Chapter 34: Silent Accusation

Chapter 34: Silent Indictment

The police arrived quickly, and the manager got into the police car along with the troublemaker. Zhao Yu watched the police car speed past from the roadside, relieved he wasn't sitting in one. No matter which identity he entered with, tonight would turn into a whole ordeal, and he might end up having to get Gu Hansheng to bail him out again. He didn't want to get on Gu Hansheng's bad side.

Zhao Yu got home at just past eight, and the lights were on upstairs. The nanny was dozing downstairs. Seeing him return, she stood up and said, "Mr. Zhao, you're home early today. Did you eat?"

"I ate already," Zhao Yu said. "Why haven't you headed home yet?"

"Mr. Gu hasn't eaten dinner yet. He seems caught up in work. I've kept the food warm, but I didn't wanna bother him. But being busy with work doesn't mean he should skip dinner. Maybe you could go give him a shout."

"Me?" Zhao Yu shook his head. "Auntie, I've never even been upstairs."

The nanny sighed. "I wonder if Mr. Gu's just gonna skip dinner. There's so much food, and I don't know what to do with it all."

"It's staying warm in the pot, right? I'll keep an eye on it. You can head home."

"Alright then, sorry for the trouble."

After a bit, Gu Hansheng still hadn't come down for dinner. Zhao Yu checked the time, thought for a moment, and decided to go upstairs and ask if he wanted to eat first. He walked to the study door, hesitated for a moment, then knocked softly.

The door opened, and Gu Hansheng appeared backlit, wearing glasses, clearly in the middle of work. The study was piled high with documents and files, nearly burying the desk.

Aside from the rare times he hung out with Song Wenhao, Gu Hansheng was basically a workaholic. Back when Zhao Yu was impersonating Chen Xitong, he'd seen firsthand how Gu Hansheng worked around the clock, so he couldn't help but remind him to eat.

"Auntie's food is still warm..."

Before Zhao Yu could finish, Gu Hansheng suddenly grabbed his chin, his grip merciless, making Zhao Yu wince in pain.

Gu Hansheng's fingers brushed over the small cut on his jaw, then he looked down at the bruise on his arm, and suddenly spoke: "Three strikes. How many times is this now? Didn't I tell you not to cause trouble?"

Zhao Yu was stunned. "I didn't..."

"Even a dog should've learned by now, don't you think? You can't take in a single word I say, can you?" Gu Hansheng shoved his face away roughly, his voice icy with rage: "Zhao Yu, do you even understand your place? Can't you go one single day without causing trouble? Huh? Is it really that hard to tell what you should and shouldn't do?! I overestimated you. People like you aren't even worth a single strand of Xitong's hair. Don't stand there getting in my way! Get the hell out!"

Gu Hansheng was completely livid. Zhao Yu seemed to be getting hurt every few days, and he'd already set him up with a steady job. Even so, it seemed like nothing could change his troublemaking nature. And the second he saw that wound, his whole day's mood was ruined. He already had enough on his plate with work, and now there was a troublesome person at home giving him zero peace.

Zhao Yu stumbled back a couple of steps, and when he looked up, he saw the disgust in Gu Hansheng's eyes. The words of explanation stuck in his throat, like he'd just had a bucket of cold water dumped over his head.

In Gu Hansheng's eyes, he was nothing but a troublemaker—brainless, always fighting, not even worth a single strand of Chen Xitong's hair. Was there even any point in explaining himself?

What did he want Gu Hansheng to do for him? Respect? Understanding?

Was that even possible?

An object for venting desires was ultimately just that—an object. He should've known by now that he'd never be respected, and no matter how he changed, it wouldn't mean a thing.

Zhao Yu lowered his head and silently turned to go downstairs.

The floor-to-ceiling window reflected his ridiculous image—light-colored T-shirt, hair neat and clean, but the expression on his face was nothing like Chen Xitong's.

He'd forgotten he was here to play the part of Chen Xitong. What Gu Hansheng wanted was never about how Zhao Yu changed, but whether he could see echoes of Chen Xitong in him.

If his thinking was off from the start, then everything that followed was bound to be wrong too.

Zhao Yu suddenly realized that the investment, the job—everything he had—came from Gu Hansheng's charity, and Gu Hansheng could take it all away at any moment. In this arrangement, there were plenty of entanglements between them, but not a shred of feeling.

To keep his current life going, he couldn't afford to be emotional. Instead, he had to do everything he could to keep Gu Hansheng happy.

He looked at himself in the glass, gently pushed up the corners of his mouth with his fingers, and constructed a mask of a smile.

Morning sunlight spilled into the courtyard. Gu Hansheng came downstairs with a grim face, and Zhao Yu was helping the nanny bring out breakfast.

"Bro, have a meal before going to work."

Gu Hansheng paused mid-step and looked at the person downstairs who was smiling and speaking to him.

He was all too familiar with this smile. At the very beginning when Zhao Yu had deceived him, this sunny, cheerful smile had always been plastered on his face. Zhao Yu had imitated it too well—even better than before, as if Chen Xitong had awakened and was standing before him.

After all this time, Zhao Yu had finally understood his duty, but Gu Hansheng's heart was suddenly stabbed with pain by that smile.

"What are you doing?" Gu Hansheng walked up to him with a cold face.

"Calling you to eat," Zhao Yu said with a smile. "Auntie made the cod you like, Bro. Eat before you go—skipping breakfast is bad for your health."

"I'm asking what you're putting on an act for."

"I'm not doing anything." A flash of bewilderment crossed Zhao Yu's face. "Bro, am I not doing well enough? I'll keep improving, and I'll be exactly like Xitong, so you'll be satisfied."

"Bang!"

Gu Hansheng suddenly swept the plates off the table. The loud noise not only startled Zhao Yu but also frightened the nanny into not daring to come out of the kitchen.

He looked at Zhao Yu's fake expression, a nameless anger burning in his chest, and turned to leave.

"Bro, what exactly am I doing wrong?" Zhao Yu said behind him. "If you don't tell me, I don't know how to improve."

His answer was the thunderous slam of the front door.

Gu Hansheng's mood was utterly ruined. Zhao Yu's acting was flawless. He had imitated Chen Xitong for so long that he had carved the essence of every word and gesture into his bones, making him almost a perfect stand-in.

He was extremely professional, putting the care of his benefactor's feelings above everything else in his work, while hiding all his own emotions away—like a shell implanted with only rational code, treating Gu Hansheng as a client to serve.

When their relationship became purely about service and being served, without a trace of feeling mixed in, Zhao Yu's soul quietly retreated into a darkness he couldn't reach, silently severing all connection with him.

Zhao Yu had "disappeared," and had become Chen Xitong.

This was originally what Gu Hansheng wanted, but his mood was a hundred times worse than when his third uncle had schemed against him.

No matter what Zhao Yu did, it seemed he couldn't be satisfied, but if asked what he truly wanted, he couldn't say.

...

The atmosphere in the office was suffocatingly oppressive. A project supervisor had just been scolded and walked out, and the next unlucky soul was about to go in to report. Gu Hansheng didn't like to scold people directly; most of the time, he would take roundabout jabs, but today he was completely out of character. Of the ten who went into his office, five came out with red eyes, and even a punctuation error in a document would get them called an idiot.

After scolding away the last "idiot," Gu Hansheng leaned back in his chair with a sour mood, rubbing his temples.

There was a missed call from Yatai Restaurant on his phone that had gone to voicemail. He played the message, and the restaurant manager's voice came through.

"Mr. Gu, sorry to bother you. Last night, a customer caused a disturbance at the restaurant, looking for trouble with Cao Xu. Zhao Yu, being Chef Cao's apprentice, stepped in to mediate and was accidentally injured. I'm really sorry. It was too late last night to bother you, so I thought I should explain to you today no matter what. We'll definitely make sure something like this doesn't happen again and ensure Zhao Yu's safety."

Gu Hansheng frowned deeply and called the restaurant manager: "What happened? Explain clearly."

The restaurant manager said: "Mr. Gu, here's the situation. We've investigated thoroughly. A kitchen employee held a grudge against Cao Xu and hired someone to cause trouble at the restaurant. That person almost got into a fight with Chef Cao, and Zhao Yu stepped in between and was accidentally injured. I'm really sorry. I didn't expect this to happen either."

"He didn't fight back?"

"You mean Zhao Yu? No, he didn't. He didn't fight back the whole time. I also offered to pursue legal action against the other party, but he said it wasn't necessary."

"What about the person who started it?"

"He's still in custody. Since the damages were substantial, we plan to press charges, so please rest assured."

Gu Hansheng hung up and rubbed his forehead in frustration.

Since there was no fight, why didn't he explain last night?

He texted legal to push Yatai's lawsuit forward, and had his secretary buy medicine and drop it off for Zhao Yu.

It was just a misunderstanding—if he'd explained earlier, none of this crap would've happened. Gu Hansheng thought of Zhao Yu's stunned, disappointed expression from last night, wondering how he could still be smiling this morning.

After Blondie's scam came to light, the whole kitchen was stunned. He was fired on the spot, and Yatai shut down for a day to run a full day of staff training. For once, Zhao Yu got to leave work early again.

He bought the seasonings for the smoked fish sauce and a silver pomfret to take home, planning to try his hand at making smoked fish.

The silver pomfret was flopping around on the cutting board. Just as Zhao Yu knocked it out and was about to clean it, he heard Gu Hansheng coming back. He quickly put the fish in the freezer, took off his apron, and scrubbed his hands with soap over and over.

When Gu Hansheng walked in, Zhao Yu had just come out of the kitchen, drying his hands on a handkerchief, and said with a smile, "Brother, you're home early today. Have you had lunch? Want me to have Auntie come over to cook?"

He still had that fake look on his face, his smile like a programmed script.

Gu Hansheng's eyes darkened as he asked, "Did you use the medicine I sent you?"

"Yes, thank you, brother."

"Enough. Stop acting."

Hearing how annoyed Gu Hansheng sounded, Zhao Yu's smile froze on his face. He lowered his head, clenched his jaw, then forced another smile and said, "Then what else can I do for you, brother?"

Gu Hansheng's dark gaze lingered on the wound on his jaw and said, "I misunderstood you yesterday. I know you're upset. Let's just drop it. And quit that stupid grin—you're a terrible actor."

"Then how do you want me to act? Why don't you give the orders, and I'll follow them. I'm sure I can meet your standards."

"Quit throwing a tantrum."

Last night, he'd been chewed out worse than a dog, and Zhao Yu had taken it in silence. Now he'd switched tactics to win him over, only to get called out for throwing a tantrum. Since nothing he did was ever right, he could only say, "Since seeing me today puts you in a bad mood, I'll just head to my room."

"Hold it right there."

Zhao Yu turned around with a strained smile. "What is it, brother?"

Gu Hansheng gripped his jaw. "I told you to stop smiling. Don't you get it?"

Gu Hansheng was genuinely pissed off. He didn't like Zhao Yu's current state—like the person he used to have a firm grip on had somehow slipped out of his hands. He also hated Zhao Yu crawling back into his shell, making him feel distant and out of reach.

Zhao Yu's smile slowly faded, his dark eyes fixed on Gu Hansheng, a silent accusation buried deep in his gaze.