【005】 Gu Yinyin

More haste, less speed. Gu Juan had no plans to practice during the last two days of National Day. He had just turned on his computer to go online when he heard his phone ring. He glanced at the caller ID: Gu Yinyin.

Gu Yinyin is the daughter of Gu Juan's uncle, Gu Xiangfu, and his aunt, Liu Guofang. After Gu Juan's mother passed away, his grandmother, Old Lady Gu, became his guardian, but only legally. Living with her eldest son, Old Lady Gu felt that Gu Juan was unsafe. Both Gu Xiangfu and Liu Guofang considered him a burden. His cousin, Gu Haojie, had disliked Gu Juan since childhood and often bullied him. Consequently, Old Lady Gu did not take the then-twelve-year-old Gu Juan to live with her eldest son. Instead, she asked Liu Guofang to teach him how to cook and do laundry. The burns on Gu Juan's chest were caused by Liu Guofang's manipulation of his clumsiness while teaching him to cook.

After Gu Juan learned to cook, Gu Xiangfu's family barely paid any attention to him, only calling during holidays. Only Gu Yinyin genuinely cared for Gu Juan. Gu Yinyin and Gu Haojie were twins, Gu Yinyin eight minutes younger than Gu Haojie. Both were eight months older than Gu Juan. Twins were considered auspicious, and their births were a source of envy among relatives and friends. However, the old lady, Gu Xiangfu, and Liu Guofang favored boys over girls, often neglecting Gu Yinyin. This in turn made Gu Yinyin grow closer to Gu Juan, often secretly bringing snacks or meat dishes from home for him.

Less than six months after Gu Juan's mother passed away, Gu Xiangfu and his family moved out of the residential complex. Their new home was over a forty-minute drive from Xingfu Community. Contact with Gu Juan became rare, with the exception of a phone call during Chinese New Year to invite her to celebrate with them. But Gu Juan knew they didn't welcome her, so she never went. Gu Juan didn't harbor any resentment or hatred towards Old Lady Gu, Gu Xiangfu, Liu Guofang, and Gu Haojie; she simply considered them strangers.

Gu Yinyin is the one who truly cares for Gu Juan, the only person he cares about. Unfortunately, Gu Yinyin's fate in her previous life was not good. She had no academic talent and failed the college entrance exam, only scoring high enough to get into a third-rate university. Neither Gu Xiangfu nor Liu Guofang supported her further studies, so she had to work away from home. She met a scumbag man, married a wicked woman, and suffered frequent domestic violence from her husband. She committed suicide during the first semester of Gu Juan's junior year.

In this life, Gu Juan will not let such a tragedy happen.

Gu Juan shook his head to dispel the memories and answered the phone.

"Yin Yin?"

"Call me sister!" A fake annoyed voice came from the phone, "Why did you take so long to answer the phone?"

Gu Juan lied, "I just fell asleep. What do you want from me?"

"I'm at the gate of the community now, come out quickly, I'll treat you to a meal."

Gu Juan was touched. This had happened before in her past life. Gu Yinyin had thought he was skipping meals to save money, so she'd treated him to a meal. Gu Xiangfu and Liu Guofang rarely gave her pocket money, so one could imagine how long it had taken her to save enough for this meal.

Gu Juan's mind raced quickly, and he came up with an idea. "Okay, I'll come right down."

He immediately cast a spell to refresh his body and cleaned himself up, changed into a clean set of clothes, took his cell phone, wallet and keys and went out. When he arrived at the gate of the community, he saw Gu Yinyin standing under a tree. When she saw him, she raised her lips and smiled and waved.

Gu Yinyin, like Gu Juan and Gu Haojie, was a senior in high school, attending the same school but in different classes. Gu Juan and Gu Haojie were in science classes, while Gu Yinyin was in liberal arts. Her features were regular, but she was a bit overweight, giving her a plain appearance. She had a few acne spots, wore a ponytail, and wore a hoodie over washed-out blue jeans.

She had been wearing the same coat and jeans for more than three years. Gu Juan saw this and felt a little pity for her.

"Have you grown taller?" Gu Yinyin took Gu Juan's arm and walked towards Nanhu Restaurant. She looked at Gu Juan with some surprise and felt that her brother had changed a lot, but she couldn't tell exactly what was different.

Gu Juan said vaguely: "Probably, I haven't measured it."

Nanhu Restaurant wasn't far away, only three or four minutes away. After sitting down at the table, Gu Yinyin picked up the menu and handed it to Gu Juan, saying proudly, "Order whatever you want."

Gu Juan pushed the menu to her and said, "You order, I'll treat you."

"If you say I'm treating you, then I'm treating you. Stop talking nonsense and hurry up. I'm hungry." Gu Yinyin rolled her eyes at him.

Gu Juan's expression straightened, and he whispered, "I'll treat you. The day before yesterday, I went to the supermarket to buy groceries and only had two dollars left. I bought a lottery ticket and won three thousand dollars."

"Is this true?" Gu Yinyin looked doubtful.

"There's no need to lie to you." Gu Juan remained calm, "Let's order."

Gu Yinyin thought about it and realized that her brother had never lied to her before, so she didn't doubt it and ordered a braised fish, a dish of mapo tofu, and a dish of spinach and egg soup. Gu Juan took the menu and added a dish of twice-cooked pork and a dish of Kung Pao chicken.

Gu Yinyin quickly stopped him, "We can't finish this much order."

"I have a big appetite." Gu Juan signaled the waiter to do as he was told.

Gu Yinyin had no choice but to let him do it.

When the dishes were served, Gu Juan ate heartily. Gu Yinyin's appetite was aroused by his appearance, so she stopped thinking about it and ate with relish. The two of them didn't care about not talking while eating or sleeping, and they chatted while eating.

Gu Yinyin was full after eating only one bowl of rice, and the rest of the meal was eaten by Gu Juan alone. Gu Yinyin then realized that when Gu Juan said he had a big appetite, he was not joking.

It was only twelve o'clock when they finished their meal. Gu Juan sent Gu Yinyin on the bus home, then turned around and got on another bus to go to the Huaguo Seedling Wholesale Market to buy some various fruit trees. On the way back, he went to the farmers' market to buy some vegetable seeds.

[I suddenly realized that the female characters in Mou Mou's previous works had very few roles, so this article has Gu Yinyin.]