In a private room of a high-end Japanese restaurant in the city, Gu Wenxi waited alone for a while. The waiter pushed open the door and ushered in a guest.

“Wenxi, are you looking for me?”

“Yeah,” Gu Wenxi gestured for him to sit down, “Sorry, uncle Zhou, I just got back from a business trip and made you come over.”

“You’re too polite,” Assistant Zhou was also relaxed in front of him, “Last time you treated me, wasn’t it when you just started making money at the bar?”

“Do you think I treated you too little?” Gu Wenxi joked along, “No worries, I’ll treat you more in the future.”

“Stop it, if the big boss finds out I’m extorting his son, he might deduct my pay,” he joked as he sat down on the tatami mat, his playful expression fading, “Wenxi, did you need something from me?”

“Yeah, let’s have some tea first.” Gu Wenxi poured two cups of tea.

The private room was spacious and well-lit, with excellent privacy. Gu Wenxi had few reservations, so after drinking a cup of barley tea, he asked directly, “Uncle Zhou, about Mr. Lu, Lu Changming— do you know anything about his private affairs?”

Zhou’s expression stiffened slightly, “What do you mean?”

“Wenheng said you told him.”

“That brat…” he shook his head with a wry smile, “I told him not to spread it around.”

“Hey, I’m not someone else,” Gu Wenxi retorted, “If you told my brother, why can’t you tell me?”

He sighed lightly, “Wenxi, don’t take offense, but I just feel like… this matter is someone else’s private affair. It’s not good if too many people know. I accidentally let it slip to Wenheng, so I just let him know. I didn’t mean to gossip.”

“I understand, I didn’t think you were gossiping,” Gu Wenxi feared he might misunderstand, “I have an important situation I want to understand.”

“Alright, what do you want to ask? Just don’t spread it around.”

“Thank you,” as the waiter pushed the door open again and brought in salad and a plate of sushi, Gu Wenxi continued after they left, “Who was Mr. Lu’s ex-girlfriend?”

“That woman… Do you really want to know about this kind of thing?”

“Yes.”

Zhou fell into reminiscence, “My wife used to work at a magazine, right?”

“Yeah.”

“That woman used to be a senior at her magazine, ten years older than my wife. She was a single mother, a graduate of a prestigious university, and had good writing skills. She should have been competent in her work, but she was said to be difficult to get along with, so she didn’t get many promotion opportunities.”

“Difficult to get along with?”

“Yeah, it was fine when things were good, but she had a terrible temper. Around fifteen or sixteen years ago, when my wife had just changed jobs and didn’t understand much, she was enthusiastic and cared about others. Nobody liked to interact with that woman, but my wife felt sorry for her as a single mother raising a child alone, so she always looked after her, and they became acquainted. Once, she inexplicably skipped work for a whole day and couldn’t be reached. The editor-in-chief asked my wife to go to her house and check on her. My wife was kind-hearted and worried she might be in trouble.”

“The sky was completely dark that evening, but she still asked me to go with her.”

Gu Wenxi’s heart was on edge, “And then?”

“When we got to the door, we heard her cursing loudly. When we rang the doorbell, it was her son who opened the door. She had been yelling inside the house, but after we went in, we didn’t see anyone else. That’s when we realized she was just venting at her son.”

“Why?” Gu Wenxi couldn’t imagine, “Did her son do something wrong?”

Assistant Zhou shook his head, “I don’t think so, because her words were completely out of proportion, and her son didn’t say a word in response. Actually, she was cursing the child’s father, because the child and his father bear some resemblance, which made her angry.”

“Do you remember what the child looked like?”

“The child… I remember, he was very handsome, probably in his teens. He looked like a very gentle kid, I couldn’t understand why she would vent at him like that. Then my wife took that woman to the bedroom to comfort her, and she talked about a lot of her past, including who the child’s father was. I stayed with the boy in another room. I originally wanted to persuade him to rest early, but he said he was worried about his mom and wanted to wait until she fell asleep… What’s wrong?” He noticed Gu Wenxi’s eyes turning red, startling him.

Gu Wenxi sniffled, “I’m fine.”

“I thought you were about to cry,” Assistant Zhou sighed again, “Wenxi, there are all kinds of people in this world, but you are still fortunate.”

“I understand,” Gu Wenxi didn’t explain the real reason for his sadness, “What was that woman’s name?”

“I forgot a long time ago, but her last name was Du. My wife always called her Du jie, but she didn’t come to work anymore later on. Heard she left with her child, but we don’t know what happened to them afterwards.”

Du’s surname… Gu Wenxi clenched the tissue in his hand, “Uncle Zhou, can you help me confirm her name?”

“Why do you need to know?”

“Please,” Gu Wenxi pleaded, “It’s very important to me.”

“Wait a moment, let me call my wife.”

Assistant Zhou’s wife had an event in the evening and might not have noticed her phone. It took several attempts to get through. The waiter brought several dishes again, but Gu Wenxi hardly touched any of them.

“Yeah… Okay, I see. What? Oh, that’s a coincidence… Yeah, I’m with Wenxi, I’ll be back in a bit.”

Assistant Zhou put down his phone and said to Gu Wenxi, “My wife said her name was Du Yaning, Yaning as in elegant, tranquil. And—would you believe it? Her hometown is the same village you went to. ‘Du’ is a big family there.”

---

After leaving the restaurant, Gu Wenxi didn’t immediately return to his apartment. He drove aimlessly, feeling the continuous stream of cold air from the air vents making him colder and colder. On this hot summer night, he couldn’t feel any warmth.

Some things, when learned from others, were more impactful than hearing them from the person themselves. There were indeed all kinds of people in the world, and Gu Wenxi didn’t have much pity for them. Only those who he truly cared about could evoke his seemingly dormant grief. He had felt this way once before when his mother passed away, and now it was the second time.

He finally understood why Du Yunyan felt he owed his mother, and why his emotions were rarely expressed. Because he had never had the luxury of being willful, nor would he fight for anything for himself.

However, Du Yaning was also a victim, and Du Yunyan had never resented his mother. Lu Changming had harmed both of them. It was clear that the man’s current actions weren’t anything respectable.

Now wasn’t the time for excessive sentimentality. Gu Wenxi knew that emotional release was useless. If he didn’t take action soon, Du Yunyan might suffer even greater harm.

As his phone rang, he picked it up and he put on his headphones. “Dad.”

“Wenxi, Zou Hui said you contacted me just now?”

“Yeah, I have something very important to discuss with you. Are you free tomorrow?”

Gu Yuching said, “I have a checkup in the morning, so come in the afternoon.”

“Okay, get some rest early. See you tomorrow.”

He put down his phone, stepped on the gas pedal, and accelerated the car. He started to form the words he would say to Gu Yuching tomorrow in his mind.