Reinitz, “…”
Fine then, her explanation really did make sense.
“I went over the pregnancy and childbirth diary written by your father but didn’t find anything amiss. You were a very normal and healthy baby.”
This was also the fact that had confused Reinitz all this time.
She obviously wasn’t special in any way, so why was she different from other people?
He looked at Gu Nianzhi in confusion, like he was trying to find some trace of uniqueness on her face.
The truth was, Gu Nianzhi couldn’t help but sigh in genuine relief.
The question had been lodged on her mind for a long time now. Like the sword of Damocles, it hung over her head.
Now that Reinitz was telling her that her mother carried her to term like any other baby, she wanted to burst into tears.
She really didn’t want to be different at all.
She was a normal human being, and as for her special constitution…
Gu Nianzhi shrugged and said, “Isn’t it good to be normal and healthy? Why do you sound so disappointed?”
Reinitz shook his head slightly. “I wasn’t disappointed back then, but now I am very confused.”
“…What are you confused about?” Gu Nianzhi asked.
Reinitz put his hand on Gu Nianzhi’s perfectly shaped chin once again. With a slight pinch of his fingertips, he gently raised her face.
Gu Nianzhi was forced to look up at Reinitz, who was a full head’s height taller than her.
“You should have been as normal as any other child. Also, your family has a history of genetic defects that should have made you innately disadvantaged.” Reinitz heavily emphasized the word should.
He studied Gu Nianzhi from above – but just where was she innately disadvantaged?!
Gu Tian’s situation was actually normal and expected!
Gu Nianzhi was so healthy, so what part of her genes was defective?
Gu Nianzhi began to tense up again as she said, “Then why did you bring up my mother? What about her? What… What kind of person was she?”
This was the first time she had asked a question about her own mother.
Gu Nianzhi had never expected that she would actually be able to ask Reinitz about her past.
She had always assumed that Professor He was the only person to know about her past, but he obviously didn’t want to talk about it at all. He always changed the subject, so Gu Nianzhi stopped asking after she had tried probing him a few times.
But Reinitz was a completely different story.
The way Gu Nianzhi saw it, Reinitz obviously had a purpose that was closely tied to her father.
Because of this, he was willing to use any means necessary and craft an elaborate lie to fool her into trusting him.
As the saying goes – someone with a desire can always be taken advantage of.
Conversely, Gu Nianzhi was also taking advantage of Reinitz’s motives in order to make him reveal so much.
Although he was reluctant to say anything, the amount of information revealed was already shocking.
“Your mother was… A very intelligent person. She was also very beautiful and healthy. There were no issues on her side at all.” Reinitz raised his hand out of habit to check the time. “Your father noted at the beginning of your pregnancy diary that the Gu family has a history of hereditary disease caused by a congenital deficiency. Additionally, this faulty gene is on the male X chromosome, so it is only passed to daughters from fathers.
“Typically speaking, hereditary diseases caused by congenital deficiencies are usually dominant in men and recessive in women.
“But your family’s situation was very peculiar. Your father made special note of the fact that this hereditary disease is recessive in men and dominant in women.
“Because of this, your mother was specially selected by your father in hopes that she would be a woman without any issues. But the results were very unfortunate, and you have the same congenital deficiency as your aunt,” Reinitz concluded.
Gu Nianzhi looked up at Reinitz, but she wasn’t very surprised.
She already knew about all this from when she was in the legal battle with Gu Yanran over the family fortune. Chen Lie deduced from Gu Tian’s medical chart that she was Gu Nianzhi’s aunt and her father, Gu Xiangwen’s one and only biological sister…
At the time, Gu Nianzhi had been a bit worried that her own child would have a hereditary disease like her aunt…
“It’s true you already knew about all this.” Reinitz also nodded and said, “I watched the court footage of your legal battle against Gu Yanran, it was very exciting. You were able to deduce almost the entire truth from pure inference.”
Gu Nianzhi, “…”
“But there was still one question remaining, and I think you’ve already considered it too.” Reinitz suddenly changed the topic. “When we traced the origins of your family’s hereditary illness, we found that it did not begin too long ago. It only started with your aunt’s generation. So, in other words, your grandfather passed it to her.”
“…Grandfather?” Gu Nianzhi asked.
If the word mother didn’t hold a very important spot in Gu Nianzhi’s memories, then the term grandfather had no place in it at all.
Reinitz hesitated for a moment when he mentioned Gu Nianzhi’s grandfather.
This information was never mentioned in Gu Xiangwen’s transcripts or letters.
However, Reinitz only knew about Gu Nianzhi’s grandfather from clues given by his own superior and godfather, Li Dexi.
Reinitz actually had an inkling about how Li Dexi knew this information, but he didn’t dare try to prove it, nor did he have the means to.
So, should he mention something he couldn’t possibly prove or not?
Reinitz’s mind quickly compared the advantages and disadvantages, and finally, he gave her one hint. “I am not really sure about what happened to your grandfather exactly, but it’s certain that something happened to his genes. This is what caused you and your aunt to have genetic deficiencies.”
However, Gu Nianzhi’s situation was different from Gu Tian’s.
Li Dexi had observed Gu Nianzhi after she left the Alps. He determined that she was nearly perfect, so she didn’t exhibit any genetic defects from a hereditary illness.
So Reinitz and Li Dexi both firmly believed that Gu Xiangwen had already overcome the problem of the genetic deficiency to cure his daughter successfully.
Furthermore, his cure wasn’t a band-aid solution like attempting to give Gu Tian a blood marrow transfusion from Gu Jing – it was truly a cure from the genetic level.
In terms of human physiology, this method was a truly permanent solution and so-called divine skill that countless technicians could only dream of attaining.
…
Gu Nianzhi suddenly had a hypothesis when she recalled her aunt Gu Tian’s cause of death and her own abnormal constitution.
She glanced at Reinitz.
Reinitz was also staring back at her.
He didn’t attempt to mask the shock in his eyes. It was combined with calm concern, as well as an inexplicable emotion that was much too complicated and dark for her even to understand.
Gu Nianzhi slowly averted her gaze, then looked at the arches of the Taj Mahal. She replied coldly, “…So you people are so relentless about chasing after me because you believe that my father successfully cured my illness? You want to capture me and take me back for experimentation like a lab rat?”
Naturally, Gu Nianzhi’s thoughts drifted back to Huo Shaoheng.
He was probably the very first person to learn about her special condition but had chosen to carefully protect her secret all this time. He would absolutely never allow anyone to use her as a lab rat.
At that moment, Gu Nianzhi was incredibly grateful that she met Huo Shaoheng when she was 12, and not anyone else.
…
