37 Old House

Before leaving northern Xinjiang, they went to the Grand Bazaar in the provincial capital and bought many souvenirs with distinctive northern Xinjiang ethnic characteristics. Afterwards, they took a plane back to City A.

Xiao Wang drove his family of three back to Mantingfang.

After spending more than a week in the dry and hot northern Xinjiang, I found the air in City A to be too humid and I was quite unaccustomed to it.

The black panther greeted them warmly at the door, circling around their legs and whipping its tail so high it flew up.

He was touched and hugged by each of the three men before they stopped.

Gu Tingshen went home, took a shower, changed his clothes, and hurriedly went to the company.

Leaving behind so much work accumulated over such a long period, although some tasks can be handled remotely, there are still many things he needs to solve personally.

Li Qingyun's dark circles were almost as striking as the smoky eye makeup worn in nightclubs. Hearing that President Gu had finally returned, she was practically overjoyed and wanted to cry.

Great, he can finally catch his breath. Such a large corporation is too much for him to handle alone...

Ye Zhenzhen took a nap at home. After getting up, she distributed the gifts she had brought back and handed them to Uncle Li to give to everyone in the villa.

He was then picked up by someone sent by Song Chengcheng.

Uncle Li, wearing the little flower hat she gave him, happily went to hand out gifts to everyone.

Gu Sinan was the only one with nothing to do in the afternoon, so she stayed home to rest and play with Black Panther.

Busy workdays always seem to fly by.

On the day she returned from northern Xinjiang, Zhao Nanqiao called her and sensed that she was in a bad mood. He guessed that it was because the anniversary of Ye's mother's death was approaching, which brought up sad memories.

After Zhenzhen had a falling out with her father, Zhao Nanqiao was there to help her through that nightmarish time. Zhao Nanqiao was relieved to learn that Gu Tingshen and Gu Sinan would be going to pay respects to Ye's mother this year.

Gu Tingshen is a rare example of someone in the industry who is extremely self-disciplined, and he is clearly deeply in love with Ye Zhenzhen, possessing a strong sense of possessiveness.

It was something that Zhao Nanqiao, Ye Zhenzhen's best friend, was happy to see as Ye Zhenzhen developed feelings for Gu Tingshen and became increasingly harmonious with Gu Sinan.

That way, Zhenzhen won't be so lonely anymore.

Ye Zhenzhen hung up the phone and found the original owner's family photo. The faces of Ye's father and mother in the photo looked exactly like her own parents. She gently stroked her mother's face, tears blurring her vision.

They are forever separated by death, and may never meet again.

Recently, she has been having frequent dreams at night. Sometimes it is her mother from her past life taking care of her in the hospital, saying with a loving look that it's okay, we'll get better slowly, and then she turns around and secretly wipes away her tears in the corridor. Sometimes it is the original owner being by her mother's bedside in her mother's final days, gradually breaking down as her mother's coma grows longer and longer.

She cried many times in her dreams, her whole body drenched in cold sweat.

She was awakened again by the man's gentle, deep voice. She wiped away the sticky sweat from her body, changed into dry clothes, and was pulled into the man's warm embrace, falling asleep again.

Gu Tingshen gently kissed her red, swollen, and burning eyelids, then held her tightly in the darkness.

---

"Mom, is this the pearl-embroidered blouse Grandma made for you?" Gu Sinan asked, looking at the pearl-embroidered shawl Ye Zhenzhen was wearing. "It's different from mine."

“Yes, Mom, this is a girl’s shirt, with little tassels.” Ye Zhenzhen smiled and straightened the small bow tie on his shirt. “So it’s different from yours.”

Gu Sinan knew that she was going to the cemetery to pay respects to her grandmother today, so she wore a formal suit with a black collar, looking like an old-fashioned little gentleman, solemn and dignified.

Ye Zhenzhen wore a pearl-white cheongsam that her mother had made for her before her death, adorned with small flowers made of pearls, and draped the pearl cloud shoulder she had worn back then.

More than a decade has passed. Thanks to proper preservation, the pearl's luster has dimmed slightly, but its shape remains round and full, only showing some signs of age.

She gave birth to a beautiful daughter, and Ye's mother loved to dress her up from a young age. Especially after she fell ill, knowing that her days were numbered, her only joy was designing clothes and jewelry for her. She accumulated more than a roomful of clothes and stockpiled fabrics and design sketches suitable for all ages, as if she wanted these clothes to accompany her as she grew up.

Gu Tingshen was also dressed in a black suit, holding a bouquet of pink lilies in his arms, which was Ye's mother's favorite flower.

They drove to a cemetery on the outskirts of City A.

It started raining when they set off, and the rain intensified at that moment. After Gu Tingshen got out of the car, he opened a black umbrella and sheltered Ye Zhenzhen under it. Gu Sinan also opened her own umbrella.

Ye's mother's tombstone was halfway up the mountain. Ye Zhenzhen took Gu Tingshen's arm and walked slowly forward.

When we arrived at Ye's mother's grave, several bouquets of flowers had already been placed there. They were all pink lilies, Ye's mother's favorite flowers. Even though they were wet from the rain, they were still blooming, and a faint, damp fragrance of lilies filled the air.

Ye Zhenzhen stopped in her tracks, staring intently at the photo on the tombstone.

When Gu Tingshen touched her cheek with his handkerchief, Ye Zhenzhen realized that she had been crying without even noticing.

"Mom!" she cried out, stumbling to the tombstone, only managing to avoid falling thanks to Gu Tingshen's support.

She knelt before the grave, her hand trembling as she brushed away the water droplets on the tombstone, touching the familiar smiling face of her mother in the photograph. Overwhelmed by double grief, tears fell like broken beads, splashing onto the stone slab in front of the tombstone, only to be washed away by the rain in an instant.

Gu Tingshen knelt on one knee beside her, holding an umbrella over her and putting his arm around her thin shoulders. His broad back steadily and firmly supported all her vulnerability.

---

"I want to go home and visit," Ye Zhenzhen, who had been silent the whole way down the mountain, suddenly said.

"Okay." Gu Tingshen handed her a clean towel so she could dry her wet hair. Then he turned the steering wheel and turned onto another road.

Once the ride was smooth, I reached out and grasped her icy fingertips, gently kneading them until her pale fingers regained their warmth.

This courtyard house, located in the old town of City A, is the old residence of the Ye family. It has been inhabited by several generations and has been renovated several times. Its exterior is antique, but its interior is decorated in a modern and comfortable style.

Since her falling out with her father, Ye Zhenzhen moved to an apartment in the city center. After getting married, she moved into Mantingfang and hasn't returned for almost a year.

The vermilion gate was still the same as she remembered. Ye Zhenzhen stepped forward and touched the head of the lion on the drum stone. When she was a child, she loved to touch it when she went in and out, and she had worn the stone smooth and shiny.

"Zhenzhen's back?" Just then, the front door opened, and the butler, Wang Lin, looked up and saw the three of them. He paused for a moment, then excitedly urged them to come inside. "Ting Shen is here too! Come on in! This must be Nan Nan. Come on in, your grandfather will be overjoyed to see you!"

"Uncle Wang, where's my dad?" Ye Zhenzhen pulled Gu Sinan through the door, past the screen wall, through the hanging flower gate, and headed straight for the main courtyard.

“Your dad didn’t sleep well last night. He went to the cemetery this morning and got caught in the rain. He came back feeling listless. He lay on the recliner for a while and just fell asleep.” Wang Lin glanced at Ye Zhenzhen’s expression and, seeing her frown, didn’t say anything more.

He had just gone out to buy medicine. The father and daughter rarely came back, and although someone took care of the yard, there weren't many commonly used medicines kept there. Ye Fengxing was also stubborn and didn't want the family doctor to come in. He was just wondering what to do when Ye Zhenzhen came back.

Upon hearing this, Ye Zhenzhen frowned and quickened her pace to walk inside.

She was familiar with every plant and tree in the yard. As she walked there, scenes from her childhood memories flashed through her mind, making her feel somewhat dazed.

Her grandfather once tied a swing to that ginkgo tree whose age was unknown. Every spring, the crabapple tree would bloom with pink blossoms. Ye Mu drew the branches of the tree, and the little girl would use a paintbrush to dot the petals on them.

As she walked, it was as if she were passing through a long corridor of time, and those faded memories became vivid again.

Upon entering the main courtyard, her gaze fell upon the distant porch where Ye Fengxing was reclining in a bamboo rocking chair, swaying idly with his eyes closed.

His gray hair was disheveled, and the dark circles under his eyes were very obvious. His black silk shirt with a dark pine and cypress pattern was wrinkled and hung loosely on his thin body.

For a moment, Ye Zhenzhen couldn't believe that this was the same decisive, well-dressed old man she remembered.

He used to be such a meticulous person; his suits were always impeccably tailored, and the colors of his ties and shirts were always carefully matched.

He's not even fifty years old yet, but most of his hair has already turned white.

This appearance is almost identical to her father from her previous life.

In her past life, she suddenly fainted and was diagnosed with late-stage cancer. When she woke up, she saw that her parents' hair had turned mostly white overnight.

Ye Zhenzhen stood under the corridor, unable to distinguish whether the turbulent emotions in her heart were heartache or anger, and her eyes immediately reddened.

Gu Tingshen stepped forward, put his arm around her shoulder, and gently stroked her thin back.

"Let's go, let him sleep for a while." Ye Zhenzhen stepped forward and pulled her father's blanket up a bit, then slowly walked to the study in the east wing.

"Has Dr. He come by recently? Has he had a physical exam recently?" Ye Zhenzhen asked first.

“A while ago, it was time for his routine physical exam, but he wouldn’t go no matter what we said. Dr. He came over, took his pulse, and advised him to eat well and not to overthink things. He prescribed some medicine to regulate his body, but he didn’t take it at all.” Wang Lin sighed as he spoke, “Sigh, he suffers from insomnia every day and refuses to get proper treatment. No one can persuade him!”

"You stay here and look after them. I'll take Nannan to the backyard first." Ye Zhenzhen frowned more and more as she listened. Not wanting to interrupt her father's rare sleep, she got up and took Gu Tingshen and Gu Sinan to the backyard.

The Ye family's old house is larger than a typical four-courtyard house. After renovation, the backyard is not much smaller than the main courtyard. A peach tree grows in the yard, with lush branches and leaves, and is growing very well.

“When I was little, I lived with my parents in the main courtyard. After I grew up, the third courtyard was renovated, and I moved here.” Ye Zhenzhen said as she walked with Gu Sinan, “This peach tree was planted by my grandfather the year I was born.”

Gu Tingshen was walking behind her when he heard this. He paused, took out his phone, and took a picture of the tree.

Gu Tingshen and Gu Sinan followed behind her and toured the entire three-courtyard house.

This three-courtyard house is almost the same size as the main courtyard, only slightly smaller. The furnishings in the central hall are more comfortable and casual than those in the main house. The armchairs are covered with exquisitely embroidered cushions.

The room is filled with her childhood photos, from different ages, in different backgrounds, with different expressions, all equally adorable and quirky.

Gu Tingshen silently followed beside her, looking at the room full of life in front of him, imagining little Ye Zhenzhen growing up slowly here, as if he had walked through the old days with her.

He suddenly felt regretful; the nearly eight-year age difference meant that they had almost no interaction when they were young.

He could only learn about how that little, adorable girl gradually grew into the Ye Zhenzhen she is today from photos and other people's stories; he could no longer participate in it.

The west side room is a study, with antique shelves displaying porcelain and scholar's objects from various dynasties. On a large table by the window, the Four Treasures of the Study are all laid out. A sheet of Xuan paper is weighed down by a Hetian jade paperweight, and there is a half-finished painting of bamboo on it, as if the painter might return at any moment.

Several scrolls and a few withered lotus pods were inserted in the blue-and-white lotus scroll jar on the table, which was quite interesting.

Ye Zhenzhen ran her hand over the area with a look of melancholy. The place was spotless, without a trace of decay.

But the person who accompanied her while she painted was no longer there.

"Take a nap at noon, and Mom will teach you to draw in the afternoon, okay?" Ye Zhenzhen didn't want to be too sentimental in front of Gu Sinan, so she cheered up and said with a smile.

Gu Sinan nodded obediently.

The east side room is her bedroom. The room has been renovated even more, with a thick wool carpet on the floor and a floor-to-ceiling window replacing the traditional window, making the room very bright.

The bedding on the golden nanmu wood frame bed has a modern feel, and there are many panda and red panda plush toys on the bed. The whole room has a strong girlish style, combining Chinese elegance with modern comfort.

The east wing is a guest room, while the west wing has been converted into a sunroom with three walls made of one-way glass, so that the outside cannot see inside, but the inside can enjoy the scenery of the courtyard.

The room was also carpeted, with a large fabric sofa that could be sat or reclined, thick cushions on the floor, and an entire wall of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, the books on them showing signs of having been read.

There's also a rocking chair next to the bookshelf. You can imagine how pleasant it would be to lie here in the autumn and winter when the whole house is bathed in sunlight!

It's raining today, and looking at the rain outside through the glass has a unique charm.

"Do you like it?" Ye Zhenzhen asked Gu Sinan. "I loved this place when I was little. I would sunbathe during the day and watch the stars at night."

"Yes! I like it!" Gu Sinan's eyes lit up; that rocking chair looked incredibly comfortable.

"There's a small garden in the back too. I'll take you there this afternoon."

Gu Sinan found a book, chose a favorite spot to sit down, and began to read quietly.

"I'll go see if the old man has woken up yet," Ye Zhenzhen whispered in Gu Tingshen's ear before turning and heading to the front.

Gu Tingshen nodded and watched her leave. After thinking for a moment, he realized that the father and daughter might need to talk, so he didn't follow her out.

---

As soon as Ye Zhenzhen passed through the covered walkway, she saw her father rushing towards the backyard, and the two bumped into each other.

Ye Fengxing stared blankly at his daughter's face, which resembled his wife's.

It's so similar, almost exactly like Su He when she was young, even the clothes are the style my wife likes to wear.

"What's wrong? Why are you in such a hurry?" Ye Zhenzhen saw him standing there, tall and thin, looking like he would fall over if the wind blew. She said this and went forward to help him.

Upon hearing this, Ye Fengxing straightened his wrinkled sleeves, refused her help, and insisted on walking on his own.

Even if his face resembles his wife's, he still has this stubborn temper at heart and doesn't have any of Su He's gentleness!