Dad has always been in good health, how could he suddenly fall ill? Could it be, as Gu Chengyuan said, that...?
Thinking of this, You Ran's heart felt like a towel being wrung out, twisted into a knot.
Her fingertips were stiff and cold, as if they had just been rescued from ice.
A moment later, the warmth of another person enveloped her hands, gradually calming her tense body.
Xiaoxin held her hand and gently comforted her, "It's okay, we'll be there soon. Calm down. Only by taking care of yourself can you go back to help your parents instead of causing them trouble."
In the coldest season, even the smallest bit of warmth is the most vivid and precious. You Ran listened to Xiao Xin's words, and her heart slowly calmed down.
Yes, I need to be strong now.
She had enjoyed twenty happy years under her parents' protection, and now it was her turn to protect them.
You Ran held Xiao Xin's hand tightly, seeking strength from the warmth of his palm.
At that moment, she realized for the first time that Shin-chan wasn't always Shin-chan.
The wait may be long, but the result will eventually come.
When they arrived at the hospital Gu Chengyuan had mentioned, You Ran jumped out of the car and rushed inside, asking the nurses questions. Just then, she caught a glimpse of her mother, Bai Ling, getting off the elevator.
Upon seeing You Ran, Bai Ling was quite surprised: "You Ran, what are you doing here?"
"Where's Dad? Mom, how is Dad?" You Ran was extremely anxious and rushed over to ask.
"Your dad is still in surgery, how did you know he was hospitalized?" Bai Ling asked.
But You Ran couldn't listen to her mother's questions anymore. She only wanted to know the details of her father's condition: "What disease does Dad have? Why did he suddenly collapse? Is the surgery dangerous? Dad and I have the same blood type, so I can donate blood to him."
"Actually, what your father is doing is..." Bai Ling's words silenced the entire room. "Hemorrhoid surgery."
hemorrhoid.
You Ran felt that there were cute crows flying across the top of the screen, followed by a string of ellipses.
Shin-chan felt a large bead of sweat hanging on the back of his and Yu-ran's heads.
“Your father already has this condition and usually pays close attention to his diet, but yesterday he went out with friends and couldn’t resist eating spicy food and drinking a lot of alcohol, so it relapsed this morning and he’s in so much pain that he can’t sit up.” Bai Ling smiled gently: “Don’t worry, it’s just a minor surgery, nothing serious.”
You Ran began to picture her father sitting on the toilet, howling in pain.
This ridiculous result put You Ran at ease. Only then did she feel the blood flowing through her body again.
How did you find out about this?
Bai Ling's words brought You Ran back to her senses, and she immediately asked, "Mom, why is your phone off?"
"Not on?" Bai Ling took her phone out of her purse and muttered, "Huh, it really is off. Could it be that Cheng Yuan accidentally pressed the power button when he was setting the time for me this morning?"
Gu Chengyuan.
Gu Chengyuan!
A sudden surge of nameless anger welled up in You Ran's heart. Unable to control herself, she turned and ran outside.
She knew that Gu Chengyuan was waiting for her outside.
Just as You Ran had predicted, Gu Chengyuan's car was parked outside.
You Ran rushed forward in a few steps and kicked the car door hard. After three or four kicks, Gu Chengyuan got out of the car.
"Watch your feet," he said.
"Are you sick? Why did you make up such a thing?" You Ran questioned.
"It's not exactly fabricated, your dad was actually undergoing surgery," Gu Chengyuan said.
There were many pedestrians coming and going in front of the hospital. When they saw the two of them, they all turned their heads. You Ran didn't want to be treated as an exhibit, so she took Gu Chengyuan to the central garden of the inpatient department.
The inpatient department has a nice environment. In the center of the clear artificial lake is an antique octagonal pavilion, and four wooden walkways connect the pavilion to the lake shore.
You Ran and Gu Chengyuan continued their argument on one of the wooden paths.
"What exactly are you doing this for? Do you want me to worry, do you want me to have an uneasy life? Do you feel you have to disrupt my peaceful life as soon as I have one?" You Ran's tone was sharp.
"No," Gu Chengyuan said frankly. "I just wanted to talk to you in the car, but I didn't expect that kid to suddenly show up."
"Just because of this, you're going to joke about my dad's life?!" You Ran now realized that she understood Gu Chengyuan less and less.
Every time she thought his heart had reached the deepest, darkest depths, he always managed to do something even darker.
Gu Chengyuan's heart was like a black hole, so dark that there was no bottom to it.
“Gu Chengyuan, I beg you, never to appear in our family again.” You Ran gently shook her head: “You are too terrible.”
Upon hearing this, Gu Chengyuan's eyes twitched slightly. He suddenly laughed, a relaxed and clean laugh, but it gave off a terrifying, ghostly feeling: "As expected, you are mother and daughter. You and she did the same thing—exiled me from your lives."
"What are you talking about?" You Ran asked.
Gu Chengyuan looked at You Ran, his smile unchanged, as if he were a mannequin, devoid of any life force: "The loving mother in your heart, the mother who once said she would stay with me for a lifetime, abandoned me after meeting your father, just like throwing away a shoe, so easily."
“Mom didn’t mean it. She couldn’t bear to part with you. She’s been trying her best to make it up to you!” You Ran wouldn’t allow Gu Chengyuan to speak ill of her mother.
"Compensation? You invite me to your home once a month so I can witness your family's joy and share in your happy family life. Is that compensation?" Gu Chengyuan's voice was stiff and low, tinged with a hint of coldness.
“You hate that Mom abandoned you to marry Dad, you hate that I took your place, so you want to take revenge on me.” You Ran took a deep breath and said, “But I think you’ve already taken your revenge. Our family doesn’t owe you anything anymore.”
"Enough?" Gu Chengyuan chewed on the word between his lips and tongue, and said softly, "Do you know what is enough?... Stay by my side, stay by my side forever, that's enough."
“I can’t do that again.” You Ran’s tone was firm and resolute: “Gu Chengyuan, whatever schemes you have, use them. I will fight you with all my might, but I will never admit defeat.”
"So, what if it were used on your parents? Would you still not mind?"
Gu Chengyuan's nonchalant remark enraged You Ran: "You dare!"
“But,” Gu Chengyuan said, “I dare… unless you agree to my request.”
“We are siblings,” You Ran reminded him.
"Is that all?" Gu Chengyuan asked.
"Isn't that enough?" You Ran asked.
The sunlight shone brightly, and the surface of the artificial lake rippled, casting fragmented golden light into Gu Chengyuan's eyes.
In his eyes, there was a shattered light: "What if I told you that we are not related by blood?"
You Ran found the sunlight too bright today, and she began to feel dizzy. Gu Chengyuan's words didn't seem real: "What did you say?"
“We are not related by blood, never have been,” Gu Chengyuan repeated.
"Impossible!" You Ran denied.
“I knew this from the beginning,” Gu Chengyuan continued. “I didn’t tell you to increase your guilt about dating your half-brother and torment you with those unspeakable feelings.”
"Impossible!" At this moment, You Ran could only repeat this sentence over and over again.
“If you don’t believe me, you can ask her.” Gu Chengyuan’s eyes passed through You Ran and looked at Bai Ling, who had been standing behind You Ran for a long time.
You Ran suddenly turned her head and saw her mother. When she realized that her mother had already heard about her relationship with Gu Chengyuan, she felt as if a thunderbolt had struck her head, shattering all her nerves.
Bai Ling was a beautiful woman; even in middle age, her skin was as white as snow and as delicate as milk.
At this moment, bathed in sunlight, she appeared somewhat hazy, and her voice sounded unreal, like the murmur of a sleepwalker: "So you hate me this much... Chengyuan."
"You promised to take me away from him, but in the end, you left on your own." Gu Chengyuan's eyes held a chilling magic. "Yes, I hate you. I thought the best way to get revenge was to hurt your precious daughter, so I did it. Remember her poor performance during her first college entrance exam? That was because I abandoned her a month before the exam. I told her I had never loved her. You should have seen the despair in her eyes then..."
"Get out!" You Ran roared, interrupting Gu Chengyuan.
She couldn't bear to hear the person who started it all speak so casually of the pain she had endured.
She couldn't bear to have her mother hear all of this.
"Gu Chengyuan, I never want to see you again." The deepest hatred seemed to seep between You Ran's teeth, each word uttered stained with a thick, black veil.
Her entire being exuded the most extreme hatred; if she had a knife, You Ran would not hesitate to plunge it into Gu Chengyuan's heart.
She had never hated anyone so much, to the point of wishing him to suffer the most terrible punishment in the world.
Anyone who stands in front of You Ran will be intimidated by the anger emanating from her.
It wasn't just anger, it was also disgust.
It evoked a sense of disgust, like seeing wriggling maggots.
Gu Chengyuan looked away, turned around, and left, just as You Ran had hoped.
Even after his figure disappeared from sight, You Ran's chest was still pounding with intense emotions, and she kept panting.
Bai Ling didn't ask anything or say anything; she simply placed her hand on You Ran's shoulder.
At this moment, You Ran was using all her strength to maintain a tough exterior, but her mother's hand, like the last straw, broke her.
She turned around leisurely, just like when she was a child and felt wronged, and nestled her face in her mother's shoulder.
The difference is that she used to cry when she was little, but now she can only quietly breathe in the orchid-like fragrance emanating from her mother.
Crying will no longer solve the problem.
You Ran just wanted to rest, to relax in her mother's shoulder without any disturbance.
Under the rose trellis in the inpatient ward, Bai Ling told the truth.
Gu Chengyuan was indeed not born to Bai Ling.
At the age of 22, Bai Ling was married to Gu Chengyuan's father, Gu Zhi, at the behest of her parents.
After getting married, Bai Ling discovered that Gu Zhi, a military officer, had a very bad temper and would get angry over trivial matters at the drop of a hat.
Originally, there was no emotional foundation between them, and on top of that, Gu Zhi repeatedly hit her. Bai Ling lost faith in the marriage and decided to escape.
So she secretly took birth control pills and bribed the hospital to give her a report that she was unable to conceive.
Although he believed that Bai Ling was infertile, Gu Zhi disobeyed his parents and did not divorce Bai Ling.
However, the Gu family could not be without an heir, so Gu Zhi found a surrogate mother outside and had Gu Chengyuan with her. He then brought him home and entrusted him to Bai Ling to raise.
With the cooperation of the whole family, this matter was basically unknown to outsiders.
Although Bai Ling did not love Gu Zhi, her innate maternal love made her genuinely like the infant Gu Chengyuan.
She loved and educated him like a real mother.
Although Gu Chengyuan was an only child, Gu Zhi was extremely strict with him, often beating him severely for minor issues.
Bai Ling tried to stop it many times, but to no avail.