Chapter 24: Pinching the Face


    Yi Ran waited for a while in the lobby and then saw Gu Tingchuan walking towards her.


    “Let’s go.”


    They got into the car parked at the door of the building and sat side by said. His eyes fell on her slightly smiling face, and he said, “I just met my elder brother in the office and he mentioned your school winter games.”


    Yi Ran hazard a guess. “He wanted you go in his stead?”


    “En. He also said some nonsense. It was really a waste of my time. ”


    She noticed Gu Tingchuan’s poor tone and the disgusted expression on his face. She responded very cooperatively, “It seems that you met him not only with ‘spicy eyes’ but also with ‘spicy ears.’


    Gu Tingchuan never heard such a statement before. He paused for a moment, and then his lips slowly raised in ayer ofughter.


    Yi Ran didn’t notice his movements at first, but after a while, the man started chuckling to himself. She couldn’t help wondering, “What the heck are youughing at?”


    They sat next to each other so it was easy for him to stretch out his hand to touch her face, his fingers resting lightly against her skin. Then, half of her face was suddenly in his palm. Gu Tingchuan didn’t use much strength, but she waspletely motionless and could only respond with doubtful eyes. In contrast, the man’s eyes were deep and filled with an amusement that only he knew. His said in a deep voice, “You are really interesting.”


    Yi Ran was speechless...She had not expected this pinching the face to kill method?!


    She vaguely murmured “oh.” Her mood was a littleplicated, and a surge of heat washed over her face. She could only lower her face a little and try to calm down her agitation.


    Obviously, a kiss should be used to express the atmosphere at this time, but Director Gu seemed to have no intention of this.


    She cleared her throat and said, “I will pretend not to know you that day. You remember.”


    Gu Tingchuan realized she was referring to the day of the games. He tilted his head and asked her, “Why.”


    “I’m afraid that after everyone knows, they will feel that I’m partial to Gu Tai.”


    Gu Tingchuan had some unwilling emotions but could note up with any better proposals. The car was quiet for a long time, leaving only outside street noises. She finally heard a dull response against this backdrop of noises.


    Yi Ran noticed his difort, but didn’t understand where his rebellious emotions came from. After thinking about it, it might be that the elder brother Gu Tingyong, whom she had never met, had upset him. This, she sat obediently and no longer argued with him.


    Director Gu’s mood was always not beautiful.


    ...................


    Harbin International College especially hired a team from outside to coordinate and organize the annual regr Winter Parent-Child Games.


    Yi Ran and Yao Juan also needed to help with some preparations, including confirming whether the children’s parents will be avable at that time.


    She and Teacher Yao stayed in the office to work overtime this day. Yao Juan looked at her watery eyes under the incandescentmp and asked a little unnaturally: “Is Mr. Gu always busy?”


    Yi Ran was surprised. “Ah?”


    “I haven’t heard you talk about going to the market to buy vegetables or something. Do you not need to prepare dinner yourself?”


    “He did hire a chef, but he didn’t always need it and would only asionally called for her.” Pausing, Yi Ran downgraded the problem to herself very honestly. “I am a poor cook, and I don’t cook too often. Of course, he was also busy shooting “Homing” ... You should know since it’ll be released soon.”


    Yao Juan had heard a little about the new movie. He unscrewed the lid of the thermos cup at his hand and took a sip of tea to protect his throat. He said, “I was worried about whether you would marry too soon. But, it seems that you are in a good mood for most of the time, so I probably worried too much.”


    When others are really good to you, you always can’t help but feel warm, let alone this person you never hate.


    Yi Ran looked up earnestly him. “Mr. Yao, do you know? You are sometimes too introverted and like to hold all your private thoughts in your heart and dare not say them. If you’re not brave enough to live, it’ll be easy to miss a lot of things.”


    Yao Juan was surprised. As someone who would blush when standing too close to a woman, he always knew where his weakness was.


    “Well, that’s right, Yi Ran, then you ...”


    Just as he was stammering, Yiran saw WeChat jumping on her mobile phone. When she unobtrusively opened it, she realized that it was actually Gu Tingchuan.


    He rarely used WeChat to send her voice messages!


    Earlier today, he had said that he would have to go to a dinner party, simr to a “script finalizing” banquet. There would only be colleagues who attended, and it was good to let her sleep first.


    Yi Ran suspiciously opened up the phone and ced it to her ear. Gu Tingchuan’s voice spread through the machine, each syble low and hoarse: “Come to the xx club immediately to pick me up.”


    She was stunned by this sexy and sultry voice She trembled a bit, and when he was about to rush out immediately, she suddenly realized that this man requested her too casually.


    Most importantly, she never liked it when others dispatched her like this. She had endured this bad habit several times, it was really difficult to do so.


    Yi Ran was upset, and returned with an expression.


    As he was about to end the social engagement, Gu Tingchuan saw the expression sent by Mrs. Gu. He was slightly silent and felt only a nk in his heart.


    “Your manner is very rxed.” The expression was just such a few ck characters.


    Gu Tingchuan frowned for a long time and really admired how he had the courage to marry her… What was this, a popr expression pack for young people now?


    He had a headache but was also amused. Rubbing his eyebrows, he made another phone call. Fortunately, Yi Ran picked it up.


    “I drank a little wine and was worried about others sending me when I’m dizzy. Weren’t you still at school? Come get me and we’ll go home together.”


    She didn’t know if the man’s sweet voice was just too captivating or that the go home together proposal just sounded too tempting. In short, Yi Ran considered that Mr. Gu’s attitude was now good. She went out and called the car all the way to the address he sent.


    As she was going in to find someone, she saw a van parked next to the clubhouse. The door was opened from the inside and out came a young woman with makeup on.


    She raised her eyebrows and immediately recognized the other person as Guo Baiyu, whom she had not been seen for awhile.


    Guo Baiyu came over and greeted her. “Mrs. Gu, you are here. Director Gu is still inside. I was just nning to leave. I didn’t expect to see you.”


    Yi Ran said, “Yes, we meet again. It’s really a coincidence.”


    Guo Baiyu’s beautiful eyes were slightly narrowed. Before, she was too easy on Yi Ran because she wasn’t sure what Yi Ran’s origin was. It had made her nervous. Even now, she still couldn’t read the other person’s expression.


    “Director Gu doesn’t like to bother people very much. I didn’t expect him to rely so much on you.” Exhaling softly, she added, “I didn’t expect Director Gu to get married so soon. He is aplicated man...one who is affectionate yet heartless.”


    Yi Ran could not help but feel surprised. “I also didn’t expect it, but who can say.”


    Guo Baiyu had drunk a bit of wine in the evening. Her face was flushed, and her emotions were surging. She eyes were full of ridicule and tone of voice was strangely delighted. “Don’t get me wrong, but I’m really curious. A man like Director Gu... Do you think he, Gu Tingchuan, loves you?”


    In her heart, Yi Ran was startled. But, her first reaction was that she didn’t want to talk to this woman. With a belittling chuckled, she said, “Go back and sober up.”


    uo Baiyu obviously didn’t n to stop the topic here. She didn’t care if anyone responded to her and kept talking. Her voice trembled, “In the past, I thought he liked me, but I found out that it wasn’t so ... Oh, of course he liked me but only like art, like one of his works, not really like me personally. He doesn’t understand how to truly love ...... ”


    As she finished, Guo Baiyu became aware that she had said far more than she intended. She knew that she was too anxious, and to achieve her goal, she had exposed her thoughts too soon.


    She had said that Gu Tingchuan loved her like loving a material thing.


    Yi Ran smiled, and when she looked at Guo Baiyu, her eyes were full of anger. She knew that this was a public ce, but it would not prevent her from ridiculing back in the samenguage.


    “What do you mean by implying that Gu Tingchuan fell in love with someone just like loving his artwork? What kind of twisted abnormal psychology is this?”


    The smile on Guo Baiyu’s face disappeared in an instant: “... Why do you want to misunderstand what I meant? ”


    Yi Ran retorted with a smile, “So what do you mean?”


    The first time, she didn’t know Yi Ran’s identity so she asked her to deliver a snack to her own husband. The second time she questioned her on the set. So far, Yi Ran hadn’t taken it seriously.


    But this time she was tantly trying to stir up the rtionship between husband and wife. Yi Ran couldn’t tolerate this. The rtionship between them couldn’t be reached by an outsider.


    Yi Ran’s face showed her obvious anger. When she was fierce, she won’t bother to gloss over anything regardless of who was nearby or whether they might misunderstand. “You listen to me. Don’t let me hear the statement you’d just made a second time. Don’t let that fevered imagination of yours turn Gu Tingchuan into a psychopath.”


    Guo Baiyu ferociously gritted her teeth and her face was also a little pale. When she thought about this reaching the headquarters, she could only open her mouth to apologize first.


    The sky outside had beenpletely dark for a while, illuminated by brilliantyers of stars. The round moon hung amidst that patch of dark sky, it’s bright light outlining the man as he walked toward them. His face was handsome and clean, but his extraordinary eyes had a dangerous halo.


    Yi Ran had always felt that part of this man must belong to his work. Together, those two parts of himbined to act as one.


    Those movies often had a dark side, but even so, they still carried a bright light that could not be masked. His films have never been despairing but had always sprung towards the endless vault of an evolving humanity.


    Gu Tingchuan tilted his head slightly and said, “I’m not a...psychopath?”