SFBF CH111.2

Having indulged in wine and women for years, Gu Huaiyao’s body had long been hollowed out. Add in the alcohol he had consumed tonight, and he actually couldn’t overpower Gu Hao. Clutching his head, he took several kicks straight from Gu Hao.

The scene suddenly descended into an all-out brawl between Gu Huaiyao and Gu Hao.

Watching this, onlookers couldn’t help but mock the Gu family: were the Gu family’s children and grandchildren putting on a theatrical performance here? One dramatic act after another!

To Shen Qing, it felt like a lifetime ago. In the past, whenever his cubs got into disputes with the Gu family children, the biased Gu clan would simply force Duoduo and Ao-zai to apologize to the other kids without hearing a word of explanation.

Now, it was finally Gu Hao and the others’ turn to apologize to the cubs.

Under his mother’s threats, roars, and intimidation, Gu Ming couldn’t hold out for more than a few seconds. No matter how aggrieved he felt, he ran over and apologized to Gu Duo.

“I’m sorry, Gu Duo, I shouldn’t… hic, I shouldn’t have… thrown things at you… wah!“

Gu Duo hadn’t originally intended to pursue Gu Ming’s actions, never expecting that his Third Aunt, Ms. Gu, would proactively force him to apologize. The scene was remarkably familiar; once upon a time, Ms. Gu had coerced him into apologizing in this exact same way.

Ms. Gu’s domineering style of never letting anyone explain truly never went out of fashion.

Gu Duo stood firmly in place and said faintly, “Alright, I forgive you.”

Not merely for tonight’s incident, but for all the times Gu Ming had snatched away living resources from him and his brother, and for constantly whispering slander about them behind their backs to the adults.

Staring at Gu Ming crying and apologizing before him, Gu Duo suddenly found the boy rather pathetic. He also realized that his past experiences in the Gu mansion felt unexpectedly distant now.

He hadn’t had to eat or sleep in fear for a very long time.

Back then, there were too many things to worry about: what to do if Gu Ming badmouthed him to his mother, what to do if Gu Hao bullied him and his brother again, whether they would be locked in the dark room without food, and what would happen if Second Uncle abandoned them too.

That constant panic and vigilance, where one had to anticipate everything just to survive, hadn’t surfaced in ages.

His tense cheeks relaxed involuntarily, and Gu Duo glanced back.

Little Dad was still leaning against Big Dad, his tall, slender frame turned toward him with an attentive gaze.

Little brother Ao-zai had stopped paying attention to this mess altogether. With Song Yuke playing with him, they were watching the bird patterns cast by the light strips.

The light strip was suspended in the air, projecting bird silhouettes scattering across the wall, vivid and lifelike as they soared with spread wings.

One of the birds seemed especially plump. Ao-zai watched it, reaching out with his tiny hands to touch its shadow before bursting into giggles.

He was completely removed from the dispute.

Involuntarily, Gu Duo’s lips curved upward into a smile as well.

After apologizing to Gu Duo, Gu Ming ran off, crying his eyes out until he disappeared.

Over on Gu Hao’s side, being held down by his second uncle and forced to apologize to Gu Duo felt overwhelmingly humiliating, and he almost burst into tears. When onlookers stepped in to pull them apart, Gu Huaiyao resorted to the Gu family kids’ favorite tactic: tattling. He dialed Gu Hao’s grandfather directly.

Less than a minute later, Gu Hao’s kid smartwatch rang. Holding his breath in frustration, he answered reluctantly, only to hear his father’s booming voice: “Gu Hao, what is wrong with you! Causing trouble for me out in public?! Hurry up and apologize to your Sixth Uncle and Gu Duo!”

The watch was on speaker, and Gu Huairong’s voice was loud enough for many people around them to hear clearly.

Gu Hao swallowed his humiliation. Through the phone, a woman’s voice chimed in as background noise, sharp and audible: “What are you doing, making Gu Hao apologize to Gu Duo? That little bast—”

“Shut your mouth!”

Gu Huairong roared even louder on the other end: “If it weren’t for your petty jealousy unable to tolerate Gu Duo and Gu Ao, would all this mess have happened later! They were merely registered under our names, and you didn’t even have to raise them! Even then, you couldn’t stand them! Don’t think I don’t know that you indulged Gu Hao every day to bully Gu Duo and Gu Ao! Gu Hao, listen to me: apologize properly to Gu Duo! If you don’t apologize today, you’re no longer a child of the Gu family, and you can get the hell out of this house!”

With that roar, Gu Huairong hung up the call.

Stung to the quick once again by those words, Gu Hao could no longer hold it in and broke down in tears. In the end, he still followed Gu Duo’s demands, apologizing to Sixth Uncle and Assistant Tian whom he had cursed, and finally apologizing to Gu Duo as his father commanded.

The moment Gu Hao bowed his head, Gu Duo felt as though the tangled threads binding him to the past were unraveling bit by bit.

He couldn’t even remember what it felt like to be starved in the dark room anymore.

He also felt that being wronged and forced to apologize wasn’t such a big deal after all; as long as he had done nothing wrong, things would eventually change one day.

His body felt remarkably lighter.

Gu Duo couldn’t help looking back at the shadows of the scattered birds again.

A breeze blew past, making the birds appear even more vibrant, gliding free and unconstrained.

Gu Duo suddenly felt confident that one day, he would be able to fly too.

Having received Gu Hao’s apology, Gu Duo turned and walked back to his fathers’ side.

Shen Qing automatically reached out to hold his hand, smiling. “Let’s leave it at that for now. Let’s go get some good food. Young Master Yuan just messaged me saying he found something delicious…”

“Wait, don’t look at me like that, we’re purely discussing food!” Shen Qing explained to Gu Huaiyu. “You know it’s hard to find decent food at banquets like this. Young Master Shen was just helping me… Ao-zai, let’s go! Daddy’s taking you to eat!”

“Coming!”

Ao-zai, who was having a blast playing, heard his daddy calling him and ran over happily, inviting the older sister along.

As long as Jiejie didn’t aggressively rub his cheeks, Ao-zai was still very willing to be friends with her!

Shen Qing gently swung Gu Duo’s little hand and said, “Invite your friend along too.”

Gu Duo slipped his hand from Little Dad’s palm and walked over to Qian Jing.

He wasn’t as tall as Qian Jing, but Qian Jing always looked awkward and fidgety around him. Gu Duo gave Qian Jing a curious look and invited, “Come with us.”

Qian Jing: “…O-okay.”

Just then, Qian Jing’s parents arrived after hearing the commotion.

They hadn’t imagined their son would get into a brawl, so when they initially heard about kids fighting, they didn’t think it had anything to do with him.

Only later did they learn that Qian Jing had hit someone, and had kicked Young Master Ming of the Gu family of all people! Having experienced firsthand how arrogant and domineering Gu Huaixiang was, they rushed over in a panic, worrying about how to resolve the matter.

Yet the moment they squeezed through the crowd, they saw their son standing with a cool-faced little boy dressed casually, and beside them stood…

“President Gu?!”

Having already heard that President Gu made a public appearance today, Qian Jing’s parents, who already knew he had recovered, weren’t particularly shocked by that.

What astonished them was how their son had ended up mingling with President Gu’s young master. Back during the camp, hadn’t he claimed they weren’t close at all?!

Spotting them from a distance, Gu Huaiyu nodded to Qian Jing’s parents and said, “Join us.”

He then gently supported his wife around the waist and led the way, turning to leave.

Shen Qing’s waist was uncomfortable and standing for long wasn’t ideal, which was why Gu Huaiyu was eager to leave.

Supported at the waist by his husband the whole time, Shen Qing only realized much later, after continuing to be pampered and fussed over, that President Gu hadn’t understood his little act at all!

He genuinely believed his back hurt!

Opposite them, Qian Jing’s parents, completely baffled by the situation, exchanged glances and followed along with their son.

As the group departed, Tian Yi, acting as bodyguard, and Li Hong, who had just arrived holding the tablet, brought up the rear.

At that moment, Xiao Hangying suddenly called out to Li Hong: “Assistant Li.”

Li Hong turned around to see Xiao Hangying walking over.

His expression was haggard now, completely stripped of his earlier vibrancy and confidence. Still, he forced himself to muster some spirit and asked Li Hong, “I saw that Huaiyu… President Gu is using a phone again, right? Could you give me his number? It’s not for me, it’s for President Gu’s mother, Ms. Su.”

Hearing this, Li Hong raised his eyebrows high: “…Ms. Su wants our President Gu’s number? Has Ms. Su forgotten that she announced long ago that she had severed ties with everyone in the Gu family except the Fifth Young Master? Besides, our President Gu’s phone is strictly reserved for contacting his own family.”

Xiao Hangying didn’t want to give up yet. Not fully understanding the bad blood between Gu Huaiyu and Ms. Su, he assumed that ‘only contacting family’ was just a standard brush-off for outsiders. Just as he was about to press further, Li Hong added, “It’s the truth, so please don’t make things difficult for me. Currently, only Madam and the young masters have President Gu’s number. If he weren’t worried about Madam and the young masters being unable to reach him, President Gu wouldn’t even carry a phone. You know this too, President Gu never browses on a phone.”

Li Hong spoke in a ringing, clear voice.

Primarily, it was because the Gu family members over there were getting restless; hearing Xiao Hangying ask for a number, they wanted it too.

To avoid being constantly pestered over this, Assistant Li chose to make a loud, definitive statement once and for all.

Worried Film Emperor Xiao wouldn’t believe him, Li Hong added, “To be frank with you, the watch President Gu used before this was actually an old children’s smartwatch that our young master didn’t use anymore.”

“…”

The lingering crowd: What did that mean? Was President Gu really that thrifty?

Using a kids’ smartwatch his child discarded??

Finally, someone couldn’t resist murmuring, “Well… buying ‘Jewel in the Palm’ without batting an eye, yet wearing his kid’s old watch. President Gu really knows when to save and when to splurge.”

“Being a parent isn’t easy; everyone ends up using their kids’ leftovers. Seems President Gu is no exception.”

“…”

Li Hong rolled his eyes at the bystanders. He hadn’t expected this crowd of onlookers to linger even after President Gu had left.

He had no choice but to clarify loudly once more, this time to save face for President Gu: “As long as it makes phone calls, it works! Besides, Madam was the one who found that watch for President Gu, so of course he had to wear it!”

The crowd unanimously responded: “…Not surprised.”

President Gu was a lovesick fool, a top-tier one at that; they already knew.

Li Hong: “…”

Unsure if continuing this conversation would get his salary docked, Assistant Li took a deep breath. “In short, President Gu only uses a phone to keep in touch with Madam and the young masters, plus a few of us staff members. As for you… how about you ask President Gu directly?”

Xiao Hangying: “…”

He felt deeply humiliated once again.

If he could easily see Gu Huaiyu, would he need to beg his assistant for a personal number??

After the banquet ended, on the way back, Ao-zai fell asleep again.

The plump little cub was tucked snugly into his car seat, his eyes closed in slumber, one chubby cheek bulging so softly it looked ready to spill over.

Tian Yi drove smoothly without jarring motions, allowing Ao-zai to sleep soundly, with only his little feet dangling outside twitching slightly now and then.

Aside from that minor incident, tonight had still been delightful for Ao-zai, and he had enjoyed himself immensely.

Sitting quietly on the other side, Gu Duo looked out the window and couldn’t help letting out a small smile.

In the past, running into Gu Hao and the others would always leave Ao-zai crying in fury. His brother never cried from being hit, scolded, framed, or locked in the dark room.

He only cried out of heartache for Gu Duo.

Today, that didn’t happen, and it never would again.

Thinking of this, Gu Duo couldn’t help turning to look at his brother.

As he turned his head, he caught Little Dad looking back at him.

The car glided past rows of neon lights, soft beams scattering across Little Dad’s face. Though faint, Gu Duo could clearly see Little Dad was watching him.

“Little Dad,” Gu Duo called out softly.

“Nothing, just looking at you,” Shen Qing replied.

Shen Qing was in high spirits too. He remembered the very first banquet he had brought Duoduo and Ao-zai to was Mingbao’s birthday party. Back then, even though nothing unpleasant occurred and Ao-zai had played happily, falling asleep just as defenselessly on the ride home, Duoduo had seemed unhappy.

That tiny cub had seemed weighed down by so many worries and sorrows.

Shen Qing remembered that on the way back that day, shadows of trees danced across Gu Duo’s face as he stared silently out the window the entire ride.

Now, everything was completely different.

Ao-zai was happier, Gu Duo was far more open and lively, and even President Gu had accompanied him to the banquet!

After arriving home, the car drove straight into the villa courtyard, where the butler and Aunt Zhang came out to welcome them.

Everyone got out of the car, bustling about, until Gu Huaiyu lifted the deeply sleeping Ao-zai from the child safety seat.

“…”

Shen Qing met his gaze for a moment, then waved his hand casually: “You carry him then.”

“Alright.” Gu Huaiyu nodded. In deep sleep, Ao-zai was soft and cuddly, like a quiet, docile pet that let people hold him however they pleased without waking up.

Gu Huaiyu carried him steadily forward.

Shen Qing reached back to take Duoduo’s hand beside him.

Soon arriving outside the cubs’ bedroom, Gu Huaiyu set Ao-zai down on the bed first. Gu Duo looked up at Shen Qing.

Shen Qing ruffled his head and said, “Sleep early.”

With that, he squatted down and gave him a gentle hug.

A refreshing fruity scent washed over him. Gu Duo blinked and murmured, “Mm.”

“Goodnight, Little Dad. Goodnight, Big Dad.”

“Goodnight, baby.”