Chapter 438: Everyone

Gu Zhiyan didn't know how they had left Wang Peng's house, nor how they, in a daze, boarded the plane back to A City.

He temporarily settled in A City.

He wanted to go find his father to ask clearly whether what Wang Peng said was true.

When Gu Sen and Gu Hui picked up Gu Zhiyan at the airport, what they saw was no longer the vigorous, arrogant young master of the Gu family, but an exhausted appearance, clearly having suffered a considerable blow.

"Get in the car, let's go home and rest first." Gu Sen looked at his son's state; saying he wasn't heartbroken would be a lie, but he also had no better solution—if it weren't for letting Gu Zhiyan personally seek the answer from years ago, merely relying on his empty words would be useless.

His son still, deep down, is a person who knows how to be filial to his parents.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have suddenly rebelled only after turning thirty.

Gu Zhiyan couldn't sleep; on the plane he tried to close his eyes and rest a moment, but his mind was filled with the scenes described by Dean Tang and the old stories Wang Peng recounted.

One was his biological mother, the other his biological sister.

Gu Hui handed a bottle of water to Gu Zhiyan, then drove toward the villa Gu Sen had just rented.

After drinking half the bottle of water, the long‑silent Gu Zhiyan finally spoke: "You deliberately had me go find Wang Peng—you knew from the start that Yin Xue isn't my biological sister, and you knew from the start that my biological sister was abandoned by my mother."

Gu Sen slowly closed his eyes: "Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner!" Gu Zhiyan still lost his temper with his father.

Facing his son's anger, Gu Sen only said: "Back then you were too young; by the time you grew up, I no longer knew how to tell you."

Gu Zhiyan glared at his father, unable to contain his anger: "Why didn't you go look yourself? Why rely on someone else—is Wang Peng really that trustworthy? And do you not realize he never properly looked? If you had gone yourself, you would have found them long ago!"

Gu Sen's pupils contracted; the earlier calm vanished: "What are you saying? Wang Peng didn't go look?"

"He never even went to a police station or the Fuli Yuan to inquire. You've resigned your post—if you had gone looking, you would have found them already! You could have brought them both back, and Jiang Lai wouldn't have suffered so many years in the Fuli Yuan, wouldn't have married that scumbag ex‑husband Shen Xun, and wouldn't have been bullied by me, this scumbag older brother."

Gu Hui worriedly glanced backward.

Gu Sen's main point, however, was: "Did Wang Peng not look properly?"

Gu Zhiyan replied irritably: "Of course not."

Gu Sen: "Why?"

Gu Zhiyan: "I asked him, but he didn't say. He knows I'm your son now, so he won't tell—you have to ask yourself."

Gu Sen believed he had treated Wang Peng well, even considered promoting him, and even after Wang Peng left, he had arranged things for him afterward, hoping he wouldn't be affected by his own situation.

Moreover, during those two and a half years, Wang Peng reported his progress every two days at most; even after a year he still kept up a weekly report. At that rate, over two years he could have covered at least half of G Province, if not the whole province.

Gu Zhiyan stared at his father lost in thought and challenged him: "Why would you trust a driver? Why choose him?"

Gu Sen suddenly lifted his gaze toward his son, as if recalling something.

Having Wang Peng secretly look was the suggestion of the old master and Gu Hai.

At the time, only the old master and Gu Hai in the family knew about this, so the old master forbade him from looking openly, and Gu Hai earnestly begged him.

"Brother, could we not look? If we must look, could we wait until after I pass my political review? I'm crucial right now, and you've resigned—does our family really have no one pursuing an official career? Besides, you already have a son; an adopted daughter isn't bad either. Please, brother."

Gu Sen reached up and wiped his face; his fingers were trembling.

"Do you also think you're shameless?" Gu Zhiyan sneered self‑mockingly: "We're all shameless facing Jiang Lai, especially my mother—she really is… crazy."

"Everyone's crazy."

Then a silence fell in the car; father and son each wore different expressions, lost in their own thoughts.

After the car arrived, Gu Hui reminded them to get out; Gu Sen got out first, and Gu Zhiyan gave a new address, indicating he would not live with his father.

Gu Sen looked back at his son sitting in the car, said nothing, and merely gave Gu Hui a look, signaling him to take Gu Zhiyan there.

The car started up again.

Gu Hui glanced several times through the rearview mirror; an irritable person easily notices external disturbances.

"Uncle Hui, what do you want to say?"

Gu Hui finally spoke slowly: "Gu Zhiyan, you can't be so harsh with your father—he's your dad, and he has to prioritize the family in many things. When you question why he didn't go look himself, does he not want to? He simply can't."

"Your mother had postpartum depression back then, and she would easily slip up when speaking. The old master sent someone to personally bring your father and them back. You were young then and might not know—I only learned it gradually after years with your father. The old master wanted your parents to divorce, you with your father and Yin Xue with your mother, but your father refused, so the old master could only have your father confine your mother at home. In short, the fact that the children were abandoned could not be revealed at all—even your uncle Gu Kai didn't know, and the old master never told his own son."

"G Province and B City are one in the south, one in the north; even with today's transportation, traveling back and forth is tiring, let alone back then. Moreover, the old master and your grandparents wouldn't allow him to leave B City."

"He couldn't leave you, nor could he leave your mother—you were still small, your mother's condition kept fluctuating, and besides, there's Yin Xue. Your father took her in and must be responsible for her; Yin Xue has a heart condition and can't be separated from people."

"Your father still needed to find another way, to plan for this little family's future—he couldn't just not work and lie around as a young master at home. Would the Gu family agree? Besides, he's the head of the household."

"Family reputation, parents to support, a young son and adopted daughter, a wife of unsound mind—would he have to abandon all of these? If your mother's illness improves and you can grow up in luxury, all this enjoyment comes from your father's efforts, including the fact that the Gu family now has money to act, which is also what he earned through hard work."

"He has lived up to the Gu family, to his parents, to his wife, to his son and adopted daughter—but only toward his biological daughter, Jiang Lai, does he feel the deepest guilt and pain."

If anyone in this world were to blame Gu Sen, only Jiang Lai could do so.

"Before he returned to B City, he himself went looking and found nothing—was he chasing that slim hope, or considering the living?"

"Your age now is about the same as your father's when those events happened—just suppose it was you back then; how would you have decided? Could you have done as well as he did?"

Gu Zhiyan opened his mouth but couldn't make a sound.

He couldn't.

He simply couldn't compare to his father.

Not to mention his father, he couldn't even measure up to his own biological sister.

Gu Zhiyan realized he was a failure.

A complete failure.