Chapter 10
It took twenty-three minutes and fifty-six seconds to get from the main gate to the main house, and Ji Ruan deliberately calculated the time.
Along the way, I was dazzled by the scenery. I clearly came here to eat, but it felt like I was walking hand in hand with Gu Xiuyi in the park for some unknown reason. I was tired and hungry and kept sighing.
Gu Xiuyi was speechless when he saw Ji Ruan like this, and finally sighed and said, "Forget it, let's just take a car when we get back."
Ji Ruan looked up suddenly: "Can we still take the bus?"
"There is an open-air garage outside the side door, and you can drive directly onto the highway via the road behind." Gu Xiuyi narrated calmly.
"Then why go through the front door!" Ji Ruan couldn't hold it in any longer, his face wrinkled. "I thought your Gu family built the house into a maze to prevent thieves!"
Gu Xiuyi couldn't help laughing and patted Ji Ruan on the back: "There's nothing wrong with walking more. You lack exercise. Aunt Zhao said you haven't left the house once in the past half month?"
"I..." Ji Ruan choked. He didn't expect that this person would direct his criticism at him right away.
Of course he would not admit that he didn't go out because he was lazy.
"I, I, I'm sick!" Ji Ruan emphasized, "I'm very sick! It's so hot outside and if I go out, my illness will relapse. And why should I go out? To check on you at your company? - Cough cough cough..."
As he spoke, he covered his chest and started coughing, looking exactly like Lin Daiyu, who was so angry that she was weak and frail. It seemed that if anyone dared to make him angry again, he would take out his handkerchief and cough up blood.
Gu Xiuyi was at his wit's end. He imitated Aunt Zhao's method and patted Ji Ruan on the back, but he still didn't let go: "You can check on her. Xiaoya and the others also said they missed you. You can make an appointment anytime you want to come."
"Ha," Ji Ruan sneered, "Whose inspection requires an appointment system? Wait, I will raid it."
Gu Xiuyi smiled tightly and said considerately, "Well, don't worry, wait until you recover and don't let it come back again."
I never realized Ji Ruan was so funny before.
"Gu Xiuyi you!..." Ji Ruan was really about to choke and vomit blood.
I never realized that this person could be so sarcastic before!
"——Xiuyi, you're back." A female voice interrupted the two people's bickering.
Ji Ruan looked over and saw a middle-aged woman wearing a purple cheongsam. She was well-maintained and had the temperament of a typical gentle and virtuous wife. She trotted over from the corridor in the distance, with exaggerated tenderness in her eyes.
"Xiuyi, you're finally back. You didn't even know how much your dad missed you!"
The woman's eyes were red with enthusiasm, as if Gu Xiuyi was not at work, but had been fighting on the frontier for decades before returning home.
There was a boy about twenty years old standing behind her. They looked alike and their expressions were almost identical. They were just like two peas in a pod. When he saw Gu Xiuyi, he was very excited: "Big Brother!"
Gu Xiuyi said calmly, "Aunt Fang, long time no see."
Then he put his arm around Ji Ruan's shoulders and introduced: "Fang Lan, my stepmother, you can just call her Aunt Fang. Gu Xuli, my brother."
Ji Ruan smiled appropriately: "Hello, my name is Ji Ruan."
The two's bland reactions did not dampen Fang Lan's enthusiasm. She looked at Ji Ruan with a smile on her face and said "Hey" lovingly, "Little Ruan, you're really pretty."
"Oh, by the way, Xiaoli, where's your brother? Why hasn't he come out yet?" Fang Lan suddenly asked Gu Xiuli, "This is the first time Xiuyi brings his lover home, why doesn't he come out to greet her!"
Gu Xiuli looked embarrassed: "Mom, you know my brother's temper. He is accompanying Dad right now."
"This kid!" Fang Lan looked at Gu Xiuyi with a smile: "Oh Xiuyi, look, I'm so sorry. I will definitely teach Qiming a lesson later."
Gu Xiuyi didn't say anything: "You should educate your child by yourself, of course, you don't need to tell me."
"Yeah, you're right."
The smile on her face seemed to be forever, and it formed circles of fine lines at the corners of her eyes, making her look like a submissive stepmother.
Ji Ruan felt that the mother and son were a bit exaggerated. Wouldn’t they be tired of smiling all the time?
Gu Xiuyi didn't seem to plan to say more to them, and nodded slightly: "I'll take Ji Ruan to see grandpa first."
“Hey Xiuyi——!”
Fang Lan blurted out, and when Gu Xiuyi turned around, she shook his hand and laughed, "You're in such a hurry to see grandpa? Why don't you drink some water first? You haven't had any water since you came in."
"Yes, yes, yes," Gu Xuli agreed, "Brother, I'll go get you some water!"
"No need." Gu Xiuyi said calmly.
"But..." Fang Lan wanted to say something.
Gu Xiuyi's face turned completely cold, his dark pupils were completely cold, and he spoke word by word:
"No."
The two fell silent immediately.
When Gu Xiuyi embraced Ji Ruan and disappeared around the corner of the corridor, the smile that had been frozen on Fang Lan's face instantly collapsed, and she stared dimly at the dim corridor.
She originally had a face with downward lip corners.
"Mom, are you really going to let him go upstairs like this?" Gu Xiuli asked in a low voice in Fang Lan's ear: "Is what he is holding in his hand..."
Fang Lan glared at him fiercely.
The second half of Gu Xuli's sentence got stuck in his throat.
"What else?" Fang Lan said solemnly, "He's already married, and everyone knows about it. What can we do?"
"But Grandpa isn't dead yet! Is he so impatient?"
"Shut up!" Fang Lan scolded, and then sneered: "How long can that old man live? A man with half his body buried in the ground... sooner or later he will be Gu Xiuyi's anyway... I hope he dies soon, so that you can come to the fore sooner..."
"But even if grandpa dies, there is still Gu Xiuyi!"
Fang Lan poked her son's head fiercely:
"No matter how bad you are, you are still the second young master of the Gu family. Can Gu Xiuyi suppress you for the rest of your life? Can he keep you from seeing the light of day forever? Even if he wants to, your father won't allow it..."
·
Ji Ruan was carried upstairs by Gu Xiuyi, with a lot of questions in his mind.
"What do you want to ask?"
Gu Xiuyi didn't look at him, but seemed to understand what was in his mind.
Ji Ruan did not hide it and looked up at Gu Xiuyi: "Why does Gu Xiuli call you big brother? Don't you have a brother above you?"
Gu Xiuyi carefully led Ji Ruan up the stairs and said frankly: "Fang Qiming was born to Fang Lan and her ex-husband, so he is not considered a member of the Gu family."
Ji Ruan nodded thoughtfully: "But it's rare to hear that you have a younger brother outside?"
Gu Xiuyi looked at Ji Ruan and said, "Because he was the child of my father and Fang Lan's affair. This was not a decent thing to do, so Grandpa suppressed the news and dealt with it coldly."
“Ah, I see…”
Ji Ruan was shocked. No wonder the mother and son acted like two quails in front of Gu Xiuyi.
Although there are many dirty deeds in such wealthy families, it is these families that value face the most, so even though Gu Xiuli has Gu family blood in his body, he can only hide it half-hiddenly even at the age of twenty.
Gu Xiuyi waited for a while, but Ji Ruan didn't speak again, so he raised his eyebrows and said, "Don't ask any more questions?"
To put it bluntly, those seemingly chaotic disputes within a family are simply fights for power and property. The current topic has already touched upon the dark secrets of Gu Xiuyi's family, and Ji Ruan is not prepared to let himself know too much.
He shook his head: "No more curiosity."
Gu Xiuyi stared at him for a while, then looked away: "Yeah."
Mr. Gu's room was at the end of the corridor. It was a spacious and sunny room. But when Ji Ruan entered, the curtains inside were drawn tightly, and not a single light could get in.
The old man who had been in power at Gu's for decades was sitting in a wheelchair, staring silently at the window covered by curtains, with two strong caregivers standing beside him.
He turned around when he heard the sound, and all the parts of his body seemed to have rotted away, his movements were stiff and lifeless.
Ji Ruan saw a haggard face, and the old man exuded a dying, corpse-like aura.
"Coming?" The voice was hoarse and intermittent.
"Yes," Gu Xiuyi smiled emotionlessly, "I brought Ji Ruan to see you. We are married."
Gu Changyun's cloudy eyes slowly turned to Ji Ruan. He looked at her quietly for a while, then raised his finger and said, "Sit down."
There was a row of rattan benches in the room. Gu Xiuyi asked Ji Ruan to sit down. On the wooden table in front of them was a set of purple clay tea sets. Tea was being brewed and wisps of smoke rose into the air.
One of the nurses pushed Gu Changyun over, while the other bowed to Gu Xiuyi and went to guard outside the door.
Gu Xiuyi took out the marriage certificate, placed it on the wooden table, and pushed it in front of Gu Changyun with two fingers.
"Here is the marriage certificate, take a look."
The nurse picked up the two little red books, opened them and handed them to Gu Changyun, but the old man raised his hand and brushed them away.
"You're called Ji Ruan?"
Ji Ruan sat next to Gu Xiuyi and nodded slightly when he heard this: "Yes, Grandpa."
Gu Changyun raised his head, his eyes unfocused, he didn't know where he was looking, "So young..."
Ji Ruan didn't know how to answer and subconsciously looked at Gu Xiuyi.
Gu Xiuyi squeezed his palm in comfort, then opened the brown paper bag he had always carried with him.
There was a document inside. After putting it on the desk, Ji Ruan could see clearly that it was a share transfer agreement.
Gu Xiuyi didn't waste any words and went straight to the point: "On the day my mother died in front of you, you promised and wrote it in your will that when I get married, you would transfer all the remaining shares in your name to me, and my partner and I would hold them together. Do you remember?"
Gu Changyun sat quietly.
Gu Xiuyi spread his hands and said, "As you can see, I'm married. Please sign."
Seeing that the old man still didn't move, Gu Xiuyi didn't rush and poured a cup of tea to Ji Ruan: "Be careful of the heat."
Ji Ruan took it, and drank it in small sips with his eyes on his nose and his mind on his heart.
He knew about the equity matter. Gu Xiuyi did not hide it from him. The agreement clearly stated that all the shares that Gu Changyun transferred to them after the marriage would be transferred to Gu Xiuyi personally. Correspondingly, Gu Xiuyi would pay him a huge amount of property at the end of the agreement.
After a long silence, Gu Changyun slowly spoke: "You also know that it is a will. You don't even want to wait until I die, child? After I die, I will be yours directly-"
"Grandpa," Gu Xiuyi interrupted, looking at the old man with only cold respect in his eyes: "You will live a hundred years."
Gu Changyun paused for a moment, then he smiled, his old face wrinkled with flesh, "Live a hundred years? You expect me to live a hundred years by locking me up here?"
Gu Xiuyi said calmly, "You were in poor health and should have been hospitalized, but you wanted to stay at home... Yes, I understand your desire to return to your roots and I respect your choice, so I sent someone to take care of you."
"Does taking care of me mean that even my son can't come to see me?"
"Of course not," Gu Xiuyi explained without any emotion, "My dad has a bad temper. It's easy for him to get into an argument with you when he talks to you. It's not good if he makes you angry."
"You..." Gu Changyun opened his eyes slightly, his facial muscles twitching slightly with anger: "You want to cover the sky with one hand!"
"How could I?" Gu Xiuyi sighed softly, seeming helpless.
"You protected my mother in the same way back then. I remember it all. Now I am just protecting you in the same way."
“You…you!”
Ji Ruan drank his tea quietly, and from a few words he figured out a feud between two wealthy families.
Cheating, the original wife, the mistress, illegitimate children, and the head of the family who cruelly tortured the original wife.
It turns out that the two caregivers who were as strong as bodyguards were not only there to take care of the old man, but also to prevent other people from coming in.
Ji Ruan vaguely remembered that Song Ling had praised Gu Xiuyi's "filial piety" in front of him. This was true "filial piety". The people around Gu Xiuyi were indeed the kind of people who said different things to different people.
Ji Ruan watched the show with great interest and drank up a cup of tea without noticing.
Gu Xiuyi poured more tea for Ji Ruan, leaned back in his chair, and gently fiddled with the ring on his ring finger, saying in a gentle tone, "Sign it, Grandpa."
The air in the room was filled with the aroma of tea, and it was sharp and thin. At the two ends of the confrontation, one side was old and declining, while the other side was at its peak and full of vigor and vitality.
It looks like a no-brainer fight.
But such a simple contest was deadlocked for a long time because of Gu Changyun's stubborn resistance.
After a while——
"Gilgur ...
A series of strange sounds pierced the air and reached the ears of everyone present.
Ji Ruan's stomach rumbled...
In the silent and tense air, his hunger seemed particularly loud and pitiful.
Ji Ruan was frightened himself. He choked on the tea, covered his mouth with paper, and looked at Gu Xiuyi with his wide eyes, then at the stunned old man.
Gu Xiuyi: “…”
Even the nurse standing aside with a serious face was confused for a moment, and looked at Gu Xiuyi with trembling pupils, as if asking what to do.
Time only stood still for a few seconds, and Gu Xiuyi quickly adjusted himself.
He coughed, took the teacup from Ji Ruan's hand and put it back on the table without changing his expression, and looked at the old man:
"Grandpa, I understand. It will take you some time to accept that you are asked to transfer your shares immediately. How about this——"
He stood up and said, "I'll come get the documents in half an hour. You're hungry, so eat first."
He pulled Ji Ruan up and walked out the door, and told the nurse: "Grandpa is not in good health, you must take good care of him and don't let him get bumped or bruised."
The nurse nodded immediately: "Yes."
In the corridor, Ji Ruan trotted behind Gu Xiuyi. He ignored her when she called his name, and he also ignored her when she pulled his sleeve and acted coquettishly.
As Gu Xiuyi was walking, he suddenly turned around as if he was very angry, pointed at Ji Ruan with his index finger, and seemed to be hesitant to speak.
Ji Ruan blinked awkwardly: "I'm hungry..."
He held his stomach and said, "I was already hungry, and you kept forcing me to drink water, so it started to ring..."
Gu Xiuyi glanced at Ji Ruan's hungry belly, opened and closed his lips several times, but in the end he couldn't say a word, so he turned around and continued walking.
"I was arguing..." Gu Xiuyi took a deep breath and said with a stern face: "Your stomach growled and almost ruined my momentum."
Ji Ruanfuzhi chased after him in his heart and praised him: "You are not imposing. The nurse was scared to death, and your grandfather was so angry that he couldn't speak!"
Gu Xiuyi's expression eased slightly.
Ji Ruan continued: "I think you were so handsome and awesome just now~"
Gu Xiuyi turned his head to look at the sky.
Ji Ruan pulled his sleeves and shook them: "Really~~"
"Shut up!" Gu Xiuyi's mouth twitched.
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