Chapter 68: Undercurrents
They took a group photo and then many individual commemorative photos. When they were tired, they went down the mountain and back to the guesthouse. The cable car incident had dampened their spirits a lot. They roughly looked at the scenic spots they hadn’t seen yesterday, then packed their luggage and prepared to go home.
They had planned to return the way they came, but An Zhi refused to take the bus again, clinging to her suitcase, saying the road was too steep and she got motion sick.
“But if we don’t take the bus, it’s hard to get a taxi in this kind of place.” Su Yu tried to persuade her. “We can just take some motion sickness pills and sleep.”
“No, no, no!” An Zhi bared her teeth, as if she wanted to bite Su Yu. She was like a cornered cat. “I’ll wait for a car to come. I’d rather die here than take the bus!”
Xia Qian Ge comforted An Zhi and said, “If Xiaozhi doesn’t like it, let’s just wait. We’re not in a hurry anyway.”
“Exactly, sister is so nice.” An Zhi immediately hid behind Xia Qian Ge, sticking her tongue out at Su Yu. “Pfft… you’re so mean.”
Su Yu rolled his eyes. He had become the bad guy.
After waiting for a long time, a taxi didn’t come, but a luxurious-looking car stopped steadily in front of them. Su Yu didn’t know much about cars, but he seemed to remember that the boss of his old company drove this brand of car. It was the kind of luxury car that always attracted attention on the street.
Compared to the luxury of the car, they looked like pathetic homeless people squatting on the side of the road. But the car window slowly rolled down, and Su Yu saw the cheeky smile behind the window, and suddenly felt that the car’s prestige had dropped a lot.
…
“Hey, you guys are really something, ditching me and taking a girl to play here.” Gu Chuan slammed the steering wheel, his righteous indignation making it seem as if Su Yu and the others had committed some heinous crime. “Do you know how I’ve spent the past two days? I was thinking of coming to find you, but I didn’t expect you to be going back today.”
“Didn’t you suddenly have something to do?” Su Yu smiled and opened the window of the passenger seat. The wind blew in, messing up his hair.
“Exactly, we couldn’t wait for just one person. We had already bought the tickets.”
Lu Siyuan pouted. “No drinking or smoking there. Could you have handled it?”
“Hmph, you’re no better. Tang Xin, you should stay away from him in the future. This guy is bad news!”
“Gu Chuan, I have to thank you for introducing me to Siyuan. But our friendship ends today. Forgive me for choosing love over friendship.”
Tang Xin deliberately teased Gu Chuan and then snuggled up to Lu Siyuan in the back. Gu Chuan’s face turned pale with anger, and everyone in the car laughed, making the atmosphere lively.
“Su Yu, why didn’t you back me up? I was late for a day because of you!”
“For me?” Su Yu raised his eyebrows in surprise. “What does it have to do with me?”
“Didn’t I meet my cousin Gu Zhi at the family dinner the other day? She later came to talk to me specifically about you. She said she was afraid of growing distant after not seeing you for so long. She’s quite concerned about you.”
Su Yu’s frown deepened. “Sister talked to you about me?”
“Um, Gu Zhi… who’s that?”
Xia Qian Ge, who had been silent in the car, suddenly spoke up, her voice tinged with a gentle curiosity. “Su Yu, do you know anyone else in Qingchuan?”
The lively atmosphere in the car suddenly faltered, falling into a strange silence.
Su Yu was stunned for a moment, then explained casually, “My old elementary school teacher. She transferred away, but I didn’t expect to meet her in Qingchuan.”
“Gu Zhi? You mean Teacher Gu? I know her. She’s our psychology teacher.” An Zhi, who had been playing on her phone, perked up and added, “She’s so pretty, and her voice is so gentle. I’ve never seen her get angry.”
“I see. What a coincidence.” Xia Qian Ge smiled and turned to look out the window again, the green scenery along the highway flashing past her dark pupils.
“Cough cough, my cousin said you can go to her if you have any problems in the future.” Gu Chuan coughed and brought the topic back. “Sigh, what I said last time was just me being paranoid. My cousin’s status in the family is quite high now. You don’t have to worry about those things.”
“Hmm? You little punk… why are you suddenly so concerned about me?” Su Yu looked at Gu Chuan with suspicion.
Gu Chuan’s lips twitched, his face looking sickly pale.
“Not at all. It’s just that my cousin specifically told me. You’ll have to find a job after graduation anyway. It’s not a bad thing to get closer to my cousin. Not many people have the opportunity to get close to her. It’s a chance.”
“Oh, if you put it that way, then I’m really lucky.”
Su Yu smiled noncommittally. He didn’t take Gu Chuan’s words to heart. No matter how bad things got in this life, he wouldn’t have to live under someone else’s roof and beg for help.
“By the way, my family just opened a new restaurant a few days ago. Since everyone is here, and there are a lot of us, let’s go together. It would be a waste not to take advantage of my dad’s generosity.”
“What restaurant? When did your family open a new restaurant?”
Tang Xin, leaning against Lu Siyuan, was curious. She leaned over and asked.
“Chunsi. My dad took it over these past two days.”
“Chunsi!”
Tang Xin’s eyes widened in disbelief. Her family also had a decent business in Qingchuan, and she was well-informed. She had heard of the name Chunsi. Her family would book a table there a month or two in advance for the annual meeting.
Although it was just an expensive restaurant, its influence and the money behind it were far beyond what a restaurant could measure. To be able to take over Chunsi from the Gu family, Gu Chuan’s father, Gu Lei, had probably risen several ranks in the family.
A sudden transfer of power must have involved some kind of deal behind the scenes. The Gu family’s internal strife had been going on for a long time. Even if Gu Lei had already taken a side, to give something so important to a member of the Gu family from an outside branch?
It was too absurd.
Unless… Tang Xin suddenly thought of the protagonist of the conversation just now, Gu Zhi. She had seen her once at a banquet, a gentle and beautiful woman. She vaguely felt that something was wrong, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
“What’s wrong, babe?”
Lu Siyuan saw Tang Xin spacing out in his arms and gently stroked her hair. “Are you spacing out? Motion sickness?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Just thinking about some family matters. It’s fine.” Tang Xin came back to her senses and smiled, calling out, “Since Young Master Gu is treating us, let’s not be polite. Let’s all go.”
“Okay, good food!” An Zhi was no longer dizzy from the car ride. She clapped her hands happily, her face flushed. “The boxed lunches in the scenic area were so bad. I was just thinking of eating something good after we get back to school.”
“An Zhi, let me tell you, the seafood at Chunsi is amazing.”
“Seafood?” An Zhi’s deer-like eyes widened, sparkling as if with light. “Gu Chuan, I’ll never curse you again. You’re so nice!”
An Zhi’s exaggerated demeanor made everyone in the car laugh. Gu Chuan glanced at Su Yu, who was smiling softly beside him, through the rearview mirror. He felt as if an invisible rope was tightening around his neck, making it hard to breathe.
He subconsciously pressed down on the gas pedal, and the car sped along the highway.
