Chapter 69 Published
The sound startled the entire ship.
When Gu Xiuyi and his men arrived, Ji Ruan had already stood up, with his hands gently supporting the railing. Hearing the voice, he turned his head and glanced in Gu Xiuyi's direction.
His hair was a little messy, and his eye sockets and nose tip were red from the night wind, but his eyes were calm.
Gu Xiuyi walked quickly forward and put his coat on him. In just a few minutes, it was another summer night, but Ji Ruan seemed to be frozen, with the skin on his cheeks and neck icy cold.
His lips were also cracked, he licked them subconsciously and said with difficulty: "I..."
Gu Xiuyi hugged him tightly in his arms: "It's okay, no need to say anything."
God knows how scared he was when he heard someone fall into the water and turned around and didn't see Ji Ruan. All the blood in his body seemed to freeze for a moment.
Ji Ruan is not good at swimming. He didn’t learn how to swim the last time we taught him and he even got cramps. His ears are not good either. He can’t hear anything when he falls into the water and he gets scared if no one holds him.
Although the one who seems to be most afraid now is Gu Xiuyi himself.
He felt terrified and his hair stood on end just thinking about it.
He held him like this for a while, feeling Ji Ruan's gentle breathing against his ears, and making sure that he was safe and sound in his arms, his heart slowly settled back to where it was, and he allowed reason to take over again.
"It's okay, let's go back first." He gently touched Ji Ruan's face, carried him back to the sofa in the lobby, and wrapped him in a blanket.
The live broadcast had been cut off long ago, and all media reporters were prohibited from filming. The bodyguards evacuated people in batches. Just after dealing with the reporters and when the guests were halfway evacuated, Lin Qing was fished out and thrown into the lobby. He was soaking wet and lying on the ground coughing water.
The remaining guests were originally at a loss, but after seeing this scene they were unwilling to leave and stopped to watch from a distance.
Lin Qing hadn't recovered yet and was lying on the ground crying. His face was covered with river tears and saliva, and he looked extremely miserable.
Fang Lan covered her nose when she saw this and said disdainfully, "Why bring such a person in? Find a place to keep him overnight and he will go back tomorrow."
The crew member who pulled him out immediately explained: "Because when I rescued him just now, this guy kept shouting that he was pushed down."
He pointed at Ji Ruan and said, "And I did see that gentleman sticking his head out from the railing, but I didn't see the process, so I can't make a conclusion."
Ji Ruan was holding a cup of hot water to warm his hands. Hearing this, he looked up at Gu Xiuyi and said calmly, "I didn't."
Gu Xiuyi patted the back of his hand to comfort him: "I know - Song Ling, go check the surveillance."
Song Ling nodded: "I've sent someone to get it."
Lin Qing, who had been lying on the ground, finally sat up, staring at Ji Ruan with bloodshot eyes: "Okay, adjust the surveillance, just don't be afraid to do it."
Li Suian sighed: "To be honest, we all think that he wouldn't push you on purpose. You don't play an important role. What do you think?"
"Did I say he did it on purpose?" Lin Qing glared at him, "We had an argument at the time and we both fell. The only difference was that he fell to the ground and was fine, while I was pushed into the water and almost died. Doesn't negligent injury count as injury?"
Hearing that both of them fell, Gu Xiuyi jumped up and quickly pulled Ji Ruan's hand to check: "Are you hurt anywhere?"
Ji Ruan was wearing long sleeves and long pants, so nothing serious would happen to him if he fell. He just hit his head and knocked off the external blood flow meter. It took him some time to stand up.
He pressed down Gu Xiuyi's hand and shook his head: "It's okay."
Gu Xiuyi did not dare to take it lightly. He checked Ji Ruan carefully from head to toe, and only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that he was not injured or bleeding.
The crew member also stood up and said a little stupidly: "That's what I thought. If he was really pushed, he must get an explanation. But if he is wrongly accusing others, we can't just let him talk nonsense. We have to clear his name. That's why we brought him here."
The surveillance video was quickly called in, and Song Ling handed the phone to Gu Xiuyi: "Look."
Gu Xiuyi blocked it, held Ji Ruan to sit on his lap, and said calmly: "Just show it on the big screen."
Lin Qing felt something was wrong when he heard this, but before he had time to think about it, he saw his face like a devil on the big screen.
How he stopped Ji Ruan, how he pressed on when Ji Ruan wanted to retreat, how he clung to Ji Ruan like a madman, pushed Ji Ruan down but lost his balance and fell off the railing during the bumpy ride, all were clearly displayed on the big screen.
The ultra-high-definition camera captured his every expression vividly; the hideousness, jealousy, madness, and resentment were exposed unreservedly to the eyes of everyone present.
“…”
The facts are clear and there is no room for sophistry.
The scene was quiet and silent.
Lin Qing seemed to have fallen into an inexplicable calm after being insane, and sat on the ground in a daze.
Gu Xiuyi was shocked by the scene on the screen. Ji Ruan's fall was like a cut in his heart.
He tightened his grip on Ji Ruan slightly, and there was unconcealable anger in his eyes.
Song Ling stepped forward and looked down at him: "What else do you have to say?"
Lin Qing's eyes moved, but they were unfocused. He muttered like a madman, "I'm not wrong..."
"We...we had an argument, and I fell off the boat during the fight. I was right. He was guilty of manslaughter. I was not wrong..."
"So? Do you think it's useful to say this?" Gu Xiuyi lowered his head and patted Ji Ruan's back gently.
"Let's take a step back and say that even if Ji Ruan accidentally pushed you down during the argument, so what? Do you expect me to stand by you and blame Ji Ruan?"
"Do you think it's possible?"
Perhaps because he was facing Ji Ruan, Gu Xiuyi spoke these words particularly gently. In the empty lobby, the gentleness seemed eerie.
"You probably haven't figured out one fact," he finally gave Lin Qing a cold look, "This is the Gu family, not a place where you have the right to speak."
Whatever he said was to comfort Ji Ruan. Ji Ruan pushed his hand away, sat up straight, and shook his head to indicate that he was fine.
Gu Xiuyi did not force it, but instead held Ji Ruan's cold fingertips, leaned back slightly on the sofa, and said in a cold tone: "Mr. Lin is probably really injured, and his brain is injured and he has some mental problems."
"But it doesn't matter. Since it happened at the Gu family banquet, we will naturally take responsibility."
He stroked Ji Ruan's smooth fingernails one by one: "I will ask a doctor specializing in mental illness to examine you and provide follow-up long-term treatment. Mr. Lin can rest assured."
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a sigh from the crowd.
Lin Qing didn't quite understand and looked around blankly.
Bai Yue was trembling all over, looking at Gu Xiuyi with horror: "You, you want to put him in a mental hospital?!"
Gu Xiuyi glanced at him calmly: "Why, do you want to accompany him?"
His eyebrows and eyes seemed to be filled with sharp ice knives, cutting Bai Yue's whole body so cold that he staggered two steps in a limp state.
The word "mental hospital" completely awakened Lin Qing. He suddenly opened his eyes wide and broke free from the bodyguard who was holding him: "You want to lock me up?!"
"Gu Xiuyi, are you going to lock me up?!"
"——I'm not sick! How dare you lock a living person into a mental hospital? Is there no law in this world?!"
He smiled and shook his head gently: "It's not up to you to decide whether you are sick or not. The doctor will give the correct diagnosis."
This laughing man gave everyone present a chill.
Lin Qing was stunned for a second and his breathing became rapid.
In a panic, he suddenly looked at Gu Xuli, as if he finally realized something, and shouted in a shrill voice:
"Didn't you say the surveillance camera was broken?! Gu Xuli, are you trying to harm me?!"
His eyes were red and looked like they were about to bleed: "You did this on purpose, didn't you?!"
The onlookers looked over there.
Gu Xiuli was watching Lin Qing's desperate actions with a sound of his tongue, when he was suddenly targeted and became the focus of the whole audience. He almost jumped up:
"Fuck, are you okay? When the hell did I tell you that? Don't spit blood on me. Is it something you can only brag about that the cruise ship's surveillance camera is broken? Should I tell you?!"
"You are the second young master of the Gu family. Didn't you tell Bai Yue to tell me? Didn't you instruct me to do this even though I knew there were surveillance cameras?!"
"Don't talk nonsense! What good would it do for me if I asked you to do this? Don't I feel ashamed? Don't I have any dignity?!"
Song Ling sighed: "Mr. Lin, if the surveillance is broken, we will fix it. Doesn't it look like we can't find a worker?"
He raised his hand and told the bodyguard to act quickly.
"You...ah!" The bodyguard covered Lin Qing's mouth and dragged him out.
Gu Xuli was suddenly pointed out and was so scared that he almost lost his soul: "No, why are you all looking at me? I would never do such a thing - it's you, Bai Yue, right! It must be you, it's you who asked Lin Qing to come out and cause trouble!"
"I didn't!" Bai Yue panicked, "I only told him that the surveillance on the deck was broken, I didn't ask him to jump into the river!"
Gu Xiuli was so angry that he was shaking: "You are talking nonsense! It's obvious that you two did it on purpose. I only mentioned the surveillance to you and you remembered it so clearly. And you turned around and told others. Do you think anyone would believe you if you said it was not intentional?"
"You!" Bai Yue jumped up in desperation: "Do you think you can get away with it? The plan was decided by everyone together, and Lin Qing was the one you brought in!"
The corners of Ji Ruan's mouth twitched uncontrollably, and he was stunned by the situation in front of him where dogs were biting each other, and then dogs were biting each other again.
“That’s enough!” Gu Changyun slammed the wheelchair hard, coughed hard for a while, propped himself up and glared at Gu Xiuli: “You brought that person in, didn’t you?… Do you remember that today is my birthday party? Huh?!”
"You have completely disgraced me!"
Gu Xiuli's legs went limp and he immediately knelt down, speaking incoherently: "No, grandpa, I did bring him here, but Bai Yue introduced him to me. I just helped Bai Yue with a small favor, I didn't expect it would be so embarrassing... I..."
"——Bai Yue said that! He said he had a way to make Ji Ruan embarrassed. I admit that I didn't have good intentions in helping him, but I didn't mean to embarrass you. It was too late for me to stop him later!"
Bai Yue sneered: "Don't make yourself sound so innocent. You weren't like this when you excitedly said you wanted to participate."
"How could I know you were so shameless!"
Gu Changyun leaned on his wheelchair and made an unbearable "ho ho" sound: "As expected, what kind of person you are will give birth to what kind of child you will have. A poor family who becomes a mistress can only give birth to such an evil child that is not presentable enough."
He was indeed ill and unconscious, and he said everything that sounded more like he was talking to himself than speaking: "Luckily, I have suppressed you all these years and didn't let you two poor bastards who forced the original wife to death go out and show off. Otherwise... otherwise, I wouldn't be able to keep my face until now..."
Ji Ruan could clearly feel that Gu Xiuyi's arms around him had tightened a little, and he looked at him worriedly.
Gu Xiuyi patted his waist and forced a smile: "It's okay."
There were still some guests left around. Gu Changyun's words made everyone look at him sideways and also hit Gu Xuli's sore spot.
He stopped crouching in front of the wheelchair and straightened his back slowly: "Grandpa, what you said is really heartless."
Everyone watched helplessly as Gu Xiuli's expression gradually became colder:
"Weren't you the one who forced your original wife to death?"
There were sudden gasps in the hall.
Gu Changyun opened his eyes suddenly, his cloudy eyeballs seemed to fall out, he couldn't believe that this grandson who always kept his head down and looked obedient dared to speak to him like this: "You...you!..."
"Xiao Li!" Fang Lan stumbled forward and pulled his arm: "What are you talking about? Shut up!"
"Let him speak."
Gu Xiuyi had stood up from the sofa without knowing when. The crystal chandelier in the lobby refracted spots of light onto his face, shining brightly on the coldness buried deep in his eyes.
He held Ji Ruan's hand with an expressionless face, but the veins on the back of his hand were exposed, the product of extreme restraint but not being willing to use force, as if Ji Ruan was the thread that pulled him. Only with Ji Ruan's presence could he stand still with a calm and rational look.
"Look, no one likes you." Gu Xiuli chuckled at the old man, "My mother's status is not very good, but we didn't force Jiang Ling to death. Jiang Ling doesn't love my father, and my father doesn't love her. What kind of feelings can there be in a business marriage? All she wants is a divorce and run away."
"It was you who didn't want her to leave. You were afraid that if things got out of hand, you would lose face, so you locked her up in the mental hospital until she died!"
"Why are you blaming us now?"
"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been hiding from the public for so many years. Jiang Ling would be living a good life and might have remarried long ago. Gu Xiuyi wouldn't hate me so much..."
He gritted his teeth and said, "We just want to have a foothold in the Gu family. If it weren't for you, Gu Xiuyi's mother wouldn't have died, and my mother and I wouldn't have to live such a hard life. All of this is obviously your fault!"
Gu Changyun had long lost the ability to take care of himself. He was now slumped in a wheelchair like a pile of rotting meat. His chest heaved violently, his face turned purple from anger and lack of oxygen, and his neck was red and veins were exposed.
"You... stop, ahhh... shut up!"
"What? You've done so many evil things, are you still afraid of what people say?"
Gu Changyun forced himself to stand up, grasping Gu Xuli's collar with his skinny hands, and used up his last bit of strength to say, "...I don't have a grandson like you, you, you will never get even a penny from the Gu family... even a penny... ugh!"
He suddenly widened his eyes in horror, covered his chest, his facial features twisted in extreme pain, and his face, as old and dark as old tree bark, kept trembling.
Ji Ruan was standing nearby at a distance, and saw Gu Changyun's whole body suddenly convulse and twitch, twisting like a mutated zombie in a movie, and then he let out a scream and spat a mouthful of blood onto Gu Xuli's face.
His eyes were wide open, and he gradually slid down from the wheelchair, as if all the bones in his body had melted and he had no support at all, and blood continued to vomit out of his mouth.
All the changes happened in a short moment. Ji Ruan's pupils constricted and he staggered backwards. The next second, someone covered his eyes.
At the same time, screams of terror were heard all around.
Gu Xiuyi hugged him tightly in his arms and took off his external machine. The noisy world suddenly faded away and became blurred. Only Gu Xiuyi's steady breathing could be clearly heard beside his left ear.
"Don't look, baby."
He stroked Ji Ruan's trembling shoulders and neck repeatedly, trying to pass on his body temperature: "It's okay, don't be afraid, baby, don't be afraid..."
·
At ten o'clock in the evening, the luxury cruise ship traveling on the Yugu River made an emergency stop.
Gu Changyun's 80th birthday, which he longed to be witnessed and blessed by the people of the whole country, turned into a bloody grave.
In the hospital, the lights in the corridor outside the emergency room were as pale as a morgue. Gu Xiuyi hugged Ji Ruan and sat on a bench without saying a word.
Gu Xiuli's body was covered in blood, which had now dried and turned black. His eyes were staring blankly into space, motionless. Even though Fang Lan cried and wiped his face and called him, he did not respond.
"Son... my son..."
"Xiao Li, say something, don't scare mom..."
Ji Ruan saw Gu Xuli suddenly move, his eyes focused on Fang Lan's face, and tears suddenly fell, blurring the blood stains on his face.
"Mom..." he said softly, and because he was so frightened that he showed an expression that was almost a smile: "I pissed him off to death..."
“I pissed my grandpa off to death in front of so many people… Hahahaha, I’m done, mom. There’s no way we’ll ever be together again in the Gu family…”
Fang Lan burst into tears: "What Gu family! We don't want it anymore! Don't blame you or your son. It's his own fault. He didn't live past this month anyway... And, he may not die. It's not your fault..."
But Ji Ruan knew that there was no way Gu Changyun could be saved. The huge amount of vomited blood should be due to a ruptured tumor or a terminal hemorrhage in the late stage of lung cancer.
If he had been sent to the hospital in time, he might have been saved, but the conditions on the cruise ship were limited and it took a lot of time to transfer him to the hospital. He was lucky not to die in the ambulance. Now there is almost no possibility of survival.
Gu Xiuyi sat next to him, holding his hand quietly, looking neither sad nor not sad.
Ji Ruan gently squeezed his palm, and he came back to his senses and smiled at Ji Ruan, then hugged Ji Ruan in his arms: "What's wrong, baby? Are you thirsty or hungry?"
"Nothing," Ji Ruan shook his head, frowned slightly, and stretched out his arms to wrap around his neck: "I just want a hug."
Gu Xiuyi held the back of Ji Ruan's head, his fingers sinking into his soft hair, and his heart seemed to soften as well: "Why are you so obedient?"
Ji Ruan nodded, rubbed the side of his neck, and then received a kiss on the tip of his ear.
Snap——
The door of the emergency room was pushed open. Ji Ruan and Gu Xiuyi looked in the direction of the sound and saw the doctor taking off his mask and shaking his head with a heavy face:
"We tried our best. Please accept my condolences."
At that moment, Ji Ruan felt Gu Xiuyi let out a long breath. It was clearly a heavy breath that was almost like a moan, but it felt light when it came out, as if the emotions that had been pent up for years had finally come to light and became light.
He just held Ji Ruan quietly.
Ji Ruan knew that Gu Xiuyi did not take him home directly after getting off the boat. He was extremely indifferent but still insisted on waiting in the hospital for dozens of minutes, probably just to hear the result with his own ears.
After a while, Gu Xiuyi opened his eyes, his expression was calmer than ever before. He picked up Ji Ruan horizontally, and left without paying attention to the gazes around him.
He only left one sentence to Song Ling: "Just take care of the funeral arrangements, don't worry too much."
·
After returning home, Ji Ruan took a deep hot bath and then snuggled into bed. Soon, Gu Xiuyi lifted the quilt and came in to hug him.
Ji Ruan felt a little cold, and the hot bath seemed to have only worked for a short while and was unable to warm up Ji Ruan's body.
So much so that when Gu Xiuyi hugged him, the child's feet were icy cold.
Gu Xiuyi felt bad: "I'm sorry, baby."
Ji Ruan rested her head in his arms. The room was dimly lit, making his eyes look particularly soft. "No, why do you say that?"
Gu Xiuyi traced Ji Ruan's eyebrows and eyes distressedly: "You are tired today, and you are also scared, right?"
Gu Changyun's last mouthful of blood did leave some trauma. He pursed his lips and looked at Gu Xiuyi. In such an intimate conversation, he did not choose to hide anything. He stretched out his hands and put them around the other's waist:
"Well... a little bit."
Gu Xiuyi kissed his forehead: "Blame me..."
Ji Ruan shook his head, curled his eyes slightly, and touched Gu Xiuyi's chin with his fingers: "You've worked hard too, and you've even got stubble."
He looked very serious, as if he really felt that Gu Xiuyi's stubble was caused by overwork, and there was some heartache in his words.
Gu Xiuyi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He grabbed the white fingertips on his lips and pecked them: "Baby, the growth of my stubble has nothing to do with how hard I work."
Ji Ruan blinked, her long eyelashes fluttering, innocently and naively: "Ah...but you didn't have any stubble at night before?"
Gu Xiuyi tapped his sunglass, turned on his phone and checked the time for him: "You would have been sleeping like a pig at this time of night before, so of course you don't know."
"Why am I a piglet?"
Ji Ruan kicked him with a smile, but Gu Xiuyi clamped his calves around her cold feet.
Gu Xiuyi lowered his head and rubbed his chin against him: "I kissed you at night, you really don't know, the more I kiss you, the better I sleep."
Ji Ruan's ears turned red and he choked up, "You did kiss me secretly!"
"Yeah," Gu Xiuyi held his face and leaned closer: "So, a few more kisses?"
As he said this, he kissed Ji Ruan's face. The rubbing of his stubble against her smooth skin made Ji Ruan tremble and his tailbone felt numb.
"Stop, stop..." Ji Ruan pushed Gu Xiuyi away with all his strength and lay on his back on the pillow, gasping for breath.
Gu Xiuyi gently rubbed the skin under her eyelids with his fingertips: "It's red, does it hurt, baby?"
It doesn’t hurt, but it’s a little unbearable.
But before he could say anything, he was pecked in the same place again: "It won't hurt now."
It seems like kissing is a healing medicine.
Ji Ruan was amused by him again. After taking a breath, he gently placed his palm on Gu Xiuyi's chest, and his expression became more serious: "Are you feeling better now?"
Gu Xiuyi was stunned.
On a quiet night, Gu Xiuyi quietly gazed at Ji Ruan's clear eyes buried in the quilt. His heart felt like it was wrapped in the soft palm of a child, who carefully and solemnly told him not to be unhappy.
Gu Xiuyi was not unhappy.
When Gu Changyun died, his first feeling was that the shackles on his body were removed, but then he felt an indescribable sense of emptiness.
Because he suddenly realized that even if he hated Gu Changyun and everyone in the Gu family, Gu Changyun's death could not change anything.
His mother won't come back because of this, and the lives of the other members of the Gu family won't get better or worse. They are all crazy zombies.
The only difference between Gu Xiuyi and them is that he has Ji Ruan by his side.
He has a lover who is like an elf and hugs him, kisses him, and sparkles around him.
Not everyone can be so lucky.
His eyes unconsciously became unusually soft. He held Ji Ruan in his arms tenderly and gently stroked his delicate neck.
"I'm free, thank you baby."
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