Chapter 32: Calm and Composed

There was a rain shower the night before last. Although it came on with great force, it was brief and, overall, had no impact on the temperature.

The high temperature for these past two days has remained above forty degrees, and the meteorological bureau has been issuing heatwave warnings daily.

Having gone out for runs several days in a row, Gu Lanxi didn't want to go out today, but that didn't mean she was idle.

At 8:30 AM, there was a quarterly summary meeting for her investment studio, which she would attend remotely.

In the afternoon, she planned to re-read her script and, while at it, finish handling the matter regarding Mother Lu's investment.

She maintained a regular routine; as long as she went to bed on time, she woke up around seven o'clock every day.

The first thing she did upon waking was wash up.

Once she felt more alert, she would apply a moisturizing mask and spend some time on her phone to ensure she hadn't missed any messages from anyone the night before.

Under normal circumstances, if there were major matters involving her, someone would call her.

Since no calls had come in last night, she felt quite relaxed when she picked up her phone.

However, as soon as she unlocked the screen, she saw a trending news push regarding Lu Nanting's flash marriage.

Multiple platforms were pushing the story.

It wasn't time for work yet. Her team was not skilled at handling crisis PR, and she wasn't the type to seek trouble. Usually, when problems arose, the company's PR department could handle them. Tao Yong hadn't contacted her, likely because the fire hadn't reached her yet.

Gu Lanxi calmly opened the app to read, understood the sequence of events, and immediately dialed Lu Nanting's number.

As it turned out, the call wouldn't go through no matter how many times she tried.

Fearing something had happened to him, Gu Lanxi ripped off her mask, patted her face, and, disregarding everything else, took the stairs directly up to his door to knock.

Lu Nanting's schedule was somewhat irregular; he would often stay up late writing lyrics and composing music, and his wake-up time depended entirely on whether he had things to do that day.

He still had a rehearsal this morning, but since they had already rehearsed once yesterday, today was just for supplementary adjustments to yesterday's omissions. It wouldn't take long, so it was scheduled for 10:30 AM.

On his nightstand, his alarm was set for nine; his assistant and driver would arrive to pick him up then.

Knowing that things might be turbulent lately, Zhang Mingyuan had forbidden him from posting on Weibo privately. To be safe, the passwords for all major platforms had been changed, and he was not allowed to log in.

With work in the morning, he wouldn't be wandering around aimlessly.

With no worries to hold him back, everyone was busy with their own tasks, and no one was looking for him.

Coupled with the fact that he had been staying up late these past few days, Lu Nanting was still sleeping soundly and blissfully unaware when Gu Lanxi arrived at his door to knock.

The bedroom was somewhat far from the main entrance; when the doorbell first rang, he hadn't realized someone was calling.

Gu Lanxi was patient; she would press the doorbell, wait for it to finish ringing, and then press it again.

It wasn't until she had pressed it three times that Lu Nanting finally scrambled up, approaching the door with messy, bird's-nest hair.

Out of habit, he glanced outside before opening it, thinking it was his assistant coming to pick him up for work, only to find Gu Lanxi standing there.

She was wearing loose, comfortable cotton pajamas with a small floral print, her hair down in a casual home look. Her face was flushed and fair, like a peeled egg, and her eyes were calm and bright as she looked gently toward the door.

Lu Nanting's heart instantly panicked!

His hands flew to his disheveled hair, and as he wiped his face, he accidentally touched a bit of eye crust. He felt completely mortified!

Just as he was about to wash his face and fix his hair, he heard Gu Lanxi sigh through the door

"I can hear your footsteps. Open the door, quickly!"

Knowing that those trained in martial arts had keen hearing and sight, Lu Nanting didn't dare lie.

He could only wipe his face and throw the door open.

"What time did you go to sleep last night? It's almost eight, and you're still not awake?"

Lu Nanting glanced at the wall clock; it was three minutes before 7:30.

He had slept for just over six hours.

Not bad!

"A youthful boy can never get enough sleep, it's normal! You came looking for me—you've truly struck gold!"

Seeing Gu Lanxi step inside with a speechless expression, Lu Nanting hurriedly grabbed her

"Let me register your fingerprint first."

Having to knock just to enter his own home—how ridiculous was that?

Seeing him bowing his head to fiddle with the fingerprint lock, Gu Lanxi didn't bother with a tour and grabbed him instead

"We'll talk about that later. Quickly pack a few sets of clothes and your daily necessities, and come live downstairs with me for a few days."

"Huh?"

Hadn't they said they were moving in a while?

Why was he suddenly being sent to live downstairs?

Seeing his hair sticking up in all directions, lacking his usual sharp appearance, Gu Lanxi entered the room, closed the door behind her, and said in an extremely helpless tone

"Did you forget to charge your phone? You insisted on taking photos on those steps, and now look—your status as a married man can no longer be hidden."

Gu Lanxi had been in this circle for several years and knew how terrifying fans could be when they became extreme.

Even though the security at Bihu Tiandi was excellent, it wasn't impossible for fans to find a way to sneak in!

Rather than staying at home, it was better to go downstairs and enjoy the magic of "the darkness under the lamp" before she was exposed.

Seeing him still dazed, Gu Lanxi marched straight into the walk-in closet, efficiently grabbed a bag, and then took out several sets of clothes, putting them in along with the hangers.

Lu Nanting's image management was top-notch; he had a dedicated image consultant, so his clothes were all coordinated, making them quite easy to grab.

No matter how big a matter was, Gu Lanxi rarely panicked and worked in an orderly fashion.

By the time Lu Nanting reacted, she had already packed the clothes and was opening drawers one after another to pull out underwear.

Lu Nanting's face turned bright red instantly.

Gu Lanxi acted as if she hadn't seen anything, quickly grabbed what needed to be taken, and then slipped into the bathroom to start gathering his toiletries.

"What are you standing there for? Turn off the windows and the utilities to create the illusion that no one is home, then grab your things and head downstairs. Got it?"

"Um, has anyone exposed you yet?"

"Not yet, but it's hard to say in a few days."

Seeing that his first reaction after his daze was to worry about her, Gu Lanxi felt a little better.

She went through and closed the windows in every room before leading him downstairs.

"Try to cancel as much work as possible these next few days. Wait until your fanatic fans have calmed down before going out."

Once downstairs, seeing that Auntie Wang had already prepared breakfast, Gu Lanxi went straight to the dining room.

"Go wash up and come eat breakfast. Whether you want to catch up on sleep or whatever, it's up to you. I have a meeting at 8:30 and need to use the study."

Having said that, without waiting for him, she took an egg, tapped it on the table, rolled it gently, and then used both hands to crack the shell open cleanly.

Thinking of the nasty comments online, her heart softened; she served him a bowl of white rice porridge and peeled the egg for him.

For breakfast today, there was white rice porridge served with fried fish and sautéed watercress.

Gu Lanxi usually had a boiled egg in the morning, so Auntie Wang had boiled two today.

The free-range eggs had been boiled for nine minutes—just cooked through, not runny but not overdone, exactly the way she liked them.

"There are salted eggs at home, made from sea duck eggs. They're quite fragrant. If you want some, peel one."

Seeing his hair half-dry as he walked from the bedroom after washing up, Gu Lanxi gave a natural greeting, then picked up her own bowl and began to eat gracefully.

Lu Nanting was still a bit out of it even as he sat down before her.

"What's the specific situation?"

He had fallen asleep while looking at his photo album last night and forgot to charge his phone; he had just plugged it in.

Gu Lanxi conveniently handed him her phone, gesturing for him to look for himself.

He logged into Weibo; the account was empty, and as expected, the ID was a string of random characters.

He watched her eat for as long as she ate.

"I've already spoken to my family; they won't say anything to outsiders. As for the studio, everyone has signed non-disclosure agreements. I also reminded them the night before last that they cannot mention you. Don't worry."

Currently, only he had been exposed. Since she had gone over in the middle of the night, the people online only knew he was married, but the identity of his spouse was unknown.

When they were dating, their mutual friends knew, but since he had revealed his marriage, no normal person would come running to ask if he had married his ex-girlfriend; at most, they might ask in a roundabout way.

In fact, the people in this circle were all shrewd; if they knew he intended to keep his marriage a secret, they might not even ask.

Gu Lanxi gave a soft "Mm."

Seeing that he had read enough, she took the phone back and opened her Moments.

Then, she saw that last night's post had exploded with over eight hundred likes and comments.

*Good morning!*

*Your 33 should be heading to the high-speed rail station with Er Mao right about now.*

*Hehe.*

*For the next few days, you will be served by the Great Lord of the Draft Box! [Hands on hips.JPG]*