Chapter 133: Joining Forces

An Nan peeked at them warily, but suddenly felt her palm growing warm.

Looking down, she realized that Gu Zhiyu was still tightly holding her hand.

She instinctively tried to pull her hand back, but couldn’t manage it.

When she looked up, she found herself staring straight into a pair of deep, dark eyes—eyes that seemed to ripple like a lake at night.

For some reason, An Nan suddenly felt her face grow hot.

She quickly looked away, then, acting on impulse, gripped his hand tightly and gave it a sharp twist. There was a loud “crack”—she had just dislocated Gu Zhiyu’s right arm.

He grunted, biting his lip, staring at her in disbelief.

An Nan was just as stunned by what she’d done.

A few of the tattooed men guarding the well heard the noise and immediately sent two people over to check.

“What’s going on?!”

An Nan panicked. Zhu Dazhuang and his men were all at the Longhu Base right now, so this wasn’t the right time to drug the well. She couldn’t risk alerting anyone.

But with Gu Zhiyu right beside her, she couldn’t just slip into her space either…

As she stood there, mind racing for a solution, Gu Zhiyu suddenly spun around and pinned her against the wall.

He braced his left hand on the wall, leaned in, and turned his head slightly to shield her face from view.

When the two tattooed men came out, what they saw looked exactly like a man pinning a woman to the wall for a kiss.

They exchanged glances and broke into lewd grins.

An Nan was startled by Gu Zhiyu again, but this time she held back and didn’t hurt him.

His face was so close, and the shock from earlier had vanished, replaced by his usual impassive expression.

Their eyes met, and An Nan couldn’t help but notice how dark and deep his gaze was. She instinctively looked away, her eyes landing on his dislocated right arm.

Uh… that must really hurt, right?

What should she do? Take him to Chu Peipei to get it fixed?

The two tattooed men watched their “kabedon” scene, feeling a little jealous.

Tattooed Guy #1 curled his lip. “Hot as hell out, and you’re not staying home? Out here making out instead?”

Tattooed Guy #2 crossed his arms. “Hmph, probably just got together. Can’t wait a second before kissing.”

Tattooed Guy #1: “Stop staring, stop staring. My head’s starting to itch—don’t tell me I’m catching the love bug!”

Tattooed Guy #2 called out sarcastically, “Hey! You two, there are people here! Go somewhere else if you want to fool around! Stop shoving your PDA in our faces!”

Then he dragged the other guy back into the alley.

Once they were gone, Gu Zhiyu immediately straightened up and took his left hand off the wall.

But his right arm still hung at an odd angle.

Without a word, the two of them left the area and walked a little further away.

Once they were out of earshot, An Nan finally spoke. “You—”

Gu Zhiyu didn’t reply. He bent down, knelt on one knee, braced his right arm on the ground, then with a sudden movement, jerked his body.

There was a loud “crack”—his arm was back in place.

An Nan stared in shock. Did this madman just pop his own dislocated arm back in??

His lips were white, and sweat beaded on his forehead—whether from pain or the heat, she couldn’t tell.

He paused on the ground for a moment before slowly standing up.

An Nan opened her mouth, wanting to explain, but Gu Zhiyu spoke first.

“I was too abrupt just now. Did I scare you?”

An Nan shook her head quickly.

It was her own overactive self-defense reflexes that had blown things out of proportion. He’d just been trying to pull her back to safety, and she’d ended up dislocating his arm…

If Gu Zhiyu had blamed her, she would’ve understood, but instead, he was the one apologizing.

That only made An Nan feel more guilty. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

Gu Zhiyu said, “It’s fine. We’ve already found the well’s location. Let’s head home.”

With that, he led the way back to the base.

An Nan followed behind with her dog, thinking to herself, That’s the kind of magnanimity only a CEO has.

Last time, too—she’d spread rumors about him behind his back, and he’d still kindly given her a ride home in his Hummer.

Come to think of it, every time Gu Zhiyu ran into her, nothing good ever happened.

The first time, her dog knocked him over. The second time, she spread rumors about him. This time, she’d dislocated his arm…

She glanced at Gu Zhiyu’s right arm—was it really okay to just pop it back in like that? Wouldn’t there be aftereffects?

The two of them, plus the dog, soon returned to the villa.

After saying goodbye to Gu Zhiyu, An Nan went back to her room, changed clothes, and poured food for her dog.

Watching the dog wolf down its meal, her own stomach started to growl, so she got up to make some cold noodles with sesame sauce, paired with mung bean soup to beat the heat.

She remembered she’d promised Gu Zhiyu that next time she cooked, she’d bring him a portion too, so she made extra noodles.

Once the noodles were cooked and cooled, she added shredded cucumber, poured on sesame paste, soy sauce, salt, MSG, vinegar, chili oil, and mixed it all together.

She thought about picking the cucumber out of Gu Zhiyu’s portion, but then remembered they’d bought cucumbers from Long Cong’an to save seeds, so it wouldn’t be suspicious for her to have some now.

So she carried the bowl downstairs.

When Gu Zhiyu opened the door, he saw An Nan standing there with a bowl of cold noodles in one hand and mung bean soup in the other, smiling brightly at him.

“Time to eat.”

His heart skipped a beat. “Come in.”

An Nan had planned to just hand him the food and leave, but then remembered his arm might still be weak, so she decided to go the extra mile and set the food on his dining table for him.

Gu Zhiyu asked, “Have you eaten?”

An Nan replied, “Not yet.”

Gu Zhiyu said, “Then let’s eat together. I have something I want to discuss with you.”

An Nan thought for a moment, then nodded.

When she came back down with her own bowl, Gu Zhiyu got straight to the point:

“Your target this time is Zhu Dazhuang, the second-in-command at the base, isn’t it?”

An Nan looked at him in surprise.

How did he know?

Sensing her confusion, Gu Zhiyu explained:

“Back at the circular plaza, your attention was always on the stage, not on the crowd.

And if you just wanted to deal with some small fry, you could’ve acted as soon as you arrived yesterday—but you didn’t. That means your target is someone with special protection, someone hard to get to.

So it had to be either Hou Jianming or Zhu Dazhuang.

Later, when Hou Jianming came over to greet us, you acted normal and didn’t try to get closer to him. That’s how I knew he wasn’t your target.”

An Nan looked at him warily.

This man’s powers of observation were truly something else.

Seeing her remain silent, Gu Zhiyu continued:

“An Nan, there’s no need to be nervous. Our goals are similar—we can work together.”

An Nan looked at him. “What do you have in mind?”

Gu Zhiyu replied, “You’ve probably already thought of it. The well.”

They stared at each other for a moment, neither speaking.

After a while, An Nan nodded. “Let’s join forces.”

They both wanted to use the well to stir up trouble, so teaming up was the best option.

They’d only get one shot at drugging the well—it had to count.

Once everyone was taken out, he’d deal with Hou Jianming, she’d kill Zhu Dazhuang, and neither would get in the other’s way."