“Hmm? Miss Gu, why are we meeting again?” Yin Shixiong greeted her curiously. “Are you here to meet a friend at the hotel?”
Gu Yanran grimaced with a shake of her head. “I can’t live at home anymore…” she managed to utter before breaking into a sob.
Zhao Liangze quickly dragged Yin Shixiong aside, whispering in his ear, “You’re perfectly happy being the third wheel, huh?! Miss Gu isn’t speaking to you here.”
“How was she not speaking to me? I was the one who struck up the conversation.” Yin Shixiong was very displeased. “Why can’t she greet me? How lowly do you think I am?!”
“I don’t think you’re lowly, you’re just an idiot! And you’re still babbling on! I think you know most things, but there’s still something you don’t get yet!” Zhao Liangze shot Yin Shixiong a disappointed look. “Go stay over there and stop interrupting!”
Yin Shixiong snorted, then glared at Zhao Liangze. “Who’s the one who knows most but still doesn’t get something yet?! Little Ze, I’m way better than you at reading Mr. Huo. But whatever! It’s true that we shouldn’t get involved in this. Let’s wait and see.”
As they spoke, they crossed their arms to flank Huo Shaoheng for protection and looked like real bodyguards. Huo Shaoheng had both hands in his trouser pockets as he stood casually before a crying Gu Yanran. He appeared calm as he quietly watched Gu Yanran cry delicately. When all the hotel guests witnessed this in the lobby, nearly all of them imagined a sad soap opera scene of “a stone cold man.”
Huo Shaoheng surveyed the surroundings with a glance and reached out to help Gu Yaran without touching her. “Miss Gu, let’s go talk over there.”
Gu Yanran nodded, taking out a handkerchief to blow her nose. She followed Huo Shaoheng to the cafe beside the hotel lobby. The cafe was exclusively for VIP hotel guests and arranged in independent seats in order to prioritize customer privacy. The pair sat down in a very exquisite and private booth behind a transparent carving of a mountain. The waitress respectfully offered Gu Yanran the best coffee from the hotel and nearly used a tone of worship as she carefully said, “Miss Gu, our condolences.”
Gu Yanran’s tears immediately fell once again. She grabbed the waitress’ hand to put a high-value US dollar bill in it as a tip. The waitress was very touched but also extremely saddened. She left with a conflicted look in her eyes.
Huo Shaoheng reached out to shift the coffee cup before him but did not make a motion to drink it. He asked Gu Yanran calmly, “Miss Gu, what happened to your home? Aren’t all the shooters dead now?”
“…Everyone from my home is dead now. It’s like a nightmare.” Gu Yanran’s eyes were red from crying. “You can’t imagine how horrible the scene was. All the people you spent day and night with for over a decade suddenly disappearing, and the only thing left is the memory of how they last lay there in the living room. I can’t stand it… I can’t stand it, as soon as I see that place… I can’t live there anymore. I want to sell that house.”
Huo Shaoheng remained expressionless but quietly passed a tissue to the woman. “Miss Gu, will you be able to sell the home since murders occurred there?”
Huo Shaoheng actually mentioned this casually, but it seemed to remind Gu Yanran of something. She nodded immediately. “Mr. Huo is right, it’s not right for me to sell the house like this to someone else. Fine. I won’t sell it, but I’ll demolish it so I can build a theme park for all the Barbados citizens to enjoy for free.”
Huo Shaoheng glanced at Gu Yanran with surprise as he leaned back in the booth seat, his fingers gently tapping on the dark green marble countertop. “That’s not necessary. Your family has lived there for so many years, after all.” He paused, then continued, “How long has your family lived there?”
Gu Yanran looked down as she wiped her tears on the tissue and sobbed several times in order to calm down gradually. She reached out to sip the cup of coffee. The warm and smooth drink slid down her throat to assuage the fears Gu Yanran had experienced over the last day and night.
Looking up, she bit her lip as she quickly glanced at Huo Shaoheng only to find him staring intently at her. His dark, inky eyes shimmered with a warm glow to make her suddenly feel very safe. With Huo Shaoheng at her side, Gu Yanran finally felt her mind and body fully relax. This stoic and quiet man had the allure of consoling one’s heart. But it was a shame… Gu Yanran couldn’t help sighing in her heart, no longer wanting to play games with Huo Shaoheng.
“Mr. Huo, we are honorable people who speak from the heart.” Gu Yanran turned the white ceramic coffee cup in her hands as she looked at Huo Shaoheng with sincerity and resumed her previous confidence. “You came to Barbados because of my father, Gu Xiangwen. Isn’t that right? I don’t understand why you won’t help now that he’s in grave danger.”
Huo Shaoheng hadn’t expected Gu Yanran to have the guts to directly expose his motive, but he would also never admit to it. “Where did Miss Gu get that idea?” Huo Shaoheng refuted fluidly. “I came to Barbados for a military visit. This had nothing to do with your father.”
“Oh? Really?” Gu Yanran smiled faintly, her gaze lucid as water. “So you’re not suspecting that Gu Nianzhi is my biological sister and my father’s biological daughter?”
Huo Shaoheng’s heart trembled, but he quickly composed himself to prevent Gu Yanran from taking control of the conversation. “Why would you say that? Although you’re both Gus, how can that one thing prove that she’s your biological sister? Isn’t that too presumptuous?” Huo Shaoheng crossed his legs casually, hands folded on top of his knees as he looked up at Gu Yanran with a peculiar smile.
Gu Yanran couldn’t help but sigh internally as she looked at Huo Shaoheng’s fearsome yet reliable physique and handsome looks. She had finally found a man who matched with her body and soul, but it was a shame that she was a step too late…
“Of course, it’s not that simple.” Gu Yanran raised her brow and set down the coffee cup in her hands. “Actually, it’s not just you. Lawyer He is also looking for evidence.”
Huo Shaoheng said nothing. A trace of impatience crossed in his heart, yet no trace was found in his expression. He continued to watch Gu Yanran quietly to allow her to continue.
“Mr. Huo, to be frank with you, I liked Gu Nianzhi the moment I saw her. It was a feeling of affection that came from the heart, but looking at her appearance, I really never thought she was my biological sister. It was only because she has the same name as my sister that I started to like her.” Gu Yanran grew more honest and began revealing the answers to the secrets both He Zhichu and Huo Shaoheng were pursuing.
Huo Shaoheng nodded. “Is that so? We didn’t really notice that. Pardon my straightforwardness, but I don’t think Miss Gu has even seen Nianzhi more than a few times.”
Gu Yanran was stunned and shocked by Huo Shaoheng’s remark, but she looked at him regretfully and replied subtly, “Mr. Huo, have you never experienced barely knowing someone yet feeling that you’re being reunited with them?”
Huo Shaoheng replied steadily. “Never. I believe that time will reveal true character.”
“Yes, it looks like you are a very cautious person.” Gu Yanran nodded with a new understanding of Huo Shaoheng. “But I more so believe that some people will stay strangers even after knowing each other for a lifetime, while others can meet for the first time but feel like old friends.”
“‘Some people will stay strangers even after knowing each other for a lifetime, while others can just meet for the first time but feel like old friends?’” Huo Shaoheng smiled. “I didn’t think that Miss Gu’s Chinese would be so exceptional even though you grew up abroad.”
“Mr. Huo is too kind.” Gu Yanran smiled elegantly and got excited. “My parents valued my Chinese studies. My sister was naughty when she was young and didn’t like speaking Chinese, but my parents spoiled her and said she didn’t need to learn it. But I was different and was forced to study it even though I didn’t want to.” She sighed. “But they wouldn’t force me to study now even if I wanted them to.”
The expression of love towards deceased parents would have been very sincere and touching if Huo Shaoheng hadn’t been the one she was speaking to. Unfortunately, it was Huo Shaoheng she was speaking to. He was truly a very cautious person, and it was how his personality had always been. Since enlisting and doing intelligence work, his cautiousness had amplified by another 100 times. So to touch the heart of such a person was harder than reaching for the heavens.
Huo Shaoheng looked at Gu Yanran blankly, unperturbed by her emotional words. He only continued to question her. “Professor He sought out Miss Gu, too?”
“Yes, of course. I’m much closer to him than you are.” Gu Yanran was truly being very honest. She could already sense that being frank was the only way to get Huo Shaoheng to sincerely agree to help her. She had no other choice at this point. If Huo Shaoheng didn’t help her and her father, then she might very well be buried in Barbados.
“I heard Professor He mention that Miss Gu is a major client of his law firm.” Huo Shaoheng nodded. “But why would he ask you about anything related to Nianzhi?”
“I’m not sure why he did, but he asked the contact information of my sister Gu Nianzhi’s childhood family doctor and dentist. He probably got a hold of them now.”
Gu Yanran glanced at Huo Shaoheng with a smile, then looked away to the French windows beside the booth seat. Across from the French window was a man-made tropical forest and lake. The view was vast and beautiful, and they could also see vibrant tropical birds flying through the trees. Her mood seemed to rise alongside the colorful tropical birds.
Huo Shaoheng looked down at the untouched cup of coffee as he silently mulled over it. He Zhichu must also have been investigating Gu Nianzhi’s identity if he had asked Gu Yanran for the contact information for her sister’s childhood family doctor and dentist. But wasn’t he already privy to Gu Nianzhi’s past? Why was he still investigating? Huo Shaoheng keenly sensed there was something else he didn’t yet know, so he didn’t want to speculate wildly. He planned to call Gu Nianzhi directly in the evening when he was free so he could ask her.
Gu Yanran noticed Huo Shaoheng grow noticeably silent, so she bowed forward to probe him. “Mr. Huo? I still have the same request, can you please help me? Help my father? Maybe Gu Nianzhi really is my sister, so if you help my father, you’re also helping hers, right?”
