Hungry?
Gu Jiao Wu wasn’t starved. He only wanted to sleep with Qiao Tan Yuan. He hated seeing another man hold Qiao Tan Yuan. When he saw Quan Zheng Hao hold Qiao Tan Yuan, and heard Quan Zheng Hao talking about a marriage bed with Qiao Tan Yuan, he exploded. He didn’t want another man to see how beautiful Qiao Tan Yuan looked when she was pleasured.
For the first time in Gu Jiao Wu’s thirty years of living, he initiated a fight with another person because he couldn’t stand another man touching Qiao Tan Yuan. He hated hearing Qiao Tan Yuan mention another man’s name while she was together with him, and he wasn’t going to let their daughter call another man father. Qiao Tan Yuan belonged with him, he wouldn’t let another man take Qiao Tan Yuan away from him.
Gu Jiao Wu was processing his thoughts so he didn’t hear everything Qiao Tan Yuan said.
Gu Jiao Wu hugged Qiao Tan Yuan tightly.
‘Qiao Tan Yuan, I don’t see you as my personal prost.i.tute,’ Gu Jiao Wu said.
‘You… let go of me,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said.
Qiao Tan Yuan didn’t want to feel Gu Jiao Wu’s hand on her back, because she didn’t want to think about how close their bodies were and how far apart their hearts were.
‘Do you think I would kiss you like this if I thought of you as my personal prost.i.tute?’ Gu Jiao Wu asked.
Gu Jiao Wu tenderly kissed Qiao Tan Yuan’s lips, and slowly deepened the kiss.
Qiao Tan Yuan didn’t know how she was supposed to end things with Gu Jiao Wu if she wanted to believe him when he kissed her.
Gu Jiao Wu pushed Qiao Tan Yuan onto the sofa, and took off their towels… after their bodies peaked together again, she was too tired to escape and fell asleep.
At sunrise, Qiao Tan Yuan woke up on the bed instead of the sofa. It was the first time she didn’t return home after Xiao Bao was born. She was worried about Xiao Bao, and worried her family would have reported her missing. She quickly showered, and cursed Gu Jiao Wu when she saw new kiss marks on her body.
Qiao Tan Yuan walked naked into the living room, because there were no clean towels left. She didn’t know where Gu Jiao Wu disappeared to. But she found a new outfit including a jacket in her size laid on the sofa. She dressed, and didn’t feel grateful Gu Jiao Wu gave her a new outfit since it was only right he compensated for ripping her clothes last night.
Qiao Tan Yuan was satisfied her new clothes fit her, and it was a similar style to her ripped clothes. After she dressed, she noticed breakfast was set out on the coffee table and Gu Jiao Wu left her a note, ‘I’m at work, I’ll eat dinner with you tonight.’
‘Go to h.e.l.l!’ Qiao Tan Yuan mumbled at the Gu Jiao Wu’s note. ‘Who wants to eat dinner with you?’
Qiao Tan Yuan ripped Gu Jiao Wu’s note to pieces while picturing ripping off his head. There was no urgency for her to go to work so she decided to go home to see Xiao Bao.
Qiao Tan Yuan walked to the front door, opened it and was surprised to see Du Lei Xin’s hand in mid-air like he was about to knock on the door.
Qiao Tan Yuan was embarra.s.sed she was caught in Gu Jiao Wu’s apartment.
‘Lei Xin, why are you here?’ Qiao Tan Yuan asked.
‘Me?’ Du Lei Xin asked. ‘I’m here to see big brother.’
‘He’s not here,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said.
If Gu Jiao Wu escaped to work, why did Du Lei Xin have to appear?
‘Oh, a pity big brother is gone,’ Du Lei Xin said innocently.
Du Lei Xin purposely waited for Gu Jiao Wu to drive to work so he could knock on Gu Jiao Wu’s apartment door, and see who Gu Jiao Wu’s special woman was.
‘It’s nothing important… do you need a lift?’ Du Lei Xin asked.
‘I…’ Qiao Tan Yuan didn’t want an awkward ride home with Du Lei Xin.
‘It’s not easy to find a taxi here,’ Du Lei Xin said. ‘Aren’t we considered friends?’
Du Lei Xin didn’t consider Qiao Tan Yuan as Gu Jiao Wu’s wife when they were married. But he saw the change in Gu Jiao Wu, and suspected if they remarried, he would respect her as if she was his big sister-in-law.
‘OK, as long as I’m not inconveniencing you,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said.
‘No trouble at all,’ Du Lei Xin said and led Qiao Tan Yuan to his car.
‘Do you want to go to the Qiao Mansion?’ Du Lei Xin asked.
‘Um,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said.
Du Lei Xin drove in the direction of the Qiao Mansion.
‘How’s Xiao Bao?’ Du Lei Xin asked. ‘I haven’t seen her since she was one month old.’
‘Xiao Bao is healthy,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said and beamed proudly. ‘She’s a good baby. She eats, sleep, eats and sleep.’
‘That’s good to hear,’ Du Lei Xin said. ‘Are you thinking of getting back together with big brother?’
‘I haven’t decided yet,’ Qiao Tan Yuan said diplomatically.
‘Really?’ Du Lei Xin said. He focused on the road. A moment ago the sky was clear, but a moment later it was raining. ‘You’re the first woman big brother brought to his apartment in my building.’
‘You… you bring women there for him?’ Qiao Tan Yuan asked.
‘No,’ Du Lei Xin said. ‘You should know big brother well. Do you think he’s the type of man that would let me bring women to serve him?’
Qiao Tan Yuan knew Gu Jiao Wu better than Du Lei Xin knew Gu Jiao Wu. But she didn’t want to admit Gu Jiao Wu wouldn’t sleep with the kind of women Du Lei Xin hired.
‘Tan Yuan, you don’t understand big brother as deeply as you think,’ Du Lei Xin said.
Du Lei Xin like everyone else, he knew Qiao Tan Yuan loved Gu Jiao Wu. But Qiao Tan Yuan didn’t understand some things about men. If Qiao Tan Yuan had stopped to think about what Gu Jiao Wu wanted instead of forcing Gu Jiao Wu to accept her love, perhaps she and Gu Jiao Wu’s first marriage wouldn’t have failed.
‘Really?’ Qiao Tan Yuan asked.
If Du Lei Xin said the same thing to Qiao Tan Yuan years ago, she would have disagreed with Du Lei Xin. But lately she discovered she didn’t understand Gu Jiao Wu as deeply as she thought. He had many secrets he kept from her. She especially didn’t understand his heart. Last night when he kissed her tenderly, and pleasured her body slowly on the sofa, she wanted to believe he cared about her. She vaguely remembered he carried her to bed, and he hugged her while they were sleeping together. Last night was the first peaceful sleep she had for years, she didn’t have a nightmare and slept to sunrise. She didn’t know what had invaded his brain for him to act like he cared about her. The only rational explanation was he wanted Xiao Bao.
‘Are you thinking big brother wants to be with you because of Xiao Bao?’ Du Lei Xin asked.
‘If Xiao Bao isn’t the reason, why do you think he suddenly changed one hundred and eighty degrees?’ Qiao Tan Yuan asked.
‘Xiao Bao is one of the reasons big brother wants to be with you…’ Du Lei Xin said.
Du Lei Xin knew Gu Jiao Wu was the type of man who wouldn’t turn his back on his own daughter.
‘But if big brother isn’t attracted to who you are, he wouldn’t even glance once at you,’ Du Lei Xin said.
Du Lei Xin believed in the world there were two types of men. The first type of men could sleep with women they didn’t love. The second type of men could only sleep with women they loved. He knew Gu Jiao Wu belonged to the second type.
‘Should I feel privileged I get to be the mother of his daughter?’ Qiao Tan Yuan asked. ‘If I wasn’t the mother of his daughter, he would have continued to move on with his life like I didn’t exist.’
End of Chapter Seventy-Two