Qin Tianyi, however, said without any worry, "Then you go play."
"Thank you, Daddy." Little Xingxing eagerly ran towards the play area, wanting to play with the other children inside.
Their seats offered a clear view of the transparent, open play area. Without Little Xingxing sitting at the dining table, the two of them fell into an awkward silence.
Gu Susu had no desire to speak. Faced with a table full of seafood, she had already gone to the restroom twice, claiming to feel unwell. She couldn't bring herself to eat any of it.
Qin Tianyi wondered if he had been too much last night. Wanting to ease the tension between them, he uncharacteristically peeled some crab meat and placed it in her bowl, saying, "You didn't eat much tonight. Is it not to your taste? This crab meat is very fresh, try some. It tastes especially good."
Gu Susu merely glanced at the crab meat in her bowl. No matter how delicious the seafood was, the fishy smell remained. Especially now, she was particularly repulsed by the smell of seafood and felt like vomiting again. She suppressed the urge and said, "No matter how good it is, I don't like it. Take it away, don't put it in my bowl. I'm afraid of the smell."
Qin Tianyi picked up the crab meat in her bowl, dipped it in wasabi, and placed it back in her bowl, saying, "Eating it like this, there won't be any fishy smell."
The sight of the wasabi made Gu Susu even more inclined to rush to the restroom to vomit. She stood up and said, "I don't like it. I'm sorry, I need to go to the restroom."
Qin Tianyi quickly grabbed her wrist, his expression growing colder. "You really don't want to see me, do you? To avoid me, how many times have you gone to the restroom during this meal?"
Gu Susu turned her back to him and replied, "My stomach isn't feeling well." She quickly covered her mouth with her other hand, suppressing the urge to vomit.
Qin Tianyi pulled her forcefully. Gu Susu lost her balance and fell onto his lap. He then pulled her into his arms. "Didn't you say you were going to see a Chinese doctor for qi and blood deficiency? How did your stomach problems resurface?"
Gu Susu couldn't answer him, suppressing the urge to vomit, fearing that if she spoke, she would vomit everywhere in front of everyone.
Qin Tianyi lifted her chin, smeared some wasabi on his lips, and kissed her.
Gu Susu instantly couldn't breathe. Qin Tianyi easily pried open her mouth and forced the spicy wasabi into it.
Gu Susu pushed him away with all her might, covering her mouth with her hands and retching violently.
Qin Tianyi looked at her, his face growing colder, a flash of anger in his eyes. "You're so unwilling to let me touch you, to the point of nausea..."
"Mommy, Daddy, what are you doing?" Little Xingxing had run over from the play area at some point, staring at them curiously.
Qin Tianyi suppressed his anger and gently patted Gu Susu's back. "Mommy isn't feeling well."
Gu Susu, with her stomach churning, nodded at Little Xingxing. Seizing the opportunity when Qin Tianyi wasn't holding her, she quickly got up and went to the restroom.
Little Xingxing looked at Qin Tianyi with confusion and asked, "Daddy, why did Mommy go to the restroom again? Did she eat something bad like me last time?"
"Yes," Qin Tianyi replied gently. "Do you want to keep playing?"
Little Xingxing snuggled into him and said, "I don't want to play anymore. I'm a little tired and want to go home."
"Okay, then we'll go home after Mommy comes out of the restroom." Qin Tianyi picked him up, sat him on his lap, and pointed to the desserts on the table, asking if he wanted to eat more.
On the way back, Little Xingxing fell asleep in the car. Qin Tianyi drove to the entrance of the apartment and stopped, saying coldly, "Get out of the car with the child."
Gu Susu had been vomiting in the restroom for quite some time, emptying the sour liquid from her stomach. She continuously rinsed her mouth with cold water, but the taste of wasabi lingered.
She said nothing, pushed open the car door, and got out with the child. As soon as they were out, Qin Tianyi slammed on the accelerator and sped away.
At this moment, an indescribable sense of grievance welled up inside her. She let the tears flow freely, and with some effort, hugged the child tightly as she entered the elevator.
Upon returning to the apartment, Xiao Mei opened the door for them. Seeing her and her son, she couldn't help but glance outside again, wondering why she didn't see the young master.
"Miss Gu, didn't the young master come back?"
Gu Susu lowered her head and quickly carried Little Xingxing into the children's room, saying, "He had something to do and left."
Xiao Mei quickly closed the door and walked ahead of her into the children's room. She pulled back the covers on the bed, adjusted the pillows, and then had Gu Susu place the young master on the bed.
After tucking Little Xingxing in, she sat by the bed and said to Gu Susu, "Miss Gu, the medicine is brewed and in the kitchen. I'll take care of the young master. You go drink your medicine and rest."
Gu Susu said "Okay" and left the children's room. As she entered the kitchen, the strong smell of traditional Chinese medicine made her stomach feel uncomfortable again.
She closed the kitchen door, poured out all the brewed medicine, washed a cup of rice, and just wanted to cook some porridge for herself.
Leaning against the kitchen wall, she closed her eyes. The thought of Qin Tianyi humiliating her in public at the restaurant just moments ago made her heart ache and filled her with a sense of grievance. Unbidden tears began to fall again.
Just then, her phone rang with a series of short message alerts. She quickly wiped away her tears, took out her phone, and saw it was a WeChat message from Guo Mei, who had also sent two pictures.
She zoomed in on the pictures and saw that they were lists of shipping orders from the Yimei factory.
Guo Mei quickly sent another message, "These are the latest shipping orders verified by the warehouse. See if they are useful."
"Thank you. I will have the company carefully check every shipping order. They will definitely be useful."
"I'm happy to help you," Guo Mei's message was followed by a smiley face.
Gu Susu forced herself to forget the detestable Qin Tianyi and forwarded the pictures from Guo Mei to Chang Qingchuan, asking him to quickly have someone track the destination of each of these shipping orders.
Where that batch of substandard goods had been sent should be traceable through these shipping orders. She could find it in these shipping orders.
Chang Qingchuan quickly replied with a "Good" and then asked how she obtained these shipping orders. She didn't answer him, only sent an animated picture of her covering her mouth.
The next day, when she arrived at the company, Chang Qingchuan no longer avoided suspicion. He directly called Gu Susu into a glass-partitioned conference room, along with the cashier who had been working overnight to check these shipping orders.
The cashier at the company had already checked the addresses on each shipping order and was relaying them one by one to Chang Qingchuan and Gu Susu.
Gu Susu listened intently. The destinations of the first few orders seemed fine. She was worried that this batch of low-quality goods might not be among these shipping orders. Suddenly, when the cashier mentioned the name "Dechuan City," she immediately exclaimed, "Wait, where did you say this shipping order was sent?"
"To a small place called Dechuan."
Gu Susu asked again, "What specific location in Dechuan City?"
The cashier looked at the shipping order again and said, "Tongda Plaza, Dechuan."
Gu Susu wrote down Tongda Plaza in her notebook and looked at Chang Qingchuan, asking, "Does Yimei have an agent in Dechuan? Do they also operate in markets in small towns like this?"
"I'll have to have someone inquire about that. Why, is there something wrong with this shipping order? Did they send your series of low-quality products to this place?" Chang Qingchuan didn't see anything amiss and didn't understand why Gu Susu was specifically asking about this order.