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Bai Yuesheng wanted to say more, but Lu Xunmei gently persuaded him, "Be good. Look how badly you're hurt—it breaks Auntie's heart just seeing it. Nothing is more important than your health. Be good and go to the hospital. Let's get you a full physical first."

At that, Lu Xunmei gave a faintly amused glance at Bai Yuesheng's mother, who had not said a word since Lu Xunmei returned. "Although Yuesheng was an uninvited guest this time, he was injured at our Gu Family Mansion. Our family should cover the medical expenses. Tao Li, you don't object to that, do you?"

Tao Li gave an awkward smile. "What objection could I possibly have?"

"Good." Lu Xunmei smiled slightly. "It seems my son is still quite reasonable. I hope the adults can set a good example for the children too."

At Lu Xunmei's words, Tao Li and Bai Yanliang's expressions shifted slightly.

But Lu Xunmei paid no further attention to the Bai family of three and ushered Gu Jiuque into one of the ambulances. Gu Yugui had originally planned to drive after them, but Gu Jiuque remembered that, in his previous life, his parents had been in a car accident on the way to take him to the hospital. He refused to agree. "I'm worried you'll be too distracted and something might happen on the road. Don't drive."

Gu Dad spat three times in a row and snapped, "What nonsense are you talking about, kid?"

"Anyway, you are not allowed to drive to the hospital tonight!"

Gu Jiuque was adamant, wholly focused on helping his parents avoid their misfortune. He completely failed to notice Bai Yuesheng, lying in the other ambulance, watching him thoughtfully.

Under Gu Jiuque's stubborn, almost neurotic insistence, Gu Yugui finally gave in. He called a taxi with Grandpa Gu and Grandma Gu to go to the hospital and accompany Gu Jiuque for a full physical examination.

Worried that Grandma Gu's heart condition might recur, Gu Jiuque insisted that Grandpa Gu and Grandma Gu get checked as well.

Grandma Gu found it troublesome. "I just had a full physical six months ago—"

"You said it yourself," Gu Jiuque patiently persuaded her. "That was six months ago."

Seeing the gentle yet stubborn look in their grandson's eyes, Grandma Gu and Grandpa Gu relented.

Watching the elderly couple enter the ECG room with their examination forms, Gu Jiuque turned his gaze once more toward Gu Yugui and Lu Xunmei, both of whom looked energetic and robust.

Gu Dad and Gu Mom immediately sensed trouble and were about to refuse when Gu Jiuque said, "We're already here..."

Under Gu Jiuque's patient persuasion, all five members of the Gu family underwent full physical examinations. They simply stayed in the hospital that night.

In the middle of the night, unable to sleep, Gu Jiuque got up and left the ward after his family had fallen asleep. He did not quietly return until more than an hour later. The next morning, after the Gu family of five received all their test results, they returned home in perfect health.

The blaze had already been completely extinguished. Thanks to the timely firefighting efforts, only the Western Wing where Gu Jiuque had stayed had been more than half burned down. The scene was a mess, but compared to the two fires Gu Jiuque had experienced in his previous life, they had been very fortunate.

Looking at his healthy, unharmed family beside him, Gu Jiuque was deeply satisfied.

The cause of the fire was also found.

Chapter 6

After Gu Jiuque and Bai Yuesheng were sent to the hospital, the fire department dispatched specialists to conduct a preliminary investigation of the fire scene. Based on the traces at the scene, they determined that a beer bottle had knocked over the jade incense burner on the table. Ash spilled from the burner and ignited the books on the table and the wooden furniture in the room. Because the only person in the room had been dead drunk, the fire was not discovered in time, causing it to spread and intensify.

When Bai Yuesheng saw the official fire investigation report, he was completely dumbfounded. He could not believe that the Gu Family Mansion had truly burned because of him. Remembering how Gu Jiuque had repeatedly said he would send him to prison, eighteen-year-old Bai Yuesheng burst into tears on the spot.

"I really didn't do it on purpose! You have to believe me!" Bai Yuesheng sobbed, tears streaming down his face. "Gu Jiuque and I have been best friends since childhood, and our families have been neighbors for so many years. How could I deliberately set fire to the Gu Family Mansion? Besides, I was in the room too! I was drunk at the time and had no idea there was a fire. Gu Jiuque risked his life to drag me out of that burning room. If I had set the fire on purpose, wouldn't I have burned myself to death too?"

"I'm only eighteen! Why would I want to throw my life away like that?" Bai Yuesheng cried as he defended himself, desperately trying to prove that he had no motive for arson.

The investigator responsible for determining the cause of the fire patiently asked, "Why did you sneak into the Gu family's home to drink?"

If the beer bottles Bai Yuesheng had secretly brought into the Western Wing of the Gu Family Mansion had not knocked over the jade incense burner on the table, this fire might never have happened. So Gu Jiuque's accusations that Bai Yuesheng had trespassed, caused trouble while drunk, and deliberately committed arson were not without basis.

Bai Yuesheng's crying came to an abrupt halt. He looked timidly at the uniformed investigator. After a long silence, he finally gathered his words and stammered, "I was just upset and wanted to reason things out with that blockhead Gu Jiuque. But I didn't dare to really make him angry. So, so I thought... alcohol gives courage to cowards."

The more Bai Yuesheng spoke, the quieter his voice became. He lowered his head guiltily.

A young man's heart was always full of poetry. In Bai Yuesheng's mind, nothing in heaven or on earth was more infuriating than the person he liked failing to understand romance.

So, after his confession was rejected and Gu Jiuque forcibly showed him out, Bai Yuesheng grew angrier and angrier the more he thought about it. He just wanted to drown his sorrows in alcohol. He bought a case of beer at the convenience store at the mouth of the alley, intending to drink away all his worries. But the more he drank, the angrier he became. In a moment of impulse, he simply took the remaining beer and secretly climbed over the wall into the Gu Family Mansion. He thought alcohol would give him courage, and that he would walk straight up to Gu Jiuque and ask why he had rejected his confession.

"He obviously likes me too. He even risked his life to save me from the burning Western Wing. I don't understand why he rejected my confession, or why he threatened my parents and said he would send me to prison! How could he be so heartless? Boohoo..." The more Bai Yuesheng thought about it, the sadder he became. He actually burst into tears right in front of the investigator.