Chapter 112 — Could He Be an Illegitimate Son [Begging for Monthly Tickets, Fourth Bonus Update]

"Daddy seems to care about him more than he cares about me? And his attitude is so warm?" Gu Mengyao knit her brows slightly...

"Exactly. Especially since Uncle Gu said before that you and Wei Zhao should get along well, since you're the same age... Don't you think that attitude is a bit ambiguous and hard to read?" Shen Yushu analyzed. "If Wei Zhao were just some errand boy Uncle Gu hired, would he need to say that? Look at how strict Uncle Gu has been all these years about how you deal with male classmates. Anyone can see that. How could Uncle Gu, for no reason at all, let a man live under the same roof as us?"

"That's true..." Gu Mengyao nodded in deep agreement. Indeed, she had been strictly brought up from childhood, sternly told that before eighteen she was not allowed to date, not allowed to go out and play with boys, not allowed to...

True, she was already eighteen now, but this change in attitude was a little too drastic. Gu Mengyao did not believe her father had suddenly become so open-minded and enlightened as to put a grown man in her own home.

When something is out of the ordinary, there is sure to be something strange behind it. If Shen Yushu had not brought it up, Gu Mengyao would have found it odd but would not have thought much more about it; after all, those caught up in a situation cannot see it clearly, and she had chalked up Wei Zhao's presence here to his having fed her father some kind of bewitching potion. But on closer thought, what a shrewd man her daddy was. He ran the vast Gu Group. Could he really have been fooled by a yokel like Wei Zhao? Try as she might, it did not seem possible...

Which meant that Wei Zhao's coming to her was in fact something her father approved of from the bottom of his heart... But just what reason could have led her father to make such a decision?

"And... Uncle Qing seems to treat Chewing Gum Guy with a lot of respect too..." Shen Yushu hit the mark. Whether Gu Pengzhan admired Wei Zhao or not was beside the point; the key question was that Gu Pengzhan admired plenty of people, and all those young talents in the company had been hired through him. Yet those people were unfailingly, impossibly respectful to Uncle Qing, because Uncle Qing was an old hand at Gu Pengzhan's side — even the company's vice presidents had to address him respectfully as Brother Li... But toward Wei Zhao, Uncle Qing's manner seemed different from how he treated those company employees. It was more like the way he treated her and Gu Mengyao...

"That's right..." Gu Mengyao's frown tightened further, and she grew even more suspicious about Wei Zhao's identity and about her daddy's purpose in arranging him at her side...

"Yaoyao, anyway, I think that whether it's your daddy or Uncle Qing, their attitude toward Chewing Gum Guy is just too ambiguous... It doesn't seem like they're dealing with someone they hired... It's more like they're dealing with... their own family..." Shen Yushu voiced her thoughts. It might frighten Gu Mengyao, but as Gu Mengyao's closest friend, she still had to say it.

Listening to Shen Yushu's analysis... suddenly, Gu Mengyao thought of a truly terrifying possibility — a possibility that scared even her.

"Xiaoshu... do you think Wei Zhao... could Wei Zhao be Daddy's illegitimate son?" Gu Mengyao's eyes went wide as she looked at Shen Yushu in some alarm. "Otherwise, why would Daddy be so fond of him?"

"Huh??" This time Shen Yushu was stunned too. She had not expected Gu Mengyao to come up with such a fantastical reason — Uncle Gu's illegitimate son? Shen Yushu felt a chill of revulsion... But such a possibility was basically nil. The two of them looked nothing alike; how could it be? Gu Mengyao really was formidable, to be able to twist out even this possibility.

"What is it, Xiaoshu?" Gu Mengyao saw Shen Yushu standing there dumbstruck, and at once felt she must have gone off the rails. "Am I wrong?"

"Yaoyao, your imagination really is too powerful... Chewing Gum Guy is about the same age as you and me, isn't he? If he were an illegitimate son, it would have to be from around the time Uncle Gu met your mother. But back then... was it possible? Was there even the opportunity?" Shen Yushu shook her head, speechless.

"Uh... so I was wrong? But apart from that, what other explanation is there?" Gu Mengyao gave up on her idea too — it really was too far-fetched.

"Yaoyao, I think Uncle Gu is choosing a son-in-law. He's treating Chewing Gum Guy like a son-in-law..." Shen Yushu gave a sly little smile and said teasingly. But for some reason, saying those words left her with a faint discomfort in her heart.

"Choosing a son-in-law?" Gu Mengyao's mouth fell open in astonishment, and she stared at Shen Yushu blankly. "Xiaoshu... are you serious?"

"Serious or not, I don't know. It's only my guess." Shen Yushu shrugged. "It just feels a bit like that to me. Maybe it's not so at all..."

"How could that be? I'm only eighteen... and already... No, impossible, absolutely impossible..." Gu Mengyao shook her head again and again, her face red. "Xiaoshu, what do you think?"

"What do I think? I think you and Chewing Gum Guy are quite a match." Shen Yushu smiled. "He can drive, he can cook, and he can fight. That's not bad at all..."

"I don't want him!" Gu Mengyao refused instinctively, yet deep in her heart that strange, restless feeling stirred and surged... Did Daddy really want him to be my boyfriend? Could it be that he is not merely pretending to be a shield?

If that were so... he could at least protect her. That scene at the bank had already given Gu Mengyao a deep sense of security and dependence on Wei Zhao... But the young lady's little pride and self-regard only made her find Wei Zhao all the more detestable.

If that were really so, then he was still out there dallying with other girls — how could Daddy possibly take a liking to a man like that? Surely she and Xiaoshu had misunderstood. Perhaps her father had some other deeper intention...

Torn between hope and doubt, Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu reached the underground parking garage and got into Uncle Qing's Bentley. Only then did Gu Mengyao give a long, quiet sigh. "Xiaoshu, tell me, how likely is that guess from before?"

"It could be zero percent, or it could be fifty percent, or more likely it's a hundred percent..." Shen Yushu had recovered her composure and said with a grin. "But I feel that depends on which one you're hoping for, Yaoyao."

"Me? What would I be hoping for? He's got a thing for Qiu Lingshan, and then there's that pretty girl we ran into on the commercial street yesterday. What do any of them have to do with me?" Gu Mengyao was running Wei Zhao down, yet her tone carried a faint sour note.

"Heh heh..." Shen Yushu gave a little laugh, but inwardly she sighed. Could it be that Sister Yao has fallen for him too?

After Uncle Qing finished inspecting the car, he climbed in, and Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu dropped their conversation as well. Gu Mengyao's expression flickered between petulance and delight, and no one could tell what she was thinking...

Shen Yushu pursed her lips and thought to herself: Sister Yao has surely come down with spring fever. If only I had known, I never would have told her...