She Lost Memory Before the Divorce
Chapter 269 - Chapter 269 Chapter 0269 Showdown (1)

Chapter 269: Chapter 0269: Showdown! (1) Chapter 269: Chapter 0269: Showdown! (1) She glared at Huo Tingxiao with annoyance.

“I’m talking to you about something serious.”

Seeing Mu Lan on the verge of getting angry, Huo Tingxiao quickly backed off.

“I had He Yan send her back to the United Kingdom; Yunzhan refuses to see her.”

Mu Lan frowned.

“They should talk things out face to face. What’s with all this avoiding?”

Talk face to face? Huo Tingxiao shook his head.

“Talking face to face will just lead to Yunzhan getting a headache from her crying. Jing Rong is too young and not Yunzhan’s type. Yunzhan is avoiding her for her own good. The cold treatment is the best way for both of them.”

The best way? Mu Lan didn’t think so.

“Jing Rong is young now and can go all out for love. If Yunzhan makes it quick, she’ll surely give up.

Rather than continuously giving her hope and possibilities, making her think she hasn’t done enough and foolishly investing even more.”

Huo Tingxiao looked at Mu Lan, not daring to respond, fearful that she would recall their past issues and that Yunzhan’s troubles might spill over to him, an innocent bystander.

“Why aren’t you speaking? Don’t you agree?”

Mu Lan raised an eyebrow, looking at him.

This was a question Huo Tingxiao dared not answer; he could only agree with Mu Lan in critiquing Yunzhan.

“He’s always been a playboy when it comes to women. Sooner or later, someone will bring him to his knees.”

Such a strong will to survive made Mu Lan laugh out loud.

“What, afraid of being implicated by association?”

Huo Tingxiao didn’t dare laugh, but he also didn’t dare not to; he could only nod honestly.

“Hmm.”

Laughter sparkled in Mu Lan’s eyes. She didn’t take particular pleasure in turning the tables, it was just that she had never imagined that one day she could banter and joke with Huo Tingxiao like a normal couple.

Nor did she know that this usually cold man actually had a good sense of humor–a side of him she had never seen before.

“Looking back, I can understand why you had a hard time keeping things straight. If it wasn’t Shen Zichu, it was Yunzhan. That you didn’t get dragged down with them is a testament to your willpower.”

Huo Tingxiao really had no comeback to that.

Mu Lan lowered her eyelids, staring at her phone screen and sighed inwardly, wondering how Gu Xiaoman was doing.

—–

Iceland, Keflavik Airport, local time 8:35 PM.

Shen Zichu sat through a 15-16 hour flight and, after a layover in Helsinki, finally arrived, travel-worn, in Reykjavik.

As soon as he got off the plane, he eagerly contacted the local guide, a tall and sturdy local young man who spoke rather good Chinese.

“You’re Xiaoman’s husband? Hello, my name is Li Bai, I’m her college classmate and the guide for this trip.”

Shen Zichu’s tone was very urgent, as if he couldn’t wait another second to see Gu Xiaoman herself.

“Hello, Shen Zichu.

How is she doing right now?”

“She’s doing relatively well. The situation was somewhat dangerous that day. Originally, we hadn’t planned to go to the ice lake. We truly didn’t expect such an accident to occur.

I’m very sorry for not having taken good care of Xiaoman.”

Stubble sprouted from Shen Zichu’s chin, and he looked somewhat exhausted.

The coat he was wearing was clearly not warm enough; although the temperature in Iceland in October was above freezing, the wind felt like knives when it hit you.

Just walking to the open-air parking lot had already caused Shen Zichu’s nose to turn somewhat red from the cold wind.

Li Bai drove towards the hospital, briefly explaining the day’s events on the way there. Normally, during this season, the ice lake would just be viewed and photographed from a distance, but that day, Gu Xiaoman, seemingly distracted, had accidentally wandered onto the ice and fell into an ice hole. Fortunately, she cried for help in time and was rescued by companions and taken to the hospital.

Shen Zichu’s heart sank. He thought the argument they had that day was just an ordinary spat; he hadn’t expected… it to affect Gu Xiaoman so profoundly. At this moment, he was filled with regret, self-reproach, and heartache, a mix of emotions that made him feel awful.

Of course, he had never expected that seeing Gu Xiaoman was just the beginning of his real suffering.

In the hospital room, Gu Xiaoman, wrapped in patient attire with a bandage around her forehead, had sustained an injury there during the fall, but fortunately, it was not severe enough to leave a scar.

When Shen Zichu appeared at the hospital, Gu Xiaoman’s mood did not fluctuate much; she even wore a faint smile on her face.

“You’ve come…”

No sooner had she spoken than her petite body was fiercely embraced by Shen Zichu, his strength so great that she cried out in protest.

“Shen Zichu, you’re being too forceful, let go.”

Shen Zichu loosened his grip slightly but did not let go of her.

After holding her for a while, he finally barked with a stern face:

“Have you lost your mind, Gu Xiaoman? Can’t you take care of yourself when you go out? Didn’t you swear up and down that everything would be fine? Do you realize how dangerous it was?

If there hadn’t been someone by your side just now, you…”

He dared not continue with the rest of his words.

Looking at Shen Zichu getting angry at her, Gu Xiaoman’s tone was somewhat apologetic.

“Yeah, this time I was indeed careless.”

This reaction totally caught Shen Zichu off guard; given Gu Xiaoman’s temperament, she was definitely expected to shout back.

But her calmness, the way she spoke as if… as if he were just an ordinary friend visiting the sick.

The thought sent Shen Zichu into a panic.

“Gu Xiaoman, what is this supposed to mean?”

Gu Xiaoman blinked.

“What?”

Shen Zichu furrowed his brows, speaking with an even worse tone.

“Do you think I’m a fool, unable to feel that you’re deliberately giving me the cold shoulder? Why aren’t you talking back?”

Gu Xiaoman laughed, but the mirth did not reach her eyes, clearly forced and contrived.

“Interesting, you are. So it’s not okay for me not to argue.”

Shen Zichu felt like he was about to explode with anger; she was obviously doing this on purpose!

“If you’re upset, just let it out. Don’t be so passive-aggressive; I can’t stand it.”

But the angrier he got, the more composed Gu Xiaoman seemed, just like someone watching a childish little kid throwing a fit for candy.

“Shen Zichu, did you fly all this way just to argue with me?”

Shen Zichu was choked by her words, an uncomfortable feeling in his chest.

Yes, he had flown for more than ten hours, his blood running cold with fright, rushing over in such a weary state, not to argue with her.

But… there was just an indescribable lump of frustration in his chest with nowhere to vent.

“Of course not.”

Gu Xiaoman looked at him steadily.

“Then what are you here for?”

Shen Zichu clenched his teeth.

“What do you think, tell me why I came?”

Gu Xiaoman had a maddening ability to infuriate without indemnity, rendering Shen Zichu completely deflated, unable to utter a single word.

“Afraid that I, as the not-yet-official bride of the Shen family, would die, leaving you struggling to find a suitable candidate to help you become the Director of the Shen Hospital?”

Shen Zichu glowered at her with a darkened face.

But Gu Xiaoman was not the least bit intimidated, her sharp words following one after another.

“Hey, you should have said so earlier, then we could have had a proper discussion about the terms. Let me think, in order to ingratiate yourself with Grandpa Shen, you proposed to me, so naturally, you’d have to be concerned with whether I live or die, right?”