Chapter 72: Bad Seed
Gu Zhi looked at the dying old man on the hospital bed with her long, narrow eyes, feeling as if time had returned to the summer when she would cling to the old man, begging him to buy her a pet, and fanning him while he took his afternoon nap. But the old man was much older now, his bald head devoid of hair, hooked up to a respirator, his body on the hospital bed showing no signs of life.
But she was no longer the childish little girl she once was. A mole dotted the corner of her long, narrow eyes, and with a glance and a turn of her head, she seemed to possess a captivating charm. She had grown up. No one called her by her nickname, Aiai, anymore. She was Gu Zhi, the purest descendant of the Gu family.
Gu Zhi stood by the bed, finally understanding why the mansion had changed so much in the past year. The once-mighty patriarch of Qingchuan had ended up like this.
The Gu family was too large. So many people with Gu family blood wanted a piece of the pie. They paid a hefty price to keep the old man alive, yet they secretly hoped for this day to come sooner. The comical irony, upon closer inspection, was logically sound, as if this was how the world was supposed to be.
This was a relationship held together by kinship, as fragile as a piece of paper, easily torn.
But if loving someone was her reason for living, what kind of love could be a strong enough anchor to never change?
Gu Zhi felt that she probably didn’t understand what love was. Everything she had come into contact with, everything she had seen, was fragile. The nurse’s answer had left her confused. Who was the real anomaly?
Because of her excellent grades, she had been ostracized by her peers as a child. Because of her eccentric personality, she had been sent to a mental hospital… She always seemed to be the one on the other side, the different one, always…
So who was really at fault?
Of course, it was them!
A thick ink stained her pupils. Gu Zhi’s smile was somewhat twisted, a hoarse laugh escaping her throat. If there had been a conscious person in the room at that moment, they would not have believed that this was the usually well-behaved and obedient Gu Zhi.
For the family fortune, they wanted her to become a madwoman, so they sent her to a mental hospital. But how could they have known that the innocent girl was actually a complete madwoman, with a bloody desire for revenge hidden beneath her gentle, water-like surface? She hated disobedient things, and pain… was the most memorable sensation.
Gu Zhi stood by her grandfather’s bed, suddenly remembering the summer cicada she had crushed with her foot, its limbs and internal organs smearing a vivid ink painting on the rough concrete.
“Grandpa, how pitiful. Those beloved children of yours, who once sat at the family dinner table, what they held in their hands were not chopsticks, but sharp blades. And you… you were what they wanted to devour.”
Gu Zhi knew the old man couldn’t hear her, but she didn’t stop. “But don’t worry. I will make them obedient. The master’s things are not for the slaves to covet.”
Gu Zhi sat in the room for a while. It was the only room that had remained as it was when she left. She had lived in this mansion for seventeen years, had never been to school, had never made any friends. The farthest she had ever gone was to visit her parents’ graves on Qingming Festival.
“Gu Zhi, are you done looking? Grandpa still needs to rest. Why don’t you come out and discuss where you’re going with me?”
The woman knocked on the door, her voice shrill, as if she couldn’t wait any longer. She didn’t get a response, and her face showed undisguised annoyance. She was about to knock again when the door suddenly opened. The woman was stunned to see her well-behaved niece, her eyes filled with tears.
“You’re out.” The fat woman took two steps back, rubbing her short, stubby fingers, a greasy smile on her face. “So, have you thought about what you want to do for work?”
Gu Zhi nodded and said softly, “I’ll go somewhere far away.”
“Far away?” The fat woman was stunned for a moment, then her small eyes filled with joy. She quickly asked, as if afraid Gu Zhi would change her mind, “Then… what do you want to do? You like to read, right, Gu Zhi? How about I help you open a bookstore?”
“That’s too much trouble. I like it quiet.”
Gu Zhi shook her head, her eyes as calm as a ripple-less deep pool. “I’ve never been to school. I want to be a teacher. Although I don’t know how to teach, I know a little bit about medicine. I think I’m good enough to be a health teacher. I hope it’s not too much trouble for you, auntie.”
“No, no, of course not. It’s no trouble at all.”
The woman could barely contain her joy, her face flushed and oily. “Then… when do you want to leave?”
“Tomorrow. Grandpa is not in good health, so I won’t bother him any longer.”
“Good, good. Then you can go and see if there’s anything you want to take from the mansion. I’ll have someone pack it all up and send it over.”
Gu Zhi lowered her eyes and thought for a moment. The air in this mansion made her feel nauseous. There was probably nothing worth keeping. She said, “Can you please keep the few chains in my room for me? Xiao Chan is gone, so I’ll keep them as a memento. It’s not convenient to take them with me on a long journey. I hope you can keep them safe for me, auntie.”
“Of course, of course. I’ll always keep that room for you. You’re welcome to come back and stay for a few days anytime.”
“That’s good. On a sunny day, it would be even better if you could open the windows and let some sunlight in. Sorry to trouble you, auntie.”
Gu Zhi murmured softly, giving the woman a list of trivial matters she didn’t care about. Since leaving the hospital, the woman had not seen a single emotion in her barely adult niece that a girl of her age should have. Even the tears in her eyes had dried up at some point.
The woman was completely immersed in her inner joy. She thought she had gotten rid of her biggest enemy, cutting the root before the seed had even sprouted. From now on, she could rest easy.
…
On the day she left Qingchuan, it was drizzling. It was a cold and wet day. The exhaled breath quickly turned into a hazy mist. The dark clouds covered the entire sky, layer after layer, and not a single ray of light could be seen.
Gu Zhi carried a suitcase with a few changes of clothes and stood in the rain with a dark green umbrella. She wore a long dress that fell to her ankles, looking like a woman from a painting by a famous artist, exuding a heartwarming gentleness.
She looked down at the message on her phone. A large sum of money had been transferred from her private account to the young nurse’s account at the hospital. She had also included a short message: “Happy wedding. Thank you for your answer. I wish you and the person you love all the best.”
Gu Zhi closed her umbrella and got into the car that had been waiting for her by the roadside. The wheels splashed through the water on the ground. She looked back at the place where she had lived for seventeen years one last time, her dark eyes showing no trace of reluctance.
This was a temporary forbearance. Revenge would come as scheduled. They had forced her. Those people had forced the seed that should have been buried in the ground to sprout early. But they had not thought that she was a natural bad seed, destined to bloom with corrupt flowers, yet with a bewitching beauty, exuding a bloody, dark fragrance.
