Night Fire Lingering

Wen Yan never expected that Gu Yanci would defy his own mother to protect her.

Ji Chang was stunned for a moment, then laughed in exasperation.

Her finger trembled as she pointed at Gu Yanci and Wen Yan: "One dared to hide, and the other dared to protect. If Jing Zhou were here, he would never have treated me like this! Nor would he have tolerated you bullying me like this!"

Wen Yan felt overwhelmed and tried to speak gently and patiently, "Mom, we didn't mean that."

"You? Give it back to you? Get out! Get out of here!"

Ji Chang pointed at the door, hysterically glaring at Wen Yan and Gu Yanci with hatred, "Gu Yanci, you just love stealing your brother's things! You always have! Get out!"

Stealing your brother's things?

What do you mean?

Before Wen Yan could figure it out, Gu Yanci interrupted her thoughts, took her hand, and said to Ji Chang, "Take care!"

Gu Yanci took Wen Yan's hand and left without hesitation.

The afternoon sun was so bright it was almost blinding.

Wen Yan silently looked at her own shadow, with Gu Yanci's shadow beside her. At noon, both of their shadows became round clumps.

Their arms were connected, creating a secret intimacy between the two bodies.

Wen Yan recalled how Gu Yanci had protected him earlier, and felt a mix of longing and self-mockery.

Gu Yanci always unexpectedly protected her, giving her the illusion that he cared for her. Then, time and again, he would throw cold water on her with reality, making her understand that his protection was nothing more than arbitrary charity, and had nothing to do with love!

"Gu Yanci, thank you for earlier."

Wen Yan withdrew her hand.

Gu Yanci's suddenly empty hand twitched for a moment, then he put his hand into his pocket.

"Don't see her again."

"My aunt used to be very good to me. She remembered my favorite flavors, took me out to play, comforted me when I was sad, and encouraged me when I encountered difficulties... She was really good to me."

Wen Yan lowered her eyes sadly, not understanding why this was happening.

She went to see Ji Chang either to torture herself or... she was always looking forward to it before each meeting, hoping that Ji Chang would become the loving elder who cared for her again.

"Wen Yan, in her eyes, you belong to my brother." Gu Yanci's voice came from above.

Wen Yan looked up at him in confusion.

The sunlight was a bit too bright, so she squinted. Gu Yanci had already started walking forward.

Wen Yan snapped out of her daze and jogged a few steps to catch up: "What do you mean?"

Gu Yanci glanced at Wen Yan, who had taken the initiative to catch up and walk alongside him again.

“My brother and you were very close when he was alive. In my mother’s eyes, even though my brother has been gone for four years, you should still think about him and treat him as your closest relative.”

What Gu Yanci didn't say was that in Ji Chang's eyes, even if Wen Yan was her daughter-in-law, she could only be her eldest daughter-in-law, not her youngest son's!

Therefore, Wen Yan wanted to know why Ji Chang suddenly disliked her and wanted to reconcile with him, but only by divorcing him—which was impossible.

“But I still miss Brother Jingzhou.” Wen Yan looked in the direction of the cemetery. “In my heart, Brother Jingzhou is no different from family.”

Gu Yanci suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Wen Yan was two steps behind in her speech and didn't notice that Gu Yanci had suddenly stopped. She bumped into his back and took a step back before stopping.

She touched her forehead where she had been bumped, glared angrily at the unyielding man, and before she could speak, she preemptively heard Gu Yanci say:

"Wen Yan, you've never been stingy with my brother."

Don't be stingy with praise, don't be stingy with expressing longing, don't be stingy with smiles, don't be stingy with dependence, don't be stingy with favoritism.

However, among the people who accompanied her back then was him, who was standing by her side.

He was the one who personally took her out of the mental hospital.

However, just like his mother, Wen Yan would only ever notice and remember his brother whenever his brother was around.

-

The Gu family cemetery is located on a mountain a few kilometers away.

Wen Yan went to pay her respects to Gu Jingzhou alone in the afternoon, and returned in the evening.

She keenly sensed that something was amiss, especially among the women, where the atmosphere had become more somber. Everyone treated her with more caution and respect, rather than with the subtle mockery that had been present before.

Noticing Wen Yan's suspicion, Gu Jinzhi, while eating a small cake, strolled over to Wen Yan's side and whispered, "Do you want to know what happened?"

"What happened?" Wen Yan was quite surprised that this girl suddenly took the initiative to talk to her.

Gu Jinzhi lowered her voice and held up a hand: "You VIP me five thousand times, and I'll tell you the truth!"

"Five thousand for a single sentence? I don't do business with unscrupulous merchants."

Wen Yan had a "take it or leave it" expression.

"Hey!" Gu Jinzhi grabbed Wen Yan's arm. "Third Brother gave us 50,000 last time! How can you be so stingy?"

Last time?

Wen Yan immediately recalled the last time at the restaurant when she commented that Gu Yanci's bedroom skills were not good, and not long after, Gu Yanci retorted with the same comment.

It was indeed Gu Jinzhi who told the secret!

"Is Third Brother's skill really that bad?" Gu Jinzhi said thoughtfully. "I can have him buy some videos from me to learn more..."

"Alright, alright! What's the point of buying him anything? He doesn't need it!"

Thinking back to what she had said, Wen Yan's ears turned slightly red: "Quickly, the payment QR code!"

Wen Yan just wanted her to shut up, so she transferred a thousand yuan to her as pocket money for the little girl.

"Only a thousand!" Gu Jinzhi pouted in dissatisfaction.

"I'm still in school, I'm very poor, I have no money," Wen Yan lied to her without batting an eye.

"Okay." Gu Jinzhi looked around to make sure no one was watching, then covered her red lips with her small hand and whispered to Wen Yan, "Because your aunt said bad things about you, your third brother just took away your uncle's business deal! Your third brother still loves you very much!"

Wen Yan immediately thought of what she had heard Aunt Gu and Second Aunt Gu say that morning.

"How do you know it's because they're talking badly about me? I think it's because they're talking badly about Gu Yanci."

Speaking ill of someone?

In fact, Gu Yanci didn't care at all about what others said about him.

"Hey!" Gu Jinzhi waved her hand, indicating that it was impossible. "My mother also spoke ill of Third Brother. Only my aunt talked about you, but my family didn't suffer any consequences, hehe!"

"..."

No, how did you figure that out?

Wen Yan discovered that Gu Jinzhi was a simpleton.

Fortunately, he's not annoying.

Wen Yan's gaze swept across the crowd and landed on Gu Yanci, who was surrounded by people talking to her. She felt a little dazed.

Was Gu Yanci really doing this for her?

Could it be for her sake?

After a while, when there were no more people around Gu Yanci, Gu Jinzhi grabbed a drink and strolled over.

She held out a hand and whispered mysteriously, "Third Brother, VIP me for 50,000, and you can unlock the latest news about my sister-in-law! Exclusive information, don't miss out!"

Gu Yanci glanced at her, and without saying a word, transferred 50,000 yuan to her as pocket money.

Gu Jinzhi chuckled with satisfaction: "Wen Yan said she's very poor. Third Brother, you're so stingy, you don't even give your wife pocket money!"

Gu Yanci looked at Gu Jinzhi as if she were an idiot.

How did she come to think Wen Yan was poor?