Chapter 365: He Is a Dog, Jiang Lai Is His Master

Ke Zhongyu brought Jiang Lai to his property in B City, a quiet apartment in a peaceful residential complex amid the bustle, with servants coming regularly to inspect and clean, the spotless interior not a speck of dust.

A cup of hot water was handed to Jiang Lai.

"Thank you." Jiang Lai was a bit wooden, holding the hot water for a moment before drinking.

Ke Zhongyu stood in front of her and said, "How come you just follow whoever takes you?"

"Hm?" Jiang Lai finally showed some reaction, raising her eyes to look at Ke Zhongyu. "Aren't you my boyfriend?"

Ke Zhongyu's heart had been suspended, but he was suddenly pleased by Jiang Lai's words, unable to resist a light chuckle, reaching out to pinch her chin, doing nothing else, just a normal physical contact to let her know he was there.

"So you do know I'm your boyfriend." He sat down beside Jiang Lai. "If you feel uncomfortable, say so; if you feel sad, cry."

Jiang Lai: "I don't know."

The discomfort was real, and the sadness was real too, but she couldn't cry, because it didn't seem to have reached the point of crying; during the period when she suspected she had a connection to the Gu family, she gradually became certain that she didn't want to claim kinship.

Why claim kinship?

The Gu family never intended to claim her.

But there was one thing she wanted to understand: what exactly was her identity? A legitimate daughter? Or an illegitimate daughter?

Jiang Lai recalled what Ke Zhongyu had said, and she looked at him: "You can tell me what you know now."

Ke Zhongyu parted his lips, first giving her a precaution: "What I know isn't comprehensive either. What exactly happened twenty-eight years ago, only the people involved in the Gu family know."

"Mm." Jiang Lai nodded. "Do you still remember Bureau Liu I mentioned to you? Bureau Liu used to be superior and subordinate to Mr. Gu."

Jiang Lai no longer even called him Uncle Gu.

Ke Zhongyu's heart ached with a dull pain: "What did you find out?"

Jiang Lai recalled what happened that day: "Bureau Liu said Gu Secretary was someone many people wanted to curry favor with, so when Gu Secretary's wife gave birth that day, a lot of people went, but when they got to the hospital room they didn't see Gu Secretary, only a pale-faced Mrs. Gu, mumbling something, as if possessed, but not long after, less than half an hour I think, Gu Secretary came back holding the baby, and later they found out that Mrs. Gu had woken up thinking the baby was missing, which was why she was like that, when in fact the baby had been taken for a checkup."

Ke Zhongyu: "Did Bureau Liu mention Secretary Zhao from that time?"

Jiang Lai: "No."

Ke Zhongyu: "Secretary Zhao and Uncle Gu were of the same rank at the time, secretly in a competitive relationship. No matter what, Secretary Zhao would have at least gone through the motions, but Bureau Liu didn't mention Secretary Zhao going?"

Was it because of something that he didn't go?

Or had he gone early, and left early because of something?

This was a major point of suspicion.

Jiang Lai looked at him: "This is a piece of the puzzle about my origins that I found. What about your side?"

Ke Zhongyu: "Aside from what Assistant Zhou came back and told you that time, there's also..."

He didn't dare bring up the matter of the crime of abandonment.

How was he supposed to bring that up in front of Jiang Lai?

Jiang Lai was no longer the emotionally driven Jiang Lai she had been at the Shen Family; because of the hurt Shen Xun had caused her, she had gradually pulled herself out, viewing herself from a bystander's perspective most of the time.

Sometimes she observed herself.

A person in this state is very sensitive; Jiang Lai's brain was no decoration—if he just mentioned the crime of abandonment and that Gu Hai was at a critical point of political vetting that year, Jiang Lai would immediately understand.

Ke Zhongyu's fingers trembled slightly.

Jiang Lai noticed his difficulty and reluctance to speak, reaching out to hold one of his fingers, and Ke Zhongyu's finger quickly wrapped around hers.

"It seems the matter is very serious, you're this afraid to tell me." Jiang Lai wanted to squeeze out a smile to tell him it was okay, but the smile she squeezed out turned out to be bitter. "Ke Zhongyu, it's clearly my own background, how does it seem like it's yours?"

Ke Zhongyu pulled her into his arms.

He couldn't bear seeing Jiang Lai clearly in pain yet forcing herself to endure it.

It hurt too much.

"A Lai, we are already one." Ke Zhongyu cupped the back of her head with one hand, gently scratching, his other arm around her waist, drawing her into his embrace.

Jiang Lai buried her face in his neck, her voice growing muffled too: "Only husband and wife are one."

Ke Zhongyu: "Mm."

He made no effort to hide his determination to become husband and wife.

Jiang Lai slowly reached out and held him.

"I don't know whether I should tell you." Ke Zhongyu wouldn't have this kind of hesitation at work; he would simulate in his mind the outcomes caused by various considerations, weigh the pros and cons, and choose the one that maximized benefit. But when it came to Jiang Lai, he was at a loss.

If weighing the pros and cons, the answer would be not to tell Jiang Lai, because the full picture of the matter was still unknown, and a one-sided truth hurts more.

But he couldn't refuse Jiang Lai.

Ke Zhongying was right—he was a dog, and Jiang Lai was his master.

Jiang Lai felt her place in Ke Zhongyu's heart, and at this moment she was also wrapped in a warm body, her heart gradually warming along with it.

"Go ahead and tell me."

"If nothing unexpected happened, you are Auntie Song's biological daughter. Back then, no one knows what happened, but you were lost..." Ke Zhongyu couldn't quite go on—once it was tied to the crime of abandonment and political vetting, how else could she have been lost?

His voice paused for a moment, then he continued: "The year you were born, a law had been amended, and it had already been implemented before your birth. After you were born, Uncle Gu's younger brother Gu Hai was facing a political vetting."

"Which law?" Jiang Lai struck right at the crux.

Ke Zhongyu's throat went dry, his voice low: "The crime of abandonment."

As soon as those three words came out, he clearly felt the person in his arms go stiff.

Jiang Lai's blood felt as if it had frozen.

Ke Zhongyu held her tighter, pressing close to her ear: "A Lai, listen to me, it's okay, you have me, you have Dean Tang, you have Old Cui and Old Shen, you have Professor Wang, you have Ping'an, you have Ke Zhongying, and my parents, everything I have is yours, A Lai."

He called her name, always worried she would wilt in his arms.

"Abandonment... what was amended?" Jiang Lai's throat felt like a fishbone was stuck in it, neither up nor down.

Ke Zhongyu: "It was elevated from the nature of a family dispute to endangering personal safety. Having just been implemented, it would first be enforced on political personnel."

Jiang Lai: "Then... the career of a direct relative would be affected, right?"

Ke Zhongyu nodded: "Once confirmed, Uncle Gu would at best be marginalized and at worst lose his official position, and his younger brother's political vetting would at best be stalled and at worst bar him from entering public office."

Jiang Lai neither laughed nor shed tears, saying only three words: "So that's how it is."

After a long while, she repeated it once more: "So that's how it is."

Like two knives, piercing from Jiang Lai's heart into Ke Zhongyu's heart.

Ke Zhongyu: "I'm sorry."

Jiang Lai: "Why are you apologizing?"

Ke Zhongyu didn't know either; he just couldn't bear seeing Jiang Lai in such pain, and instinctively wanted to say sorry.

Uttering those three words also showed that he regarded Jiang Lai's life as a responsibility of his own life.

Love is always accompanied by responsibility.