Gu Zheng noticed Xia Ran's hesitation, gave a wry smile to himself, but maintained a blank expression on his face. He placed the bowl of millet porridge in Xia Ran's hands and said,
"If you want to go home sooner, finish your meal quickly."
Xia Ran pursed her lips, but finally took the bowl and started eating.
Gu Zheng sat down next to them and ate with them, both of them remaining silent.
Da Zhuang's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the two of them.
So, what is he sitting here for?
On the way back, a driver took them. Gu Zheng sat in the passenger seat, while Xia Ran and Da Zhuang sat in the back.
When they were halfway there, Xia Ran couldn't help but ask a question.
"Where is Yu Chao? Where is he now?"
The person he asked was, of course, Gu Zheng, because Da Zhuang also didn't know Yu Chao's whereabouts.
Upon hearing Xia Ran's question to Yu Chao, Gu Zheng immediately turned to look at Xia Ran, his tone turning cold.
"Are you still thinking about him? Still concerned about him?"
"No, I didn't," Xia Ran said subconsciously. "I just want to know where he is now. After all, there must be something wrong with him. I need to take some measures to prevent him from coming to me again."
Gu Zheng's expression softened slightly. "Don't worry, I won't give him another chance to come looking for you."
Chapter 266 Understanding
Xia Ran was not reassured after hearing Gu Zheng's words. Instead, she frowned and asked with some excitement,
"What do you want to do? Gu Zheng, you mustn't do anything reckless. What he did should be handled by the police. Don't do anything illegal."
If Gu Zheng really did something illegal because of him...
Gu Zheng: "Don't worry, I'm just making him receive the punishment he deserves. I won't do anything more. I value my life."
After he finished speaking, Gu Zheng sat down properly again.
He wouldn't let Yu Chao die, but he could make Yu Chao wish he were dead.
Hearing this, Xia Ran breathed a sigh of relief, as long as Gu Zheng wouldn't do anything illegal.
"Can I see him?" Xia Ran still wanted to find out why Yu Chao did this, or why things had turned out this way.
"No way." Gu Zheng refused outright. "I'll handle this. You don't need to worry about it."
He knew Xia Ran was soft-hearted, and that he could handle some things himself.
Xia Ran wanted to say something more, but in the end she said nothing and just turned to look out the window.
Forget it, since Gu Zheng saved him anyway, let Gu Zheng handle the rest. He's really tired.
Gu Zheng saw Xia Ran's current state in the mirror and felt a pang of bitterness in his heart.
He really disliked Xia Ran's current indifference towards him, as if she didn't want to say a single word to him.
This made Xia Ran feel extremely uncomfortable. He would rather Xia Ran scold him or hit him than have her act so indifferent.
There's a saying that goes, "Neither love nor hate, neither hate nor love," and perhaps that's how Xia Ran feels about him now.
Xia Ran no longer loves him. The thought of this made Gu Zheng's heart feel like it was being pricked by needles.
He recalled Xia Ran's devastated state right after their divorce.
Now he could understand, because whenever he thought about Xia Ran not loving him and marrying someone else, his heart ached uncontrollably, and he even felt so jealous that he wanted to go crazy and hit someone...
Knowing early on that Xia Ran and the others were coming back, Grandpa Xia and Gu Chen waited at the door.
When Xia Ran returned, Grandpa Xia's eyes were red, as were Gu Chen's, but neither of them dared to approach her.
After comforting Grandpa Xia, Xia Ran noticed Gu Chen, who was some distance away. He couldn't help but wave to the child and say,
"Xiao Chen, why are you standing so far away? Come here and let your little daddy give you a hug, okay?"
This day and night of experience made him realize even more the importance of his family and friends.
Xia Ran originally thought that the child would rush into his arms and call him "little dad" as usual, but unexpectedly, the child said "no" and turned to walk to the side of the house.
Xia Ran was stunned; he hadn't expected the child to react this way.
Not to mention Xia Ran, everyone present was somewhat surprised by the child's reaction, and only Gu Zheng had a rough idea of what was going on.
"I'll go check on him. You go back and get some rest."
Gu Zheng raised his hand as if to touch Xia Ran's head, but in the end he withdrew his hand and chased after the child back home.
Only after the father and son disappeared from sight did Xia Ran seem to come back to her senses.
"Grandpa, what happened to Xiao Chen?" Xia Ran looked at Grandpa Xia with some confusion and disbelief.
This was the first time the child had said no to him, the first time he didn't want to be near him...
Grandpa Xia frowned as well. "I don't know. He was fine before you came back. He kept asking me when you were coming back. And he couldn't sleep well last night."
Dazhuang: "Let's go back first. Gu Zheng went with him, so the child will be fine."
"Yes, let's go back first." Grandpa Xia agreed. Xia Ran could only follow them home, but he was still somewhat absent-minded. Gu Chen's reaction just now was still hard for him to accept.
Gu Zheng followed the child back and found that the child had run straight back to the room and buried himself under the covers.
Gu Zheng walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, gently patting the blanket, and asked,
Why didn't you go when your stepfather asked you to go? Don't you miss him?
"I want to," the child's voice, trembling with tears, came from under the covers, "but I can't let him hold me."
“We’ve said we can’t make our stepfather unhappy. He should have his own life. I can’t bother him anymore, otherwise a lot of people will talk badly about him. As long as he comes back, everything will be fine.”
“I…I don’t want others to speak ill of my stepfather, so I can’t get close to him. I have to leave him so he will be happy. I’m okay. I’m all grown up now. I can eat and sleep by myself.”
Hearing the child's words, Gu Zheng felt an indescribable sadness welling up inside him.
"Xiao Chen, you must remember that as long as you still love him, he will always be your little dad."
Gu Chen: "I know. He will always be my little dad. When I grow up, I can come to him. By then, I will be an adult and I can protect him. I won't be afraid that anyone will bully him."
"Okay." Gu Zheng patted the blanket again.
After this incident, his relationship with his child seemed to have improved considerably, and they became much closer.
And all of this was brought to them by Xia Ran.
"Xiao Chen, you stay home for now. Your dad has some things to take care of."
Gu Chen crawled out of bed, his eyes red-rimmed, and looked at Gu Zheng, asking,
"What are you going to take care of? Can you take me with you? I... I don't want to be home alone, I'm scared..."
"No." Gu Zheng refused outright. "The matter that your father is going to deal with this time is something that children shouldn't see. You stay home and wait for me."
Gu Chen pouted, but finally nodded.
Gu Zheng touched the child's head and then went out.
Of course, he had to deal with Yu Chao. He had been at the hospital with Xia Ran all day yesterday and had no time to deal with Yu Chao.
When he returned today, he naturally had Yu Chao brought back with him.
If we just send the person to the police station directly, wouldn't that be giving Yu Chao an easy advantage?
After giving instructions to the bodyguard looking after the child, Gu Zheng went out alone.
As he reached the door, he glanced instinctively at the house next door, but the door was tightly shut.
Gu Zheng didn't think much of it and got into the car.
The driver drove the car all the way to a dilapidated old residential area. The people living there were a mixed bunch, either petty thugs or very poor families.
Chapter 267 You Don't Deserve It
Therefore, the surrounding environment was not much better, and people like Gu Zheng naturally attracted a lot of attention when they came here.
Of course, Gu Zheng was not affected at all; he simply followed one of the bodyguards in front of him.
Yu Chao was taken to a house by the bodyguards, since sometimes it's necessary to do things in the shadows.
The bodyguards led Gu Zheng directly up to a slightly better house in this residential area.
The staircase was small, dark, and even dirty, but Gu Zheng showed no unusual emotion whatsoever.
Soon, the bodyguard led Gu Zheng to a stop in front of an iron gate and then knocked on the door.
The door was opened from the inside, and the person who came out was one of Gu Zheng's bodyguards.
"Young Master."
The bodyguard called out to Gu Zheng and opened the door. Gu Zheng walked in expressionlessly and immediately saw Yu Chao, who was tied up to the side by the bodyguard.
At this moment, Yu Chao's mouth was gagged, his feet were tied behind his back to the chair, and his legs were also tied, leaving him completely unable to move.
At this moment, he was just like Xia Ran when he had tied her up, and Yu Chaowei was now looking down, completely unlike his arrogant demeanor in the hotel.
Gu Zheng walked straight over and stood opposite Yu Chao. Yu Chao looked up at him, his eyes filled with dejection and undisguised hatred.
Gu Zheng directly tore off the tape stuck to Yu Chao's mouth.
"What exactly do you want?" Yu Chao asked as soon as he got a chance to speak.
Gu Zheng's eyes were icy cold. "What do I mean by 'what'? I didn't mean anything by it. I just want you to receive the punishment you deserve."
“Deserved punishment? Ha…” Yu Chao laughed directly, “I don’t think I did anything wrong, so no punishment has anything to do with me.”
"Is that so?" Gu Zheng composed himself and kicked Yu Chao down.
He didn't need any bodyguards to help him; he took care of Yu Chao all by himself.
Even when Yu Chao's hands and feet were free, he was no match for him, let alone now that his hands and feet are tied.
Gu Zheng completely lost control of himself when he thought about what Yu Chao had done to Xia Ran.
If they hadn't noticed something was wrong with Xia Ran's departure in time, who knows what kind of things Yu Chao would have done to her.
If Xia Ran really gets into trouble, Gu Zheng will never be able to forgive himself.