Cinderella Innocent and Boss Charming - Chapter 177

Chapter 177 I Will Be Brave for You
Not knowing what to do, Ah Ling opened the door. She even forgot to walk upstairs and inform Gu Nianbin first before going straight to the gate to greet her. A white car drove in and stopped under the tree in the courtyard. Xia Xiaowan got out of the car and nodded at her with a smile. “Are you Ah Ling? Where’s Brother Nianbin?”

“Young Master is upstairs.” At this moment, Ah Ling suddenly realized that she had made a mistake and hurriedly said, “Miss Xia, take a seat first. I’ll go and call Young Master down.”

“No need,” Xia Xiaowan blinked playfully at her, “I’ll go up and scare him!” She turned around and walked upstairs before Ah Ling could speak. Ah Ling’s expression changed. She hesitated to catch up with her, but in just such a short moment, Xia Xiaowan had already gone upstairs.

Gu Nianbin and Du Xiaoxian were both in the bedroom. Gu Nianbin was playing with his cellphone on the sofa while Du Xiaoxian was packing clothes.

Xia Xiaowan gently arrived at the door and suddenly uttered a shout which surely scared Gu Nianbin a lot. He asked, “Why are you here?”

“Auntie told me that you were ill. So I’m here to see you.” Xia Xiaowan walked over and reached out to touch Gu Nianbin’s forehead. “Has your fever gone down?”

Feeling rather embarrassed, Gu Nianbin turned his head away and dodged her, “It’s all right, I have recovered from it.”

But Xia Xiaowan insisted. “Don’t move!” She grabbed his shoulder and said angrily before touching his forehead eventually.

Gu Nianbin didn’t shake her off for a moment, but he knew in his heart that what he was worried about was going to happen at last.

Du Xiaoxian stood by the bed, dumbfounded. She recognized Xia Xiaowan. Although a few years had passed, her appearance was as exactly the same as that in the photo. Those years had not left any traces on her face. She was as beautiful as before.

She was Xia Xiaowan, not Xia Manyin. She was the girl whom Gu Nianbin had loved for more than ten years, so she could do such an intimate gesture naturally and could act freely in front of him while feeling at ease.

It seemed only then did Xia Xiaowan see her and walk over with a smile. “You must be Miss Du. Hello, I’m Xia Xiaowan.” She reached out to Du Xiaoxian.

Du Xiaoxian was still in a daze when Xia Xiaowan arrived in front of her. Having no time to think too much, she reached out her hand in panic. But what she gave was her left hand. Xia Xiaowan smiled and held out her left hand as well to shake hands with her. “Miss Du is indeed interesting. No wonder Brother Nianbin likes you!”

Feeling at a loss, Du Xiaoxian unexpectedly shook her head to deny what Xia Xiaowan said. “No, Miss Xia, we’re not in the relationship that you think. I…” She wanted to explain more, but then stopped after catching a glimpse of the cold gaze from Gu Nianbin.

Xia Xiaowan turned around. She looked at Gu Nianbin and said with a faint smile, “Brother Nianbin, what are you doing? You scared the little girl.”

When Gu Nianbin saw Du Xiaoxian in panic, he was angry. Their relationship was aboveboard, but what she did seemed to just turn it into a shame.

“Xiaowan, let’s go downstairs and talk.” Gu Nianbin said with a gloomy face.

“Alright,” said Xia Xiaowan calmly. She even turned to comfort Du Xiaoxian, “Don’t be afraid. He’s just a paper tiger. He’ll be fine in a while.”

Ah Ling was anxiously pacing around downstairs and occasionally raised her head to look upstairs. She was afraid that it would come into a quarrel up there. But in the end, nothing happened. Not long after Xia Xiaowan went up, she came downstairs with Gu Nianbin. Ah Ling heaved a sigh of relief before going into the kitchen to prepare two cups of tea and deliver them to the hall.

Now that the war had officially begun, Gu Nianbin laid it on the line, “Xiaowan, I’m sorry. I should have told you this on the New Year’s Eve. I can’t fulfill our five-year agreement.”

Xia Xiaowan nodded and sighed in a melancholy way, “It looks like we are not fated to be together! I met the wrong person in the right time. When I finally decided to get back to the right person after all the trouble, the right time had passed away. I’m destined not to be happy in this life.”

“How could it be? You’re so excellent, and you will definitely encounter someone better than me.” Gu Nianbin comforted her. After all, she was his childhood sweetheart with whom he grew up together. What was more, she had been in his heart for more than ten years. Although her place now had been replaced by another girl, he could not bear to see that she wasn’t happy.

“Don’t comfort me,” Xia Xiaowan took a sip of the hot tea, “there’s no one in this world who will treat me better than you.” She seemed to be somewhat unwilling to give up. She lowered her eyes and gently blew on the tea in the cup. “I always thought that no matter how far I went, you would wait for me. I have always had such confidence, honestly. Now it seems that I was wrong. Back then, when I went abroad willfully, I didn’t want to care about anyone. But it was really so lonely staying alone in a foreign country. In the dead of night, I always wondered if I had done something wrong. Why did I have to live like that? I thought about it every day. I missed everything in the home country, and the person I missed the most was you, Brother Nianbin.”

“Ever since I was a child, I had never felt fearful no matter what trouble I encountered or how serious the mistake was that I made. For you were always standing behind me, unconditionally backing me up. I trusted you and relied on you. Unfortunately, I didn’t understand at that time that the best thing in my life was just by my side. Only after leaving you so far away and looking back through time and space did I realize how seriously I had made the mistake. I threw away the most precious thing. At first, I was shameful to come back, but it was getting closer and closer to the end of our five-year agreement. I was really afraid that I would lose you and miss the happiness of my life. So I got up the courage and finally came back, but I was still one step late.”

Xia Xiaowan lowered her voice, revealing a deep sense of loneliness. After a moment of silence, she suddenly raised her head and a sparkling light flashed in her eyes. “Brother Nianbin, if I came back a few months earlier, would you accept me then?”

Gu Nianbin knew that Xia Xiaowan did not love him. But now that Xia Xiaowan had spoken her true feelings and confessed her love to him, his heart was not unshaken. Although their relationship was over, some of its traces still lingered around. After a while of silence, he finally nodded. If Xia Xiaowan came back before he fell in love with Du Xiaoxian, they would probably be together, right?

Xia Xiaowan wiped her eyes and smiled. “Then I regret it even more. I really should have come back earlier.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Of course you’re sorry,” said Xia Xiaowan, “you set the five-year agreement, but you didn’t keep it, so you owe me for that.”

Gu Nianbin looked straight at her and said, “If you want, I can make compensation to you.”

“Compensation?” Xia Xiaowan smiled. “This is not something you can compensate with money. Just let it be for now. When I think it through, I’ll ask you to pay something back!”

“Xiaowan, no matter what happens in the future, you can still come to me for help, at any time. This will never change.”

“Thank you, Brother Nianbin,” Xia Xiaowan put down her cup and stood up. “I’m glad that you say so. I’m relieved to see you’re fine. I have to go now.”

Gu Nianbin also stood up and said, “I’ll see you off.”

They walked out side by side and went down the steps. Xia Xiaowan turned to look up at the second floor and smiled. “Let’s part from here. You should hurry up and go upstairs. The little girl must lose her temper after being left alone for so long.”

“She won’t,” Although Gu Nianbin said this, he couldn’t help but turn to look over as well. The window was tightly shut, with the curtains half open. He could see no sign of Du Xiaoxian.

Xia Xiaowan chuckled while pulling open the car door and sitting in. Without looking at Gu Nianbin, she only reached her hand out of the window and waved it before driving towards the door.

Gu Nianbin watched as her car left the iron gate before turning around and entering the room. His clothes were packed neatly on the bed. Du Xiaoxian sat on the sofa with her head lowered while unconsciously crossing her fingers. He couldn’t figure out what she was thinking.

Gu Nianbin originally wanted to reprimand her. Seeing her like this, however, he swallowed his words. He leaned against the door and looked at her quietly for two seconds. The little girl did not notice. He couldn’t help but curl his lips slightly while going over to hold her onto his lap. He asked softly, “Were you startled?”

Du Xiaoxian looked at him in a trance and blinked before saying, “She’s so beautiful.”

Gu Nianbin nodded and said, “Yes, she’s as beautiful as you.”

Hearing this, Du Xiaoxian felt a piercing pain in her heart. Xia Xiaowan was as beautiful as her! It turned out that in Gu Nianbin’s mind, she was not the most beautiful one. He had loved Xia Xiaowan for so many years, so in his heart, Xia Xiaowan was definitely the most beautiful girl. Even now, it was the same.

Seeing that she lowered her head and didn’t say anything, Gu Nianbin deliberately teased her, “What’s wrong? Aren’t you usually not being jealous?”

She didn’t like to be jealous because there was no one that could threaten her. Gu Nianbin was not interested in other girls other than her and never got close to them. He even treated Xia Manyin politely and kept away from her for most of the time, so these people wouldn’t cause Du Xiaoxian any trouble.

However, Xia Xiaowan was different. She dared to act so intimately with him in front of her, and Gu Nianbin did not dislike it. That made Du Xiaoxian truly uncomfortable.

Gu Nianbin raised her chin and said, “Since that’s the case, why did you just eagerly want to disassociate from me?”

“I!” Du Xiaoxian choked on the question and was speechless. Having been together with Gu Nianbin for so long, she still couldn’t put herself in a proper position. She always subconsciously felt that she couldn’t be seen by other people, and that Xia Xiaowan was the person who should stand by the side of Gu Nianbin.

Gu Nianbin kissed her, “Fool, if you meet her again in the future, greet her liberally. It’s not like that she will bite you. I’ve made everything clear to her, so stop thinking nonsense.”

Du Xiaoxian was embarrassed. She pinched and played with his collar and whispered, “I’m not thinking nonsense. I just feel that I owe Miss Xia something. After all, you didn’t keep your promise.”

Gu Nianbin probably didn’t expect her to say so, and he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry for a moment. He poked her on the forehead and said, “I’ve never seen someone like you before. Don’t you feel uncomfortable as you are jealous of her while feeling you owe something to her?”

Du Xiaoxian took this advantage to lean into his embrace and buried her face in his neck. She said softly, “I don’t know why I’m feeling like this, but I’m just a little flustered.”

Gu Nianbin touched her head. “Don’t be afraid, even if,” he paused for a moment, “even if you see my parents, don’t be afraid. I will handle everything. I will be with you. Xian’er, I hope you won’t retreat, no matter what happens in the future. Just consider that you are doing it for me, okay?”

“Okay,” Du Xiaoxian stretched out her arm and hugged him, “I will be brave for you, and we’ve agreed to be together for the rest of our lives. No one can force me to leave you.”

“That’s right, my good Xian’er.” Gu Nianbin lowered his head and kissed her gently on the forehead. “Come on, let’s go downstairs. It’s time for dinner.”