Gu Xi felt very aggrieved at this moment.
Clearly, she and Lu Hongshen were the true pair who loved one another first.
Why should that woman be able to snatch away her lover simply because their families were of matching social status?
What era was it still to be playing with such arranged marriages?
Was true freedom in love really that impossible?
Therefore, Gu Xi did not feel that there was anything wrong with what she was doing.
The one who was unloved was the third party, wasn’t that right?
And she herself was well aware of this fact, which was why she eventually left the Lu family, wasn’t it?
“Mr. Song, I hope you will consider this carefully. After all, an opportunity like this will not come a second time.” Gu Xi forcefully suppressed her anger and spoke calmly to Song Jianbai.
Song Jianbai looked at Gu Xi, then stood up. “Thank you for the offer, Madam Gu, but as for the five million yuan, you should keep it for yourself. I simply look down on it.”
With that, Song Jianbai stood up and subsequently called over a waiter to pay the bill.
Song Jianbai’s series of actions could be said to have infuriated Gu Xi to no end.
Since Song Jianbai refused to do it, she would naturally find someone else who would.
Song Jianbai returned to the company and naturally sent a reply message to the other party.
“My advice to Madam Gu is to rein in your own schemes, otherwise ending up losing both money and peace of mind in the end will not be worth it.”
No matter how much these supporting characters struggled, how could they possibly win against the protagonists?
Even though he knew that even if Gu Xi did not pull these stunts, Chu Xingyan would still not let that pair of mother and son off the hook.
After all, the ones who drove his birth mother to her death were none other than this very mother and son.
Yet Song Jianbai felt that it was still necessary for him to talk to Chu Xingyan about this matter.
After all, he was a young adult, no longer a child of a few years old.
It was necessary to let him know about it himself.
That evening after finishing work, he conveniently went to pick up Chu Xingyan, and the two of them went grocery shopping together.
For Chu Xingyan, doing grocery shopping like this was also a first.
Yet watching his uncle’s familiar movements, he also secretly observed the various vegetables on display.
“Is there anything you like to eat?” Song Jianbai asked, noticing that Chu Xingyan kept staring at the shelves.
“Anything is fine,” Chu Xingyan replied.
Actually, he remained somewhat curious about this uncle of his, who had practically been a stranger to the family for the five or six years following his university graduation.
It seemed like starting from his college years, he had constantly asked the family for money, although their maternal grandmother’s household had many children, and his uncle was the youngest.
No matter how much the family pampered the uncle, it was impossible to spend too much money on someone beyond saving.
This was also why, over all these years, Chu Xingyan did not have a deep impression of this uncle.
Yet he could confirm that the uncle of the past and the uncle right before his eyes were absolute strangers to one another.
They were completely two distinct, contrasting individuals.
Perhaps it was due to the fact that they hadn’t seen each other at all over the past three years.
Song Jianbai knew that Chu Xingyan kept staring at him, but he also understood one thing.
No matter how natural and normal his current actions and appearance appeared in the eyes of ordinary people, Chu Xingyan was still the protagonist of this world, so feeling some sense of anomaly was entirely normal.
Of course, this wasn’t particularly important.
After buying the groceries, Song Jianbai passed by the beverage section and picked up some milk.
“Uncle seems to really like drinking milk,” Chu Xingyan couldn’t help asking.
Hearing this, Song Jianbai looked at the carton of fresh milk in his hand and nodded. “Because it tastes good.”
Hearing that, Chu Xingyan walked over and grabbed two bottles of cola as well.
Yet even as he grabbed them, Chu Xingyan subconsciously cast a glance at Song Jianbai.
After all, in the eyes of parents, cola was something reserved only for the Chinese New Year.
However, Song Jianbai merely glanced at it without saying a word.
Clearly, Song Jianbai did not object to Chu Xingyan drinking cola.
On the way home, Song Jianbai still brought up the topic and explained his situation to Chu Xingyan.
When Chu Xingyan heard Song Jianbai reveal that he was the biological son of Jinyao Group’s president, although he felt somewhat surprised, it didn’t stir up too much emotional reaction within him.
Seeing that Chu Xingyan remained silent for a long time without answering his words, Song Jianbai did not pressure him to give a reply right away.
After all, such a truth was genuinely difficult for someone to accept overnight.
Song Jianbai parked his car in the parking lot and went to the trunk to grab the bags, and Chu Xingyan also came over to help.
Chu Xingyan seemed to mumble something softly, but just as Song Jianbai was closing the trunk, he didn’t quite catch it.
“What did you say just now?” Song Jianbai turned back to ask him. “Sorry, I didn’t catch that.”
Seeing Song Jianbai ask him like that, Chu Xingyan hurriedly shook his head. “Nothing, I just thought this cola was a bit heavy, I won’t buy it next time.”
Hearing this, Song Jianbai smiled and reached out to take the beverages from his hands.
“Then carry these vegetables instead, these are much lighter.”
Since they were just leafy greens, they were indeed not as heavy as the drinks.
This left Chu Xingyan feeling somewhat caught off guard.
Clearly these were things he had intended to buy himself, yet instead his uncle ended up carrying them for him.
Upon returning home, Song Jianbai did not bring up the matter of his biological father again.
However, after finishing dinner, Song Jianbai still prepared to have an open and honest conversation with Chu Xingyan.
“I told you these things not to pressure you, but simply because you are the person directly involved, and how to choose is entirely your freedom. As your uncle, upon learning that someone wants to harm you, it is naturally impossible for me to remain indifferent. I will say it again: no matter what, you must always love yourself first, understand?”
Song Jianbai felt that no matter how he phrased it, he seemed to only know how to repeat this one sentence.
Yet he wasn’t certain whether the message he wanted to convey was being successfully communicated to Chu Xingyan.
“Right, you also need to voice your own thoughts. Some people are quite dull when it comes to emotional matters, so if you don’t speak up, the other person will never understand.” Seeing Chu Xingyan hesitate with words hanging on his lips, Song Jianbai spoke up once more.
The reason why Chu Xingyan ran into trouble in his relationships was precisely because he liked to shoulder everything on his own.
Because of everything he had experienced in the past, he had already built up a defensive hostility toward those around him.
That was why he ended up hurting the person who loved him most.
And by the time he finally snapped to his senses, the other person’s affection for him had already been worn thin.
To prevent the other person from leaving him, he naturally resorted to quite a few extreme measures.
As for what those methods were, Song Jianbai wouldn’t list them out one by one.
If anyone wanted to find out, they could simply refer to certain BL angsty web novel platforms.
Seeing that Song Jianbai truly spoke without holding anything back, Chu Xingyan lowered his head again and remained silent.
He indeed had many thoughts bottled up inside, but he didn’t know how to pour his heart out.
First of all, in Chu Xingyan’s understanding, true empathy did not exist in this world.
What if he poured his heart out to someone, only for that person to turn around and use his scars as a joke to share with others?
Even though he felt that his uncle was not that kind of person, not everyone in the world was like his uncle.
“So let’s start by sharing your thoughts with me first, and we can work on it slowly together, okay?” Song Jianbai patiently coaxed Chu Xingyan.
If he could understand Chu Xingyan’s psychological mindset, then he could properly help adjust Chu Xingyan’s personality over these four months.
Hearing Song Jianbai’s words, Chu Xingyan raised his head to look at his uncle.
He saw his uncle looking right back at him with a pair of bright, crystal-clear eyes.
Eyes completely devoid of the slightest trace of impurity.
These were the most beautiful eyes Chu Xingyan had ever seen.
Looking into those eyes made it feel as though he could confess anything honestly to him.
“I…” Chu Xingyan only managed to utter a single syllable before, as if suddenly snapping back to reality, he abruptly stood up from the sofa and headed straight back to his bedroom.
This left Song Jianbai feeling somewhat puzzled.
Sure enough, a teenager’s mood was just like the weather in June, changing at a moment’s notice.
(Banhaia Novel, much joy)