Chapter 16
It's hard to imagine how maddening it would be if such love were to fall upon oneself, especially in today's world of rampant materialism, where a pure and true heart has become rarer than gold.
The young man's gaze shifted slightly.
Lu Yu seemed to sense something and looked at him with sharp eyes.
Seeing this, the young man immediately put on a smile.
Lu Yu: "You talk too much."
He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he felt that this person was being overly diligent this time.
Lu Yu had hired him before, but never had he investigated so thoroughly. This went beyond the payment he had offered.
The man usually only cared about profit and would do anything for money. This kind of unprofitable work had never happened before.
Lu Yu frowned and said, "The money has been transferred to your account."
Knowing that this was Lu Yu's way of asking him to leave, the young man showed no dissatisfaction. He was about to leave, being very perceptive about taking money for a job, but just before leaving, he said one last thing: "If Mr. Lu really still cares about this wife, I personally suggest that you pay more attention to Miss Gu."
"After all, Miss Gu has once again lost the rope tied to her. This time, it's hard to say what she will choose."
In the situation where Miss Gu had forgotten everything, she might not choose him this time.
No, given her personality, she definitely wouldn't choose him this time.
Lu Yu's heart suddenly tightened, but his face remained calm as he said, "No need to worry about that."
And also.
"Please call her Mrs. Gu."
The young man paused, said nothing, and left quite obediently.
Lu Yu watched his back for a while before finally looking away.
The young man had spent a whole month investigating and uncovered far too much information. Besides why Gu Wan would like him and fall in love with him, there was almost all of Gu Wan's past from her 27 years of life.
Many of these were things Gu Wan had never mentioned to him before.
In the past, Gu Wan always had a smiling face when she was with him, which led Lu Yu to subconsciously think that she had a good family environment and that her parents loved her, hence her optimistic and cheerful personality. Moreover, Gu Wan's family was quite well-off, and now he knew that she had attended the same international school as him back then. Lu Yu couldn't help but think this way.
However, after Lu Yu read through all the materials, he realized it wasn't like that at all.
Under what circumstances would a person never mention their dark past?
Probably because they want to leave only beautiful impressions on the person they love.
Lu Yu previously only knew that after Gu Wan could remember things, her family's situation gradually improved. It seemed that she hadn't suffered since she could remember. What Gu Wan didn't say was that after her parents started making money, they hardly ever returned home.
It started with Gu Wan's father, then her mother. One opened a factory, had an affair, and had children outside. The other opened a beauty shop, which gradually became successful, turned into a beauty salon, and finally a beauty hospital. Then Gu Wan's mother, like her father, began traveling around the world, indulging in pleasure and extravagance. Like all suddenly wealthy people, after getting money, they were fascinated by the outside world, seemingly forgetting the child they had given birth to during their impoverished period.
How could the daughter left at home compare to the excitement of the outside world? So little Gu Wan repeated the cycle of hoping her parents would accompany her, her parents casually agreeing to appease her, little Gu Wan unhesitatingly choosing to believe them, and then being told at the last minute that something suddenly came up and they couldn't come.
The two adults seemed to have never taken their promises to her seriously.
Just like... him.
Gu Wan had always been deceived by her father, deceived by her mother, and finally deceived by him.
Reaching this point, Lu Yu's breath stopped for a moment. Suddenly, he remembered when he had asked her if she particularly disliked people who didn't keep their promises. How did she answer then?
She said she cared about it for a while, but after that special period passed, she didn't care anymore.
It was so casual, as if she wouldn't feel sad about it anymore.
Now Lu Yu understood it wasn't that she wasn't sad, but that she had gotten used to it.
Gu Wan had long been accustomed to being let down, and what made Lu Yu's emotions surge the most was that among those who had let her down, he was one of them.
Lu Yu's grip on the documents suddenly tightened.
These things were all said by the first nanny Gu Wan's parents hired for her. However, ironically, this nanny who had once promised to always be with Gu Wan also left her when Gu Wan was twelve years old, quitting her job because of her own child.
Then came the second, third, fourth... No matter how nicely these people spoke at first, in the end, not one of them truly stayed for her.
In the eyes of adults, this might seem very normal. No matter how good and obedient Gu Wan was, she couldn't compare to their own children and families. But for a child, it was too cruel.
From a very young age, Gu Wan had become accustomed to gaining and losing. Gradually, she learned not to see herself as so important. To anyone, she wasn't that important.
Later, Gu Wan stopped getting close to others, because only in this way would she not be so hurt when others left again.
The fiery red hair in middle school seemed to be Gu Wan's last effort. Like most people, her sudden rebellion was just an attempt to get her parents' attention.
However, children who are loved by their parents don't need to use such methods, and children who aren't loved by their parents wouldn't be cared about even if they played themselves to death.
After that time, Gu Wan thoroughly understood the fact that her parents didn't love her.
At that time, she was only fourteen years old.
After that came Gu Wan's high school and university years, and then one day she suddenly received news of her parents' death in a car accident.
Lu Yu only knew that Gu Wan inherited a large sum of money after her parents' death. Now he learned that before inheriting the estate, she first had to deal with several illegitimate children and their mothers, and face threats from her father's brothers who wanted her life.
Although her mother hadn't had any more children, she left behind no small number of problems. The partners of the beauty hospital took advantage of the situation, and her mother's parents and brothers eyed her like greedy wolves. With her mother's parents still alive, even the law wouldn't be on her side. Lu Yu couldn't imagine how the then 20-year-old Gu Wan had endured this period, kept the beauty hospital running, and successfully obtained such a large inheritance.
At that time, Gu Wan hadn't even met him yet, and she only had Xia Qianqian, a naive girl who was of no help at all, by her side. But it didn't matter, she still managed to do it all by herself in the end.
Such a person, who had faced mostly malice and neglect from childhood to adulthood, even the blood ties that should have been thicker than water ultimately became knives stabbing at her. She had seen the treachery of human nature and the dangers of the world. Logically, after experiencing all this, Gu Wan shouldn't have trusted anyone anymore. But three years ago, Gu Wan gave him a full 80 million. Apart from the real estate that couldn't be liquidated immediately, she had given out almost all of her fortune.
It wasn't that she didn't know the ugliness of human nature and how easily people change. She was just willing to offer her sincerity one more time, to fight to the death, in exchange for his love and true heart.
Indeed, the warmth that remains after weathering a thousand storms is the most touching.
Only this last time, it still ended in complete failure.
At this point, Gu Wan was thoroughly burnt out, leaving only a handful of ashes.
...
No, it won't be like this!
This thought flashed through his mind as Lu Yu gritted his teeth. Then, under puzzled and surprised gazes, Lu Yu drove away from here at a speed he had never reached before.
On the other side.
Gu Wan had just arrived at the floor where the orthopedics department was located. While sitting in the corridor waiting for the doctor, she was feeling bored when she suddenly heard a message notification sound.
Slowly taking out her phone to look, at first Gu Wan thought it was from Lu Yu.
Recently, for some unknown reason, the housekeeper mentioned that this person used to be incredibly busy, often not returning home for ten to fifteen days at a time. However, Gu Wan couldn't help but think that ever since she was discharged from the hospital, she had been seeing him almost every day. How could this person appear to be so attached to home now?
Besides coming home daily, Lu Yu's messages were also exceptionally frequent, to the point where Gu Wan eventually became too lazy to respond.
When Gu Wan finally unlocked her screen, she discovered that the message was from someone saved as "Zhong Yi" in her contacts.
[After much consideration, I've decided to tell you about this.]
Then Gu Wan learned that more than half a month ago, someone had been asking this woman named Zhong Yi for information about her.
Gu Wan pondered for a while but couldn't figure out who she might have offended recently.
While Gu Wan was deep in thought, she heard that the orthopedic doctor had finally finished his work and was calling her in.
After expressing her gratitude, Gu Wan quickly put the person named Zhong Yi out of her mind.
The injury on Gu Wan's arm wasn't severe to begin with, and after more than a month, nearly two months of recovery, it had already healed. After the cast was removed, Gu Wan moved her arm around and felt no abnormalities. She smiled, thanked the doctor, and left.
[Where are you now?]
Gu Wan was about to look down at her phone when the driver happened to pass by A City's largest amusement park. Almost instinctively, Gu Wan blurted out, "Stop!"
The driver promptly hit the brakes.
Looking up at the colorful amusement rides not far away, Gu Wan was speechless for a while. Just as the driver was beginning to feel confused, he suddenly heard her speak again: "You can drop me off here."
When the driver realized that the madam wanted to go to the amusement park, he was momentarily surprised. Then he hesitated, "But... your arm has just..."
Ignoring the driver's advice, Gu Wan decisively got out of the car.
Since it was a weekday, the amusement park wasn't as crowded as usual, and Gu Wan easily got to enjoy many of the popular attractions.
From the pirate ship to the roller coaster, the more Gu Wan played, the more unsatisfied she felt, increasingly sensing that this still wasn't enough.
Not enough for what...
As she was deep in thought, a flyer was unexpectedly thrust into her hand.
Gu Wan was startled, first saying thank you, and then, after the person left, she was about to throw the flyer away when she glanced down and saw the words "bungee jumping" written on it.
It turned out that the amusement park had just opened a bungee jumping attraction this month and had been promoting it recently.
Gu Wan's motion to discard the flyer halted, and that familiar, intoxicating feeling suddenly returned. When she came to her senses, she was already standing more than a hundred meters high in the air.
Bungee jumping is typically an activity enjoyed by groups of people, as it's more exciting with a crowd. Someone like Gu Wan, coming alone, was quite rare.
Usually, people who come alone are trying to vent about something that happened to them.
While securing the ropes around Gu Wan, the staff member couldn't help but advise, "Um... miss, do you want to reconsider?"
Normally, the staff would be itching to push hesitant customers off the platform, but now... Perhaps because Gu Wan's demeanor was too calm, the staff member felt uncomfortable.
"Miss, if you're really going through something, jumping once like this won't really help..."
Gu Wan looked at him, somewhat amused.
Seeing her eyes curve slightly, it didn't take long for the young man tying her ropes to start blushing.
"Thank you for your concern, but I still want to try and see what it feels like to jump from such a height."
Gu Wan's voice was soft, but the young man inexplicably sensed a feeling of anticipation, longing, and even urgency. Before he could think further, Gu Wan had already stepped onto the jumping platform.
Seeing this, the young man's heart inexplicably tightened.
For some reason, he suddenly wanted to persuade her again, but he couldn't find a reason. As the young man was racking his brains, he saw Gu Wan spread her arms and slowly close her eyes.
Then the young man seemed to notice something, and his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Wait, your phone, someone is calling—"
Before he could finish his sentence, he saw the unbelievably beautiful woman unhesitatingly fall forward.
After leaving the company, Lu Yu had sent Gu Wan a message.
After waiting for a while and seeing no reply from Gu Wan, Lu Yu called the housekeeper. Hearing that Gu Wan had gone to the hospital to remove her cast today, Lu Yu paused, not bothering to wonder why Gu Wan hadn't called him about this. He promptly contacted the driver, asking where the two of them were now.
Only then did Lu Yu learn that Gu Wan had suddenly decided to go to the amusement park on her way home.
By the time Lu Yu arrived at the amusement park, it was already five in the afternoon. Fortunately, Gu Wan's appearance was exceptionally striking, so with a bit of asking around, Lu Yu could roughly figure out where Gu Wan had been.
From the initial pirate ship to the roller coaster later on, these all seemed like normal behaviors in others' eyes, but Lu Yu's expression grew increasingly grim and somber.
No matter how focused Lu Yu had been on work before, he knew that Gu Wan wasn't particularly fond of these thrilling attractions.
For some reason, he suddenly recalled the scene from their time on the grasslands, where Gu Wan, with her less-than-stellar riding skills, had recklessly galloped forward on horseback.
And the young man's parting words, "She has lost her rope again, who knows what she will choose this time..."
Lu Yu pressed his lips together, standing by a lake in the amusement park, and began calling Gu Wan repeatedly.
Just as he was dialing that number for the eleventh time, before the busy signal could even sound, he heard the exclamations of nearby tourists.
"Look, look! Someone's bungee jumping!!"
Lu Yu instinctively looked up and saw that familiar figure on the high platform.
In the next second, as the man's pupils suddenly constricted, the figure leaped down.