Chapter 2817 The Substitute Was Forcibly Taken by the Bandit's Wife 22

About an hour later.

The courtyard gate was gently pushed open and then bolted shut. Footsteps echoed through the rain as they ascended the steps and arrived outside the warm pavilion.

Gu Fanghe brushed the rainwater off his shoulders and pushed open the door to enter.

"Xiao Chen, Chen Xiaoshan contacted me tonight about Ruan Shutong's herb gathering... he..."

The candlelight was still on in the outer room, and the door to the inner room was ajar, letting in a dim, yellowish light.

"Xiao Chen?" Gu Fanghe called out again.

No one answered.

His heart skipped a beat for no reason. He quickly walked into the inner room, where the bed curtains and quilts were neatly folded, and the bed was empty.

Gu Fanghe's heart tightened. He turned around abruptly, walked quickly to the bedside, then turned to the screen, and even opened the wardrobe.

"Jin Chen!"

Gu Fanghe turned to rush out, countless terrible thoughts flashing through his mind.

Just as he was in a state of panic and was about to rush out to gather people to search the whole mountain village, he caught a glimpse of the door moving and a figure walking out.

The candlelight cast a dim glow, making the figure appear hazy, as if seen through a fog. The person was dressed in a plain white robe, with their dark hair half-tied up, the ends of which were still damp.

Gu Fanghe gasped for breath.

This outfit...

Jin Chen walked up to him, her almost dangerously alluring beauty causing Gu Fanghe's vision to blur and his lips to open and close for a moment.

With his well-defined fingers, Gu Fanghe lifted his chin.

Jin Chen leaned closer to him, her voice soft, like raindrops tapping on a windowpane, "Who am I?"

Gu Fanghe's vision was only focused on Jin Chen's excessively bright face; there was no way he wouldn't recognize her, even though she was wearing the same white clothes.

“Xiao Chen…” Gu Fanghe finally found his voice, “Why are you wearing…”

Why are you wearing this outfit? Where did you go? Did you get caught in the rain? Are you cold?

But before he could finish speaking, Jin Chen interrupted him.

Jin Chen tilted his head slightly, dragging out a lazy tone, and lightly stroked Gu Fanghe's chin with his fingertips, "When I first came to Black Cliff, wasn't this the same set of clothes that the chief had sent to me?"

He leaned closer, his breath brushing against Gu Fanghe's lips, his eyes curving upwards. "So this is what the leader wanted to see back then."

"It's Ruan Shutong."

“No! Of course not,” Gu Fanghe picked up a strand of Jin Chen’s damp hair and unconsciously rubbed it with his fingertips. “Don’t think like that.”

Jin Chen slowly lowered her head, as if to kiss him.

Gu Fanghe instinctively went to meet her, but Jin Chen turned away, and the kiss landed on empty air.

Gu Fanghe's breathing suddenly stopped, as if he had stepped into thin air.

Jin Chen tilted her head and pressed her cheek against his, her cool skin damp with rain.

“Since that’s not the case,” Jin Chen asked softly, each word distinct, her breath brushing against Gu Fanghe’s sensitive earlobe, “why did the Boss draw me before he had ever seen me?”

Jin Chen's fingertips slowly moved up Gu Fanghe's chin and pressed against the red mark under his eye. It was clearly a loving gesture, but the words he spoke sent a chill down Gu Fanghe's spine.

"Could it be that you painted it based on Ruan Shutong's work from three years ago? That night, you lied to me?"

"Gu Fanghe, have you ever lied to me?"

"No." Gu Fanghe answered immediately, his voice hoarse but resolute, pulling the slightly cool hand to his lips and kissing his fingertips one by one, "I didn't lie to you."

“Xiao Chen, listen to me, that painting… existed before I met Ruan Shutong.”

Jin Chen's eyes flickered.

"I don't know how to explain... That painting was done many years ago after I was seriously injured and fell into a coma, based on the remaining impressions from my dreams."

Gu Fanghe frowned as he recalled those fragmented and indistinct moments. "The people in the painting have very blurry features. I can't draw them. I just feel... that's how they should be."

"Later, I met Ruan Shutong." Gu Fanghe's voice lowered, with a hint of self-mockery. "At first glance, I thought he looked a bit like him, but something felt off, so I didn't keep him and let him go to the capital."

“But until you appeared.” Gu Fanghe looked at Jin Chen, his eyes surging with intense emotions and an almost obsessive certainty, “until I saw you, Xiao Chen.”

He held Jin Chen's hand and pressed it against his face, saying, "The person in that painting is you."

Now that things have come to this, there's nothing more to hide.

[The villain's heart rate is detected +10, totaling 67! 】

“Xiao Chen, young master,” Gu Fanghe kissed Jin Chen’s cheek, his voice hoarse, “Don’t be angry with me, how could I lie to you.”

Jin Chen stroked Gu Fanghe's cheek, his fingertips brushing over the scar again before kissing Gu Fanghe's lips.

It was tender enough that Gu Fanghe begged for his affection.

After a long while, Gu Fanghe was intoxicated by the kiss, and only opened his eyes in a daze when Jin Chen finally placed a kiss on his lips.

"Gu Fanghe," Jin Chen called to him, her fingertips gently stroking his neck.

"Mm." Gu Fanghe responded immediately, wrapping his arms around her even tighter.

"If one day you lie to me, and it's related to Ruan Shutong..."

Before he finished speaking, he bit Gu Fanghe on the side of the neck, saying, "I'll leave Black Mountain Village then."

Gu Fanghe turned his head to look at Jin Chen, seeing his eyes filled with affection and his gaze shifting. Although he was speaking threatening words, his eyes were like hooks, making people's hearts itch and their souls almost be stolen away.

Even though he hadn't drunk any more alcohol after dinner, Gu Fanghe felt drunk, drunk on the spring scenery in Jin Chen's eyes, drunk on this rainy night.

Gu Fanghe's eyes were filled with ever-growing ambition and possessiveness. He let Jin Chen kiss and bite him, then tilted his head back slightly, his fingertips darting through Jin Chen's slightly damp hair, slowly moving through it. He felt an intense itch in his heart.

“Young man, I will not give you that chance. Now that you have come to Black Mountain Stronghold, you are mine. In this life, the next life, and for all eternity… you will never leave.”