“That’s enough. You don’t have to say anything else.”
Zuo Hancheng squinted at Gu Anhao. He did not even notice that he sounded much more relaxed now. He raised his hand and caressed her head gently, silently soothing her, and it seemed as though he was trying to apologize for making her relive those terrible times.
Anhao was starting to feel better but she was still showing slight resistance as she said, “Can you stop patting me on my head all the time as though I am a little puppy? I am not a puppy!”
The corners of Zuo Hancheng’s lips curved upwards as he dropped his hands down to her waist playfully before stroking her through her bathrobe in a very intimate manner. “So, how do you want me to touch you? Do you want me to touch you like this?”
Gu Anhao started blushing and her face turned red in an instant. Just as Zuo Hancheng was about to pull her bathrobe apart, she quickly raised her hand to cover her face. “Ouch! My face is hurting so much.”
She was still telling lies even when she was already sober. However, she was much cuter when she was drunk and was biting her lips to seduce him after falling off the sofa.
No matter what it was, Zuo Hancheng did not tease her anymore as he opened the bedroom door and stepped out of the bedroom.
Gu Anhao quickly took a few steps back, and when she saw that Zuo Hancheng had finally left the room, she let out a huge sigh of relief. After that, Zuo Hancheng turned around and said, “There is a small first aid kit under the bedside table in the bedroom. You can look inside and see if there is any medicine that you can apply on your face. I think that the ice pack can only do so much to ease the redness and swelling. You should apply some medicine on your cheek before sleeping so that the healing will be more effective.”
Gu Anhao had not expected Zuo Hancheng to let her off so easily. As she thought about it, she came to the conclusion that the only reason why he let her off was simply because he could not bring himself to kiss her now that her face was as swollen as a pig’s head…
Gu Anhao was very certain that this was the only explanation for his behavior. Therefore, she raised her hand and patted herself on her chest to comfort herself. Even though she was in pain because of her injury, at the very least, she could protect herself against the big bad wolf.
No surprises at all!
Zuo Hancheng did not turn around to look at her but instead he saw her reflection in the glass window that stretched all the way from the floor to the ceiling. Gu Anhao was behaving as though she had just dodged a bullet. She quickly dashed toward the bedroom door before shutting it behind her, immediately isolating the owner of the bedroom.
However, Zuo Hancheng was really not interested in teasing that girl tonight.
When Gu Anhao was explaining her past to him, he could see her clenching her fists tightly together. This showed how much pain she had suffered in the past and how much she resented the fact that she had to relive those moments. The inexplicable expression on her face really bothered him.
Initially, he thought that he married a fierce kitten who would never sit back and suffer any injustice. Therefore, he felt that it would be fun to tease her and tune her every now and then so that she would behave in a ladylike manner. All that Zuo Hancheng knew was the fact that Gu Anhao was not welcomed in the Gu family. He had also checked her academic records and any achievements that she had in school.
However, he did not bother looking into her past.
But this was Gu Anhao’s character. She would always keep to herself and hide all of her feelings as though she was wrapped up in a cocoon. No one could touch her at all. She would make jokes and act tough in front of him just so that he would perceive her as a strong person that would not crumble or give in so easily.
Gu Anhao could ignore any rumors that people would spread about her and she could even look the other way when the Gu family would criticize and frame her for something that she was not guilty of.
It seemed as though Gu Anhao had hidden herself in a hard shell that could not be cracked open at all. Furthermore, she was less than willing to allow anyone to approach her or get closer to her.
What bothered him the most was the fact that Gu Anhao was trying to hide her relationship with Yi Zeyang when he called, asking for her in an anxious and worried tone. If the relationship between the both of them were simply the relationship between siblings, then why was she desperately trying to change the topic in the first place?
This girl really thought that he was a fool.
When Mobai saw the incoming phone call from Zuo Hancheng, he was really surprised. It was rare for President Zuo to call him so late at night.
“Winner is still on vacation in London?”
Mobai was stunned for a moment before he replied, “Yes, President Zuo. Mr. Winner has already been in London for more than two months. I estimate that he will be back soon, probably in a week or so.”
“Please ask him to conduct a background check on someone as soon as he comes back.”
“Mr. Winner is unable to receive your call at the moment but I will relay your message to him as soon as he comes back, President Zuo,” Mobai replied in a serious tone. “President Zuo, can I ask who you want to conduct the background check on?”
“Gu Anhao. I want a full and detailed background check on why she changed her identity and also her life, and her connection with the Yi family and the Gu family, including Yi Zeyang.”
Mobai was surprised but he did not dare to question him because he was already accustomed to Zuo Hancheng’s behavior after working for him for so many years. He would never ask them to look into someone’s background if it were not important to him. Moreover, he would never use Mr. Winner’s database and connections if the information was not urgent.
Mobai did not say much, he merely replied in a respectful manner, “I will try to contact Mr. Winner as soon as possible. You can leave this to me, President Zuo.”
***
When Gu Anhao looked into the mirror after waking up the next morning, her face was swollen beyond recognition. Fortunately, it was a Sunday.
If she were to show up to class looking like this, she would definitely be laughed at.
She felt that Zuo Hancheng was very indifferent and cold toward her because he did not even ask who hit her face and gave her that injury. Since Yi Zeyang guessed it correctly, could Zuo Hancheng have also guessed that the injury was given to her by Mrs. Gu?
As Zuo Hancheng had to make a visit to the company early in the morning because he had to attend an important multinational meeting, he could not stay at home to accompany her. Gu Anhao quickly took advantage of this opportunity to take out the laptop in the study room to look up Zuo Hancheng’s name online.
She wanted to see if the scene where he was surrounded by the reporters and paparazzi at Deways Hotel last night had been circulated online. If Chunchun and Huang Amao saw that Zuo Hancheng had made the headlines in the news, they would definitely be in shock!
Gu Anhao could not stop herself from chuckling when she thought about the expressions on their faces.
After searching the internet for a short while, Gu Anhao could not find any news about the incident last night. In fact, all that she could see was just some business news relating to Zuo Hancheng. Moreover, the only few pictures that she could find of Zuo Hancheng was an old picture that someone had secretly taken of him.
The news that was still making the headlines was still the same news regarding the speculations that the media were making about the incident involving the famous actress who attempted to commit suicide by jumping off a building two days ago.
There was not one single picture of Zuo Hancheng and the woman walking out of the elevator in Deways Hotel last night, and there was not even the slightest news about the incident at all.
Gu Anhao thought that this was probably because Zuo Hancheng had already changed the settings on his laptop to automatically filter out any scandals or news about him. Therefore, Gu Anhao took out her cell phone before she tried searching for any news about Zuo Hancheng from the web browser on her cell phone. However, the results were still the same.
How could this be possible? Did she see a ghost? Zuo Hancheng was surrounded by so many paparazzi and reporters last night, and more than twenty hours had already passed since that incident. How could there be no news about that incident at all?
‘Damn it!’
Gu Anhao quickly searched for any news relating to Zuo Hancheng on a different search engine but she still could not find anything related to him whatsoever.
As Gu Anhao was wondering if she had really seen a ghost, Zuo Hancheng suddenly opened the door and stood in front of Gu Anhao. Gu Anhao was completely caught off guard and she could only stare at him absent-mindedly.
Zuo Hancheng walked over to Gu Anhao and she continued staring at him in a trance. She had completely forgotten to close the web browser on the laptop, and by the time she thought of it, it was already too late because Zuo Hancheng was already standing beside her.
As soon as he looked at the laptop screen, he saw the words ‘Zuo Hancheng’ in the search engine.