Chapter 15#
Chapter 15 That Night
Zhou Xing? —Which Zhou Xing?
“It’s not him!” Gu Zhengjia retorted subconsciously, “It’s not like I haven’t seen the person.”
This was really not bragging. Three years ago, the matter between Gu Chenzhou and Zhou Xing caused a huge uproar in the capital, and finally ended with Gu Chenzhou being sent abroad. It could be said that a wave was raised on flat ground. As soon as those playboys who feared that the world would not be chaotic confirmed that this matter was true, they investigated Zhou Xing’s ancestors for eight generations and posted them on a special forum.
Even if it was his own brother’s business, Gu Zhengjia couldn’t have no reaction. Although he didn’t have the ability to investigate and understand anything at that time, it was still possible to go to the forum to see the photos: those photos didn’t look like the person sitting in front of him at all.
Young Master Lin, who pointed out the person at the beginning, laughed angrily: “Still not him, are you face-blind?” He paused and said, “How much do you know about Zhou Xing?”
“Uh?” Gu Zhengjia thought to himself, why should I know about him, “I read some information on the forum…”
“Forum?” Young Master Lin was stunned. He also loved browsing forums and lurking, “No one has talked about Zhou Xing recently.” Actually, he wanted to say who this guy was. If he wasn’t connected with the eldest young master of the Gu family, how could someone from a corner be worthy of being singled out on their forum.
“Wasn’t there a special post before?” Gu Zhengjia said, “Three years ago.”
As soon as these words came out, not only did Young Master Lin look constipated, but even Young Master Zhang who was listening on the side sighed: “This guy’s thinking is still stuck three years ago. Time has simply stagnated on him!”
People who are keen on gossip hate ‘dumb geese’ who don’t care about any news the most. With this bucket of cold water, Young Master Lin’s enthusiasm was extinguished by at least half. He sighed deeply and began to explain:
“How old were you three years ago? How old was Zhou Xing three years ago?” This was not a question. After asking, Young Master Lin continued in one breath, “Three years ago you were only thirteen, let’s not talk about this; three years ago Zhou Xing was only twenty-one, just out of school. Look at him now, successful career, right? Students and businessmen can’t be the same. Some people change their hairstyle and clothes, and can change their appearance in thirty minutes, let alone three years? Besides, this person’s life has been quite exciting in the past three years.”
As he spoke, he exchanged a glance with Young Master Zhang, and the two of them showed an ambiguous smile in unison.
After a speech, Gu Zhengjia grasped the key point: “Is this really Zhou Xing?”
“Do you want to find your big brother to identify him?” Young Master Lin rolled his eyes at Gu Zhengjia angrily.
Gu Zhengjia was speechless: “How dare I…” But there was no doubt about this matter, “How come we met him so coincidentally?”
“Who knows,” It’s better to watch the fire from across the river. Young Master Lin actually had more of a mentality of watching the excitement, “Do you think your big brother knew Zhou Xing would come, so he came here specially?”
“Are you stupid?” Gu Zhengjia said categorically, “How is that possible!”
Young Master Lin didn’t care either: “Hey, just saying. Do you think your big brother will happen to see Zhou Xing when he comes to pick you up later?”
“See—” Gu Zhengjia just wanted to say so what if he saw him, but somehow, he suddenly remembered the ‘war’ that happened at home three years ago.
What happened in the Gu family three years ago?
Did Gu Chenzhou argue, beg, or even kneel down to the Gu family for Zhou Xing?
In the first month or two after Gu Chenzhou left the capital, this matter could be called one of the things that the young masters in the capital were most curious about and wanted to understand. During that time, it wasn’t that no one beat around the bush with the thirteen-year-old Gu Zhengjia, but Gu Zhengjia invariably muddled through with “I wasn’t there at the time” and “How could my brother do that”.
But the fact is, he was only a few steps away from the scene at that time, saw the whole thing, and knew every detail of it.
Those… details that seem unforgettable even after another ten years.
The wind was strong that night, and there were not many stars. Looking out from the window, the dense trees blocked the view. The whole small building seemed to be confined by an invisible barrier. The familiar flowers and trees in the daytime showed unusual grotesqueness under the shroud of shadows.
His mother took him to watch TV in the living room on the first floor. Intermittent voices came from the study on the second floor, sometimes high and sometimes low, sometimes a fierce syllable could drown out the laughter of the heroine on TV.
The wind outside the house blew the windows banging. He pulled his mother’s clothes a little scared. The other party woke up with a start, touched his head and said she would go up and have a look, tell his father to keep his voice down, and let him wait downstairs.
But he felt even more scared staying alone in the empty hall. He only waited for a few minutes before quietly following up to the second floor.
The quarrel became clearer and clearer as he approached—or rather, quarrel was not appropriate. During the process of going up the stairs, most of the time he only heard his father’s voice alone.
He remembered that the topic was first on Zhou Xing, but it turned away after only a sentence or two. It seemed to mention his big brother’s usual life, or something else. Then, his mother’s voice rang out.
It was a very ordinary persuasion, and the dispute in the room stopped for a moment. Before he really reached the door, he heard his father’s very suppressed voice:
“This is your stepmother. You don’t have any reaction when she comes up?”
Then it was his big brother’s voice:
“Minister Gu, it’s your business if you want a wife. I don’t need another mother. Not at five, and the same at twenty.”
Almost at the same time, the clanging sound made his eardrums buzz. He took the opportunity to take a few steps to the half-closed door and looked inside through the crack.
The three people in the study stood in three directions, like the three sharp corners of an isosceles triangle. His mother and father stood closer, forming the two legs. His big brother stood close to the door, but far away from the other two people, forming the last high corner.
Behind his father was the desk. Everything on the desk—documents, ornaments, and other odds and ends—were swept to the floor, scattered messily. His mother stood on the left side of the desk, frowning tightly, her eyes moving alternately between the two men. And Gu Chenzhou, who was standing near the door, had his back to him. His expression couldn’t be seen, but his posture hadn’t changed much from usual. He still had one hand casually in his pocket, but his back was straight.
“In fifteen years, how has your stepmother mistreated you that you dare to speak like this now?” His father spoke again. He had never seen the other party so angry. The hand supporting on the table kept shaking, and even his eyes were red.
“Xinjun!” His mother wanted to stop this topic, but the voice belonging to his big brother had already rung out.
He remembered very clearly that this voice was slow and steady, but precisely because it was so calm that there was almost no fluctuation in syllables, it seemed very strange:
“Why dare I not say it? Because she didn’t mistreat me, I must respect her? Then my mother loved you so much, Minister Gu, why didn’t you put aside your work a little and love her a little more so that she wouldn’t have left so early? And the one beside you, does she really dare to say that she didn’t mistreat me at all—didn’t mistreat my mother at all?”
The narrow crack in the door limited his vision. He pushed gently, but when he looked inside again, he met Gu Chenzhou’s cold gaze sweeping over.
He was startled and was about to step back, but the other party had already withdrawn his gaze and continued to speak.
This time, the wall, the wooden door, the distance, all barriers no longer existed. He heard clearly the sarcasm and indifference in the other party’s voice:
“If really not, why did she marry you and take care of a little cub who can’t be raised to be close?”
Things got out of control at this moment.
A huge noise came from the study. The heavy wooden chair with a backrest flew past Gu Chenzhou’s side and smashed heavily on the door!
He was so scared that he backed away a few steps. The closed door was slammed open. His big brother and his father came out of the room one after another. His mother pulled his father hard from behind, but was thrown away several times.
Leaning against the corner of the second floor, he couldn’t help calling out Mom.
His mother, who was grabbing his father, was stunned and turned to look at him.
It was in this less than half a minute that a dull impact sound came from the stairs. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw his father standing alone at the top of the stairs on the second floor, while his big brother was sitting crookedly on the floor of the stairwell, pressing his left calf hard with one hand.
A suppressed cry came from his mother’s mouth: “Call an ambulance quickly!”
But no one moved.
His father still stood at the top of the stairs, his shoulders and back hunched as if he had aged ten years in an instant, but he looked down with an indifferent expression.
“If you want to leave, just leave.”
This was the last sentence he said.
Narration is always longer than memory.
Until Gu Zhengjia finished his recollection, the two people beside him didn’t notice that he had been distracted, and were still discussing enthusiastically, only the topic had shifted from Zhou Xing to somewhere else.
“Let’s go, really disappointing.” Gu Zhengjia said.
“Hey, a man—” Young Master Zhang sneered first, but then saw Gu Zhengjia’s bad face, thought about it and changed his tone, “Okay, listen to Young Master Gu tonight. Whatever Young Master Gu says goes.”
“I’ll ask Big Brother to introduce us to a better place later.” Gu Zhengjia made up a story casually to appease the two, turned around and walked out, wondering if he should just call Gu Chenzhou and find an excuse for him to leave early.
But this wish was destined not to be realized.
On the secret racing track behind Starlight Entertainment City, Gu Chenzhou, He Hailou, and some other racers had already changed their clothes, put on helmets, completed the final inspection procedure, and boarded the cars one by one.
The starting order of the lap race was randomly arranged. Gu Chenzhou, wearing a blue racing suit, drew the third position on the left.
He sat in the driver’s seat, holding the steering wheel loosely with both hands, his eyes sweeping over the wheels almost as high as his body, the vehicles on the left and right, and the road ahead one by one.
The five indicator lights standing high lit up one by one, 5, 4, 3, 2…
“Screech—”
The tires rubbed the ground crazily, and under the thick night, several colorful shadows rushed out like arrows leaving the string!