Chapter 6 Don't Regret

Gu Qiuyue hurried to Mr. Tang's yard, asked where Mr. Tang was, and then rushed to the study without caring about anything else.

Mr. Tang's study is simple and solemn. Images of great men and maps are hung on the walls, and some documents waiting to be processed are piled on the desk. At this moment, the energetic old man is writing something at his desk.

At this moment, the study door was slammed open, and Mr. Tang's displeased voice was the first to sound, "Xiao Wu, what are you..."

When he saw that it was Gu Qiuyue who came in with a pale face, his words of blame stopped abruptly. His eyes fell on the back of her hand which was still bloody, and he asked in astonishment: "Qiuyue, what happened?"

Gu Qiuyue's mind was in a mess. She glanced at the sealed letter on Mr. Tang's desk. Her lips trembled slightly, but no sound came out.

Mr. Tang followed her gaze to the envelope, took it in his hand, and a kind smile appeared on his face. "With this, you don't have to go back to the countryside anymore. Tomorrow..."

Before he could finish his words, he felt a gust of wind blowing past him, and the recommendation letter he had just written was in Gu Qiuyue's hands.

"You girl, why are you so anxious..." Before the three words "what are you doing" came out, Mr. Tang's smile froze on his face. He saw Gu Qiuyue took the match on the table, lit it, and burned a corner of the recommendation letter.

"Gu Qiuyue! Are you crazy?" Old Tang subconsciously tried to snatch the letter from Gu Qiuyue's hand, but she dodged him as she was on guard.

Elder Tang watched helplessly as the recommendation letter he had just written quickly turned to ashes, and was finally thrown to the ground and trampled out. It was like his good intentions were being trampled upon by someone close to him. He felt his vision go black. He supported himself on the edge of the table with one hand, patted his chest with the other, and stared at Gu Qiuyue, "You'd better give me a reasonable explanation!"

"I..." Gu Qiuyue was speechless. What was she saying? That she had actually traveled through a book? That if this letter was sent, it wouldn't be long before Elder Tang would die of illness on the frontier farm? Even if she said that, no one would believe her.

Gu Qiuyue stood stiffly opposite Mr. Tang, enduring the anger emanating from him, but she bit her lip and refused to say a word.

Seeing Gu Qiuyue like this, Old Tang laughed in anger: "Okay, okay! You don't want to tell me, right? Then get out of here and go back to the countryside immediately. Don't show up in front of me again!"

"Grandpa Tang..." Gu Qiuyue felt very aggrieved and reached out to help Grandpa Tang sit down.

Mr. Tang shook her hand off. "Don't call me that. I can't stand it! Xiao Wu! Xiao Wu!"

Wu Cheng noticed the tense atmosphere in the room as he entered. Just as he was about to speak, Xie Shiyu, who had come in with him, quickly walked up to Elder Tang and said, "Mr. Tang, please sit down first and don't get angry."

Seeing this, Gu Qiuyue also poured a glass of water for Mr. Tang, "Grandpa Tang, it's my fault. Please don't be angry with me. Take care of yourself."

Old Tang turned around and didn't take the water she handed him. He told Wu Cheng, "Go buy her a ticket back home and let her go back to her hometown."

Wu Cheng was stunned. Didn't he say yesterday that he wanted to keep Comrade Gu in the city and even wrote a letter of recommendation? Why now...

"Why, now I can't order you around?" Old Tang slammed the table and yelled at Wu Cheng, "Go now!"

Wu Cheng had never seen Mr. Tang lose his temper so much, and he couldn't help but look at Gu Qiuyue with a reproachful look: "Comrade Gu, how could you make Mr. Tang so angry? Don't you know that he is worried about you? You! Alas!" He shook his head.

Seeing Mr. Tang like this, Gu Qiuyue felt extremely guilty, but she couldn't tell the truth. She was so anxious that she almost cried: "Grandpa Tang, please believe that I have my reasons for doing this. I am very grateful that you can help me find a job to stay in the city, but..." She stopped talking.

Mr. Tang, who was just about to listen carefully to Gu Qiuyue's "difficulties", saw that she was unwilling to continue, snorted coldly, and turned his head away again.

The air in the room seemed to freeze all of a sudden.

Xie Shiyu, who followed in, finally figured out what was going on. But when he thought of Gu Qiuyue rushing to the compound desperately after waking up in the hospital, for some reason, he actually believed that she might really have some unspeakable difficulties.

"Tang Lao," Xie Shiyu's voice was low and gentle, as if carrying some kind of magical power, calming Tang Lao's anger. "Please don't be angry yet. Comrade Gu Qiuyue may have her concerns, but she just didn't express them well at the moment."

"What can she care about..." Before Mr. Tang finished his last word, he was interrupted by Xie Shiyu again.

He took a half step toward Elder Tang and lowered his voice, saying, "Elder Tang, you know the situation outside better than I do. The higher-ups have repeatedly demanded strict rectification of work discipline and a crackdown on unhealthy practices."

His fingertips tapped lightly on the table, as if ringing an invisible alarm bell. "Your every move will be infinitely magnified at this moment. A letter of recommendation written by you at this time will easily be targeted..."

Xie Shiyu's words were like a cold and precise scalpel, instantly cutting open Mr. Tang's mind, which was clouded by anger and care. The anger on the old man's face froze, then quickly faded away, replaced by a deep solemnity and suspicion.

His eyes behind the glasses flickered as he looked at the letter of recommendation that Gu Qiuyue had burned to ashes. Complex emotions surged in his cloudy eyes - fear, awakening, and a hint of fatigue from being drenched in cold water by reality.

At some point, it started to rain heavily outside, and the raindrops hit the window frames, making the atmosphere in the house depressing again.

Finally, Elder Tang let out a long, deep sigh. That sigh seemed to lift a heavy burden, yet it was filled with a sense of powerlessness. He leaned back in his chair somewhat dejectedly, waved his hand, and said in a hoarse and tired voice, "Forget it... Forget it... Shi Yu, you're right."

He turned his gaze to Gu Qiuyue again, "Qiuyue, this is your own choice, don't regret it." After saying that, without waiting for her to speak, he waved at her, "You all go out, I want to be alone for a while."

When Gu Qiuyue and Xie Shiyu walked out of the study, it was raining heavily outside. Wu Cheng invited them to wait until the rain was lighter before leaving.

As Gu Qiuyue and Xie Shiyu sat down in the living room, she gazed at the rain and fog outside with a bewildered expression. In the plot, Old Tang's fate had changed, but what about her? Was she really going to return to the countryside? Forced to marry that scoundrel, endure the torture of his family, and finally die on a winter's night?

No! That was the fate of the original character in the book, not the fate of Miss Gu!

Her gaze turned to Xie Shiyu, who was sitting opposite her. He was a young and handsome officer. Although he was not in uniform, his aura was not something that ordinary people could possess. He must be an excellent soldier. Moreover, he was acquainted with her adopted brother. She rolled her eyes and asked, "Captain Xie, can I ask you a few questions?"

Xie Shiyu glanced at her and nodded.