Reluctantly Willing

A month’s probation period was soon over. Gu Jun’s hard work during this period was fruitful. Coincidentally, the company lacked a manager and Gu Jun was placed in the business manager position due to his excellent abilities. During the first month, he did not dare to take any leave at all for fear of being laid off. Now that he had signed a three-year work contract, he could take leave and rest for a while.

Saturdays and Sundays were the busiest days at the pet hospital. Gu Jun had already registered Guo Guo at a local kindergarten and classes would begin next Monday. This week, he planned to meet An Xiaoyan.

Gu Jun had just received his pay for the probation period and he now felt less anxious. He went to buy some fruit and wore a matching outfit with his son, which he bought from a street stall for 35 dollars. After that, Gu Jun took Guo Guo by the hand and strolled to the pet hospital with Yippy.

Two people and a dog appeared intimidating. Standing at the door, Da Zhou saw Gu Jun across the street. He hurried to the back and shouted to An Xiaoyan to ask him to come over.

When An Xiaoyan walked to the counter, Gu Jun had just arrived at the door.

“I’ve brought along some fruit for all of you. Eat some.”

An Xiaoyan took a look at Gu Jun. Gu Jun appeared one shade darker and was dressed in ordinary clothes. The temperament of Gu Jun became more easy-going than before.

Da Zhou volunteered, “I am going to the back to wash the fruit. Lin Nian, come and help me.”

Lin Nian put down the work at hand and joined Da Zhou. Seeing that something was up, Ji Lin hurried to follow them, leaving Guo Guo, An Xiaoyan and Gu Jun together.

Gu Jun initiated the topic first. “I’m staying in this town. I’m not going back to A City. What about you?”

“I don’t know. It depends.”

“One day, if you plan to leave this place, remember to tell me. Don’t hide it from me.”

An Xiaoyan did not answer and Guo Guo was lying on An Xiaoyan. It took quite some time for Da Zhou to come back with the fruit. The three of them acquiesced that Gu Jun and An Xiaoyan were one family, thus they did not stand on ceremony and helped themselves to the food which Gu Jun had brought over.

“This grape is very sweet. When I wash it, I see a foreign label. Is it imported?” As Da Zhou spoke, he was about to feed An Xiaoyan a grape. Just as the grape touched An Xiaoyan’s mouth, Gu Jun took the grape and handed it to An Xiaoyan.

After An Xiaoyan took it, he peeled it and stuffed it into Guo Guo’s mouth.

“Daddy, it’s sweet.”

Gu Jun was not angry, and handed a few more grapes to An Xiaoyan.

The expensive fruits were deliberately chosen as Gu Jun never hesitated when he had to spend on An Xiaoyan.

After eating the fruits, Gu Jun did not stay. When he was about to leave for home with Yippy, An Xiaoyan offered to bathe Yippy.

Yippy had not bathed for a month. Although it was dirty, Gu Jun had no time to bathe it.

“Alright, let me help you.”

Da Zhou and the other two had a tacit understanding to stay up front and none of them went out back. When Guo Guo was about to run to find his uncle, Lin Nian pulled him back, “Your father and mother are talking about love. Don’t mess things up!”

Gu Jun followed behind An Xiaoyan, and the two men went to the bathtub and put Yippy in it. First, they cleaned the dog’s hair with a brush and then bathed it.

The two of them brushed Yippy on one side each and bathe the dog with a pet-specific bath lotion. Finally, they blew the dog dry.

After bathing, Yippy felt especially happy, shaking its head and licking An Xiaoyan with its tongue.

Gu Jun wanted to pay for Yippy’s bath, but An Xiaoyan did not accept, saying that it was just to return a favor for the fruit he had treated them to. In fact, Ji Lin also felt that washing a dog was no trouble at all since they had eaten Gu Jun’s expensive fruit.

September was here and Guo Guo went to a kindergarten, which was just behind the pet hospital, to study. The kindergarten closes at 4 p.m. every day, while Gu Jun couldn’t leave the company until 5 p.m. Guo Guo told Gu Jun that he would go and look for Uncle An after school, and let Uncle An bring him home.

So the daily routine went as follows: At 3:50 p.m, An Xiaoyan would put down his work and pick Guo Guo up before returning to the pet hospital. Then, at around 5 p.m, he would bring Guo Guo back to Gu Jun’s home. Usually, Gu Jun would come home from work around the time that Guo Guo and An Xiaoyan would get there. Sometimes Gu Jun would be late, while sometimes he would be early. Whoever who got there first would wait downstairs for a while.

An Xiaoyan and Gu Jun seemed to be perfect collaborators. They support the growth of Guo Guo together.

A fax was sent to An Xiaoyan’s home again. The sender was Chen Chen, and the recipient was Gu Jun.

When he handed the document to Gu Jun, Gu Jun opened it on the spot. Just when he was about to leave, Gu Jun grabbed him and handed the document to him to read.

The document detailed that the Gu Group wants Gu Jun to return and resume the chairman’s position. All previous funds paid for breaking the contract would be returned. On top of that, an additional 10 million dollars of compensation would be paid. If Gu Jun did not return, they would ask the court to decide.

“What happened?”

“Do you want me to go back?”

An Xiaoyan did not quite understand what this meant. Isn’t Gu Jun the chairman of the Gu Group?

“Gu Jun, what do you mean? I hope you can make it clear.”

Gu Jun grabbed An Xiaoyan’s hand tighter. “Xiaoyan, if I made it clear, would you forgive me?”

About five hundred meters in front of the pet hospital, at Maple Leaf Bookstore, An Xiaoyan took Gu Jun to the snack cafe on the third floor.

This was the only time An Xiaoyan came to this bookstore without Fifth Dumpling, but with a tall handsome man. The cashier and librarian next to him kept staring at them as they watched them go up to the third floor.

“What’s the matter? Say it.”

“My engagement with Xiu Yijian has been cancelled. Henceforth, I have nothing to do with her. No, I mean, I had nothing to do with her before either. She came close to me just to get a place in that international competition.”

“If it’s cancelled, so be it.”

“No, I mean I’m not going to do any of these stupid things anymore. This time, going back to A City, I hope you can join me too, willingly.”

Gu Jun still did not reveal that he had resigned as a chairman with all his assets. He did not want An Xiaoyan to think he wanted to get some credit.

“Think it over. In my opinion, this is very important to you and me.”

“Is that all?”

Gu Jun nodded and An Xiaoyan went off straight away.

Looking at the empty seat opposite, Gu Jun wondered when the time would come where he could sit opposite An Xiaoyan with the both of them chatting and laughing together.

Gu Jun planned to return to A City on the 11th as it was a public holiday and he did not need to apply for leave. He could even bring Guo Guo along with him.

As he did not make things clear, he did not pin his hopes on An Xiaoyan joining him in his return to A City. He started to pack his luggage and bought the coach ticket to A City.

It was too expensive to fly back by plane. Gu Jun bought a train ticket and a sleeper. It took him ten hours to get to A City.

After getting off the coach and arriving in A City, the dry air made his face feel a little irritated. Gu Jun walked out of the station with Guo Guo in his arms, and Chen Chen was there to meet them.

“You’re still here. I thought you had left.”

“I found a good job at another company. Although the salary is not high, it is an easy job, so I will be staying here for a little bit. My mother wants me to go home for a blind date during the Chinese New Year. I will probably wait until I find someone before I change my job.”

Now that they were no longer superiors and subordinates, they felt less restrained. As Guo Guo had already fallen asleep in Gu Jun’s arms, the two men continued chatting.

“How did you send that document to An Xiaoyan?”

Chen Chen looked into the rear-view mirror and said, “Why didn’t you remember to give me your address after moving, so that I could send you the document?”

Gu Jun laughed. Before, he had a selfish thought, thinking that using An Xiaoyan as the contact point would allow him to contact An Xiaoyan more often. Chen Chen had probably guessed it too. Thus, he sent the documents to An Xiaoyan.

“Did something happen?”

Chen Chen briefly told Gu Jun the whole story and the main point was that Gu Jing had gone mad.

Since becoming the nominal chairman of the board, Gu Jing thought he had great rights and hated those who did not vote for him before. Prison had always been a place whereby people kill without blinking an eye. The inmates inside were more or less part of a secret society. Gu Jing talked to the “brothers” about his position and was “advised” by them. It aroused deep hatred in his heart.

Moreover, after old Mr. Gu fished him out from jail, he could not adapt himself to society and only wanted revenge. The first day he took office, everything seemed normal. However, as time went by, Gu Jing shut himself up in his office every day, always thinking about how to take revenge on those people. He even thought of ways to put those people in prison to have a taste of what prison life was like.

Besides shutting himself in his office daily, Gu Jing never stepped out of his office during working hours and did not allow anyone to disturb him. Once, there was a document that required his signature and the little secretary went into his office to ask for his signature and was shooed out of the room. She was so frightened as she saw a piece of paper on the floor with the word “Die”.

After the little secretary told others what she saw, word eventually spread to the ears of old Mr. Gu. The old man installed surveillance cameras in the office secretly, and found that Gu Jing was plotting how he’d imprison or kill his enemies. It was obviously abnormal. A psychologist was invited to talk to Gu Jing, only to find out that Gu Jing had a tendency to kill people and his brain was abnormal. Gao Shan also agreed that Gu Jing had a problem and Gu Jing was finally diagnosed with schizophrenia.

After listening to the whole story, Gu Jun sighed and shrieked. A normal man is now schizophrenic.

Gu Jun booked a hotel room by himself. The agreed date of the negotiation was October 3rd; that would be the day after tomorrow. Gu Jun planned to take Guo Guo to the famous snack street in A City, and then have a good rest. He placed the cats and dog at a pet boarding house. Although it would cost a lot of money to put the animals there for so many days, he had no choice but to do that as he had no idea how long would this negotiation take.

Even with the court’s ruling, old Mr. Gu had no advantage over Gu Jun at all. It was purely a formality. The reason why Gu Jun came back was to tell them that even without Gu Group, he could do very well.

An Xiaoyan did not take holiday leave on National Day. Many people do not usually have time to bring their pets for vaccination, thus they could only come during the holidays. A few days ago, Gu Jun said that he would be returning to A City. He should already be back by now.

Is there any possibility that he did not go back?

After work, An Xiaoyan went to Gu Jun’s house. He knocked on the door on the third floor but did not get any response. After a while, he knocked again. They must have gone back.

Feeling a little disheartened, An Xiaoyan appeared lifeless as he walked back home. Recalling the document Gu Jun had shown him before, it detailed that the Gu Group hoped Gu Jun would return. That was to say, Gu Jun was no longer the chairman anymore. Wasn’t everything fine for the past few months?

There must be some strife within the company. An Xiaoyan went home to pack up his things and hurried to A City. He had a feeling that things were not as simple as he had imagined.

Though it was the first time An Xiaoyan booked a flight and it cost nearly 2000 dollars, he did not hesitate. Fifth Dumpling was unable to fly with him, thus he left it under the care of Ji Lin since Ji Lin was always at the hospital lately

.

When the plane took off, he felt weightlessness and closed his eyes as he dared not look out of the window. When the plane stabilized, he opened his eyes to see the white clouds outside and the green fields below.

Gu Jun is so rich. He will never live in that broken house with nobody to cook for them. In Gu Jun’s villa, there were seven or eight servants. Gu Jun also has no bad habits of gambling, drinking or other bad habits. Gu Jun must have willingly given away his money.

With a heavy heart, An Xiaoyan was eager to learn the facts.