Chapter 269 - 119: "Elopement

Chapter 269: Chapter 119: "Elopement

"They won’t be back for a while, not until around ten," Father Gu said, explaining out of habit. "I’m leaving two men in the car to keep watch tonight. They’ve gone out to get something to eat now and will probably be back to change shifts a little after ten..."

"You handle it. You make it sound like a work briefing. I don’t know who those two are anyway."

Father Gu chuckled:

"I just can’t seem to figure you out anymore. Are you concerned or not? You were the one who told me to bring people back, and now you’re the one who doesn’t want to hear about it."

"I was very concerned back then," Gu Qiuyan said, her eyes fixed absently on the television. "Now I’m not concerned anymore."

"That’s for the best. That’s how it should be. The car will be parked downstairs. Let me know if it bothers you, though it shouldn’t be noisy." Every man turns into a nag when it comes to his daughter. "I’ll be staying up late tonight as well, I’ll be in the study for a bit. You go on upstairs and rest easy."

He said half-jokingly:

"With so many people guarding the living room, nobody’s taking you away tonight."

Gu Qiuyan nodded and said okay, her eyes glued to the screen. She was watching a horror movie, and the ghost was just about to appear, but her dad’s rambling completely shattered the mood.

Gu Qiuyan simply turned off the TV. Her father gave her a helpless, "what-am-I-going-to-do-with-you" smile. The girl just huffed, then smiled and wished him goodnight. She got up to grab a carton of milk, planning to heat it and take it upstairs.

Her phone had been in her hand the whole time, though Gu Qiuyan herself didn’t know what she was waiting for.

She finally let go.

Because two hands weren’t enough. Pouring the milk required one hand to steady the cup and the other to hold the carton’s flaps, so she had no choice but to let go of her phone and set it on the counter.

This was a girl like a princess, a true and proper young lady, protected exceedingly well by her ultra-wealthy father. The world wouldn’t stop spinning for anyone, and she wasn’t the type to fall to pieces just because someone was gone.

Gu Qiuyan placed the milk in the microwave. While waiting, she idly scrolled through her phone. DING! The milk was hot. But just as she raised the cup to her lips, a new message popped up on her screen.

It was from Teacher Song.

He had sent a photo.

It was a photo of a motorcycle.

Standing beside the motorcycle was a person she knew all too well. Despite the mask, and even with half his body cut off by the frame, her eyes could find him in an instant.

It was the kind of photo guaranteed to stir up complicated feelings.

Her mind instantly flashed to the motorcycle the bodyguards had discovered on Ring Mountain Road the night before.

’Was it him?’

she wondered, uncertain.

Another message arrived on her phone:

"So, uh... Shutong’s been running himself ragged these past couple of days. He even came down with a high fever. He’s still not home, and I have no idea what he’s up to."

These were all questions that the sender of the message couldn’t answer, but in that moment, Gu Qiuyan felt like she had found the answer.

One picture, one sentence, and then silence, like a stone dropped into the ocean. It seemed to say nothing, yet it said everything.

So she backed out of that chat and opened hers with him.

It was always the same few lines, over and over. She could practically recite them by heart.

All the boy on the other end ever said was stuff like:

"How are you?"

"Be safe."

"Lock your doors and windows."

"Be careful at night."

"...I had a huge lunch, but I was so busy having fun I barely ate anything..."

"I’m doing great over here."

’Is he really doing great, though?’

A minute ago, she had thought so too. But in an instant, the meaning of all those messages inverted, revealing something hidden behind them that she never knew. Suddenly, Gu Qiuyan understood everything.

’He’s such a fool, a complete and utter fool. I told him over and over, nothing’s going to happen, my dad’s back, we have bodyguards... I told him to go home and rest, that he didn’t need to protect me... So why wouldn’t he listen?’

She didn’t know how long she stood there in front of the microwave, until the housekeeper came over quietly:

"What’s wrong? Did you burn your hand?"

"It’s nothing." Gu Qiuyan’s voice was a little hoarse today. She shook her head gently. "I’m just a little sleepy."

"Is that a friend messaging you again?"

"They’re still worried about me."

"Oh, I see," the woman said with a smile. "They’re just concerned about you. You should tell them not to worry, that you’re home for the night and won’t be going anywhere, and that you’re going to bed early."

"Mm, I know."

By the time she turned around again, the girl’s expression was once again calm.

She picked up the cup, walked slowly to the elevator, and slowly pressed the button.

She waited as the elevator slowly descended and the metal doors slowly slid open.

The long, wool-carpeted hallway was so quiet she could only hear her own heartbeat. Walking down it felt like passing through a deep, dark tunnel.

Upstairs and downstairs were like two different worlds.

The men downstairs had all returned, and it was inevitably a little noisy.

But up on the second floor, she was all alone. She’d said she would lock her door tonight, so no one would come to disturb her.

Gu Qiuyan locked her door.

She then walked over to the window and gazed at the moon.

A thin film of condensation had formed on the glass, like frozen moonlight. It obscured the view outside, yet she couldn’t bring herself to wipe it away.

Gu Qiuyan quickly pulled her gaze away.

She had been wearing a wine-red robe, ready to take a bath and head to bed, but that little incident had thrown her plans into disarray.

So the girl undid the buttons of her robe, one by one. The heating was on in the bedroom, a far cry from the cold outside. Barefoot, she walked into her dressing room, stood before the vanity, and looked into her own eyes.

’If it weren’t for that photo, I would have been deceived indefinitely. I’d never have known he was still out there, running himself ragged until he was utterly exhausted, ready to collapse in some forgotten corner of the world without a sound.’

’Maybe in a hospital, maybe at home, maybe in some snow-covered wasteland.’

’But I’d told him countless times not to worry. Still, he couldn’t stand the thought of me staying in this building, as if the ceiling itself were a dark cloud threatening to fall.’

She knew he had always wanted to lead her out of this villa. He had reached his hand out to her once, but she had gently pulled away.

Aunt Wu told her to be calm.

Her father wanted her to be rational.

Her friends told her to learn to let go.

’Yes, they were all right, so very right. It was all for my own good.’

She knew her father wouldn’t let her leave again. The living room was full of people; no one could get out that way, and no one could get in.

Gu Qiuyan already had the answer.

In truth, she’d had her answer for a while—ever since the moment she pressed the elevator button. That’s why she had acted as if nothing were amiss, ascended slowly to the second floor, and locked her door.

Now, she flung open all her closets, grabbing the thickest clothes she could find. She stubbed her toe on the corner of a wardrobe in her haste, then staggered over to the window.

Gu Qiuyan knew that beyond the French doors was a terrace, and below that terrace lay open fields bathed in moonlight, where not a soul could be seen;

she also knew exactly what kind of person the fool named Zhang Shutong was, because that’s what he was—a fool, a very, very silly fool.

She knew she wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, so the best solution she had been able to think of before was to stop letting him protect her.

’But how could a fool possibly understand what I was saying?’

All he knew was how to stupidly protect others without a word, but there was no one to step up and protect him.

’So what if he has no past? So what if he’s been completely forgotten? As long as you have courage, you can create a new future!’

And so, Gu Qiuyan quickly dialed his number. Her voice trembled, and though she tried her best not to lose her composure, her ragged, hot breaths seemed to travel right through the phone to the other end. She said:

"Come get me—"

"I want to go with you!"