PPS Chapter 98
by VolareThe day after the competition officially ended, Gu Yusen was preparing to use the recording Chu Zhaoyi had given him to investigate what exactly happened before Li Yurong’s death.
He didn’t want Li Yurong’s death to be prompted by Chu Zhaoyi. Although Li Yurong deserved to die, and she owed Chu Zhaoyi, Gu Yusen still didn’t want Chu Zhaoyi’s hands to be stained with anything dirty besides paint.
He hoped Chu Zhaoyi would be a clean and pure little artist, able to always do what he wanted.
But if it really was Chu Zhaoyi’s phone call that stimulated Li Yurong, indirectly leading to her demise, Gu Yusen would… find a way to completely define Li Yurong’s case as suicide for love.
Gu Yusen admitted that he was a law-abiding citizen, unwilling to use power to oppress others.
But this was his Chu Jiaojiao.
Gu Yusen opened the door and saw Zhang Anru standing outside, with Xie Tingyun and Xie Yuyin behind her, looking solemn.
Zhang Anru’s face was pale, and her eyes were red and swollen, obviously from crying all night. The moment she saw Gu Yusen, her eyes lit up slightly, as if a drowning person had grabbed the last straw.
However, that light was fleeting, replaced by nervousness and apprehension. She subconsciously looked behind Gu Yusen, as if searching for Chu Zhaoyi’s figure.
Gu Yusen felt a mix of emotions. He sighed softly. In a sense, wasn’t Zhang Anru also a victim?
But Chu Zhaoyi was the most innocent.
He had no right to make decisions for Chu Zhaoyi.
Perhaps from the day three years ago when Chu Zhaoyi saw the paternity test but didn’t go to acknowledge them, he no longer had a family.
“What can I do for you?” Gu Yusen stood in the doorway, not intending to move aside, clearly not happy to let the three of them in.
“Ayi, he… I want to see him,” Zhang Anru said, her voice choked with sobs.
“Xiao Gu, thank you for taking care of Ayi. If you hadn’t adopted him after the death of Chu’s parents, we might have been kept in the dark forever,” Xie Tingyun said in a deep voice. The usually stern and serious man’s tone was a little shaky.
He had received the message from Zhang Anru yesterday afternoon, but he was abroad and couldn’t rush back immediately. After rushing back for an afternoon, he only arrived an hour ago.
He couldn’t believe that he was foolish enough not to realize that his child had been switched, but subconsciously, he believed it was true. After all, Xie Haoran was too unlike the Xie family.
Until he saw the paternity test and Chu Zhaoyi standing on the competition stage with a slight pout, he fully realized that it was true.
The child-switching incident had moved from novels to reality, happening right to him.
He had been raising someone else’s child, painstakingly teaching him, giving him the best material life, and caring for him in every possible way. Although he was sometimes busy and neglectful, his heart as a loving father and mother never changed.
And what about his own child?
Suffering not far from them, being bullied, developing autism, and having problems with his hearing due to the Chu family’s harshness and even violence.
What they saw was Chu Zhaoyi pieced together by Gu Yusen, yet still so fragile and heartbreaking.
“I don’t know if he’ll see you, but his condition was quite poor yesterday. Let’s not disturb him today,” Gu Yusen didn’t move aside. He wouldn’t deprive Chu Zhaoyi of his right to choose, nor would he stop the Xie family from seeking Chu Zhaoyi’s forgiveness.
But now was not the time. Chu Zhaoyi’s emotions were too volatile yesterday, and he needed to rest today.
“…We didn’t consider it carefully enough. Thank you. Please take care of Ayi for a while longer. Can we contact you if Ayi has any problems? After all… after all, he is my child,” Zhang Anru stopped Xie Tingyun, who was about to continue speaking, and bowed deeply to Gu Yusen, this younger man.
Gu Yusen dodged to the side. He couldn’t accept such a grand gesture; it would shorten his lifespan!
“Okay, I’ll have my assistant send you Ayi’s experiences. I suggest you also carefully investigate what happened back then, where the problem lies in the hospital where he was born. Although Chu Yu and Li Yurong are both dead, the whole story shouldn’t remain unclear.”
“You owe him that.”
“Thank you, then we’ll leave first. Please take care of Ayi…” Zhang Anru raised her head blankly, her face without delicate makeup, only a mother’s purest worry and remorse.
“Brother Sanmu? Why haven’t you left yet?” Chu Zhaoyi heard the sound of the door not closing properly and realized that Gu Yusen hadn’t left, so he walked out of the studio in slippers, feeling puzzled.
Chu Zhaoyi saw the three members of the Xie family standing at the door. He only glanced at them before withdrawing his gaze, accurately focusing it on Gu Yusen.
“I was delayed for a while, why did you come out?” Gu Yusen didn’t expect Chu Zhaoyi to come out and subconsciously blocked the three members of the Xie family at the door.
However, when his gaze fell on Zhang Anru, her heart trembled. She had originally restrained her emotions and was persuaded by Gu Yusen, planning to leave first, but when she saw Chu Zhaoyi, all restraint vanished.
She wanted to approach him but didn’t dare. Her heart was filled with guilt and self-blame. She knew she owed Chu Zhaoyi too much. Behind her, Xie Tingyun’s gaze was also fixed on Chu Zhaoyi, his eyes full of unspeakable meaning. He had one hand around Zhang Anru’s shoulders, trying to comfort her.
Zhang Anru had heart disease and couldn’t handle major blows.
Chu Zhaoyi didn’t notice Zhang Anru’s abnormality, or perhaps he did but didn’t care. He touched the cup he had just filled with hot water and obediently held it up for Gu Yusen to see: “Thirsty.”
Zhang Anru looked at Chu Zhaoyi’s familiar yet unfamiliar face, and tears finally couldn’t help but fall.
Chu Zhaoyi blinked his eyes and still spoke, “Brother Sanmu, let them in.”
Gu Yusen raised an eyebrow. In fact, Mason had mentioned to him that Chu Zhaoyi’s autism didn’t seem as severe as the Chu family had said. Either the Chu family was doing it on purpose to hide Chu Zhaoyi at home, or Chu Zhaoyi himself didn’t want to contact the outside world and was pretending.
He immediately ruled out the second option at that time.
But now, looking at the black sesame-filled Chu Jiaojiao, he vaguely felt that the second option was not without reason.
Zhang Anru didn’t expect Chu Zhaoyi to say such a thing. Before she could react, Xie Tingyun had already led her to sit on the sofa in the living room.
Out of politeness, Gu Yusen went to pour water for everyone. During this time, Chu Zhaoyi followed him like a little tail.
Having been with Chu Zhaoyi for so long, how could Gu Yusen not see that Chu Zhaoyi was not as calm and open as he appeared on the surface?