Chapter 7: Silence after the boundary collapses

"Fu Chengyu! Tell me! What is this?!"

Gu Qing's sharp, tearing and angry questioning, like a knife quenched ice, plunged into the stagnant air of the study. She raised the deformed document in her hand, which was stamped with dazzling acquisition terms. Her body trembled slightly with extreme anger. On her pale face, her eyes were burning with anger. She stared at the man at the door who was leaning against the door frame and his face had not faded.

Fu Chengyu's eyes followed her raised hand and fell on those familiar words. His pupils behind the lens shrank almost imperceptably, and a brief shock flashed across his pale face and... The emotion was as fast as an illusion, and was then replaced by a deeper calmness mixed with fatigue and a kind of complex scrutiny. He did not answer immediately, but just looked at Gu Qing in silence, looking at the faint anger in her eyes and the despair of being betrayed.

In Gu Qing's opinion, this silence is tantato acquiescence! It's condescending and disdainful arrogance!

"I can't speak? Mr. Fu?" Gu Qing's voice became sharper because of excitement, with a strong irony, "Acquire Ruifeng? Turn me completely into a pawn on your Fu's group chessboard? In this way, I will always be under your control, and I can no longer disobey your orders or escape from this damn agreement, right?!"

She approached him step by step, and her high heels stepped on the smooth floor, making a cold and urgent sound. Every step seemed to step on her broken trust. What a good calculation! Good trick! No wonder you can easily turn my case away! No wonder Zhang Duo can go unimpeded! No wonder you dare to let me 'rest at home' in that almsgiving tone! It turns out that you have already paved the road and are waiting for me to walk into your carefully designed cage!"

She stopped a step away from him, raised the document in her hand, and almost poked his pale face. The paper rattled because of her trembling: "What an early end of the trip! What kind of specially prepared materials! What 'wait for me to come back and talk'! It's all the smoke bombs you used to paralyze me! Fu Chengyu, you looked at me like a fool, worried about your illness, guilty for your vulnerability, and even... even..." She choked up, and her words were stuck in her throat, with a kind of extreme shame and anger of being fooled, and her eyes turned red uncontrollably. "When you look at me soft for you, do you feel special Don't be funny? Is there a special sense of accomplishment?!"

Fu Chengyu's body shook almost imperceptibly. It seemed that the sharp accusations and unfulfilled shame in Gu Qing's words hit his weak body like an invisible heavy hammer. He subconsciously raised his hand to hold the door frame, supporting himself, and his knuckles turned white because of the force. The eyes behind the lens surged violently. For the first time, the deep and bottomless cold pool clearly reflected the anger of being injured and misunderstood, and a kind of... almost helpless pain?

"Gu Qing," he finally said in a hoarse voice, with a weakness after a high fever and a forcibly suppressed and on the verge of outburst, "things are not what you think."

"Isn't it what I thought?!" Gu Qing seemed to hear a big joke, and smiled briefly and sharply. The laughter was full of sadness, indignation and despair. "What is that?! Is this letter of intent for acquisition fake?! Is the official seal of Hengrui Capital and Fu's Group painted on it?! Fu Chengyu, the evidence is here! Tell me, besides controlling me completely, what other reason do you have to acquire the law firm where I work?!"

She knocked the document at his feet! The paper was scattered, like the remains of the death of trust.

"Answer me!" Gu Qing's voice was so high that he almost roared, and his body trembled violently with excitement and anger. All the grievances, the anger of being deceived, and the despair of being trampled on by professional ideals completely broke out at this moment, "In your heart, what the hell is Gu Qing? An item that can be disposed of at will? An accessory that must be completely obeyed?! For you, is that agreement always just a piece of waste paper used to bind me?! What on earth do you think of me?!"

The last question, with a desperate and hysterical despair, hit Fu Chengyu fiercely!

The air seemed to be completely drained, and it was suffocating. The scattered documents lie quietly on the expensive carpet, like a huge, unbrimmable crack.

Fu Chengyu leaned against the door frame, his face was pale and almost transparent, and a fine cold sweat oozed from the corners of his forehead. Gu Qing's sharp and bloody accusations, like countless red-burning steel needles, pierced his heart, which was fragile because of high fever. He looked at the woman in front of him who was completely ignited by anger and despair, at the burning flames in her eyes and the bottomless disappointment, at her trembling body and red eyes... There was a sharp colic from the position of the heart that almost made him unable to breathe!

The letter of intent to acquire... the draft he put on the table, which has not been finalized, and even one of many strategic evaluation plans... At this moment, it has become the sharpest knife that stabs her and himself!

He opened his mouth and wanted to explain the investment layout of Hengrui Capital. He wanted to explain that this was just a preliminary strategic intention. He wanted to explain that he had never wanted to turn her into a pawn. He wanted to explain... He came back early and wanted to talk about this at all!

But all the words, in her "What on earth do you think of me?!" In front of the desperate questioning, they all looked so pale and powerless.

He looked at the thick disappointment and coldness in her eyes. His eyes were like a poisoned ice cone, completely freezing his attempt to defend himself. A huge, mixed with the pain of being misunderstood, the frustration that could not be refuted, and a deeper and desperate emotion, like a cold tide, drowned him in an instant.

The surging undercurrent in the depths of his eyes suddenly solidified after a violent struggle. All the explanations and all the emotions have been replaced by an almost self-destructive, jade-burning calm.

Fu Chengyu stood up straight slowly and extremely slowly. Although he was still weak, he straightened his back, as if he had to use his last bit of strength to maintain his shaky dignity. He raised his hand and stiffly held the gold glasses on the bridge of his nose. The eyes behind the lenses became unfathomable again, leaving only a throbbing, stagnant calm.

He no longer looked at the documents scattered on the ground, nor did he look at Gu Qing's face full of anger and despair. His eyes passed over her and turned to the silhouette of the city outside the window of the study, which was dyed in pale gold by the morning light and gradually woke up. The voice is low and hoarse, but with a kind of penetrating soul, cold fatigue and a kind of... dusty dead silence:

"Gu Qing."

He called her by her name, no title, no emotion.

"In your mind, I, Fu Chengyu, am just such a... despicable businessman who is good at calculation, ruthless, and regards you as a toy and a pawn?"

His voice was very soft, but it hit Gu Qing's heart like a heavy hammer.

He paused, as if he was accumulating energy and making a final decision. Then, he turned around and finally fell on Gu Qing's face again. The eyes were no longer angry or questioning, but an almost cruel calm that penetrated all the disguises and went straight to the core.

"Oh Okay."

He gently spit out a word with a chilling determination.

"Since you believe that I am such a person, you believe that all my actions have such a purpose..."

His eyes, like the most accurate scalpel, scratched Gu Qing's pale face inch by inch, her trembling body, and her eyes full of anger and despair.

"Well, as you wish."

Fu Chengyu's voice became low, with a kind of exhausting hoarseness, but the words were clear, like the final judgment:

"The third article of the agreement is 'no interference in each other's private life'. From today on, I will strictly abide by it.

"Your job, your law firm, your stay..."

He paused slightly, and his eyes behind the lens flashed a faint pain that was hard to catch, as fast as an illusion.

"It has nothing to do with me."

"You Gu Qing," he looked at her and clearly declared word by word, "I'm free."

"It's free."

The last three words, like three heavy pieces of ice, with a bone-chilling chill, hit Gu Qing's heart, instantly freezing all her anger and hiss.

The study fell into a dead silence. The noise of the city outside the window seemed to be isolated by an invisible barrier, leaving only the heavy and repressed breathing of the two people. Fu Chengyu's words "as you wish" and "free", with a dusty fatigue and dead silence, like a basin of ice water, instantly extinguished the burning flame of anger in Gu Qing's heart, leaving only cold ashes and a huge, suffocating confusion.

Did he admit it? He doesn't defend anymore? In this way... he easily let go of the so-called "control"?

Gu Qing looked at him in a daze. Looking at his pale face without a trace of blood, looking at the bottomless eyes behind the lens, only cold and dead eyes, looking at his body that trembled slightly because of the strong support... An indescribable panic and a great sense of loss, like a cold vine, instantly wrapped around her heart, and tightened more and more.

This... is not the answer she wants.

What she wanted was his explanation, his denial, and his proof that the document was not a conspiracy against her! Even if he is furious and he refutes, it is better than this kind of... complete and cold giving up!

"Fu Chengyu..." Gu Qing opened her mouth, her voice was dry and hoarse, with a trace of tremor and... panic that even she herself had not noticed. What does she want to say? Ask him why he no longer defends himself? Or... regret your out-of-control accusation just now?

However, Fu Chengyu did not give her any more chance to open her mouth.

At the moment when her voice sounded, he seemed to have exhausted the last bit of support, and his tall body shook almost imperceptiblely. He suddenly raised his hand to hold the door frame. His knuckles were white because of the force, and the skin around the adhesive tape on the back of his hand was even redder because of the pulling. He deeply, with an indescribable heaviness and fatigue, finally took a look at Gu Qing.

The eyes were indescribably complicated. There was disappointment, coldness, the pain of being misunderstood, the determination, and even... there was a trace of deep despair that Gu Qing did not dare to investigate.

Then, without any hesitation, he turned around with extreme difficulty but unusual determination. The action carries a heartbreaking weakness and stubbornness. He didn't look at her anymore, nor did he look at the scattered documents on the ground. He just held the wall and moved towards the master bedroom step by step, slowly and heavily. The back looks particularly lonely and fragile in the morning light, but with a kind of cold determination that rejects people from thousands of miles.

Every step is like stepping on Gu Qing's heart.

She stood frozen in place, as if she had been given a fixed spell. Looking at his figure disappearing behind the door of the master bedroom, listening to the dull "click" sound of the door being gently carried, it seemed to be a final sentence.

She was left alone in the study, and the documents scattered on the ground with cold acquisition terms.

A huge, dead silence enveloped it.

The fierce storm full of anger and accusations just now seemed to have never happened. The only thing left is a mess of the battlefield and a cold void deep into the bone marrow.

Gu Qing lowered his head slowly and looked at the scattered papers at his feet. The black words on white paper are still cold and dazzling. But at this moment, what these words brought her was no longer anger, but a huge and indescribable sense of absurdity and a kind of panic.

He left.

With the words "as you wish" and "free", the door was completely closed.

She got the freedom and boundaries she "wanted".

But why... the place in the heart seems to have been dug out by life, empty, filled with cold wind?

The morning light poured obliquely into the study through the huge floor-to-ceiling window, illuminating the dust floating in the air, and also illuminating the paleness of Gu Qing's face, which had faded all the blood color.

The boundary has collapsed.

What is left is the boundless silence and... ruins that are more suffocating than any bondage.