Gu Nian'an reluctantly hugged the woman at the Manor gates and said, still unwilling to part, "Mom, I'll come home and keep you company whenever I have time."
Once Ji Baiwei saw that he had recovered, she said she still had things to take care of and hurried away before he could ask her to stay.
Gu Nian'an quietly watched her retreating figure, a wave of complicated feelings rising in his heart.
He knew there were irreconcilable differences between his mother and Fu Xiuyuan, but one was his lover and the other was his mother.
He could not, and must not, choose between them.
Fu Xiuyuan gently drew the worried young man into his arms, kissing him again and again in an attempt to soothe his unease.
Gu Nian'an merely sighed softly, forced a smile, and returned to the Manor with him.
Ji Baiwei and Ji Yaozhi sat together, looking at each other without either of them speaking.
After a long while, Ji Yaozhi finally lost patience and broke the silence. "Is Nian'an my younger brother?"
Ji Baiwei gave a calm murmur of assent.
Ji Yaozhi raked a hand through his hair in agitation. He remembered this younger brother.
He Yun'an had loved clinging to him since he was little, trailing after him every day like a little shadow. No matter how he tried, he could never chase him away.
Over time, he had grown used to the boy's clinginess. Whenever he was unhappy, He Yun'an would be like a little sun, constantly trying to cheer him up.
Even his father, who was strict with him, would smile whenever he saw He Yun'an, who was like a little marshmallow.
Ji Yaozhi sighed deeply, suddenly sinking into those distant memories as a trace of sadness entered his eyes.
Then He Yunzhou