Chapter 3: The Day Everything Changed

On the bed inside the room, Wei Yeban rolled over.

Gu Qingnan had no time to think any further and hurriedly entered the room.

Ever since the incident, Wei Yeban had suffered from nightmares every night for a long time, crying and thrashing throughout the entire night whenever they struck.

Recently, such occurrences had become less frequent, yet they still happened occasionally.

Wei Yeban was not having a nightmare; he had simply turned over.

Gu Qingnan felt the weight lift from his heart.

He lay down on the bed and switched off the light.

“Good night.”

***

The next day, when Gu Qingnan went downstairs, the helper was carrying dishes to the table.

The food was prepared for only one person.

Gu Qingnan recalled that phone call from the night before.

“Did Wei Nianxi not come back last night?” Gu Qingnan asked.

The helper paused for a moment; it had been quite a while since Gu Qingnan stopped pestering Wei Nianxi all day long.

Recalling what Gu Qingnan had done during Wei Nianxi’s pregnancy, she could barely conceal the shift in her gaze, though she still answered with a smile, “No, he didn’t.”

Gu Qingnan nodded and ate his meal.

Wei Yeban’s condition had indeed been quite good these past two days.

When Gu Qingnan finished his breakfast and went upstairs to relieve Shen Qing so she could eat, the boy had departed from his habit of clinging solely to the little rabbit, and for once had three plush dolls lined up in front of him.

He stroked this one for a moment and fiddled with that one the next, looking quite busy, though it was impossible to tell what he was actually busy with.

After Shen Qing left, Gu Qingnan looked around, picked up a charming, light blue plush beast, and sat down in front of him.

“Woof, woof…” Gu Qingnan manipulated the plush beast to walk past Wei Yeban’s three dolls, trying to catch the boy’s attention.

Wei Yeban did not even lift his head.

“Hello there.” Gu Qingnan took the initiative, making the plush beast stop in front of the three dolls.

“What are you playing? May I join?”

Wei Yeban remained entirely immersed in his own world.

Gu Qingnan was not discouraged, maneuvering the plush beast nearby, letting it stroll one moment and dash around the next.

Just as the little beast was having fun, it ran into villains.

Two other dolls spotted it, intending to snatch the bell hanging around its neck.

The little beast naturally refused, sternly warning them before turning to leave, but the two bad dolls lunged forward, actually attempting to rob it by force.

At first, the little beast was ambushed and knocked down, but it quickly scrambled back to its feet.

It was exceedingly formidable, and in no time at all, it sent those two bad dolls flying.

Having won, the little beast looked triumphantly at Wei Yeban and his three dolls beside him.

“See that? I am very good at fighting.”

“As long as you become my friends, I will protect you from now on, and I promise no bad guys will ever bully you…”

Wei Yeban acted as if he had heard nothing at all.

“Pfft…” A soft laugh came from the side.

Gu Qingnan looked over and saw that Shen Qing had returned at some point, leaving him unsure how much of his childish performance she had witnessed.

“Sorry, please continue,” Shen Qing said hastily upon noticing Gu Qingnan’s embarrassment.

“This is actually very good; it’s much easier for him to understand…”

“Mm.” Gu Qingnan gently rubbed Wei Yeban’s head.

Wei Nianxi was always busy, so it had always been Gu Qingnan who spent more time accompanying Wei Yeban.

Although a two-year-old child had a limited vocabulary and somewhat clumsy movements, he had already been able to talk and run around.

Before the incident, apart from attending classes, Wei Yeban’s favorite thing to do had been trotting after him while calling him “Daddy” over and over, so well-behaved that it melted anyone’s heart.

On the day of the incident, Wei Nianxi rarely had some free time, and since Gu Qingnan had a minor issue to handle at the company, he left Wei Yeban in Wei Nianxi’s care.

Not long after he left, Wei Nianxi also went out due to an unexpected emergency.

By the time Gu Qingnan received the phone call, Wei Yeban had already been missing for nearly an hour.

Upon learning the news, he immediately dropped everything in his hands and rushed home, simultaneously trying to contact Wei Nianxi.

Wei Nianxi was in a meeting, and his phone could not be reached at all.

Amid immense panic, he forced himself to stay calm, trying to reach Wei Nianxi while dispatching everyone to search and reporting the matter to the police.

It was another hour before he managed to get in touch with Wei Nianxi, by which time the police had already identified the suspect through nearby surveillance footage.

The suspect was a potbellied man in his fifties who had entered through the gates by following the family’s cook inside.

He had presumably come looking for Wei Nianxi, even carrying gifts, but Wei Nianxi was not home at the time.

Wei Yeban had been playing in the courtyard, and in the brief moment it took the servant watching him to fetch a baby bottle from the living room, the man had snatched the child away.

Ji Wen recognized the man at first glance.

The Wei family possessed numerous industrial supply chains, and their overall sales and reputation had consistently remained strong; however, a large quantity of defective items had suddenly surfaced in one of their products a while ago.

Wei Nianxi immediately launched a strict investigation, which eventually traced back to that man.

The man’s company had been supplying goods to the Wei family, but likely feeling he was not making enough profit, he began passing off substandard goods as quality ones half a year earlier.

Wei Nianxi could never tolerate deceit, especially when the defective batch was valued at nearly ten million, so the man’s outcome had been completely predictable.

The police were exceedingly efficient; once they confirmed the suspect’s identity, they tracked down his exact hiding location within an hour, and in less than thirty minutes after that, they guided everyone to the abandoned factory where the suspect was hiding.

However, the development of events spiraled entirely out of control.

Kidnapping Wei Yeban had been a spur-of-the-moment decision by the man; after taking the child back, he immediately summoned two thugs who used to work for him, planning to pull off one massive score before fleeing.

Yet both sides ended up arguing over dividing the spoils.

Afterward, no one knew who shoved whom first, but the situation immediately descended into uncontrollable violence.

When they barged in alongside the police, the man was already dead.

Inside the factory remained only the two thugs he had recruited for help, a corpse mangled beyond recognition by a cutting machine, and Wei Yeban, who was utterly terrified and sobbing so hard he could scarcely breathe.

Likely fearing that the piercing cries would give away their location, one of the thugs was covering Wei Yeban’s mouth with a bloodstained hand just as they burst in.

At that time, the gruesome and bloody scene shocked even the adults, let alone a child who was barely two years old…

The two thugs had not anticipated that the police would arrive so swiftly, and by the time they reacted and tried to resist, they had already been subdued.

Wei Yeban was covered in blood.

After retrieving the child, Gu Qingnan and Wei Nianxi immediately took Wei Yeban for an examination.

The results arrived quickly: while Wei Yeban had no obvious external injuries, there were distinct strain and sprain marks along his inner arms.

During the infighting, those men had clearly fought over Wei Yeban with considerable force.

It was also at that moment that Gu Qingnan finally could not hold back and had a furious argument with Wei Nianxi.

After being rescued, Wei Yeban soon cried himself to exhaustion and fell asleep, leading Gu Qingnan to believe the ordeal was over, but it was only the beginning.

After nearly a week of high fever and incessant crying spells subsided, the Wei Yeban who woke up was visibly abnormal.

Afterward came endless examinations and consultations…

Once Wei Yeban was diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder, Gu Qingnan did not speak a single word to Wei Nianxi for a very long time.

Yet Wei Nianxi was ultimately Wei Yeban’s other father, so matters concerning his treatment could never be entirely avoided.

“Daddy will protect you properly in the future as well.”

Gu Qingnan stroked Wei Yeban’s head softly, one gentle brush at a time.

Wei Yeban kept his head lowered the entire time, leaving it uncertain whether he had absorbed any of it.

Gu Qingnan curled his lips into a smile, picked up the little plush beast from the floor, and continued his childlike performance.

In the afternoon, Gu Qingnan went to the company as usual.

At the front desk, Fu Lichun had abandoned her usual routine of cracking melon seeds and watching dramas, standing up immediately the moment she saw someone enter.

Upon recognizing him, Fu Lichun’s smile froze for an instant, the resentment in her eyes completely unmistakable.

Gu Qingnan ignored her.

Not many people usually visited the headquarters, but it was hardly so idle that a receptionist representing the company’s public face could spend every day cracking melon seeds and watching dramas.

He had warned her before, but Fu Lichun had disregarded it entirely.

Going upstairs and entering the room, a wave of cool air greeted him immediately.

The air conditioner had indeed been repaired.

Gu Qingnan smiled wryly.

His words as a manager carried less weight than those of a secretary.

After taking a brief rest, Gu Qingnan began handling documents.

The Wei family possessed extensive businesses, and the line he worked on mainly dealt with electronic products.

This company served as a headquarters for this line, yet research, development, and after-sales services all had dedicated departments, and there were dozens of branch subsidiaries under it; his workload was actually not heavy, consisting mainly of overseeing shipments, reconciling accounts, and approving large operational reimbursements.

A fair amount of that required paper documentation.

With the air conditioning working, Gu Qingnan’s efficiency spiked, and barely an hour had passed by the time he finished.

Just as Gu Qingnan packed his belongings and prepared to head back, his phone rang.

Gu Qingnan glanced at the caller ID and chose not to answer.

As he walked downstairs, the phone rang for the second time.

When Gu Qingnan got into the car, the phone rang for the third time.

Not wanting to bring negative emotions home, Gu Qingnan answered the call inside the car.

– “Why did you take so long to pick up?”

Gu Shenghai said on the other end of the line, sounding distinctly displeased.

– “What is it?”

– “Wei Nianxi has a press conference in a couple of days, so get me two invitations.”

– “I heard this launch is a grand event and that most of the high society in Weicheng will attend, so I want to take Xiaoyue to check it out.”

– “Wei Nianxi is on a business trip and isn’t home.”

Gu Shenghai was the eldest son of Gu Qingnan’s eldest uncle, Gu Zhenyue, making him Gu Qingnan’s older cousin.

Gu Shengyue was Gu Shenghai’s younger brother.

Unlike Gu Qingnan and Gu Shenghai, Gu Shengyue was a Ge’er who had grown up remarkably handsome, and thus had always been cherished like the jewel of the family by Gu Shenghai’s household.

Especially after Gu Qingnan entered a marriage alliance with Wei Nianxi, the family invested even more lavishly in him, hoping he would marry into wealth and give the Gu family another boost.

That expectation had originally been placed on Gu Qingnan, but he had proven utterly useless.

– “My friend saw him near the Jiayue Hotel after two in the morning last night.”

– “Your friend mistook someone else for him,” Gu Qingnan said.

Pausing briefly, he added before Gu Shenghai could speak again, – “He doesn’t listen to me, as you all know very well, so I can’t help you.”

– “You—”

Gu Shenghai changed his tone at the tip of his tongue.

– “My mother said she misses you and wants you to bring the child home to stay for a few days.”

Gu Qingnan paid him no heed.

– “If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.”

– “Don’t you forget who paid for your mother’s medical treatment in the first place—”

Gu Qingnan hung up the call before he could finish.

An emaciated, skeletal face surfaced in his mind.

Gu Qingnan gripped the steering wheel and held his breath.

Only after a long while did he exhale that trapped breath.

He put down his phone and started the car.

***

After parking in the underground garage and taking the lift upstairs, Gu Qingnan quickened his pace toward Wei Yeban’s room.

He desperately wanted to hold Wei Yeban in his arms.

Wei Yeban was his only concern now, and only by staying beside Wei Yeban could he completely unwind and feel alive.

The door opened, and an unexpected figure appeared before his eyes.

Wei Nianxi was watching Wei Yeban play.

Gu Qingnan’s footsteps faltered for a moment.

‘Didn’t Wei Nianxi go out of town?’

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