Chapter 11
At the dinner table, Ji Ruan finally met Fang Qiming, the non-blood-related elder brother mentioned by Gu Xiuyi, and his bad-tempered father Gu Zhaoxu.
Both of them had very grumpy looks. According to family status, Gu Zhaoxu sat in the main seat, while Fang Qiming sat in the very corner, even farther away than Ji Ruan.
Fang Lan was still the most attentive one, and the whole table was filled with her sweet laughter.
"Xiuyi, you finally came back, eat more, these are your favorite foods."
"Yes, brother," Gu Xuli also agreed, "Mom got up early in the morning to prepare it. She has been busy all day. Come and try it."
Gu Xiuyi put a piece of sweet and sour pork ribs into Ji Ruan's bowl. Without looking at Fang Lan, he just said casually, "Thank you, Aunt Fang."
Gu Zhaoxu snorted coldly: "You are getting more and more outrageous as you grow older. Your elders have been busying around for you all day, and you are so perfunctory in even saying thank you?"
Gu Xiuyi didn't say anything, but picked up a large piece of pork elbow and gave it to Gu Zhaoxu: "Dad, you're hungry too, let's eat."
But I don't know what this sentence offended Gu Zhaoxu, and his voice suddenly became louder: "What do you mean?! You mean I shouldn't teach you and you should use meat to stuff my mouth?!"
Ji Ruan was shocked.
The Gu family's train of thought is really tricky.
What’s even more tricky is that Gu Xiuyi just smiled and didn’t refute.
Ji Ruan raised his eyebrows at Gu Xiuyi. Is that really what you mean?
Gu Xiuyi tapped the table: "Eat yours."
Gu Zhaoxu was halfway through getting mad when he saw that the other party not only didn't respond but also walked away lightly. He was so angry that he choked on the spot, unable to move up or down, and his neck turned red.
Fang Qiming said unhappily: "Gu Xiuyi, you've gone too far. How can you treat your elders like this?"
"Do you have a say?"
Gu Xiuyi leisurely poured himself some red wine and held it in his hand to wake himself up.
"Gu Xiuyi!" Gu Zhaoxu pointed at his nose and cursed, "You are so outrageous!"
"Hey, Lao Gu, come on, Lao Gu, don't be angry." Fang Lan jumped out to persuade him at the right time, "Xiu Yi finally came back once, why are you quarreling again?"
"You just spoil him! You treat him well, but do you think he appreciates your kindness?!"
"Oh, I don't need it," Fang Lan said anxiously, in a virtuous and generous manner: "I volunteered to do this. I just want our family to be good. What do you think Xiao Ruan would do if he quarreled when he came to our house for the first time? Come on, Lao Gu, calm down..."
After Fang Lan rubbed his chest and persuaded him for a long time, Gu Zhaoxu finally found the stairs and leaned back in his chair. He said to Gu Xiuyi in a tough tone, "Your brother will graduate from college soon. You should arrange a position for him in the company."
Gu Xiuyi, however, seemed to have turned on a shielding device, and remained calm the entire time. Hearing this, he simply said, "This matter still needs to be discussed."
"What is there to discuss? He is a member of the Gu family and your brother! It is only natural for him to help you manage the company!"
"Pah!" Gu Xiuyi put the goblet back on the table and looked at Gu Zhaoxu: "I told you, we still need to discuss this."
Gu Xiuyi actually has a very sharp and indifferent appearance. His facial lines are too sharp and unrestrained, which makes it difficult for him to have human touch. So when the gentleness and courtesy that he always shows in front of others disappears, his arrogance seems particularly domineering.
Gu Zhaoxu seemed to be in a trance when he looked at Gu Xiuyi like this, and he covered his forehead and shook his head.
"Dad, please stop talking," Gu Xuli said anxiously, "I'm fine."
He looked at Gu Xiuyi with an apologetic look on his face: "Don't mind me, big brother. Dad is just too worried about me. I also feel that my ability is still insufficient to work in the company now. Let's not talk about this for now, okay?"
"Yes, yes," Fang Lan also said sympathetically, "Let's eat first. Everyone, eat."
Gu Xuli eagerly picked up some food for Gu Xiuyi: "If you don't eat it now, it will get cold. This is all from mom's heart."
"Cough cough..." Ji Ruan suddenly coughed twice.
Gu Xiuyi immediately leaned closer and whispered in his ear, "What's wrong?"
Ji Ruan covered his mouth with his hands and frowned, pointing at the spicy chicken in the bowl: "It's a bit spicy and a bit salty..."
"It's okay." Gu Xiuyi rubbed his back and handed him a glass of water: "Don't eat salty food."
Gu Xiuli didn't get any response. His hand holding the chopsticks hung in the air, then he withdrew it awkwardly, and finally sat back awkwardly.
"Oh, it's a token of my affection." Fang Qiming sneered, "Do you think he cares? Putting this aside, how much has mom done for him? He likes men, and mom took great pains to introduce him to the only son of the Ji family, but he didn't even bother to look at him, and turned around to marry this thing—"
Ji Ruan's face turned cold instantly.
"Qiming!" Fang Lan said sternly, "How can you talk like that?"
Gu Xuli also frowned: "Brother, you can't say that. It is his freedom to marry whomever he wants."
"Is he wrong?" Gu Zhaoxu sneered: "What's wrong with the young master of the Ji family? He is well-educated, gentle and refined. Look at the girl he married, sickly, petty, and disabled!"
“Gu Zhaoxu!” Gu Xiuyi threw down his chopsticks and showed an angry expression for the first time: “Be careful with your words.”
"What did you call me?" Gu Zhaoxu slammed the table twice. "I'm your father! You want me to be careful?! Rebellious son!"
Gu Xiuyi looked at him very coldly: "I call you dad, do you really think you are important?"
"You, what are you doing..." Fang Lan seemed to be unable to bear it any longer and burst into tears: "Stop arguing!"
She trotted over to Ji Ruan, squatted down, held Ji Ruan's hand, and said with tears in her eyes: "Xiao Ruan, don't take it seriously. They are just like this. They say bad things. It's all Auntie's fault. Auntie apologizes to you. Will you stop being angry?"
Ji Ruan raised his eyebrows in surprise.
He hasn't said he's angry yet!
He didn't say a word!
How can this family be so shameless? They scold you and then use moral blackmail to not allow you to be angry?
Ji Ruan took a deep breath, then tilted his head and looked down at Fang Lan, whose face was covered with tears.
He smiled softly, his eyes were extremely clear:
"What did you say? I didn't hear you clearly."
He is just a disabled deaf man, of course he can't hear anything.
“…”
Fang Lan's tears hung on her face and she seemed to be frozen, unable to speak for a moment.
Gu Xiuyi stood up, pulled Ji Ruan's wrist out of Fang Lan's hand, and brought him behind him. His voice was as cold as ice: "There is nothing more to say. Let's go home."
Ignoring everyone's gazes, he took Ji Ruan's hand and left the dining room, passed the corridor full of landscape paintings, and entered the piano room on the west side of the first floor.
The piano room was spacious and empty, with only a black grand piano in the middle. The curved walls were filled with storage shelves, with some handicrafts scattered around.
Gu Xiuyi closed the door, helped Ji Ruan sit on the piano stool, and squatted in front of him with some apology: "Are you angry?"
Ji Ruan lowered his head slightly, like a child sulking: "They said I was disabled."
Feeling wronged and pitiful.
"No..." Gu Xiuyi's lips were a little dry, and he gently pinched Ji Ruan's ear bone: "You are not."
Ji Ruan still didn't want to pay attention to him.
Gu Xiuyi sighed, thought for a moment, and suddenly said, "How about this, I'm going to go upstairs to get the documents now, and you will stay here alone for a while."
Ji Ruan looked up, somewhat puzzled.
Gu Xiuyi curled his lips and said, "Someone will definitely come to trouble you. Just do what you want. I will be back on time in five minutes to support you."
Ji Ruan's eyebrows twitched slightly, and he understood what Gu Xiuyi meant.
There was no light in the piano room. Ji Ruan stared at Gu Xiuyi's eyebrows in the dim sky outside the window. After a while, he smiled softly and kicked Gu Xiuyi's calf:
“Be on time.”
"must."
·
After Gu Xiuyi left, Ji Ruan let out a long sigh and calmed himself down silently.
Just as Gu Xiuyi said, the door opened again in a moment.
Gu Xuli stuck his head out, moved in cautiously, and turned on the light in the piano room.
Ji Ruan rested his elbows on the piano lid, supporting his chin, and looked at the person who came without saying a word.
"Xiao Ruan, are you okay?" Gu Xuli put a glass of orange juice next to Ji Ruan, looking very guilty: "I'm sorry, I didn't expect a good meal would turn out like this."
Ji Ruan glanced at the fragrant orange juice and didn't intend to drink it: "Aunt Fang has already said the apology just now."
Gu Xuli's eyes lit up: "You mean, you're not angry anymore?"
Ji Ruan curled his lips and said nothing.
Gu Xiuli seemed to believe it. He patted his chest and breathed a sigh of relief. His tone became relaxed: "I knew you were the kindest."
Ji Ruan said softly, "Ah!" "You figured this out?"
"Yes," Gu Xuli smiled shyly, "Actually, I like you very much. I liked you the first time I saw you, but I didn't realize it at the time. But now I understand."
Ji Ruan nodded, pretending to listen attentively.
Gu Xiuli sat down opposite him and said, "You look a lot like a brother I know. Not in terms of face, but in terms of feeling..."
Ji Ruan's heart skipped a beat, and he vaguely realized what he wanted to say.
The next second, Gu Xiuli quickly went to the storage shelf to get a photo frame and showed it to Ji Ruan innocently: "It's him, doesn't he look alike?"
Ji Ruan looked at the photo expressionlessly.
There were three people, two adults and one child, but they were all shown from behind and nothing could be seen.
Gu Xiuli held them like treasures and pointed out one of them: "This brother, his name is Bai Yue, he is very kind, he helped me when I was bullied when I was a child. By the way, he grew up with my eldest brother, and they have a very good relationship, so I felt close to you when I saw you."
It’s finally here, the standard equipment of a domineering president – white moonlight.
However, in the original book, this "white moonlight" who was regarded as kind by others almost tortured the protagonist to death in the later period.
Not sure if it was because of himself, Ji Ruan felt a little disgusted.
Seeing that Ji Ruan didn't say anything, Gu Xiuli continued to talk to himself: "This photo was taken of the three of us together. We had a lot of fun when we were young. Brother Bai Yue can be said to be my brother's most important friend. But later he went abroad and rarely came back. We all missed him very much. My brother was very sad when he left..."
Ji Ruan didn't want to listen anymore. He closed his eyes, pressed his forehead with his knuckles, and whispered, "So you're here to disgust me?"
He doesn't care what Bai Yueguang will be like after she comes back. He is unhappy now and he wants to fight back now.
Gu Xuli's expression froze as he fondly recalled the past, as if he hadn't expected Ji Ruan to be so direct: "Of course not, Xiao Ruan, why would you think so..."
Ji Ruan opened his eyes and tapped the piano cover slowly with his fingernails: "You said that because you like that brother and said he is kind, you think I am kind and friendly too. Do I not have my own name? Do I need you to bring in someone else's?"
"You also said that he was Gu Xiuyi's most important friend. When he went abroad, Gu Xiuyi missed him, and when he left, Gu Xiuyi was heartbroken. How can this be called a friend? This is a lover, right?"
"You even said at the end that I look like him. You can still say such nonsense with your eyes wide open for a picture of a body and the back of a head. If you want to say that I'm a stand-in, you can just say it directly. Why are you beating around the bush like this? Isn't that just trying to disgust me?"
Gu Xiuli was stunned by what he said, and it took him several seconds to respond: "No, that's not the case, Xiao Ruan, don't misunderstand!"
He seemed very at a loss, his eyes were red: "I really didn't mean that, I just thought you were very kind and wanted to make friends with you, I didn't know you would mind me mentioning Brother Bai Yue so much-"
"Stop," Ji Ruan crossed her legs and smiled slightly: "Who is your friend? Gu Xiuyi and I have obtained our marriage certificate. According to seniority, you should call me sister-in-law——"
"Oh..." He suddenly nodded his chin: "Or Goff is also OK, but this doesn't sound very nice."
Gu Xiuli opened her eyes wide and was speechless for a while, and finally could only let her eyes well up with tears: "You misunderstood... Really, I really didn't mean to disgust you..."
Ji Ruan ignored the tears that were about to well up in his eyes, snatched the photo frame, weighed it in his hands, and tilted his head jokingly:
"But I think you do."
After saying that, he suddenly let go, and the glass frame fell to the ground with a "bang", breaking into pieces.
The small debris splashed across Ji Ruan's ankle, causing Ji Ruan to frown slightly.
"What are you doing?" Gu Xiuli held back the tears that she had finally managed to hold back, and screamed, "No matter how angry you are, you can't throw things—"
His voice suddenly stopped, and then the look in his eyes when he looked at Ji Ruan became incredible.
Ji Ruan sat on the piano stool, leaning against the piano to support her body, her head slightly tilted, tears falling down her face, her eyelashes soaked with tears and her nose tip red, as if she had suffered a great injustice.
He cries much more than his own mother!
Gu Xuli froze in place, unable to move.
One second, two seconds...footsteps were heard outside the door!
Very close, so close!
“Crack—”
The door opened.
Gu Xiuyi stood at the door, holding the familiar brown paper bag in his hand.
His eyes swept across the broken glass on the ground, moved to Ji Ruan's wet eyelashes, and then lingered for a long time on Ji Ruan's ankles that were oozing blood.
"Big, big brother..." Gu Xuli's trembling voice sounded.
Gu Xiuyi finally turned his gaze slowly towards him, shuddering: "What did you do?"
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