“I didn’t say I didn’t want the child. I just said that if you want the child, then take the child back. I never thought you would do anything to harm the child, and the worst thing you could have done was send a message to Xia Ran.”
Gu En's expression suddenly twisted.
"Why can't I post this? He stole everything that belonged to me! She stole everything that was rightfully mine! Why should he take away everything I've built up over a decade just because he shows up? Why!"
"Then why did you leave in the first place?" Xia Ran said coldly. "Since you've been running this business for over a decade, why did you leave back then? If you hadn't insisted on leaving, would you have encountered all those things? You brought this on yourself, so what right do you have to question me now?"
Xia Ran's tough stance only fueled Gu En's anger.
"You don't know! You don't know anything! You don't know! Shut up! Shut up!"
Those things from back then were things he never wanted to recall in his entire life.
Xia Ran looked at Gu En and took a deep breath.
“What’s going on between us is an adult matter. Why are you taking it out on the child? Do you know what you’re doing? You’re kidnapping your own son!”
Xia Ran wasn't worried that the child would hear these words, because he had observed when he came in that the child wasn't there, and he didn't know if Gu En had hidden him somewhere.
"Heh...so what if he is? I've never acknowledged his existence, so what difference does it make whether I kidnap him or not? I just brought him here to play with!"
Gu En spoke and laughed, but her mental state seemed to be problematic.
Xia Ran found Gu En terrifying at this moment. It is said that even tigers do not eat their cubs, but he felt that Gu En in front of him was a tiger that would eat its cubs.
"I don't want to talk to you about this. Where did you leave the child? What demands do you want?"
"Demands?" Gu En's emotions suddenly calmed down, and her gaze fell on Gu Zheng. "My demands are very simple. I just want to marry Gu Zheng and have a legitimate identity. If I can't let my child call me 'Dad' openly, then I'd rather destroy him than let him harm others in this world!"
“But Gu Zheng is unwilling! He actually doesn’t want to marry me! He even said he would give the child back to me for your sake, and said he didn’t want the child! Tell me, why? Why? How could I possibly accept that? So let’s make a decision now, Gu Zheng, do you want to marry me, or do you want the child to disappear from this world completely?”
Chapter 406 Xia Ran Jumps into the River
"What do you want to do!" Xia Ran was terrified by Gu En's last words. "Do you have no heart at all? How could you say such a thing? He's just a child!"
He couldn't believe that Gu En would say such a thing.
However, Gu En didn't even look at him, only at Gu Zheng, wanting to get Gu Zheng's answer.
Xia Ran followed Gu En's gaze to Gu Zheng and realized that Gu Zheng was holding his hand. He moved and pulled his hand away.
"Gu En, you two should sort out your own problems. Give me the child," Xia Ran couldn't help but say again.
This time, Gu En did look at him, but her tone was very sarcastic.
"Give the child to you? On what grounds? What is your relationship with the child? Don't think that just because the child calls you 'little dad,' he's your child. No one will give the child to you unless I want to. Don't be naive, okay?"
Xia Ran paused upon hearing this, finding herself unable to refute it.
"Yes, the child is not related to me by blood, but since he is willing to call me 'little dad,' I have to take responsibility for him to the end. Gu En, can you really bear to let the child be caught in the middle between you two?"
"Sure, if you can't bear to have the child caught in the middle, then let Gu Zheng marry me. I'll be the child's biological father then, how could I possibly treat him badly? Right?"
"Impossible." Gu Zheng said directly, silencing Xia Ran from what she was about to say.
Xia Ran looked at him, and Gu En also looked at him.
Gu Zheng remained expressionless.
“If the child is yours, then take him away. I will not agree to your request. I came here for no other reason than to maintain the last bit of affection I had for the child. Now I have said what I needed to say and I have come. As for what you want with the child, do as you please.”
Xia Ran simply couldn't believe that Gu Zheng would say such a thing.
"Gu Zheng! Are you crazy?! Do you know what you're saying?"
Gu Zheng looked at Xia Ran, "Ran, I'm not crazy. He's right. The child is indeed his. We have no right to interfere. We've raised his child for so many years, that's enough. Let's go back."
He was about to pull Xia Ran away, but Xia Ran didn't move. She just looked at Gu Zheng with an incredulous gaze, as if she had never met Gu Zheng before.
"Ha! Fine! You think I can do whatever I want to the child? If you're really that heartless, then come with me! I'll show you what happens to the child! Gu Zheng, I know you, you're not that heartless!"
"I know you're just trying to force me to give up the child! I won't believe you! Unless you see what happens to the child with your own eyes!"
Gu En's face was horribly contorted as he went out through a small side door.
The man who had gone out to pick them up earlier followed closely behind, and Xia Ran watched as he chased after them.
Gu Zheng grabbed her hand, "Aran..."
"Gu Zheng, I really didn't know you could be so heartless!" Xia Ran didn't even wait for Gu Zheng to speak before chasing after him.
Gu Zheng could only follow him out. He had actually wanted to tell Xia Ran not to worry, but judging from her appearance, she probably really believed what he had said earlier.
That makes sense, though; he spoke so convincingly, how could anyone not believe him?
Xia Ran followed Gu En out and found a place that looked like a deck, with a large river below.
Xia Ran didn't have time to look at his surroundings. Instead, he looked directly into a hanging basket in front of him. When he saw what was in the basket, his heart stopped for a moment.
"Xiao Chen!" Xia Ran wanted to rush over and take down the basket, because Gu Chen was inside.
The lighting here was dim, but it was enough for him to see the child's condition in the basket clearly.
The child was lying there with his eyes closed, and he couldn't tell if he was asleep or unconscious. It made his heart clench.
"Don't come any closer!" Gu En shouted. "If you dare come any closer, I'll cut the rope and let the child fall!"
Xia Ran had already walked to within a few steps of the child; if he took one more step, he could reach out and grab the basket.
But after hearing Gu En's words, he was forced to stop.
"Gu En, are you crazy! If you cut the rope, the child will fall in! There's a river below! If the child falls in, the child will be in danger!"
Xia Ran trembled all over, wishing she could cut open Gu En's brain to see if there was something wrong with him, that he would treat his own son like this.
Gu En laughed, "That's right, that's exactly the effect I wanted. If I can't marry Gu Zheng, then I'll make him pay the price and make the child disappear from this world, how about that? What do you say?"
"Are you crazy?!" Xia Ran yelled.
"Yes, I've gone mad, and completely mad. There's only one way now: either you get Gu Zheng to agree to marry me, or you make the child disappear from this world. I will not allow him to call someone else 'Dad'."
Xia Ran looked back at Gu Zheng and found that Gu Zheng still had a cold and calm expression. He looked at Gu En again and found that Gu En's knife was already on the rope. He didn't know if it was his imagination, but he felt that the rope had been cut a little. His heart was about to jump out of his chest.
"Gu Zheng! You need to think of something right now! Do you really want to lose the baby?" Xia Ran shouted, her eyes red.
Gu Zheng: "I said, this is his child, and it's his own decision how to handle it."
Xia Ran looked at Gu Zheng and found that there was absolutely no trace of him lying.
His heart sank, and his eyes were filled with disappointment in Gu Zheng.
“Gu En, you see, he doesn’t want the child.” Xia Ran said to Gu En. “Your request is impossible to fulfill, but you can make one request of me. As long as you put the child down, I will agree to anything you say that I can do.”
"Heh..." Gu En sneered, "Xia Ran, should I call you stupid or naive? Or kind? You're just a stepfather with no blood relation. Oh no, you're not even a stepfather anymore, you've already divorced Gu Zheng, so why are you still so good to a child you have no relation to? Why!"
Towards the end, Gu En started yelling, looking like someone with a split personality.
He didn't understand why Xia Ran was so willing to be good to the child.
"Because I love him, and since he's willing to call me 'little dad,' I have to treat him well and be responsible for him. He had a tough childhood, and I want to give him a complete and wonderful childhood."
"Do you know how heartbreaking it was when I first met my child? He was like a newborn baby, afraid of the world's gaze and touch, unwilling to speak, looking so bewildered and wanting to shrink into a corner of his own world."
“You have no idea how much time and effort I put into making him like this. You have no idea how I felt when he first called me Dad.”
Xia Ran laughed as he spoke. The only thing he and his child lacked was a blood relationship. What difference was there between them and a biological father and son?
“Gu En, I know you didn’t really want this child to be born, but have you ever thought about how innocent the child is? He had no choice, and his birth was forced. If you don’t want him, can you give him to me? I’ll give you whatever you want in exchange, Gu En, he’s just a child.”
Xia Ran tried to say these things to make Gu En change his mind.
When Gu En heard Xia Ran's words, he was really a little confused. He suddenly remembered the first time he saw the child, a tiny, red little thing.
But when he thought about the causes and consequences of the child's birth, his momentary confusion disappeared, and he became even more sharp and terrifying, even completely irrational.
"What do you mean by what you're saying? I don't want to acknowledge his existence at all, I don't feel sorry for him at all. His existence only makes me feel disgusted and hateful! Demands? I've already said, I only have one demand, which is to marry Gu Zheng. I'll give you five minutes to think about it. If you don't agree to me by then, I'll let the baby fall out, and then everything will be over."
He had a smile on his lips, but that smile was terrifying and frightening.
“Unless… you’re willing to trade your life for mine, if you jump from here, I might consider keeping the child.”
"No!" Gu Zheng, who had been silent until now, immediately spoke up. "The child's matter has nothing to do with him."
"It has nothing to do with him? But he said he was willing to make demands for the child, so why can't he?" Gu En questioned. "If you think he can't, then you should promise me and marry me."
"Impossible. I told you, you can decide whether the child stays or goes as you please." Gu Zheng walked straight over. Gu En thought he was going to save the child, so she pressed the knife down on the rope again.
Xia Ran was terrified. "No, calm down, Gu En."
"Calm down? How can you expect me to calm down?" Gu En's eyes were already red with emotion.
Gu Zheng didn't even look at Gu En. Instead, he grabbed Xia Ran's hand and tried to take her away from there.
"Let's leave now, the rest is none of our business," Gu Zheng said. Xia Ran was afraid that Gu En had been provoked by them, so she didn't dare to say anything. Instead, she was led a few steps by Gu Zheng.
But Gu Zheng's decision to leave completely panicked Gu Enxin.
"Don't you dare leave! Didn't you hear me?! If you really dare to leave, I'll cut the rope right now!"
Gu Zheng didn't stop at all, but Xia Ran was quite frightened.
"Gu Zheng! Gu Zheng, stop! Stop right now!" Xia Ran struggled to pull his hand away, but Gu Zheng held it tightly and wouldn't let him stop.
"Gu Zheng! Are you going to stop or not?!" Gu En shouted again, "I'll count to three, and if you don't stop by then, I'll make the child disappear from the world completely! 3! 2!"
Xia Ran was being dragged along, and could only keep looking back at Gu Chen.
When Gu En saw that Gu Zheng really didn't turn around, she completely lost her rationality.
"1!" As he finished counting, the rope actually broke.
When Xia Ran saw this scene, his heart stopped for a moment. He didn't know where he got the strength, but he broke free from Gu Zheng and ran over there.
He didn't care where he was and just rushed down into the basket carrying the child.
He wanted to grab the child; the child was so small, falling into the river would surely cause an accident. But he didn't even consider whether he could grab the child; he just instinctively jumped in after him.
Xia Ran's action stunned everyone. Gu Zheng rushed over, but Xia Ran still jumped down.
"Aran!" Gu Zheng jumped down after Xia Ran without the slightest hesitation.
In the few seconds it took Xia Ran to jump, she discovered that the child's basket did not fall into the river. Instead, there were several people waiting below the deck, and a black inflatable boat below. The child was caught and placed safely on the boat.
Xia Ran breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this, but because of the momentum, he plunged straight into the river and failed to fall into the raft. The men in black also failed to catch him.
He can't swim.