As the night grew darker, everything became blurry shadows before his eyes. The plane tree swayed in the wind and shed its leaves. The next morning, leaves would pile up on the ground. Somehow, Gu Nianbin thought of the lean and small figure of the girl who dashed away from him. Then he couldn't help smiling. It seemed that she would be very busy tomorrow morning.
Gu Shanshan came out of the house and asked, "Brother, why are you standing here blankly ? What are you thinking about?"
Gu Nianbin took his last puff of the cigarette and flicked it far away. The butt flew across the sky in an arc and then landed on the patterned tiles.
Getting no response from him, Gu Shanshan went on to ask, "Are you thinking about Xiaowan?"
Gu Nianbin shook his head and asked, "What's the name of the new girl?"
"Du Xiaoxian." Gu Shanshan became a little curious. "Why do you care about her?"
"Nothing. She seems to fear me and ran away at the first sight of me."
Gu Shanshan burst out laughing and gave him a punch. "You always keep a straight face. Every servant in this house is afraid of you. Someone might have told her something about you, so she ran away immediately after seeing you. Brother, the servants don't have a good impression of you!"
In fact, Gu Nianbin was a man who looked courtly rather than horrible. He was just a man of few words and had a natural air of dignity and power, so that everyone feared him. He was generally kind to the servants, except for one day, a maid vacuumed the carpet in the hallway when he was in the study. He was then in a bad mood, and the noise irritated him more. He opened the door and scolded the maid. From then on, as long as he was in his room, the servants would tiptoe by the door for fear of disturbing him.
"Let's go inside." Gu Nianbin turned around. "Where are mom and dad?"
"They are eating fruit. They want you to join them."
"If I didn't ask, would you remember to tell me?"
"What? That's because you seemed to suffer from lovesickness. If I asked you to go inside, you would be scolded by mom."
"Total nonsense!" Gu Nianbin glared at her and entered the house with his arm around her shoulder.
Fang Yaru was gratified when she watched her handsome son and beautiful daughter coming in. She recalled when they were children, little Gu Nianbin would play with toddling Gu Shanshan in the yard. How time flew! They both reached the age of marriage, which filled her with mixed feelings.
"Come here to eat some cantaloupe. It is iced and tastes refreshing."
She forked a piece of cantaloupe for Gu Nianbin and another for Gu Shanshan. "I asked you to bring him in, but you kept me waiting for so long. I thought you two had sneaked out again."
Hearing her words, they both burst into laughter. They did that before.
Then Fang Yaru forked a piece of cantaloupe and handed it to Gu Guangxian. "Would you like one more piece?"
"No." Gu Guangxian stood up. "I'm going upstairs."
"Wait, I'll go with you." After putting down the fruit fork, Fang Yaru stood up and helped Gu Guangxian upstairs. As she walked, she turned around and said to them, "Go to bed early, my honey." It sounded as if they were still children.
Gu Shanshan watched them go upstairs and asked with a smile, "Brother, do you remember the day we sneaked out?"
"Of course I do," Gu Nianbin said slowly. "You were to blame, but I was punished in the end. I shall remember it all my life."
He was quite serious because that night solved his long-held puzzle and enabled him to know his real thoughts. If somebody asked him when he lost his heart to Xia Xiaowan, he would say it was on that night.
It was on the night of the Lantern Festival. All his family members were invited to the Xia's to celebrate the festival. After dinner, Gu Nianbin, Su Chen, Xia Xiaowan and Gu Shanshan sat together chatting. It seemed that Xia Xiaowan mentioned there were shows of festive lanterns and dragon and lion dances outside. They all heard about the lively scene, but never saw it before. As soon as Xia Xiaowan mentioned it, Gu Shanshan suggested that they should go out to have a look.However, their parents didn't allow them to go to such crowded places. Gu Shanshan was frustrated but she didn't give up. Among all the kids, she was the youngest but bravest one. She said that they could sneak out to have a look when their parents were playing cards. Nobody would discover it as long as they came back quickly.Gu Nianbin was then 18 years old and could be counted as an adult. However, he acquiesced their adventure as he saw the eagerness in Xia Xiaowan's eyes. They snea
Gu Nianbin started to read a book on bed after entering the room. He was quiet in nature and reading was his way to relax after a busy day working in the company. He read for pleasure and thus was not very picky with what he was reading. He was even fond of novels that Shao Boqing despised most. After a while, he got up to get some water, only to discover that his cupboard was empty. No one was allowed to enter his room while he was away, so nobody filled the cupboard for him. He had no choice but to go to the kitchen downstairs. When walking by the dining room, he heard a sound from the side door, very slight but quite clear on such a silent night. He roughly knew who it was and thus ran after to check it out. As expected, the figure of a little girl flashed by under the dim moonlight, as fast as the wind. What was left was only a faint fragrance, which smelled like shampoo. It was faint but pleasant, lingering around him.He stood still for a while. It s
Yes, that was what Gu Nianbin felt exactly. She enjoyed sweeping the ground.With her eyes looking down, she was at ease without fear or panic. The scene looked quite pleasant as if she was dancing instead of sweeping the ground.In fact, Gu Nianbin could not see her expression. He even had no chance to look at her face carefully because she always ran away at the sight of him, or lowered her head like now. He could only see the top of her head, which was shimmering under the golden sunlight.Suddenly, she straightened up. Gu Nianbin dodged behind the curtains. Seeing her remove the leave on her hair, Gu Nianbin smiled silently. She finally came to realize that. But he didn't know why he had hidden himself. He was the young master. Why had he hidden from a maid?After getting changed, he went downstairs for jogging on the lawn. When going out, he coughed deliberately. As expected, he heard a train of footsteps. With a snicker, he d
"Don't be afraid of others. Everyone is equal. Although we are domestic servants, we make money honestly rather than steal anything or rob anyone. We are not inferior to others. What’s there to be afraid of?"Was that so? Du Xiaoxian was a little confused because her words were different from what her second aunt had said. According to her second aunt, people were divided into different social classes. The upper class was born to lead a rich life, while the lowest class had to suffer from cold and hunger and even sleep on the street or under a tree. Therefore, she needed to do better so that she would be born into a rich family in the next life.Ah Ling saw that Xiaoxian was in a daze and even forgot to eat the buns, so she patted her hand, only to find it as cold as ice. She then pulled her and walked her out. "Don't stay here. You need to bask in the sunlight. Your hands are too cold."When they came out, Gu Nianbin was still jogging there. D
"Mom, shall I supervise them and record the whole process for you tomorrow?" Gu Shanshan said with her eyebrows raised to Gu Nianbin."You're not much better!" Fang Yaru pointed her finger at her daughter, "You are well past twenty. Your friend Su Anqi has married and will be a mother soon. What about you? Why don't you learn from her?""Fine." Unlike Gu Nianbin, Gu Shanshan behaved more freely in front of her mother, "She got married at 30 and had a baby at 31. I will do the same. Satisfied? It's still early cause I'm only 26 now.""What?!" Fang Yaru choked with anger and glared at her, "You are really my enemy from previous life!"Gu Guangxian said to his wife with a smile, "Don't be so harsh to her. I don't believe you can bear the departure when she really gets married someday.""Are you sure?" Fang Yaru said, "I wish she would get married and move out as soon as possible. I can't wait to get rid of this noisy girl
Gu Nianbin was busy with his work all the morning. It was almost noon when Zhou Ting called to remind him that it's time for the appointment with Xia Xiaowan. He put down his pen, took his coat from the hanger, and walked out while taking on the coat.He was always punctual to time. Like last time, Xia Xiaowan was already waiting there and waved to him gently upon seeing him."Have you been waiting for a long time?" Gu Nianbin asked."No, just for a while." Xia Xiaowan replied with a smile.A waiter served the menu and they made order respectively. To his surprise, Xia Xiaowan ordered pork chop instead of steak which was more popular among girls.Xia Xiaowan noticed his surprise and explained, "I preferred pork since childhood, especially streaky pork. Very delicious.""Don't you think it’s greasy?""No," Xia Xiaowan showed her hands and said, "I’m a heavy meat-eater. Fortunately, I never get
Xia Xiaowan smiled gently with a blush on her fair face. She said teasingly, "To be a backup is a great chance for me."Gu Nianbin laughed, "You are interesting.""More interesting than the other Miss Xia?"Gu Nianbin was about to speak when the waiter came to serve the table. He kept the dishes orderly and asked, "Mr. Gu, do you want to use the wine you stored here last time or…"Gu Nianbin turned to Xia Xiaowan, "What do you prefer?""I have to drive later. Please give me a glass of mango juice.""No wine, then. Give me a glass of cucumber juice please.""Yes sir. Just a moment, please." The waiter nodded and left with a professional smile."You set a good example for us to keep off wine before driving," Gu Nianbin said with a smile.Xia Xiaowan sliced her pork chop and said, "It’s better to call me a submissive person. I myself wonder why I have been so obedient to
Gu Nianbin was a little bit dizzy after lunch. With the car window open, he leaned against the back seat and enjoyed the early-autumn breeze. The warm, dry breeze was quite comfortable, making him sleepy all the way home.He was woken up by his driver Xiaoding upon arrival. He knocked his forehead to sober up and walked slowly towards the house. By entering the hall, he caught a glimpse of a person flashing by in distance. He narrowed his eyes, made a silent gesture to the maid Lanzhi, who came up to serve tea, and walked silently to the kitchen. It was Du Xiaoxian. To his surprise, she was drinking tap water."What are you doing?"His voice was low but powerful, and seemed extremely distinct in this quiet room. Du Xiaoxian was seized with panic. She was halfway there when the young master entered the house. She was so thirsty that she rushed into the kitchen instead of going out. She shouldn't get in his way within such a short period. Why did