The afternoon sunshine was just right, and the ground was still slightly damp after several days of heavy rain.
Since the kidnapping, Fu Xiuyuan had assigned the boy his own driver and bodyguards. After dropping Gu Nian'an off, the driver waited downstairs with the bodyguards, ready to take him home at any moment.
Gu Nian'an entered the building and took the elevator to the twenty-seventh floor. A little apprehensively, he knocked on the door.
Ai Mingzhu was sitting on the sofa, leafing through a notebook. Hearing the knock, she put it down and got up to open the door.
She smiled slightly at her visitor and gestured for him to come inside and sit down.
"Hello, I'm Ai Mingzhu. You must be Gu Nian'an."
Gu Nian'an sat rather awkwardly on the sofa opposite Ai Mingzhu and looked up to study the woman before him, who seemed very different from how she appeared online.
Online, Ai Mingzhu always wore a cold expression and dressed in a decidedly staid, old-fashioned style, looking stern at all times.
In person, however, she was casually dressed, with a casually chosen pair of black-framed glasses and a face full of smiles. She looked very much at home.
The furnishings were predominantly sky blue and pink, with plush charms hanging in quite a few places and a litter box in the room. Nothing about it suggested that this was the home of a woman nearing forty.
As he studied her, Ai Mingzhu silently observed her visitor as well. The moment she saw him, her eyes seemed to light up.
So alike...
Their eyes met, but neither spoke first. After a brief silence, Gu Nian'an finally said with some hesitation, "Um... I actually came because I wanted to ask you something. Why did you want me to act