The Gentle Breeze Reflects in My Eyes - Chapter 13

Chapter 13

No, she didn’t just want to cry.

Looking at the girl’s reddened eyes, Gu Yitong found herself caught between laughter and tears. “What’s wrong? Why the runny nose all of a sudden?”

Gu Yitong was standing directly in front of her. From her seat on the bed, Xia Lusheng reached out and accurately grasped Gu Yitong’s clothes, tugging her closer.

Gu Yitong followed the pull and took two steps forward, closing the distance between them.

Xia Lusheng let go of the fabric and suddenly threw her arms around Gu Yitong’s waist, burying her face against Gu Yitong’s abdomen. A muffled voice drifted up: “Yitong-jie, why are you so good to me?”

Gu Yitong raised her hand to Xia Lusheng’s hair, smoothing it gently. “Because you are Xia Lusheng.”

For some reason, Xia Lusheng wasn’t satisfied with that answer. She immediately followed up: “What if someone else had been Auntie Xia’s daughter? Would you be this good to them too?”

“There is no ‘what if.’ Auntie Xia’s daughter is you.”

Xia Lusheng lifted her head, pressing the point with near-stubborn persistence. “But what if I weren’t? What if I wasn’t her daughter?”

Gu Yitong smiled. She knew exactly what answer Xia Lusheng was fishing for. Even though she found the line of questioning childish, if Xia Lusheng wanted to hear it, she was willing to play along.

“I am good to you not because you are Auntie Xia’s daughter, but simply because of you—Xia Lusheng.”

As expected, upon hearing these words, a sudden, satisfied smile broke across Xia Lusheng’s face. With her eyes curved into crescents, she hugged Gu Yitong tight again. Gu Yitong’s mood brightened along with the girl’s smile.

Just then, a knock sounded at the door. It was Qi Jingwen. “Sis, Dad wants you to come down. He says he wants to chat about something.”

Gu Yitong called back, “Got it. I’ll be right down.”

She looked down at the girl clinging to her and whispered, “Do you want to rest in my room for a bit?”

Xia Lusheng nodded and pulled back, releasing her hold on Gu Yitong. Gu Yitong ruffled her hair one last time, her eyes full of warmth.

…

When she came downstairs, Uncle Qi and Mother Gu were already waiting on the sofa. Qi Jingwen, who had been lying around looking bored, sat up instantly when he saw her.

Gu Yitong sat down next to him and turned her head. “How have your studies been lately?”

Qi Jingwen gave an arrogant, cold snort. “If you actually cared about me, you wouldn’t have gone two months without a single phone call! Now you’re asking about school? I’m not telling!”

Uncle Qi immediately scolded him: “Jingwen! How can you talk to your sister like that?”

“It’s fine, Uncle Qi,” Gu Yitong said. “Don’t scold him. It really was my fault for forgetting to call. I’ve just been too busy lately.”

Hearing this, Uncle Qi hesitated for a moment before using the opening to say, “Yitong, why don’t you come work at the company? Your mother and I would feel much more at ease. It’s too hard for a girl to struggle out there on her own.”

Mother Gu glanced at Gu Yitong but said nothing.

Qi Jingwen, however, grew excited and nodded along. “Yeah, Sis! Come work at the company! When I graduate, I’ll join you. We’ll be the ultimate sibling duo, taking the business world by storm!”

This wasn’t the first time Uncle Qi had brought up the company. Gu Yitong knew he genuinely meant well and truly cared for her, but just like before, she refused.

“Uncle Qi, I actually like my life right now. Besides, didn’t you and Mom give me that apartment? See, I don’t have to worry about a roof over my head. And I have my classmate, Qi Die—you’ve met her. She handles the investment, I handle the promotion. It’s not that hard.”

Uncle Qi and Mother Gu exchanged a look.

They knew perfectly well that she was oversimplifying things to put them at ease. They weren’t ignorant of what she did; “promotion” included hunting for leads, meeting clients, scouting venues, and all the follow-up work. But since she didn’t want to talk about it, they could only pretend not to know.

Qi Jingwen muttered unhappily, “That apartment is in such a bad area. The money spent on the whole renovation wasn’t even as much as what we spent on one bedroom in this house. Sis, you should really…”

“If she doesn’t want to go to the company, let it be. But you must take this,” Mother Gu interrupted her son. She leaned forward and set an object down on the table with a firm clack.

It was a car key with a Hyundai logo.

Mother Gu continued, “It’s not for you; it’s for Lusheng. It’ll be easier for you to drive her to her lessons. Borrowing Qi Die’s car all the time isn’t a long-term solution. And don’t worry, the car wasn’t expensive.”

Gu Yitong looked down at the keys. After a moment, she smiled at her mother and Uncle Qi. “Thank you, Uncle Qi. I’ll take it then. But I’ll have to trouble you to find someone to deliver it to the city for me; I need to drive Qi Die’s car back first.”

Uncle Qi agreed readily, feeling a secret sense of relief.

…

After sitting downstairs for a while longer, Gu Yitong was shooed back upstairs by her mother to keep Lusheng company.

When she returned to the room, Xia Lusheng was still sitting on the edge of the bed. Without her parents there, the smile vanished from Gu Yitong’s face. She sat down in a chair, looking exhausted and falling into a heavy silence.

Xia Lusheng sensed it. “…Yitong-jie?”

Gu Yitong forced herself to sound alert. “I’m here.”

Xia Lusheng’s sensitivity picked up on the shift in the air. She bit her lip and asked softly, “Yitong-jie, what’s wrong? Are you unhappy?”

Gu Yitong turned her head to look at the worried girl. Her heart felt a bit lighter, and she felt a sudden urge to confide. She got up and sat beside Xia Lusheng.

“Lusheng, I’m feeling very conflicted right now. I don’t know what to do.”

Xia Lusheng said nothing, quietly waiting for her to continue.

“I was only six when my parents divorced. I was awarded to my father. He treated me very well and never remarried. After the divorce, he saw me as his only hope in the world. He was just an ordinary man; back then we weren’t in A City. He was a bus driver in a small town, earning less than a hundred yuan a month.”

“Not two years after the divorce, Mom married Uncle Qi. Uncle Qi had a good head for business and made a lot of money—money my dad couldn’t earn in a lifetime of driving. Mom talked to Dad then; she wanted custody. Dad refused, of course. He’d already lost Mom; if he lost me too, he’d have truly been all alone.”

“I lived with Dad for two years. I didn’t want to leave him either, so Mom gave up. But…”

At this point, Gu Yitong’s voice began to tremble.

“But Dad felt he was failing me. He thought it was selfish of him not to let me go to Mom for a better life. He felt so guilty that he started working multiple jobs, day and night. His health got worse every day. In the winter of ’98… he was driving home for the New Year and had an accident. The bus went into the river. The water was deep and fast. To this day… he’s still in that river.”

Xia Lusheng turned and hugged Gu Yitong, burying her head on her shoulder.

Gu Yitong took a deep breath, trying to steady her emotions. “Then I went to live with Mom. Uncle Qi is a good man; he treats me as his own. But… I always feel like Dad died for me. He spent his short life struggling for me. I… I don’t dare get too close to Uncle Qi, and I don’t dare accept his kindness.”

“Lusheng, I don’t know if you understand that feeling. Accepting Uncle Qi feels like betraying my father.”

“But Uncle Qi has provided for me and raised me for over ten years. He treats me better than his own son. Year after year, for ten years… Lusheng, hearts are made of flesh and blood after all…”

Gu Yitong spoke the last few words quietly and despondently, laced with a faint, hopeless ache.