Their Love Stories

“Mm!” Guan Zijue nodded and said, “He said he’ll let me have the painting if I win.”

“So you fought him?” Guan Zixuan looked at him incredulously.

“Mm!” Guan Zijue answered.

Guan Zixuan sighed. “Bro, do you know who he is? He’s a good friend of Ye Zhongjue’s, and I’ve told you about Ye Zhongjue’s background. Gu Yi’an… he has connections with Sin Eliminators, so you should stop trying to contact him. Also, how could you treat a guest like that!”

Guan Zijue frowned. “What a complicated background.”

Guan Zixuan nodded. “Yes. I couldn’t tell at first. He looks like someone who wouldn’t be bothered by anything in the world. I didn’t think that he would be in Sin Eliminators.”

Guan Zijue looked down and said, “Got it. Don’t worry, I won’t pick a fight with him.”

The ceremony was about to start when they returned to the banquet hall.

The emcee and Guan Zixuan went on stage.

Guan Zixuan was dazzled as Xia Zi walked in dressed in a pale lilac gown, an air of mystery and elegance surrounding her.

That’s my wife, my darling, the most important person in my life.

They exchanged rings and kissed on stage.

Gu Yi’an happened to turn to Luo Qiqi, whose thoughts seemed to be a thousand miles away. He knew immediately that she must have been reminded of Su Jincheng.

No one would be able to fully understand what somebody else was going through.

Though he wanted to go over to console Luo Qiqi, he decided against it in the end and chose to go out for some fresh air instead.

A waiter knocked into him the moment he turned to leave, spilling red wine all over him.

The waiter was scared speechless since he knew that offending anyone here would mean trouble. He apologized profusely, the fear apparent in his eyes.

Gu Yi’an backed away a little and said, “It’s fine. I’ll go get changed so you just go ahead with your duties!” He then turned to leave.

The waiter stood rooted to the spot for a while. He didn’t expect any of the guests to be that nice.

Phew. Lucky me. What a nice guy.

Gu Yi’an obtained a new shirt from the hotel manager and headed for the restroom.

At the restroom.

He tried his best to rinse the wine out of his jacket and used the hand dryer to dry it, hanging it on a corner so he could change out of his shirt.

A figure appeared behind him as he was changing.

Guan Zijue was rather surprised to see Gu Yi’an as he walked out of the stall.

Before he turned to leave, he saw a scar on Gu Yi’an’s upper back.

Though the scar was an old one, one could tell that it was from a very bad burn.

Guan Zijue was reminded of a similar scar on Pingan’s back which he saw when he was younger. It looked almost exactly the same as Gu Yi’an’s.

This brought Guan Zijue back to his time in the underground wrestling rings in America.

He met the young Pingan after the boy won a boxing match.

Pingan’s life was hanging by a thread after the match, but the person-in-charge beat him with a burning hot iron rod, leaving a huge scar on his back.

He started protecting the boy from then onwards.

So he grabbed Gu Yi’an from behind before he could change into the other shirt.

He turned to see Guan Zijue right before him. You again!

Guan Zijue asked in a serious tone, “Gu Yi’an, have you ever been to the underground wrestling rings in America?”

Gu Yi’an looked at him. How did he know?

It was something Gu Yi’an would rather not recall, and his memories had already gotten fuzzy with time.

What he remembered was that there was someone who was like a warm beacon of light when he was there.

He gave Guan Zijue the side-eye and said, “Let go!”

Guan Zijue let go of his arm.

Gu Yi’an put on the shirt quickly as thoughts raced through his mind. Judging from his behavior so far, is Guan Zijue really the one I’m looking for?

I can’t be too impulsive about this. It’s better for me to be careful first.

He then asked, “Why would Mr. Guan be interested in that?”

Guan Zijue thought to himself, What’s wrong with this guy? Is he pretending or is that a no?

He remembered that Pingan’s face was never clean as it was always full of dirt and grime when they were in the underground rings, but he couldn’t tell if Gu Yi’an was actually the boy.

One thing he remembered was that Pingan never liked getting his face cleaned.

Guan Zijue stared at Gu Yi’an. “Just answer my question!”

Gu Yi’an asked, “What if I refuse?”

Guan Zijue’s expression darkened.

The door to the restroom opened at this moment.

Ye Zhongjue walked in and felt the palpable tension in the air right away.

“What are you guys doing? The banquet has already started. Guan Zixuan is looking everywhere for you!”

Ye Zhongjue directed this at Guan Zijue.

Guan Zijue had wanted to have a proper chat with Gu Yi’an, but he knew that this wasn’t the time nor place for it. Since he already knew who Gu Yi’an was, it wouldn’t be difficult to locate him in future either.

Guan Zijue thus left.

Ye Zhongjue turned back to Gu Yi’an after watching Guan Zijue leave.

“Yi’an, what’s going on with you and Guan Zijue?”

Gu Yi’an then told Ye Zhongjue about everything that happened from the day he met Guan Zijue at the exhibition.

He couldn’t understand why Guan Zijue would know about his time in the underground wrestling rings when he didn’t even share much about it with Ye Zhongjue and Ceng Hanyu.

He then asked, “Jue, has Guan Zijue ever been to America?”

Ye Zhongjue frowned at this. “Why? From what I know, Guan Zijue has always been in the country. He attended the top military school here and he slowly rose up the ranks after that. You should know that military officers can’t go overseas, so… that’s probably just a rumor.”

Gu Yi’an’s eyes narrowed. He attended military school in the country? If Ye Zhongjue is correct, then it’s impossible for Guan Zijue to have ever stayed in America. Why did he ask me that question then?

Gu Yi’an was extremely confused.

Ye Zhongjue tugged at him. “Yi’an, why are you curious about that?”

Gu Yi’an said, “He’s acting very weirdly. If he had never been to America, he wouldn't be so interested in that painting of mine. Did you know what he asked me earlier?”

“What?”

“He asked if I had ever been to the underground wrestling rings in America. You know it’s something I don’t like to bring up, and I seldom talk about it even with you or Ceng Hanyu. I’m wondering how he knew about it.”