Will you accompany me to meet someone this weekend

Chapter 5

Bidding farewell to Little Fatty, whose face clearly said "I don't believe you," Gu Ran walked with brisk steps toward the "house" in his memory.

The reason he called it a house was that, in Gu Ran's heart, it could hardly be considered a home.

After all, whose home had an atmosphere that was terrifyingly oppressive?

This house was located in the county's newest and most impressive real estate development, Riverside Garden.

With three bedrooms and one living room, it was considered a very large layout for County A at this time.

As for the residential community's landscaping, in the words of an old man downstairs, "Hey, it's so good that it makes people envious. Standing inside the house, you can even see the river dam nearby. The scenery is simply unbelievably beautiful!"

The sight before him felt somewhat unfamiliar, because in his previous life, Gu Ran had lived here for less than two years in total.

This house was bought by Lao Gu with a mortgage during his sophomore year of high school, but after he went to college, he never came back.

The old house full of memories, however, had been sold by Lao Gu to supplement the family's expenses.

His maternal grandparents had long passed away, and the last place where he could reminisce about his mother had also been taken away.

Later, when he heard that Lao Gu's purpose for buying a new house was to remarry, the little flame of rebellion in his heart could no longer be contained.

So from then on, he never returned to this so-called "home."

Standing at the gate of the Riverside Garden community, Gu Ran felt a complex mix of emotions.

The brisk steps he had taken when leaving the school became increasingly heavy the closer he got, as if his feet were filled with lead. Every step forward required immense courage.

He paced back and forth for a long time, his mind filled with a myriad of thoughts.

Ultimately, he convinced himself to let go of that so-called youthful impulsiveness.

Burying his chaotic thoughts deep in his heart, he mustered the courage and took that difficult step toward the community gate.

The thought of his previous life, where his opposition had hindered Lao Gu's right to pursue happiness and left the old man all alone, filled his heart with guilt.

After gathering his thoughts, he relaxed, slowly walked into the community, and went upstairs.

As soon as he entered the door, he saw Lao Gu already sitting on the sofa reading a newspaper.

Seeing him come in, Lao Gu gave him a faint glance, looking as calm as could be.

Although he didn't say a word, it felt like everything had been said.

For some reason, Gu Ran seemed to understand the look in his eyes.

This kid must have skipped evening self-study again!

Was that what it meant?

Staring at the newspaper in his hands, Lao Gu found that he could no longer take in a single word.

He sighed silently in his heart, feeling a bit ashamed toward his late wife.

Over the years, he had been so focused on work that he hadn't educated their child well.

He wanted to guide Gu Ran, but whenever the words came out, they always sounded like orders.

This incorrect way of communication only fueled Gu Ran's rebelliousness, and the father and son had argued plenty of times before because of his way of speaking.

By now, he was a bit reluctant to speak, afraid of starting another argument.

"You're back," he said somewhat sternly, as if being a father meant he had to keep a straight face.

Gu Ran felt a wave of daze. It seemed... like a very, very long time since he had heard Lao Gu's voice.

For some unknown reason, he suddenly felt the urge to cry.

He turned to look at Gu Xiangcheng on the sofa. Right now, Lao Gu's hair hadn't turned white yet, and there weren't many wrinkles on his face.

Wearing a pair of silver-rimmed glasses, along with a white shirt and black dress pants, calling him Director Gu would not be an exaggeration at all.

Gu Ran stared blankly at Gu Xiangcheng's face. Unknowingly, his throat began to tighten, and his eyes grew slightly moist, but he quickly lowered his head and started changing his shoes, trying to hide his unusual behavior.

"Yeah, I'm back, Dad..."

His hoarse voice produced a muffled sound, and his words trembled slightly.

After he spoke, Gu Xiangcheng, holding the newspaper, was visibly stunned. He looked up in surprise at the figure by the door, his mood becoming inexplicably complicated.

This brat...

How long had it been since he had spoken to him so calmly...

Although he was surprised by the boy's change, his long-standing speaking habits made it hard for him to let his guard down.

Even though he wanted to ease the tension with his son, his words still carried a hint of strictness when they came out: "Hmm... haven't eaten yet?"

Gu Ran was already used to this kind of "reserve" from Lao Gu.

If Lao Gu were to speak to him gently one day, he would actually find it unnatural.

"Not yet," Gu Ran replied casually.

"I saved some food, go heat it up... Never mind, I'll go fix it for you. Go back to your room and study hard."

Halfway through his sentence, Lao Gu put down the newspaper and walked into the kitchen.

Even though he knew his son's grades were nothing to boast about, he still maintained the earnest expectations of a father.

"Okay, thanks, Dad," Gu Ran mumbled, speaking somewhat stiffly.

Hearing this, Lao Gu froze completely, standing there in astonishment. It took him a long while to recover.

But in the end, he replied expressionlessly, "Just focus on your studies."

This awkward conversation came to an end, and Gu Ran fled back to his room as if running for his life.

He pushed open the window in his room, stepped onto the small balcony, and rested his hands on the railing. Looking at the river dam in the distance, he took a deep breath of the fresh outside air.

It was a bit awkward, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help turning up.

It really wasn't that hard to talk nicely, was it!

He had no idea what he had been so stubborn about in his previous life...

He shook his head, went back to his desk, pulled out his chair, sat down, and braced himself to open his math textbook.

But it was still incredibly profound and obscure!

Even though his memory was top-notch now, math was truly a mysterious thing. If you didn't get it, you just didn't get it...

Five minutes...

Ten minutes...

Scratching his head in frustration, he slammed the book shut, silently calculating in his mind that he needed to find a tutor.

Otherwise, if he kept studying on his own like this, his math score wouldn't be much higher than in his previous life.

His foundation in math couldn't be described as poor; it was practically non-existent...

Patting his head, he opened his biology textbook instead.

As the arts subject among the sciences, he was still pretty good at getting high scores just by memorizing knowledge points...

Before long, there was a knock on the door, followed by Lao Gu's inherently strict-sounding voice from outside: "Food's ready, come out and eat."

He could tell that Lao Gu had deliberately tried to sound gentler, but the change wasn't very noticeable.

Gu Ran smiled faintly, put down his textbook, walked out of the room, and sat down at the dining table.

Lao Gu, who had already eaten, saw his son sit down, thought for a moment, and then served himself a little rice to sit with him.

Seeing the old man's unnatural movements, Gu Ran shook his head silently in his heart.

Even with the intention to mend their relationship, their long-standing antagonism made it hard for both of them to adapt to this long-lost harmony all at once.

Sigh, whatever, it's better to just act naturally...

Having made up his mind, Gu Ran lowered his head and started eating.

Come to think of it, this was the first time in over ten years he had eaten a meal cooked by Lao Gu. He wondered how it tasted...

The next second, the thoughts in Gu Ran's mind came to an abrupt halt, and his face gradually turned green.

He didn't know whether to keep chewing the food in his mouth or just spit it out outright.

Silently looking up at his elderly father, he ultimately forced himself to swallow it down to avoid hurting the man's pride.

If having this meal together today hadn't been a spur-of-the-moment decision, he would have suspected that Lao Gu had poisoned him in advance!

How could it possibly taste this awful?!

Sigh, this old man had lived all by himself in his past life. He really had it rough...

While Gu Ran's thoughts were running wild, Lao Gu, sitting across from him, pondered for a long time.

Seeing his son in a shockingly good mood tonight, he decided to seize this hard-won opportunity. After remaining silent for a good while, he tentatively spoke up, "This weekend, come with me to meet someone..."