Chapter 512: Chapter 513: He is as hard as iron on the outside, but rotten inside.

These past few days, he’d wasted a lot of time chasing after that elusive glance.

He’d let a lot of things slide.

It felt as if his heart was floating outside of his body.

Every day, he’d stand at that intersection.

Always hoping that maybe she would pass by again.

Maybe that was her regular route.

Every day, he’d watch countless cars come and go.

But he never caught sight of that face again.

For four years, the trivial hope that took root in his heart gradually faded under the weight of disappointment and frustration.

Maybe that person was not Xia Yangyang at all.

Just someone who looked similar, or perhaps he was mistaken from the beginning.

Gu Qichen pinched the bridge his nose, feeling a headache coming on.

“Book a flight for me. I’ll return home tomorrow,” he said.

Fang Zhengdong seemed slightly surprised but simply replied, “Alright.”

Ever since catching a glimpse of that profile, Gu Qichen felt every cell in his body screaming.

All the suppressed emotions had erupted in an instant.

For many years, his desperate search for that woman morphed into a near-pathological obsession.

Finding her became the most critical part of his life.

The accumulated years of disappointment and pain were overwhelming.

He wished he could find that woman and strangle her.

He couldn’t distinguish whether his feelings for her were love or hatred.

Memories of the past cut him like a knife, day and night, from an unbearable pain to a gradual numbness.

But, they could resurface at any moment.

Gu Qichen had had enough.

However, he couldn’t shake off these emotions.

This was the only thing in his life he couldn’t control.

He had once been on the brink of collapse. In his most painful moments, he felt like he’d been thrown into a scorching hot frying pan, repeatedly tormented, dehydrated, externally tough like iron, but internally rotting away.

Even a small twig could instantly shatter him.

During those gradually despairing days, Gu Qichen didn’t know how he’d survived.

Perhaps he hadn’t survived at all.

Maybe he had just grown accustomed to the pain.

Gu Qichen’s fingers clenched tightly.

Xia Yangyang, you’d better hope I don’t find you. Otherwise, I won’t spare you!

It seemed like Xia Yangyang caught a cold.

She kept sneezing as she was packing her luggage.

Li Zhiqian came over that evening and was preparing noodles in the kitchen.

Master Gao loved operating a noodle shop.

No one knew how many branches of “Gao’s Noodle House” he’d opened nationwide.

However, these noodle shops were rarely open for business.

He never asked for help.

Wherever he was, that’s where he’d open shop.

Li Zhiqian was in charge of all of Master Gao’s legal and underground businesses.

So, he had the most interaction with him.

Though he couldn’t cook anything else, he had learned Master Gao’s noodle-making technique.

A bowl of beef noodles made by him could easily outshine those of Michelin-starred restaurants.

After preparing dinner for the three of them, Li Zhiqian first called over “Xiao Wu” before heading to Xia Yangyang’s room.

Xia Yangyang was still sneezing continuously.

Li Zhiqian chuckled: “It seems someone is missing Qi Mei.”

Xia Yangyang replied: “Funny, second brother, I feel like someone is cursing me behind my back.”

Li Zhiqian walked over: “Are you done packing? If you’re done, I’ll put your luggage in my car later and pick you up tomorrow morning”

Xia Yangyang nodded.

Li Zhiqian was also planning to return home tomorrow, so they would go together.