Chapter 271 He was Taking Revenge on Both Her and Jiang Kaiwei

“Do you treat me to this dinner to tell me something?” Halfway through the meal, Gu Nianbin was aware that Xia Xiaowan wanted to say something but hesitated.

Xia Xiaowan chuckled. “You finally noticed me! What are you thinking about?”

“Thinking about the company.” Gu Nianbin was honest.

“I heard that you had brought about an upswing?”

Gu Nianbin smiled. “It doesn’t count as an upswing. At most, it counts as reclaiming the lost shares.”

“Anyway, congratulations.” Xia Xiaowan smiled joyfully. “Brother Nianbin, what are you going to do next?”

“Continue the fight.”

“Brother Nianbin, I think you should stop fighting with Jiang Kaiwei.” Xia Xiaowan advised him, “He is a madman. If you continue fighting, I’m afraid something unpredictable will happen.”

“Don’t be afraid. I am not someone who can be trifled with.” Gu Nianbin raised his glass and gently clinked it against hers. “Although the Jiang Group is deep-pocketed, fighting business battles depends on tactics and brains. There are indeed battles where the one inferior in funds won.”

Xia Xiaowan looked at him. “What if he doesn’t want to fight?”

Gu Nianbin took a sip of wine. “Then I will force him to fight.”

When Gu Nianbin said this, his tone was very relaxed. It was as if what he said was not a battle involving an acquisition worth over a hundred million, but an insignificant matter.

Although he was as steady and cold as usual, Xia Xiaowan still caught a flash of madness in his eyes. Her heart could not help but skip a beat. She vaguely felt that it was not good, so she stopped beating around the bush and said directly, “Brother Nianbin, since your crisis has been resolved, my brother’s shares in the Jiang Group are useless to you, and then our engagement can be canceled.”

“Xiaowan,” Gu Nianbin looked at her sharply. “I proposed to you not because of the shares of the Jiang Group in your brother’s hands. I just purely want to marry you.”

“But I don’t want to.”

“Why?” Gu Nianbin asked her closely, “Don’t you want to take revenge on him? I can help you. I can make Jiang Kaiwei lose everything.”

“I want revenge, but I don’t want you to help me.” Xia Xiaowan said seriously, “Brother Nianbin, don’t model yourself on me. The hatred will destroy you. I have already been destroyed by it, so I don’t care. But you are different. You are the president of the Gu Group. You should make the Gu Group prosper and pass it on to future generations. This is what you should do, rather than using it to take revenge for your personal hatred. In that case, you will suffer the consequences!”

Gu Nianbin snorted. “I don’t care!”

“But Brother Nianbin,” Xia Xiaowan still wanted to persuade him.

Gu Nianbin raised his hand to stop her. “Xiaowan, our marriage is a done deal. You can’t change anything about it. Unless you can persuade your parents and my parents to break off the engagement in a short time, nothing will change.”

Xia Xiaowan looked at Gu Nianbin’s cold face and felt a chill in her heart. She was wrong just now. Gu Nianbin was just like her and had already been destroyed. He had changed, became unfamiliar, and became as crazy as Jiang Kaiwei. He was no longer the Gu Nianbin she knew.

It was all her fault. She was the one who ruined him!

Xia Xiaowan picked up a napkin and wiped her lips, “Brother Nianbin, I will persuade my parents and elder brother. I will definitely not marry you.” She stood up as she spoke. “Enjoy your meal. I’m leaving.”

Gu Nianbin looked at her back as she walked away and sneered silently.

Xia Xiaowan felt that she could not wait any longer. During breakfast the next day, while everyone was present, she carefully suggested that she did not want to marry Gu Nianbin.

Madam Xia was so shocked that the chopsticks in her hand fell off. Xia Deren was also stunned. Only Xia Nanze was calm.

“Everything is fine. Why is that?” Madam Xia cried out, “The wedding is almost ready, but you suddenly say you don’t want to get married. Are you kidding me?”

Xia Deren also said with a serious expression, “Xiaowan, don’t make a fool of yourself. You were the one who cried and begged to marry Gu Nianbin. Now that Gu Nianbin had finally agreed to marry you, why are you not willing to do so? The invitation cards have been issued and the church has been booked. How are we going to explain it to the Gu family if you say you don’t want to marry now?”

“But I just don’t want to get married!” Xia Xiaowan felt a little guilty. Her parents’ objection was expected, but she had to stick to what she wanted.

“Is there something wrong with Gu Nianbin?” Xia Deren asked.

Xia Xiaowan shook her head.

“Is it because Gu Nianbin treats you badly?” Madam Xia asked.

Xia Xiaowan shook her head again.

Xia Nanze, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said, “I know the reason.”

The parents looked at him in unison. “Nanze, what is going on? Tell us.”

Xia Nanze got up and fetched his briefcase. He took out an envelope from it and threw it on the table. He stared at Xia Xiaowan. “Open it yourself.”

Xia Xiaowan was puzzled. She poured the contents of the envelope onto the table. There were three photos. Her eyes widened upon seeing them. What the photos showed was her and Jiang Kaiwei together.

It was obvious that the photos were taken secretly. One photo in front view showed that Jiang Kaiwei grabbed her arm while her face was calm, and she let him grab her. Another photo in side view showed that Jiang Kaiwei was talking, and she lowered her head. The third photo was about her in Jiang Kaiwei’s car.

“How do you explain it?” Xia Nanze asked her coldly.

Xia Xiaowan lowered her head and did not speak. She was very familiar with the scenes in the photos. It was the afternoon when the newspaper published the news of her marriage with Gu Nianbin. When she finished her spa treatment and came out of the beauty salon, she was stopped by Jiang Kaiwei.

Jiang Kaiwei still asked her what had happened in the sanatorium. She surely would not answer, but Jiang Kaiwei grabbed her arm and did not allow her to leave. Perhaps it was because she was in the public, or she was disheartened, she did not resist and let him grab her like that. He said a lot of things, but she ignored him and just lowered her head.

The street was crowded with people. Occasionally, someone glanced at them. People got used to it. They thought the two were a couple in conflict.

It was not until Jiang Kaiwei lost his patience and dragged her into the car that she seemed to suddenly wake up and started punching and kicking Jiang Kaiwei. This seemed to have become a drama that she had to play every time she met him.

After taking a few hits, Jiang Kaiwei grabbed her wrist tightly and pressed her body with his legs, making her unable to move. He just kept asking her why she stayed in the sanatorium and what happened back then.

But she kept silent. She would never let him know the truth for the rest of her life.

In fact, in the dead of night, she also asked herself why she did not tell Jiang Kaiwei the truth. Wouldn’t that torture him more? But soon she remembered that Jiang Kaiwei would not believe her just like he did previously. If she told him again, he would not believe it either. It was just humiliating herself.

“Is there anything to say?” Xia Nanze’s slightly angry voice interrupted her trance.

“How did you get these photos?” Xia Xiaowan asked.

“Don’t ask me how I got them,” Xia Nanze asked her with a long face, “You don’t want to marry Gu Nianbin. Is it because of Jiang Kaiwei? How did you promise me when you returned home? Have you forgotten your previous lesson?”

Madam Xia looked at her daughter in disbelief. “Xiaowan, did you hook up with Jiang Kaiwei again? Have you forgotten how he treated you back then?”

“Mom, what do you mean by hook up?” Xia Xiaowan said grumpily, “Your words are too vulgar!”

“If you want to hear something pleasant, keep yourself away from Jiang Kaiwei,” Xia Nanze said angrily, “If I had known that he had come to you, I would have broken his leg that day. Why didn’t you tell me that he came to you? Do you have some kind of ulterior motive?”

“No,” Xia Xiaowan felt that even if she was eloquent, she couldn’t explain it clearly. She shouted impetuously, “Believe it or not, he and I have nothing to do with each other.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

“I’m afraid that you will go and beat him up.”

“Even now, you are still protecting him!”

“I’m afraid that he will hurt you!”

The two of them stared at each other, shouting one after another. Xia Deren sighed and raised his hand, giving them a signal to be quiet.

“Xiaowan, if you want us to believe you, then you should obediently marry Gu Nianbin.” Xia Deren said, “We watched Nianbin grow up. He has a good temper. Nianbin’s parents also like you. If you marry him, they will treat you well. My girl, listen to our advice. We are doing this for your own good. As long as you live a safe and happy life, your mother and I will be at ease.”

“Yes, Xiaowan, I beg you. Stop messing around!” Madam Xia said with tears in her eyes, “Nianbin is reliable. We will only be at ease if you marry him.”

Xia Xiaowan once again experienced the pain of being caught in her own trap. The invisible rope tied her tightly again. She looked up at Xia Nanze, who also looked like he was exasperated at her.

They loved her, which was why they treated her like this. They thought that they had found a good husband for her, but they did not know that Gu Nianbin had changed. He was no longer the modest Gu Nianbin in the past. He had become cold and gloomy, and his heart was full of hostility. How could she be happy if she married such a man?

However, no one believed her. Xia Xiaowan lowered her head sadly. Suddenly, she heard the footsteps of Xia Nanze walking out. She chased after him and asked him at the foot of the steps, “Brother, where did those photos come from?”

Xia Nanze did not answer. He opened the car door and sat in. “Why are you asking this?”

Xia Xiaowan grabbed the car door and stopped him from closing it. “Are they from Gu Nianbin?”

Xia Nanze said, “Does it matter if they are from him or not?”

“Brother, don’t you feel it strange?” Xia Xiaowan said, “Why did he send someone to follow me? He even took photos.”

“He did this for your safety.” Xia Nanze slammed the car door shut and lowered the window. “Xia Xiaowan, I’m warning you seriously. Don’t think about Jiang Kaiwei anymore, and don’t play any tricks. Stop thinking the nonsense and just marry Gu Nianbin!” As he spoke, he knocked on the back of the chair, asking the driver to drive.

Watching the car slowly drive to the gate, Xia Xiaowan stamped her feet in anger. Gu Nianbin acted so fast. She only told Gu Nianbin during dinner last night that she would not marry him, but today Xia Nanze actually received the photos.

It was no wonder that he looked so confident and said that marriage was already a done deal which could not be changed.

Because he had already done his preparations beforehand. No matter what she did, he would be able to deal with it. He was really scheming.

But why must he marry her? He didn’t love her, and he knew that she didn’t love him. It made sense for him to compromise before because he needed Jiang Group’s shares. But now, there was no need for him to marry her since the crisis was over. But Why, why?

Xia Xiaowan was puzzled. She walked around the shaded path and suddenly felt her scalp numb. She was stunned.

Gu Nianbin was taking revenge on her. Because she had driven away Du Xiaoxian, he wanted to keep her around and torture her ruthlessly. This must be the case. Then, he refused to stop fighting with the Jiang Group because of Du Xiaoxian, too. Jiang Kaiwei was the cause of everything. He also wanted to take revenge on Jiang Kaiwei!

He was taking revenge on both her and Jiang Kaiwei!

In the early morning when the sun was shining brightly, Xia Xiaowan suddenly felt a chill, and goose bumps appeared on her arms.