Chapter 268 - 119: "Elopement

Chapter 268: Chapter 119: "Elopement

Moonlight poured down.

Gu Qiuyan stood quietly before the French doors.

The courtyard was a clamor of noise.

The bodyguards were conducting one last search of the area.

In truth, there was nothing left to find, but they had no choice but to follow her father’s orders.

And then, just as had been arranged a short while ago, this large-scale search would finally come to a close.

The two police officers had already returned to the station. The rest of the men would be staying in the living room tonight.

Aunt Wu was walking over with an armful of bedding. Gu Qiuyan saw her and moved to lend a hand, but the woman just smiled dotingly.

"This is no work for you, and besides, I’m almost finished."

"But I’m the one who made Dad bring all these people back," Gu Qiuyan said softly.

"No one’s blaming you. President Gu is probably secretly happy," the woman said, occasionally teasing the girl with words that didn’t quite match her age. "He’s probably thinking his precious daughter finally remembered her old dad."

"Who else would I think of but him," Gu Qiuyan huffed.

Seeing her act like this, Aunt Wu felt relieved. At least she wasn’t like she was last night.

"Shouldn’t you go upstairs and rest? It’s about to get noisy, and don’t you dislike having too many people around?"

Hearing this, Gu Qiuyan glanced out the French doors again.

"I just want to stay a little longer."

"Still worried?"

"A little, I guess. What he said was so frightening."

"Oh, I see. It’s still because of what your classmate said. He meant well, but you can’t just believe everything he says. I’m not speaking ill of your classmate, mind you, but it’s not good for this to become a constant worry. Since you’re still uneasy, why don’t you give him a call and ask? Maybe he’s already changed his mind about his own judgment. Boys that age are so easily spooked."

But Gu Qiuyan shook her head.

"If I call him, he’ll just get all nervous again."

"Why’s that?"

"You saw what he was like that day at the house."

"Oh." The woman chuckled. "I remember. He was like a little adult, looking here and there with such a serious face. What do you call it? A detective? But let’s not talk about the little detective. You really are different from yesterday, Mianmian. Last night, you deliberately avoided mentioning him. Did you really think I didn’t notice?"

"Oh, Aunt Wu," Gu Qiuyan said, wrinkling her nose.

"Alright, alright, I’ll stop," the woman said with a laugh. "So, have you really moved on this time?"

"There’s nothing to move on from." Speaking of this, Gu Qiuyan calmed down. "You’re listening to Zhiruo’s nonsense," she said casually. "She made it sound like I was scared out of my wits. She’s so dramatic. Besides, I’m fine now."

"It’s good that you can think that way."

Gu Qiuyan gave a soft, noncommittal "mhm."

Aunt Wu continued,

"Still, you need to listen to your father this time. Just stay home for the next couple of days. Piano, building blocks, singing, movies... there’s so much to do here. It’s better than running around outside. Your voice must be hoarse from all the singing today. Drink plenty of water. Tell me what you want to eat tomorrow, and I’ll go buy it."

"Of course. I’m not going to be willful."

"I’ll get back to it, then. Don’t stand for too long."

Gu Qiuyan nodded, remaining by the French doors.

She glanced at the time. It was already 9:30 PM.

There were only two and a half hours left until the midnight hour Zhang Shutong had repeatedly stressed.

She didn’t know what the next two hours would bring.

Perhaps disaster would strike;

Or perhaps the night would pass without incident.

She just remembered the dream she had mentioned that night.

’Why did I dream of an unfamiliar body of water?’

She tried her best to recall it, but she couldn’t remember the details. It was as if everything was shrouded in a fog, and she couldn’t see anything clearly.

It was, in fact, a nightmare.

She was supposed to be in the villa, but for some reason, she had gone to that body of water.

’What on earth happened here?’

She thought back on the day’s events, the people she’d seen, and the things they’d said.

Teacher Song said she would keep a close eye on them.

Her dad told her not to worry.

Aunt Wu advised her not to keep things bottled up inside.

Zhiruo said she should learn to let go and relax a little.

’They all mean well.’

Looking out the window again, the commotion was gradually dying down. Only the Doberman barked from time to time. Hearing it, she smiled. ’The house has been full of "strangers" the past two days; it must be driving the poor thing crazy.’

’This whole thing should end here.’

She was reminded of the story of the boy who cried wolf. There had to be a limit to her willfulness. Since her father had already had people searching all day, it was impossible for them to continue searching all through the night.

In truth, she had always been indifferent about it.

It was just that, at the time, she needed to do it, so she made the situation sound much more severe than it was. Now that her intended result had been achieved, she shouldn’t trouble everyone any further.

She was getting a little sleepy now. She let out a small yawn. She’d worked up a bit of a sweat while singing today, so she planned to take a bath later before going to bed.

’This is nice. Everyone’s happy.’ She stretched languidly and took one last look at the courtyard. The moonlight was lonely. Out in the vast, snow-covered wilderness, perhaps many things could happen.

Gu Qiuyan returned to the sofa and turned on the TV, planning to watch until her father came back so she could wish him goodnight before going upstairs.

She didn’t bother picking a specific movie, just playing whatever came up. She kicked off her slippers, curled her legs to one side, and sipped slowly from her cup. She would laugh at the funny parts, fast-forward through the boring ones, and purse her lips at the clumsy scenes. If her patience wore thin, she’d simply switch to another one.

This continued until the door to the house was pushed open.

Gu Qiuyan had just turned her head when the man in the lead spoke.

"Why aren’t you asleep yet?"

"I was waiting for you to come back."

Gu Jianhong handed his teacup to a housekeeper, changed his shoes, and sat down on the sofa.

"You can relax now, right?"

"Mhm," she hummed, drawing out the sound.