Chapter 67

Mr. Liu glanced at Gu Yanqiu in the rearview mirror from time to time.

An employer’s information and requests had to be kept confidential; that was the rule of the trade. When he first took on her request eight months ago, he had had no clues at all—only a name and a recent photograph.

It turned out the name Gu Yanqiu had given was false; only one of the three characters was correct. He had searched the entire country with nothing but that photo, and in the end, found her old home in a county town in south-central China.

Gu Yanqiu was staying at the county’s most upscale hotel. The place was small, and it was only a twenty-minute drive from her grandmother’s nursing home—if that woman really was her grandmother. Mr. Liu had given her some photos he’d taken at the facility.

Her grandmother’s surname was Gao; she was just an ordinary old woman. By age, she should have been in her early seventies this year. Her hair was already completely white, and she looked very old; the wrinkles on her face were deep enough to trap flies. Gu Yanqiu tried to find some resemblance to her mother in that face, but regretfully, she found nothing.

That night she had a phone call with Lin Yuewei. Lin Yuewei asked how things were going at the old woman’s place and whether she’d prepared a gift; Gu Yanqiu talked with her about the gift, while at the same time the photos of Grandma Gao were spread out in front of her, alongside photos of her mother for comparison.

"If you’ve got the time set for tomorrow, tell me; I’ll come pick you up at the airport," Lin Yuewei said.

"Aren’t you busy?" Gu Yanqiu asked, putting the photos aside for the moment and lifting her gaze.

"It’s Sunday. Other people get days off too; I’m at home studying the script, so I’m not that busy."

"I’ll tell you once I’ve confirmed it."

"Go to bed early."

"You too."

"Good night."

"Good night."

She hung up.

The closer she got to the truth, the more Gu Yanqiu had thought she’d feel nervous, the greater the pressure on her mind. So that night she had deliberately kept both hands busy; yet when she woke up the next morning, she found that nothing had happened the night before. She had been kept in the dark for so long, but facing the truth, she felt no timid hesitation about being near home; instead, she was eager.

Mr. Liu had gotten up early enough, but Gu Yanqiu had been even earlier. After breakfast, the two of them went to the nursing home first thing in the morning.

The procedures had already been handled in advance. Mr. Liu brought Gu Yanqiu to meet one of the staff members inside, a middle-aged woman in her forties. Gu Yanqiu shook hands with her. "Director Fang."

Director Fang adjusted her glasses on the bridge of her nose; her Mandarin carried a local accent. "You’re Grandma Gao’s granddaughter?"

Gu Yanqiu nodded.

Director Fang looked at Mr. Liu standing to one side, then led her forward. "Come with me."

As they walked, Director Fang kept talking to her. Gu Yanqiu listened carefully, but there were a few words she didn’t understand. Her mother’s Mandarin had no accent at all; if anything, after living in the north for so long, she had naturally picked up a Yanning accent. That was part of what made finding her old home so difficult.

Director Fang said that Grandma Gao had been sent here some years ago by a man in his prime. By then, her husband—who was also Gu Yanqiu’s maternal grandfather—had already passed away. Grandma Gao’s physical and mental condition was not good, and she lived on government assistance. Life had been extremely hard.

Gu Yanqiu frowned as she listened.

Her mother didn’t seem like an unfilial daughter; how could she have let her parents end up in such straits?

Mr. Liu had mentioned this briefly in the emails he sent her, but the messages were all fragmentary. There was still no key clue to tie everything together.

Mr. Liu asked, "Didn’t you say before that Miss Shen had come here several times? The woman in the photo I gave you; you’ve met her."

Gu Yanqiu’s mother’s real name was Shen Huaiyu. Huaiyu, meaning beautiful jade; whoever had named her had hoped she would hold jade in her heart and possess noble character.

Gu Yanqiu suddenly looked up at Director Fang.

Director Fang nodded. "Yes, she came. Starting from the year Grandma Gao moved into the nursing home, she would come back to visit about every half a year. The old lady is very old now and has Alzheimer’s; sometimes she recognizes her, sometimes she doesn’t. Every time she came, she’d bring a lot of gifts and give us a lot of money, telling us to take good care of Grandma Gao." Director Fang rubbed her hands together and gave a laugh. "We’re a public nursing home. Even if she hadn’t said anything, we’d still have treated everyone the same."

Gu Yanqiu smiled, noncommittal.

Such polite words were only worth hearing and then forgetting. How could she possibly not know the tricks and hidden dealings in places like this?

Gu Yanqiu suddenly narrowed her eyes and asked, "When she came each time, was she alone, or with someone else?"

"Let me think." Director Fang looked thoughtful. "She wasn’t alone. There was a middle-aged man with her, but he basically never went in with her."

Gu Yanqiu took out her phone, found a photo in her album, and held the screen up to Director Fang.

After studying it for a moment, Director Fang said with certainty, "That’s him."

Gu Yanqiu took the phone back.

The person who had accompanied her mother was Gu Huai; but why hadn’t Gu Huai gone in?

Director Fang led her around a corner and pointed to an old woman sitting in a wheelchair ahead, head tilted back to bask in the sun. Lowering her voice slightly, she said, "Miss Gu, that’s Grandma Gao."

Gu Yanqiu had just started forward when Director Fang stopped her. "Oh, right, Miss Gu."

"Yes?"

Director Fang hesitated, then reminded her, "In the past, every time your mother finished seeing Grandma Gao, she would be in a bad mood. Sometimes her eyes were even red. It didn’t seem like it was just from ordinary things; you should be careful. The old lady hits people."

Gu Yanqiu’s brow creased slightly. She thanked Director Fang. "I’ll be careful."

Director Fang looked back the way they’d come. "Then I..."

Gu Yanqiu made a polite inviting gesture. "Go ahead and get back to your work."

Director Fang said, "If anything happens, just shout. I’ll hear you."

Gu Yanqiu nodded, and Mr. Liu left with Director Fang.

Gu Yanqiu walked slowly toward the old woman who shared her bloodline. Grandma Gao looked a little younger than she did in the photos, but only a little. She had her head tilted back, her mouth slightly open, and her face was full of the weariness of old age. If not for the faint rise and fall of her chest, Gu Yanqiu would have almost thought she was already...

The old woman was afraid of the cold; even though autumn hadn’t yet arrived, she was already wearing two or three layers. Gu Yanqiu looked at the clothes and recognized the brand. The nursing home would never splurge on name-brand clothes for the elderly, so the only possibility was that Shen Huaiyu had bought them for her.

Gu Yanqiu crouched down in front of Grandma Gao and slowly took the old woman’s thin hand, mottled with age spots, into her own. The visible veins on the back of the hand twitched, and very slowly, the old woman lowered her head to stare at her.

Even though there was no emotion in her eyes at all, only a simple look, Gu Yanqiu still felt something familiar in those eyes; an innate connection between blood relatives.

"Grandma." Gu Yanqiu’s eyes reddened at once.

Grandma Gao tilted her head. Her gaze lingered on Gu Yanqiu’s face for only a moment before she looked instead at the ivy climbing the wall of a nearby building and drifted back into her daze.

"Grandma, do you still remember Shen Huaiyu?"

"..."

"I’m Shen Huaiyu’s daughter; your granddaughter. Look at me, please."

"..."

The finger that Grandma Gao had let rest in Gu Yanqiu’s grasp moved. Hope flashed across Gu Yanqiu’s face, but Grandma Gao pulled her hand free without the slightest hesitation, turned the wheelchair around, pressed a hand to the wheel, and slowly pushed herself forward while calling in a trembling voice, "Xiao Fang, Xiao Fang, Xiao Fang..."

Xiao Fang was the caregiver’s name; Director Fang had told Gu Yanqiu about it earlier. Gu Yanqiu pressed her damp eye corner with her fingers, then went back up to the old woman, smiling as she said, "I’m Xiao Fang. What would you like to do?"

"Noisy..." the old woman could only manage a short word.

"Alright. I’ll tell her not to speak."

So Grandma Gao continued basking in the sun as if nothing had happened, while Gu Yanqiu crouched beside her and gently massaged her calves.

Once Grandma Gao had calmed down a little, a serene smile even appeared at the corners of her mouth, and she would murmur to Gu Yanqiu in a low voice, though they were only fragments of words, not proper sentences. Gu Yanqiu took out the photo of her mother she had prepared long ago from the pocket close to her body, held it in front of the old woman, and asked softly, "Grandma, do you know this person?"

Grandma Gao laboriously took the photo and examined it carefully.

Gu Yanqiu pressed her lips together tightly and waited for her reaction.

***

Mr. Liu was the first to hear the frantic shouting from the back courtyard. He found Director Fang, and the two of them ran over together.

"Director Fang!" Gu Yanqiu, who had always remained calm no matter what happened, was now clutching one side of her cheek and crying out in panic for Director Fang. As for Grandma Gao, who had initially been quiet and peaceful, she was now completely in an uproar. She seemed to have suffered a stroke before; one side of her face couldn’t make expressions, while the other was twisted into extreme ferocity. Her lips and teeth, unable to form clear words, chattered and knocked against each other. From deep in her throat came furious, ragged "heh-heh" sounds. Her thin, twig-like finger pointed at Gu Yanqiu while her body swayed, trembling like a candle in the wind.

"Get out—" she screamed hysterically. "Get out!"

Tears the size of beans rolled out of her long-dried eyes as she cried herself hoarse. "Get out!"

Grandma Gao had completely lost control of her emotions. Director Fang hurried forward to soothe her, loudly telling the caregivers to call a doctor, while Mr. Liu pulled the stunned Gu Yanqiu away from there at once.

"Are you alright?" Mr. Liu looked at the vivid red finger marks swelling on the left side of her face. The old woman was already half buried in the earth, yet she could still hit someone like this; she must really have been furious. What kind of deep hatred was this?

"I’m fine, thank you." Gu Yanqiu took the wet towel he handed her and pressed it to her face, the back of her hand facing outward as she waved at him.

"Call me if anything comes up." Mr. Liu closed the door to Director Fang’s office, leaving Gu Yanqiu to rest here for the time being.

After Mr. Liu left, Gu Yanqiu seemed to lose all her strength in an instant and buried her face in her hands.

Lin Yuewei was at home reading the script, while Jiang Congbi, that troublesome woman, kept urging her to go out and eat something. Lin Yuewei was trying to recharge her batteries and didn’t want to go out at all. Jiang Congbi tempted her with good food, but Lin Yuewei didn’t fall for it. Still, she did learn from Jiang Congbi about a pretty good restaurant, and she was thinking that once Gu Yanqiu came back, she could take her there to try it.

She had originally wanted to send Gu Yanqiu a message, but a message might not get a timely reply, and she wanted to hear Gu Yanqiu’s voice. Gu Yanqiu was at a relative’s house; there probably wasn’t anything too important going on, so she shouldn’t be bothering her too much. After convincing herself, she called Gu Yanqiu with a clear conscience.

The call rang almost to the end before it was answered.

Lin Yuewei enthusiastically shared the food recommendation, but Gu Yanqiu’s attitude was cold; she only gave a faint "mm."

"What’s wrong with you?" Lin Yuewei’s smile gradually disappeared.

"Nothing." Gu Yanqiu took a tissue from the box on the table and wiped her face.

"Gu Yanqiu."

"Really, nothing’s wrong." Gu Yanqiu took a deep breath. Since becoming an adult, she had cried no more than three times in total, and two of those times Lin Yuewei had happened to catch her. What kind of coincidence was that?

"Did you cry again? I heard it."

Gu Yanqiu: "..."

What did she mean, again? It made her sound like she really liked crying. Was that the image Lin Yuewei had of her now? Gu Yanqiu felt a kind of self-image collapse.

Lin Yuewei didn’t have the patience to keep arguing with her. "Send me your location."

Gu Yanqiu said, "I really am fine; I was just playing with a few brats and got angry."

Lin Yuewei: "Angry enough to cry?"

Gu Yanqiu: "...Mm."

"Either you’re three years old, or I am; that’s the only way I’d believe your reason." Lin Yuewei spoke in an uncompromising tone. "I’m giving you three seconds to tell me the address. Otherwise, I’ll break up with you. No, no, scratch that; forget I said that. What I mean is, I’ll be mad at you for several days."

Lin Yuewei’s whole momentum collapsed in an instant. She forcefully salvaged her dignity by raising her voice sharply. "Also, don’t even think about sleeping with me tonight! Go sleepwalk by yourself!"

Gu Yanqiu: "..."

Three seconds later, Lin Yuewei received the address Gu Yanqiu sent her.

Author’s Note:

Lin Yuewei: Yay! Plan successful!

Although I’ve lost the dignity of a top, I successfully got the address~

From now on, every hurdle will be crossed together by the two of them. I knew you’d all be worried there’d be angst, but there really isn’t; it’s a sweet treat, trust me =w=