Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Never would he have expected that a woman could make him this stunned.
With that face of hers previously, when she was still called Mu Ning, he had gradually felt that with her around, he had the power to do anything.
Now, even with her face changed, she was still the same person.
It was a delightful fact.
The chauffeur got onto the car again and drove it back to the Lin residence.
Lin Shishi had just come out from a shower. Seeing him return, she asked with a grin, “When I went down just now, the butler said you went out. Where were you?”
“I went to admire the night view here.”
Looking at the gentle expression on his face, Lin Shishi held onto his hand. “You finally look relaxed now. That’s wonderful. Go and take a shower.”
“Umm, okay.”
Lin Shishi sat on the bed, playing with her phone and waiting for him to come out.
But little did she expect that she’d be waiting for such a long time. Only after more than an hour did Tuoba Gucheng finally come out from the shower.
When he came out, Lin Shishi’s eyelids were already getting heavy. “Why did you take so long?”
“I soaked for too long.” He lay down and casually asked, “Tonight, the one that came… that sister of yours is Jin Qingyan’s ex-wife?”
“Yup.” At the mention of An Xiaoning, Lin Shishi became energetic again. “Now that we’re talking about this, I feel that it’s really such a shame. I heard my ex-brother-in-law and my sister were a really loving couple.”
“Then why did they get divorced?” He used his arms to rest his head on.
“I’m not very sure, and neither are my parents. My sister didn’t tell us. This is her second divorce with my ex-brother-in-law already. They have a five- or six-year-old son as well. However, my sister’s really amazing. If not for her, I would have long been dead. She gave me the chance to live again, so I like her especially much and I’m really full of admiration for her.”
“Why didn’t I hear you talk about her before, then? How did she save your life, care to share?”
Lin Shishi chuckled. “When I talk about her, there’s just too many things to say. I feel like it’ll take forever to finish. We met at a gathering…”
She explained the whole process of her meeting An Xiaoning and how she saved her. Tuoba Gucheng was listening to her story in awe.
“She can see and talk to spirits, does that mean her body’s weak during the Ghost Festival?”
“Probably. I’m not too sure about that, but her birthday is during the Ghost Festival.”
Tuoba Gucheng probed, “Ghost Festival? Which one?”
“The fifteenth day of the seventh Lunar month.”
No wonder she was possessed by his beloved Labrador during the day of the Ghost Festival.
That explained it.
What a mysterious woman.
Regardless of whether she had a beautiful face or not, she was a woman with an attractive character. Her beautiful looks were just a bonus.
“After hearing all these things, don’t you think my sister is amazing?” A smile appeared on Lin Shishi’s face. “That’s why she is the person I admire most. However, her married life is really not smooth sailing. I really don’t understand, why is such a great woman always facing so many obstacles when it comes to marriage?”
“How old is she now?” Tuoba Gucheng suddenly asked.
Lin Shishi replied, “She’s thirty.”
Tuoba Gucheng thought of the photocopied document of her background information. It stated that she was twenty-four. Hmm, she had a fake surname, name, age, family background, and face.
What an expert forger.
She was really something.
She was already thirty, but it really did not look like it. It was indeed believable if she claimed she was twenty-four. He himself had just passed his twenty-seventh birthday and was only three years younger than she was.
The gap was not that huge at all.
Tuoba Gucheng’s mind was in a mess. So why exactly did she sneak into the Autumn Palace?
And why did she leave after staying in there for only a few months?
Xiao Chi had said that a friend recommended her to enter the Autumn Palace. Since Xiao Chi’s friend was sacrificed, he must have been killed by An Xiaoning.
Then why on earth did she sneak in?!
He naturally would not have known that Xiao Chi had only said that casually as an excuse.
“Honey?”
“Umm.” Tuoba Gucheng recovered from his trance and reached out to hug her. “Go to sleep earlier.”
Lin Shishi lay in his arms and closed her eyes.
Tuoba Gucheng, on the other hand, simply could not fall asleep.
His whole head was full of problems he was bugged with.
These problems needed answers desperately.
He had gone to find her address stated on the photocopied document of her background information. When he realized that it was fake, he was beyond disappointed.
Never would he have expected that things would change by night. It was really true that every cloud has a silver lining.
Nobody would have known that, at that moment when he heard her voice, his heart was bursting with happiness.
It was a most magnificent scene of flowers blossoming inside his heart, and he even felt the atmosphere turning warmer than ever.
Even though Tuoba Gucheng never revealed the reason why he was so bothered about her, the answer in his heart was a constant reminder to him.
Before he had gotten married, he had already fallen for her.
No, more specifically, even before he had a child or gotten married, he had fallen deeply for her in a short period of time.
Since he was young, he did not dare to fall for someone easily. It was only when it really happened did he finally understand that some things were beyond one’s control.
Moreover, it was something like love.
Something that was, by itself, uncontrollable.
He could not remember when he had started caring for her, or how many times he had waited for her to go out when she was late.
Come to think of it, he was being selfish.
He had only wanted to use her identity as a bodyguard to keep her by his side. He was even fine with the way they got along with each other now and did not think of anything else, not even the original face she had.
With his wife completely asleep beside him, Tuoba Gucheng gazed at her face, his eyes filled with guilt toward her.
Their marriage was only due to political reasons. He did not love her, and he could only play his role well as her husband and their child’s father. As for other things, it was not within his ability to do it.
With the room dimly lit, the night was as quiet as ever.
Tuoba Gucheng reached out and took Lin Shishi’s phone from the table.
He accessed her call records and noted down An Xiaoning’s phone number.
After looking at her phone number, Tuoba Gucheng saved it into his own phone.
All the electronic devices in the Autumn Palace were tapped.
Not even his siblings’ and his were spared.
He had two phones. One that everyone knew about, and a secret one that no one knew of.
He used the former phone to contact his parents, siblings, and the people in the Autumn Palace.
As for the secret phone, it was equipped with an advanced anti-surveillance system and was purely for private use.
Even for his wife, Lin Shishi, he only provided the phone number that everyone knew of.
Compared to his discreet ways, Tuoba Danxue used only one phone in the Autumn Palace.
Her relationship with Jiang Feng, which ended before anything could happen, was to her, not a big deal.
Tuoba Hancheng, meanwhile, had a secret phone just like Tuoba Gucheng did.
His reason for not revealing the private phone number to his family was because he was afraid it would get tapped as well if his mother found out. Moreover, at the present moment, his secret phone was unlocked by his fingerprint. The system also prevented one from resetting this fingerprint function, so only his most trusted underlings had this number. As for women, An Xiaoning was the first one.
He used this private phone number to send An Xiaoning a text message. There was only one line in the text: “This is my personal phone number, take note of it. —Tuoba Gucheng”
