Chapter 8 The Past Unveiled
Three years had passed. I had taken the college entrance exam three times.
The first time, the principal handed me fifteen thousand yuan in scholarship money. The second time, it was twenty-five thousand.
By the third time, the amount had grown to fifty-two thousand.
The principal’s reaction had shifted from beaming with pride—calling every contact to show off—to him simply sipping tea when I handed over the transcript. Then he took two steps outside, and his shoes dropped off his feet.
After the third attempt, Teacher Sun looked at me with complex emotions. “Gu Yan, why don’t you still drop out of school?”
I froze. “Huh?”
Teacher Sun quickly waved her hand. “I mean, why don’t you still go to university? I really have nothing more to teach you. And…”
She reached out and patted my head one last time, just like a mother, just like three years ago.
“Go see the outside world, child,” she said. “Don’t trap yourself here for money anymore.”
So I went to university.
That year I was twenty-one, and Gu Cheng was ten. He was still pretending to be an ordinary person, attending fourth-grade elementary school.
The nanny in our family had resigned two years earlier. She left looking utterly dejected.
She said Gu Cheng’s speech was too advanced and that she constantly felt her own intelligence was being mercilessly insulted.
The new nanny was the one I personally brought in.
Xiao Cui.
That was the one I had found at Hui Huang Ren Jian.
When I found her, she had just finished arguing with a client and was squatting in the back alley smoking.
Through the swirling smoke, her heavily made-up face looked exhausted. A faint palm print lingered on one cheek.
When I approached her and stated my offer, she looked up at me, paused for half a second, then sneered and ground her cigarette butt into the ground with her toe.
“Oh, it’s our genius student. So you’ve climbed a high branch and came to show off in my mud pit? Or did you get full and came here to humiliate me?”
I ignored her mockery and stated my conditions directly.
“Market rate, triple the salary. Five social insurances and one housing fund plus insurance. Meals, accommodation, and car allowance included. Annual bonuses and year-end dividends.”
Xiao Cui fell silent for a long time.
Then she slowly stood up, dusted herself off.
Xiao Cui said, “Go on, humiliate me more. I’m submissive. Don’t stop.”
At that moment, I pushed open the front door. Xiao Cui was humming a little tune while folding one of my hoodies and packing it into my suitcase.
“There, everything’s packed for you. As for Gu Cheng, rest easy. With me eating, he won’t go hungry.” Cui Jie lowered her voice. “Oh, the guy named Lu came by again looking for you.”
My movements paused.
“He told me to pass on a message. He’s waiting for you in the underground garage. When you get back, he’ll take you somewhere.”
Cui Jie shrugged. “Be careful yourself. That man looks at you the way a wolf looks at meat. It’s been three years and it hasn’t changed.”
I hummed.
I reached the underground garage.
I spotted the black Maybach parked in the exclusive spot at once.
And Lu Congzheng leaning against the door, seemingly on the phone.
The garage was quiet. I stepped lightly.
“Oh, Lu Congzheng finally can’t hide his pretty girl anymore? Tonight you’re willing to let your treasure out for us to see?”
I stopped near a pillar’s shadow.
“She isn’t hidden away.”
His voice stayed even, emotionless.
“Not? Then why are you so attached? Women are all the same! What’s the point?”
Lu Congzheng lowered his gaze. After a moment, he seemed to smile—barely.
“My Gu Yan is different.”
The person on the other end of the line exaggeratedly gasped.
“How is she different? Did she get diamond-encrusted?”
“Yes.”
Lu Congzheng’s movements halted. He turned slightly and saw me.
“Hold on.”
He ended the call cleanly, then turned to face me.
“Gu Yan.”
He called my name, just as he had every time we met these past three years—gentle and lingering.
Lu Congzheng opened the passenger door for me.
“Come, I’ll take you somewhere to celebrate. And introduce you to my friends. From now on, they should call you Sister-in-law.”
I stayed rooted in place.
“Lu Congzheng.”
I called his name. “You have a fiancée you’re engaged to, right.”
Lu Congzheng’s smile froze.
The hand gripping the door handle stiffened in midair.
I continued calmly. “Your families are powerful. You two grew up together. Your marriage was arranged since you were young. It’s the most suitable match, so no matter how you play around now, when the time comes, you’ll still marry.”
Lu Congzheng’s fingers tightened on the handle, then slowly relaxed.
Finally, he withdrew his hand and slammed the door shut.
“You knew.”
When he looked at me again, every expression on his face vanished.
I nodded.
Yes, I finally knew.
I knew why Gu Cheng had reacted that way the first time he saw Lu Congzheng at the entrance in the past life.
Probably because the Gu Cheng who attended formal events thanks to his genius status had already met Lu Congzheng—and seen him arm-in-arm with his legitimate fiancée.
Seen him laughing and chatting with his sister—who was supposed to be his boyfriend—and the others, like perfect partners.
Gu Cheng had never told me this cruel truth.
There were many reasons I could understand.
He didn’t want to destroy the beautiful dream I carefully maintained. He didn’t want to see me hurt.
He thought I was deeply involved, and telling me wouldn’t help—just make me suffer more.
Or, in his genius logic, he believed I had the right to discover it myself, not have it handed to me…
But I decided not to help him think anymore.
At the same time, the guilt and tension on Lu Congzheng’s face had vanished.
He leaned against the cold car body, like a traveler finally able to set down his burden.
“Yes.”
He admitted,
“I have a fiancée I grew up with.”
My heart beat steadily.
I looked at him and asked the question that had lingered for so long.
“So from beginning to end, no matter whether I was Gu Yan the escort or the ‘clean’ Gu Yan you funded later, I could never become your wife, right?”
As if stung, Lu Congzheng’s eyes widened, pupils shrinking.
“You… really reincarnated too?”
He reacted almost instantly, voice startled and… surprised?
If I had reincarnated, it meant I had loved him before. And still—still loved him.
The garage grew terrifyingly quiet. I could hear his heavy, suppressed breathing.
Finally, Lu Congzheng sighed deeply.
“Yes. No matter what, I won’t break the engagement for you and her.”
He admitted it so quickly, so ruthlessly.
“Gu Yan, we were never in the same world, the same class.”
“I have my responsibilities and obligations. I can’t abandon everything like the obsessive male leads in romance dramas to love you.”
“But, Yan Yan, every moment I spent with you wasn’t fake.”
Lu Congzheng met my gaze. His eyes, once so enchanting, now carried bloodshot veins.
“In my heart, you were never a gift. After the last time I lost you, after that madman who wanted to take revenge on society bombed the streets…”
“I realized my feelings for you were never just ‘like.’ And every plan I made afterward, every future I imagined, included you…”
“These years—before and after reincarnation—are real. In the past, you even died for me. How can I just discard all that and return to my original path without a second thought?”
“I can’t, Yan Yan. I really can’t.”
Long silence.
Until a car drove past, the sound of tires briefly breaking the stillness.
“Then what are your plans?” I asked. “Make me owe you out of gratitude, make me fall in love with you again, and willingly be your mistress and third wheel?”
Lu Congzheng fell silent.
It was an almost shameful admission.
“Lu Congzheng, don’t even think about it.”
I said each word clearly.
“Impossible.”
Lu Congzheng’s shoulders slumped just slightly.
He leaned back against the car, letting out a suppressed bitter laugh.
“Yeah, what was I thinking… I thought I had reincarnated, grabbed the script, and could go back to fix all my mistakes. I thought I could make the Lu family accept a lowly daughter-in-law, let my fiancée and her family exit gracefully… and pull you out of that shadow so you could stand by my side openly.”
He gave a self-mocking smile.
“How ridiculous. Who did I think I was? A god?”
“I’m not. I’m just an ordinary person who kept tearing between desire and responsibility, ultimately disappointing everyone.”
Silence.
“…Go.”
The final three words came out with great difficulty for Lu Congzheng.
I turned to leave.
“While I can still control myself and let you go.”
His voice caught up.
“Yan Yan, I’m even worse and more selfish than you imagine.”
Lu Congzheng paused. His voice grew low, like thick fog in the dead of night, spreading through the cold air.
“I’m afraid I’ll regret it soon and drag you back by any means, which would truly destroy you.”