Chapter 70 Part 2 一 Shackles of Love and How To Set Oneself Free.
Gu Youqian didn’t pay much attention to girls from other families, but meeting a few of them made him easily think of his lost daughter. In his mind, there was only a vague impression, but he still praised a few words like “not bad.”
After saying this, Gu Youqian patted Ruan Yōu’s head heavily while Eldest Uncle Gu and Eldest Aunt Gu were talking. Ruan Liuyu leaned over to Ruan Yōu and said solemnly, “You must not learn from the Wen family’s little girls.”
Ruan Yōu pouted and covered her head, saying angrily, “I didn’t.”
Gu Youqian was satisfied.
Ruan Liuyu whispered in Ruan Yōu’s ear, “Love at first sight is just a trick to deceive young girls. Don’t believe it.”
Ruan Yōu asked, “Then why did you believe it?”
Ruan Liuyu replied, “Who believed it? Gu Min looks quiet and obedient, but he’s not a good person. Don’t interact with him too much.”
Ruan Yōu: …
Oh.
So, they were just acting a moment ago.
Seeing her parents being so supportive and seeing through the true nature of “Gu Lianhua,” Ruan Yōu felt relieved and immersed herself in the enjoyment of the meal.
However, one thing that puzzled her was: Gu Min should not have expected today’s scene, so who was the person he mentioned as his sweetheart six months ago?
Where is that person now?
Ruan Yōu was utterly confused.
Well, whatever.
Eating is the most important thing!
An hour later, dinner is over.
Ruan Liuyu and Gu Youqian are going to the tea house upstairs to continue their performance, while the young people plan to go to the game room to play League of Legends together. Ruan Yōu is not familiar with them, so she plans to have Fu Jiazhan come in as soon as they enter and happily ran away~
Just as they walked out of the private room, they encountered a group of familiar figures after a few steps.
Wen Juxi and the Wen family also came out of the private room and, upon seeing the Gu family members, were all momentarily stunned.
In the crowd, Wen Cheng smiled at Gu Min and greeted the Gu family members generously. Then she ran over to Gu Min’s side and said softly with guilt, “I’m sorry, Uncle and Aunt. Tonight, Gu Min and I agreed to have our respective families have dinner here, and we wanted to… talk…”
Wen Cheng’s fair face turned red in embarrassment, and she lowered her head, somewhat sheepishly. She quietly hooked her pinky finger behind Gu Min’s back and murmured, “We wanted to discuss the engagement party.”
Ruan Yōu watched their little actions with a smile on her face, excited and tempted to applaud.
good at acting, really good at acting!
No wonder people nowadays love watching romance dramas, they are indeed quite sweet.
Ruan Yōu was just here to enjoy the show, anyway. Both her cunning parents weren’t fools; they’ve been in the business world for many years, and they definitely have more strategies. She just needs to follow Wen Juxi’s plan and use Wen Juxi’s money to happily outwit Cheng Guyuan.
The private room is on the tenth floor, the tea house on the twelfth floor, and the game room on the eighth floor.
To go up and down the floors, they have to pass through the lobby’s elevator.
After enjoying the “love short film,” Ruan Yōu took advantage of everyone’s attention being focused on Gu Min and Wen Cheng and walked out of the corridor to look into the lobby.
Fu Jiazhan was sitting on a sofa in the corner, reading documents, directly facing her.
On the sofa across from him, there was a slender young man playing a game with dazzling skills. Ruan Yōu had vaguely seen advertisements for this game online.
The team battle was especially intense.
The young man seemed to be fighting in the game, and his health bar was bouncing back and forth between red and full, making it heart-pounding to watch.
After finishing reading a contract, Fu Jiazhan casually looked up and saw Ruan Yōu across the corner.
Fu Jiazhan furrowed his brows slightly, discreetly assessing the man opposite him.
He was fair and slender, with tightly pursed lips, completely focused on the handphone screen.
A very delicate face, but the hair is somewhat messy, the ear-length curly hair falls haphazardly on the forehead, wearing a very ordinary T-shirt, the same style as the 19.9 yuan on a certain shopping platform, but his wristwatch sparkled with expensive diamonds.
Fu Jiazhan stared at him for a while, and after a few tens of seconds, his phone on the table vibrated twice.
It was a WeChat message from Ruan Yōu.
【Fat Cat: Is he good-looking? _(:з」∠)_】
Fu Jiazhan: ….
【Not good-looking.】
【Fat Cat: Nonsense, then why did you stare for so long?】
Fu Jiazhan hesitated, not knowing how to explain. The young man opposite him finished the team battle and glanced at him lazily, saying, “I’m going to use voice chat now, it might disturb your conversation, so you should change your seat.”
Fu Jiazhan frowned, lowered his head, and replied to Ruan Yōu:
【I wasn’t looking at him, just lost in thought.】
Ruan Yōu didn’t reply anymore, and Ruan Liuyu and the others were walking in this direction, preparing to go to the tea room to chat.
As they passed through the hallway, Gu Min caught a glimpse of the handphone game interface of the young man, instinctively taking a closer look. He couldn’t clearly see the characters, but the skills were all very familiar. Thinking about what had happened in the game, he furrowed his brow slightly.
Wen Juxi discreetly stepped forward to block Gu Min’s line of sight.
And Eldest Aunt Gu immediately noticed Fu Jiazhan.
After watching the second season of <The Heirs>, she was even more satisfied with Fu Jiazhan.
Among the four top wealthy families’ male heirs, Jiang Huai was a miser who loved money, and Lu Jin turned out to be a crazy, embarrassing star chaser. Both of them were not steady, but only Fu Jiazhan, not only had a good attitude and behaved like a gentleman but also silently helped with many things.
Eldest Uncle Gu had a daughter named Gu Yinyin.
Eldest Aunt Gu had been secretly trying to match Gu Yinyin and Fu Jiazhan. Before Ruan Yōu returned, every time she mentioned Gu Yinyin in front of Mother Fu, she would smoothly change the topic.
Seeing Fu Jiazhan here was beyond Eldest Aunt Gu’s expectations.
“Yinyin is returning to the country soon, did she tell you?” Eldest Aunt Gu asked Fu Jiazhan with a smile.
Gu Min’s sister, Gu Yinyin, had been obsessed with gentle yet domineering president characters for a while. The day before she went abroad, she had gone to Fu Jiazhan’s house three times.
During that time, Fu Jiazhan hadn’t been home.
Before Fu Jiazhan had a chance to speak, Eldest Aunt Gu spoke softly and said to Ruan Yōu, “Yinyin is your cousin. She is of a similar age to you, so when she return to the country, you’ll have a sister. You two are of similar age, so you’ll have a lot to talk about.”
Ruan Yōu frowned.
She didn’t like the words “cousin” and “sister” very much.
It seemed to remind her that she and Lu Xuan, Qi Zhiyan and Lu Ming were not good sisters.
Fu Jiazhan suddenly spoke, a faint smile on his lips, but his voice was very calm, devoid of any humor. “Yinyin is about the same age as me, but we still haven’t found a common topic. Also, Auntie, I’m not from the Gu family. it’s more convenient to discuss whether Yinyin will return to the country with Gu Min in the future.”
The subtext was:
You can harm Gu Min, but don’t implicate him.
Eldest Aunt Gu’s face stiffened.
Ruan Yōu hadn’t expected Fu Jiazhan to refute Eldest Aunt Gu’s words so openly and comfortably. She nodded with a smile, “Whether we can become sisters depends on fate. It’s not something we can force.”
Ruan Liuyu smiled and smoothly changed the topic, “Jiazhan, are you here to pick up Yōuyōu to go to Bozhan? Then Yōuyōu can go ahead. Mom and Dad will chat with your uncles and aunts upstairs before going home.”
Gu Fuchen had already discussed his plans with Ruan Liuyu, and they worked together well.
Ruan Yōu nodded emphatically, her eyes full of smiles as she greeted them and took the elevator to the parking lot on the first floor.
As soon as she entered the elevator, she felt the joy of being “reborn”.
“You’re all better at acting than me.,” Ruan Yōu sighed, not expecting that dealing with relatives would be so troublesome.
Fu Jiazhan chuckled and lowered his head, tucking a strand of her black hair behind her ear before returning his gaze to the jumping numbers on the elevator.
“I think you don’t need to act.”
Ruan Yōu: “Huh?”
“Even if you boldly scold Eldest Aunt Gu today, no one will blame you.”
Everyone will help her clean up the mess and silently stand by her side.
She is always the princess who is unconditionally believed in and favored.
Thinking of that scene, Ruan Yōu inserted her hands into her pockets and uncertainly raised her gaze to ask Fu Jiazhan, “Is it too presumptuous?”
“Not at all.”
Ruan Yōu: “So, next time there’s such an event, can I be straightforward with those people and say, ‘I don’t want to participate in this childish activity, I’m leaving. Bye.’ That way, you won’t need to pick me up, it’s less trouble.”
Fu Jiazhan was momentarily at a loss for words.
As the elevator door “dinged” open, Ruan Yōu vaguely heard Fu Jiazhan’s reply as she stepped out.
“Not troublesome.”
Ruan Yōu didn’t hear it clearly and turned back in confusion.
“What did you just say?”
Fu Jiazhan stood in front of her, “The car is this way.”
Ruan Yōu, who had gone in the wrong direction, hurriedly ran over and followed Fu Jiazhan, completely forgetting her previous question.
. . . . .
According to the original plan, Ruan Yōu should be heading home to enjoy some drama, but on her way back, she hadn’t heard from Lu Xuan, who she felt was almost out of contact. Finally, Lu Xuan replied.
【Wuwuwuwu, Sister Yōuyōu, my brother is in big trouble.】
Ruan hurriedly made a phone call, “What’s wrong?”
Lu Xuan’s voice was tinged with a hint of crying, and she said in a bewildered manner, “Last night, I got hungry in the middle of the night, so I got up and went downstairs. I found the study’s light was still on, thinking my brother was still working. I brought a glass of milk to him, but as soon as I entered, I saw my parents arguing with my brother. They were arguing so loudly, and when they saw me, they told me to leave quickly. If I didn’t leave, they would scold me. In the morning, my brother locked himself in his room and seemed upset, but he didn’t say why.”
Lu Xuan sniffled and continued, “It’s the first time I’ve seen them argue like that. My brother has always been obedient to our parents. Gu Fuchen used to tease him about being a daddy’s boy and a mommy’s boy, but they argued so fiercely last night.”
Ruan Yōu comforted her softly, “Xuanxuan, don’t worry for now. Do you know why they were arguing?”
Fu Jiazhan stopped the car and typed on his phone.
【Go to Lu Jin’s place?】
Ruan Yōu nodded repeatedly.
After a while, the car changed direction and re-entered the flow of traffic. The sound of the bustling traffic filled their ears, along with Lu Xuan’s sobbing.
“Because… because my brother is chasing star.”
. . . . .
When Lu Jin was thirteen years old, he needed to undergo a liver surgery.
At that time, Father Lu was overweight, with a beer belly, and he had developed fatty liver. However, he was the only person in the family who could donate a liver to Lu Jin.
During those two months, Father Lu quit drinking and smoking, exercised every day, and controlled his diet, embarking on a journey to lose weight and become healthier.
In this world, if there is anyone, perhaps family members are the most likely to lose weight and take the risk to enter the operating room for him.
Everyone is afraid of death, but sometimes parents are not.
Thirteen years old Lu Jin was somewhat rebellious, but he learned from his father’s transformation and the doctor’s words about the difficulty of the surgery. After the operation, he completely changed, becoming very responsible and obedient.
Lu Jin’s current excellence can’t be separated from his transformation at thirteen.
After the surgery, Father Lu had a rough time due to a forced short-term fat reduction, which severely affected his stomach. He also injured his back during exercise, causing pain in the winter. He had to spend some time in the south for recovery.
Lu Jin observed all of this. He matured early and took over the company from his father. Against his father’s wishes, he gave up his dream of being a pilot and began to manage the company seriously.
Under his leadership, the Lu Group prospered, and he became a praised figure in charge of the group.
But sometimes, he felt an emptiness deep within.
In some ways, chasing star filled the void in his heart.
He didn’t want to use Lu Group’s money or his own money for his star-chasing hobby because he knew his parents didn’t want him to engage in these “weird” activities.
Father Lu and Mother Lu had raised Lu Jin to be an excellent heir, hoping he would be steady and set an example for the group.
The words “star chaser” are completely opposite to this example.
At first, when Father Lu and Mother Lu saw Lu Jin on camera, their first reaction was surprise, followed by silence and bewilderment.
This was another side of Lu Jin.
A side they completely didn’t understand.
The star he pursued was Ruan Yōu, and naturally, Father Lu and Mother Lu didn’t say anything on the spot. They just smiled along with everyone and privately investigated, only to find out that Lu Jin had been chasing stars for the past year or two.
Sometimes, parents tend to play the role of controllers. Father Lu and Mother Lu were used to a compliant Lu Jin, and when they discovered his rebellious side, they subconsciously wanted to correct it.
So, last night, there was a scene that Lu Xuan witnessed in the study.
Father Lu demanded that Lu Jin return to the right path and stop chasing stars, but Lu Jin was unwilling.
He enjoyed the carefree act of playing snowball fight, even liked the antics of moving the claw machine after getting drunk.
That’s who he was.
He didn’t want to hide anymore.
At that time, Father Lu and Mother Lu were in the study. Lu Xuan’s eyes were red as she led Ruan Yōu and Fu Jiazhan to her brother’s room.
“I only found out today that it was because of chasing stars,” Lu Xuan pouted. “They can be bad sometimes and good other times.”
Ruan Yōu gently stroked her head.
She probably understood why Lu Jin was “star chasing” her.
Lu Xuan said that Lu Jin would watch her withdraw interviews and behind-the-scenes footage in private.
Some netizens say that chasing stars is chasing the image of the person they want to become deep inside.
What kind of person did Lu Jin want to become through her?
Probably someone who could leave everything behind, be carefree, and walk away at will in variety shows, free from all the burdens and pressures.
His parents’ love was Lu Jin’s shackles and pressure.
His long-standing beliefs made him realize his father’s deep love, and under this love, he worked hard to become the person they wanted him to be, forgetting who he wanted to be.
As time went on, Lu Jin bound himself with heavy shackles.
Shackles of love.
. . . . .
Ruan Yōu stood at the door of Lu Jin’s room. Before entering, she instinctively glanced at Fu Jiazhan and Lu Xuan.
Fu Jiazhan nodded.
“Let’s go inside.”
Before entering, Father Lu and Mother Lu suddenly appeared in the hallway outside the study.
Lu Xuan instinctively hid behind Ruan Yōu and Lu Jin.
A hint of pain flashed in Mother Lu’s eyes.
It’s said that a fair judge finds it difficult to meddle in family matters, and Ruan Yōu cannot make a judgment about their actions.
Sometimes parents seem to be stubborn and obstinate. Father Lu and Mother Lu froze Lu Xuan’s card, preventing her from looking for little puppy to avoid encountering a scumbag. Their intention was for Lu Xuan’s good, but maybe there could be a better way?
Freezing her bank card would never make Lu Xuan give up her dream of finding little puppy.
Forcing Lu Jin onto what they considered the “right path” wouldn’t make him give up his dream either.
Ruan Yōu had a similar experience.
When her second adoptive mother abandoned her and left, she hid in her small room, crying and trying to convince herself not to hate her.
But her adoptive mother had her adoptive father to adopted her back home and then decisively abandoned her again. Adults should take responsibility for their actions; adopting her was not like adopting a cat or dog that you could simply discard at will.
She had reasons to dislike her adoptive mother. When those moments of dislike surfaced, she shouldn’t blame herself and certainly shouldn’t disdain herself for it.
No one becomes a saint, and in moments of despair, people unconsciously seek an outlet for their emotions.
Ruan Yōu thought for a moment and said seriously, “He worked hard to become the person you wanted him to be and earnestly reciprocated your love. He believes that meeting your expectations will make you happy, but are you sure he’ll be happy if he throws away posters and uninstalls his star-chasing apps?”
“He made an effort to understand you, and I think you should also try to understand him.”
When Father Lu and Mother Lu were stunned, Ruan Yōu respectfully nodded at them and quietly entered the room.
Inside, Lu Jin stood on the balcony with his back to them, looking at the stars.
Ruan Yōu cut to the chase and asked, “Lu Jin, do you want to let off some steam? I thought of an entertainment activity that’s even more liberating than star-chasing.”
Lu Jin didn’t reply, and Lu Xuan eagerly asked, “What is it? I need to go too.”
She also wanted to let off some steam.
“Online gaming!”
In the world of online games, they could engage in intense battles, enjoy the freedom of the virtual realm, participate in group battles filled with excitement, and maybe even gossip with others for fun.
Sometimes, people don’t need to hold themselves to high standards all the time. When it’s time to be happy, be happy. After enjoying themselves, they could have a good talk with Father Lu and Mother Lu, and both sides would understand each other.
Lu Xuan didn’t know why, but she thought of a saying.
一一Fat Cat who dominates the gaming world through in-game purchases is about to arrive.