Old Master Gu was wearing a traditional Chinese long gown. When he saw the Mu family enter, he stood up and greeted them warmly.
Father Mu and Mother Mu greeted Old Master Gu, then sat down with him to discuss the wedding.
“Your father said you wanted to marry into the Gu family as soon as possible?” Old Master Gu asked Mu Xingyu.
Mu Xingyu nodded. “Yes.”
“I’m glad to hear that, but I want to know what you really think.” Though Old Master Gu was advanced in years, he was still vigorous, and his sharp eyes seemed to see right through people.
Mu Xingyu met his gaze. “Grandpa Gu, President Gu and I were already engaged. Now that he’s unconscious, marrying him would make it easier for me to take care of him.”
“I’m glad you feel that way. But you’re still young. If Yunzhou never wakes up, wouldn’t that hold you back?”
“Grandpa Gu, President Gu and I are a perfect match by our birth charts. Maybe marrying him will even help him wake up sooner.” Mu Xingyu said it half jokingly.
Old Master Gu smiled faintly. “Let’s hope so. Don’t worry. If Yunzhou still hasn’t woken up in five years, you’ll be free to leave if you want.”
Father Mu and Mother Mu both quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Mu Xingyu hadn’t expected Old Master Gu to think so carefully about his welfare. But the old man’s promise would never come into play. In his previous life, Gu Yunzhou would wake up in the fall of the year after next. And with the spirit liquid to help him this time, Mu Xingyu believed he would wake much sooner.
“Grandpa Gu, could I go see President Gu?” Mu Xingyu asked.
“Of course.” Old Master Gu called Lin Xiao over and asked him to show Mu Xingyu to Gu Yunzhou’s room.
Mu Xingyu followed Lin Xiao into the elevator and rode up to the fourth floor.
The familiar hallway and decor made him feel as if he had returned to his previous life.
Back then, too, Lin Xiao had led him to Gu Yunzhou’s room. But this time, Gu Yunzhou wasn’t sitting there waiting for him. He was lying quietly in bed.
A male caregiver was in the room. When he saw Lin Xiao, he quickly got up. “Butler Lin, President Gu is stable.”
“All right.” Lin Xiao nodded, then gestured for Mu Xingyu to come to the bedside.
Gu Yunzhou had been in a car accident in March. He had now been unconscious for ten months.
With his head injury, even the best doctors couldn’t guarantee that Gu Yunzhou would wake up. The Gu family had spent a fortune installing a full suite of medical equipment at home. The steady beeping in the room came from the machines.
It was winter, and the air conditioner was on. Mu Xingyu could smell the faint scent of medicine.
He sat in the chair beside the bed and looked at Gu Yunzhou’s right hand, still hooked up to an IV. Unable to resist, he reached out and touched it.
Gu Yunzhou’s hand was cold. Mu Xingyu’s fingertips trembled, then he clasped Gu Yunzhou’s wrist in both hands instead, taking care not to touch the IV line.
“Butler Lin, I’d like to speak with President Gu alone,” Mu Xingyu said.
Lin Xiao hesitated, but then nodded. “All right.” He asked the caregiver to wait in the sitting area, then went downstairs to report to Old Master Gu.
Old Master Gu and Mu Xingyu’s parents were discussing the wedding arrangements. Since Gu Yunzhou was unconscious, they would keep the ceremony simple and hold a grand banquet after he woke up, assuming he woke up at all.
More importantly, with Gu Yunzhou unconscious, he couldn’t go register their marriage.
Without a marriage certificate, Mu Xingyu’s engagement to Gu Yunzhou wouldn’t be legally binding. If he wanted to leave in five years, he could. And the Gu family’s assets would remain untouched.
Mother Mu felt that joining the Gu family without a marriage certificate would make them look down on her son, so she raised the matter with Old Master Gu.
Just then, Lin Xiao came downstairs and quietly told Old Master Gu how Mu Xingyu had behaved upstairs. Old Master Gu was a little surprised, then continued speaking to Mother Mu. “I’m only thinking of Xingyu’s best interests. Without a certificate, there’s nothing binding him. If he changes his mind, he can leave.”
That was what he said, but Father Mu and Mother Mu still had their reservations.
“If this is about property, we can draw up a prenuptial agreement,” Father Mu said. He didn’t want his son to be treated unfairly. They had never considered marrying into the Gu family as a way to get their hands on its wealth.
“You’re worrying too much. I’m thinking of the young people. Don’t worry, the Gu family will recognize Xingyu’s place in the family publicly.”
…
In the room on the fourth floor, Mu Xingyu held Gu Yunzhou’s hand and studied him closely. In his mind, Gu Yunzhou had always been cold and distant. Lying in bed like this, he looked so harmless, almost like a different person.
Gu Yunzhou was handsome. His family had some European ancestry, and his mother was English, so he was taller than most Asian men, with more sharply defined features. Even after more than ten months in a coma, he was still strikingly handsome. If fairy tales had a sleeping prince, he would look just like Gu Yunzhou did now.
Then the machines began to beep urgently. Hearing the alarm, the caregiver hurried in to check on him.
Mu Xingyu didn’t understand what had happened, but the caregiver’s alarmed expression told him it couldn’t be good.
He quickly stood up and moved aside.
“What’s wrong with him?” Mu Xingyu asked urgently.
“I don’t know. His heart rate suddenly shot up.” The caregiver pressed the room’s emergency button and put an oxygen mask over Gu Yunzhou’s face.
A doctor arrived shortly afterward, a foreigner with brown hair. Mu Xingyu guessed he must have been hired by the Gu family to look after Gu Yunzhou.
“What happened? Ethan’s condition has been very stable,” the doctor said in fluent Mandarin.
The caregiver shook his head quickly. “Doctor Charlie, I don’t know. His heart rate suddenly went up, and he was having trouble breathing.”
Doctor Charlie pulled back the blanket and checked Gu Yunzhou’s pulse. “What was happening when his condition changed?”
“I was in the sitting area, and Mr. Mu was talking to Mr. Gu,” the caregiver replied quickly.
Charlie immediately looked at Mu Xingyu. Mu Xingyu shook his head. “I was only talking to him. I didn’t do anything.” Then he suddenly remembered something and glanced at his wrist. The lotus bud had bloomed again.
He stood there in shock, unable to understand why the bud had opened.
Then he remembered that when he had held Gu Yunzhou’s hand, the lotus bud seemed to have touched Gu Yunzhou. Could it be… could the lotus absorb life force and brew spirit liquid?
Yes, that had to be it. The spirit liquid had miraculous healing properties, so it made sense that it came from absorbed life force.
Mu Xingyu had been trying to figure out how to make the spirit liquid form faster. Now he had finally found a way. He was both shocked and delighted.
But there was something he couldn’t explain. He had been wearing the bracelet the whole time, yet he hadn’t felt his life force being drained. Then the answer came to him. The lotus had already recognized him as its master through his blood. How could it harm him?
By then, Charlie had performed emergency treatment and stabilized Gu Yunzhou’s condition.
Old Master Gu hurried in and anxiously asked Charlie what had happened.
“He’s all right now, Old Master Gu. Ethan’s condition is stable,” Charlie said.
Only then did Old Master Gu relax. Father Mu and Mother Mu had come in behind him. They looked worried as they saw Gu Yunzhou lying in bed with an oxygen mask on.
With Gu Yunzhou’s condition suddenly worsening, Old Master Gu was in no mood to entertain guests. He asked Butler Lin to take the Mu family home.
“Grandpa Gu, I’d like to stay a little longer and make sure President Gu takes his medicine before I leave,” Mu Xingyu said.
Old Master Gu assumed Mu Xingyu had been frightened by Gu Yunzhou’s sudden downturn. He hadn’t expected Mu Xingyu to want to stay, and looked at him closely in surprise.
Mu Xingyu felt guilty and braced himself under Old Master Gu’s gaze. Fortunately, Old Master Gu soon nodded and agreed.
Father Mu and Mother Mu said their goodbyes to Old Master Gu, then went downstairs with Butler Lin.
Charlie had already prepared the medicine. He crushed it, mixed it into water, and had the caregiver give it to Gu Yunzhou.
Mu Xingyu hated taking medicine. Just looking at the powder dissolving in the water made him imagine how bitter it would taste.
As he watched the caregiver open Gu Yunzhou’s mouth and pour in the medicine, his heart suddenly ached.
Gu Yunzhou had always been so imperious, and now he had to be fed medicine like this. It was a sobering sight.
Old Master Gu kept an eye on Gu Yunzhou, but also watched Mu Xingyu’s reaction.
Mu Xingyu was about to marry into the Gu family, and Old Master Gu worried that the pampered young master of the Mu family might resent Gu Yunzhou lying helpless in bed. Fortunately, Mu Xingyu’s eyes were full of concern, which eased his mind.
Once the caregiver had finished giving Gu Yunzhou his medicine, Mu Xingyu quickly picked up a cup and poured in some water. Then he asked Butler Lin to bring him sugar and explained, “Whenever I take medicine, I drink a glass of sugar water afterward. It makes the bitterness go away.”
Old Master Gu smiled, growing even more pleased with Mu Xingyu. He didn’t tell him, though, that his grandson had never liked sweet things.
Butler Lin soon brought over the sugar bowl.
Mu Xingyu spooned some sugar into the cup and stirred it until it dissolved. Then, using his body to conceal what he was doing, he let all the spirit liquid from the lotus drip into the cup.
He spooned some up and tried to feed Gu Yunzhou, but since it was his first time taking care of someone, the water spilled out.
“Young Master Mu, let me do it,” the caregiver said.
“No, I’ll be careful.” Mu Xingyu tried again. Having learned from the first attempt, he was more careful this time and let the water trickle through Gu Yunzhou’s lips.
He took such care that it took him more than ten minutes to finish the cup, but he felt a deep sense of accomplishment.
Old Master Gu watched Mu Xingyu the whole time, a kind smile on his face. In the end, he even personally saw Mu Xingyu out, leaving him quite overwhelmed by the attention.
The author has something to say:
Mu Xingyu: Ah, I almost got my fiancé killed. ミ?Д?彡
P.S. Another chapter at 9:00 tonight.