Love For Life

24. She Will Not Go Unpunished

Xu Feng continued, ''From time to time, Ms. Yang would check in to hotels with that man. Though all documentations were signed with that man's name, the images pulled from surveillance cameras clearly show the two of them appearing together at the hotel. Their latest check in was only three days ago.''

On Gu Zechuan's face was an expression of complete calmness, as if he had expected it all along. He asked, ''And that fire, two years ago, was it Millie who saved me from it?''

''I've looked into it, carefully and thoroughly. It was indeed the late Mrs. Gu who rescued you from that fire two years ago, and she also sustained injuries during the process. Mr. Gu, haven't you noticed, about the way Mrs. Gu dressed up? Regardless of weathers and climates, Mrs. Gu almost always dressed very conservatively, with clothes that covered as much skin as possible, because there were scars on her back from the burn wounds she received while she was saving you.''

Gu Zechuan felt as if a whip had suddenly come cracking down on his heart. He neglected Xia He too much in the past, he never cared enough about Xia He to want to know anything about her, that he had never noticed that there were burn wounds and scars on her back. Though they had been, in a sense, intimate for that particular night, the room was so dark that he didn't realize that there wee wounds on her. That night, he didn't bother turning the lights on, because back then, he didn't even want her in his sight. Thinking back, remembering everything he had done, it sunk into Gu Zechuan that just what a failure of a husband he had been, a walking piece of trash in human form.

And then Gu Zechuan's eyes thinned dangerously. How dare Yang Qinglian lie to him. Now, he was finally able to make sense of the mixture of feelings in his heart. What he felt for Yang Qinglian wasn't love, or even affection. He had simply felt sorry for her. She told him that she had saved his life, so he simply wanted to make it up to her. He never thought that Yang Qinglian was lying to him about that. Outwardly, she looked so innocent and kind, so much that he never realized what a wanton and lustful woman she was beneath the surface.

From all the things that Xu Feng said, it was clear as day to Gu Zechuan. The baby that Yang Qinglian aborted wasn't his, but her lover's. Thinking back, he had no recollection of ever having touched her at all. Though on that morning he did indeed find himself together with Yang Qinglian on the same bed, but he had no memories of being with her, none whatsoever.

'Yang Qinglian, how dare you, how dare you deceived and scheme against me and Xia He! Just you wait, this offense will not go unpunished!'

Gu Zechuan and Xu Feng came to the neighborhood that Xia He's mother lived. It was a crowded run of the mill apartment complex, with lots and lots of people hustling and bustling about the place. Gu Zechuan used to dislike places like this, because he used to find all the people and noises disturbing and annoying. But now, coming in here and seeing the people talk, hearing them laugh, he came to realize that this was how people should be, as opposed to hiding behind carefully crafted smiled and intrigues.

Gu Zechuan and Xu Feng's presence in the neighborhood attracted a lot of attentions from the onlookers, who surrounded them out of curiosity. They have never seen such well groomed and finely dressed man in the neighborhood before. And now, such a man suddenly appeared among them, almost like a scene from a fairytale.

Xu Feng walked at the front, and led Gu Zechuan further into the apartment complex. They came up to the eight floor and stopped in front of one of the f=doors. Gu Zechuan eagerly knocked on it.

Someone quickly came to open the door. It was a woman, in her middle ages. As soon as Gu Zechuan saw this woman, his eyes widened. There could be no mistaking it. This woman in front of him must be Xia H's mother, because she looked the very image of Xia He, only older.

''Who are you looking for?'' Xia He's mother asked, alarmed.

She was his mother-in-law, and yet she had no way to even know who he was. A bitterness came up from within Gu Zechuan's throat, once again realizing what a failure of a human being he had been.

Gu Zechuan said, politely, ''Mother, I came to find Xia He.''