The telephone’s soundproofing was poor, so Su Wantang clearly heard the voice from inside: “Relatives? What kind of distant relative dares to come to our house to claim kinship? Please tell her that people should have some self-respect. Don’t think you can latch onto others just because you’ve dug up some tenuous connection.”
Su Wantang’s fair little face instantly flushed bright red.
The situation was worse than she had imagined. She hadn’t even met the person yet, but had already been insulted.
The soldier comrade hadn’t expected this either. He quickly hung up the phone and looked at Su Wantang’s flushed face with increased sympathy.
“Su Comrade, please don’t take it to heart. That was Gu Deputy Regiment Commander’s stepmother. Why don’t you find a place to stay first? When Gu Deputy Regiment Commander returns, I’ll relay the message and have him look for you?”
Good looks always provided certain advantages. For instance, the girl before him was beautiful and well-behaved, appearing pitiable and lovable, making it hard to disappoint her.
“Thank you.”
Su Wantang nodded and turned to leave, just as a military vehicle approached. She quickly stepped aside to make way.
“Su Comrade, wait a moment.”
Su Wantang was stopped as the comrade jogged to the vehicle’s window, whispered a few words, and then a stern-looking man in military uniform emerged from the car. His features bore five or six similarities to Gu Ciyuan.
“Are you a relative from the Zhang family? What are your parents’ names?”
Gu Changsheng was Gu Ciyuan’s father. When his wife was alive, he had never heard that she had any relatives besides her sister!
Her only sister was now in Jingdu, and the two families still maintained contact. The younger generations of both families knew each other, and he was certain he had never seen this girl before.
Su Wantang felt her heart tighten at this question. Gu Changsheng thought the young girl was frightened by him and quickly explained his identity.
Upon hearing that he was the head of the Gu family, the already nervous Su Wantang couldn’t help but lament her terrible luck.
If she had known Gu Ciyuan wasn’t home, she wouldn’t have come in such a hurry.
What should she do now?
Seeing Su Wantang anxiously silent, Gu Changsheng’s gaze naturally carried a hint of suspicion.
This female comrade’s evasive eyes and timid demeanor made it seem more like she was calculating something.
Could she be a spy, pretending to be their relative for some purpose?
“Young lady, impersonating our family’s relative and specifically asking for my eldest son who isn’t even home – who exactly are you? And what is your purpose?”
Realizing she was clearly under suspicion, Su Wantang knew that if she couldn’t explain clearly, the situation could become serious.
Not daring to conceal anything further, she directly revealed her identity.
Hearing that she was from Nan Province and surnamed Su, Gu Changsheng already had his suspicions.
Before Ciyuan’s grandmother passed away, she had worked for a family surnamed Su. When they had settled down and wanted to bring her over, the old lady had stubbornly refused.
Later, after his wife died in childbirth and Ciyuan, dissatisfied with his remarriage, ran away from home to Nan Province, he had lived with the old lady at the Su family for several years.
If he wasn’t mistaken, this girl’s “Su” should be that family’s Su.
Considering her background and the current circumstances, he roughly understood her purpose for coming.
Gu Changsheng didn’t want to bring trouble to his family.
But recalling the past, although the Su family were capitalists, they had been quite righteous. Otherwise, the old lady wouldn’t have insisted on staying with the Su family.
When his son sought refuge with them, they hadn’t refused to take him in.
Although it was undoubtedly partly due to knowing his status and wanting to curry favor, the fact remained that they had taken good care of his son for several years.
Now that their daughter had come knocking at his door, how could he heartlessly turn her away?
As for future arrangements, he would have to wait for that boy to return and see what he thought.
After all, she was his old acquaintance.
Su Wantang was taken home by Gu Changsheng.
With Gu Changsheng’s decision, his current wife, however unwilling, dared not drive her away.
Moreover, Su Wantang had other motives. Her deliberate efforts to please and her well-mannered, generous demeanor made it hard to dislike her.
In just a few days, she had won the affection of everyone in the Gu household.
Madam Gu occasionally made sarcastic remarks, not out of dislike for Su Wantang, but because she was reminded of Gu Ciyuan, who always opposed her, and thus found Su Wantang, who claimed to be his relative, unpleasant to look at.
H City docks.
Su’s Father and Su Ye, forced to stay for several days, had finally waited for the ship to resume its voyage, only to be surrounded and forcibly taken off the ship for interrogation.
The reason was that the departing ship was found to be smuggling a large quantity of antiques.
Gu Ciyuan and Jiang Hongqi had come here precisely to investigate this matter.
Fortunately, the mission was successfully completed.
However, during the arrest of the criminals, Gu Ciyuan took a blow meant for Jiang Hongqi, resulting in a fractured arm.
Su’s Father was being interrogated in the interrogation room. No matter how much he explained, these people simply refused to believe him or let him go, leaving him as frantic as an ant on a hot pan, pacing in circles.
Just when he felt utterly hopeless, he turned and saw a familiar figure passing by outside the door.
He quickly stood up to chase after him but was forcefully pressed to the ground, leaving him no choice but to shout, “Nephew, nephew… Gu Ciyuan…”
Hearing someone call his name, Gu Ciyuan, who had already walked past, turned back. However, when he saw the familiar face, his already stern expression darkened even further.
“Nephew, please help me reason with them. I have a ticket—we’re just passengers on the ship. We truly knew nothing about the smuggled antiques. You can check our luggage; we only brought some spare clothes, nothing else.”
At this moment, Su’s Father felt a strange sense of relief that the items from his secret chamber had been stolen by some scoundrel.
Otherwise, if he had been caught today trying to take his family’s wealth to Hong Kong, he wouldn’t have been able to explain himself even with eight mouths.
“We will not let any traitor who smuggles our nation’s antiques abroad go unpunished, nor will we wrong an innocent person. Whether you are innocent or not, our comrades will investigate thoroughly. All you need to do is cooperate fully. As for calling out to me—if you were hoping for special treatment, then I’m sorry, I cannot help you.”
After delivering this cold response, Gu Ciyuan specifically instructed those interrogating him, “Investigate this thoroughly. Handle it as it should be handled. When it comes to the nation’s greater good, no one’s personal connections matter.”
Su’s Father was utterly dejected.
Even if he had nothing to do with the antique smuggling, in these sensitive times, as a capitalist who refused to reform and instead sought to leave the country, his ideological problem was severe in itself.
Thinking of the tragic fates of his old friends, he feared that this time, he too would be unable to escape disaster.
I shouldn’t have listened to Su Ye, otherwise I wouldn’t have lost Wan Tang.
Now I have nothing left, and even got myself caught up in this mess.
If I had known it would come to this, I should have made proper arrangements to take refuge in the countryside. That would have shown my awareness and prevented others from giving me too much trouble.
No, I can’t resign myself to fate.
Su’s Father looked at Gu Ciyuan who was about to leave. “Nephew, if not for the monk’s face, then for the Buddha’s sake. Su Ye has been captured too. Even if you don’t care about our relationship, surely you don’t care about your own…” He didn’t say the words “future prospects,” but the meaning was clear.
Gu Ciyuan let out a scornful laugh.
“Threatening me?”