Mr. Zhou lived in a courtyard prepared specifically for professor-level individuals at Kyoto University.
The yard was filled with rose flowers, which had started sprouting green buds, adding a lot of vitality to the entire courtyard.
The roses were said to be the favorite flower of Mr. Zhouâs wife when she was alive.
"Get out!"
As the two took only a few steps, they heard the sound of something being smashed inside, followed closely by Mr. Zhouâs angry voice.
The two exchanged a glance and quickened their pace to enter.
"Uncle, how can you treat me like this?" came a womanâs voice from inside. Gu Lingling wanted to push open the door and enter, but Yang Yunhai stopped her, signaling for her to stand still.
"Uncle, I had no choice," the woman cried, and her weeping made even Gu Lingling, standing outside, feel very sorry for her.
The woman inside continued crying, "At that time, if I didnât cut ties with you, I would have been implicated too."
"You know well about my familyâs situation," the woman said, "In that family, I have to be very cautious, if anything happened, they would certainly kick me out."
"So you wrote that kind of letter to me?" Mr. Zhou said disappointedly, "You could sever ties with me, you could ignore me, but you shouldnât have said that."
Upon hearing this, Gu Lingling finally realized who the person inside was.
It should be Mr. Zhouâs niece who wrote him that letter.
"Thatâs not what I meant," the woman cried, "If I hadnât written that letter back then, could I have remained firm in that family?"
"Moreover, Uncle, arenât you fine now?" the woman said, "You only have me as a niece, apart from me, do you have any other relatives?"
"In the future, youâll still have to rely on me for your retirement."
"So do I have to plead with you now?" Mr. Zhou sneered, "Retirement? Haha, will you really take care of my retirement?"
"Of course," the woman said firmly, "Uncle, in this world, Iâm your only relative, and youâre my only true uncle, if I donât look after you, who will? Donât you think so?"
Mr. Zhou didnât speak.
Gu Lingling got a bit anxious, wanting to go in, but saw Yang Yunhai shaking his head at her, gently whispering in her ear, "Keep watching."
"Yes," Mr. Zhou lifted his head, thought for a moment, then said to her, "like hell."
"With your heartless nature, youâre worthy to care for me in old age?" Mr. Zhou pointed at her and scolded, "Do you really think Iâm senile and donât know? Who wrote that whistleblower letter back then?"
"How did your aunt die?"
"Niece? Relative?" Mr. Zhou stared at her without blinking, "If I had known earlier that I had someone so ungrateful, turning kindness into revenge, I shouldnât have adopted you when your parents died."
"Even feeding those grains to dogs would have been better than feeding them to someone worse than a beast like you."
In his agitation, Mr. Zhou swayed, stepped back two steps and supported himself with a chair, "Donât come here anymore, youâre not welcome."
"Also, thereâs nothing here that you want, so stop scheming."
"Donât come again, even if you do, I wonât see you."
"Uncle, I was really wrong," the woman cried, "I donât know what youâre talking about, about things or whatever."
"Get out."
Seeing her pretentious demeanor, Mr. Zhou felt a surge of disgust and dizziness.
"Uncle!" the woman screamed.
The door was suddenly pushed open, and Gu Lingling hurriedly ran in, "Grandpa Zhou, whatâs wrong?"
"Yunhai, you... why are you here?"