Chapter 48: She Was Covered In Moonlight

Gu Jinrong was sitting by the bed, looking like she was at the mercy of the king, which made Shen Qingzhi feel excited instantly. All the strange mental images that she had suppressed during the day came to her mind again.

Shen Qingzhi almost jumped to the bedside, grabbing the coat on the hanger with one hand, and had both eyes shining.

"Let's just shoot the scene after the binding. Now I'm going to tie your hands first. You have to be good and don't resist, okay?"

She was smarter at this moment, worried that something might go wrong during the tying process, so she needed to secure the person first. Gu Jinrong nodded with a smile and obediently extended her hands.

Shen Qingzhi wrapped her coat around her wrist, trying to tie it well.

But dreams are full, and reality is skinny.

The crew's props and costumes are provided for filming. The fabrics are soft and long, making them easy to tie.

However, this short coat she is using right now, not only had less fabric but was also quite stiff. Using it as a rope was nothing short of a fairy tale.

Shen Qingzhi made several attempts, finally managing to tie a knot after much effort, but Gu Jinrong merely lifted her hand slightly, and it came loose.

Seeing that Shen Qingzhi was anxious and annoyed, Gu Jinrong took the initiative to comfort her: "How about this, I can pretend to be tied up."

How can we pretend? We need to actually tie you up, what if someone changes their mind halfway through the scene?

"No, filming has to be realistic. Just wait a moment and I'll find something more suitable."

As she spoke, Shen Qingzhi ran to the living room and went to dig through her small suitcase filled with spring clothes.

Gu Jinrong stared at Shen Qingzhi's busy back and smiled fondly: Do you really want to tie me up?

Shen Qingzhi squatted in front of her suitcase, carefully examining the length of each piece of clothing and testing their flexibility before trying them on her arms. Her selection process was meticulous.

Seeing her like this, Gu Jinrong realized that choosing the right clothing might take a while. She took out her phone to check her messages.

She hadn't looked at WeChat for a day, and there was a row of red dots on it, including those from agents, directors, and assistants, all related to work.

She browsed through them quickly and eliminated all the red dots one by one. However, when she clicked on the last red dot, she saw someone she had not been in contact with for a long time.

Gu Jinrong stared at the "W" profile picture and hesitated for a few seconds before clicking on the chat message.

The other party didn't say a word but just sent a photo of a cabin in country M.

Gu Jinrong stayed in this place for many years, and it held many memories for her, but most of these memories were not very pleasant.

***

A woman with fiery red hair struggled to stand up from her wheelchair, fiercely hitting the wheelchair's armrest. She seemed somewhat hysterical.

[You're saying you want to leave, what about me?]

Gu Jinrong massaged her temples with a headache. She knew the other person wouldn't easily give up, which had led to delays. But now, she couldn't afford to delay any longer.

[Wen Qi, it was our family's fault in the past, and I've been trying to make amends all these years. The doctor says your legs will fully recover in a few more months. I've also transferred all of the Gu family's shares in the Kangshou Group to Aunt Wen's name recently. Even if I'm not here, you and your mother can have a good life in Country M.]

It was rare for Gu Jinrong to say so many words at once, but the other party seemed not to listen at all. She was so angry that she smashed all the utensils she could reach on the floor.

[I won’t let you leave! What your family owes to my family will never be repaid! What you owe me will never be repaid!]

Wen Qi was always emotionally unstable when she was angry, but this time Gu Jinrong did not compromise.

She resolutely left the small room that brought her endless torture and abuse, and she did not pause even when the fragments of the porcelain cup scratched across her arm.

It wasn't until she closed the door outside the house that she finally breathed a sigh of relief and took out her cell phone to call Wen Qi's mother.

***

It can be said that her departure was an unhappy one. In the first month after Gu Jinrong returned to China, Wen Qi called her at any time regardless of time or occasion, and bombarded her with all kinds of news.

Gu Jinrong was afraid of upsetting her, so she didn't delete Wen Qi's contact information. She also had a heartfelt conversation with Wen Qi's mother, including assistance from Shen Hanzhi after she learned about the situation.

Another month passed like this, and Wen Qi seemed to have disappeared from the world. She didn't even send a single message to her, going from one extreme to the other.

At first, she thought it was the calm before the storm, but Gu Jinrong spent another two months in fear and saw that everything was going as it should.

Finally, she breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that maybe Wen Qi had truly come to terms with it, and the matter could come to a close.

So she boldly went to find the little girl she longed for.

But only a month had passed since these good days, and she received the bad news that Wen Qi was preparing to return to China.

Wen Qi said she was coming back, but she didn't return immediately. It felt like a blunt knife hanging over her head, with uncertainty about when it would fall.

It wasn't until several months later that she received another message from Wen Qi. Gu Jinrong broke into a cold sweat, as if muscle memory had kicked in, and the rope holding the blade had loosened a bit.

She deleted the latest messages on WeChat, put away her phone, stood up in a daze, and walked to the door.

"I found it. How about using this?" Shen Qingzhi tugged at a silk long-sleeved shirt, bouncing over to Gu Jinrong, her eyes sparkling.

Gu Jinrong raised the corners of her mouth habitually, with a somewhat forced smile, "Qingqing, I think I want to go out for a walk alone."

Shen Qingzhi looked a bit disappointed. "Really? You changed your mind so quickly? I won't force you, but it's quite late at night..."

Before she finished speaking, Gu Jinrong had already walked out of the house, and her thin back gradually faded away.

"What's wrong with people? Can't even let me finish a sentence."

Shen Qingzhi grunted as she put the clothes she had just dug out one by one back into the suitcase. Just thinking about Gu Jinrong's sudden coldness made her feel a bit wronged.

"A black-hearted, big villain, teasing then running away, so moody..."

She kept chattering, but thinking of Gu Jinrong's smile when she left, she couldn't help but start to worry: Something happened to her. She went out alone in the dark at night. What if she gets picked up by a dog...

In fact, it's only eight o'clock in the evening, it's not very late.

Many villagers in the village had been working all day and were now strolling in the countryside, chatting and taking walks.

It was rare for Gu Jinrong to go out for a walk alone at night, and many people took the initiative to say hello to her along the way.

There was a lively scene all around, but this excitement ultimately belonged to others.

After Gu Jinrong dealt with it briefly, she chose a path with the fewest pedestrians and walked into the forest behind the village without knowing it.

She entered the northern forest, which was also one of the filming locations for the crew. However, they had been concentrating on shooting in the southern forest for the past few days and were planning to return to this area in two days.

There are few trees in the northern forest, the mountains are rugged, and the scenery is very depressing. Naturally, few people like to come here. Extremely quiet, suitable for resolving worries alone.

Gu Jinrong found a relatively clean stone slab and sat down, looking at the half-moon in the sky, thinking of many things at once.

The Gu family and the Wen family had been close friends for generations, and Wen Qi had been her best friend in her youth.

However, as they grew older, that person became increasingly paranoid, and her possessiveness reached pathological levels.

Gu Jinrong couldn't tolerate this deteriorating relationship and gradually distanced herself from Wen Qi.

Originally, she planned to study in country M when she was in college, but she secretly changed her choice at the last moment and stayed in China to go to University Y.

Wen Qi made a big fuss at that time, and in the end, it was Wen Qi's parents who went to Country M to suppress her so that she could not run back to China regardless of the situation.

The four years Gu Jinrong studied at Y University were the most relaxing and comfortable four years she lived. She had normal friendships and got to know the little girl who brought light to her life.

She remembered that when she first agreed to Shen Hanzhi to help her little tyrant with her homework, it was just to complete the topic of "Character Analysis of Rebellious Youth".

As a result, this analysis included herself.

The little girl has a fiery temperament and is always full of energy. She will say 'no' immediately to things she doesn't like and will never wrong herself.

She looks eccentric on the outside but is very kind on the inside. She cares about everyone with a soft heart: her mother, sister, classmates, and even the children begging on the roadside.

The first time Gu Jinrong tutored her in her studies, she noticed something about this almost unfamiliar person. She was the only one who noticed when the little notes stuck to that pile of medicine indicated discomfort. Those notes are still carefully kept to this day.

She has the clearest and brightest eyes like they were filled with a sky full of stars. Every time she made eye contact with her, Gu Jinrong could feel the purest form of care.

Gu Jinrong had been cold-hearted for over twenty years, but she never expected that one day she would care so much about a girl who was a head shorter than her.

When she found out that the girl admired her, she felt joy but also a hint of fear, fearing her uncontrollable happiness.

The little girl is still a child, still not sensible, on the other hand, she is already an adult.

But fate played its tricks. Before she could sort out the tangle of emotions, both the Gu family and the Wen family ran into trouble, and she had to go to Country M to clean up the mess.

After the incident, Wen Qi became even more extreme than before, and Gu Jinrong couldn't just let her self-destruct.

During that time, she had to take care of family matters while also facing Wen Qi's hysteria. She was on the verge of emotional collapse and even had a slight tendency to self-destruct.

Several times at night, she wanted to secretly contact her beloved girl, typing out whole messages only to delete them all in the end.

It is really shameful that she is in her current state and wants to use a little girl who is still a minor as a life-saving straw.

The little girl sent her a lot of messages at first. She read them countless times but didn't dare to reply a word.

She only secretly learned about the other party's current situation from Shen Hanzhi and repeatedly begged her to keep her situation confidential. Although Shen Hanzhi didn't know the reason, she respected her choice.

It took another two years for her to adjust her emotional state to normal through psychological treatment, and she met her mentor in country M, and her career began to flourish.

She finally plucked up the courage to send a message to Shen Qingzhi, but all she got in response was a red exclamation mark.

She had wanted to handle everything on her own, believing that she could, but now it seemed she had overestimated herself.

Just one message from Wen Qi broke down the defense in her heart, causing her to dream back to nine years ago and start worrying about gains and losses.

Losing something you once had is harder to accept than never having had it at all.

Everything is obviously starting to develop in a good direction, why does she have to come back?

Gu Jinrong leaned against the stone wall a little weakly, her neatly trimmed nails unconsciously leaving many marks on the stone.

It was the same in the past. Whenever she was on the verge of losing control of her emotions, she would find a place where no one was and hide, digest everything in silence, and then appear in front of everyone as a glamorous movie queen.

No one will notice the abnormality. Even if someone does, the adult world will leave space for each other. Although it is difficult for a person, it will eventually pass, right?

"Hey, you're here playing hide and seek in the middle of the night, You had me searching for ages."

When Gu Jinrong heard this, she turned around. She was still the energetic little girl in her memory, but now, she was half a head taller, a little less green, and a little more confident.

She was covered in moonlight and walked towards her step by step, even the stone walls in the forest seemed to be illuminated by her.

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