Chapter 40 - 2#

“Then go in by yourself.” He scratched his head. “I just got kicked out.”

After Xu Qinghong left, I stood outside the door, looking up.

This door exuded an aura of solemnity and coldness.

I closed my eyes briefly, then gently turned the doorknob.

What came into view was his posture—hands clasped together, forehead resting on them. As the door slowly opened, he likewise raised his head gradually.

When our eyes met, time seemed to freeze.

The two notebooks lay thrown on the floor, along with other books, documents, and scattered papers everywhere in disarray.

Uncle Ren stared at me blankly. His dark, murky eyes flickered, his face pale, almost tinged with a bluish purple.

I gently closed the door, walked over to the notebooks discarded on the ground, bent down, and picked them up.

“Gigi… Ri.” His voice was hoarse, carrying a deep weariness.

I looked up at Uncle Ren and smiled at him.

“…” He stood up from his seat. I said, “Third Uncle.” I looked him straight in the eye. “How about tonight—or rather, while I still have the heart for it—the two of us, uncle and nephew… shouldn’t we have a good talk?”

He slowly walked toward me, his gaze fixed on the two notebooks in my arms.

I turned around and walked over to the sofa on one side, sitting down.

Letting out a soft sigh, I turned to look at him.

“Third Uncle, please sit down. Sit down and talk with me.”

He sat down across from me. His white silk robe made his figure appear even paler.

After a long silence, I finally spoke. “Third Uncle, how about this: let me start first.”

He remained silent, his hands clenched tightly into fists.

I slowly sat up straight and looked at him.

There was one question I had always wanted to ask him.

Actually, I once thought I knew the answer. But later, I fell into confusion for a while. And now, I’ve grown too lazy to guess anymore.

I just wanted him to tell me himself.

“Third Uncle, toward me…”

I looked at him and asked, “What exactly are your feelings?”

He slowly lifted his gaze.

“What exactly are your feelings?” I repeated the same question.

He suddenly stood up, his body swaying violently, but he walked quickly toward me. His steps faltered, and he stumbled, falling to his knees before me. I leaned forward to support him.

“Gigi… Gigi!” His hands gripped my arms firmly, his eyes like those of a person lost in the desert spotting an oasis in the distance.

His eyes widened as he looked at me. Finally, as if in extreme pain, he lowered his head and buried it in my embrace.

I seemed to hear the sound of him crying.

“Gigi… Third Uncle…”

He said, choking on his words.

“Third Uncle… loves you…”

I tilted my head back and closed my eyes.

It felt like a long time before I opened my eyes, looking at the white carved ceiling, and let out a sigh. “Why is that?”

His hands tightly encircled my waist.

I asked him, “…This is too strange, isn’t it?”

This kind of thing was truly impossible to understand. Before this, I had thought of countless possibilities, but none of them could explain it clearly.

“You and I… we shouldn’t be like this.” My tone was calmer than I had imagined.

He didn’t speak. I reached out and pushed him. “Third Uncle, get up. This… doesn’t look good.”

He didn’t move. His arms tightened even more, as if he was unwilling to let go.

I couldn’t help but sigh.

“Third Uncle, like this… how can we continue talking?”

“I’m not trying to run away, and I don’t mean to blame you. I just want to know some things.” I slowly helped him up. Uncle Ren sat down on the sofa next to me, still gripping my arm firmly. His expression shifted between gloom and brightness, his face complex.

The two notebooks lay on the low table in front of us. I glanced at them out of the corner of my eye, then carefully picked them up in my hands.

“Gigi…” He called out to me. I lowered my head and flipped through one of them. Every page was filled with words, jumbled and chaotic, yet seeming to form a连贯的 narrative.

“Third Uncle, I never understood before.” I murmured as if unconsciously. “Why did you always… tell me not to be angry with you, not to blame you?”

Uncle Ren stared at me blankly. I glanced at him and continued, “To be honest, I really do think you’re a very good elder.”

“You’ve been good to me. For the past ten-plus years, no matter what happened, you always cleaned up after me. I… ha, you know, I don’t have much ability. Aside from making things worse, I’ve hardly done anything praiseworthy.”

I didn’t let him interrupt. “I’ve thought about it carefully. You’ve been too good to me—so good that it’s unusual. If your kindness toward me stems from that inexplicable feeling, then I think it might be a misunderstanding…”

“Gigi…!” He suddenly looked up, as if to prove something, and said sharply, “No, that’s not it!”

“Third Uncle, how do you know it’s not?” I smiled and said, “What is there about me worth liking?”

“Have you ever thought… maybe it’s because you’re too lonely, and like Grandma said, you feel guilty? Maybe you’re just trying to compensate me?”

He breathed heavily, lowered his head, and silently shook it.

I let out a bitter laugh. “Alright, we can’t see eye to eye on this. Let’s—” I opened the notebook. “Let’s talk about other things.”

Uncle Ren’s gaze fell on the notebook.

I flipped through a few pages and explained to him, “You’ve read this too, haven’t you? These two books are… Wang Zheng’s remains.”

He suddenly raised his head, his face instantly turning ferocious.

“He didn’t give them to me.” I said to Uncle Ren. “I found them myself. Wang Zheng hid them, very tightly, very deeply. If he hadn’t left, I might never—never in this life—have known they existed.”

I looked at him steadily. “…And I would never have known what really started all the secrets you’ve been keeping, the words you’ve said, and everything that happened.”

“Every entry recorded here is a dream Wang Zheng had.” I paused.

I lifted my head and met his eyes.

“As for the so-called dreams, I think you might already know. Or rather, you’ve always known—you’re the one who knows best.”

“Third Uncle, it took me several days just to read through them. I think you must not have looked closely earlier, right?”

“How about this: let me read them to you.”

I flipped open a page in the middle.

The messy, scrawled words looked as if they had been written in haste, each stroke seemingly using all the writer’s strength.

“Someone dragged Gree into a car. ‘I’ chased after them but couldn’t catch up. Then I got a call from Dad, telling me to come back quickly.

Dad had someone kidnap Gree. He wanted me to obey. He said they were only one step away—soon the Ren family would belong to the Wangs. The Ren family was originally the Wangs’ property. Dad had already known the contents of the will. After the old lady died, the future president of Ren’s would be that person.

Dad had already negotiated with that person. As long as that person transferred all the Ren family shares in his hands, Dad wouldn’t make the secret public. That person compromised. But when the will was announced, that person conspired with the lawyer. They tampered with the will. He transferred all the shares to Gree’s name.

He was going to leave Singapore that day, so Dad had someone kidnap Gree. That ‘I’ helped him find Gree. He also had an accident, but he promised ‘I’ he wouldn’t take revenge on the Wang family. But in the end, before he left Singapore, he risked his life to take back everything that belonged to the Wang family. Dad had a stroke. The Wang family was left with an empty shell.”

I looked at him, then continued flipping.

“Gree got married. He said he loved ‘I,’ but he married that woman. Which Gree is the real one? No, that doesn’t matter. That person is back. He came back again. I’ve always felt something was off. He treated Gree differently. The way he looked at Gree was different. I thought it was because of the secret.”

“Why? Why are they so close? That ‘I’ is going crazy. ‘I’ went to find that person. He was indeed afraid. That person is an animal. Filthy, disgusting, and hypocritical. He was afraid ‘I’ would spill the whole secret. He was afraid ‘I’ would tell Gree. That ‘I’ cooperated with him. He agreed.

‘I’ wasn’t afraid of him playing tricks, because ‘I’ knew what that person really wanted. But he could never get it. Gree would never accept him. Besides, ‘I’ still held that secret. If Gree found out, he would never forgive that person.”

I closed the notebook and picked up the other one, glancing up at him as I did.

Uncle Ren’s forehead was covered in cold sweat. He trembled as he pulled out the spray from his pocket, aimed it at his mouth, and pressed one dose.

I poured him some warm water, then walked to another table to get all his medicine. “Which one do you need?”

He pressed his hand to his chest, gasping for air, and shook his head gently.

“Third Uncle… I didn’t mean to make you have an attack.” I handed him the medicine.

He slowly leaned back into the sofa, tilted his head, and looked exhausted, as if he could fall asleep at any moment.

“Whether you’re willing to listen or not, it doesn’t matter. I just want to figure things out.”

I sat down beside him, took out a handkerchief, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

This man was my third uncle.

He was far from the gentle, harmless, and frail person he appeared to be on the surface.

He was cunning, intelligent, unpredictable, suspicious, cold, and even cruel.

He was only one step away from success—but he could never take that step because he never had a healthy body.

He could die in his sleep at any moment.

And the secret he guarded at all costs…

“Third Uncle, I’ll skip through this and read you a later part.”

“Gree is dead.” When I read this sentence, he suddenly opened his eyes, dazed, and turned his head to look at me.

“When I saw Gree, I couldn’t recognize him. He was almost shattered to pieces. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t recognize him.”

The words below were blurred. Wang Zheng’s tears had smudged the ink.

I silently turned to the last page.

“The dream came again. I knew it would keep cycling, each time clearer and more real than the last. Every night, it tormented me. I could no longer tell reality from dreams. I couldn’t accept that my image was fading from Gree’s eyes.

Gradually, that person appeared in Gree’s eyes.

I was like a bystander, unable to do anything. I could only watch as that ‘I’ pushed him further away, while they drew closer and closer. I clearly felt their unusual relationship and the warm atmosphere surrounding them. They were forever bound more deeply. That ‘I’ didn’t fully understand Gree.

That ‘I’ was like a ridiculous clown.

He used that secret to indirectly force the person we both loved to death. But he and I were, after all, not the same person.

We shared the same appearance, personality, way of thinking, and even feelings for Gree.

I don’t know if it’s too late. Gree already knew. This dream made Gree resolutely reject me. And I had hurt Gree before.

But the biggest nightmare continued.

Ren Xiaoyun knew everything. He was the one who started the tragedy. He was vicious and cold. He was the same as that ‘I’—they both selfishly wanted to possess Gree, so together they pushed Gree off the cliff.

I know he has been trying every means to suppress me. The ugliness of his jealousy, I will never forget. He wanted to force me to death. He made it so I couldn’t get my degree, couldn’t find a job. Over the years, he has been frantically retaliating against the Wang family. He also drove the old lady crazy—his own mother.

That’s not surprising.

Because he was the kind of person who selfishly used his relatives’ bone marrow to prolong his own life, killed his own elder brother, and finally harbored improper thoughts about his own nephew. An animal.”

Uncle Ren suddenly snatched the book from my hands, as if he was about to tear it apart with all his strength.

“Third Uncle, don’t!” I leaned forward, trying to grab the book back. His hands were very strong. In an instant, he tore the notebook apart, shredding it, and then flung the fragments into the air.

I stared blankly.

When the torn pieces of the notebook landed at my feet, I looked at him.

He panted heavily, took a step back, and fell back onto the sofa. He reached out, but instead tightly grasped my elbow.

He said, “This… isn’t real…!”

His pale, delicate face flushed with an unnatural crimson due to agitation. He shook his head dazedly. “Gigi… these are all lies. Listen… listen to Third Uncle…”

I dazedly bent down and picked up the notebook with my other hand.

I held it tightly to my chest.

He hugged my waist tightly. “Gigi… back then, it wasn’t like this.”

“Third Uncle didn’t know, didn’t know that the donor was you… Gigi, Gigi, Third Uncle wouldn’t do that… Gigi…”

I looked at him.

“Then, was I really born just to be your supplier, right?”

“Because of you, I exist, isn’t that so?”

“My dad never loved my mom.” I crouched down to be at eye level with him. “It was because of the Ren family, because of the property, because of those things. And that secret is… I wasn’t conceived from my parents’ love, but in a laboratory, as the most important tool to keep you alive. I was forced into existence as the best genetic match, isn’t that right?”

I reached out and touched his face.

“Third Uncle,” I said. “…I don’t blame you for any of this.”

He looked up at me, as if he didn’t believe it, and called out softly, hoarsely, “Gigi.”

“I just need to know one fact.”

I stood up, slowly withdrew my hands from his grip, and stepped back a few paces.

“This time, you must not lie to me.”

I heard my tone suddenly turn cold.

“Wang Zheng…”

“Was it you who killed him?”