Deadly Trap.

Chapter 55. Making the Water Flow Backwards
This chapter can be listened to as Wu Bai's "Let the Water Flow Backwards".

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After a moment of silence, Gu Mufei finally turned his heavy gaze back. As his voice deepened, he recounted the past, yet he spoke as if he were telling someone else's story through someone else's mouth, his tone utterly indifferent.

Even if he wanted to make his voice a little more human, he couldn't:

I was also at the hospital that day.

"The dark green corridor stretched endlessly. There were many people, a dense, white mass. They moved back and forth, their figures indistinct, but no one glanced at my brother and me."

They were talking about why my mother had ended up like this; they were discussing how my mother would preserve her reputation as an unmarried woman.

"When no one was paying attention, I pulled my sister, who was pouting and asking where Mom was, and sneaked into the ward at the very end of the corridor."

Her hands hung limply by the bedside. When she heard me push the door open, she slowly turned her head. Her cheeks were still wet. My eyes were misty with tears.

When she saw me, she forced a smile and called me softly, "Ah Fei..."

Like someone kneeling before their mother's bedside, Gu Mufeng's voice was fragile and easily broken: "'Take good care of Xiaofan, be a good older brother.'..."

Just like his breath that stopped forever nineteen years ago, he remained still for a long time this time as well.

Immediately afterward, as if hastily forcing himself to escape from his memories, Gu Mufeng spoke again, calmly and quickly:
"Her funeral was grand and the whole city was in an uproar. But my sister and I were outsiders in her life."

“If you bury her in Gu Garden, my siblings and I will not even be able to remember our mother. When my sister cries and asks where our mother is, I don’t know how to answer, so I can only lie to her.”

"But what about me?"
"My brother and I are like we never existed in this world. Gu family, what is Gu family? Grandfather, what is Grandfather?"
"I'm afraid you don't know: how we held hands and fled in the dead of night when we learned that you had taken back and sold our mother's belongings, and that we siblings were to be separated and sent to an orphanage."

"My poor mother couldn't bear to leave us, so she asked someone to leave a small portion of her inheritance in a trust, entrusting the cleaning lady in her music room to take care of us. We were dependent on her and lived under her roof."

"Fortunately, my aunt only has a bad temper and beats me to vent her anger when she feels like a burden; when she thinks of my mother, she can be good enough to us. My sister won't get beaten either."

“I understand, I can do it, I can endure it. At that time, we, at ten and four years old, had no one else to rely on. During the day, we went to school as usual, and at night, we could practice the piano in the music room and secretly learn other things.”

"Later, the aunt stopped taking care of us, so we went into hiding and ran around. But none of that matters."

"Gradually, I started working two or three jobs to support my family on my own, and I began to carefully plan the future of my sister and me, even though we were covered in dirt. But my sister and I are what make a family."

Gu Mufeng choked up.

"You know I used to have a younger sister, right? Her name was Xiao Fan. Gu Mu Fan. She's gone. Not from illness, not from an accident. She did nothing wrong."

“I was there that day too. But I couldn’t save her either. She died. She was murdered.”

His voice trembled and became hoarse, accompanied by an uncontrollable shiver throughout his body. Finally, unable to continue any longer, Gu Mufeng had to stop. His eyes remained stubbornly fixed on the view outside the window. Separated by a pane of glass, beyond the waterside pavilion, the private lake of the tycoon shimmered in the sunlight. The waves gradually lapped into his eyes.

These two deep pools of water rarely stirred even a ripple of emotion in him.

After what seemed like an eternity, he finally raised his gaze once more. His eyes, inherited from Gu Zhipei, were remarkably similar.

At this moment, Gu Mufeng only revealed a resolute calm:

"Today, I'm not dwelling on the past, nor do I need your explanations. Just don't mention Gu Jia."

"We've laid our cards on the table. We'll go our separate ways in Minzhou. I'll treat you with the same politeness as always. We'll part ways amicably." Hearing Gu Mufeng's frank words, Gu Zhipei's heart was in turmoil. His gaze instinctively darted away. Memories flooded his already clenched heart:
"Child, you said you didn't want an explanation. I... I also had my own unavoidable difficulties!"
"Not to mention, back then, Fang Ran made a single overseas phone call and publicly announced her pregnancy, personally ruining her engagement party. That's right, that illegitimate child was you!"
"She even had an affair without her consent. And she's not married yet!"

Gu Zhipei was so angry that he stomped his cane.

"The whole of Minzhou is talking about her, saying I've failed in raising my daughter, that she's a disgrace to the four major conglomerates! Fangran is such a good child. If I hadn't risked everything to protect her..."

“But your mother, she,” Gu Zhipei gasped, looking up sharply, “that wasn’t a car accident. That was blatant, public murder!”

Across from him, beneath his spiky hair, Gu Mufeng's cold lips were tightly pressed together. After a moment, his pale lips finally parted:
"I know," Gu Mufeng said softly.

But he didn't want to talk about it anymore.

Years later, when he was finally able to use his connections and resources, he was able to investigate the accident scene, the police report, the physical evidence, and the witnesses one by one.

Reports, like snowflakes, gathered in his hands, imprinting themselves into every corner of his eyes. When his proud visual memories became a curse, it was as if he himself was standing in that torrential downpour.

He witnessed firsthand how his mother's life was overturned, thrown out, and erased by the car.

Slowly, he approached in the rain, knelt beside his mother, and tried to catch the broken blood in her phantom image with his hands. Slowly, he walked away, soaked to the bone.

But the ending is something he can never change.

At that moment, Gu Zhipei was panting heavily. His eyes flickered violently, as if he was trying to compose himself. But in the end, the old man couldn't hold back and burst into a violent cough. Gu Zhipei straightened his round-necked robe, clutching his chest, as if he suddenly couldn't breathe.

The young man waiting outside rushed over upon hearing the commotion, intending to help the tycoon, who was half-buried in the ground, to his feet. Gu Zhipei, however, straightened up forcefully: "Get out! Get out! What are you doing in here! You're not going to die!"

Staggering, Gu Zhipei coughed incessantly, using his cane to support himself, and shook off the young man's hand. His words, however, were completely different from when he had spoken to Gu Mufeng; Gu Zhipei's tone was cold and arrogant, like a sharp, swift knife.

Having grown accustomed to the old man's unpredictable temper, and perhaps because the Gu family's future prospects were indeed very promising, the young man remained silent and obediently backed away.

Gu Zhipei was panting heavily. Only after the fierce coughing finally subsided did Gu Zhipei manage to catch his breath and struggle to continue:
"So you knew all along. Of course. You're not the same person you used to be; even the four great families have to be mindful of your feelings."

With a sorrowful expression, Gu Zhipei nodded with difficulty, a gesture that seemed to convey a hint of approval and relief.

"Now that you know the truth, you should understand even more that back then, I dared not, and could not, accept you."

"You should know that your biological father is largely to blame for Fangran's death! If it weren't for him, your mother would never have passed away so young!"

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Next chapter: Family
[Author's Note | Chapter 55]

Gu Mufeng's first half of life was a torrential downpour from which he could not escape, and an inextinguishable fire.

When he looked at Su Li like this, it was an abyss of deep affection that she could not understand.

Water cannot flow backwards, and Gu Mufeng will continue to move forward—in his own way.

In the next chapter, Gu Zhipei will uncover the secrets of his family, and when Gu Mufeng returns to the apartment, Su Li is already waiting...

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(End of this chapter)