After Escaping Chapter 4
byIV. A Second Meeting
The Gu family had been involved in business for generations, but the resources they accumulated went far beyond that. By the time it reached Father Gu’s generation, they had firmly controlled all business in the East District, dealing in both legitimate and illicit trades. He was a figure in the business world who could truly turn his hand to create clouds or rain.
However, peeling back the luxurious curtain of the Gu family revealed that this massive and complex family enterprise was undoubtedly steeped in blood and cruelty.
As the heir to the Gu family, Gu Yu had a prestigious background, and the ruthless temperament cultivated in him since childhood made others respect him even more. He was the Young Master Gu whom everyone envied.
But Gu Yu knew better: the relationship between him and Father Gu was less like father and son and more like colleagues.
His father would harshly criticize him for the smallest loss in the business and punish him mercilessly for commercial gain. The warmth of kinship had long since dropped to freezing point in the Gu family.
Master Wen of the West District had long held a grudge against the Gu family. Although Gu Yu knew the man was insidious and cunning, he hadn’t expected him to dare bring people to fight while he was conducting a business deal.
After the skirmish, both sides suffered heavy losses. Master Wen didn’t fare well, and the Gu family lost several important clients.
Even though he was injured, he didn’t receive a single word of concern from his father. After a severe dressing-down, he lost management control over several underground businesses in the East District.
That day, he didn’t seek treatment for his injuries. He just drank alone until he was dead drunk, lying on the roadside, soaked in the rain. At that moment, he truly wished his life would just end.
In his despair, a gray-blue umbrella shielded him from the pouring rain. He looked up and met the clear, water-like gaze of the young man, unable to look away again.
The man was cool and detached, his voice like the tinkling of a spring, equally captivating. His picturesque features carried a scholarly air, making him extraordinarily handsome and refined.
Gu Yu didn’t refuse him, allowing the young man to maneuver him up and wipe away the grime on his body.
As the slightly cool fingers touched his skin, Gu Yu’s heart tightened little by little, pounding uncontrollably.
That was also the first time Gu Yu lowered his guard and allowed this young man to sleep beside him.
Watching the young man’s gentle, harmless sleeping face, like that of a fawn, his long-agitated heart gradually calmed down.
He even felt an impulse to immediately take the young man back and keep him captive, allowing him to only show his elegant features to himself. But after some thought, he gave up. With his current capabilities, he couldn’t firmly keep the person within his protective zone.
Gu Yu left before dawn. He understood that he needed to return to the suffocating, muddy mire—this was the price he had to pay to seize that warmth.
Returning to the Gu Family Estate, Gu Yu apologized to his father. While personally reorganizing the Gu family, he rooted out the internal mole, severely punished Master Wen, and then annexed the West District, becoming the Young Master Gu who struck fear into the hearts of people in both districts.
Two years later, Father Gu passed away, and Gu Yu officially took over the Gu family.
He met Pei Shuyun again in that small Art Studio. He happened to have some free time that day and personally went to pick up his little niece, who was learning to paint.
The Gu family was wealthy and powerful; finding a teacher to come to the house to teach the child was not difficult. However, the little girl inexplicably insisted on learning from Teacher Pei. Since Pei Shuyun couldn’t be persuaded to come to the Gu Family Estate, Gu Yu let his niece have her way.
He just hadn’t expected Pei Shuyun to be the young man from that rainy night.
The afternoon sunlight streamed through the window, enveloping Pei Shuyun in a hazy glow.
Gu Yu narrowed his eyes, allowing the little girl to skip over and pull his hand, eager to introduce him to her Teacher Pei.
“Teacher Pei? Long time no see.”
Pei Shuyun didn’t recognize him and was uncomfortable with his gaze, which inexplicably held the ruthlessness of a beast preying on its quarry. He simply shook hands and was about to turn away. Gu Yu quickly held onto him and introduced himself.
“Teacher Pei, thank you for your care previously. If you have time someday, please grant me the honor of allowing me, Gu, to thank you in person.”
After realizing that Gu Yu was the man who had been drunk in the rain, Pei Shuyun lowered his guard slightly, but he still refused Gu Yu’s repeated invitations.
He didn’t know, however, that Gu Yu was a wolf highly skilled at disguise. When he refused Gu Yu’s gifts and invitations countless times, the wicked wolf finally licked his back molars and tore away his facade of kindness.