“Zhong Hua, I…” Ah Yu wanted to explain, but found that a thousand words were stuck in her throat, and she didn’t know where to begin. He reached out to hold her hand, but stopped in mid-air, and in the end just gently patted her shoulder.
The gesture was reassuring, yet it also carried a hint of distance. Zhong Hua's heart sank slightly, but she only managed a weak smile: "I know, we both need time."
Yes, time. They all thought that with Gu Yanting in prison, everything would end and life would return to normal. But they were wrong. The scars left by the turmoil cannot heal overnight.
Ah Yu's phone rang at this inopportune moment; it was an international number. He frowned, intending to hang up, but inexplicably answered it.
A strange male voice came from the other end of the phone, speaking broken Chinese: "Is this Mr. Yu? We are Mr. Gu's friends, and we would like to talk to you about something."
Ah Yu's face instantly turned cold: "I don't know any Mr. Gu."
"Don't say that," the other person chuckled, their tone threatening. "Mr. Gu isn't having a good time inside. He said if you don't want to cause trouble, you'd better cooperate with us."
"Get out!" Ah Yu slammed down the phone, threw it on the sofa, and her chest heaved violently.
Zhong Hua was startled by his reaction and quickly asked, "What's wrong? Whose call was that?"
Ah Yu took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself down, but he couldn't hide the shock and anger in his eyes: "It's nothing, just a nuisance call." He didn't want Zhong Hua to worry, especially when her mother was sick.
But Zhong Hua couldn't believe it. Looking at Ah Yu's taut jawline, she already knew seven or eight parts of the story. Gu Yanting's remaining followers hadn't let them off the hook after all.
The brief peace was ultimately just an illusion.
V. The Silence Before Dawn and the Unfinished Road Ahead
The sky outside the window gradually turned a pale white, and the first rays of dawn pierced through the clouds, illuminating the outline of the city. Inside the apartment, all three were silent, tossing and turning in their respective rooms, unable to sleep.
Ah Yu leaned against the headboard, clutching the call log of the foreign number in his hand, his eyes sharp as knives. He knew that Gu Yanting's revenge had only just begun. The fact that the man could still stir up trouble in prison meant that the forces behind him were far more complex than they had imagined.
He couldn't let Zhong Hua and Lin Wanqing be put in danger any longer.
Zhong Hua lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Ah Yu's reaction when he answered the phone, and his forced composure, had left her in a state of turmoil. She knew he was hiding something, and she knew what kind of turmoil was lurking beneath that calm. She wasn't a weak woman; after everything she'd been through, she had long since learned to be strong. But this time, she felt an unprecedented fear, not for herself, but for Ah Yu, for Lin Wanqing, and for their precarious future.
Lin Wanqing sat at her desk and turned on her computer. The screen light illuminated her pale face as she typed "working abroad" into the search bar, her mouse moving back and forth between several web pages. Perhaps leaving was the best option. She didn't want to be an obstacle between Ah Yu and Zhong Hua anymore, and she didn't want her presence to put them in danger again.
In the living room, the open photo album still sat on the dining table, the three people in the photos smiling carefree. But reality was like a long marathon; they had finally reached what seemed to be the finish line, only to find that an even more rugged road awaited them ahead.
Gu Yanting's imprisonment only temporarily dispelled the dark clouds overhead, but did not truly bring about a brighter future. The grudges, misunderstandings, and hurts rooted in the past, along with the newly emerging threats, entangled the three of them like an invisible net.
The brief peace is the calm before the storm.
Ah Yu stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the city gradually awakening in the distance. He knew that running away wouldn't solve anything. He had to confront Gu Yanting's remaining followers head-on; his relationship with Zhong Hua, and his familial bond with Lin Wanqing, also needed clear answers.
Taking a deep breath, a resolute glint flashed in Ah Yu's eyes. No matter how much hardship lay ahead, he had to protect those he wanted to protect and pull them out of this gloom.
Dawn has arrived, and a new day has begun. But for these three, the real test may have only just begun. That brief peace will eventually be swept away by the torrent of reality, and they will continue to struggle, grow, and search for their final destiny in this torrent.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
