The living room was bustling with activity, filled with Ruan Ruan’s aunts and uncles who had come to celebrate her grandfather’s birthday. Their voices echoed loudly. The room they were in was separated from the windowsill by the entire living room.
But Lu Yaya immediately saw Gu Ruandong across from her. He was different from the one she had seen on the stone road in the alley that day. Even though he was in a lively environment, he had a fierce look on his face, plus a wound on the corner of his lip.
Lu Yaoyao was a little afraid of him, but also curious. Didn’t that wound hurt? Even from so far away, she could see the wound bleeding intermittently, and it looked really painful.
Just as she was thinking, Gu Ruandong on the opposite side also suddenly saw her.
Just now, the expression full of anger suddenly smiled and made a gesture to cover his eyes towards her.
Lu YaoYao remembered what he said to her that day in the alleyway, kneeling down and saying: “Kid, next time you encounter this situation, run away.”
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she slammed the door shut with a bang, leaving not even a sliver of an opening.
Two little girls hid in their room, silently listening to the noises outside.
“Fighting? No way, my grandpa’s birthday today.” My uncle and aunt still have some sense of propriety.
But her brother, Gu Ruandong, is a different story.
As soon as the words left his mouth, a particularly harmonious voice suddenly came from outside: “May Old Master Zhu enjoy good fortune like the East Sea and longevity like Mount Nanshan.”
It was like a scene out of a TV show about the mafia, with voices so loud they could shake the heavens.
Then, one could hear Old Master Gu’s voice, like a bell resonating through the hall, roaring in anger: “All of you, get out!”
“Come on, grandpa, the more the merrier!” a rakish voice with a hint of amusement said.
“You damn bastard, you want to make grandpa mad, huh? Get them out of here right now!”
Old Master Gu looked at the figure standing by the window…
His grandson was very tall and strong, he couldn’t beat him up, and scolding him was useless. He had no way to deal with him, so he could only fume in anger.
Looking at his son next to him, his successful career was ruined. His venture into business also ended up in a mess. His daughter-in-law was weak and couldn’t even control a high school student. Thinking that the family would be left in their hands, it seemed like everything was over. Who could possibly have the mood to celebrate a birthday?
The only thing Old Master Gu values in his household is Ruan Ruan, whom he raised himself. She is young and well-behaved, so for his birthday, he would rather spend it with her and her little sister. The two little girls are well-behaved and obedient, it’s heartwarming to look at them.
These people here celebrating the birthday are all employees of Gu Ruandong’s father’s company.
Gu Ruandong didn’t want to come to celebrate his grandfather’s birthday. He knew that if he came, he would inevitably be scolded, but his parents insisted on bringing him, saying that there were many people and it was lively.
Since he wanted to make it lively, he called up several employees from his father’s company who were on duty, chartered a car to pick them up, and even rehearsed some congratulatory words with them in the car.
He was utterly out of line. By the time his parents arrived at his grandfather’s doorstep, they saw these employees and couldn’t stop them in time.
There was chaos outside, and it took a while for things to calm down.
Ruan Ruan sat by the desk, her head drooping slightly, a little worried about Grandpa.
Two girls hid in the room until there was no sound outside, and then they came out. At this time, only Ruanruan’s uncle and aunt were in the living room celebrating grandpa’s birthday, very quietly.
Grandfather Gu’s expression improved a little. Yao Yao saw that the cake was intact and placed there safely, and felt relieved.
Two young girls sing for their grandfather.
I sang a birthday song, and seeing the three elders’ normal expressions, their previous nervousness disappeared, and they happily started eating the cake.
It was getting late, and YaoYao waited for her driver to pick her up.
After waiting for a while, I told Ruanruan: “I’m going downstairs to see if they’re here yet.”
She actually didn’t want to stay at the Gu family anymore and wanted to go back home as soon as possible.
Coming down from upstairs, he was startled by a black shadow sitting in front of the unit door. When he saw it clearly, he realized it was Ruan Ruan’s brother. It turned out he hadn’t left.
YoYo was a little afraid of him and didn’t dare to approach. She walked around him to the lamppost a short distance away and looked at the entrance of the apartment complex, waiting for her car to arrive.
Gu Ruandong was different from other kids since he was young. While most high school students might get into some trouble at school, he didn’t. He behaved impeccably in school, refusing to engage in any antics with his classmates, only occasionally skipping class.
Every time he skipped class, he always had some injury. The teacher would initially ask him kindly what happened, and even call his home to check. However, his parents were just as clueless as the teachers. Who could they ask? They didn’t know who to ask either.
After a long time, the teachers simply gave up. Mostly, they couldn’t control him anyway. His youthful spirit was strong and his thoughts were even more mature than those of his teachers.
Gu Ruandong had also grown accustomed to the injuries on his body, too lazy to pay attention to them. After all, a little blood and two days of pain would be fine.
Under a streetlamp a few steps away, the little girl huddled there, looking wary, and she kept stealing glances at him. When car lights shone in from the entrance of the apartment complex, she seemed to have gathered her courage, ran up to him, shoved something into his hand, and then quickly ran towards the car.
Gu Ruandong spread out his hand and looked. There were two bandages. He smiled, lowered his head, and casually tore open the bandages, sticking them to the injured corner of his lips.
The little girl ran to the car and then turned back to shout upstairs.
“Ruanruan, Ruanruan, I’m home!”
The person upstairs, Ruanruan, poked her head out the window and waved at her: “Yaoyao, goodbye, I’ll come play with you tomorrow.”
A voice came from inside the car: “Get in the car, you’re so noisy.”
“Lu Kuo’s voice was impatient.”
As the car turned around at the corner, heading back the way it came, it happened to pass by Gu Ruandong. Yaoyao glanced out and saw that he had put on the band-aid she had given him earlier, right on his lip corner. It seemed like it didn’t hurt as much now, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
Back home, Yaoyao reached out her hand and asked Lu Kuo for a gift.
This is the first time the siblings have been apart for so long.
Lu Kuo threw her a plush toy dog, thankfully he had been prepared.
“Is that all? You’re kidding, right?”
“I traveled a long way to bring this to you, are you satisfied?” It was just a superficial gesture anyway.
Lu YaoYao mumbled in disapproval while still holding him tight, glancing at Lu Kuo’s face left and right, and sighed with emotion.
“It seems to have darkened, yuck.”
Of course he tanned, Qining’s sun is stronger than that in Beijing, and he rides his bike to school every day with no car to ride in.
“Is my brother Zhuo back yet?” Lu Yaoyao asked cautiously, although Teacher Cheng was blocking her and she dared not think wildly anymore, she still missed him after so long.
Of course, Lu Kuo was too lazy to care about her girlish infatuation. He called his buddies and made plans to hang out tomorrow.
“I’m going too.” Yaoyao followed Lu Kuo like a shadow.
“What’s a kid doing tagging along?”
You aren’t taking me, I’m going with grandpa.
“My grandpa said,”