Chapter 6 Gu Hua
I stayed in the hospital for three days, then took the medicine and went home.
The road was all dirt and full of potholes, so she couldn't sit down. The old village chief came to pick her up in a tractor, which was filled with thick straw. Even though there were potholes on the road, her headache didn't get as bad.
As soon as they arrived at the village entrance, they saw a lot of people loitering around. As soon as they saw them return, they all surrounded them and asked about the child abduction.
The old village chief quickly scolded, "Ayin is still injured! What are you all doing here! We'll have the Party Secretary call a meeting later to discuss this in detail! Get out of the way and let the patient go home to rest!"
There was no way around it; every family had children, and these people had come to pickpocket people without any clear explanation. Who wouldn't be worried? After hearing what the old village chief said, everyone dispersed.
Grandma Gu got up early in the morning and killed two chickens and a duck. She stewed one chicken for Ayin later, stewed the other chicken with potatoes, and stir-fried the duck. She also made some cold dishes, a mix of meat and vegetables, to go with drinks. Just as she finished preparing, she heard the sound of a tractor coming from afar. She quickly set the table.
He called out into the house, "A-Shu! Go and call Third Master Li over! Let him come over for dinner!"
"Okay, milk, is Ayin back?" Gu Shu asked while washing his hands after mixing the rice bran with water and putting it in the duck shed.
"It sounds like it! Go quickly and call Uncle Li over, and also invite Secretary Li to come along!" Uncle Li is also known as the old secretary Li Genzi. He retired a couple of years ago along with the old village chief. The current village chief is the old village chief's son, Li Sen, and the secretary is Li Genzi's nephew, Li Dashan. These four people will definitely be coming to our house for dinner later. First, to thank the old village chief and Uncle Li for their help, and second, to explain some things to the village chief and secretary so they will know what to say at the general meeting.
As soon as Gu Yin got out of the car, she saw Gu Le squatting by the door waiting. Before she could even greet him, the little guy ran over and hugged her leg.
Gu Le looked up at her sister and, seeing that her complexion had improved a lot, said with a smile, "Sister! You're back! Does your head still hurt? Grandma wouldn't let me go to the hospital!"
After such an accident, Gu Le had a fever when he got home that night. Since he was still young, the elderly were a bit wary of hospitals, feeling that their souls were lighter at that time and easily frightened away. So they could only keep him at home and not let him go to the hospital. Besides, his granddaughter would be back in three days, so there was no rush to see her in the next two or three days.
Gu Le is only five years old now, and he's chubby all over. Gu Yin is seven years older than him. Everyone in the family, including Gu Yin herself, dotes on him. Besides having a handsome face like Gu Qinglang's that doesn't get dark easily, he's also very well-behaved and sensible. Unlike his three siblings who are always jumping around, he obediently follows his grandmother around every day.
Gu Yin pinched his chubby cheek: "Sister is fine now, but her head still hurts a little. How about you? You don't have a fever anymore, right?" After saying that, she took his hand and went into the house.
"I'm fine too! Grandma stewed chicken for Sister. Come in quickly, drink plenty of water, your injury will heal soon!"
“Ah Le is right. I’ve already filled a big bowl and put it on the bedside table in our room. Come in quickly, rest and eat at the same time!” Gu Hua said as she stepped forward and took Gu Yin’s other hand, leading her into the room to rest.
Gu Yin was momentarily dazed. Gu Hua, it was Gu Hua. All the things that had happened before had piled up, and she hadn't had a chance to really look at her properly.
Gu Yin sat on the edge of the bed, watching Gu Hua make the bed for her. She reached out and touched her. It was warm, it was alive, it was the living Gu Hua.
Unlike Gu Yin, Gu Hua had excellent grades and was also beautiful. When Gu Yin left home, she took leave from the best law school at A University to come back and accompany her. Gu Yin disagreed, telling her to focus on her studies and that she hoped Gu Hua could help her brothers after they were found. After experiencing that devastating tragedy, no one was a child anymore. Gu Hua agreed and returned to school to study hard, inspiring the entire class and department to follow suit.
Gu Hua was also very popular. During the summer vacation, she would follow Gu Yin around. After her classmates learned about her situation, they would help her put up flyers and so on when they had time. They even started hometown groups for students from various universities. Since everyone came from all over the country, they knew a lot of information, which provided a lot of help to Gu Yin. It reduced many of her chances of running around in vain. They also taught her some self-protection knowledge and told her about many common scams. This was a major factor in how Gu Yin was able to escape unscathed when she was discovered by human traffickers many times.
When Gu Hua was a sophomore, she started dating a senior from the same school named Zhou Tengfei. He was a rich second-generation, and she heard that his family was a wealthy family, one of the four major families in Beijing.
Gu Yin had her worries, but in their later interactions, she found that this senior was very kind to Gu Hua, steady and considerate in his work, and even helped provide information to major newspapers across the country. He paid for a large section specifically to publish missing person notices for Gu Le and Gu Shu. After learning about Gu Yin's concerns, he also told her that his family knew about the matter and that his family had helped with the newspaper matter. As a result, Gu Yin did not object to Gu Hua being with him.
Despite their best efforts, they still had no news of Gu Le and Gu Shu.
During Gu Hua's junior year, in the first semester, Gu Yin went with the film crew to the snowy mountains in the west to shoot. At that time, she had already signed a contract and had lines, so she was considered an unknown actress. Gu Hua's boyfriend had mentioned giving her resources, but her goal was not to become a star. She just wanted to find her older and younger brothers. If she found them and had the opportunity, she would continue her studies.
If she takes the resources, she will have to do all sorts of work diligently. The higher she goes, the less time she has to have and the less freedom she has. This is contrary to her original intention, so she refuses. But this year, Gu Hua and Zhou Tengfei had a fight because Zhou Tengfei said that Gu Yin was a bit ungrateful.
Gu Yin apologized and explained, and Zhou Tengfei accepted it. When Zhou Tengfei accompanied them into the mountains again, Gu Hua and he reconciled, and their relationship became even closer than before when they returned.
Seeing them like this, Gu Yin felt relieved and continued traveling all over the country.
When Gu Hua went out for an internship in the second semester of her junior year, Gu Yin had a drama that was going to be filmed in Beijing. When she went to the school to find Gu Hua, she found out that Gu Hua was not at the school. She asked her roommate and found out that Gu Hua had miscarried and was hospitalized. When she rushed to the hospital, she saw a dignified old lady looking at Gu Hua with a displeased expression. Zhou Tengfei was not there.
Upon seeing her enter, the old woman's eyes grew even colder, her face filled with indifference. Then, she left without a word. For the first time, Gu Yin began to doubt Zhou Tengfei's words.
After everyone had left, Gu Hua explained to her.
She received her first month's salary during her internship and went to celebrate with Zhou Tengfei. She couldn't hold her liquor and passed out after just two cans of beer. Zhou Tengfei was also drunk, and they ended up having sex without realizing it. She was so panicked at the time that she missed the best time to take the medication, and it was no longer effective afterward. That's how she got pregnant.
The two hadn't graduated yet, and she wasn't ready to get married or have children. Before she could explain things clearly to Gu Tengfei, she was waiting for Zhou Tengfei on the basketball court when she was hit in the stomach by a ball, fell down, and lost her baby.
Gu Yin asked her what Zhou Tengfei's plans were, and who the woman from earlier was.
Gu Hua told Gu Yin that the woman was Zhou Tengfei's relative. Zhou Tengfei's grandmother was from an official family, and the old lady was Gu Tengfei's grandmother's personal maid. Zhou Tengfei called her his great-aunt. This great-aunt did not live in Hong Kong, but settled in Beijing. The great-aunt's name was Mu Hong, and her husband's name was Wang Tianbao. They had no children and always treated Zhou Tengfei like their own grandson, so the Zhou family was at ease.
Because Zhou's parents had always lived in Gangcheng, Zhou Tengfei's parents also spent most of each month there. So when Gu Hua had the accident, that great-aunt came over and said that the two of them were young and ignorant, and that she should go to the Wang family to have her postpartum confinement, and it would be best if she took a year off from school. Gu Hua did not agree, so that great-aunt got angry.
Because of the tight filming schedule, Gu Yin had to go to the film crew after taking care of Gu Hua for two days. When she left, she told Gu Hua that she should do everything according to her own wishes and that no matter what decision she made, she should first consider herself and not let herself be wronged. Seeing that Gu Hua had taken it to heart, she gave Gu Hua most of the money she had on her so that she could use it in an emergency, and then she left with peace of mind.
A month later, after leaving the film set, she received devastating news: Gu Hua had suffered a miscarriage, which led to depression. In addition, there were some shameless rumors circulating at school about her drugging her boyfriend in order to marry into a wealthy family, having a child out of wedlock, and even planning to blackmail him for money. As a result, she was asked to leave her internship and, unable to bear it any longer, jumped off a building.
Gu Yin went to her school to ask, and the teacher said that she did jump off the building. The police said the same thing. She contacted Gu Hua's roommates and the people who had helped her look for her younger brother before, but they all avoided her.
Under her shameless nagging, a roommate told her that Gu Hua hadn't returned to school since her miscarriage. According to Zhou Tengfei, she was staying at his house for postpartum care. When Gu Hua miscarried at school, rumors kept circulating about her after she was discharged from the hospital. Gu Hua and Zhou Tengfei even argued because of these rumors. After that, Gu Hua went to Zhou's house for postpartum care and never returned to school. The next news was that Gu Hua had committed suicide by jumping off a building. After saying this, the roommate left, telling Gu Yin to ask Zhou Tengfei.
Gu Yin also wanted to find Zhou Tengfei, but she couldn't find him. It was said that he had gone abroad because he was too heartbroken.
She also went to the Zhou family. Zhou Tengfei's parents were home at the time and said they didn't know anything about it either, as they had just returned from Gangcheng. Gu Hua had been recuperating at the Wang family's place. That great-aunt said that Gu Hua had been taking medication for depression and seeing a doctor, and even showed her the doctor's records.
Whatever doubts Gu Yin had, they would produce whatever evidence they could to convince her that Gu Hua had really jumped off the building on her own. When she wanted to retrieve Gu Hua's belongings, Grandma Wang indifferently had someone give Gu Hua's entire collection to Gu Yin. Gu Yin went home and looked through her phone, notes, and other things, but she couldn't find any evidence to suggest that Gu Hua had been murdered, so the matter was dropped.
Later, she found an opportunity to go abroad to find Zhou Tengfei, but she returned empty-handed. Her great-aunt said that he was too heartbroken and had run off to other places. She also said that the Zhou family hoped that Gu Yin would stop bothering Zhou Tengfei and let him get out of the shadow of losing Gu Hua as soon as possible. If Gu Yin was willing, they were willing to let Gu Hua enter the Zhou family cemetery so that she could receive the worship of the Zhou family descendants.
Although it wasn't explicitly stated, Gu Yin could sense their annoyance towards her from their words. Gu Yin rejected their proposal and never went to the capital again, nor did she ever contact the Zhou family or Zhou Tengfei again.
From then on, the Gu family was left with only Gu Yin and her elderly and disabled Uncle Gu.
If it weren't for Uncle Gu, she might not have been able to follow in Gu Hua's footsteps.
"A-Yin?! A-Yin?" Seeing Gu Yin staring at her blankly, with tears welling up in her eyes, Gu Hua became anxious.
Gu Yin blinked, and tears streamed down her face. Seeing Gu Hua's anxious expression, she hugged the bright-eyed girl in front of her tightly.
"Does your head hurt? I'll go call Auntie over, you wait here!" Gu Hua patted Gu Yin's shoulder and asked anxiously.
Gu Yin shook her head: "No, my head doesn't hurt. I just thought I would never see you again. We have to take good care of ourselves from now on, okay?"
Gu Hua thought Gu Yin was frightened by the human traffickers, so she quickly coaxed her, "Okay, okay, let's be okay. I'll go learn kung fu later! Our school's PE teacher knows martial arts. Once I learn it, I'll protect you and A-Le! If anyone dares to bully you again, I'll go up and beat them up without saying a word! How about that!"
Gu Yin laughed at the childish words and stepped out of her embrace. Gu Yin picked up a chicken leg from the bowl and put it to her mouth: "There's too much meat, I can't finish it. You eat one. There's still a chicken leg and two chicken drumsticks in the bowl, eat quickly! You have to review for me later. I heard that at the beginning of the first semester of junior high school, there will be a test to divide students into experimental and regular classes. I played wildly during the summer vacation and I basically don't remember the textbooks. You have to help me, otherwise Dad will scold me again."
Gu Hua took the chicken leg and nodded, "Okay, I'll find all my old books and tutor you. I guarantee you'll get into the honors class!" She then reached out and touched the uninjured side of Gu Yin's head, sighing like a little adult, "A-Yin has grown up; she knows how to study now!"
Gu Yin was both amused and exasperated, but it was really good to see Gu Hua again.
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