Chapter 112 — Could He Be an Illegitimate Son? [Begging for Monthly Tickets, Fourth Bonus Update]

"Daddy seems to care about him more than he cares about me? And his attitude toward him is so... nice?" Gu Mengyao knitted her brows slightly...

"Exactly. Especially since Uncle Gu said before that you and Wei Zhao should get along well, that you two are the same age... Don't you think that attitude is a little ambiguous?" Shen Yushu reasoned. "If Wei Zhao were just some hired follower Uncle Gu brought in, would he have needed to say that? Look at how strict Uncle Gu has been all these years about you and your male classmates — how could Uncle Gu, for no reason at all, let a man live under the same roof as us?"

"You have a point..." Gu Mengyao nodded in deep agreement. True enough — she had been raised with strict discipline since childhood, sternly told that before eighteen she was not allowed to date, not allowed to go out with boys, not allowed to...

Granted, she was eighteen now, but wasn't this shift in attitude a bit too drastic? Gu Mengyao did not believe her father had suddenly turned so open-minded and enlightened as to put a grown man in her house.

When things are out of the ordinary, there must be something uncanny behind them. Had Shen Yushu not reminded her, Gu Mengyao, though puzzled, would not have thought much of it — after all, those caught in the middle of things are blind to them, and she had chalked Wei Zhao's presence here up entirely to his having fed her father some bewitching potion. But thinking it over carefully — just how shrewd a man was Daddy? Running the vast Gu Group as he did, could he really be fooled by a bumpkin like Wei Zhao? However she looked at it, it seemed impossible...

Which meant... Wei Zhao's coming to her side was in fact something her father approved of from the bottom of his heart... But what on earth could have led her father to make such a decision?

"And besides... Uncle Qing seems to treat Shield Guy with a great deal of respect too..." Shen Yushu hit the nail on the head. Whether Gu Pengzhan admired Wei Zhao or not was beside the point; the point was that Gu Pengzhan admired plenty of people — all those brilliant young talents in the company had been hired by him, and their attitude toward Uncle Qing was nothing short of reverent. After all, Uncle Qing was the old man at Gu Pengzhan's side; even the company's vice president had to address him respectfully as Brother Li... Yet toward Wei Zhao, Uncle Qing's manner seemed different from the way he treated those company employees — more like the way he treated her and Gu Mengyao...

"Right..." Gu Mengyao's brows drew tighter still, and she grew all the more suspicious about Wei Zhao's identity and about her daddy's purpose in placing him at her side...

"Yaoyao, anyway, I think that whether it's your daddy or Uncle Qing, their attitude toward Shield Guy is far too ambiguous... It isn't the way they treat a hired man... it's more like the way they treat... family..." Shen Yushu voiced her thoughts. The idea might frighten Gu Mengyao, but as her closest friend, she felt obliged to say it.

Listening to Shen Yushu's analysis... suddenly Gu Mengyao thought of a truly terrifying possibility — one that frightened even her.

"Xiaoshu... do you think Wei Zhao... could Wei Zhao be Daddy's illegitimate son?" Gu Mengyao stared wide-eyed at Shen Yushu, somewhat alarmed. "Otherwise, why would Daddy like him so much?"

"Huh??" This time Shen Yushu was dumbstruck too. She had never imagined Gu Mengyao could come up with such an outlandish explanation — Uncle Gu's illegitimate son? Shen Yushu felt a chill of revulsion... Still, the possibility was essentially nil; the two looked not the slightest bit alike. How could it be? Gu Mengyao was really something, to conjure up even that.

"What is it, Xiaoshu?" Gu Mengyao saw Shen Yushu standing there dumbstruck and at once felt she must have gone off track. "Am I wrong?"

"Yaoyao, your imagination is really too much... Shield Guy is about the same age as you and me, isn't he? If he were an illegitimate son, it would have to be from around the time Uncle Gu met your mother — but back then... was it even possible? Was there even a chance?" Shen Yushu shook her head, speechless.

"Uh... so I was wrong? But apart from that, what other explanation is there?" Gu Mengyao abandoned her own theory too; it was simply too far-fetched.

"Yaoyao, I think Uncle Gu is choosing a son-in-law. He's treating Shield Guy as a son-in-law..." Shen Yushu grinned slyly, teasing. Yet for some reason, having said it, she felt a little uncomfortable inside.

"Choosing a son-in-law?" Gu Mengyao's mouth fell open in astonishment; she stared at Shen Yushu blankly. "Xiaoshu... are you serious?"

"True or not, I don't know — it's only my guess." Shen Yushu shrugged. "It just feels a little like it to me. Then again, maybe it isn't..."

"How could that be? I'm only eighteen... and... no, impossible, absolutely impossible..." Gu Mengyao shook her head again and again, cheeks flushed. "Xiaoshu, what do you think?"

"Well, I think you and Shield Guy are quite a match." Shen Yushu smiled. "He can drive, he can cook, and he's got skills. That's not bad at all..."

"I don't want that." Gu Mengyao refused instinctively, yet somewhere inside her, a strange feeling stirred restlessly... Did Daddy really want him to be her boyfriend? Was it not merely a pretense of being a shield?

If that were so... he could protect her, at least. That scene in the bank had already given Gu Mengyao a deep sense of security and reliance on Wei Zhao... But the young lady's small pride and vanity only made Wei Zhao seem more infuriating.

And if that were really so, then given how he flirted with other girls, how could Daddy take a fancy to such a person? She and Xiaoshu must have misunderstood. Perhaps her father had some other, deeper intention...

Fretting over gains and losses, Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu made their way to the underground parking garage and got into Uncle Qing's Bentley. Only then did Gu Mengyao let out a faint sigh. "Xiaoshu, tell me — that guess earlier, how likely do you think it is?"

"It could be zero percent, or fifty percent, or more likely a hundred percent..." Shen Yushu had recovered her composure and spoke with a grin. "But I have a feeling it depends on which one you're hoping for, Yaoyao."

"Me? What would I be hoping for? He likes Qiu Lingshan, and that pretty girl we ran into on the shopping street yesterday — what's that to me?" Though Gu Mengyao was running Wei Zhao down, there was a faint sourness in her tone.

"Heh heh..." Shen Yushu laughed, but inwardly she sighed. Could it be that Yaoyao had fallen for him too?

After Uncle Qing finished checking the car, he got in, and Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu fell silent. Gu Mengyao's expression flickered between pique and delight, and no one could tell what she was thinking...

Shen Yushu pressed her lips together and thought to herself: Yaoyao must have spring fever — if only she had kept her mouth shut...

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