was something for people in their seventies or eighties.

She was still so young. Why on earth would she retire?

Her life, her career, was just getting started!

Han Xuan narrowed his eyes, barely containing the fury in them: "You're trying to dump me?"

"How is that dumping you?"

Gu Chacha gave a brilliant smile: "I'll come to New Zealand to see you. When I do, remember to buy me some fresh milk, okay?"

The anger could no longer be held back. Han Xuan shot up from the bed, charged over to her, and grabbed her face in his hand: "Gu Chacha, you don't actually think you're some kind of real pianist, do you? You know exactly what's behind your concerts, don't you?"

They'd laundered so much money out of the company. If they didn't leave now, they'd stay in the country and wait to get caught?

Gu Chacha's lips curled up slightly: "Han Xuan, I'm not afraid."

She wasn't afraid?

Han Xuan's eyes narrowed dangerously as he tightened his grip: "Have you been in contact with Brother Bao?"

Gu Chacha's eyes flickered: "What are you talking about? I don't understand."

"You slept with him?"

"Han Xuan!"

Gu Chacha frowned in displeasure: "Watch your words. What do you take me for? I'm—"

"What are you? The eldest daughter of the Gu family, or a renowned pianist?"

Han Xuan's lips twisted in sneering mockery: "Gu Chacha, it's all fake. There's no Gu blood in your veins, and you don't have a pianist's calluses on your hands. You're just a fraud. How much longer do you think you can keep this up?"

His fingers dug deep into her cheeks as he stared at her with contempt: "You have no choice but to come with me. Don't forget — why did Han Mo get into that car crash? Who was it that tipped me off?"

Gu Chacha struggled to open her phone. On the screen, a recording played: Han Xuan's furious voice — "Han Mo! I want him dead! I swear I'll kill him! Where is he? I'm going to run him over!"

Followed by Gu Chacha's timid voice: "Han Xuan, calm down. Don't rush. Your father will let you back into the company... "

"I don't have time to wait! I want him dead NOW!"

Gu Chacha carefully tried to persuade him: "He just came to your place looking for your sister and didn’t find her. I can tell you’re not that fond of him anyway—maybe Dad won’t give the project to him..."

"He went to your house?"

The recording came to an abrupt end, and Gu Chacha stared straight at Han Xuan:

"Han Xuan, you heard it—I kept trying to talk you out of it. The bad guy was always only you."