CH 87

Gu Qingchi was much taller than Mrs. Gu. He was currently leaning down in order to better speak with her. His hair was softly scattered along the back of his neck. Mrs. Gu kept her eyes glued on Gu Qingchi. It was almost as if she were trying to pierce through his mask. She was using quite a bit of force in her hands. Gu Qingchi didn’t say anything either. He avoided her gaze and looked down at the floor. He seemed a little uneasy.

After a while, Gu Qingchi tried to pull back his hand but without success. He spoke up to remind her. 

“Ma’am.”

Mrs. Gu still wouldn’t let go. She kept a tight grip on Gu Qingchi’s sleeve. It was almost as if she had finally recovered some long-lost treasure. She tried her best to conceal her excitement and gave him a smile.

“Don’t be afraid. I don’t mean any harm.”

She couldn’t take her eyes off Gu Qingchi. She started chattering on and on, one question after another. 

“Do you live around here? Do you have family? Can you leave your phone number with me?”

It was only once the words came out of her mouth that she realized how inappropriate it was. She sounded crazy, so she nervously appended.

“No, no, no. I was speaking nonsense just now. You don’t need to answer me.”

However, she quickly added another sentence.

“Still, would you be able to give me your phone number? What’s that app young people use these days? WeChat? You could give me that as well.”

Gu Qingchi bowed his head and was silent for a while. He was leaning down. His hair covered most of his face, and he was also wearing a mask. All that could be seen of his face was his beautiful jawline.

Suddenly, Gu Qingchi moved. He pulled out his mobile phone and lowered his head. He was pushing the shopping cart with one hand. He had such a tight grip on the shopping cart handle that his knuckles had turned white.

He typed on his cell phone with one hand. Then, he turned the phone towards Mrs. Gu. In the notes app, he had typed out his phone number and WeChat ID. 

Mrs. Gu hurriedly called out for Xiao Wang. She nearly stomped her feet in agitation.

“Hurry, hurry, hurry, bring me my phone.”

Xiao Wang quickly handed her the phone. The screen was still displaying the call in session. Mrs. Gu swiftly hung up.

She filled in the contact information on her cell phone according to the number written in the notes app. She even double-checked the information several times. 

She also installed WeChat and registered a WeChat account right then and there with the help of Gu Qingchi. Once she saw that he’d successfully been added to her friends list, she finally felt a little more at ease.

Gu Qingchi’s indifference didn’t seem to put her off in the slightest. She held onto his hand and spoke affectionately with him.

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Gu Qingchi nodded his head in response. Then, he silently moved to remove the noodles from his cart.

Mrs. Gu helped him with it. She spoke enthusiastically.

“You can leave these with me for now. I’ll put the instant noodles back, so you don’t need to worry about a thing.”

Then, she suddenly seemed to have realized something. She nervously peeked at Gu Qingchi. 

“I’m meddling, aren’t I? Do you think I’m too long-winded? I’m not usually this annoying.”

Gu Qingchi didn’t look at her, simply staring at the shopping cart. He shook his head upon hearing this.

Mrs. Gu was still a little uneasy. She didn’t say anything even when she saw the bottles of wine in the shopping cart. Once the very last carton of cup noodles was removed from the shopping cart, she strove to find something to say once more. She pointed at a pack of eggplants in the shopping cart and spoke.

“Do you like eggplants? My housekeeper, Mrs. Wang, makes these amazing eggplants.” 

“You haven’t eaten yet, right? My place is pretty close to here. Would you like to try Mrs. Wang’s cooking? I’ll let her know to make food that you’d like. It’s okay if you don’t want to. I’m not a bad person. We could also spend some time elsewhere. I know a really good restaurant near here.”

Gu Qingchi declined. Mrs. Gu was actually rather down about it for quite a bit.

The groceries that she’d just picked out had been completely forgotten about. Instead, Mrs. Gu accompanied Gu Qingchi all the way to check out. Once they exited the supermarket, Mrs. Gu looked worriedly at the large bag of items that Gu Qingchi was holding.

“Is it heavy? I’ll have Xiao Wang send you back. How will you be able to carry all of that?” 

She stood by the entrance of the supermarket for a long time. Even when she could no longer see Gu Qingchi, she kept standing there, watching.

Gu Xie arrived to see Mrs. Gu standing by the door, staring blankly into the distance. He took off his coat and softened his voice, speaking cautiously with her.

“Mom, why are you standing out here? It’s too cold. Let’s go home.”

Mrs. Gu didn’t move. She simply muttered to herself. 

“That’s right. It’s so cold, yet he was dressed so lightly.”

By the time they got home, it was already eleven o’clock in the evening. Mrs. Gu was clearly a little absentminded. Her responses were all rather perfunctory.

The car had just come to a stop when the man by the door rushed over. He was tall and well built. His appearance was somewhat similar to that of Gu Xie. He was also dressed in a well fitted suit. However, he was clearly older and more imposing.

Gu Xie, who had been driving, got out of the car first. Gu Xie wasn’t at all like his mother, but he was almost identical to his father. It wasn’t just their appearances that were similar. It was also their dignified mannerisms and their near identical personalities. The only difference was that the man was much, much more imposing than Gu Xie. 

Gu Xie nodded at the man, and the man subtly nodded back at him as well. They didn’t need to say anything to each other. The two of them had a tacit understanding. The man opened the car door for Mrs. Gu. Then, he placed his hand on top of the car door. Once his eyes landed inside the car, his gaze instantly softened. All he had in his eyes was Mrs. Gu.

Mrs. Gu seemed to be in a bit of a daze, but he didn’t rush her. He just waited patiently. When she came back to her senses, she was a little surprised to see Mr. Gu.

“Wasn’t the earliest flight supposed to be tomorrow morning? How did you get back so quickly?”

Even though Mrs. Gu had left him behind overseas, Mr. Gu wasn’t angry at all. He simply answered Mrs. Gu’s question. 

“I had the private jet diverted.”

He then changed the topic.

“You haven’t eaten yet, right? I made pig’s trotter soup. Mrs. Wang also left a few dishes for you. It’s all ready-made. I’ve already had someone heat it up for you, so the food’s ready whenever you are.”

Mrs. Gu placed her hand on his forearm and quietly followed him into the villa. She seemed a little anxious. 

“I had a dream yesterday. I dreamed of this beautiful child, a boy as lovely as a rose. He wore a newsboy cap, a white shirt, and a pair of overalls. He was also holding a bouquet of flowers. As soon as he saw me, he ran towards me through the garden and gave me a hug.”

Mr. Gu quietly listened. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pondered over what she’d said with a serious expression on his face.

“If I recall correctly, Gu Xie had a pair of overalls when he was a kid. It must’ve been Gu Xie.”

Mrs. Gu stopped. She turned her head to look at Gu Xie. Then, she chuckled. 

“Gu Xie wasn’t that good-looking as a kid.”

She looked at Gu Xie’s features. She observed him very carefully and subconsciously shook her head, the curls before her chest swaying slightly. The rims of her eyes grew red. Mr. Gu and Gu Xie both stood where they were, watching her. Her expression suddenly turned cold. The way she looked at Gu Xie could even be described as frosty.

When she turned around, the jacket on her shoulders fluttered behind her. She brushed past the father and son pair.

“Where’s Mrs. Wang? Is she free tonight? I want to learn how to make stewed eggplant.” 

Mr. Gu quickly followed after her and caught the coat that was about to fall off of her shoulders. He didn’t mind her sudden change in mood. Mr. Gu and Gu Xie had gotten used to Mrs. Gu’s sudden mood swings over the years. These mood swings were a huge improvement compared to the complete and utter collapse that she had suffered from several years ago. Even so, the knife cabinet was kept locked, the scissors in the medicine cabinet were removed, every single bandage in the house was perforated for easy tearing, and the vases had all been stored away.

Mr. Gu reassured her.

“Don’t be in such a rush. We’ll talk about it after dinner. Mrs. Wang’s been pretty free these days, so I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to teach you.”

Mr. Gu took Mrs. Gu’s shoulders into his arms and gave Gu Xie a look. Gu Xie nodded knowingly. He dropped behind them and went to go look for Xiao Wang. He needed to find out what the “trigger” had been for this particular mood swing and give that information to the doctor. Mrs. Gu hadn’t mentioned her second child in a long time now. 

Gu Xie had just finished informing the doctor of the situation when Mr. Gu showed up.

Mr. Gu took the phone from him and began speaking with the doctor.

“Yes. She had another dream. She dreamed of a little boy. He held a bouquet of roses and gave them to her.”

“I personally believe that Mrs. Gu may be slowly recovering her memories. According to the information provided by Gu Xie, it might have something to do with the person that Mrs. Gu met at the supermarket. You’ll need to pay attention to this person. We need to determine what it is about this person that may have caused this sudden change.” 

There was the sound of rustling paper coming from the other side of the phone. The doctor then continued.

“As for the boy with the roses, he is clearly meant to represent your second child. Mrs. Gu probably holds very strong feelings about him.

However, my previous records indicate that Mrs. Gu believed her second child would be a girl and that Mrs. Gu didn’t know that the child who had died was a boy. Her dream was about a boy, not a girl, which is contrary to what she should have known. This is very puzzling to me. I’m going to have to discuss this further with the rest of the team to see if the treatment plan should be adjusted.”

Mr. Gu and Gu Xie were standing on the balcony. Both of them were listening to the phone call with grave expressions on their faces. If they had been at the company, the assistant would’ve warned the rest of the employees to be on their very best behavior. It wasn’t until Mrs. Gu called for them that they hung up the phone. They walked into the kitchen, one after another, waiting for her orders. 

⁂

Gu Qingchi went home like he always did. He didn’t turn on the lights. The light from outside was even brighter than the moonlight. The entire room could clearly be seen. The full shopping bag was casually placed by the door, and the coat was haphazardly thrown onto the sofa. The first thing he did when he got home was close the curtains in the room. The fairly well-lit room suddenly went dark.

He sat on the sofa for a long time before remembering to pull out his cell phone. He checked off the next task on the schedule, which was to go outside once a day.

Then, the phone slipped from his hand and landed on the carpet. The screen remained lit for a while before turning off on its own. Gu Qingchi fell back against the sofa. 

He had his face pressed against the sofa. He felt like he was thinking too much, too hard, yet, at the same time, he felt like he wasn’t thinking about anything at all.

Gu Qingchi curled himself up into a ball. At this moment, the sofa felt too big and too wide. His lips silently opened and closed. Under the faint moonlight, his entire person seemed to give off an utterly confused yet extremely fragile sort of beauty.

After a while, a nearly inaudible sigh sounded through the darkness.

“Mom.”