Chapter 51: You Might as Well Be My Son

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Grandmother was genuinely worried about me. Only those who truly cared about you would be so concerned about where you were.

The Qiao family’s parents were merely pretending to worry about me, putting on an act for appearances’ sake.

In truth, they did not care in the slightest about my whereabouts.

Auntie Zhang hurriedly explained, “I specifically went to the police station to ask about what happened before. The police only found Young Master Qiao’s phone and a few other things. They found nothing else. It’s entirely possible that Young Master Qiao left those things there deliberately to create a false impression. If something really had happened to him, why hasn’t anyone found his body after all this time?”

“I understand everything you’re saying, but I still can’t help worrying…”

Auntie Zhang sighed. “Madam, Young Master Qiao isn’t a child anymore. He’s well over twenty. Surely he knows what he should and shouldn’t do. Besides, this is a society governed by law, and Young Master Qiao always has bodyguards with him when he goes out. How could he possibly have met with some inexplicable misfortune? Instead of worrying about him, you should take better care of yourself. I imagine Young Master Qiao wouldn’t want to see you looking like this when he comes back. If he saw that you’d lost even more weight, he would be heartbroken.”

“Ah…”

Grandmother let out a heavy sigh. “Never mind. Yanzhou has always cared most about my health. If he knew I looked like this now, I don’t know what he would say.”

“Bring me the bird’s nest. I’ll have some. And tell the kitchen to prepare more nourishing food from now on. I need to take proper care of myself.”

Hearing this, Auntie Zhang was overjoyed. “Madam, it’s wonderful that you’ve come around. Don’t worry. I’ll have the kitchen prepare more nourishing dishes from now on. I promise we’ll get your health back into excellent shape!”

Only after Grandmother had finished the entire bowl of bird’s nest did Auntie Zhang contentedly clear away the dishes.

“Auntie Zhang, I’m feeling a little sleepy. I’ll rest for a while.”

As Grandmother spoke, she moved to lie down, but Auntie Zhang stopped her.

“Wait, Madam. What should we do with this set of bowls and chopsticks?”

The set had been sent by Gu Tingchu. Since Grandmother had never liked him, Auntie Zhang could not decide what to do with it and had no idea how Grandmother intended to handle the matter.

Grandmother pondered for a long while before finally sighing.

“Keep them. They’ve been blessed, after all. Consider it showing respect to Buddha and letting them remain here to build up a little merit for my Yanzhou.”

Hearing Grandmother’s words, I felt conflicted.

Grandmother, I know what you’re thinking. But no matter how much merit you accumulate for me, it won’t help anymore. I’m already dead. I can never return.

Still, perhaps doing this would give Grandmother a little peace of mind. In that case, it was not entirely without purpose.

After Grandmother fell asleep, I remained beside her bed, quietly studying her sleeping face.

I could feel nothing, and I never grew tired. Even if I were forced to stay awake forever, I would not feel sleepy.

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Since my death, I no longer knew how many nights I had spent staring into the darkness until daybreak.

I had no idea how I had endured those endless stretches of time. I could do nothing but linger in a daze, unable to go anywhere.

But now, at least, I no longer had to watch over only Qiao Yanxin. I could also stay by Grandmother’s side. Surely that counted as a kind of consolation.

I lowered my head and thought hard.

In truth, I was still relatively free. As long as I had some part of my body to serve as a medium, I could go anywhere I wanted.

For example, this bowl made from my ashes.

My ashes…

That was it—my ashes!

How had I forgotten? They had used my ashes to make bowls and chopsticks. They couldn’t possibly have used every last bit at once, could they?

There had to be some left.

A thought suddenly struck me.

Perhaps I could use this method to find out who had killed me—and who had used my ashes to make the bowls and chopsticks.

With that thought in mind, I tightly shut my eyes and focused my will, trying to locate a fragment of my own body.

I suddenly felt a strange energy surging through me.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself standing in a place I could never forget in this lifetime.

The Qiao family home.

But how had I ended up here?

Hadn’t I been searching for a part of my body? Could it be that some part of me was in the Qiao home?

No… That was impossible. Who among the Qiao family would have killed me?

That was what I told myself—until I saw someone in the Qiao home whom I could never forget.

Gu Tingchu.

What was he doing here?

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Before I could figure it out, I saw Gu Tingchu carry something out of the kitchen and hand it to Qiao’s mother.

“Auntie, are you having another headache? I made you some calming soup. Have some and don’t be angry. You know how old people are. They’re bound to be stubborn sometimes. Whether someone speaks with good intentions or bad, they can’t tell the difference. They only see what they want to see.”

Qiao’s mother raised one hand to massage her temple, then reached out with the other and accepted the bowl of soup from Gu Tingchu.

“That was thoughtful of you.”

She took the bowl, and I stared at it. The longer I looked, the more familiar it seemed.

This bowl was exactly the same as Grandmother’s set!

I had never imagined that Gu Tingchu could do something like this.

I could almost understand his giving those bowls and chopsticks to Grandmother. She had treated me well, and because he hated and despised me, he had come to hate her as well. I could at least comprehend that.

But what had Qiao’s mother ever done to wrong him?

Why would he give her a bowl made from my ashes?

Qiao’s mother had always treated him well, yet he could still do something like this.

“Tingchu, you’re so much more considerate. You knew I had a headache and even made me soup. Unlike…”

“Ah, forget it. Let’s not talk about him.”

I knew who Qiao’s mother had wanted to mention.

She had wanted to mention me.

Perhaps she stopped because Gu Tingchu was an outsider.

But for reasons I could not fathom, Gu Tingchu pretended not to understand and asked, “Auntie, what were you about to say? I didn’t hear you clearly.”

Qiao’s mother sighed. “What else could I mean? It’s one thing for that boy to quarrel with Yanxin, but how could he stay away for more than twenty days without coming home? And if he wasn’t coming back, couldn’t he at least make a phone call? Anyone who didn’t know better might think our family had mistreated him so badly that he couldn’t wait to leave!”

Hearing this, Gu Tingchu quickly comforted her. “It’s all right, Auntie. Perhaps Brother Yanzhou will be back soon.”

Qiao’s mother sighed again, her eyes filled with affection as she looked at Gu Tingchu.

“Tell me, wouldn’t it be wonderful if you were my son?”