Chapter 1827 — Upheaval at Home, Part One

"Very good, I understand, Miss Gu..." Uncle Qing paused there. "When you come back, give me a call..."

"All right, I will." Gu Mengyao hung up, her heart set at ease, and the journey went on...

After another day on the road, Gu Mengyao at last saw the sign for the Songshan City toll station. Once through it, she and Shen Yushu both let out a breath of relief—home at last. The trip to West Star Mountain Village had not been as happy as they had imagined, but they had been through a great deal; tempered by the experience, both of them had grown up a good measure.

"Home at last—what a good feeling!" Shen Yushu said from the bottom of her heart.

"Yes, home at last..." Gu Mengyao drove the car familiarly back to the Seaview Bay villa district; but the instant she opened the villa door, she was struck dumb by the scene inside.

In the living room, several bundles and pieces of luggage were heaped up in utter confusion. Had the furniture not been so familiar, Gu Mengyao might have thought she had walked into the wrong house.

"Huh? Yao-yao, has our house been robbed?" Shen Yushu said in astonishment.

"Robbed? Things have been added, not taken away—what kind of thief leaves things in someone else's house?" Gu Mengyao gave Little Shu a wry glare, then walked over and opened the bundles and luggage. What she found inside astonished her even more. "Little Shu, look—aren't these your things?"

"They are! These are all my clothes. Who brought them into the villa?" Shen Yushu was baffled. Oughtn't these things to have been in her own villa? How had they been moved into Gu Mengyao's?

"Wait, let me ask Uncle Qing." Gu Mengyao took out her phone and dialed Uncle Qing's number.

"Miss Gu, you're back?" Uncle Qing picked up at once.

"Yes, Uncle Qing, I'm back. But why is the villa in such a mess? It looks as though all of Little Shu's things have been moved in here," Gu Mengyao asked, rather puzzled.

"Miss Gu, wait for me—I will explain when I get back!" Uncle Qing hesitated; some things were better said face to face.

"Yes, all right." Gu Mengyao had not the faintest inkling that her home was already on the brink of ruin.

Uncle Qing said no more. Through the glass of the intensive care unit he glanced at Gu Pengzhan, whose body was covered in tubes and wires, and his eyes reddened slightly; then he turned and strode away...

The dashcam had already proven that Gu Pengzhan's act had been suicide, and the driver bore no responsibility for the accident. So the company the driver worked for had given Uncle Qing only a few tens of thousands of yuan in consolation money, out of a spirit of humanity, and the rest of the medical expenses naturally fell upon Uncle Qing himself.

But the Gu Group was now in other hands: the shares of Gu Pengzhan and Wei Zhao had passed into An Mingyue's name. The minor shareholders who once fawned and flattered at Uncle Qing's heels had changed as if they had become other men. Gu Pengzhan had lain in the hospital so long, yet apart from a few old friends from former dealings who had come to visit and left a little consolation money, every one of those minor shareholders had gone off to curry favor with the new chairman; not a soul came to see Gu Pengzhan anymore.

What surprised Uncle Qing was that Xie Guangbo came to the hospital once, bringing his son Xie Jinlong, and laid down two hundred thousand yuan at one stroke. Uncle Qing sighed over it—a shareholder kicked out of the company could still do such a thing; that was truly rare.

But Xie Guangbo made it very clear: for the Buddha's sake, if not the monk's. His son had been saved by Wei Zhao, and that debt of gratitude was enough to cancel out any other grudge. The two hundred thousand, too, was given for Wei Zhao's sake.

Over the years Uncle Qing had put aside a little private money. After all, in Gu Pengzhan's service his living expenses had not come out of his own pocket, and each month, apart from buying elixirs for his practice, he had saved his salary. Now, with Xie Guangbo's two hundred thousand added in, he had just barely paid the surgical fees and the medical bills.

But looking at the daily medical accounts, Uncle Qing was at his wit's end. The surgical fee before him was settled for the moment—but where would the money come from for Gu Pengzhan's subsequent treatment?

Uncle Qing would not even spend the fare for a bus now; he saved every cent he could. With no source of income, his money did nothing but dwindle.

Fortunately, Uncle Qing was a martial artist; he walked swiftly and did not tire, and soon arrived at Gu Mengyao's villa.

Only, when Gu Mengyao opened the door and saw Uncle Qing come on foot, without a car, she was greatly surprised: "Uncle Qing, you didn't drive?"

"Miss Gu, let us talk inside..." Uncle Qing said with a bitter smile.

Puzzled as she was, Gu Mengyao still invited Uncle Qing into the villa.

When the three of them were seated face to face on the sofa, Uncle Qing noticed that Wei Zhao and Tang Yun were missing, and could not help asking: "Where are Little Yi and Tang Yun? They are not here?"

Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu exchanged a glance, and both smiled bitterly. Earlier, while they were away, Gu Mengyao had not told Uncle Qing and her father that Tang Yun had stayed behind in Snow Valley, for fear of worrying them; but now, back home, she would conceal it no longer, and she recounted the whole affair to Uncle Qing in detail.

"So Little Yi still has not woken, and Tang Yun has stayed in Snow Valley, never to return?" Uncle Qing stared blankly at Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu, not knowing what to say. He had come here placing all his hopes on Wei Zhao.

After all, Wei Zhao's medical skill was superb; so long as Gu Pengzhan's life was preserved, Wei Zhao should have some way to cure him. This was plain enough from how he had restored Uncle Qing's own meridians and healed Wu Chengtian and the Mighty General—Wei Zhao was truly formidable!

Moreover, Wei Zhao's social connections ran deep, and he kept good relations with every one of the great families. The Gu Group might be gone, but with Wei Zhao's connections it was not impossible to rise again from the ashes. That was why Uncle Qing had been so glad to hear that Gu Mengyao had returned—but now...

"Not yet. But the people of Snow Valley said he ought to wake in about a month..." Gu Mengyao said. "By the way, Uncle Qing, what is all this in the house? It looks as though everything has been moved over from Little Shu's place?"

"A month... another month..." Uncle Qing's brows knit tightly. With the vast daily expenses he was already stretched to the limit, and Wei Zhao would not wake for another month—and even when he did, there was no telling whether he could recover his former strength. Could Gu Pengzhan hold out until then?