Chapter 4: That Night, She Broke

Lin Moran glanced at him indifferently.

His words were infuriating!

She didn’t want to get entangled with him for too long, so she patiently said, “You came from the Gu family, so you must have heard a lot about me and the child. I thought we’d talk about our matters tomorrow, but since you’re here, let’s talk now. Zhezhe, why don’t you go play at Old Chen’s house next door?”

Lin Moran turned to Gu Quanzhe.

Gu Quanzhe looked at Lin Moran, then at Gu Jingyao.

He didn’t really want to go to Old Chen’s house; he wanted to stay.

Although this man was cold, the picture of him that used to hang in the house was already handsome, but in reality, he was even more imposing and handsome.

Gu Jingyao’s gaze also fell on Gu Quanzhe. The child’s eyebrows and eyes were indeed unlike the Gu family, and not very much like him. His eyes and nose resembled Lin Moran, delicate yet stubborn.

“He may not look much like you, but he is indeed your son.”

Seeing Gu Jingyao scrutinizing Gu Quanzhe, Lin Moran spoke.

Gu Jingyao’s heart was in turmoil, his expression ambiguous, his gaze restrained.

Five years ago, after a mission, he lost contact with his unit.  He wandered off and accidentally stumbled into a mechanism near the Feng County Imperial Mausoleum and was rescued by Old Man Lin, a local herdsman.

After Old Man Lin saved him, his granddaughter, Lin Moran, undressed him and cared for him. While changing his clothes, he lost his balance, and they fell together, witnessed by villagers visiting. At that time, he was shirtless, only wearing his trousers, and Lin Moran fell on top of him.

The ambiguous position, no matter how they explained, was hard to clarify.

Under Old Man Lin’s arrangement, he and Lin Moran got married.

The girl was gentle and graceful, smiling whenever she saw him. Her smile was as beautiful as the camellias on the mountain, delicate and vibrant, with rosy lips, white teeth, and charming dimples when she smiled.

Whenever he stared at her, her delicate face would turn red, and she would shyly lower her head, like a juicy peach waiting to be picked from the mountain, making him irresistibly fond of her.

Although they hadn’t applied to the army yet, he was genuinely happy when they married.

That day, he was excited and drank a lot.

After entering the house, he didn’t see Lin Moran.

When he reached the backyard, he heard a girl crying, hugging Lin Moran, “Moran, if you want to cry, cry.  By marrying him, you’ll never be with Sun Zhiqing. Who says marriage is happiness? I think marriage is a grave.”

Lin Moran scolded the girl, “You’re drunk, don’t talk nonsense! Go back.”

A summer breeze blew, and Gu Jingyao shivered, instantly sobering up.

The next day, he learned that Lin Moran had indeed had a sweetheart, a returning educated youth.  The youth had returned to the city, and Lin Moran, unwilling to give up, had followed him to the city, only to begin her journey back a few days before he was rescued.

Then, he took her back to the city.

Then he returned to the army and went on another mission.

Looking at the child before him, Gu Jingyao felt a mix of emotions. On the night he married Lin Moran, he hadn’t slept with her.

Now, a child appears, and Lin Moran confidently tells him it’s their child.

He let out a long sigh, feeling his male dignity crushed, the humiliation of being betrayed.

But considering Lin Moran, a young girl, using her marriage to cover things up, perhaps there was some unspeakable reason.  Considering Old Man Lin’s life-saving grace, he suppressed his emotions, his voice still calm and steady, “Moran, that’s not what I meant.”

“The child… since he has the surname Gu, no matter what, I will raise him.”

Gu Quanzhe’s initial anticipation was shattered by Gu Jingyao’s reluctant expression and tone. He thought this man was looking at him carefully because it was their first meeting. Even though he was angry earlier, he still hoped that Gu Jingyao would like him, would lift him up high, would play horsey with him.  He never expected that Gu Jingyao was suspecting him of being a bastard, not his biological son.

“I don’t want to be his son!”

Gu Quanzhe, with tears in his eyes, ran off angrily; this man was infuriating!

Lin Moran was also trembling with anger.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

Her grandfather was an antique collector, often taking her to various parts of the country to appraise treasures and exchange antiques.

When she grew up, her grandfather’s health deteriorated, but to train her, he would send her out on her own every year.

She was young, and the policies were special at that time, so she often went to remote mountains, surveying dragon veins and protecting important relics in tombs.

Five years ago, in a mountain forest in Lixian County, on her way back to her hometown of Fengxian County, she encountered Gu Jingyao, dressed in camouflage, wounded, with sharp facial features, a thin figure, and his body convulsing.

Seeing the scattered fruit peels around Gu Jingyao, she immediately understood. He had mistakenly eaten Ma Sang fruit, which resembles mulberries, resembling a bunch of grapes, very appealing in appearance.  People who don’t know it easily mistake it for mulberries.

After ingesting Ma Sang fruit, one experiences nausea, vomiting, dizziness, chest tightness, rapid breathing, and convulsions.

She helped him sit down and induced vomiting.

Looking at what he vomited, she found that besides Ma Sang fruit, he had also eaten “crazy fruit,” a wild fruit that causes hallucinations.

She saw blood seeping from his clothes, and to bandage him, she took off his clothes.

Unexpectedly, her action excited him. He stared at her, his eyes narrowed, and he pounced on her.

Her mind went blank.  When she came to her senses, she was already under him.

In the wild mountain, their clothes were in disarray.

Her heart and body were emptied, and then she fainted.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry.”

“I’ll take responsibility.”

When she woke up, there was no one around.

She only remembered these words ringing in her ears before she lost consciousness.

She had always been careful to protect herself when she was out.

But this time, she lost her innocence.

At first, her strength was no match for his, and she was no match for him.

Later, he was slightly exhausted.

But she softened and showed mercy.

These actions were not intentional on his part; he was controlled by the toxins in those wild fruits.

She sat there and cried for a long time.

Soon, she composed herself.

If he was telling the truth, if he would take responsibility, then she would forgive him.

If he disappeared, she would search for him within hundreds of miles.

If she found a corpse, she would bury him.

If he was still alive, she would report him to the army.