Chapter 102

August arrived in a hurry. The heat of summer had mostly dissipated and autumn was coming. An unexpected visitor was here.

An Xiaoyan had just returned from work when Gu Jun came to his door. It was a usual Tuesday. He bathed the cats and dogs at work all afternoon and could not straighten his back.

After not seeing Gu Jun for more than a month, Gu Jun looked haggard. However, An Xiaoyan did not show him any sympathy and ignored him.

“Xiaoyan, it’s settled. Come back home with me. I know you must have feelings for me. Otherwise, you would have gone far and would not have stayed here.”

An Xiaoyan stopped and turned to ask, “How did you settle it?”

“I’ve blocked the news, and after so long, the engagement news has long been forgotten. I shouldn’t have deceived you. Will you forgive me?

Just a simple blockade of information, shouldn’t it be a very simple matter for the chairman of the Gu group?

“Gu Jun, what else are you hiding from me? I hope you will tell me everything.” An Xiaoyan’s eyes were bloodshot, and he looked straight at Gu Jun.

Gu Jun felt ashamed for a while. For such a long time, he tried to cancel his engagement, but old Mr. Gu kept him in check, even restricting him from going out. His excuse for leaving this time was to completely break it off with An Xiaoyan. If he did not marry Xiu Yijian, he would be under the yoke of old Mr. Gu all his life.

Another way was to give up all the rights and wealth in his hands and leave with An Xiaoyan. However, he had lived lavishly all his life. How could he give up his comfortable place in life so easily? This would definitely be the last option.

“Xiaoyan, there’s one last thing that I’ve hidden from you. Previously at Hotel Royal Duke, Nan Qiang said that as long as I allowed him to toy with you for a night, he would guarantee that I will regain the chairman’s position.”

A slap echoed in the corridor and Gu Jun was slapped in the face. An Xiaoyan’s palm felt painful too. For the sake of power, he was regarded as a plaything and given to others casually. Though he owed Gu Jun, he was not so cheap as to be sent around like a prostitute.

“Leave and don’t come looking for me again. We’re not even friends now. If you come again, I’ll call the police and say that you are disturbing the residents.”

The sound of the door closing was also loud. A door stood between the two men’s hearts.

An Xiaoyan huddled on the sofa with Fifth Dumpling in his arms. His heart really hurt. Why should he be treated like this? Maybe from the very beginning, they did not belong to the same world.

Gu Jun knelt outside the house. He did not regret telling An Xiaoyan about his deal with Nan Qiang as he did not want to lie to him anymore.

Gu Jun’s mobile phone rang. He received a message from old Mr. Gu asking when he would be back and that the wedding invitation had been picked out. They were awaiting his return so he could take a look. Gu Jun deleted the message immediately and leaned against An Xiaoyan’s door, then casually sat on the floor. Recalling all that had happened in the past six months, he felt that he was no longer the same person as before.

When he was young and vigorous, he’d started the Sheng Kong Group on his own in order to rid himself of his filial bondage. Now everything seemed different from his original intentions. He traded An Xiaoyan for the position of a chairman and would compromise others in order to maintain his own interests. When did he become such a person?

Sitting on the cement floor at the door, Gu Jun thought all night. The next day, he patted the dust on his body and made a major decision.

Chen Chen was shocked when he got the news. Gu Jun asked him to take Guo Guo to the island, fired all the servants and take everything out from his safe.

When he met Gu Jun on the island, he looked more haggard than before and the house he bought previously was in a mess.

Guo Guo had settled in the house while the cats and the dog, together with the luggage, were consigned and still on its way. It looked like Gu Jun was moving out.

“Mr. Gu, what happened? Old Mr. Gu is still waiting for you to go back.”

“I’m not going back anymore. You help me to make a calculation on how many personal assets I have, the sooner the better. There may be a hard battle to fight next, you get ready for it.”

Chen Chen still did not understand what had happened, so he nodded his head and promised, “I will first calculate how much your immovable properties and funds are worth.”

“You only need to count my personal assets. As for the Sheng Kong Group, auction it secretly.”

This left Chen Chen in disbelief. “Mr. Gu, the Sheng Kong Group is your effort. Is it worthwhile to sell it like this?”

Gu Jun shook his head and told Chen Chen to do it. He had made up his mind.

After all of the instructions had been relayed, Gu Jun opened the curtain. The sunlight shone through and he threw out his phone card. A line was drawn.

It was a long overdue decision that he should have made a long time ago. Had he confessed directly to old Mr. Gu previously, maybe the outcome would have been better.

While Chen Chen was calculating Gu Jun’s personal assets and taking care of Guo Guo, Gu Jun went to An Xiaoyan’s residence.

An Xiaoyan happened to come home from work when Gu Jun stood at the door and waited. Gu Jun smiled awkwardly as he saw An Xiaoyan. However, An Xiaoyan pretended not to see anything and opened the door.

“I made a decision. From now on, I will only acknowledge you. Whether it is Xiu Yijian or someone else, they have nothing to do with us.”

An Xiaoyan was unmoved. Who doesn’t know how to make a verbal promise? Gu Jun once said that he liked him, but in the end, he married someone else.

“Go. If you stay a minute longer, I’ll call the police.”

Gu Jun knew that An Xiaoyan meant what he said, and added, “Xiaoyan, you will learn of my actions in time to come. Now, just don’t hate me so much.”

In fact, Gu Jun had already anticipated An Xiaoyan’s indifferent reaction and was unsurprised. When he had made up his mind to give up everything, he felt numb.

When Gu Jun just reached the fifth floor, he heard the door open upstairs. An Xiaoyan stood in front of him in slippers and asked expressionlessly, “Did you know Liu Cheng is dead?”

Gu Jun waited for two seconds and then shook his head. He did not have much contact with Liu Cheng. How could a young man like him die so easily?

“Did you know that before his death, he had no family or friends around him? If it were you, could you bear it?”

“It’s you who caused his death, it’s you!”

After An Xiaoyan had said these words, he dragged his slippers upstairs and closed the door again. Gu Jun stood stunned on the fifth floor. He finally understood what An Xiaoyan meant.

What’s lost will never return.

By the time a weary Gu Jun finally made it home, all the had consignments arrived. The pets occupied the living room and the luggage was already packed by the moving company.

Chen Chen placed all the data sheets in front of Gu Jun. The Sheng Kong Group’s shares had been sold out secretly, and Gu Jun’s assets had been cleaned up.

“Your immovable properties include the villa in A City, five cars, six sets of real estate, some foreign securities, the rest are in the bank’s financial products and deposits.”

“Okay, I want to compete with the Gu Group.”

“Aren’t you part of the Gu Group?”

“Chen Chen, you’ve been with me for so many years and know quite a lot about the Gu Group. You should also know about the power in old Mr. Gu’s hands. I plan to leave the Gu family completely, even if it means that I have to become a pauper in the future.”

When he was elected as the chairman of the Gu Group, he needed to sign a work agreement which stated that as long he must accomplish a certain amount of achievements before he could obtain personal freedom. In the past, he thought he could accomplish everything easily and get what he wanted – Love and career to be both fruitful. In fact, he could not do both. On the other hand, he had underestimated the board of directors. The entirety of his burdens had accumulated together and made him unable to lift his head at all.

“Do you really want to do that?”

“Do you know what woke me up? It’s a slap in the face from An Xiaoyan. He’s such a kind man yet he was so decisive in slapping me. I can finally see my inner self clearly now. When a storm really comes, I must be the first to stand up and face it, instead of hiding under the thatched hut. I’ll give you your salary for this year in advance. When the lawsuit begins, there may be no money left. And, remember to lodge an appeal.”

Old Mr. Gu was in slight disbelief when he received the appeal letter. He knew the character of his son very well. How could his son be willing to fight the whole Gu Group? What was wrong with marrying Xiu Yijian? Did An Xiaoyan really charm him?

Let’s see if he can move forward with nothing to his name.

“Reject the appeal. Reply saying that the legal measures will be skipped but compensation must be made accordingly.”

The faxed documents soon arrived. The cost of breaking a contract was made up of a countless number of zeroes. Chen Chen counted them several times before he could see clearly. What was more; Gu Jun did not have that much money.

“You are short of twenty million dollars.”

Why was it so unfortunate that he was short of this sum of money? Old Mr. Gu had most probably cut him some slack and calculated the amount of money according to the amount of assets he had.

“When is the date of payment?”

“September 15th. If it is not paid before September 15th, the contract will still stand, and you will have to marry Xiu Yijian immediately and pay 100 million dollars in compensation.”

“Alright, I got it.”

There was still a long time to go before September 15. Old Mr. Gu was pushing his son into a corner. He would not allow his son to be with a man, so he had to force him to obey.

Twenty million dollars was not a small sum, and no one would dare to lend him such a large sum of money. He had offended quite a number of people in the business circle and did not have any childhood buddies. As for Chen Chen, the salary that he received was too little as compared to the amount of hard work he had put in all these years.

Visiting the island again, Guo Guo remembered this place as the place he had seen Uncle An. “Daddy, when are we going to see Uncle An? I miss him so much.”

Gu Jun touched his son’s face. “Guo Guo, you must remember, at all times, other than your daddy, Uncle An is the closest person to you. You can look for him if something happens.”

“Hmm, Daddy you said before that Uncle An is the closest person to Guo Guo. But Daddy… Uncle An lives there. Why aren’t we going there?” Guo Guo was referring to the green roof not far away. It was indeed the place where An Xiaoyan lived. When he bought this small house, his intention was to be able to see An Xiaoyan watering the plants at the roof garden.

“We will visit him after some time.”

“No, Guo Guo is going now. Fifth Dumpling was taken away by Uncle. Guo Guo is going to see Fifth Dumpling.”

“Son, Uncle An is very busy now, we can’t go over.”

“Hmph, Daddy is a liar!” Guo Guo dragged Gu Jun’s hand to go outside. Gu Jun had no choice but to follow him.