kingnovel Chapter 1349 Yun Rui engraved his heart: The Gu family is in chaos
Chapter 1349 Yun Rui engraved his heart: The Gu family is in chaos
The rain in London was chilly, and the electric current from the overseas phone call stung Gu Mingcheng's eardrums.
The lawyer's intermittent voice came from the receiver, and every word was like a cold steel needle, piercing his already tense nerves - "... Mr. Gu, the inspector said the chain of evidence is complete, and the young master and the young lady may be extradited... Lao Zhang's testimony is very firm, and every detail can withstand scrutiny..."
With a "click", Gu Mingcheng's fingers holding the phone suddenly tightened, and the plastic edge of the old-fashioned dial pad hurt his palm.
He stood in the study of the Gu family's old house. The blue and white porcelain vase on the rosewood desk reflected his graying temples. It was made by Yunqian himself on his 60th birthday. The inscription of the word "peace" on the vase still had the light yellow color of the new wood.
"Impossible." His voice was as hoarse as sandpaper on rotten wood. "I know my children. They would never do such a thing."
The lawyer sighed on the other end, his voice filled with helplessness and fatigue: "Mr. Gu, the other party's plan is too detailed, I..."
The study door was gently pushed open, and Ye Muxue walked in with ginseng tea in her hand. Her eyes behind the silver-rimmed glasses were filled with worry: "Mingcheng, who are you talking to on the phone? You look so bad." Her voice was still soft in the morning, like a willow in spring, but she didn't notice the trembling of her husband's fingertips.
Gu Mingcheng abruptly hung up the phone, knocking over the pen holder on the corner of the table as he turned. The pens rolled to the floor, leaving dark marks on the carpet. "Nothing," he said, his voice dry and his eyes evasive, not daring to look at his wife. "Something's going on at the company."
Ye Muxue put down her ginseng tea and bent down to pick up a pen. Her fingers paused on a Parker pen—the one Yunqian had used in college, with the initials "GYQ" engraved on the cap. It was now tumbling to the bottom drawer of her desk, revealing half a sheet of newspaper that had been pressed down.
The headline on the front page of the newspaper was very eye-catching - "Britain's shocking spy case: Chinese-American brother and sister suspected of leaking core technology." In the photo, Yunqian and Yunxi were surrounded by police officers, walking through the flash lights with their heads lowered. The brother's suit was wrinkled and the sister's hair was messy. There was no trace of their former high spirits.
"What's going on?" Ye Muxue's voice suddenly rose, her fingers pinching the edge of the newspaper, her knuckles turning white and looking like they were about to break. She suddenly looked up at Gu Mingcheng, her glasses sliding down to the tip of her nose without her noticing. "Mingcheng, tell me, what happened to Yunqian and Yunxi? Is what's in the newspaper true?"
Gu Mingcheng looked at his wife's face which suddenly turned pale, and his throat seemed to be blocked by something, and he couldn't say a word.
He has experienced too many ups and downs in his life. When he was young, he fought bloody battles with his rivals in the business world. In his middle age, he overcame the crisis of the family business. He has never been as panicked as he is now.
"They were framed..." He spoke with difficulty, his voice so soft it sounded like a sigh, "There's a traitor in the company, and Lao Zhang is putting the blame on them for everything..."
"Old Zhang?" Ye Muxue stumbled back, bumping into a bookshelf. A row of hardcover books collapsed, thumping to the ground. "Is that Zhang Qiming, the man who's been with you for thirty years? How dare he..." Her voice suddenly choked, tears welling up without warning. "We've treated him well. Yunqian paid for his daughter's overseas studies... How could he do this to my child..."
"Calm down." Gu Mingcheng wanted to help her, but was pushed away by his wife.
"How can I stay calm?" Ye Muxue's tears slid down her cheeks, hitting the newspaper and smearing the ink. "That's our child! Yunqian has been sensible since he was a child, how could he be so absurd? Yunxi is so timid that he needed his brother to accompany him when he walked at night as a child... How could they be spies? How could those people slander them like this!"
Her voice grew louder and louder, filled with despair of collapse, like crushed glass, so sharp that it made one's heart tremble.
Gu Mingcheng looked at his wife's trembling shoulders and suddenly realized that the woman who was always elegant and calm had some white frost on her temples, and the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes became clearer in her tears.
"I'm going to find them!" Ye Muxue suddenly grabbed the shawl on the sofa, turned around and walked out, "I'm going to London, I want to tell those people that my child is innocent!"
"Wait a minute!" Gu Mingcheng held her back, his voice choked with sobs that he himself didn't even notice. "I can't go now. Scotland Yard won't let me visit... My lawyer said it's hard to even see him."
This sentence was like the last straw that broke the camel's back, completely crushing Ye Muxue. She stood there in a daze, staring out the window with empty eyes. Suddenly, her vision went dark and she fell down softly.
"Xiaoxue!" Gu Mingcheng exclaimed and hugged her. His wife's body was as soft as if she had no bones, and her breathing was so weak that it was almost imperceptible.
He frantically pinched his Ren Zhong acupoint and told Lin Junze to call an ambulance. His usually calm voice was now trembling.
The old house was instantly in chaos. The housekeeper stumbled to find the medicine box, the servants frantically called the emergency number, the paintings on the stairs were knocked over, the vases in the hallway were knocked over, and water stains spread along the cracks in the floor, like a crying face.
Gu Mingcheng sat on the sofa holding his unconscious wife, stroking her pale cheek with his fingertips, and suddenly felt very tired.
The century-old Gu family tree now resembled an old locust tree whipped by a violent storm. It appeared lush and leafy, but in reality its roots had long been hollowed out. Just one more push and it would collapse completely.
The sound of the ambulance sirens approached from afar, piercing the tranquility of the old house. When the medical staff brought in the stretcher, Gu Mingcheng saw that the jade bracelet on Ye Muxue's wrist was broken - it was the anniversary gift he gave her on their silver wedding anniversary. Well, he had been with her for so many years and never left her side.
"Mr. Gu, your wife is suffering from a heart attack due to anxiety, and her blood pressure is too high. She needs to be hospitalized immediately." The doctor's voice was calm and formulaic. "Please don't worry too much. Take care of yourself."
Gu Mingcheng nodded, watching the stretcher being carried out the door. He suddenly felt that he was the only one left in the empty living room. The clock on the wall ticked, as if counting down something, and every tick struck his heart.
He clutched his chest and coughed violently, a faint trace of blood seeping from between his fingers. He walked to the desk and opened the bottom drawer. Inside was a yellowed family photo - Yunqian had just started college, Yunxi and Yunshu were still young and youthful girls. He and Muxue stood in the middle, their eyebrows curved with smiles.
The sunlight in the photo was so warm, so warm it made his eyes sore. He remembered Yunqian's first salary, and how he bought Muxue a lipstick as red as fire; he remembered Yunxi receiving her Cambridge acceptance letter, hugging his neck and saying, "Dad, I'll protect you from now on." Those vivid memories now felt like knives, slicing through his heart.
Who is it? Who would do this to the Gu family? Who would do this to his children?
Gu Mingcheng's fingers gently stroked the photo, his gaze fixed on the old locust tree in the background. It was the symbol of the Gu family estate, witnessing the joys and sorrows of four generations. Last year, during a typhoon, a main branch had been blown off. At the time, he had lamented, "A tall tree attracts the wind," a prediction that would prove to be a prophecy.
The sky outside the window gradually darkened, and the dark clouds were so low that it seemed as if they were about to collapse.
Gu Mingcheng looked at the empty living room and for the first time felt a deep sense of loneliness. He knew that the Gu family was like a small boat in a stormy sea, ready to capsize at any moment...