After Ji Li went to Chu Youyou’s place, he found out she just had a common cold. “Ji, why have you suddenly become distant?” Chu Youyou asked with teary eyes. “I haven’t been distant; I’ve just been busy with work lately,” Ji Li replied without looking at her, giving a formulaic answer. Chu Youyou clenched her fists. Ji Li was hiding the news about that woman, which meant the rumors were indeed true! Being a smart woman, she knew that showing jealousy or throwing a tantrum would only make Ji Li dislike her more, so she pretended to be understanding and said, “No matter how busy work gets, you shouldn’t forget your fiancée!” Then she broke into a smile and playfully added, “I’m just joking. No matter how busy you are, you should take care of yourself. Can I bring you lunch?” “There’s a cafeteria at the company, no need for the trouble,” Ji Li gently refused. “It’s no trouble at all, it’s settled then.” Not giving Ji Li a chance to refuse, Chu Youyou quickly changed the subject, “I bought some blood tonic oral liquid, not sure if it will help.” This topic seemed to slip out unintentionally, but in reality, she was reminding Ji Li about the time she had given him too much blood, resulting in her lifelong anemia. Sure enough, Ji Li’s gaze softened a bit at the mention of this topic. No matter how despicable the means, as long as it could capture this man, she would do it. By the time Ji Li managed to extricate himself from Chu Youyou, it was already evening. He hadn’t received a call from his assistant, which meant the woman was still behaving. However… even with all the evidence suggesting that woman was someone named Kang Qiao, looking exactly like Gu Anqi, he just couldn’t believe it. Not just the face, but also the height, build, and voice were all identical. How could this be possible? Ji Li realized then how well he knew Gu Anqi, even though he was only with her to get revenge on Gu Wencheng. But why couldn’t he accept that Gu Anqi was dead or that this woman wasn’t Gu Anqi? If this woman was indeed Gu Anqi, how should he treat her? He couldn’t figure it out, but there was one more thing he needed to investigate: who sent him that photo. In his anger, he had lost his reason and assumed the people in the photo were Gu Anqi and Chen Zhaoran. But what if someone else had set this up… Now, looking at the photo again, only the side profile of Gu Anqi’s face was visible, and the birthmark was very conspicuous, almost as if the photo was specifically focused on it. If the intent was to prove the woman in the photo was Gu Anqi, why not take more frontal shots? There were too many suspicious points. The reason he thought about reinvestigating the photo was because the investigation into Kang Qiao had shaken him. Honestly, he didn’t know what to do anymore. During the time Gu Anqi was missing, he felt disinterested in everything around him, with the sole belief of finding her. When he finally found someone who looked just like her, he was told this woman was merely someone who resembled Gu Anqi, nothing more. How could he accept that? He was also confused about his own feelings. Did he love Gu Anqi, or hate her? If it was hate, he had already taken his revenge when Gu Wencheng was sentenced to prison. Logically, that incident had nothing to do with Gu Anqi. His hatred for her was more about the way she had bossed him around and humiliated him over the past eight years, making him feel his dignity was trampled. He wanted to bring this high and mighty young lady down, but now, looking back, his hatred stemmed from the fact that Gu Anqi did not love him. Yes, what truly made him feel trampled was that he had genuinely fallen for Gu Anqi, while to her, he seemed like a disposable convenience. At least, when they were together, all he felt was her temper and capriciousness, not any affection towards him.
Chapter 20: Investigation
Finding the source of the photo was easy; it was sent from a small internet cafe’s computer, without any ID registration, and no one remembered the appearance of the person sitting there at the time. Although the internet cafe had surveillance, the person was well-covered, making it impossible to see their face. After such a long time, finding out this person’s identity was nearly impossible. Ji Li started to regret not investigating thoroughly at the time. Gu Anqi approached from behind, hearing him angrily speaking into the phone, and realized he was still investigating the photo. It was laughable; he didn’t even give her a chance to explain back then, and now what was the point of this belated effort? After Ji Li hung up the phone, he turned around to see Kang Qiao standing behind him with a gloomy face, which startled him. “When did you come over?” he asked. He had let her stay here but hadn’t touched her. Until he was sure she was Gu Anqi, he didn’t want to do anything inappropriate. Maybe it was because he was a clean freak, he hadn’t touched any other woman besides Gu Anqi. This made him feel frustrated and resentful, as if he was still the same pathetic man being dominated by the young lady. But facing a face identical to Gu Anqi’s, yet unsure if it was her, he just couldn’t bring himself to do anything. “Why can’t I come over?” Gu Anqi, fearing Ji Li might suspect her after seeing her expression earlier, deliberately put on a flirtatious look and said, “You’re strange, keeping me here but not doing anything. Are you so rich that you have nothing better to do?” “Do you want me to do something to you?” Ji Li asked. Gu Anqi immediately shook her head and said, “What’s the matter? Why are you so angry?” “It’s none of your business, don’t ask.” Hearing the sound of the door slamming, Gu Anqi thought to himself, “He must be going through menopause or something.” Ji Li was only angry because he couldn’t control his thoughts about Gu Anqi, and coincidentally, that woman who looked exactly like Gu Anqi appeared before him, which triggered his outburst. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, as if driven by a rebellious urge, he walked into a bar offering certain services. He didn’t believe he had to remain chaste for Gu Anqi for the rest of his life. A rich and handsome man like him, with a high social value, didn’t even need to pay for such services; he became the target of single women in the bar. However, he had no interest at all and regretted entering such a smoky place out of sheer boredom.
Unexpectedly, the next moment, he saw a heavily made-up, scantily clad “Gu Anqi” clinging tightly to an obese, shiny-headed man, as if she wanted to wrap her limbs around him in public! Ji Li was instantly furious, stormed over, and pulled her away, only to realize upon seeing her face that it wasn’t Gu Anqi at all. The woman, who had just managed to latch onto a wealthy patron, was displeased at the interruption, and so was the patron. Before they could say anything, Ji Li coldly stated that he had mistaken her for someone else and left the bar. The “Gu Anqi” from the photo also revealed her profile! It seemed he had indeed misunderstood Gu Anqi. He immediately called his assistant, instructing him to thoroughly investigate this bar girl. A sudden pang of heartache came over him; he desperately wanted to see Gu Anqi, but where was she now? This sense of helplessness spread through Ji Li’s entire body. How good it would be if he could deceive himself into believing that the woman at home was Gu Anqi? There were too many contradictions, not just with the mysterious woman named Kang Qiao, but also with his own emotions. He clearly didn’t love her, so why did he think of her so much?
Chapter 21: Injured
