Chapter 364: Chapter 364: It turns out that he was once engaged to Ye Mengyan_1
 

This revelation left me utterly shocked.

I had never known.

Gu Yuanzhou and Ye Mengyan had such a history together?

When was he being chased to be killed?

No wonder he chose Ye Mengyan first among that group of poor college students—was it to repay a debt of gratitude?

Why didn’t he tell me?

I wanted to find out more, but these people seemed to realize the topic was getting too sensitive.

So they changed the subject.

After the meal was served, I joined the Shen family’s relatives for dinner.

An hour later, when I left, Mother Shen gave me a red envelope.

Once outside, I opened the red envelope and counted it—ten thousand and one yuan.

I asked Shen Yishu with a smile,

“What’s the meaning of this?”

“It means ‘one in ten thousand.’ It means my mom is very satisfied with you! She hopes you can become the daughter-in-law of the Shen family!”

“Hahaha, well then… I’m afraid she’s going to be disappointed, I’m already someone’s wife! Okay, here, take this back, my mission is accomplished.”

I handed the red envelope back to Shen Yishu.

I was just playing a guest role, not the lead; it wouldn’t be right for me to take this money.

Shen Yishu took out his car keys,

“Let me drive you back!”

“No need, I’m not going back, I’ve got some errands to run! I’ll go back later.”

“Where are you going? It’s getting late…”

“Oh, it’s nothing, I already called a car online.”

The ridesharing car arrived quickly.

As I was about to get into the car, Shen Yishu caught up with me,

“Xiaoyun, you still don’t trust me. What do I need to do for you to consider me your best friend?”

I waved at him,

“You overthink it, I actually trust you quite a lot, we’ll always be friends.”

With that, the car drove away.

Shen Yishu stood there, watching me go.

The driver chuckled,

“Miss, that young man clearly doesn’t just want to be your friend; he wants to be someone more important in your life.”

I chuckled lightly in response,

“There’s no fate there; some people are meant to just be friends for life. Master, please take me to City First Hospital.”

Half an hour later.

The car stopped at the entrance of City First Hospital.

It was about ten o’clock at night by this point.

Ye Mengyan had taken me here before, when Mother Ye was hospitalized.

I bought some fruit baskets and then walked into the ward.

At this time, Ye Mengyan was not here, only her mother lay alone on the hospital bed.

Her face was sallow, her eyes shut tight. After I called to her twice, she finally opened her eyes, and it took a long while before she recognized me.

“You’re here for Mengyan, aren’t you? She’s working the night shift outside, and will only come over tomorrow.”

“Auntie, I want to ask you about your involvement with Mr. Gu.”

Upon hearing this, tears started flowing down Ye’s mother’s cheeks. Clearly, she already knew about Gu Yuanzhou’s execution.

“He’s gone. What’s the point of bringing this up now?”

I fell silent.

“I understand that Gu Yuanzhou sponsored Ye Mengyan’s education?”

“Yes, indeed! He was a truly good man. He showed utmost kindness to Mengyan. It’s Mengmeng who wasn’t satisfied and wanted more.”

“I heard… that you once saved Gu Yuanzhou’s life!”

I asked as calmly as I could.

“Who told you that? That happened so many years ago—I reckon nearly twenty years! Mengmeng was only two or three years old at the time.”

“I overheard some people in the village discussing it.”

“Oh, I see. Sigh, our village is so small, a little news spreads to everyone.”

“It’s not a bad thing. You don’t have to mind it.”

Encouraged by my consolation,

Ye’s mother pondered for a long time before she slowly began to speak.

“Indeed, there was such an event, but it happened a long time ago. Let’s see, it’s been about twenty years. It was a winter morning, heavy snow had fallen, and when I got up to clean the courtyard, I saw a boy lying in the snow, bloodied and frozen stiff. It was just getting light, and there were no adults around. I called out a few times, but no one answered, so I carried him into the house.”

“Then I called Mengmeng’s father to get up; we made a fire, boiled some water, gave him a bit to drink, and used a warm towel to wipe down his body. We later called a doctor from our community to stitch up his wounds. The boy was lucky to be alive. We were very poor at that time and didn’t have much to give him, just some millet porridge every day, and we saved the eggs from our silly chicken, which we couldn’t bear to sell, for him to eat. After nursing him for a month like that, he surprisingly recovered.”

I nodded, “And after that?”

“The boy was very quiet and wouldn’t speak. No matter what we asked, he said nothing… However, the news quickly spread throughout the village. Some knowledgeable elders in the village commented that there was an air of nobility about the boy’s features and that he must have come from a wealthy family. They suggested we establish a kinship with him. Back then, we didn’t have a male child in the family, so we thought when he grew up, he could marry into the Ye Family. So, without consulting anyone, we arranged a child betrothal between him and Mengyan. But he only stayed with us for half a year before he disappeared. We had no idea where he came from or where he went.”

I nodded again, utterly astonished to discover that Gu Yuanzhou was child-betrothed to Ye Mengyan.

“Later on, after you found Gu Yuanzhou, did you ever bring up the betrothal and ask him to fulfill it?”

“Ah, no, how could we dare… We had no idea who he was before. It was when Mengmeng started university that she said a benefactor sponsored her, a man named Gu Yuanzhou. But later Mengmeng mentioned that he was already married and had a family. I thought that since the child betrothal was arranged by us adults and the child did not understand such things back then, it didn’t really count. And since he was married, we couldn’t very well disturb his family. So I told Mengyan to forget the idea and not to destroy someone else’s family…”

Ye Mother’s words were a revelation to me.

So that was the truth.

Why had he never told me about it?

Ye’s mother was right, the child betrothal wasn’t something Gu Yuanzhou had decided himself, nor did it carry any legal weight.

Even if he had told me, I wouldn’t have held him accountable, would I?

Why didn’t he say anything?

What was his reason?

After talking to Ye’s mother, when I stepped out of the corridor, I happened to see Ye Mengyan pleading with the doctor,

“Dr. Zhou, please give me a few more days’ grace. I really will find a way to make up my mother’s medical expenses.”

“No, you’ve been delaying for a month; if you don’t pay up, we’ll process her discharge tomorrow. Our hospital isn’t a charity!”

Although I had intended to leave, I instead went around to the outpatient hall to pay and settled all the medical bills for Ye’s mother.

Since she had saved Gu Yuanzhou’s life all those years ago, I might as well treat this as a way to repay her favor on Gu’s behalf.

After walking out of the hospital’s main gate, I shockingly realized that the envelope containing Gu Yuanzhou’s letters, given to me by Zhou Chenming, was inadvertently left in Shen Yishu’s car.