Chapter 26

“Gu Zhiqing, why are you, a grown man, always targeting Xu Zhiqing, a young woman?”

Hearing Wen Ze’s question, Gu Xizhi frowned, took a sip of his porridge, and said indifferently, “I’m not just targeting her. I’m targeting you too.”

Wen Ze’s face darkened. He angrily placed two large chopsticks of food into Gu Xizhi’s lunchbox before grabbing his own and storming off.

Gu Xizhi sneered, “Childish.”

Everyone else: “……”

Who’s the childish one here, really?

Ignoring the gazes of others, Gu Xizhi went back to his room, took out a jar of meat sauce, and handed it to Lan Xiruo.

“Xiruo, don’t eat the food here. Just have this. That woman isn’t just a bad person—her cooking is as terrible as her character.”

Lan Xiruo pushed the jar back. “No need. I’ll just have some kelp strips.”

Gu Xizhi directly opened the jar and placed it in front of her. “Don’t you love my grandma’s cooking the most?”

“This was made by Grandma Gu?”

Though she had never met Grandma Gu, she had eaten her food several times before. Just thinking about that taste made her suddenly feel like the kelp in her mouth was unpalatable.

“Eat up. If you finish it, I’ll have Grandma send more.”

Lan Xiruo didn’t refuse this time. She picked up some of the meat sauce with her chopsticks, put it in her mouth, and savored it with her eyes closed.

“Mm-mm, it really is that familiar taste.”

When she opened her eyes, she found everyone at the table staring at her.

She was puzzled. “Why are you all looking at me like that?”

“Lan Zhiqing, so you and Gu Zhiqing know each other?”

“Yeah! Why didn’t you tell us earlier?”

Lan Xiruo sighed helplessly. “I would’ve told you if I had known. But I only saw him for the first time today—how could I have told you earlier?”

“No way! Gu Zhiqing has been here for over half a month, and you’re saying you only saw him today?”

The other educated youths clearly didn’t believe her.

Lan Xiruo glared at Gu Xizhi.

It was all his fault for not recognizing her sooner.

Sun Yuqing rolled her eyes at them. “What’s so hard to believe? Did you all forget that Xiruo and I have been at sea for the past half a month?”

“Heh, we kinda forgot…” One of the male educated youths laughed sheepishly.

“You…”

Lan Xiruo was about to say something, but before she could get a word out, she clutched her stomach and ran off.

Gu Xizhi’s expression changed instantly, and he chased after her. “Xiruo, what’s wrong?”

“Don’t come near me! My stomach hurts.”

Lan Xiruo hurriedly shouted before slamming the door shut in his face.

Damn it!

She had been careless!

—-

After a bout of “splashing sounds,” the pain in her stomach finally eased.

She quickly washed her hands, took out some Smecta from her space, and swallowed two packs.

Soon, the diarrhea stopped.

She had to admit—this medicine was incredibly effective. If she hadn’t lived with Gu Xizhi back then, she wouldn’t have been able to get her hands on it.

When Lan Xiruo opened the door and stepped out, Gu Xizhi was still standing there. He scrutinized her up and down before asking, “Did you have diarrhea? How did that happen?”

Lan Xiruo leaned closer, gritted her teeth, and said, “I’m sure Xu Mei did something—I just don’t know how she did it.”

Hearing that it was Xu Mei’s doing, a cold gleam flashed through Gu Xizhi’s eyes before quickly disappearing.

He couldn’t let Xiruo see his violent side too soon.

Gu Xizhi took her hand and led her toward the kitchen. “Let’s check your food and see if we can find anything.”

When they entered the kitchen, most of the others had already finished eating. Seeing them come in, they asked about Lan Xiruo’s condition with concern.

Lan Xiruo pursed her lips and said nothing. Instead, she picked up her bowl and examined it carefully.

Seeing this, the others looked at Gu Xizhi in curiosity. “Gu Zhiqing, what’s wrong with Lan Zhiqing?”

“She got diarrhea because someone messed with her food.”

Gu Xizhi spoke casually, but his sharp gaze swept over everyone in the room.

To him, anyone here—besides Xu Mei—was a suspect.

After all, Xiruo had shone too brightly today. Some small-minded persons might have wanted to see her embarrassed.

Lan Xiruo stared at her bowl for a while but found nothing unusual. Her gaze swept across the kitchen before she suddenly walked toward the water jar.

Gu Xizhi immediately followed. “Did you find something?”

“Not yet. But I thought of a way to test whether there’s something wrong with my food.”

Lan Xiruo reached into the water jar, grabbed a fish, and placed it in a washbasin. Then, she poured some of her porridge into the basin.

The fish, clearly hungry, immediately opened its mouth and swallowed the rice grains.

However, within moments, its belly flipped upward, and it stopped moving altogether.

Just as she suspected!

Lan Xiruo and Gu Xizhi’s faces darkened.

Everyone else was stunned.

“This… What happened? The fish just took one bite of the porridge and died?”

“Does that mean someone poisoned Lan Zhiqing’s food?”

“Who could be so vicious?”

“That’s just too cruel! Lan Zhiqing is such a good person—who would do something like this?”

The other educated youths instinctively clutched their stomachs.

Thankfully, their food wasn’t poisoned. Otherwise, they’d be in serious trouble.

For safety’s sake, they decided it was best to cook and eat separately in the future.

Gu Xizhi clenched his fists, then relaxed them before politely asking Sun Yuqing, “Sun Zhiqing, could you go to the brigade headquarters and bring Captain Jiang here?”

Sun Yuqing nodded and ran out immediately.

Gu Xizhi then turned to Chen Zhiqing and a few other male educated youths. “Can you take care of Xiruo for me? I’m going to find Xu Zhiqing and Wen Zhiqing.”

After they nodded, Gu Xizhi strode out of the kitchen.

Lan Xiruo stared at the dead fish in silence for a long time.

Memories of her past life flooded her mind.

Wen Ze and Xu Mei had deceived her time and time again, draining her of all her wealth.

But it didn’t stop there.

To steal her bracelet, they had chopped off her hand and locked her in a dark, sunless cellar for over a year.

During that time, she suffered endless torment and humiliation. She endured it all through sheer hatred.

In the end, Gu Xizhi had rescued her, and she had personally taken her revenge.

But even after getting her revenge, she still hated them.

She wished she could tear them apart with her bare hands!

She had originally planned to set a trap for them tonight, but Xu Mei had struck first.

Since that was the case, Xu Mei couldn’t blame her for what would come next.

Standing silently by the washbasin, Lan Xiruo thought of countless ways to deal with Xu Mei.

Meanwhile, Gu Xizhi had already tracked down Wen Ze and Xu Mei behind a reef near the beach.

He didn’t approach them immediately. Instead, he scanned the surroundings.

Not far away, two fishing boats were docked, and children were playing on the sand.

He crouched down, picked up two small stones, then walked toward Wen Ze and Xu Mei.

When he was close enough, he gripped the stones tightly in both hands—then flung them straight at the backs of their necks.