Gu Zhi’s room was very clean.
The décor and furniture were minimalist black and white, with nothing extraneous piled up—at first glance it looked empty, faintly desolate.
A glass of whiskey sat on the table, apparently her knock had interrupted his solitary drinking.
This wasn’t the first time Li Tangli had walked into a man’s room. But unlike with Ji Jiayu, the moment she stepped in here, she couldn’t help but catch Gu Zhi’s scent.
That woody fragrance that usually only lingered faintly on him now drifted everywhere, brazenly rushing over to invade her breath, wrapping her entire being up in it.
The owner of that immoderate woody scent politely pointed out the direction, then stood where he was to avoid suspicion, not moving.
Li Tangli didn’t even know where to put her hands and feet—she nearly walked like she had two left feet.
Everywhere she looked in the bathroom was Gu Zhi’s personal belongings. A razor, hair gel, men’s skincare products with labels covered in foreign text, a dark gray towel.
The overwhelming presence of these unfamiliar objects kept reminding Li Tangli that she’d abruptly intruded into Gu Zhi’s private space.
It just felt weird somehow.
Li Tangli pushed down the discomfort in her heart and planned to make this quick.
The mirror on the wall, which usually reflected Gu Zhi, silently watched her pull open her bath towel.
The soft patter of water sounded, like a light rain.
Gu Zhi unconsciously tightened his grip on his glass. The air seemed mixed with something viscous, sticking thickly to his heart, stirring up his unease.
Recalling Ji Jiayu’s questioning, he tilted his head back and took a drink, the alcohol burning harshly down his throat, his irritation only growing.
He glanced toward the bathroom, then simply walked out to the balcony.
There truly was nothing between them, and there couldn’t be anything.
Li Tangli was someone else’s girlfriend. More precisely, his nephew’s girlfriend. Which made it even more wrong.
Even though they’d had a serious falling out, they still hadn’t broken up.
Even if they had, at his age and with his experience, harboring thoughts about a simple, easy-to-read girl like Li Tangli would undoubtedly be immoral. — BLACK LOTUS Novel Chapters · Black Lotus Novel
Absolutely improper.
The sound of water gradually stopped, followed by the light patter of the girl’s footsteps as she stepped out, not lingering too long, and the bathroom door opened again.
“Mr. Gu, I’m done washing up.”
Turning around, Gu Zhi saw Li Tangli standing there, trailing a cloud of warm, damp mist. Her cheeks were flushed pink from the heat, her black hair neatly tucked behind her ears, looking very well-behaved.
“Thank you for letting me use your bathroom. I’ll head back now, I won’t bother you any further.”
The ends of her hair were still dripping. If she went back with wet hair, what if she caught a chill?
Gu Zhi frowned: “Dry your hair before you go.”
Li Tangli’s eyes darted away: “I’ll dry it when I get back.”
Her lips were small and delicate, opening and closing slightly as she spoke, as if they couldn’t open very wide. Was that why she didn’t like talking much?
After Li Tangli finished speaking, she heard no response.
Looking over, she saw Gu Zhi standing quietly on the balcony, his tall figure swallowed up in the ink-black night.
Her heart pounded, and she instinctively took a step back.
Seeing her retreat, Gu Zhi suddenly moved.
He walked unhurriedly into the light and set his glass down on the table: “Li Tangli, what exactly are you afraid of?”
Looking at Gu Zhi’s face, Li Tangli’s lips parted uncertainly. Before she could answer, he continued: “What if the guest room’s hair dryer breaks too—will you come find me again? Or will you sleep with wet hair and catch a cold and fever again tomorrow?”
What he said made some sense, but his tone was terrible.
Especially as he stared at her, expressionless: “Still not going? Are you waiting for me to dry it for you?”
Suddenly so aggressive, not leaving her any room to retreat.
Li Tangli bit her lip, and after a long moment, forced out a sentence, both annoyed and cowed: “…No need to trouble you. I’ll do it myself.”
Her mouth was too clumsy to win against him. A guest under someone else’s roof, she could only obediently lower her head and follow instructions.
Seeing that he’d talked her into it, Gu Zhi finally lowered his eyes, and in the light, a patch of moisture glinted on the back of his hand.
He clicked his tongue, pulled out two tissues, and roughly wiped away the alcohol he’d accidentally spilled out on the balcony.
Perhaps provoked by him, Li Tangli dried her hair thoroughly. Because she was anxious, her movements weren’t very careful, and a few strands stuck up on top of her head, looking somewhat frizzy.
At that moment she looked up at him, her eyes round and bright. She didn’t know it herself, but in Gu Zhi’s view, fluffy and puffed up like that, she looked even more like a little puppy.
His fingertips trembled slightly, and Gu Zhi nodded: “Go on back. Get some sleep early tonight.”
His hand rested on the door handle. He opened the door, and Li Tangli hesitated a moment before still politely saying to the man behind her: “Goodnight, Mr. Gu. And, thank you.”
He replied: “Goodnight.”
However, after she left, the door that should have closed was left slightly ajar.
Gu Zhi stood silently behind the door.
Through the gap, his gaze followed the unsuspecting girl until her figure disappeared at the staircase, and only then did the door close completely.
He first calmed himself on the balcony for a while before walking into the bathroom.
Water droplets formed from the mist trailed down the mirror. His gaze fell on the sink counter, caught by something.
He reached out and picked up the two items that clearly didn’t belong to him. · Black Lotus novel Novel | Black Lotus Novel
A pair of silver earrings.
Had she accidentally left them behind?
The careless owner of the earrings, Li Tangli, was lying in bed at this moment. Though she’d been a bit angry earlier, her anger came fast and faded fast, and by now she’d started thinking Gu Zhi was a good person again.
So she made excuses for him—maybe he’d just been in a bad mood. Either way, if he hadn’t helped out tonight, there was no way she could have fallen asleep so dry and comfortable.
As her consciousness gradually blurred, Li Tangli didn’t notice her phone lighting up on the nightstand. Ji Jiayu had finally, belatedly, responded to her call for help.
But she no longer needed it.
The phone screen flashed uselessly twice, then quickly went dark.
Li Tangli didn’t have the habit of lounging in bed, and she woke up right on time the next day.
The Gu household had an auntie specifically responsible for cleaning, but she tidied up after herself anyway, having mostly put away what she’d used, when a knock sounded at the door.
She opened it to find Gu Yuqin. She wasn’t in her wheelchair today, her complexion still sickly pale, but her spirits seemed good.
“I was worried you wouldn’t be awake yet.” She smiled. “Would you take a walk with me?”
Last time, during her sudden asthma attack, lying bored in the hospital bed, Gu Yuqin had felt regretful now and then that she hadn’t been able to show Li Tangli around the whole estate. Today she wanted to fulfill that wish.
It was still early, so Gu Yuqin took Li Tangli on a tour. Besides the lake in the back garden, the estate even had a tennis court and a helipad.
Li Tangli, an unworldly commoner who’d never seen such things, was repeatedly stunned, gaining a fresh understanding of just how wealthy the Gu family was.
By the end, she’d grown almost numb to it.
The greenhouse had been separately cordoned off. Gu Yuqin mentioned lightly that it was being renovated again because of the last incident.
Strolling along the wooden boardwalk by the lake, she paused and turned back to look at her: “It’s big here, isn’t it?”
Li Tangli said honestly: “Very big. Have you always lived here?”
Gu Yuqin let her thoughts drift, looking off into the distance: “Yes, I’ve spent the vast majority of my life here. When you first come, at a glance, it seems vast. But actually walking the whole loop only takes a little while. Year after year, day after day, staying in the same place, seeing the same things over and over—there’s no novelty left at all.”
She tilted her face up wistfully, and Li Tangli suddenly understood what she meant.
So she was Gu Yuqin’s “novelty.”
Most people, treated by someone else like a new toy, would probably feel baffled, then angry. But Li Tangli, good-natured, didn’t hold it against her.
She clumsily offered comfort: “Actually, the outside world isn’t necessarily all that wonderful either.”
Gu Yuqin seemed to feel the same way, recalling: “Speaking of which, I once went to school. Back then I made such a fuss about it, and with a very close older cousin vouching for me, the family reluctantly agreed. But I only lasted a month. Because I was always sickly, hardly anyone wanted to play with me, and then I had an attack at school and nearly died somewhere no one could see. Everyone was scared out of their minds, and after that they wouldn’t let me go to school again.”
Having learned from that experience, it was understandable that the whole Gu family was overly nervous about her.
By the time they got back to the villa, everyone was awake. The Gu siblings had each claimed opposite ends of the sofa—one reading the newspaper, the other watching economic news on TV.
Only Ji Jiayu was nowhere to be seen; who knew when he’d wake up.
Both Gu Shufeng and Gu Zhi needed to head to the office and had to rush to get Li Tangli home in time, their schedules tight—no time to wait for Ji Jiayu, so they simply started breakfast without him.
Gu Shufeng’s company was in the opposite direction from Li Tangli’s place, so it was arranged that she’d ride with Gu Zhi.
Everything was settled, but just as they finished eating, Ji Jiayu came downstairs.
He rubbed his temples, drank a glass of warm water first, then said lazily to Li Tangli: “All packed? I’ll take you home.”
Li Tangli was startled, not having expected him to offer.
Gu Zhi glanced at him and said in a low voice: “What time did you go to sleep last night? You’re still half-asleep like this—how are you going to drive her home?”
Before he could finish, Li Tangli, who’d been standing off to the side, went and sat right down next to Ji Jiayu, leaning in with concern to look at him.
Gu Zhi fell silent.
Seeing him still a bit groggy, she looked worried: “Jiayu, if you’re tired, you should go rest upstairs. Don’t worry about me.” Black Lotus Novel Reading | Black Lotus Novel
Ji Jiayu yawned, brushing it off: “I said I’d take you, so I will. Besides, the driver’s driving—not me.”
Last night, during a break in his game, he’d finally picked up his phone and seen Li Tangli’s messages asking for help.
She was good at knowing her place—two messages, one missed call, and she’d tactfully stopped asking after that.
Scrolling up, their chat window was mostly her talking to herself in a one-sided conversation, his replies scattered and sparse, not even adding up to a few full sentences.
Then, recalling how a careless remark of his had once left her soaking in water until she ran a fever, Ji Jiayu finally felt a twinge of guilt.
Perhaps sensing that he’d been neglecting her lately, out of a sense of making up for it, he’d decided to see her home this morning.
But just as Li Tangli sat down, Ji Jiayu’s expression suddenly changed. He leaned in and sniffed at her shoulder and neck.
Li Tangli, confused, shrank back, but Ji Jiayu grabbed her wrist.
He asked: “What’s that smell on you?”
