HLnovel Chapter 128 Li Xi, you're really killing me!
Chapter 128 Li Xi, you're really killing me!
This was Li Xi's second visit to Huxin Xiaozhu. Unlike her first visit, when she was filled with trepidation and curiosity, this time Li Xi was exceptionally calm.
Xue Ni, on the other hand, held onto Li Xi's arm the whole way, and followed Chu Xu towards the lakeside pavilion with her.
The asphalt road is lined with oak trees.
The branches of the oak tree intertwine overhead, forming an oak bridge.
In the afterglow of the setting sun, this oak-lined path is rendered romantic.
Xue Ni stared at the scene in a daze, then whispered to Li Xi, "I suddenly thought of a poem."
"what."
Li Xi doesn't have Xue Ni's romantic flair.
But as a close friend, she never embarrassed Xue Ni. Li Xi asked curiously, "Which song?"
"Shu Ting's 'To the Oak Tree'".
Li Xi studied history, but modern poetry was precisely her weakness.
Seeing Li Xi's blank expression, Xue Ni recited with great emotion: "If I love you, I will never be like the climbing trumpet creeper, using your tall branches to show off myself."
If I love you, I will never be like the infatuated bird, repeating monotonous songs in the shade.
...I must be a kapok tree beside you, standing with you as a tree.
root, clinging to the ground;
Leaves, touching in the clouds.
With each passing gust of wind, we greeted each other, but no one understood our language.
You have your bronze branches and iron trunk, like a knife, a sword, and a halberd; I have my red, large blossoms, like a heavy sigh, and like a heroic torch.
We share the cold waves, the thunder, and the lightning; we share the mist, the flowing clouds, and the rainbows.
...
Xue Ni asked Li Xi, "Isn't this poem very well written?"
"It's very good." Li Xi smiled and asked Xue Ni, "What are you trying to imply to me?"
Xue Ni touched her nose, pinched Li Xi's wrist, and said worriedly, "What I've seen and heard along the way has broadened the horizons of this country bumpkin. The Gu family is so wealthy, and Gu Huaizhou is the new head of the Gu family. I'm worried about you."
"I'm afraid Gu Huaizhou is pursuing you now just to repay a debt of gratitude. I'm afraid he doesn't even know whether his feelings for you are gratitude or love, and I'm even more afraid he's just playing around..."
Xue Ni hoped more than anyone else that Li Xi could meet a good man who truly loved her.
But Gu Huaizhou's qualifications were just too good to be true, so good that Xue Ni was starting to worry about Li Xi.
Li Xi felt a warmth in her heart, grasped Xue Ni's fingers in return, and smiled, "Don't be afraid, a brave woman should enjoy the world and handsome men first."
"Besides, I'm younger than him. When we get tired of each other and break up, I'll still be young and beautiful, but what about him? He'll be an old ox."
“A man’s stamina declines significantly after thirty. I had him when he was at his best, so it wasn’t a bad deal.”
Upon hearing this, Chu Xu stumbled and almost fell flat on his face.
Xue Ni finally felt relieved.
well.
Her Xixi isn't love-struck.
Xue Ni was relieved that she thought that way.
The two walked hand in hand to the lakeside pavilion, where the butler, Gu Han, was already waiting downstairs.
"Hello, Ms. Li Xi, welcome to visit with your friends."
Gu Han said with a smile, "Huai Zhou is preparing for the banquet right now. He specifically asked me to take you to the third floor to help him choose an outfit for tonight."
"By the way," Gu Han said politely to Xue Ni, "this must be Miss Xue Ni, right? I heard from Huai Zhou that you are Miss Li Xi's best friend and a very excellent makeup artist."
Xue Ni blushed immediately. "He mentioned me to you?"
"Yes, Huaizhou said that Miss Xue Ni is kind and righteous, and a very likable girl."
"Knowing you like reading fashion magazines, I even specially collected all the classic issues of eight major fashion magazines at home and abroad, saying that I wanted to give them to Miss Xue Ni."
"Really?" Xue Ni was overjoyed. "Are they all original periodicals?"
Back when I was in school, we were poor. Original foreign fashion magazines were expensive and we couldn't find a way to buy them.
Xue Ni had wanted to collect those magazines for a long time and keep them at her rented apartment.
She only mentioned it casually when she was having a housewarming party at Li Xi's house, but she didn't expect that the landlord would remember it!
It seems that the rent collector is quite a meticulous man.
"Of course it's true," Gu Han said with a smile. "The magazines are all collected and they're in the living room."
Gu Hanchao said to Chu Xu, "Chu Xu, why don't you take Miss Xue Ni to the living room to look at magazines? I'll take Miss Li Xi to find Huai Zhou."
"Okay." Chu Xu smiled at Xue Ni, pointed to the villa behind him and said to her, "Miss Xue, the living room is on the second floor. Shall I take you up?"
"Okay, thank you."
Xue Ni grabbed Li Xi's arm and shook it, saying, "Xi Xi, go find someone to collect rent... go find Mr. Gu, I'm going to look at magazines."
Li Xi was both amused and exasperated. "You think you can be bought off with just a few magazines? What a pathetic person you are."
Xue Ni's round face was flushed. She said, "I've been collecting all those magazines for the past few years. It's my wish."
"Xixi, you've found a good boyfriend."
"Let's talk this over. When you two get married, I'll definitely help you carry your bags."
After saying that, Xue Ni followed Chu Xu to the living room on the second floor to look at magazines.
After watching Xue Ni follow Chu Xu upstairs into the living room on the second floor, Gu Han gestured to Li Xi, "Miss Li Xi, please follow me."
"Thank you for your help, Butler Gu."
Gu Han led the way to the second-floor open-air platform. Instead of taking Li Xi into the living room, Gu Han walked directly down a wide corridor and into the elevator.
Pressing the elevator button for the third floor, Gu Han suddenly said, "I am the Gu family's old butler. I was chosen by the old master and have been his personal butler since I was a child. I am 10 years older than the old master, and Huai Zhou calls me Uncle Gu."
“Miss Li Xi, you can call me that too.”
Upon hearing this, Li Xi was somewhat surprised, "The esteemed gentleman you're referring to is...?"
"...It was Huai Zhou's father, Mr. Gu Yanci." Mentioning the tragically deceased eldest master of the Gu family, Gu Han's face showed undisguised grief.
If Gu Yanci had died in some other accident, Gu Han wouldn't be so resentful.
But he was cruelly murdered, his blood drained from his body, and he died a gruesome death.
After death, it was even more gruesome, its flesh torn apart...
Upon learning that the "Master" was Gu Huaizhou's tragically deceased father, Li Xi wisely refrained from further discussion.
The elevator reached the third floor.
Outside the elevator is a covered walkway built above a rooftop viewing pool, where several precious ornamental fish are kept.
At the end of the pool is Gu Huaizhou's bedroom.
There was a fence in front of Gu Huaizhou's bedroom, but it wasn't locked.
Doors are for keeping out honest people, not scoundrels.
However, the employees who have access to this building are not so ignorant of the rules that they would dare to trespass.
Gu Han paused, stood in front of the waist-high fence, and turned to Li Xi, saying, "Huaizhou is inside. Miss Li Xiao, you can go in by yourself."
Gu Han opened the gate for Li Xi, watched her go inside, and then turned and left.
Passing through the fence gate, you enter a charming little courtyard with an astronomical telescope in one corner.
Turn left after passing through the courtyard to find a long corridor facing the manor's lake, offering a panoramic view of the entire lake.
The door at the end of the corridor was open; that was Gu Huaizhou's real bedroom.
Li Xi walked in and saw a small living room.
Turning right leads to a tea room, and further inside is an open-plan study. At the far end of the study is a black, secret door; turning right leads to Gu Huaizhou's bedroom.
The master bedroom is very spacious, and it should also contain a walk-in closet and a bathroom.
Li Xi didn't go into the bedroom. She stopped in front of the secret door and tilted her head to examine it.
"Want to come in?"
Gu Huaizhou appeared behind Li Xi without anyone noticing.
As he spoke, his breath landed on Li Xi's head.
Li Xi subconsciously tilted her head up and met Gu Huaizhou's gaze.
Gu Huaizhou's gaze was deep, concealing an undisguised possessiveness and passion.
How to describe that look in her eyes?
It's like a jackal that has been waiting for its prey to be caged.
"Gu Huaizhou."
Li Xi subconsciously took two steps to the side and bluntly reminded Gu Huaizhou: "Don't look at me like you want to sleep with me."
"You are my ex-boyfriend now."
Gu Huaizhou smiled wryly: "...Was my gaze very obvious?"
"Ah."
Gu Huaizhou fell silent, surprisingly not denying it.
Li Xi pinched her burning earlobe and asked Gu Huaizhou, "Is there a secret passage in here?"
It's common for prominent families to have one or even several secret passages in their homes for easy escape in emergencies, so it's quite normal for the Gu family to have such passages.
"It's kind of an escape route."
Gu Huaizhou directly entered the password to open the first lock in front of Li Xi, then used voice control to open the second lock, and finally turned the hidden mechanism to open the third lock.
It took half a minute just to unlock it.
Li Xi laughed at him: "The escape route is so complicated. By the time you open the door, the enemy will have caught up with you."
Li Xi suspected that this was not an escape route at all.
"Would you dare come in with me and take a look?" Gu Huaizhou waited quietly for Li Xi's answer.
Li Xi extended his left hand directly, "Dare!"
Gu Huaizhou then grabbed Li Xi's hand and went inside.
Li Xi then realized that this was a secret passage leading to the interior of Longyang Mountain.
At the end of the secret passage is an elevator that goes straight up to a teahouse halfway up Longyang Mountain, the same teahouse that Li Xi and Zhou Zui planned to visit last time.
Who would have thought that this teahouse was the safe house Gu Huaizhou had chosen for his escape?
The teahouse is closed right now.
Gu Huaizhou led Li Xi to the top floor of the teahouse and used a fingerprint lock to open the door to a room that looked like a private room.
But it wasn't a tea room or a private room; instead, it was a strangely decorated room.
The room was large but also empty, like a laboratory, but without any experimental tools or equipment.
There were a few stools and a few iron beds.
This scene looks very eerie.
Li Xi asked Gu Huaizhou, "What exactly is this place used for?"
Gu Huaizhou actually said, "This is a crime scene that I recreated one-to-one based on the scene in my memory."
"What?" Li Xi was stunned.
Crime scene?
"You mean, this is..." Li Xi licked her lips, reluctantly saying, "The crime scene where your parents and brother were murdered?"
"Ah."
Gu Huaizhou stroked the dusty operating table and said, "Grandpa and Officer Zhou both advised me not to actively recall the events of 12 years ago, because they were afraid that I would be overwhelmed by those memories."
"But I watched my loved ones being brutally murdered, and I can't even remember what the killer looked like. How could I possibly forget?"
"So I secretly set up a crime scene here, constantly recalling and searching for those vague memories, just so that one day I can remember the face of the murderer."
The thought of how, 12 years ago, in a room like this, that deranged killer brutally murdered Gu Huaizhou's closest relatives sent chills down Li Xi's spine.
She wrapped her down jacket tighter and shivered.
Gu Huaizhou thought Li Xi was scared. He was about to leave with Li Xi when Li Xi grabbed his hand and said, "Do you need me to recreate history for you based on the fragments of your memory?"
Gu Huaizhou's dark eyes widened slightly. "...Aren't you afraid?"
"Afraid."
"But you'll never be able to forgive yourself until the murderer is caught."
With her hands in the pockets of her down jacket, Li Xi shrugged and said casually, "But I hope you can put aside the deep-seated hatred on your shoulders and live well for the sake of your living relatives and friends."
Upon hearing this, Gu Huaizhou remained silent, simply gazing at Li Xi in quiet contemplation.
After a long while, Gu Huaizhou sighed softly, "Li Xi, you're really killing me."