Gu Xichao · Chat

━━━━━━━━━━ Time: 2026/01/17, Saturday 14:30 Loc: Gu Xichao's villa at Tomson Riviera Char: Gu Xichao, 你, Ex-girlfriend A ━━━━━━━━━━ You stared at the string of numbers on your phone screen three times, confirming you hadn't miscounted the zeros. 100,000 monthly salary, room and board included, and the job description is to take care of the daily life of a twenty-year-old college student. At the bottom of the job posting, there was a line of fine print: The employer has a rather strong personality; requires good stress-resistance. You translated the words "rather strong" in your head, figuring it probably just meant he was a bit difficult. A twenty-year-old college student, how difficult could he be? You've seen ex-boyfriends crying into their phones outside convenience stores at 3 AM, clients who wrote essays for one-star delivery reviews, and old men clipping their toenails in public on the subway. You pressed the apply button. Three days later, the woman from HR pushed the contract in front of you. As you signed it, her gaze lingered on your face for a second. She said, "Good luck. Just try to make it through the probation period." That sentence made your pen pause. She was already standing up to pack her things, and she added, "Young Master Gu has a rather... unique schedule. You'd better knock before going in." You didn't pay much attention to that at the time. Until today. The apartment door has a fingerprint lock, and your fingerprint was registered three days ago. You stood at the door, holding the cleaning supplies you just bought, took a deep breath, and pressed your finger to the lock. The lock gave a soft click. The moment you pushed the door open, a crisp sound of a slap echoed from the living room. "Slap—" The sound reverberated through the empty space like someone had slammed something onto a table with force. Your hand was still on the doorknob, and before you could even pull it back, you saw two people standing in the living room. In front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, a woman in a Chanel suit stood with her back to you, her hand still frozen in mid-air, her fingertips trembling slightly. Opposite her stood a man with silver hair catching the cold light from the sun. His side profile was sharp, and there was a red mark on his left cheek that stretched from his cheekbone all the way to his jaw. The man didn't move. He just stood there, his gray-blue eyes staring at the woman in front of him with no emotion in his gaze. He was wearing a black tank top and ripped jeans. There was a scar on the ring finger of his left hand, and his hand hung at his side, knuckles slightly clenched. "Are you fucking insane?" The woman's voice was high-pitched, laced with tears. "Gu Xichao, you're a lunatic! Do you have any idea what you did to me when you were drunk last night? You pushed me down the stairs! My leg still hurts!" Gu Xichao didn't speak. He pulled a cigarette pack from his pocket, fished one out, and put it in his mouth. The flame from his lighter danced at his fingertips twice before the cigarette caught. He took a deep drag, and the smoke drifted slowly from his nostrils, dissipating into the sunlight. "I was drunk." His voice was flat, as if he were stating a fact. "So what?" The woman's voice rose. "So that gives you the right to put your hands on me? Gu Xichao, who do you think you are? Do you think you can do whatever you want just because your family is rich?" Gu Xichao lifted his eyelids and glanced at her. That look was cold, like he was staring at a piece of furniture that was in his way. "Let's break up." After saying that, he turned to walk toward the bedroom. The woman was stunned for a second, then lunged forward to grab his arm. "What did you say?" Gu Xichao stopped and looked down at the hand on his arm. The nails were painted bright red, and they were digging deep into his skin. He kept the cigarette in his mouth, grabbed the woman's wrist with his free hand, and yanked it away. The woman stumbled and nearly fell. "I said, break up. Don't you understand?" The woman's tears fell. "Gu Xichao, you can't do this to me. We've been together for three months. You said you liked me." "What kind of person am I? Don't you know?" After saying that, Gu Xichao let go of her wrist and continued walking toward the bedroom. The woman stood where she was, her shoulders shaking violently. She turned around and saw you standing at the door. Her gaze lingered on your face for a second, then shifted to the bag of cleaning supplies in your hand, a look flashing in her eyes that you couldn't quite identify. She wiped away her tears, grabbed her bag from the sofa, and walked past you in her high heels. The clicking of her heels against the floor echoed all the way to the end of the hall. The elevator door opened and closed. Silence returned to the apartment. You stood at the door, still holding the bag of cleaning supplies. The coffee table in the living room was piled with empty liquor bottles, and there was an ashtray on the floor overflowing with cigarette butts. There was a heel mark on the rug in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, and a few long strands of hair were scattered nearby. The bedroom door opened. Gu Xichao walked out. He had changed into a black hoodie, but the red mark on his face was still there, looking even more prominent now. He walked to the bar, grabbed a can of cold beer from the fridge, popped the tab, and took a large gulp. He set the beer can down on the bar with a dull thud, then turned his head to look at you with his gray-blue eyes. "The new nanny?" His voice was flat, as if nothing had just happened. "What are you standing there for? Come in and close the door."