Chapter 265: Don’t Leave Me

“Father!” Gu Yunzhen’s small hands clung tightly to Gu Qingsong’s fingers. His dark, bright eyes brimmed with tears. “Grandfather said someone was after him, so he escaped through my tunnel. He’s been gone for a while now. Please don’t bring him back, alright?”

Gu Qingsong’s hand, which had been about to shake off Gu Yunzhen’s grip, froze. When he turned and saw his pale, delicate face, still bearing traces of illness, he couldn’t bring himself to be harsh.

“I’m bringing him back to protect him,” Gu Qingsong said calmly. He made a hand gesture, and the hidden guards immediately entered the tunnel to capture Liu Mao.

He didn’t feel at ease. Lady Liu had been executed by ‘Death by a Thousand Cuts’, and now Liu Mao had escaped. He feared that Liu Mao, in a desperate act, might harm Gu Huaizhi or even Liu Guixiang.

Only by keeping Liu Mao confined under his watchful eye could Gu Qingsong feel secure.

“Is that so?” Gu Yunzhen wanted to trust the father he relied on most, but after witnessing his cold-heartedness toward his mother, a sense of fear lingered in his heart. Carefully, he asked, “Will you forgive Mother?”

“No, I won’t.” Gu Qingsong would no longer continue raising Gu Yunzhen. Though still young, Yunzhen had reached an age where he could think and understand. The more certain truths were concealed, the more likely unnecessary misunderstandings would arise in the future.

So, Gu Qingsong knelt down, meeting the gaze of the boy he had carefully nurtured. With a serious expression, he said, “Everyone must pay the price for their mistakes. Your mother conceived you with someone else and pretended you were my child to secure her status. She made me raise another man’s child for five or six years while secretly harming my own biological children.”

“Yunzhen, all these years I’ve raised you with genuine affection. To say I feel nothing for you after learning the truth about your origins would be a lie, but I can’t keep you by my side.”

Gu Qingsong’s cold and stern face darkened with sorrow. Seeing Gu Yunzhen only reminded him of how Lady Liu had manipulated him and of his deceased youngest son.

He couldn’t bring himself to fully accept Gu Yunzhen without resentment.

“No one can choose their parents. You are an innocent child,” Gu Qingsong said as he looked at Gu Yunzhen, who bit his lip to hold back his sobs, tears streaming down his face in silence. Seeing this, Gu Qingsong felt a pang of pain in his heart. He turned his face away, unwilling to look at him. “Your body needs treatment. I will send you to Master Mingjue at Baima Temple.”

“No!” The moment Gu Yunzhen spoke, he could no longer hold back. He burst into tears, crying out loudly, “I don’t want to! You are my father! I want to stay with you! I don’t want to go anywhere! Father, I beg you, don’t leave me!”

“I have no mother; I only have you, Father!” Gu Yunzhen sobbed uncontrollably, even blowing snot bubbles. His small fingers clung tightly to Gu Qingsong’s hand. The overwhelming panic of being abandoned consumed him as he desperately pleaded, “Father, don’t leave me. I’ll be good, I promise! I won’t get sick anymore, and I won’t see the doctor, okay?”

Lady Liu’s despair and Gu Yunzhen’s fear reminded Gu Qingsong of Liu Guixiang.

She had struggled alone, raising several children in poverty. Her youngest son had been gravely ill, and without money for treatment, how desperate and terrified must she have felt at that time?

If he had been by her side, their youngest son would not have died prematurely and would still be alive today.

Gu Huaizhi would not have rejected him as a father.

In this lifetime, despite his achievements and renown, he was unworthy of being a husband or a father. The only one he could say he had served faithfully was the monarch of Xiliang.

With a hardened heart, Gu Qingsong said, “Dongxue, pack his belongings.”

“Yes,” Dongxue replied, quickly and efficiently packing the luggage.

Gu Qingsong also wrote a letter and handed it to Qin Ming, instructing him to escort Gu Yunzhen to Baima Temple and personally deliver the letter to Master Mingjue.

He allocated half of the household’s wealth as a donation for incense offerings, ensuring it would be sufficient for Baima Temple to raise Gu Yunzhen to adulthood.