Chapter 401: Song Shiwei Has a Nightmare; Gu Sen Sleeps in a Separate Room

That night.

Song Shiwei had a dream—fragmented, intermittent, the dream shattered into pieces.

A snowy evening.

Every day spent sorting through the eldest son's tiny clothes and swaddling blankets.

An infant's cries.

Doors and windows creaking.

She pushed the door open and entered; someone lay on the ground, hands covered in blood.

She let out a wail.

Aaaaaah!

Song Shiwei jolted awake from the dream, sweat soaking her back. She looked around—pitch black. She reached out to push the person beside her, voice hoarse as she called, "Gu Sen, Gu Sen..."

"What's wrong?" Hearing the commotion, Gu Sen opened his eyes, noticed the person beside him sitting up, and sat up himself. He reached for his glasses and put them on, reached out and turned on the desk lamp, and only then saw his wife's terrified expression. "A nightmare?"

Song Shiwei's gaze swept over every inch of the room, and only when she detected nothing unusual did she relax slightly, her back hunching a little as she murmured, "Gu Sen, I dreamed of Gu Jin's mother."

Gu Sen frowned, then reached out to pull her into his shoulder, comforting her: "It's been thirty years. It's just a dream."

Song Shiwei covered her face, tears streaming, and cried, "I will never forget that day, never forget Gu Jin's mother's death."

She was the first to discover that Gu Jin's mother had slit her wrists.

At the time, everyone in the Gu family couldn't understand why Gu Jin's mother had done this, but she knew.

When Gu Jin's mother was pregnant, her husband and parents-in-law doted on her in every possible way, but the moment they learned it was a daughter, the expressions on her husband's and parents-in-law's faces changed.

Still in her postpartum confinement, her body not yet recovered, her husband and parents-in-law were already urging her to have a second child, dead set on getting a boy.

What woman could endure such treatment—the contrast before and after was like the difference between clouds and mud.

If only they had pushed for a son, that would have been one thing, but afterward Gu Jin's mother got pregnant and miscarried every time. Her health deteriorated, and the hospital said the chances of conceiving again were very small—almost a death sentence.

Gu Jin's mother couldn't bear it herself, and even less could she bear her husband's and parents-in-law's growing coldness. It was like a dull knife, constantly grinding against Gu Jin's mother's heart.

Finally one day, unable to endure such torment any longer, Gu Jin's mother chose to leave on a fine, sunny day.

And the one who found her was her.

Of all people, it had to be her.

That scene pierced her eyes and left her in constant terror all day, nearly causing her to miscarry the second child she was carrying.

At the time, Gu Sen was in G Province. She called and told him what had happened. Gu Sen made a special trip back, busied himself taking her to the hospital for a checkup, and once he confirmed that both mother and child were fine, he flew back to his post.

Gu Sen knew this incident had caused his wife psychological trauma, but he was busy with work and truly couldn't stay longer. He could only keep telling her it was fine, that having a son or a daughter was equally good—that if he had to say, a daughter would be even better, the perfect complement to make a "good" pair. His wife had covered his mouth then, telling him not to talk nonsense.

At the time, he didn't understand what his wife meant by that. By the time he realized, it was already too late.

His wife, heavily pregnant, came to G Province to be with him, stroking her belly all day and saying, "Zhi Yan is going to have a little brother soon."

The clothes and shoes prepared for the child were also the ones used when the eldest son was just born—there was nothing wrong with that—until one day he came home and saw his wife holding a blue-striped swaddling blanket printed with little airplanes, saying, "This style of swaddling blanket sells so well at the mall, it's really popular. Look at these little airplanes—don't you think, when our children grow up, the older brother studies law and the younger brother studies aviation—how would that be?"

His thoughts returned to the present.

Gu Sen gently patted his wife's back and asked softly, "Shiwei, over twenty years have passed. Are you still unable to face yourself?"

Song Shiwei's body stiffened. She pushed Gu Sen away and stared at him with wide eyes: "What are you saying? What nonsense are you talking! Gu Sen, I had a nightmare—a nightmare the Gu family brought upon me—and you're interrogating me!"

Under the dim, faint lamplight, Gu Sen looked at his wife's contorted face, long stripped of her former gentleness. She was no longer the young girl who had stuttered and blushed the first time she saw him, no longer the one who had noticed he liked plums and secretly slipped him some, no longer the one who would sit the unfavored Gu Jin on her lap and feed her steamed egg custard...

What had turned his wife into this.

It was the leaden sky hanging over the Gu family.

It was the rot within the Gu family's doors.

It was that he had married her yet was so often not by her side.

Gu Sen tried hard to make amends, tried hard to give her the best of everything, but in the end he couldn't pull back someone who had been pushed into the abyss, and he went down with her.

Over twenty years, nearly thirty years, and he still couldn't untie the knot in his wife's heart—was it that he hadn't tried hard enough, or that his wife had fallen too deep into obsession?

He was tired too.

"Let's sleep with the light on tonight." Gu Sen looked at his wife's angry eyes and got out of bed. "Get a good rest. I'm going to the Shufang."

Song Shiwei clutched the blanket with both hands and gritted her teeth: "Gu Sen, what do you mean?"

Gu Sen turned his head: "I have an appointment with a lawyer at nine tomorrow morning."

He wanted to revise his will.

……

The Song family elders traveled all the way to B City just to see their own biological granddaughter Gu Jiang Lai, and they wouldn't be satisfied without seeing her in person.

Early the next morning, they had Gu Sen call Jiang Lai. Gu Sen refused on the grounds that he didn't want to disturb his daughter's life, and the elders were furious.

"A father calling his daughter—how is that a disturbance?"

Gu Sen said, "I haven't raised her in twenty-eight years."

That left the elders speechless.

The elders turned their attention to their biological grandson, telling him to call Gu Jiang Lai back—her maternal grandparents had arrived, so how could there be any reason not to see her?

Gu Zhiyan didn't have Jiang Lai's contact information at all.

Old Mrs. Song was shocked: "How could a family not have each other's contact information?"

Gu Zhiyan also wanted to ask—clearly they were family, yet Jiang Lai avoided them at all costs. He said, "Let me try contacting Ms. Nian."

Old Mr. Song: "Nian Zhaoning of the Nian Family?"

Gu Zhiyan nodded.

Old Mrs. Song was puzzled: "What use is contacting Nian Zhaoning to find your sister Gu Jiang Lai?"

Gu Zhiyan pressed his lips together and explained with some reluctance: "Jiang Lai and Ke Zhongyu are together. Most people only found out the day before yesterday too."

The words had barely left his mouth when Gu Yinxue happened to come down the spiral staircase, and her pace immediately slowed.

She was as polite as ever: "Good morning, grandparents, brother, good morning."

Gu Zhiyan nods: "Morning."

Song family's two elders glance at her lightly, continue looking at Gu Zhiyan; the Song grandfather exclaims, "You mean your sister Gu Jiang Lai and Nian Zhaoning's son are together?"

Gu Zhiyan glances toward Gu Yinxue's direction, neither nodding nor speaking.

Gu Yinxue and Gu Zhiyan whisper: "Brother, I'm heading back to the studio; later tell me and Mom I won't be coming back tonight."

She walks toward the door.

Gu Zhiyan learns from Ms. Nian that Jiang Lai and Ke Zhongyu have already returned to A City last night, so he tells the grandparents: "They've returned to A City; I doubt they can come see you."

Gu Yinxue standing at the door sighs in relief.

Jiang Lai leaving B City is a good opportunity for her to catch her breath.

Little did she know, as she stepped out of the Gu family gate, the two elders on the sofa simultaneously said they wanted to go to A City; those unaware thought they were so doting on their granddaughter they'd never met.

The two elders are up there in age; Gu Zhiyan worries about them going, and besides, his parents wouldn't agree either.

Just after he finished saying that, his eyes shifted, and he amended: "I'll accompany you two elders, by the way, to meet someone."

Gu Zhiyan wants to meet Lin Shutong.

He wants to hear Lin Shutong's words himself.