CH 86

Gu Xie sat at the head of the conference table. There were a total of seven or eight people sitting on either side of him, all of them in pressed suits and leather shoes. They either had a laptop in front of them, or they had a legal pad and fountain pen. A young man was standing next to the projection screen. He was explaining his project proposal, and the others quietly listened. Every now and then, someone would put forth their own opinions.

The meeting was about halfway through when the door suddenly opened. The young man that was currently presenting paused. The assistant braved the stares from everyone else in the room and went up to Gu Xie. 

“Your cell phone.”

Gu Xie stood up without any hesitation. He addressed the others.

“Give me five minutes.”

Like a pack of wolves without their leader, they all gave each other a look and started quietly talking among themselves. 

“I thought the boss didn’t pick up his phone during meetings.”

“It’s not that he won’t pick up the phone during meetings, but he only answers calls from his mother. His mother just doesn’t call him very often is all. Apparently, the boss calls her pretty regularly.”

The man’s eyes widened with surprise. He looked at his colleague for a long time before he finally spoke.

“That’s a little hard to imagine.”

Gu Xie‘s name sounded like that of a rebellious youth. In reality, Gu Xie was a tall and well-built man. He was 190 centimeters tall. He had an excellent figure as well, a lean waist and wide shoulders. His muscles could vaguely be seen even from under the layers of his suit jacket.

This tough looking guy turned out to be the kind of person to call his mother on a regular basis.

At the same time, Gu Xie had quickly walked into an empty conference room nearby.

“Hello? Did you already return to China? Why didn’t you tell me?” 

There was a woman on the other end of the call.

“Woofie is about to give birth. I’m a little worried, so I came back to check up on her. Have you been busy with work recently?”

“No, things are wrapping up over here. I’ll be able to go home tonight. Where’s Dad? Why did you come back by yourself?”

The woman seemed a little annoyed. 

“Oh, him. He’s still overseas. He insisted on dragging me off to do physical therapy. It’s not like I’m sick or anything, I’m perfectly healthy, so I told him to go do it by himself.”

Gu Xie spoke patiently with her.

“If you don’t want to do it, you can just tell him. Dad will listen to you. We’re both going to get worried if you run off like this.”

“I know, I know, I won’t talk about it anymore. I’m almost home. I’m tired, so I’ll be taking a nap.” 

After hanging up the phone, Gu Xie handed it back to the assistant.

“You can cancel the plane ticket for tonight. Find a way to push back my schedule for the next two days. Give my father a call while you’re at it. Let him know that my mother came back on her own so that he doesn’t worry.”

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Gu Qingchi had just started to learn how to cook not too long ago. He wasn’t very proficient at using kitchen utensils. He clumsily fried an egg for himself and boiled some broccoli. Finally, he poured up a glass of milk and checked off the second item on the schedule.

Over the course of the day, he checked off several more items, one after another, and there was only one more item left. Gu Qingchi thought about it for a bit. It didn’t take very long before he decided to go to the supermarket. He didn’t have very many groceries left in the refrigerator. He was running out of cat kibble as well.

There was a large supermarket right next to his neighborhood. Gu Qingchi first went for a few bags of dry cat food and several cans of wet cat food. Only after doing so did he go shopping for his own groceries. 

The supermarket was currently holding a big sale. There were a lot of elderly residents in the nearby community. Many people were crowded in the produce aisle. Most of them were elderly grandmas and grandpas.

Gu Qingchi was dressed in casual clothing, but they had all been matched by a professional stylist. His clothing’s pattern and style had a lot of personality. He was also tall. He really stood out among a crowd of frumpy old folks, yet he never seemed to realize this himself. He felt like he was safe so long as he was wearing a mask. He mingled into the crowd fairly naturally and moved along with the flow of people.

Outside the supermarket, a woman was leaning back into her car seat. There were several drinks, as well as a plate of delicate little cakes, on the table next to her. She looked like an older woman. There were faint wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. However, if she were to stand next to a young woman, everyone’s eyes would definitely still be on her.

Her age had not become her flaw. Her every move had a unique sort of bearing to it, which was particularly poignant. Her skin was excellent, and her makeup was fitting. It could be seen that she was accustomed to living a life of luxury, but, for some reason, she looked a little haggard. There always seemed to be a sense of sadness lingering upon her features. 

She rubbed her temples and instructed the driver.

“Xiao Wang, go buy some Coca-Cola. Xiao Xie’s coming home today. He’ll definitely be asking for cola chicken wings when he gets back. If he finds out that we didn’t make any, he’s going to start pouting again. Honestly, he’s the only reason we even have cola at home.”

The driver didn’t tell her that the Xiao Xie she was referring to had, under his father’s guidance, become the powerful and decisive head of the family. He also didn’t tell her that Xiao Xie hadn’t fussed over cola chicken for a long time now.

“Yes, Mrs. Gu.” 

The driver had just unbuckled his seat belt. Before he’d even gotten out of the car, she spoke up again.

“Could you also buy some—”

She suddenly paused. What does she need to buy? Who’s she buying it for? An inexplicable sense of anxiety washed over her. She clutched at her chest and began gasping for breath.

“Mrs. Gu!” 

The driver quickly turned around. He didn’t even have the time to walk around to the back seat. He simply stood up and retrieved a bottle of medicine from the refrigerator in the car.

However, Mrs. Gu waved him away. She remembered now. She needed to buy something for her child. She needed to buy something for Xiao Xie.

She slowly loosened her grip. Her breathing had pretty much returned to normal.

“I’m fine. I just forgot what it was I was going to buy for Xiao Xie. I’ll go in with you. It’s been a while since I’ve been to the supermarket. I might remember what it is when I see it.” 

The driver hesitantly relented. Still, he kept the bottle of medicine in his coat pocket.

Mrs. Gu often liked to clean out these luxury department stores, a group of people carrying out her bidding. She was just as imposing at the supermarket. The driver was dressed neatly in a suit and white gloves. He pushed a shopping cart, following behind her. They first bought the cola. Then, they started leisurely strolling through the store. The neat and tidy arrangement of goods was there for their choosing. Mrs. Gu found herself in a rather good mood.

“Ma’am, your phone.”

Mrs. Gu happily put down the bottle of juice in her hands. 

“It must be Xiao Xie. I’m guessing he just got home and found out that I wasn’t there. He’s definitely going to start rushing me to head home. Gosh, this kid is so spoiled. I’ll leave the shopping for another time. Let’s head home.”

Gu Xie secretly sighed on the other side of the phone. He’d matured pretty early. He’d also been taught by his father to always take care of his mother. He’d never been the type to act spoiled, and he would never rush her.

He subconsciously softened his voice. He didn’t refute her. Rather, he played along.

“Yes, Mom. Be careful on the way home.” 

Mrs. Gu was a little huffy.

“I got it, I got it. I bought Coca-Cola. When we get back, I’ll make your favorite cola chicken wings.”

“Xiao Xie is becoming more and more serious. You were clearly such a crybaby as a kid. Whenever you fell down, you would cry and ask me for a hug. You were so cute back then.”

Mrs. Gu found herself getting a little angry as she spoke. 

“It’s all your father’s fault. He just had to have you follow in his footsteps. Ever since then, your personality’s become more and more like that of a little old man. Xiao Xie clearly likes to play piano with Mom. You were also pretty good at the violin when you were little.”

“It’s my bad.”

Gu Xie was agreeing on the surface, but he was secretly refuting it in his heart.

He did like to eat cola chicken wings, but he wasn’t the type to cry and act spoiled with his mother. Gu Xie was made from the same mold as his father. Crying to his mother over a fall wasn’t something he would do, not even as a child. 

Mrs. Gu didn’t mean to tease Gu Xie. She truly believed that her child liked to act coquettishly, liked to eat snacks, and had an outstanding talent for the arts. Mrs. Gu herself had studied under a well-known pianist. In fact, she had been incredibly outstanding as a student and had quite a reputation. If it wasn’t for everything that had happened a few years ago, she would’ve already made a name for herself by now.

When she was younger, she’d been spoiled by her family. When she grew up, she was spoiled by her husband. She’d never suffered the slightest grievance. After she got married, there were servants to do the cooking and housework, and she had her husband and a nanny to help with childcare. She lived without a single care in the world.

At least, that was what it should’ve been like, but artists always seemed to have delicate nerves and sensitive souls.

Even with all the love and care that her family gave her, after the loss of her second child, her fragile nerves had completely collapsed. She spent each and every day in tears. She’d even imagined a child, a beautiful and obedient child who liked to act cute. 

However, in reality, that child had died right after he was born. She’d never even seen the child. She’d never even spent a full day with the child.

Gu Xie could empathize with the pain of losing a child, but his mother had been engulfed in this pain for a very long time. Even after everyone else had walked out of the shadow of this tragedy, Mrs. Gu still refused to accept this reality. Even to this very day, she refused to accept it.

Gu Xie couldn’t really empathize with this. Even when he’d been informed that his baby brother was gone, he hadn’t really felt anything. It may have been that he was simply too young at the time to understand the true meaning of death. All he remembered was his mother, weeping with grief. During that state of hysteria, she would cry for him to play piano, she would hug him tightly in her arms. The atmosphere at home had been so dismal that he could hardly breathe. That was what he had the deepest impression of.

Over the years, Gu Xie and his father had been carefully taking care of his mother, and she gradually started to improve. She no longer spent her days crying. Due to the pain of losing her child, she ended up forgetting about her second child’s premature death entirely. She would still misremember things every now and then, but, compared to her previous condition, she was doing considerably well now. 

Everyone pretended that nothing had happened. Everyone refrained from touching on this wound, this taboo.

However, Mrs. Gu ended up placing all the motherly love that had nowhere to go upon Gu Xie. Gu Xie would be reminded from time to time that he once had a younger brother. If that brother of his had been able to grow up safe and sound, he would have been a beautiful and coquettish child.

Sometimes, the details that Mrs. Gu conjured up were incredibly specific. They were so specific that Gu Xie almost found himself believing that this cherished younger brother of his really did exist.

Sometimes, Gu Xie would wonder, if he’d actually had this younger brother torn away from him, if he’d actually gotten to know this younger brother of his, whether he would’ve fallen apart the same way his mother did. 

When he thought of it in this way, he slowly came to understand his mother’s collapse. She had spent ten months with that child, day in and day out, but the little life that she’d been so looking forward to had suddenly disappeared. Coupled with her frail condition after childbirth, she had nearly gone insane.

As a result, Gu Xie paid even more attention to his mother, almost to the point of paranoia.

Humans were far too fragile, just like the little brother he had never gotten to meet. Before he’d even had the chance to open up his leaves to the sun, he had already withered away.

Mrs. Gu seemed to have finally finished complaining and cheered up once more. She casually placed the beverage she was holding in her shopping cart. 

“Xiao Xie, wait for us at home, okay? We’ll bring the cola home and make your favorite cola chicken wings.”

Gu Xie agreed. Then, he continued.

“Dad’s flight will arrive tomorrow. Don’t do this next time. Dad’s really worried about you. He just told me that you haven’t been answering his calls.”

“I know. I have Xiao Wang with me. He’s got everything handled. There’s a reason why I don’t pick up his calls. If I do, he’s going to be nagging me nonstop. I don’t like listening to him go on and on about this—” 

Mrs. Gu’s gaze unconsciously scanned over the crowd and suddenly stopped.

Her eyes fixed upon a point in the crowd. Her hand slowly dropped, and she let go of the phone.

All Gu Xie could hear was the sound of a clatter. His heart rose to his throat. He raised his voice.

“Hello? What’s going on? What happened?” 

After a while, there was some more sound coming from the phone. It was the sound of the shopping cart, as well as the voice of the driver. He sounded a little uncertain.

“Mrs. Gu suddenly ran over to the produce aisle. I think she caught sight of an acquaintance?”

“Alright. Xiao Wang, thank you for taking care of her. Don’t hang up the phone just yet. I’m heading over there right now.”

Gu Xie had already started up the car as he was speaking and was making his way out of the garage. He had dealt with situations like this many times over the years, especially in the past. At that time, Mrs. Gu’s condition had been at its worst. She would often be perfectly fine one second and absolutely hysterical the next. Mrs. Gu didn’t trust other people. She would only be able to relax in the presence of Mr. Gu. He, of course, would never hand her off to someone else. However, there were still limits to how much time and energy he had. Gu Xie started to help him take care of his mother very early on. 

Mrs. Gu had walked too quickly. Her heels wobbled, and she fell forward. She subconsciously grabbed the sleeve of the person in front of her.

The other party had also instinctively turned around to support her.

The call was still connected. Xiao Wang followed quite closely behind Mrs. Gu. Despite the chaotic background noise, Gu Xie could still make out Mrs. Gu’s voice.

“Do I know you? Do you know me?” 

The other person was quiet for a moment. Finally, there was the sound of a crisp, slightly raspy, voice. It was like a sudden downpour of cold rain on a sultry summer afternoon.

“I don’t know you, ma’am.”