Although Gu Xi still had some money in her card, she had always been careful with her spending. Renting a luxury car for a month was too expensive, and there were all kinds of restrictions tied to it—not to mention the risk of being extorted later on.
Last time she had visited Grandpa Bai, Aunt Lin had casually mentioned that that person would come by once or twice a month, always on Wednesday evenings, and sometimes stay overnight.
Tomorrow just happened to be Wednesday. It would be foolish not to make use of available resources, so Gu Xi decided without any qualms.
The next morning, Gu Xi went to Grandpa Bai’s place to try her luck. She had a backup plan too—if that person didn’t show up, she would pester Grandpa Bai into helping her “borrow” one.
Grandpa Bai was delighted to see Gu Xi and even grabbed his cane, saying he wanted to go out and buy groceries. Afraid that too much walking would hurt his legs, Gu Xi pushed his wheelchair alongside him.
The grandfather and granddaughter chatted as they walked. Gu Xi mentioned to Grandpa Bai that she was going out to shoot a film. Though she made it sound like a good thing, Grandpa Bai immediately understood where the idea had come from. “If you don’t want to go back for the New Year, stay here with Grandpa. I’d be more than happy to have you.”
Gu Xi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but she didn’t agree. One year, she had spent the New Year here, and Bai Zhouyao had mocked her as a pitiful homeless orphan. She had never wanted to come back for the holidays since.
Whether in the Gu family or the Bai family, she was always an outsider.
“Grandpa, is Uncle Bai coming today? I don’t have his number, and I’d like to borrow one of his cars.”
“You need a car? Grandpa will buy you one.”
“No, no, it’s fine. I’m planning to get one after I graduate. I have money.”
“Well, that’s okay too.”
Gu Xi didn’t dare say any more, afraid that Grandpa Bai might go ahead and buy one for her in advance. The two of them went to the supermarket at the entrance of the neighborhood and bought some meat and vegetables.
When they got back, Grandpa Bai still remembered her request. As soon as he entered the house, he picked up the phone. It rang for a long time but no one answered. Grandpa Bai cursed angrily, “Bastard! When I don’t need him, he comes running over here. But when I actually need to reach him, I can’t get through.”
Aunt Lin came out carrying the finished dishes and said with a smile, “It’s Wednesday today. The young master should be coming over.”
Grandpa Bai put up a tough front. “Who wants to see him?”
But at mealtime, he still added, “Cook that lobster tonight.”
Aunt Lin smiled and said she would.
After lunch, Grandpa Bai went upstairs to rest. Though he was getting on in years, his routine was much more regular than most young people’s. Gu Xi couldn’t sleep, so she stayed in the kitchen to help Aunt Lin.
Aunt Lin usually had no one to talk to, so with Gu Xi there, she chatted a bit more. “The old master is always hoping the young master will come by, but he never says it out loud. The young master loves shrimp, so he always keeps some in the freezer just in case.”
Gu Xi paused mid-peel. That person loved shrimp?
She hadn’t known that.
Aunt Lin sighed. “My cousin passed away too early. She was also the type to dwell on things. If she were still alive, who knows how wonderful her life would be now?”
Hearing this, Gu Xi couldn’t help but turn her head and glance at her, a hint of surprise in her eyes.
Aunt Lin noticed and smiled, explaining, “I used to work as a maid for someone else. The previous caregiver wasn’t attentive enough, so the young master brought me over here. His mother—well, I’d call her my cousin, though she was much older than me. We didn’t see each other much back then. I just remember she was very beautiful.”
She sighed again. “My cousin was good at her studies, but the family was too poor for her to continue. Later, she married the old master and had the young master. I heard that when she drowned herself, she was pregnant with another child. It breaks my heart to think about.”
Originally, she hadn’t wanted to come, but the young master had offered too much money, and her family was in a tight spot at the time—her husband was sick, and her daughter needed money for school.
Not many on her cousin’s side of the family knew the details. Her uncle and aunt were too proud. When her cousin had come home crying back then, saying she was being bullied by that old woman and her sisters-in-law, her uncle had scolded her and told her to go back and serve her mother-in-law properly. She never came back crying after that. And then, she was gone.
So toward the Bai family’s eldest branch, Aunt Lin never showed any ill will on the surface, but deep down, she loathed them.
The young master had never mentioned her identity to the old master, and she didn’t want to bring it up either. There was no point—after all, so many years had passed since her cousin’s death.
“Don’t let the young master’s current demeanor fool you. When he was little, my cousin would bring him to visit my uncle’s house. He was such a handful—he’d climb up trees and hide where no one could find him.”
Later, after her cousin passed away, he went with his father to live on the military base, and she never saw him again.
Now that she was older, she couldn’t help but wonder—if the old master had brought the two of them to live with him sooner, would things have turned out differently?
But later, when she heard the old master talk about his younger days, she learned that he had often been moved around for training and had even been to the battlefield. It wasn’t that he hadn’t wanted to bring them over.
Gu Xi thought of the boy in her dream—even after going to the military base with Grandpa Bai, he had still been bullied.
Aunt Lin chuckled. “Ah, why am I telling you all this? You young people today are so much better off than we were back then. If you ask me, you did the right thing by breaking up. This world now is wonderful—girls can go out and find jobs and support themselves. No need to rely on a man, no need to take abuse from in-laws.”
“If my cousin had been born in this era, she would definitely have been a top student.”
Gu Xi nodded. “Definitely.”
That person was brilliant at studying—probably took after his mother. Grandpa Bai didn’t seem like the scholarly type.
Suddenly, the phone rang in the living room. Gu Xi looked at Aunt Lin’s hands, which were dirty from cleaning fish, so she put down the beans and said, “I’ll get it.”
She didn’t think much of it. She walked over to the living room and picked up the receiver. “Hello, who’s calling?”
There was a brief silence on the other end.
Her eyes swept to the number displayed on the phone—she didn’t recognize it. Gu Xi said again, “Hello, is there something I can help you with?”
The man on the other end said flatly, “Is the old man around?”
Gu Xi recognized the voice. After a pause, she replied, “Grandpa is upstairs sleeping.”
“Mm.”
Hearing that he hadn’t hung up, she asked, “Are you coming over today?”
There was no immediate answer, but she could hear the rustling of papers being turned on the other end. Then the man finally spoke, “I can come.”
What did “I can come” mean?
It sounded like he was accepting her invitation. Still, Gu Xi said, “Alright then. We’ll wait for you to have dinner together.”
“Mm.”
Gu Xi had long grown used to his economical way of speaking in her previous life. When he didn’t say anything more, she said, “I’m hanging up.”
With that, she put down the receiver first.
In the kitchen, Aunt Lin had already finished preparing the fish and was washing the vegetables the old master had bought. Seeing Gu Xi return, she said with a smile, “Was that the young master calling?”
Gu Xi nodded.
Aunt Lin chuckled. “The young master barely says two words to the old master on the phone before hanging up. But he talked to you for much longer.”
Was it really that long?
Gu Xi felt Aunt Lin might have misremembered. They hadn’t said much at all. In her previous life, she had actually found this man cold and reserved—too quiet for her liking.
That afternoon, Gu Xi played chess with Grandpa Bai. Her skills were lacking, and after losing several games in a row, she got a bit heated. In the later rounds, she kept taking back her moves, insisting that she had meant to play that way all along and had only made a mistake because he had rushed her. Grandpa Bai was so annoyed that he glared at her while forcing himself to hold back his temper and keep playing.
“If I had anyone else to play with, I wouldn’t be playing with you. Your chess skills are atrocious.”
Gu Xi didn’t care—she just didn’t want to keep losing.
As he grumbled, Grandpa Bai couldn’t help but smile. He didn’t know if it was because of Bai Yuzhou, but the girl had been feeling down lately, unusually quiet. This was more like it—lively and cheerful, just as she used to be.
That evening, Aunt Lin made several of her signature dishes. But before dinner, Bai Shulin’s assistant called ahead to say that his boss was held up with work and wouldn’t be joining them.
Grandpa Bai wasn’t disappointed—after all, Gu Xi was there to keep him company. “Then we’ll eat first.”
Gu Xi assumed the man wasn’t coming, so she ate with gusto and even had an extra bowl of rice.
Having eaten too much at dinner, her stomach started feeling uncomfortable around nine o’clock. After hesitating for a bit, she went downstairs to look for some digestive tablets.
The moment she reached the first floor, she heard movement by the entrance. She turned on the light nervously, and just as she did, the door opened from the outside, and a tall figure stepped in.
Seeing the living room light on, he seemed momentarily taken aback. He looked up and met a pair of calm, clear eyes.
Bai Shulin gave her a long, deep look, his gaze dark and steady.
Gu Xi instinctively looked away first and murmured, “Uncle Bai.”
The man gave a low, neutral response, “Mm.”
He took off his shoes and coat. It must have started snowing again outside—his hair was slightly damp.
Gu Xi turned to look for the medicine, when she heard him say from behind, “Is there anything left to eat?”
Aunt Lin had already cleaned up the kitchen for the night, assuming he wasn’t coming back.
Thinking of her favor to ask of him, and remembering his cooking skills, she looked up hesitantly and said, “Probably not. How about I make you some noodles?”
The man raised an eyebrow but didn’t refuse. “Alright.”
Gu Xi silently complained to herself—this guy really didn’t stand on ceremony.
But out loud, she said, “It’ll take a little while. You should go get cleaned up first.”
She used to address him with more formal honorifics. He must have noticed the change in how she spoke to him, because he gave her another glance before heading upstairs.
But she didn’t care. Let him think whatever he wanted.
Gu Xi found the digestive tablets, popped two out, and took them. Then she went into the kitchen and rummaged around, finding some meat and vegetables.
Her cooking skills came from watching online videos in her previous life. But when she was very young, she used to love sitting by the stove and watching her grandfather cook. Every time he finished a dish, he would scoop a little into a small clean bowl and let her taste it first.
Though her parents’ marriage had been unhappy, her grandfather had given her so much love. Sometimes, when she thought about it, her childhood had actually been quite happy—her grandfather doted on her when she was little, and later, Bai Yuzhou treated her like a little sister. Whatever he might have truly felt inside, on the surface, he had always taken good care of her.
After Bai Yuzhou changed, she had latched onto Bai Shulin instead. That man was controlling and cold, but he had never skimped on her material needs.
And Grandpa Bai… in her previous life, she had only suffered three years in a mental hospital.
So after being reborn, Gu Xi hadn’t wanted to take revenge on Bai Yuzhou and Song Rumeng. She just wanted to live her own life well and cherish every day she had now.
Gu Xi had never paid much attention to what Bai Shulin liked to eat. She usually just made what she herself enjoyed.
Her taste followed her grandfather’s—she loved spicy food and loved meat. Skillfully, she smacked a few green peppers flat, sliced them into strips, and cut the meat into thin slivers, marinating them with minced ginger, cornstarch, and light soy sauce.
When she said she was making noodles, she really was making noodles—she boiled a small portion of pasta, and at the same time stir-fried the shredded meat with green peppers.
When the man walked into the kitchen, he gave a light cough and asked, “Need any help?”
Without turning around, Gu Xi directed him, “Go scoop out the noodles. No broth.”
The man coughed again into his fist, then followed her instructions and drained the noodles into a bowl. By then, Gu Xi’s stir-fry was ready, and she poured the pepper-and-pork strips right over the noodles—the colors were tempting and the aroma rich.
Gu Xi thought it tasted excellent and gave a rare smile. “Take it out and eat. I’ll clean up the kitchen.”
The man hesitated for a moment, glancing at the large bowl, but eventually carried it out.