Chapter 171: Chapter 171 Period of Indifference
Ignoring the man in the dining room, Gu Yan switched to a channel showing a romance drama and watched with great interest.
Young Master Tang was still battling with a carrot at the dining table, barely eating anything, cursing Gu Yan in his mind without realizing his own childishness.
The meal took almost an hour to finish.
As Tang Yuxiu left the dining room, Gu Yan bypassed him to enter. The dishes on the plate were all eaten except for the carrot.
Gu Yan raised an eyebrow, feeling quite satisfied in her heart.
Even if he was throwing a tantrum and they were in a cold war, didn’t he still finish all the food she cooked?
Checking the rice cooker, she found there wasn’t much rice left either.
This was extremely comforting for Gu Yan.
After washing the dishes and tidying up the kitchen, Gu Yan, in a rather good mood, arranged a fruit platter and took it to the living room to eat.
Tang Yuxiu glanced at it and, as soon as she set it down, began to eat without any courtesy.
Young Master Tang’s mindset now was: You just made me serve myself and pick out vegetables, which I wasn’t happy about, so now I’ll eat what’s ready-made.
Gu Yan gave him a silent glare, cursing him childish in her heart and utterly despising him.
The TV had already been switched to a boring financial news channel by Tang Yuxiu, and Gu Yan didn’t understand a word. Spotting the remote on the coffee table, she quickly grabbed it and switched to the drama channel.
Young Master Tang was a bit dumbfounded, wondering what was playing now.
On the TV, a woman was crying her heart out over a man, saying things like—do you love me or not, don’t leave me—how silly!
"Give back the remote," Tang Yuxiu said unhappily.
Gu Yan hugged it to her chest, took a bite of an apple, and ignored him.
Tang Yuxiu gritted his teeth, "Give me the remote! Switch it back to the original channel."
Gu Yan still ignored him. She wanted to watch her drama and refused to change the channel.
"Gu Yan, I’m telling you this one last time!"
However, not only did she ignore him, but she hugged the remote even tighter.
Young Master Tang’s temper flared up, and he suddenly stood up, striding to Gu Yan to snatch it.
Gu Yan looked up at him and shrank into the sofa.
As Tang Yuxiu reached out, just barely touching her, she grimaced, "Ah, it hurts!"
Tang Yuxiu hurriedly withdrew his hand, frowning, "Where does it hurt?"
Gu Yan looked at him sadly, "My hand hurts!" She said, displaying her hand, which still showed the bruises.
Tang Yuxiu saw her right hand, which he had accidentally injured badly, and felt something strange inside, standing straight as he contemplated whether to still snatch the remote.
Seeing him in hesitation, Gu Yan quietly moved to the side of the sofa. Then, while he was distracted, she carefully put her feet on the ground and hobbled to another sofa to continue watching her drama.
When Tang Yuxiu came to his senses and looked at the sofa in front of him, Gu Yan was no longer there. His face turned dark as he spun around to glare angrily at her, seeing her watching TV peacefully, and angrily shouted, "Gu Yan, how dare you trick me!"
Gu Yan blinked innocently, "No, I really hurt my hand."
"Bring me the remote! Or else I won’t be polite with you!"
Gu Yan shrank into the sofa, indicating her reluctance through her actions.
Tang Yuxiu strode towards her, reaching out to grab it. Gu Yan used her old trick again, but Young Master Tang wasn’t falling for it this time.
As Gu Yan dodged left and right, Tang Yuxiu couldn’t catch her, so he pressed both hands down, trapping Gu Yan right in the middle of the sofa.
Gu Yan was startled, even though there was no way back, she continued to shrink back.
"What do you want to do?"
"What do you think I want to do?"
Gu Yan looked around, and at that moment, Tang Yuxiu leaned towards her, slowly getting closer.
Gu Yan’s eyes grew wider as she saw his face enlarging before hers, her heartbeat speeding up, feeling a bit lost.
Suddenly, she pushed Tang Yuxiu away with force, feeling a sharp pain in her right hand, but she didn’t have time to care as she quickly jumped off the sofa, stepping on her heel’s wound, which made her wince in pain.
She threw the remote onto the sofa, feigning calmness and disdain towards Tang Yuxiu, "It’s just a remote, do you have to be so petty? Here you go!"
Gu Yan then hobbled quickly upstairs.
Young Master Tang stood there, watching her back disappear up the stairs, still not quite able to react.
She seemed a bit flustered, why?
Returning to her room, Gu Yan hurriedly grabbed her pajamas to take a shower, and after finishing, crawled into bed, covering herself with a blanket on the other side of the bed.
If it had been just a bit more intense, she might not have been able to hold herself back from throwing herself at Tang Yuxiu.
Before, when she didn’t have feelings, if he got close, she would just resist, at most being bewitched by his handsome face. But now, with the person she likes so near, if she didn’t get a little stirred, she’d have to wonder if something was wrong with her.
The heat secretly rising on her face gradually subsided as Gu Yan closed her eyes, Tang Yuxiu’s visage flashing through her mind.
The relationship between Gu Yan and Tang Yuxiu entered a cooling period.
The events from last night didn’t seem to bring any relief between them.
Gu Yan woke up half an hour earlier than Tang Yuxiu, prepared breakfast and left him a portion, then headed out on her own.
When Tang Yuxiu got up, there was no sign of Gu Yan in the bedroom. He only saw a breakfast on the dining table when he went downstairs, but still didn’t see her.
He frowned slightly, ate breakfast alone, checked his phone, but didn’t call her after all.
She must have left alone.
Now she wants to keep such a distance from him, doesn’t even want to have breakfast with him face-to-face in the morning, or go to work together.
As he drove, his eyes involuntarily searched the roadside, and finally he saw her under the bus stop sign.
She was just taking out her phone to check the time, calculating how long until the bus arrived.
He stopped at the corner, watching her intently.
It was not until the bus arrived and she got on, and it drove a bit distance, that he started his engine and followed slowly behind the bus.
He followed until the destination stop, watched her get off and head towards the company, then he drove his car into the parking lot.
The days following were spent like this almost always between Gu Yan and Tang Yuxiu.
Gu Yan woke up half an hour earlier than him, prepared breakfast and left for work alone, never knowing a man was quietly following her from behind.
Tang Yuxiu himself couldn’t understand why he wanted to do such a stupid thing every day.
At the company, one would practice the piano all day, the other would handle business tasks all day long, without any intersection.
When it was time to get off work, Tang Yuxiu no longer called, and Gu Yan seemed to gradually get used to the days without calls from him, just going home as usual.
She would always arrive at the villa earlier than Tang Yuxiu, and when the meal was almost ready, Tang Yuxiu would come home.
They would eat dinner in silence, and after tidying up the kitchen, Gu Yan would go upstairs on her own, without fighting with Tang Yuxiu for the remote to watch an idol drama.
Without Gu Yan moving around in front of him, without her voice echoing in his ears, Tang Yuxiu always felt something was missing.
Every time he returned to the bedroom, Gu Yan was already asleep.
She had unconsciously become much more settled in her sleep, no longer moving around randomly.
Tang Yuxiu, however, reminisced about Gu Yan’s unbearably messy sleeping posture when they first lived together, which gave him an excuse to hold her as they slept.
Clearly, he was her benefactor, her boss, and though she treated him so coldly, he could protest and refuse, yet every time he looked into her eyes, he strangely lost his courage.
Subconsciously, he didn’t want to force her.
Thinking back on these days, why did things become like this, he wondered, why did he lose his temper, speak irrationally, and push her away?
In the past twenty-seven years, he believed few could match his self-control, but in front of Gu Yan, there were always moments of losing control, which repeatedly hurt her.
In the end, this was all his own doing.
In the stillness of the night, Tang Yuxiu lay flat on the bed, his thoughts endlessly churning.
On the other side, Gu Yan curled up, resting her hand on her arm, her eyes closed, sleeping soundly, completely unaware of Tang Yuxiu’s turmoil.
A week seemed to pass by quickly, Gu Yan sat in the music room, her hands resting on the piano keys, lost in thought.
Tomorrow was the day Tang Yuxiu would be promoted to the chief CEO of the Tang Group.
It was a significant day, a good day, but given their current relationship, it seemed difficult to even utter words of blessing.
Even if she said something, Tang Yuxiu might not accept it.
Gu Yan scratched her head irritably, shook her head to stop herself from thinking about these things.
She closed her eyes, placing her hands on the piano keys, thinking it was time to play a nocturne to calm her mind.
In this week, Gu Yan’s right hand was almost completely healed, the bruise had mostly faded, and she could now play the piano with both hands.
After a day of practice, she could play freely, pause, leap, and coordinate quite well.
But she hadn’t given up, practicing over and over again these few days, striving to perform her best during the assessment.
Tomorrow, she had to prepare for the banquet, and at that time, Wang Qi and Lin Fei were also practicing their pieces in the compartment next door.
But as a new employee, inexperienced and with uncertain skills, she wasn’t allowed to participate.
She wasn’t regretful, as long as she was still there, as long as she persisted, one day she would have her moment to shine.
As it neared the end of the workday, Gu Yan received a call that made her heart skip, and when she looked, it displayed Qin Junnan’s name.
Her eyes reflected obvious disappointment, but she collected her emotions and answered the call.
"Hello, Senior."
"Gu Yan, are you off work yet?" Qin Junnan warmly asked.
"Almost. Is there something you need, Senior?"
Qin Junnan hesitated for a moment on the other end, then asked, "Do you have time after work?"
Thinking about the recent days spent with Tang Yuxiu, and the oppressing silence when she returned home, she nodded, "Yes, I do."
Delighted, Qin Junnan proposed, "Then let’s have dinner together this evening, there’s something I need your help with."