Chapter 16: Don’t Let Me Uncover Your Secret

The man raised an eyebrow, casting her a faint, indifferent glance. He entered the room with an unruffled expression, casually closing the door behind him.

“Angry?” Gu Hanchen asked lightly, as if whether she was upset or not was of little consequence. His visit was certainly not meant to placate her.

“I wouldn’t dare,” she replied, taking a step back and lowering her eyes to put some distance between them. Though she said she wouldn’t dare, her demeanor betrayed a certain boldness.

Gu Hanchen let out a soft chuckle. “Is it that you dare not, or that you simply don’t?”

Gu Fangyu met his gaze briefly but said nothing.

The man glanced at her once more but did not press further. He moved with practiced ease into the bathroom, and when he emerged, he was already freshly showered.

Without hesitation, Gu Hanchen lifted her blanket and lay down on her bed right before her eyes.

His eyes closed slightly, his voice carrying a faint weariness. “Are you planning to stand there all night?”

Gu Fangyu shot him a fierce glare before turning and entering the bathroom. As the door slammed shut, she did not forget to make it bang loudly.

Gu Hanchen’s closed eyelids twitched slightly, but he let her be.

When she came out, she glared at the man lying there, still stewing in anger.

She stepped forward, snatched the pillow he had been resting on, and placed it on her side.

His head jerked slightly, caught off guard by the sudden move.

Gu Hanchen turned his head to look at her.

She completely ignored his gaze, boldly pulling back the covers and clutching her pillow as she lay down.

After a while, the man let out a barely audible sigh, his raised neck slowly relaxing.

In the darkness, Gu Fangyu opened her eyes and studied his face, feeling a growing unease within.

She knew all too well Gu Hanchen’s methods. Clever as he was, she still couldn’t be sure whether his insistence on having her checked was because he suspected something.

Amid a mix of fear and anxiety, sleep gradually overcame her.

She didn’t know when she had fallen asleep.

The steady sound of breathing stirred her awake. The man’s eyes, like black obsidian, slowly opened.

The usual sharpness was replaced by an enigmatic depth she could not fathom.

Gu Fangyu awoke again to daylight, only to find the man’s presence beside her already gone.

Just as she sat up, the faint sound of a commotion drifted up from downstairs.

Hesitating briefly, Gu Fangyu put on her coat and went downstairs.

No sooner had she stepped down than Gu Yao spotted her and immediately slapped her.

“Gu Fangyu, you shameless wretch! Are you that desperate for a man?” Gu Yao’s eyes were bloodshot, tears streaming down her face, clearly having cried and yelled for quite a while.

Gu Fangyu was stunned, confused by the sudden pain burning on her cheek.

“Gu Yao, what’s gotten into you this early in the morning?” she retorted, unwilling to back down, raising her hand to slap back.

Suddenly, her hand was caught mid-air.

Turning around, she saw Gu Hanchen standing behind her, firmly gripping her wrist, rendering her immobile.

She struggled hard but couldn’t break free.

Gu Hanchen looked at her coldly.

Gu Fangyu, stared down by his piercing gaze, felt a surge of anger.

He was defending Gu Yao.

Though she never expected him to side with her over her sister, after all these years, he had always favored Gu Yao.

Still, being repeatedly abandoned stung deeply.

“You actually dared to fight back,” Gu Yao glared at her furiously. “Brother, you have to stand up for me.”

“Gu Yao, you keep fabricating stories and now want to frame me. If you can’t keep a man yourself, blaming others is just ridiculous,” Gu Fangyu shot back defiantly.

The next moment, a handful of photos were thrust at her. The sharp edges scraped across her cheek, leaving two bloody scratches.

Blood welled up instantly, congealing on her face.

Gu Yao glared venomously. “See for yourself!”

Frowning, Gu Fangyu looked down at the scattered pictures—images of her and Xie Chenhao walking in a hospital corridor.

The photographer clearly had ill intentions; although Jiang Qi was present at the time, only she and Xie Chenhao were captured.

Each photo seemed deliberately angled to mislead, appearing extremely intimate.

“Gu Fangyu, what do you have to say now?” Gu Yao’s eyes burned with hatred, as if wishing to tear her apart.

Ignoring her fury, Gu Fangyu instinctively glanced back at Gu Hanchen.

As expected, his eyes were sharp and dark, his face clouded with a stormy expression.

She inwardly cursed the situation.

“You want to condemn me based on a few photos? Isn’t that a bit hasty?” Gu Fangyu steadied herself. “Gu Yao, think for a moment. If I truly intended to seduce your man, I wouldn’t pick a hospital—I’d choose a hotel.”

“Then how do you explain these photos?” Gu Yao shot back.

“Maybe someone’s jealous of you and doesn’t want you marrying into the Xie family,” Gu Fangyu continued. “Otherwise, why haven’t these photos appeared in the media but ended up in your hands?”

A flicker of doubt crossed Gu Yao’s eyes; she seemed to believe half of what Gu Fangyu said.

But quickly she countered, “No, why were you at the hospital in the first place?”

“Women sometimes have irregular periods—that’s normal. So what, I can’t see a doctor?” Gu Fangyu answered flawlessly.

Yet her palms were sweating.

“Besides, the hospital has surveillance. If you investigate what I was doing, you’ll find out. Such a sloppy trap—only you would fall for it,” she sneered disdainfully.

She was close to calling her foolish.

“Gu Fangyu, you better be telling the truth,” Gu Yao said, pointing at her forcefully, the hatred in her eyes impossible to conceal.

Gu Fangyu dodged the finger jab, her mind racing to figure out how to notify Jiang Qi.

Gu Yao was easy to deceive, but Gu Hanchen was not.

Her explanation might fool Gu Yao, but if Gu Hanchen investigated, it would all unravel.

Gu Fangyu’s mother, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke.

“Fangyu, it’s not that I’m biased toward your sister as a mother, but you were indeed wrong. How could you allow such photos to be taken? Anyone would misunderstand.”

“That day, Jiang Qi was there too. The photographer clearly had ulterior motives,” Gu Fangyu retorted.

Upon hearing this, her mother’s expression softened. “If that’s the case, your brother will look into it. But after this, you’d better avoid meeting Chenhao privately. Too many people talk.”

“Mother, I understand,” Gu Fangyu replied, finding an excuse and heading upstairs.

Once upstairs, she contacted Jiang Qi to help fabricate a medical record of her visit that day.

Jiang Qi found the matter suspicious as well.

“Don’t worry, I’ll handle it at the hospital. But do you know who took those photos?”

Gu Fangyu was equally puzzled.

As the two pondered, a knock came at the door.

“I’ll tell you later,” Gu Fangyu said as she hung up, just as the man opened the door and entered.

Gu Hanchen’s black eyes narrowed slightly; he stood silently.

Yet his powerful presence alone exerted an invisible pressure, suffocating her.

Just as Gu Fangyu felt powerless to resist, the man spoke calmly, “Gu Fangyu, are you hiding something from me?”