Two hours later, they reached the summit. There were rest areas for tourists; some sat, some stood, all in high spirits, and no one complained of being tired.
Su Mianmian sat on a chair, searching for Song Zhi. The receptionist, who had somehow appeared beside her, looked troubled and distressed. "Mrs. Gu, do you remember me?" Su Mianmian's eyes crinkled into a smile. "Of course, I'm the receptionist."
The receptionist was on the verge of tears. "Do you remember what I said when you brought Mr. Gu his special meal?" Su Mianmian blinked her dark eyes. "Are you referring to the misunderstanding that I'm Mr. Gu's niece, or the fact that Xue Jing is my aunt?"
The receptionist silently gritted her teeth, feeling utterly hopeless. "Mrs. Gu, I was blind! I was just making things up. Please don't hold it against me." Just then, a deep, pleasant voice sounded from behind.
"Don't hold it against you?" The receptionist's expression froze instantly. She turned to look at Gu Yizhou, who was filled with suspicion. "Mr. Gu." Gu Yizhou had somehow produced a cup of milk tea and was carrying a box of small cakes.
He glanced at the receptionist, inserted a straw into the milk tea, and handed it to Su Mianmian, his tone gentle. "Drink less, save room for lunch later."
He turned back to the stunned receptionist, his tone turning cold. "I asked you a question, and you told my wife not to hold it against you?" Su Mianmian saw that the receptionist was genuinely frightened and didn't dare to speak.
She tugged at Gu Yizhou's sleeve, a beautiful smile curving her lips. "The receptionist told me not to hold it against her for misunderstanding that I was your niece. Don't be so fierce."
She took the small cake from Gu Yizhou and handed it to the receptionist. "Don't worry, I won't hold it against you. Ignorance is no excuse."
Hearing this, the receptionist, who had been holding her breath for so long, finally felt relieved. After thanking him repeatedly, she returned to her female colleagues with a long face. "Waaah, President Gu is so gentle... no, no, President Gu is so fierce!" The female colleagues:
...Is he gentle or fierce?" the receptionist asked. "He's fierce to me, but so gentle to Mrs. Gu!"... At this very moment, Song Zhi was standing in a corner on a mountaintop, answering a phone call.
"Cheng Yuli, can you please stop calling me if you have something to say?" Cheng Yuli's voice was barely audible through the receiver. "Zhizhi, where are you? I want to see you." "Me? I'm on a date, you know what a date is?" "A date? With whom?"
Song Zhi sneered, "Of course, with my boyfriend!" Cheng Yuli looked at the person with her back to him, squatting on the ground drawing circles with a wooden stick, a smile curving his lips.
"Zhizhi, the boyfriend you're talking about isn't the one I saw at the library last time, is it? But I saw him chatting happily with several other women right now." Song Zhi glanced at Gao Ze, surrounded by several secretaries not far away, and scoffed.
"That's right, he's very popular, those secretaries are all..." Halfway through her sentence, Song Zhi suddenly stopped, feeling a chill run down her back. She turned around and suddenly met a pair of doe-like eyes that were smiling.
She was so frightened she almost jumped out of her skin, screamed, and took two quick steps back, accidentally stepping on a pebble and falling backward! Fortunately, Cheng Yuli reacted quickly, grabbing Song Zhi to prevent her from falling, but she still twisted her ankle.
When Su Mianmian heard the commotion and ran over to check on her, she saw Song Zhi grimacing and hopping on one leg, clutching Cheng Yuli's hand. "Cheng Yuli, are you crazy? Why did you suddenly run out and scare people!"
Cheng Yuli hadn't expected the usually fearless Song Zhi to be so frightened. Seeing her face contorted in pain, he felt incredibly guilty and knelt down to check Song Zhi's foot.
"I'm sorry, Zhizhi, I didn't mean to scare you. I wanted to give you a surprise." But the surprise turned into a fright.
Song Zhi was furious, especially when Cheng Yuli touched her ankle, causing her excruciating pain. "Cheng Yuli, are you sent by God to torment me?!"
Cheng Yuli couldn't immediately tell how badly Song Zhi's ankle was injured, and had no time for arguing. He frowned, turned his back to Song Zhi, and said, "Get on, I'll carry you down the mountain to see a doctor." Song Zhi haughtily turned her face away, "I don't want you to carry me!"
Seeing this, Su Mianmian was about to go over when Gu Yizhou grabbed her and shook his head. "Weren't we supposed to be setting them up? This is the perfect opportunity."
Su Mianmian didn't understand and was about to ask again when she saw Cheng Yuli, who was usually obedient to Song Zhi, suddenly become forceful, carrying Song Zhi on his back without a word. Although Song Zhi was still grumbling, her aura was clearly much weaker than before.
Su Mianmian's mouth gaped slightly. Sure enough, one thing can overcome another. "Is Zhizhi's foot alright? We finally got to go out and have some fun..." Gu Yizhou pinched her cheek. "Don't worry, there are medical personnel with us. They'll give her some basic treatment later; it'll be fine."
Su Mianmian said "Oh," relieved. For the two-hour descent down the mountain, Cheng Yuli carried Song Zhi on his back the entire time.
Song Zhi, clinging to Cheng Yuli's back, went from initial resistance to forced acceptance, then discomfort, and finally, complete composure.
"Cheng Yuli, let me tell you, don't think I'll be moved just because you carried me the whole way. You need to understand, my foot got hurt because of you, so carrying me is what you should do!"
Cheng Yuli nodded, slightly out of breath, and pulled a lollipop from his pocket, handing it to her behind him. "I know, I didn't mean to use this to win you over." Song Zhi had prepared a whole host of words to use against Cheng Yuli, but now it felt like punching cotton.
She glanced at Cheng Yuli's slightly reddened ears and the sweat-dampened hair on his forehead, and her heart skipped a beat. Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, Gu Yizhou immediately arranged for a doctor to examine Song Zhi's ankle.
Su Mianmian squatted beside her, looking worried. After examining her, the doctor said it was probably just a sprain, sprayed some anti-sprain spray, and there was no need to go to the hospital. Cheng Yuli was still a little uneasy and had Song Zhi walk a few steps.
After taking a few steps, Song Zhi realized her foot didn't hurt at all. She awkwardly tugged at the corner of her mouth, "Ha, it doesn't hurt anymore! When did it heal on its own? It's amazing!"
She thought Cheng Yuli would feel guilty for carrying her for so long, but to her surprise, he didn't complain at all. Instead, he breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good. I was worried the sprain was too severe and would affect your walking for a while."
Su Mianmian chimed in, "I almost thought you wouldn't be able to go to the hot spring hotel this afternoon. Since that's the case, then you can still come with us as planned."
Song Zhi nodded, looking at Cheng Yuli with a cold expression, "Well, we're going to the hot springs this afternoon. You can go do whatever you need to do." Cheng Yuli's ears turned slightly red, but he didn't reveal that Su Mianmian had invited him to the hot spring hotel. "A hot spring? Sure, I haven't been yet this year, let's go together." He said, pulling Song Zhi over. "You ride in my car."
Song Zhi struggled and protested, "Hey, we're going to a hot spring, why are you joining us? Besides, who wants to ride in your car? I want to ride with the beautiful Mianmian." Ignoring her resistance, Cheng Yuli opened the passenger door and shoved her in.
"When two people are in the same car, don't be a third wheel." Hearing this, Song Zhi immediately fell silent, glancing at the silver-gray sports car beneath her. "Cheng Yuli, I didn't realize you were like that scumbag Tang, liking to drive such flashy cars!"
Cheng Yuli's ears turned red, and he immediately clarified, "It's different. I'm not as much of a scumbag as him. Once I've chosen someone, I'll never be fickle."... The group arrived at a hot spring resort hotel.
Just as Su Mianmian was being led out of the car by Gu Yizhou, a minivan pulled up not far from them. The car door opened, and a woman in a bright red coat stepped out, supported by her assistant.
Xue Jing's makeup was exceptionally exquisite today; her features were exquisitely drawn, her lips were fiery red, and her wavy hair swayed gently with each step, making her appear graceful and alluring.
The hotel had specially sent someone to greet her. Xue Jing was about to go inside when she suddenly saw Gu Yizhou and his entourage. She paused, abruptly turned, and walked straight towards Gu Yizhou. "A-Zhou, what a coincidence?"
Xue Jing's voice was melodious, and the address "A-Zhou" carried a different meaning in the ears of the Gu Group employees behind her. "My god, what a chaotic scene! The wife meets the rumored girlfriend?" "Speaking of which, is there really nothing between our CEO Gu and Xue Jing?
Why does Xue Jing look at CEO Gu with such impure eyes?" "I also think that if such a stunning beauty really wanted to seduce someone, with our Mrs. Gu's naive and innocent nature, she'd probably be completely at their mercy!"