Chapter 456: Gu and Song Back Then (Part 1)

Song Shiwei didn't know what Gu Sen was thinking; she only knew that Gu Sen's silence meant he hadn't denied that he was deliberately not answering the phone, deliberately letting their son also wound her heart, to make their son distant from her.

Song Shiwei began to cry again.

Gu Sen, after hearing the sobbing, pulled his thoughts back, looked at the red‑eyed Song Shiwei; they had been married for over thirty years, and now he had white hair, and Song Shiwei's wrinkles were becoming increasingly evident.

Indeed, together they were over a hundred years old—what's the point of all this fuss?

But if they stopped struggling, they'd have to enter the coffin carrying mistakes and regrets.

Song Shiwei noticed Gu Sen looking at her, yet not quite as if he were looking at her, and she furrowed her brow.

Lately Gu Sen had been like this, occasionally glancing at her, yet not really looking at her.

But she also knew that Gu Sen kept himself pure, had never had another lover before, and harbored no other woman in his heart.

Even during a period after their marriage, she had suspected the younger Nian Zhaoning, constantly monitoring their every move, but both of them were too open.

Open as they were, before marrying Gu Sen, everyone in their circle knew how good the Nian family and Gu family relations were; Nian Zhaoning was the Nian family's sole daughter, Gu Sen was the Gu family's most valued heir at the time, and rumors spread that the two would form a marriage alliance.

When she accompanied her parents to B City to visit her father's superior, she heard that leader explain that the Nian family and Gu family would not form an alliance for now; the two families were too prominent, and a marriage would backfire.

Even though she knew from the start that the two had no future, even though she herself married Gu Sen, even though they were completely open, she only breathed a sigh of relief after Nian Zhaoning got married.

Especially since the Ke family was not in B City but in A City, over a thousand kilometers away, she felt even more at ease.

But now Gu Sen's way of looking at someone through her made her very displeased; Song Shiwei asked, "Gu Sen, what exactly have you been looking at lately?"

"Song Shiwei, do you still remember what you looked like in your early twenties?" Gu Sen had lately been using the fifty‑year‑old Song Shiwei to view the just‑over‑twenty‑year‑old Song Shiwei.

He met Song Shiwei on the day after meeting a slew of family‑arranged blind dates, accompanying his parents and younger brother to visit his uncle who had just recovered from a serious illness.

There he saw the prim Song Shiwei standing beside her parents, wearing a goose‑yellow polka‑dot dress, white socks and shoes, a thick black braid hanging on her right shoulder, the braid's tip tied with a goose‑yellow ribbon, and a faint smile that resembled a meticulously cultivated yellow snow orchid.

Just like him.

Their gazes met, and both smiled and gave a slight nod.

Behind them, Song family parents prompted their daughter to greet him; Song Shiwei introduced herself: "My surname is Song, Song Shiwei. I was born during the drizzling season, and thus was given this name."

Her voice sounded unflinching, yet he still saw Song Shiwei's fingers tremble.

He also thought, "'Drizzling season' sounds poetic, but 'Shiwei' also carries the meaning of ill‑fated luck and a turbulent destiny."

He couldn't say that carelessly.

"My name is Gu Sen, the 'Sen' of the forest; my younger brother is Gu Hai, the 'Hai' of the ocean."

At that moment, that was enough to count as having met.

After staying at the uncle's house for half a day, he, already an official, spent a long time accompanying the elders in conversation, mostly listening, the dialogue revolving around the methods of governance and paths to promotion.

He listened attentively, and his mind kept turning.

When he sensed his brain about to smoke from over‑thinking, he found an excuse to go to the restroom to get fresh air, caught a light drizzle, and stood beneath the big tree in the courtyard, standing quietly for a while, and in his peripheral vision a splash of goose‑yellow appeared.

Song Shiwei came to his side, standing about half a meter away, and nervously asked, "Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be talking with the elders?"

He replied, "Talking has dried my throat."

Actually his ears were ringing, but his throat was indeed dry.

Then he saw Song Shiwei pull a small iron box from the side of her yellow dress; inside were multicolored fruit candies. He was surprised that the dress even had a pocket, and she handed the whole box of candy to him.

"Here, let it soothe your throat."

Just as the words left his mouth, someone walked toward them; he saw Song Shiwei hurriedly grab his arm, toss the candy box into his hand, and fled with a flushed face.

The person who arrived was Gu Hai.

Gu Hai asked why he was alone there; he was momentarily unable to process it, only recalling the soft touch on his wrist and Song Shiwei's flushed face.

When Gu Hai asked where the candy came from, he quickly clenched the small box and said, "Found it."

Gu Hai didn't believe him: "Don't tell me a little girl who wants to climb onto you sent it."

To a Gu family member raised to understand people's words from childhood, this was already quite blunt.

How could he not see Song Shiwei's little intention? Yet the whole box of candy not only soothed his throat, it was also quite sweet.

Gu Hai asked again whether any of yesterday's blind‑date candidates had caught his eye; none had, not because of looks nor because of compatibility, just something missing.

Moreover, who he favored didn't matter much; before arranging blind dates, the family had already pointed to a photo of the Tang family's miss and said she was the choice, the meaning couldn't be clearer.

First came the candy box, then accompanying his mother to a mall to pull fabric and look for a tailor to make clothes for the family, where they met the Song family of three buying ready‑made garments; Song Shiwei changed into a flowing blue dress and trousers, spun two circles before her parents, asked if she looked good, and the Song parents, in a sour mood, dismissed her.

He saw Song Shiwei's smile fade bit by bit, and the next second she obediently said her parents were right.

The next second their gazes collided again.

Perhaps because the side of her that had just deliberately pleased her parents was exposed, Song Shiwei's expression turned both shy and angry as she grabbed her parents to leave.

The Song parents saw him with his mother and didn't even greet him; this time Song Shiwei kept her head down, not daring to look at him.

He seized a pause in the elders' conversation to buy that set of ready‑made clothes, treating it as repayment for the candy box.

From start to finish, he and Song Shiwei never spoke a word.

He thought this fate had ended, but Song Shiwei, on the day before the whole family left B City, waited at a place he was sure to pass, blushing, fidgeting with her fingers, and asked him, "Gu Sen, do you have someone you like?"

His heart leapt suddenly.

The forest that had been silent for years seemed to be invaded by a deer.

He knew he had fallen for Song Shiwei, and also knew that under that big tree, Song Shiwei had intentionally approached, and that she had taken the trouble to wait for him here.

"If you don't dislike me, could you consider me? The moment I first saw you, I liked you."

A young girl, barely of age, boldly declared her feelings in broad daylight; she thought this person was brave.

As for that little scheming… in a family like the Gu's, excessive kindness is actually not a virtue. As a grown man busy with official duties, he couldn't be watching domestic affairs every day.

Never mind.

Why not follow his own heart this once?

He asked Song Shiwei when she was leaving; she misunderstood something, and at that moment her eyes were watery and her neck was flushed.

Song Shiwei couldn't finish the few words of embarrassment, and he opened his mouth to explain: "What I mean is, give me an address, and wait for my letter at home."

Song Shiwei's tears still fell, but they fell while she was laughing; after giving him the mailing address, she blushed and ran away.

Compared to the Gu family, the Song family is small-time, but Song Shiwei's father being able to come to B City to visit a leader already shows he has hopes of promotion; the family probably won't object much.

Gazing at that blue silhouette, he felt a hint of anticipation for marriage.