CHAPTER 225: CHAPTER 211: I AM RUYAN

Gu Qili tightened her grip on his hand and shook her head under his gaze: "It wasn’t me."

Mu Shuoqian showed no sign of surprise; he must have known it all along.

Besides her closest kin, no one else knew about this matter. Why did Mu Shuoqian understand it so clearly?

Gu Qili didn’t probe further into the reasons but continued, "Ruyan is my sister, my twin sister. I only met her once when we grew up, and that was the last time. After that, she disappeared."

Mu Shuoqian laid his hand on her shoulder and gently patted it.

"If it weren’t for the sudden news about the top social butterfly in high society, I wouldn’t have even known I had a sister. My dad never mentioned her to me, he never even spoke of my mom. They divorced before I was born, my mom left pregnant, and later, my dad found my mom and then brought me back. Growing up, everyone knew the Gu Family had one daughter, and only one daughter. So, when Ruyan appeared, everyone mistook her for me because by that time my dad was already in the ICU. They thought it was me becoming a social butterfly to raise money for my dad’s treatment; this thought seemed somewhat plausibly reasonable."

When Gu Qili reached this point, her nose felt slightly sour. She least wanted to mention the three years Gu Dezhong stayed in the hospital—it was the most difficult time of her life.

Mu Shuoqian’s heart suddenly twitched, his fingers tightened on her shoulder, and his gaze became as dense as ink that couldn’t dissolve.

Gu Qili felt his hand tense suddenly and couldn’t help but lift her eyelids to look at him, meeting his tranquil gaze. She continued, "I think, there can’t possibly be such similar people in the world. It’s so similar that I almost thought I was having a split personality. So, I tried every means to find her. Her attitude towards me was cold, even resentful. That was when I found out that before my dad got sick, he had been secretly sending money to her and my mother. My mother has a mental illness, which needed a lot of money for treatment. After my dad had an accident, their financial support was cut off. She came to Aus City looking for him, only to find out he had become a vegetative state patient. Having no choice, she named herself Ruyan and navigated through high society to earn medical expenses for our mother."

"Everyone mistook me for her, yet I couldn’t explain it because, my voice just wouldn’t come out. Everything she bore was for our mother, and what about me? Although I’m no longer the Gu Family’s young miss, I still have books to read and an ordinary life to lead. However, she traded her youth and body for scant money, something I probably couldn’t do in this lifetime. So, what right do I have to explain to everyone that it wasn’t me, it was my sister, I never did those things?" Gu Qili said, shaking her head, her eyes unable to hold back the tears from falling, "In my eyes, not only is what she did not shameful, but I’m also proud of her. Others only saw the Ruyan in the social circles, but not the Gu Yunxi who was so oppressed by life she couldn’t even lift her head. So, saying I am Ruyan, then I will be. It’s just some slander and ridicule, which she, too, had once endured."

Gu Qili rubbed her nose, her eyes red-rimmed.

"You thinking this way is understandable, but she will not appreciate your feelings, on the contrary, she must hate you."

Gu Qili sniffed, speaking with a heavy nasal voice: "What my dad and I owe her, it’s only natural that she hates me."

"Alright, let’s not think about her anymore." Mu Shuoqian patted her shoulder.

In a whispering murmur: "Mu Shuoqian, the reason I’m telling you this is that I don’t want to keep any secrets from you. I don’t want you to hear about things concerning me from others one day. Two people together should be open with each other, shouldn’t they? Regardless of whether you knew from the beginning, I still wanted to tell you myself. So, you showing me the photo album today, telling me about your past life, I’m already very happy. Maybe, you still have secrets you can’t share with me, but I believe that over time, you will tell me everything, won’t you?"

Mu Shuoqian’s arms around her shoulders suddenly tightened, his dark eyes indiscernible in emotion.

A flash of lightning streaked across the window, followed by a booming thunder, the whole bedroom brightly illuminated.

Sounds of raindrops hitting the glass grew dense and heavy.

In the silent room, his voice took a while before it slowly sounded: "Yes."

Perhaps there are still gaps they haven’t bridged, but with his promise, she was willing to wait.

"Gu Qili." Mu Shuoqian stared at the back of her head, his eyes almost bursting into flames, grinding his teeth as he said, "Don’t you know you are allergic to alcohol?"

She dared not look at him, imagining just how angry he must be right now.

"I know, but A-V said that a person who can’t appreciate wine will never truly understand it. Then, wasn’t all the effort I made before useless?" Gu Qili said, her breath becoming increasingly unstable, as if something was stuck in her throat making it difficult to breathe, and an unbearable itchiness spreading over her body and limbs, making her involuntarily want to scratch.

"Don’t scratch," Mu Shuoqian said, not even bothering to lecture her, "the more you scratch, the itchier it gets."

He carried her out the door, opened the car door, and placed her in the passenger seat, then walked around the front of the car to drive.

Gu Qili covered her neck with one hand, breathing seeming increasingly difficult, her face turning from red to white, then from white to blue, with more and more red spots appearing on her body.

"Damn it." Seeing her so uncomfortable, Mu Shuoqian was so anxious that he couldn’t fit the key into the keyhole until the third attempt when the car finally started.

He sped all the way to the hospital, didn’t even register and directly carried her into the doctor’s on-call room, shouting before even seeing anyone, "Where’s the doctor?"

The doctor came out from behind a side screen, "What’s wrong?"

"Alcohol allergy."

The doctor paused, then pointed at the door sign, "Sir, have you come to the wrong place? This is for male-specific issues."

Mu Shuoqian then realized he had rushed too quickly and just kicked any door open and entered.

Gu Qili was still conscious but had difficulty breathing and felt a severe itchiness. However, seeing Mu Shuoqian rush into the male department carrying her, she couldn’t help but chuckle mischievously, though her chuckle was weak, like a breeze brushing across the face.

At last, Mu Shuoqian found the right department. The doctor with slightly graying hair looked experienced and concluded after a brief check-up, "There’s some swelling in the throat, which is causing the difficulty in breathing. Luckily, it’s not very severe since it was found early. I will give you an injection, you should stay here for observation for two hours, and if the swelling subsides, then you can take some medicine home."

The doctor was typing the prescription on the computer, Mu Shuoqian watching impatiently, his voice icy as he urged, "Can’t you type any faster? Can’t you see she’s in discomfort?"

The doctor chuckled, helplessly saying, "I’m old, and just learned how to use a computer, I can’t type any faster. Young man, don’t rush, your girlfriend will be fine. I stake my thirty years of medical experience on it."

Gu Qili was about to ask Mu Shuoqian to calm down, but Mu Shuoqian’s previously impatient and cold face suddenly softened, even lifting slightly at the brows with a somewhat self-satisfied air.

Was he...styling on this issue? But, she hadn’t noticed anything that should make him so delighted.

"Come on, young man, go pay the fee. After paying, go to the injection room for the shot, then come back here to pick up the medicine. I’ll tell you how to take it."

Gu Qili noticed that even Mu Shuoqian’s steps seemed buoyant as he went to pay.

She suddenly realized that the doctor had called him "young man" twice in a row. Could it be that he was happy about that?

Gu Qili couldn’t help but laugh. This man, how much must he love being praised for being young? Does he really care so much about the age difference between them? Actually, it should be her who cares about that; compared to his maturity, she clearly isn’t mature enough, sometimes she even worries he would find her childish.

Gu Qili was sitting there giggling when a familiar figure hurried past outside the glass window. She looked up to see the somewhat flustered Hu Jiaojiao.