CHAPTER 163: CHAPTER 153: I QUIT SMOKING ONLY FOR MY FUTURE WIFE

Gu Qimiao truthfully said she was going to pick up Gu Moming from the hospital, and she would get off work at five o’clock.

Shen Yanchen didn’t want to be involved with anything concerning Gu Moming, so he didn’t go with her. After all, Gu Moming was a patient right now, and if he went, her attention would definitely be all on Gu Moming. It was better for him to avoid unnecessary irritation—out of sight, out of mind.

When Gu Qimiao went downstairs, she saw Xiaoxiao already waiting in the lobby, holding a sturdy paper bag. It likely contained the painting, and there was a bouquet of pink lilies beside her.

"I should go to the hospital with you. There’s no way you can carry all this," Xiaoxiao said considerately.

Gu Qimiao was also trying to figure out a way to see if Gu Moming and Xiaoxiao could meet.

The two women hailed a cab, and as soon as they were in the car, Xiaoxiao said, "I rarely give flowers and don’t really know what they signify. The shop owner told me bright-colored flowers are best for someone recovering from surgery. She said pink lilies are perfect, but I’m worried Mo Ming might not like pink." She nervously scratched her head with a smile.

Gu Qimiao reassured her, "He even has a pink shirt!"

They chatted all the way, and the atmosphere was fairly good.

When they arrived at the hospital, Xiaoxiao handed the painting to Gu Qimiao. "Gigi, I won’t go up. This is for you to handle," she said.

Gu Qimiao took it, thought for a moment, and then said, "How about... you wait for me downstairs for a bit? I’ll see if I can figure something out."

Xiaoxiao nervously nodded, "Thank you, Gigi."

Gu Qimiao turned and went upstairs. Gu Moming in the hospital room was probably already getting impatient. When she arrived, he was leisurely sitting with his legs crossed, looking nothing like a patient who had just had stitches removed.

Had Gu Qimiao not confiscated his cigarettes earlier, he would probably be smoking right now.

"Do you know how long I’ve been waiting?" he lazily glanced at her.

"I was at work, wasn’t I?" she said, approaching with the painting and flowers. Feeling guilty, she added, "These are gifts for your discharge."

Gu Moming stood up and took the flowers from her hand, raising an eyebrow. "Wow, why so sentimental today? You’ve never given me flowers during any of my previous hospital stays."

Gu Qimiao didn’t answer, pondering how to reveal the truth to him.

He placed the flowers on the bed, then took the bag from her hands and pulled out the painting. Seeing the lifelike depiction of himself, he smiled and asked Gu Qimiao, "Did you paint this?"

Gu Qimiao looked away, feeling guilty, and mumbled, "Yeah," then quickly changed the subject. "Hurry up and pack so we can go home."

He continued to stare at the painting, looking quite pleased but saying, "It’s not as handsome as the real me."

Gu Qimiao busied herself with packing up the items she had brought to the hospital, absentmindedly replying, "Yes, yes, you’re the handsomest."

He carefully put the painting back in the bag, walked over to her, and asked, "So, tell me, did you give me this gift to trick something out of me?"

Gu Qimiao turned her head to glare at him. "Do I need to trick you to get what I want from you?"

He looked intrigued, glanced at the flowers on the bed and then at the painting. "You rarely give me anything."

Gu Qimiao stuffed the flowers into his hands, picked up the bag of daily essentials and the painting, both quite heavy, and glared at him. "Let’s go!"

Holding the flowers, Gu Moming walked leisurely in front, in a good mood, while Gu Qimiao clumsily followed behind with her burden.

When they reached downstairs, they stood at the hospital entrance to hail a cab. Gu Qimiao glanced at Xiaoxiao waiting in the corner and subtly waved at her, signaling her to come over.

Gu Moming, looking at his phone, didn’t notice the small interaction between the two women.

Xiaoxiao hesitated for a moment, then walked over, pretending to coincidentally run into them. "Hey Gigi, what are you doing here?"

Her voice successfully caught Gu Moming’s attention. Xiaoxiao nervously glanced at him, her smile somewhat stiff.

Seeing it was her, Gu Moming rolled his eyes and looked away, clearly not wanting to spare her another glance.

Xiaoxiao’s smile faded, and Gu Qimiao hastily tried to smooth things over. "Xiaoxiao, you..."

Before Gu Qimiao could finish, Gu Moming pulled her towards a cab that had stopped in front of them. He opened the door, pushed Gu Qimiao inside, then climbed in himself, shutting the door behind him without sparing Xiaoxiao another glance.

Through the back window, Gu Qimiao watched Xiaoxiao with a heavy heart. The window was dirty, and as the car slowly drove away, she couldn’t see Xiaoxiao’s expression clearly, but she saw her lift a hand to wipe away tears. She then saw her stand still, not turning away until she disappeared from view.

Gu Qimiao turned back, discontentedly asking Gu Moming, "What was that for?! Xiaoxiao is my friend!"

With an air of entitlement, Gu Moming said, "I remember I told you she gets on my nerves."

Gu Qimiao wanted to tell him that the flowers he was holding were carefully chosen by Xiaoxiao, but seeing his attitude, she figured he would probably throw them out the window if he knew. After weighing her options, she just asked, "Why don’t you like Xiaoxiao?"

He turned to look at her, giving a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. "Her appearance doesn’t please me, okay?"

"But... you do know Xiaoxiao likes you, right?" Gu Qimiao cautiously asked.

His expression immediately turned cold. "Just because she likes me, I have to like her back?"

"That’s not what I meant, but she doesn’t mean any harm. Can’t you just treat her nicer?"

"So, should I date her for a while and then dump her?"

Gu Qimiao fell silent, mumbling, "But you could be friends..."

"I don’t need more friends."

"One more friend wouldn’t be too many."

"Why would I want to be friends with someone who annoys me just by looking at them? Am I trying to get myself worked up to death?"

Gu Qimiao pursed her lips, "Can’t you just control your temper a little for the sake of her being my friend?"

He turned his head and lifted a hand to pat her cheek, "Sorry, but you’re not worth it."

Gu Qimiao slapped his hand away, not knowing how to persuade him. His temper was more stubborn than anybody else’s. Once he set his mind on something, no one could change it. The worst part was, he was completely unreasonable and didn’t care about feelings.

Gu Qimiao thought to herself if she should try to convince Xiaoxiao to stop liking him. Otherwise, Xiaoxiao would suffer a lot.

She just hoped that Xiaoxiao could quickly find a guy who loved her and forget about Gu Moming. This guy was too infuriating!

When she got home, Gu Qimiao was a bit down because of the situation with Xiaoxiao. Xiaoxiao texted her asking about Mo Ming, and she replied one by one but didn’t know how to comfort Xiaoxiao. Xiaoxiao was probably hiding under the covers crying as she sent those messages!

"Gu Qimiao!" Gu Moming called her name angrily.

Gu Qimiao lazily responded from the bed, "What?"

"Are you going to leave all this mess for me, a sick person, to clean up?" he pointed at the pile of clothes on his bed, speaking harshly.

Gu Qimiao put down her phone and stood up, complaining, "Weren’t you the one who made this mess!"

"So you’re saying I should clean it up myself?!"

Gu Qimiao resignedly complied, "Yes, yes, it’s my fault. You sit over there, please."

He glared at her and casually tossed the towel he had just used to dry his hair onto her head. Then he walked over to the table by the window and continued working on his racing model.

Gu Qimiao pulled the wet towel off her head, fuming but resigned, and started cleaning up. She told herself not to get mad; after all these years, she’d gotten used to it.

"Gu Qimiao, get me a glass of water."

"Can’t you see I’m tidying up?!" Gu Qimiao tiptoed to put the freshly folded clothes into the wardrobe.

Gu Moming’s voice came from the other side, "So you want a sick person like me to get the water myself?"

Gu Qimiao glared at him, tossed the clothes into the wardrobe, then went over to grab his cup, filled it with water, and handed it to him.

He touched the cup and complained, "How am I supposed to drink it when it’s this hot?"

Gu Qimiao turned and yelled, "Drink it when it’s cold!!"

Gu Moming glanced at her, "Got a temper now, huh?"

Gu Qimiao, seething with anger, stuffed the unarranged clothes into the wardrobe all at once. She looked at it, took a deep breath, then pulled the clothes out one by one to fold them properly.

Because she knew if she didn’t tidy up, he would leave it messy indefinitely; he generally didn’t bother with such trivial matters.

After cleaning the room and sweating profusely, she went straight to the bathroom for a shower. When she came out, she saw him with a cigarette in his mouth. How did he even find it when she’d hidden it so well!

Gu Qimiao hurried over, yanked the cigarette out of his mouth, and stubbed it out in the ashtray, "The doctor said you can’t smoke for three months!"

"What’s the big deal? It’s not going to kill me," he said, pulling out another cigarette, but Gu Qimiao snatched the whole pack from him and seriously chastised him, "Smoking is harmful in every way. You should take this chance to quit."

Mo Ming propped his head on his hand, looking at her with a smile, "I’d only quit smoking for my future wife."

"Then hurry up and find yourself a wife! So I don’t have to worry about you!" she said, turning around with the cigarette pack.

Mo Ming retracted his frivolous smile and looked at her back, seriously murmuring to himself, "Then you’ll have to worry forever."

Except for her, he almost had nothing left.

After drying her hair, she lay down by the bedside, while Mo Ming finished working on his model and walked over to sit by her bed, asking, "You’re still working at his company?"

The mention of this made Gu Qimiao immediately smile, nodding without hiding her joy.

Mo Ming sneered, "And you’re proud of it? He’s the boss, you’re the employee. The gap between you couldn’t be clearer. And you’re happy about that?"

Gu Qimiao put away her smile, fell silent for a while, then said, "At least we’re working together."

"Hah, so you’re just ignoring everything I say?"

Gu Qimiao lowered her gaze, a bit awkwardly saying, "No... I remember everything. I know my limits."

"You always say that, don’t you?"

She remained silent.

Mo Ming suddenly said, "It’s been almost twenty years. Is it that hard to forget him?"

After a few seconds, she looked at him with bright eyes and replied, "I could never forget that he saved me. If it weren’t for him, I’d have starved to death on the streets long ago."

Mo Ming let out a mocking laugh, then got up and turned toward his bed, switching off the light in the room.

In the darkness, he asked, "Have you figured out if it’s gratitude or love you feel for him?"