A President’s Out-of-Body Experience

Renzi could only treat it as though Gu Xiaoshan was being supportive of him, and no longer felt angry. Also, Gu Xiaoshan was truly quite busy. He had been working overtime like crazy for the past two days, and would have a business trip in another two days. The night before he left, Gu Xiaoshan suddenly asked Renzi a question. “Do you remember how your mother looked like?”

Just listening to him mention her, Renzi’s eyes reddened. “I really can’t remember it.”

He could feel his tears coming up. “Am I very heartless?”

Gu Xiaoshan smiled, “No, you’re not. I can’t remember mine too.”

Gu Xiaoshan then left for his business trip, and did not contact Renzi for a few days. Renzi was pretty anxious, wanting to send Gu Xiaoshan a text, but afraid that Gu Xiaoshan would think of him as an “irritating girlfriend”. As such, he sent a text to Xu Yunyun instead, discreetly asking, “Is President Gu not in a good mood the past few days?”

Xu Yunyun’s reply was very vague. Renzi finally felt that something wasn’t right, and so found an opportunity to invite Hei Zi out for a meal. Hei Zi ran a few clubhouses, so he was well-informed. At the restaurant, Renzi asked Hei Zi, “Is Brother XiaoShan going through some issues these days?”

“Of course, isn’t the death of his biological mom considered an issue?”

Renzi turned pale with shock. “What did you say?!”

Hei Zi was shocked as well. “Huh? You didn’t know about it?”

Renzi finally felt the vast despair of “being the last person to know when a major incident happened to a good friend”.

He became even more remorseful, feeling that his previous actions had hurt Brother Xiaoshan, and was also very worried that Brother Xiaoshan was now having a very hard time. Returning home, he gave his dad a call. “Dad, do you know? Apparently Brother Xiaoshan’s mother has passed away!”

Old Mister Yu was astonished. “Huh? What? You only just learnt about it?”

Renzi was astonished as well. “Huh? What? You learnt about it long ago?”

Old Mister Yu was astonished. “Of course! If not?! Why else would I ask you to go over and stay with him! Go accompany him and comfort him more!”

Only after hearing it from his dad did Renzi learn that Gu Xiaoshan was not on a business trip, but was away for his mother’s funeral. The reason why Gu Xiaoshan was so busy before he left had to do with this as well.

Old Mister Yu felt that it was rather strange. “Aren’t the both of you pretty close? And you’re still staying with him right? Didn’t he say anything to you?”

Renzi’s heart sank. “He really didn’t.”

Old Mister Yu thought about it, “Hmm, since it’s like that, then you should treat it as though you don’t know anything.”

Renzi could not stop himself from retorting, “Such a big incident, how can I treat it as thought I don’t know anything?”

Old Mister Yu tried to advise him. “Since he didn’t tell you despite the fact that you’re staying with him, it shows that he doesn’t want to let you know, and doesn’t want to talk to you about it. If you insist on contacting him, aren’t you looking for trouble?”

Renzi’s heart seized. “No way, he must be very lonely now, I have to go look for him!”

Old Mister Yu scolded him. “That mourning hall has hundreds of people rushing there to fight over his mother’s estate, as if he’ll be lonely!”

Renzi could not help but reproach his dad. “Dad, your words are disrespectful to the dead.”

“That’s right! I’m scolding her! Bite me!”

Renzi choked.

Old Mister Yu continued. “You don’t know anything about the Gu family’s business, so I’m advising you not to step into it. Don’t think that Gu Xiaoshan is always smiling and laughing away, inwardly he’s not like that at all. Don’t disturb him, if not you’ll have the opposite effect.”

Renzi pondered over it. He felt that it was because he listened to his father’s advice and did not immediately confess to Gu Xiaoshan about the change in his sexual orientation, and hence made Gu Xiaoshan upset about it. He believed that if he had straight away come out of the closet to Gu Xiaoshan, for all he know Gu Xiaoshan might “return a favour for a favour”, and pour out his pain towards his mother’s death to him. It would not have resulted in the current situation, where they were now estranged, and could not talk to each other.

Therefore, Renzi decided to give up on his father’s “you guess that I guess that you guess if will I be able to guess what you’re guessing” method. He intended to follow his own heart, and use his sincerity to move Brother Xiaoshan.

So, Renzi obtained the venue of the mourning hall from the well-informed Hei Zi, and took a step on his journey of seeking true love — yes, a historical two hours long journey to seek true love. Because the high speed rail was really very fast.

After Renzi disembarked from the high speed rail, he barely took two steps before he received a call from Old Mister Yu. Renzi felt a little guilty, but still answered the call, only hiding his current location. Still, Old Mister Yu did not need him to tell him where he was, and so scolded him, “I asked you not to go, but you’re insisting on doing so?!”

Renzi stammered. “H-how did you find out?”

“You purchased the ticket with my credit card!”

Renzi was taken aback. “Ah, yes.”

Old Mister Yu sighed, “Since you’re there, I have to remind you about certain things. If not, you’ll end up making some careless remarks and offend others.”

Renzi was quite unhappy. “It’s a funeral, no matter how immature I am, I still know how to be respectful in that situation.”

“Do you know the identity of Gu Xiaoshan’s short-lived mother?”

In reality, Renzi was not too sure of who Gu Xiaoshan’s mother was.

Renzi had never met Gu Xiaoshan’s mother before, only knowing that his parents had divorced long ago and were not on speaking terms with one another. So he was full of curiosity, and naturally wanted to listen to Old Mister Yu talk about it. However, Old Mister Yu did not plan on telling him, he only hung up the phone and then emailed Renzi some information. When Renzi opened the email, newspaper articles appeared on his screen. He noticed an eye-catching shot of a woman in one of the articles — she could be considered extremely beautiful, and shared similar features with Gu Xiaoshan and Gu Xiaowu. These articles were published many years ago, belonging to the era when Old Mister Gu and Old Mister Yu were still young and youthful. The headline was also very attention grabbing: <Tang Guoguo Meets Her Love in a Private Clubhouse, Gu Ming: It’s a Rumour, I Trust My Wife>. Renzi frowned and scrolled downwards, only to see the next headline: <Tang Guoguo Has Been Shot Meeting a Hunk in a Hotel Room, Gu Ming Refuses to Comment>. Next came <Tang Guoguo Cheated While Pregnant, Now Infected with Syphilis>, <Pregnant Tang Guoguo with Syphilis Has a Smooth Delivery, Daughter is Healthy and Free From Infection>, <Gu Ming Has Sued for Divorce, Son Has Been Abused By Tang Guoguo>, <Tang Guoguo Refuses Divorce, Tries to Commit Suicide By Drowning In the Sea with Son>, and finally <Gu Ming’s Exhorbitant Divorce, Tang Guoguo Walks Away with A Billion Dollars>.

Renzi was aghast looking at all these headlines. He seemed to have found the reason why Gu Xiaoshan avoided going for beach holidays, as well as rarely swam. Other than these articles, nothing else was included in the email. Evidently, Old Mister Yu abhorred Tang Guoguo, and refused to say a word about anything that had to do with her.

Renzi reached the funeral venue, then realised that Old Mister Yu did not exaggerate when he said that there would be many people attending her funeral. According to Tang Guoguo’s non-existent limits to fooling around, and how she never took any precautions, there was bound to be many illegitimate children. Tang Guoguo’s luxury villa was surrounded by an iron fence, and there were many people yelling outside. Some said they were Tang Guoguo’s ex-husband, while others said they were Tang Guoguo’s children. There were also some who were not seeking her fortune, but reporters trying to get a story. There were even her nemeses celebrating outside. With the calls and shouting from the crowd, the scene was bustling with activity.

To prevent the entry of these people, there were many fierce-looking guards standing along the fence. Only then did Renzi registered that it might be difficult for him to enter this tightly-guarded villa. He thought about the articles he just read, and had to admit that the relationship between the Gu family and this lady was really very complicated. Coming here out of the blue was truly an embarrassing invasion of privacy. At that very moment, Old Mister Yu sent a text to him. “You should give Gu Xiaoshan a call. I’ve talked to him already, and told him that you’re here to offer condolences on my behalf.”

Looking at this short message, Renzi could put down the burden that he was starting to feel, and finally, without any worries, called Gu Xiaoshan.

Gu Xiaoshan was clearly busy. He asked him to go to the side door, and asked Xu Yunyun to bring him in.

When Xu Yunyun saw Renzi, she gave a slight smile. “It’s hard for you to have traveled such a long distance, it must have been troublesome. President Ren, I’ll help you with your luggage.”

Renzi was too embarrassed to let a lady help him with his luggage, and so insisted on carrying it himself. He asked her, “It seems like Sister Xiaowu isn’t here too?”

Xu Yunyun replied lightly, “President Gu wanted to make things more low-profile. He came alone, and I was the only one who accompanied him.”

After hearing this, for some reason, Renzi started feeling jealous of Xu Yunyun. However, he did not know how unwilling Xu Yunyun felt to have to do such troublesome and taxing things.

Xu Yunyun brought Renzi to the mourning hall. The mourning hall of the Tang villa was different from the ones Renzi had been before. It was not decorated in white, but according to Tang Guoguo’s wishes, bright colours were splashed around, and the wallpaper had the design of a gigantic lollipop. On it was an artistically written “I love Candy!” Candy happened to be the english name of Tang Guoguo. Tang Guoguo’s body was in a fairy-tale like crystal coffin, and fresh and colourful flowers were displayed around it. There was a placard, where Tang Guoguo had written “Babe, don’t ever cry for me.”

Clearly, there was also no one crying for her. Her relatives were all entertaining dark schemes, their motives written all over their face. Even the slow Renzi could see the ill intentions that they were harbouring. Gu Xiaoshan was also sitting in the visitors’ area. He was dressed in black and white, his expression solemn, and on his chest was a white rose. When he saw Renzi, he nodded slightly towards him, and did not say much.

Renzi cautiously and awkwardly bowed towards Tang Guoguo’s body, then retreated till he was next to Gu Xiaoshan. Gu Xiaoshan glanced at him, and a rarely-seen distance was evident in his eyes. Renzi’s heart chilled, Dad was right, he’s not happy that I’m here.

After the ceremony, Gu Xiaoshan stood up without a word, leaving the mourning hall with his hands in his pockets. Renzi hurried after him, only to be stopped by Xu Yunyun who was waiting outside. She smiled, “The next part is only for people who have blood relations with Mdm Tang.”

Renzi was slightly taken aback, and nodded his head with slight embarrassment. “Ok.”

Finding an unoccupied corner in the villa, Renzi stood there. He could not help but give his dad a call. “Brother Xiaoshan really didn’t pay me any attention.”

“I asked you not to go, but you insisted on doing so.”

Renzi sighed, “I’ve never seen him so cold before.”

Snorting, Old Mister Yu replied, “If not? Did you expect him to laugh and greet you with a ‘Hey, I’m glad you came today’?”