Chapter 60 - There Won't Be A Five-Year Commitment

“It’s already Autumn but it’s still so hot,” Fang Yaru walked into the living room and complained to Gu Guangxian.

“You’ll feel cool if you keep calm.” Gu Guangxian smiled at his wife. “Is there something troubling you again?”

Fang Yaru said angrily, “What else will bother me? Nianbin and Xiaowan were quite close before. But recently, I haven’t heard any news. Xiaowan actually called me and sounded like she still cares about our son. But girls are too shy to chase after boys no matter how much they like them. It was really Nianbin’s fault. Busy as he is, he shouldn’t neglect his own personal emotion!”

“I think you have to worry less about it. Children have their own blessings. Nianbin knows what to do.”

“If he knew what to do, things wouldn’t be like this.” Just as Fang Yaru was about to sit down, Xiao Bonian came in and said, “Mister and Mrs., Miss Xia is here.”

Fang Yaru was delighted at once and hurriedly went out to welcome the guest. As expected, she saw Xia Xiaowan’s white car coming in. When Fang Yaru slowly walked down the stairs, Xia Xiaowan had parked her car and got out of the car. She greeted Fang Yaru with a smile, “Auntie, I’m here to freeload again!”

“Welcome, welcome! How come Nianbin didn’t come back with you?”

“I came by myself and didn’t tell him.”

“He has been busy lately. He didn’t even return home and lived in his own apartment.” Fang Yaru took Xia Xiaowan’s arm and walked towards the house. “Take a seat for a second, I’ll call him. No matter how busy he is, he has to come back for dinner.”

Xia Xiaowan said, “No need, Auntie. Nianbin has important things to attend to. Let him focus on work.”

“Nothing is more important than you.” Fang Yaru teased her and walked over to make the phone call.

Gu Nianbin and his little girl were having such a sweet life that he had completely forgotten about Xia Xiaowan. Receiving his mother’s phone all of a sudden, he felt like he had fallen from the clouds to the ground and was waken up. He liked to cut right to the chase when dealing with things. He had actually thought about developing a relationship with Xia Xiaowan before, but now it was impossible. Therefore, after thinking about it, he decided to go back for this dinner to set things straight for Xia Xiaowan.

Before leaving, he cooked dinner for Du Xiaoxian and ate a little with her and told her to look after herself while he was gone. This was the first time his little girl had stayed at home alone, so he was a little worried.

When he returned home, he found everyone was waiting for him. Fang Yaru saw him enter the door and hurriedly told Xiao Bonian to serve dinner. She then said to her son, “Nianbin, why are you so busy? You don’t even have time to come back for dinner?”

“Am’t I back now?” As Gu Nianbin spoke, he nodded at Xia Xiaowan as a greeting.

Although Gu Nianbin was still as gentlemanly as usual, Xia Xiaowan suddenly felt something was wrong instinctively. For a moment back then, she felt that she was very close to him, so close that she could almost peek into his heart. At that time, Gu Nianbin looked tired and haggard. She thought that he was finally tired and didn’t want to wait any longer, so he took off his armor and let her come near him. After that night, they contacted with each other more often. Everything was going in a good direction.

But all of a sudden, he stopped contacting her. Now when she saw him again, he had changed back into the Gu Nianbin who always kept a distance from others. Xia Xiaowan suddenly felt that she had picked the wrong time to come here. She should be more patient and waited longer.

The dinner went as good as ever. Xia Xiaowan was very good at talking. She spent most of her time chatting with Fang Yaru and Gu Guangxian, while Gu Nianbin was silent all along. Fang Yaru winked at her son several times, but he turned a blind eye to her. Fang Yaru was so angry but she could do nothing about it. Gu Nianbin only said a few things when dinner was almost finished. However, he spoke in an extremely polite way. Xia Xiaowan was sensitive enough to realize that he was estranging from her.

After dinner, everyone sat in the living room, drinking tea and chatting. Although Xia Xiaowan was talking to Fang Yaru, she kept glancing at Gu Nianbin from the corner of her eyes to observe what was wrong with this man. Even though Gu Nianbin concealed himself well, she could still tell from his face that he was absent-minded. He was sitting there, but his heart was somewhere else. Xia Xiaowan thought, where was his heart?

Fang Yaru suddenly remembered something and said to Xiao Bonian, “Tomorrow, send someone to the young master’s apartment to do the cleaning. He is busy with work. I’m afraid the place is in a mess.”

Xiao Bonian remained silent and looked at Gu Nianbin for his opinion. Gu Nianbin slowly said, “No need, the butler of the apartment has arranged someone to do the cleaning.”

“That’s good,” Fang Yaru said, “that should save you from running back and forth between places. I’m not worried about you living alone. It’s your meals I’m worried about… Don’t stuff yourself with fast food when you’re busy. You still need to pay attention to nutrition.”

“I know.” Gu Nianbin smiled slightly. Nutrition was his biggest concern right now. He wanted his little girl to gain weight! How could he forget about nutrition?

Xia Xiaowan said, “How about I cook a soup and bring it to you some day?”

“No, no. It’s too troublesome. I know how to make soup myself.” Gu Nianbin refused directly. There would be trouble if Xia Xiaowan saw Du Xiaoxian. For now, he didn’t want his parents to know that Du Xiaoxian was with him.

Fang Yaru said, “I think Xiaowan’s suggestion is good. You know how to make soup, but you don’t have the time. If you think it’s troublesome for her to bring it to you, just let Xiaowan cook for you at your place.”

Gu Nianbin said coldly, “It’s not convenient.”

“Why is it inconvenient? You two …” Fang Yaru’s eyes widened.

“Alright,” Gu Guangxian interrupted her, “they will figure it out themselves.”

Fang Yaru glared at her son angrily and didn’t speak anymore.

Xia Xiaowan felt that the blood in her body was gradually turning cold. What else could she say when Gu Nianbin had already expressed himself so clearly? It would be self-deceiving to stay here any longer. Xia Xiaowan forced herself to smile and stood up. “It’s getting late. I should go now. Thank you for your hospitality, auntie and uncle!”

Fang Yaru said, “Look at you, kid, there’s no need to be so polite. Come over whenever you are free. Auntie will let the chef cook delicious food for you.”

Gu Nianbin stood up and said, “I’ll walk you out.”

Xia Xiaowan looked at him in surprise, but her heart suddenly sank. She nodded and walked out.

Fang Yaru smiled when she looked at their figures, and she said, “Nianbin is always like this. Sometimes he is good to the girl, sometimes not. He might be embarrassed in front of us, so he asked her to talk outside.”

Gu Guangxian shook his head. “I don’t think so. I’m afraid this Miss Xia is probably not the one for our son!”

“Who said that?” Fang Yaru glanced at her husband unhappily. “Then who is the one? Don’t mention that Xiaowan to me. Even if she comes back now, I won’t agree with her being together with Nianbin. Look what she has done to our son!”

Gu Guangxian said, “What has she done? Isn’t Nianbin living well? You shouldn’t blame Xiaowan for that thing. It was Nianbin who came up with the five-year commitment. Didn’t Xiaowan persuade him not to do so?”

Fang Yaru sighed. “We’ve been friends with the Xia family for so many years, our relationship is not bad, but… Forget it, I don’t want to bother anymore. Let him be.”

Xia Xiaowan walked to her car and smiled at Gu Nianbin. “Go back. I’m leaving.”

Gu Nianbin stopped her. “Xiaowan, I want to talk to you.”

“What do you want to talk about?” Xia Xiaowan looked up at him. “There’s still sometime before your five-year commitment. Isn’t it a bit early to talk about it now?”

Gu Nianbin was silent for a moment and said, “There won’t be a five-year commitment.”

He said it very calmly. The night breeze blew up a few scattered strands of hair on his forehead, revealing a smooth forehead. Xia Xiaowan looked into his eyes in astonishment, as if she wanted to find some information in them. However, she was disappointed. His eyes were too calm to show anything.

Xia Xiaowan still struggled in vain, “I know you’re busy lately. I’ll wait until you’re free, then we can…”

Gu Nianbin said seriously, “I’m sorry for giving you the wrong message before. Because you’re too much like her. For a moment, I almost… mistook you as her. I’m sorry, although we haven’t known each other for a long time, you’re a good girl. You deserve someone better than me. I wish you happiness.”

His sincere words were like thousands of poisonous arrows that pierced through her heart, causing her so much pain. But she tried her best to smile, “If I’m not wrong, you have met someone, haven’t you?”

Gu Nianbin smiled but did not answer. However, the answer was already obvious. Xia Xiaowan did not ask any further. She just felt that she failed very completely. A woman showed up by the side of Gu Nianbin, and she actually did not know at all?

Xia Xiaowan tried her best to maintain her elegance with a faint smile on her face. She reached out her hand and said goodbye to him, “Alright, I give you blessings as well!”

Gu Nianbin held her hand gently and made a hand shake with her, then released it. He watched her get in the car. He did not turn around to go back into the house, but got into his own car instead. He honked to let Xia Xiaowan leave first.

As Xia Xiaowan drove, she looked at Gu Nianbin through the rear view mirror. He had just returned home and now was leaving. Was he going to see that woman?

The two cars went out of the gate in turn, one heading to the left and the other to the right. Looking at the tail lights of the black car in the right rear view mirror, Xia Xiaowan felt a burst of pain as if her heart were being twisted. She would never see him again, would she? She wouldn’t have any excuses to see him anymore. All the hopes and dreams that she had were blown away by the wind tonight.

The tears that she had held back for a long time finally fell silently. Her hazy and blurred eyes distorted the streetlights, car lights and neon lights into a big strange net that seemed to have trapped her and the car. She could not move, nor could she breathe. It felt like she could not escape no matter how she struggled. She had never been so frightened before, like a lost child who could no longer find her own home. She wanted to shout in despair, in fact she did shout, and she heard her own shrill and broken voice.

But then there was a huge noise, bang, her voice stopped abruptly. Before she sank into the darkness, she heard the loud honks one after another, and saw many people running towards her. Some hot liquid flowed down her forehead slowly, but she was actually smiling. Because she didn’t feel the pain in her heart, and she could be relieved. Xia Xiaowan thought to herself, she could finally be relieved…

Gu Nianbin drove past a corner and looked at the apartment building not too far away. He had found his own home. The window in which the bright and warm light was on, looking like Du Xiaoxian’s big eyes, was waiting for its male owner who returned home late.

However, his phone suddenly rang. Was it his little girl calling because she couldn’t wait to see him? Gu Nianbin took out his phone happily, but found it was Xia Xiaowan’s number.