After flipping through the photo albums, Gu Xi took out her phone and showed him the pictures she’d taken. “Grandpa, there’s something I need to tell you.”
Grandpa Bai took her phone with a smile. But when he saw the somewhat blurry photos on the screen, he still recognized Bai Yuzhou. His expression instantly stiffened. “This is…”
Gu Xi nodded calmly. “It’s Bai Yuzhou and his subordinate at the company. She’s also his classmate. Grandpa, this isn’t the first time. Before, he told me it was a misunderstanding, and I forgave him. This time, he admitted it.”
Grandpa Bai pressed his lips together and said nothing.
Gu Xi knew that Grandpa Bai was very fond of her. He was old, in poor health, and didn’t know how much longer he had to live. He didn’t have the time or energy to find her another outstanding match.
Grandpa Bai always felt he owed her grandfather. Back in the day, her grandfather had been injured while saving him and had to leave the military. Though they stayed in touch afterward, her grandfather never asked him for anything—he didn’t want anyone to think he was cashing in on a favor. The only time he’d ever asked for anything was to hope that someone would look after her in the future.
She was her grandfather’s last concern when he passed, and now she had become Grandpa Bai’s concern as well. He wanted to take care of her in his own way—and for the older generation, “taking care” meant getting married and having children.
Bai Yuzhou had always been outstanding, well-behaved, and kind to her—but that kindness was more the price he had to pay for relying on the Bai family. Now that Grandpa Bai was in poor health, and his nominal father had never cared about him, Bai Yuzhou wanted to break free from these constraints.
He wanted both the Bai family’s resources and his so-called freedom. Gu Xi had long since realized that even without Song Rumeng, she would never have been happy with him in the end.
But Grandpa Bai didn’t know that. His only son refused to marry or have children, and was cold-hearted to boot—if it weren’t for the fact that he found his nagging annoying, he probably wouldn’t even have an adopted son.
He’d had high hopes for Bai Yuzhou. He never expected something like this to happen, and for a moment, he was at a loss.
Just as Gu Xi had said, his health was failing. He didn’t know how much longer he had. He was afraid that after he was gone, no one would have Gu Xi’s back. His own son was useless, her father was purely profit-driven, and her stepmother was sweet on the surface but cruel underneath. Without the Bai family and him, Gu Xi would have been bullied beyond measure.
After thinking it through, he let out a deep sigh.
But Gu Xi pressed on. “Grandpa, I don’t want to marry Bai Yuzhou anymore. I don’t think I’ll marry anyone in the future. I’m fine on my own. I have a place to live, and I can find a job—it won’t be hard to support myself.”
Grandpa Bai looked at her with a complicated expression, wanting to say, Why follow anyone’s example—why not follow that worthless brat’s example of not getting married?
But instead he said, “Let me think about this properly. No rush.”
“Mm.”
Gu Xi hadn’t expected to resolve it all in one go. She knew he’d want to investigate first, in case there’d been some misunderstanding. She wasn’t worried about Bai Yuzhou being looked into—the more he was investigated, the more disappointed Grandpa Bai would be.
But someone else was probably about to have some trouble.
Gu Xi slept in the guest room that night and left early the next morning.
After she left, the house fell quiet. Grandpa Bai sat on the sofa and took out the photo album again. This was what happened when you got old—you couldn’t help reminiscing.
His rough, aged fingers gently traced over the photos one by one. Many of his young, spirited comrades from back then were no longer around. Finally, his gaze settled on a faded family portrait—a young woman holding a chubby, fair-skinned little boy, with a man in military uniform standing behind them.
He looked at it quietly for a while, then closed the album, picked up the landline beside him, and dialed a familiar number.
The phone rang for a moment before being answered. A cold, indifferent voice came through: “What is it?”
Grandpa Bai was already irritated by the tone, but he held back his temper and said, “What’s going on with that adopted son of yours? How come he’s kissing someone else? Shameless at such a young age. Xixi came to me and said she doesn’t want to marry Bai Yuzhou anymore. She says she’s not getting married at all—just like you. Look at the example you’re setting.”
“If you’d just settled down and started a family back then, I’d be holding great-grandchildren by now. No matter how much you resent me, you can’t toy with your own happiness. I can’t control you anymore, but you need to sort out your adopted son’s mess. I’m not dead yet, and they’re already bullying her like this. When I’m gone, who knows what’ll happen…”
After a long tirade, he realized there was complete silence on the other end. Furious, he shouted, “Hello? Are you listening to me?”
The cold voice came back: “Listening.”
Grandpa Bai took a deep breath, telling himself not to argue with this bastard. “Go look into what your adopted son has been up to. I’ll deal with you later—”
Before he could catch his breath, the voice on the phone asked flatly, “Are you done?”
Then came a click—the line went dead.
Grandpa Bai was fuming again. He slammed the phone down hard and cursed, “That bastard! One day he’ll be the death of me!”
Auntie Lin brought over a cup of health tea, smiling as she said, “That’s just how fathers and sons are. Everyone else envies you for having such a successful son.”
Grandpa Bai snorted but didn’t curse anymore.
Bai Shulin hung up the phone, frowning slightly at the mention of someone not wanting to get married.
From the very beginning, he had made it clear to Bai Yuzhou: there was only one condition for adopting him—he must marry that little girl named Gu Xi in the future. As long as he fulfilled that, everything the Bai family had would one day be his.
Bai Yuzhou had agreed. Even though he was only eleven at the time, Bai Shulin believed he was old enough to take responsibility for the promises he made.
Or did Bai Yuzhou think he and the old man were that easy to fool? That marriage was just a piece of paper, and beyond that, he could do whatever he pleased?
Bai Shulin was annoyed. The old man had dumped another problem on him. Still, he dialed his assistant’s number. “Look into what Bai Yuzhou has been up to lately.”
Gu Xi arrived at the meeting point early. Fang Pingping was even earlier. After they linked up, Fang Pingping took her to find the senior student in charge of recruitment, and they signed in first.
The production was shooting a modern crime drama. They seemed to have a decent budget—today’s location was a very famous six-star hotel in the city.
Gu Xi and the others had to wait for the lead actors to finish their scenes. They were lucky today—they didn’t have to wait long. Fang Pingping said that last time they’d waited from eight in the morning until nine at night before shooting, so she’d brought several books along just in case.
After gathering, they were taken to get their makeup done.
Their roles were hotel staff. Gu Xi tugged uncomfortably at the pencil skirt—she’d never worn anything so tight before and felt a bit awkward. But Fang Pingping thought she looked great. Gu Xi’s long, straight legs in high heels were like stepping right on her heart—if she were a man, she’d fall for her too.
After changing, everyone found a spot near the assembly area and waited.
About half an hour later, a crew member came to call them. The scene was set at the hotel entrance—the male and female leads were arriving for a vacation. Gu Xi would appear once as part of the background, along with several other extras.
Even though it was her first time acting, her background role was simple: she just had to stand at the entrance and welcome the VIPs.
They filmed until noon before the director finally called “cut.” The crew started packing up. Gu Xi and Fang Pingping stood by the hotel entrance wrapped in their padded jackets, discussing where to eat—the senior student had offered to treat them.
As the crowd thinned out, a car pulled up at the entrance. The senior student had sharp eyes and gave Fang Pingping a subtle signal. Fang Pingping looked completely lost.
Gu Xi, however, found the license plate vaguely familiar. A tall, lean figure stepped out of the car. Their eyes met across the distance—he probably didn’t recognize her, as he coolly looked away.
The man was ushered inside by the hotel manager. Gu Xi felt relieved that her makeup today was heavy.
But she wasn’t sure if it was her imagination—as he walked in, a pair of eyes seemed to linger on her again.
After lunch, Gu Xi and the other extras had to wait again. Fang Pingping dragged her to the stairwell to read, but before long, Fang Pingping got a stomachache and ran off to the bathroom.
Just then, Gu Xi’s phone rang—it was Grandpa Bai. Seeing no one else around, she answered. Grandpa Bai’s voice came through: “Xixi, I’ve been thinking—let’s not rush into breaking up just yet. Yuzhou is a child I’ve watched grow up. He’s not bad at heart. Let’s first find out what really happened. What if he was set up? He might be innocent too…”
His voice trailed off, and he let out a deep sigh.
Gu Xi remembered hearing that when Grandpa Bai was young, someone had gossiped to his wife that he was having an affair and wouldn’t come home. In a fit of rage, his wife had drowned herself in the river. Because of that, he and that man had been estranged as father and son until the very end.
But Bai Yuzhou was different from Grandpa Bai. He truly wasn’t worth her forgiveness.
Her fingers tapped along the stair railing as she walked up step by step. “But Grandpa, I don’t like Bai Yuzhou anymore. There’s someone else I like.”
“…”
There was a long silence on the other end before Grandpa Bai spoke again, his voice cautious: “Xixi… who is it? Can you tell Grandpa?”
He probably hadn’t expected her to have fallen for someone else too.
There was no such person. She was lying to him.
But Gu Xi said calmly, “He’s very handsome. He doesn’t know I like him yet. Once I win him over, I’ll tell you, Grandpa…”
She trailed off as she noticed someone standing at the top of the stairwell. A man leaned casually against the wall, a cigarette between his fingers. Hearing the voice stop, he slowly lifted his gaze and glanced at her—his dark eyes expressionless and cool.
Gu Xi wanted to pretend she hadn’t seen him. Grandpa Bai’s voice came through the phone again, sounding almost indignant: “Xixi liking him is his good fortune! Why should you have to chase him? One day I’ll meet him myself.”
Then, as if something occurred to him, he added, “But don’t break it off with Yuzhou just yet either. Keep both of them as—what do they call it—backups. If someone better comes along later, we’ll just dump them both.”
“…”
Grandpa Bai’s voice was loud, and the stairwell was quiet. The man must have heard everything—Gu Xi caught a faint scoff.
For some reason, she felt inexplicably embarrassed. “Grandpa, I’ve got to go now—I need to study.”
Before Grandpa Bai could say anything else, Gu Xi hastily hung up, terrified he might say something even more outrageous.
The stairwell fell quiet again. Gu Xi was debating whether to pretend she didn’t know him when the man standing above suddenly spoke:
“Gu Xi—”