"Friends?" Qin Hao frowned. "It's quite surprising that he has friends here, but he doesn't come back to sleep? This is the first time I've seen that."
"I have never seen my brother say that he is not coming home to sleep because he is seeing friends."
Qin Hao scratched his head, completely unaware that Xia Ran's expression had changed. He only realized something was wrong when he still didn't hear a reply from Xia Ran.
Looking at Xia Ran's expression, his heart skipped a beat.
"Xia Ran, don't overthink it. My brother isn't the kind of person who would do something reckless. He must really be busy with something. You know what kind of person my brother is, right? You have to trust him."
Hearing Qin Hao's words, Xia Ran paused for a moment, then chuckled and said,
"I know, don't worry, I won't overthink it. I'm just a little worried that he's unfamiliar with this place and might get into trouble."
Qin Hao: "That's good. You don't need to worry about that at all. My brother is a grown man, he will definitely be fine."
"Yes, I was overthinking it. It's so late, you should go to sleep too."
"Okay, I'll drink some water and then go to sleep."
After Qin Hao left, Xia Ran closed the door, and the annoyance in her heart disappeared.
That's true, Ah Zheng isn't that kind of person. How could he think such things about Ah Zheng? Ah Zheng must have something important to do outside.
Moreover, Ah Zheng will definitely have to travel frequently for work in the future. If he can't even rest easy for one night, what will he do in the future?
Xia Ran took a deep breath and completely calmed herself down.
The next morning.
Gu Zheng had arranged a car for Gu En early on, so that Gu En could go home first, while he himself went back to Xia Ran's house.
Xia Ran also woke up early in the morning to go out and buy breakfast. He had just arrived at his door when he saw Gu Zheng returning home.
"Ah Zheng." Xia Ran's tone was filled with uncontrollable joy.
"Hmm." Gu Zheng responded, taking the breakfast from Xia Ran's hands. "Why are you up so early?"
"I want to buy breakfast. The xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) at this breakfast shop are delicious. If you go late, there are long queues and you can't buy any."
The two walked into the house together, talking, and ran into Qin Hao, who was yawning.
Upon seeing Gu Zheng, Qin Hao instinctively said...
"Brother, you haven't come back all night. Xia Ran has been waiting for you all night. But how come I didn't know you had friends here?"
Upon hearing Qin Hao's words, Gu Zheng turned his head and glanced at Xia Ran.
Xia Ran pursed her lips a little shyly, "I didn't wait long. Don't listen to Qin Hao's nonsense. I went to sleep after talking to you on the phone last night."
Gu Zheng's gaze fell on Qin Hao again.
Qin Hao: "...Never mind, I won't interfere in your affairs anymore, as long as you two are alright."
With that, Qin Hao walked right past the two of them to brush his teeth and wash his face.
After Qin Hao left, Xia Ran couldn't help but tug at Gu Zheng's hand.
"Ah Zheng, I really didn't think much about it yesterday, and I didn't misunderstand you. I went to sleep right after we talked on the phone. Really, you have to believe me."
Looking into Xia Ran's eyes, Gu Zheng felt an overwhelming sense of guilt.
"It won't happen again. I'll definitely come back on time from now on. Last night... I really didn't have time."
Gu Zheng wanted to tell Xia Ran about Gu En's situation, but in the end he didn't.
Putting aside the fact that the time and place were inappropriate, Qin Hao and his aunt had to be informed first before telling Xia Ran.
Xia Ran smiled and said, "Yes! I believe you, Zheng."
He looked up slightly at Gu Zheng, his eyes always reflecting Gu Zheng's face.
Gu Zheng had never felt anything was wrong before, but now he felt somewhat guilty.
However, he believed that Xia Ran would understand him after he told her about Gu En tomorrow.
Because they were going back today, they set off after breakfast.
Every time Xia Ran left home, it was a time when she felt down.
He felt he was incredibly unfilial; his grandfather was so old, and he hadn't even been by his side.
Suddenly a hand appeared on his head. Xia Ran subconsciously looked up and found that it was Gu Zheng.
"I'll come back with you next month to see Grandpa."
Xia Ran leaned her head on Gu Zheng's shoulder, a gesture he had never made before.
"Ah Zheng, next year, next year we will definitely bring Grandpa over, okay? I really can't bear to leave Grandpa."
Gu Zheng: "Okay, I'll bring Grandpa over to live with us next year. Grandpa and Uncle Wang will have company and won't be lonely."
"Okay." Xia Ran smiled as well. "At least we've told Grandpa about our situation, which puts a weight on my mind."
Since it wasn't a holiday, there wasn't any traffic jam on the road, but it was already afternoon when I got home.
Chapter 128 Gu En Must Come Back
Gu Chen looked rather listless after sitting in the car all afternoon.
Xia Ran felt a pang of sympathy for Gu Chen, so as soon as she got home, she went straight into the kitchen to cook him something delicious to nourish him.
Gu Chen was always Xia Ran's little shadow. When Xia Ran was cooking in the kitchen, he would sit on a small stool and watch her.
As for Gu Zheng, he simply let Qin Hao, along with his aunt and her husband, enter the study with him.
Qin Hao followed them in with a cheerful expression. Aunt Gu and her husband exchanged a glance, both seeing a hint of worry in each other's eyes.
Could it be that Gu En's affair has been discovered? But how could that be? They made sure to watch Gu En leave before they felt at ease.
But what could possibly make Gu Zheng so serious that he summoned them all to his study?
Qin Hao's father patted Aunt Gu's shoulder reassuringly, and then they went inside together.
After they went inside, Gu Zheng immediately told Qin Hao to close the door. This made even the oblivious Qin Hao realize that something was wrong.
He closed the door somewhat nervously, and when he turned to look at his parents, he found that they seemed to be thinking about something and hadn't noticed him at all.
He could only walk over nervously and ask.
"Brother, what's wrong? What's so serious? Should we let Xia Ran come over too? It doesn't seem right for us to keep the door closed and not let him in."
Gu Zheng glanced at him indifferently, "That's right, it was intentional so he wouldn't know."
The Gu couple, who already had some suspicions, were even more certain of their thoughts after hearing these words.
Qin Hao's eyes widened. "Why? Why can't Xia Ran know?"
Gu Zheng simply looked at them with a cold gaze.
"Have you seen Xiao En?"
Upon hearing this, Aunt Gu and her husband both thought to themselves, "Just as I thought."
Qin Hao stood frozen, completely at a loss for what to do.
Gu Zheng was prepared for their reactions.
"Aunt, Uncle, I want to know why you won't let Xiao En come back? Why did you send him away? What did he do to make you so angry?"
He didn't beat around the bush; he just said it directly.
Qin Hao's father glanced at Aunt Gu, worried that her fiery temper might cause her to argue with Gu Zheng, so he wanted to speak up.
But Aunt Gu spoke up even faster than he had expected.
"Why? Why do you think it is?" Aunt Gu sat down directly opposite Gu Zheng. "Don't you know why? Don't make me repeat myself how you feel about Gu En."
“I could turn a blind eye before Xiaoran came along, but now that Xiaoran is here, why are you still acting like this? As your aunt, I won’t let you continue to act so recklessly.”
"But I didn't expect you to be Gu En. Gu En is quite capable; he actually managed to find your way there."
Aunt Gu made no attempt to hide her disgust for Gu En, and Qin Hao now understood what had happened, so the words just came out of his mouth.
"When you said you were going out to meet friends and spend the night out last night, you weren't actually going to see Gu En, were you? Wouldn't that mean you were deceiving Xia Ran?"
"What?!" Aunt Gu was furious. "You actually went to see Gu En? And you even spent the night out? Gu Zheng, what exactly are you trying to do?"
Because she got angry, Aunt Gu started yelling loudly, and her face looked extremely ugly.
Qin Hao's father immediately stopped the person.
"Calm down, don't be impulsive, talk things out."
Aunt Gu suppressed her anger, turned her head away, and said nothing.
Gu Zheng's face was also extremely ugly.
“Aunt, I don’t care what you think, but I can tell you that I must bring Xiao En back. In front of Xia Ran, I will say that he is my younger brother. I hope you won’t let it slip.”
"What?" This time, Qin Hao's father couldn't hold back any longer. "Azheng, do you know what you're saying? Bring Gu En back? What about Xia Ran? The truth will come out eventually, you're doing this..."
"Yeah, bro, are you out of your mind?!" Qin Hao finally realized what was happening. "What does this mean to Xia Ran?"
Despite the objections from the others, Gu Zheng maintained a calm expression, without the slightest fluctuation.
"It's nothing. Xiao En is only coming back as a younger brother. I will let him come back tomorrow. I hope you won't let it slip."
After Gu Zheng finished speaking, he left the study without giving Aunt Gu and the others a chance to speak.
Aunt Gu was so angry with Gu Zheng that she couldn't even speak.
Qin Hao's father patted Aunt Gu's back to help her catch her breath and said,
"Forget it, that's Gu Zheng's private matter. There's no point in us saying anything more. We have to wait for him to make his own decision. But Gu En, it seems we underestimated him."
"It's more than just underestimating him! Compared to him, we're utterly insignificant!"
She thought they had done a good job, but she never expected that Gu En would trick her.
"Qin Hao!" Aunt Gu called out to Qin Hao again, "What happened when you said Gu Zheng didn't come home all night? Explain yourself!"
Qin Hao knew his mother was furious, so he didn't dare to be negligent and told her everything that had happened yesterday.
After hearing this, Aunt Gu's face turned even more grim, and she couldn't hide her worry.
"If we let Gu En come back, something bad will happen to the family sooner or later."