Chapter 192 Who are you?

Shi Nianzhi: "..."

Is this chatterbox reliable?

Shi Nianzhi reached out to touch her phone.

Zhou He blinked. "Are you going to call my brother Yuan?"

Shi Nianzhi said coldly, "No, I'll call your advisor and have him change the person."

"No, please. Let's talk this out. I'm quite capable in my work."

Zhou He quickly snatched the phone from Shi Nianzhi's hand. As if he knew what Shi Nianzhi was unhappy about, he stood up, lifted his skirt, and stuffed Shi Nianzhi's phone into the pocket of his jeans.

Then he tossed his long hair and shook his head, "I'll go see the patient first, and then I'll talk to you about Brother Yuan later."

Zhou He's eyes swept over the huge villa. Although his family was well-off, he was still taken aback by the villa's luxury.

Gu Yuanyuan is indeed from a truly wealthy family.

Lu Jiunian sat by the floor-to-ceiling window, holding a toy car and lost in thought. He had been playing with the toy car, but then he seemed to get tired of it and stopped moving, remaining in a daze.

As Zhou He walked over, Lu Jiunian glanced at him. He looked indifferent, but he held the toy car tightly in his hand, as if afraid of it being taken away.

"You're just going to leave him like this? Give him a toy car and let him play by himself?"

Shi Nianzhi followed behind Zhou He, saying, "He really liked that car; he even slept with it in his arms."

Zhou He smiled, "Then you didn't give him anything else."

Shi Nianzhi: "..."

"He can't express himself or ask for anything right now. He basically likes whatever you give him. You can try letting him watch TV, give him new toys, or ideally, get him a pet, like an obedient dog or cat. These things are very effective in calming him down."

"I'll give it a try."

Shi Nianzhi called his assistant and asked him to buy a docile cat.

Zhou He observed Lu Jiunian, stroking his chin, "Do you think he can understand what you're saying?"

"cannot."

If she could understand it, Shi Nianzhi wouldn't have to be so mentally exhausted.

"Try talking to him."

Shi Nianzhi stood in front of Lu Jiunian and reached out his hand to him, "Get up."

Lu Jiunian did not respond.

Zhou He suggested, "Try calling his name."

"Lu Jiunian!"

The person on the ground did not react.

Zhou He suddenly laughed, "He does respond when you call his name; his ears twitch very slightly, but he ignores you. Or rather, subconsciously, he doesn't want to talk to you."

Shi Nianzhi pursed his thin lips and did not answer.

Staring at Lu Jiunian on the ground, he asked, "You mean he can understand me?"

"No, I just said he responds when you call his name."

Zhou He looked at Shi Nianzhi, and after a while said, "Can you tell me about your situation? I want to understand what happened so that we can formulate a plan."

Shi Nianzhi frowned, his eyes already showing obvious resistance.

"The one who tied the knot must untie it, and the one who cures the heart's ailment must cure the heart's ailment. Young Master Gu is so intelligent, surely he understands this principle?"

Zhou He patiently and persuasively persuaded him.

Shi Nianzhi looked at Lu Jiunian on the ground, then reached out and lifted him up.

He turned on the TV, found an animated show, and threw Lu Jiunian onto the sofa.

Lu Jiunian watched the TV, puzzled, then looked down and started fiddling with the toy car in his hand.

Shi Nianzhi said coldly, "Didn't you say you wanted him to watch cartoons?"

"Well, I suggested he watch TV, maybe he just doesn't like this cartoon."

Zhou He picked up the remote control on the table and changed the channel.

He tried several different people, but Lu Jiunian didn't react at all.

When he switched to two men kissing, Lu Jiunian suddenly raised his head and looked closely at the scene on the TV.

This is a period drama with a rather melodramatic plot, but the two male leads delivered solid performances, winning over a large number of die-hard fans who ship the two leads. Zhou He often sees GIFs posted by these fans on his WeChat Moments.

"So, you're interested in this..."

Zhou He put down the remote control, unsure of what to say for a moment.

Shi Nianzhi coldly took the remote control and turned off the TV.

Lu Jiunian turned his head innocently and glanced at Shi Nianzhi.

Zhou He responded with a sound of agreement, "He's finally showing interest, you should nurture it."

Shi Nianzhi turned and left, calling out to Zhou He, "You, come here."

"Okay!"

Zhou He thought that Shi Nianzhi had figured things out and wanted to tell him the whole story.

Unexpectedly, Shi Nianzhi called him aside and reached out to lift his skirt.

Zhou He was startled and didn't even have time to shout, "What are you doing? I sell my art, not my body!"

His cell phone, which originally belonged to Shi Nianzhi, was taken from his pocket.

Zhou He breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that the other party had no intention of taking advantage of him, he asked, "You don't need to call my supervisor. My supervisor only has me as his student right now, and there's no one else who can replace me."

You didn't expect this, did you? It was a forced sale!

Shi Nianzhi ignored Zhou He and dialed a number directly.

A pleasant voice came from the other end of the line soon after, "Uncle?"

Zhou He froze, leaning against the wall, his back instantly covered in sweat from the surge of adrenaline caused by tension.

His dark eyes were fixed on Shi Nianzhi's phone and never looked away, exuding such a strong possessiveness that he wished he could climb into the phone, climb onto the person speaking, and cling to them tightly until death.

Shi Nianzhi gave a very faint "hmm".

Gu Yuanyuan raised her voice, sounding somewhat pleased, "I heard Lu Jiunian went mad, is that true?"

Shi Nianzhi responded with a blank "Mm."

"I need to make time to go back, not for any other reason than to see Lu Jiunian looking like this now. I'm going to take pictures of it; it'll be enough to make me happy for the rest of my life!"

"What's so funny? Didn't your dad tell you about your family situation?"

"Uncle, you still have to say it. I really don't understand. Is Lu Jiunian, that piece of trash, really worth that much? That's in the hundreds of millions! Let alone hundreds of millions, Lu Jiunian isn't even worth a penny to me. Forget it, forget it, I'll stop talking if I say more."

Shi Nianzhi subtly remarked, "You have a younger brother now."

Gu Yuanyuan probably didn't hear her clearly at first, and asked very sincerely, "What?"

“You have a younger brother now. Your parents responded to the policy and had a second child. He is already seven months along.”

Gu Yuanyuan was clearly skeptical. "Huh?"

She let out a sound, followed by a long silence, before Gu Yuanyuan exploded, "Why didn't anyone tell me if I was the last to know? What kind of nonsense is this, giving me a little brat! If it were a sister, I could accept it, but why did I have to have a damn brother? I'm already this old and my mom gave birth to a brother, are you kidding me! I don't believe it, Uncle, you're lying to me again! I won't say anything bad about Lu Jiunian anymore, okay? Just keep spoiling him, my signal is bad, I'm hanging up!"

Gu Yuanyuan was absolutely furious.

If you have a younger brother, then you have a younger brother. What would it mean if you didn't tell him?

Oh, so what? So he's already been kicked out by Gu Dongxuan and Li Yuan?

How did a once-proud only son suddenly become a wild child outside?

Shi Nianzhi ignored Gu Yuanyuan's poor signal and said, "You'll know when you come back."

"I definitely have to go back!"

Gu Yuanyuan shouted loudly on the other end of the phone.

Zhou He's eyes lit up, and he opened his mouth to ask Gu Yuanyuan, "Brother Yuan, when are you coming back?"

Then Gu Yuanyuan said, "I'm also taking Su Hengyi back. I think it's been so long since I've been back that my family has forgotten about me, hasn't they? I was wondering why none of you called me. I thought..."

The signal is really bad!

"Zhou He has something to say to you."

Shi Nianzhi handed the phone to Zhou He.

Zhou He carefully took it, as if she were holding not a phone, but her boyfriend from her memories who was always quick to anger and needed to be pampered and coaxed.

Zhou He gripped the phone tightly with his knuckles, so hard that they turned slightly white.

He held his phone up to his face, smiling, but tears streamed down his red-rimmed eyes.

He tried to keep his voice calm as he called out, "Brother Yuan."

He wanted to ask, "Brother Yuan, you haven't even officially broken up with me, so how could you marry someone else? Do you know that's cheating?"

But the words stuck in his throat, and what came out was, "Brother Yuan, I heard you got married. Are you doing well?"

There was a long silence on Gu Yuanyuan's end.

Zhou He was terrified of this silence and quickly interjected, "Brother Yuan, if you're not doing well, then..."

Gu Yuanyuan suddenly spoke, her voice so unfamiliar and distant, "Who are you?"

"Smack—"

Shi Nianzhi's phone fell to the ground, ending the call.

Zhou He's face was covered in tears. After a while, he squatted on the ground, biting his lip to suppress his voice, but the sadness still came from his trembling shoulders and the sobs in his throat.

Shi Nianzhi squatted down, patted Zhou He on the shoulder, picked up his phone and left, leaving the heartbroken boy in front of him alone.

Whether it's him, Gu Yuanyuan, or Su Hengyi, they are all the same kind of people: too devoted and obsessive.

They hold on tightly to the people they love, even if it leaves them battered and bruised, but they find it troublesome to deal with those they don't love, and they are indifferent and don't want to give them even a chance.

Gu Yuanyuan's question, "Who are you?" is more powerful than countless "Stop bothering me."

It was as if we had never met.

The feelings that Zhou He thought he had suppressed deeply were, in Gu Yuanyuan's words, so insignificant, not even worth noting or remembering.

The assistant is usually quick, but it still took three hours to pick out the cat.

It didn't return until almost noon, carrying a cage with a big, fat orange cat inside.

Zhou He said goodbye to Shi Nianzhi, carrying his schoolbag, his eyes swollen from crying.

As he was leaving, Shi Nianzhi asked, "Will you come to our Gu family again in the future?"

Zhou He sniffed, his voice thick with nasal congestion, sounding somewhat pitiful. "Come on."

"Why?"

"I came to see a patient, not to date. My teacher told me to come, so I came."

"What else?"

“I want to see Brother Yuan one more time. I want to ask him in person if he really doesn’t recognize me anymore. All those sweet words he used to say to me, at least when he said them, were they ever serious for even a second?”

Shi Nianzhi asked casually, "What if he says no?"