CHAPTER 221: CHAPTER 207 YOU ARE MY PRIDE

Today is not the weekend, but the Mu Family members received calls one after another to return to the old mansion.

After work, Gu Qili went to the underground parking lot of the office building to wait for Mu Shuoqian. It wasn’t long before he came out from the elevator.

"Why suddenly go back to the old mansion, has something happened?" Gu Qili stepped forward and took his arm, seeing his unfathomable expression, she didn’t ask any further.

Mu Shuoqian was driving while Gu Qili nestled in the passenger seat reading a book, with soothing music playing in the car. After listening for a while, she suddenly sat upright and looked at him: "Why is it always this same song?"

This was their shared ringtone, a song she recommended to him.

"I’m learning it," Mu Shuoqian calmly replied, "So, I listen to it multiple times."

Upon hearing this, Gu Qili became curious, snapping her book shut on her lap, leaning slightly towards him with a pair of smiling eyes: "I have never heard you sing before."

"Want to listen?" He glanced at her lightly, a smile in his eyes.

Gu Qili nodded vigorously, her face full of anticipation as she moved closer to him, perking up her ears.

She didn’t know what flavor the singing of such a handsome man would be like, or rather, how he would sound?

"Not singing," Mu Shuoqian pressed his palm against her curious forehead, gently pushing her back into her original position.

"Why won’t you sing? Is it because singing for others costs them, but for you, it costs your life?"

"Come on, sing, my mental strength is quite superb, I can definitely withstand any blows." Gu Qili shook his arm.

He scolded lightly, "Stop it." He appeared truly a bit angry.

"Stingy."

Gu Qili stuck out her tongue at him and then resumed her reading.

Actually, she didn’t take this matter to heart, nor was she angry with him, single-mindedly revising the content she had studied, perhaps because she was too quiet, and her face expressionless...

After a while of silence, the old mansion of the Mu Family could be seen in the distance. The music that had been playing on loop suddenly stopped, and then, a low yet melodious male voice floated softly, "I want to see you smile."

Gu Qili was reading with her head down when she heard this sound, she suddenly covered her mouth, not knowing why, but such a tender love song sung by him unexpectedly moved her to tears.

Someone was willing to sing for her, and especially him, so happiness came too suddenly, catching her off-guard, and tears silently fell.

Mu Shuoqian never expected that a song could bring her to tears. He stopped singing, raised his hand to gently wipe her tears, his earlobes slightly red, "Is it so bad it makes you want to cry?"

Gu Qili burst into laughter, holding his hand and rubbing it on her face: "No, it’s explosively good."

She meant it. Although he wasn’t a vocal powerhouse, his voice was uniquely blessed, magnetic and pleasing to the ear.

"It sounds good and yet you cry?" He flicked her forehead lightly, commanding in a low voice, "Don’t cry anymore."

Lately, she seemed to get emotional easily, her eyes reddening frequently.

"I thought after dad was gone, there wouldn’t be anyone else so nice to me in this world. But Mu Shuoqian, you always move me, you are so nice to me, it feels almost unreal, like it’s all a dream." Gu Qili wiped her twitching nose, her eyes red as she looked at him, "It’s not a dream, right?"

"Silly," he chuckled softly.

"Actually, thinking about it now, our family’s bankruptcy, the only gain is meeting you. Should I be thankful for our bankruptcy?" She mumbled to herself, her expression becoming tense again, "But if our family hadn’t gone bankrupt, dad wouldn’t have had a sudden cerebral hemorrhage, and wouldn’t have left me..."

A sharp brake sound suddenly rang out, Gu Qili instinctively grabbed the handle next to her; since the car wasn’t going fast, even a sudden brake was just a scare.

Gu Qili turned to look at Mu Shuoqian who was driving; he was dazedly staring ahead, lost in thought, but there seemed to be nothing in front except a wide road.

"What’s wrong?"

Mu Shuoqian seemed to have remembered something, and didn’t come back to his senses for a long time. Only after Gu Qili shook his arm for the third time did he slowly turn his head to look at her. In his deep dark pupils, Gu Qili saw a trace of faint panic.

An expression that should not appear on Mu Shuoqian.

But in a moment, he resumed his usual cold indifference: "It’s nothing, just a dog that ran past just now."

A dog? Gu Qili looked carefully outside the car but seemingly did not see any dogs.

"Got scared, didn’t you?"

"It’s nothing. I thought you were feeling unwell," Gu Qili habitually touched his stomach, "I thought your stomach suddenly hurt."

The car turned a corner and arrived at the old house’s entrance. Beside Mu Shuoqian’s car, there was a new black car parked with new license plates as well.

Just like them, Mu Hewen and Qi Meihui had just arrived too. The four of them met at the entrance and entered the house one after the other without speaking.

"Big brother, sister-in-law, second brother..." Mu Fan came down from upstairs like a gust of wind. Seeing them, he smiled happily: "What brings you here?"

He ran in front of Gu Qili, "Gu Qili, you’re here too, perfect timing, I have a question to ask you."

"Mu Fan, go upstairs first," Mu Haotian, sitting in the living room, suddenly spoke gravely, "I have something to discuss with your brothers."

Mu Fan also felt the heavy atmosphere, said "okay," and then winked at Gu Qili: "Don’t forget to come up later, I’ve been stuck on that problem for quite a while."

As everyone else moved towards the living room, Gu Qili quickly put his hand by his side, shooing him away like swatting a fly, "Alright, little ancestor, stop causing more trouble for me."

Mu Fan then stomped upstairs, not forgetting to make a face at her on his way. Gu Qili pretended not to see it.

After sitting down on the sofa, she pressed close to Mu Shuoqian. He opened his palm to envelop her small hand, and the warmth from his skin comforted her.

Mu Haotian glanced at her face expressionlessly then averted his gaze, focusing on the visibly restless Mu Hewen instead.

"Do you want to confess yourself or do you want me to spell it out?"

Mu Hewen stalled, then defensively asked, "Dad, are you talking about me?"

"Who else could it be?" Mu Haotian glared at him with some redness creeping up his neck, clearly very angry.

"What did I do wrong? Why should I confess?" Mu Hewen squinted his eyes staring at Mu Shuoqian, "Is it that someone is unhappy with me again and talking behind my back?"

"Okay, so you won’t tear up until you see the coffin," Mu Haotian slammed his hands on the coffee table, the noise was harsh, causing Gu Qili to grip Mu Shuoqian’s arm tightly.

"You may come in now." Mu Haotian waved towards the door, and shortly after, several people with lowered heads walked in.

Upon seeing these few people, Mu Shuoqian and Qi Meihui immediately turned pale, tongue-tied without a word to say.

Among them, there was one person Gu Qili recognized, the man in the black hat who caused trouble at the restaurant today. He wasn’t wearing a hat now and his head hung very low, but Gu Qili recognized him immediately.

She secretly guessed something, sneaking a glance at the man beside her. His countenance was clear and calm, his expressions indifferent as if the incident had nothing to do with him, as if he was just here to watch a show.

But Gu Qili knew that these people were the "evidence" he had gathered.

"Speak up, tell us everything you know," Mu Haotian spoke, sounding somewhat exhausted by now. He leaned back on the sofa, momentarily closing his eyes.

One of the men, cautiously looking at Mu Hewen, said softly: "Mr. Mu gave me some money to cause chaos in a hotel lounge and take the chance to steal a laptop."

"Which Mr. Mu?" Mu Shuoqian, who had been silent, suddenly looked at him coldly, his gaze sharp as a knife. Under that intimidating stare, the man shrank a bit, adding, "Mr. Mu Hewen."

"You’re spouting nonsense, I don’t even know you." Mu Hewen pointed at the man, looking wrongly accused, "Dad, what kind of actor did you find here? You’re not really believing him, are you?"

"Shut up," Mu Haotian picked up a file from beside him and placed it on the coffee table, "Do I need to throw these pieces of evidence in your face?"

Despite this, Mu Hewen was not ready to give up. He reached for the file, but Mu Haotian smashed his cup directly onto his hand. Mu Hewen cried out in pain as the cup shattered on the floor.

"Hewen." Seeing her husband getting hurt, Qi Meihui couldn’t just sit by. She immediately held his hand and checked it anxiously. It appeared that apart from a broken skin, it wasn’t gravely injured; even in his anger, Mu Haotian wouldn’t actually go as far as to seriously harm his own son.

"And you, speak up, tell me clearly in front of him," Mu Haotian pointed at the few people, his voice excited, his abdomen heaving.

Knowing that the men from the Mu family were not to be trifled with, the man in the black hat instinctively stepped back from Mu Hewen as he spoke, "I was just instructed by someone to make trouble at the French restaurant. I was only responsible for creating a disturbance, and there were supposed to be journalists coming in to take pictures during that time."

However, he never saw the supposed journalists, as he was blocked outside before he could even enter, by people sent by Mu Shuoqian.