Qi Cong was shocked by Gu Xun’s overly aggressive posture and expression and didn’t answer.

Shen Jia, who was also almost scared to death, stood in front of Qi Cong, frowning at Gu Xun. “What are you doing? It’s dangerous to block an elevator like that, you…”

He looked at Qi Cong, hesitated for two seconds, then looked back at Gu Xun again, and said stiffly, “I don’t care what entanglements you have with Brother Cong, but you can’t bully him like this.”

Gu Xun still stared at Qi Cong, not sparing Shen Jia even a single look. His words had a hint of the gnashing of teeth. “How could I possibly bully him?” He reached out to pull Qi Cong, but was blocked by Shen Jia. So he simply took two steps forward to enter the elevator and crossed over to Qi Cong behind Shen Jia and said, “Let’s talk.”

The elevator closed, shutting out the handsome mixed-race assistant who didn’t have time to respond.

When Qi Cong snapped out of his daze, he looked at Gu Xun who stared at him like a beast staring at his prey. His heart tightened, and a strong sense of strangeness rose up.

This was not the Gu Xun he knew. The Gu Xun he knew was gentle and harmless, and would never show such a look or gaze.

As if someone had poured a basin of cold water on his head, all the soft, entangled emotions in Qi Cong’s heart immediately shrank back into the protective shell. He stared sideways, raised his hand and patted Shen Jia’s shoulder soothingly. “Jia Jia, don’t be nervous, I’m fine.”

Gu Xun looked at the hand that Qi Cong had rested on Shen Jia’s shoulder, then he stared closely at Qi Cong again. “What did you call him?”

The question was fierce and sullen, as if this was going to be the start of a fight. Qi Cong ignored Gu Xun, held back Shen Jia who looked like he wanted to speak and looked at Zhao Zhenxun, who was frowning back and forth between him and Gu Xun in the corner. He asked, “Agent Zhao, can I temporarily leave the team to talk to Mr. Gu?”

Gu Xun’s expression grew worse. “You actually called me Gu-“

The elevator stopped and the door opened as they arrived on the eighth floor.

“I’ll give you fifteen minutes,” Zhao Zhenxun said, interrupting Gu Xun’s words. At the same time he pressed Gu Xun’s shoulder to separate him from Qi Cong. His attitude was polite, but his words held a slight warning. “Mr. Gu, Qi Cong is my employee. In fifteen minutes, I will see him come back safely and if I don’t see him in fifteen minutes, I will call the police.”

Then he looked back at Qi Cong and said, “Make it quick. We’ll wait for you in the parking lot.”

Zhao Zhenxun dragged the reluctant Shen Jia away as the elevator door slowly closed, leaving only Gu Xun and Qi Cong in the narrow space.

Qi Cong, in an attempt to calm himself down, asked, “Where are we going to talk?”

Gu Xun didn’t speak.　　

Qi Cong could feel Gu Xun’s gaze glued to him, carrying a sense of oppression that he didn’t like – a sense of oppression that would have never appeared in his memory of Gu Xun.

The more unfamiliar the feeling was, the more he was reminded of the cruelty of reality.

He was really duped.

Qi Cong suppressed his emotions and wanted to look up at Gu Xun and ask again, but saw that he still stood motionless.

Gu Xun stood beside Qi Cong and pressed the button to the seventh floor. “We will go to my room.” His tone no longer sounded as menacing as before, but it still seemed to be holding something down.

Qi Cong gave up and shifted his eyes to the buttons of the elevator, and said yes.

The elevator began to go down.

Not knowing whether it was on purpose or for the convenience of pressing the elevator floor button, Gu Xun stood very close to Qi Cong. His hand was less than 10 cm away from Qi Cong’s hand, his body slightly sideways, almost squeezing Qi Cong into the corner of the elevator.

The light of the elevator slanted down from the center above, and the shadows cast by Gu Xun’s body just happened to cover the thin Qi Cong inside.

There was a very light cologne that spread through the elevator. It’s like fir, or the smell of thin ice on the branches and leaves of trees after a heavy snow. It was shallow, cool, with a hint of grass and wood, faint, but once noticed, impossible to ignore anymore.

Gu Xun clearly didn’t make any movement, but Qi Cong felt that he was trapped by something invisible.

Another strange difference. The Gu Xun whom he knew, would never choose such a rude position.

Qi Cong didn’t like such a sense of oppression and restraint. He closed his eyes hard and his shoulders were strained instinctively. Like an animal whose territory was occupied by people, every nerve in his body was mobilized to catch all the details of the invaders uncontrollably.

“Afraid of me?”

The voice conveyed by the aggressor suddenly rang in the amplified nerve network making Qi Cong freeze, then he shook his head and replied, “No.”

“Then why won’t you look at me?”

The elevator stopped and the door opened. Fresh air poured in and diluted the smell of cologne in the air.

Qi Cong broke away from the state of being trapped, relaxed his breathing, and finally looked sideways at Gu Xun, not blinking at Gu Xun’s drooping eyes. “I’m not afraid of you. We only have 15 minutes. “

The two men looked at each other.

Gu Xun was the first to move his gaze and signaled Qi Cong to go out first, his tone inexplicably softening a bit. “My room is 714.”

Only then did Qi Cong move his gaze away and step out of the elevator.

Gu Xun followed, and instead of walking side by side with Qi Cong he walked half a step behind him- the position where it was convenient to reach out and pull people back if they tried to escape.

The feeling of being targeted by a beast was back.

Qi Cong endured it and didn’t look back.

He was a little distracted.

In the past, the atmosphere between him and Gu Xun was always relaxed and pleasant, harmonious and warm. Although Gu Xun’s family situation was difficult, he had a good upbringing. He was gentle and shy in speech and behaved with courtesy and restraint.

It was completely different from the man behind him who was also named Gu Xun.

Was this the real Gu Xun?

He stopped at the door marked 714. “To -“

The man who was half a step behind suddenly came forward and swiped the door lock with his room card in a posture of almost embracing him.

Bip.

The door opened.

Gu Xun stepped back and said, “Please come in.”

“…” Qi Cong walked in, then stopped as he walked to the hallaway of the room connected by the entrance door, and turned to look at Gu Xun.

Gu Xun closed the door and leaned against it to watch Qi Cong.

The two men looked at each other again, then spoke at the same time.

“Why did you lie to me?”

“Did you ever cry?”

Qi Cong was stunned, then shook his head and said stiffly, “No.”

There was not enough light at the door so Qi Cong could not see Gu Xun’s expression clearly.

Gu Xun didn’t speak for a long time, but then suddenly stood up straight.

Qi Cong instinctively straightened his back and looked up at Gu Xun.

This is a somewhat defensive posture.

Gu Xun stopped, leaned against the door again, and motioned to Qi Cong to the single sofa in the room. “Sit there.”

Qi Cong realized that he was a little nervous, frowned but said nothing. He turned to the sofa and sat down, looking at Gu Xun, who was still standing near the door.

Only then did Gu Xun move, walking to the foot of the couch that was near the bed and sat down, keeping a full two meters distance from Qi Cong.

With the soft seat and the sunlight coming in from the window and the distance that doesn’t cause a sense of pressure, Qi Cong relaxed a little – this was a distance suitable for normal conversation.

He looked at Gu Xun, who hadn’t moved or spoken since he sat down. He just looked at him with a kind of eyes that he didn’t understand. He tried to ask calmly, “Gu Xun, why did you lie to me?”

Gu Xun didn’t answer. Instead, he got up and took a bottle of juice from the mini fridge in the room and put it on the cupboard near Qi Cong. Then he went back to the foot of the bed and sat down before looking at Qi Cong. “Apart from the time we just wasted, and the time it will take for me to send you back, we have less than ten minutes for a real conversation. In order to maximize the efficiency of this communication, I suggest that we take a question and answer approach. You ask, I answer, I ask you and so on. Is that alright? We must tell the truth and no concealment or deceit is allowed. “

Qi Cong looked at Gu Xun’s totally different but rational and calm appearance, held his hands on his knees together, to also make himself rational and nodded. “Yes.”

“You are younger than me, ask first.”

[You are younger than me. I have to take care of you.]

A slightly coy remark burst out from the depths of his memory, and the protective net of sanity constructed by Qi Cong easily shattered. A question came out, “Are you really the Gu Xun I know?”

Perhaps it was because Gu Xun happened to be sitting in the sunlight, but the moment he finished asking, Qi Cong seemed to see something slightly shining in Gu Xun’s eyes. However, when he looked carefully, he found that Gu Xun was still rational and calm.

Gu Xun got up and took a bottle of juice for himself as well, sat back and said, “I am. It’s my turn to ask you.”

The answer that had been expected, the reality of the absurdity and the drama. Qi Cong calmed down and nodded, “Ask.”

Gu Xun’s voice was a little soft. “You cried, didn’t you?  Right after I said hello to you. “

Qi Cong didn’t expect that Gu Xun would ask this question again. He didn’t want to show weakness in front of such a strange Gu Xun. He shook his head again: “No -“

“Don’t lie.”

“…” Qi Cong shut up and looked down at his hand, and then suddenly looked up at Gu Xun, “Yes, I did cry. Gu Xun, are you going to waste all your time on such meaningless questions? “

Gu Xun wasn’t angry at Qi Cong’s questioning. Instead, he stared at Qi Cong, but his tone slowed down a little bit. “It is meaningful. This question is very important to me. Qi Cong, I’m sorry to make you so sad.”

Qi Cong fiercely pursed his lips and turned his face sideways to stop looking at Gu Xun, his Adam’s Apple sliding up and down.

“Qi -“

“It’s my turn to ask.” Qi Cong turned around and interrupted Gu Xun’s words, his tone aggravated. “Why did you lie to me?”

Facing Qi Cong’s gaze, Gu Xun was quiet for two seconds before he said,”Because…you would hate the real me.”

Qi Cong froze and frowned at Gu Xun.

“It’s my turn. When do you start remembering the past? “

Qi Cong wanted to ask Gu Xun what the answer to the last question meant. He opened his mouth and looked at Gu Xun, looking so elegant and dazzling, even if he just sat randomly. Suddenly he didn’t know how to go on.

How to ask? Everything in the past was an illusion. He doesn’t know the real Gu Xun at all.

A feeling of blankness and emptiness suddenly rose up in his heart. Qi Cong’s voice lowered, when he replied, “A week ago. My next question is, why did you help me with the Water Without a Trace business? “

“Because I wanted to. Qi Cong,” Gu Xun said solemnly, “the next question I ask, I hope you will answer honestly.”

Why do you want to know?

Qi Cong swallowed his doubt and nodded in a solemn manner. “Alright.”

Gu Xun clutched the juice bottle tightly, his eyes darkened and his voice lowered a little. “The one surnamed Jiang…. That’s it….” He paused before continuing to ask “You’re already together right, he…is he treating you well?” He asked, his voice was almost squeezed out from behind his teeth.

Qi Cong was shocked and shook his head hurriedly. “No, I’m not with Jiang Zhaoyan.”

Gu Xun raised his eyes suddenly. “Really?”

“I’m not with Jiang Zhaoyan, he…” Looking at such a Gu Xun, Qi Cong didn’t know what the point was of this conversation, when both of them had reservations about each other. He paused and said, “My last question, Gu Xun, after I lost my memory three years ago, did I…do anything that hurt you?”

Hearing this question Gu Xun was obviously stunned and asked, “What did you say?”

Qi Cong repeated the question again.

Gu Xun’s expression changed little by little.

Why would a person ask other people about what he may have done before? Can’t he remember? Could it be…? Gu Xun sat up abruptly and asked, “Have you forgotten?”

Qi Cong was puzzled by Gu Xun’s suddenly oppressive attitude, so his body instinctively leaned against the sofa. “What?”

“Why are you asking this question? Are you– ” Gu Xun suddenly stopped talking and looked at Qi Cong for a long time. His expression changed again, like when you found something precious but had to try hard not to show it. He shook his head, “No, I refuse to answer your last question.”

Qi Cong didn’t understand. “What do you mean?”

“You ask me three questions. I asked you three questions. We’re even. This communication is over.” Gu Xun suddenly threw away the juice and leaned over Qi Cong’s body. With his arms propped up on the armrest of the sofa, he covered Qi Cong under himself. Then he looked at Qi Cong for two seconds and smiled. “No wonder you would cry…. It turns out you are still so young. “

 

Edited by: Antiope1

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