Rebirth Counterattack with Space
Chapter 405 - 389: Heart Knot

Chapter 405: Chapter 389: Heart Knot

Lu Yun said in surprise, "Didn’t Gu Meng swear to my aunt and uncle that he would wait for Gu Feng to get married before he got married himself? What happened to Gu Feng and his girlfriend?"

"Gu Feng broke up with his ex-girlfriend more than two or three years ago. Right after they split, the girl immediately married a middle-aged businessman who came from Xiangjiang to do business on the mainland, and now she even has a child.

Gu Feng seemed unaffected and not heartbroken, and even attended the girl’s wedding. Everyone thought he had moved on, but for the past few years, he’s stubbornly refused to embark on a new romance or to go on arranged dates. Now he’s nearly thirty, and after borrowing money from your aunt and uncle, he’s started his own business. He’s devoted himself to his career day in and day out, living like a monk, free from all desires."

Xia Yuan sighed, "They say children have their own fortunes. I did try to persuade my sister-in-law, and even my brother-in-law talked to her in private. Although the girl was a bit money-minded and delicate, no one is perfect. Marriage is a matter of mutual consent, as long as the child likes the other person, that should be enough, even if he regrets it later. But she wouldn’t listen at the time and just had to interfere. Well, now she’s tasting the bitter fruit of her actions..."

As a result, everything is like this now. Despite all my sister-in-law has said and cried about, Gu Feng simply does as she asks to her face, agreeing to everything nicely, but as soon as she turns around, it’s as if he’s developed amnesia. If my sister-in-law talks too much, he starts to play disappearing acts, heading off on business trips where he can be gone for months without showing up.

Even my brother-in-law has tried to talk some sense into him behind her back, but to no avail. Unlike with my sister-in-law, Gu Feng just nods along to whatever my brother-in-law says but remains silent.

My sister-in-law is completely out of options with him now. She even cried to me the other day, saying if she knew it would turn out like this and that he was so taken with that girl, she would have given her approval from the start."

It’s funny and infuriating when Xia Yuan talks about it, "I told her, why did she make such a big fuss at the time, even threatening with a breakup, and now she’s changed her tune."

"Mom, why haven’t I heard you mention this before?" Lu Yun’s mouth fell open. In her previous life, this never happened, as both her cousins had gotten married and had children smoothly in Haicheng.

Lu Yun tried hard to recall and suddenly realized that over these years, the spouses of her married cousins seemed to have changed somewhat due to changes in their environments.

These years her attention had been all on Shitou and Pei Yi, and she hadn’t even realized it.

"What could you have done if I had told you? You have been too busy yourself, barely finding time to breathe. What could you do if I bothered you with this from so far away?" Xia Yuan shook her head, "That’s why I didn’t want to burden you with this."

"Now, we can only rely on time to gradually heal." Lu Yun felt a touch of melancholy.

"Can you and Shitou make time to go to S City for the wedding? If you can, maybe you and Shitou could talk to Gu Feng, see what he’s really thinking. It can’t go on like this. A man should be established by thirty, and he’s already that age. Is he really going to wait until old age without getting married and having a child?"

"Mm, I’ll ask Shitou. Even if he can’t go, I will take Pei Yi with me. I’ll definitely find time to have a good talk with Gu Feng."

"Alright, let’s leave it at that."

After hanging up, Lu Yun couldn’t quite identify her own feelings. She spent the whole afternoon distracted, lost in endless thoughts.

When Shitou came home in the evening and saw her looking sullen, he asked about it and couldn’t help but laugh after finding out, "Gu Feng is this way, but it might not be entirely because he’s still smitten with his ex-girlfriend. It sounds to me more like the same way our Guaibao used to act when he was throwing a tantrum with us when he was little."

"Throwing a tantrum? At his age, Gu Feng is acting like a child throwing a fit?" Lu Yun blinked in disbelief.

"Gu Feng has always been too well-behaved and understanding since he was young, treating his aunt with more tenderness and compliance than even a daughter would. So when he grew up and suddenly started to clash with his aunt because of another woman, just put yourself in her shoes. How would you feel?"

"Of course, I wouldn’t be able to handle it. I would feel like my son, whom I’ve raised, is about to be taken away by someone else, and I would feel the heartache of a son who ’forgets his mother after getting a wife’."

Lu Yun smacked her lips, filled with pity, "However, our Guaibao has never been as well-behaved as Gu Feng was when he was younger, so I probably won’t get the chance to experience that feeling."

"Hehe."

Shitou looked at Lu Yun and smiled, "If you’re feeling that way, imagine how Aunt must feel. I guess that when Aunt was so determined to oppose it, the reason wasn’t just dissatisfaction with that girl but more importantly, she probably felt hurt and angry that her son was becoming disobedient because of her. So, she got all pent up and went a bit too extreme with her methods.

Isn’t that the reason most mother-in-law problems arise in the world?"

"So what do you think should be done? Just because Gu Feng is too well-behaved, he deserves the bad luck?" Lu Yun pouted slightly in dissatisfaction.

"There’s a saying, ’The squeaky wheel gets the grease.’ Think back, how does our Guaibao act when he wants something you’re not willing to give him? And what about Gu Meng, if it were him, what would he do?"

"...It looks like Gu Feng hasn’t been using the right methods. Plus, he actually might not have cared as much about his ex-girlfriend as he thought he did, not enough to feel he absolutely had to have her."

After a long contemplation, Lu Yun came to that conclusion.

She thought about how if Guaibao wanted something he liked and she refused to give it to him. If it wasn’t something he absolutely needed to have, he would try a few strategies and, finding that none worked, he’d give up quite sensibly.

But if it was something he really wanted to get, the situation would be different. He would keep making a fuss, first by crying, and if that didn’t work, he would try to reason with her, and if reasoning still didn’t work, he’d bring in reinforcements. If that was still fruitless, he would start negotiating. In short, he would persistently try various tactics until he achieved his goal...

Thinking of Gu Meng being Aunt’s youngest son, who had a temperament drastically different from Gu Feng’s since he was a child, and was akin to the kind that would cry for what he wanted, rarely failing to get it, she came to a conclusion.

After becoming a mother herself, she knew that as a parent, one’s heart is all the same toward their children; ultimately, you can’t outstubborn them.

If Gu Feng had truly been determined to have that girl, he would have used both carrot and stick with Aunt, employing all manners of tactics until she agreed.

Aunt is not the type of person who is truly cruel to her children. If she saw Gu Feng’s resolve and knew that he truly liked that girl to extreme lengths, she would definitely capitulate in the end—that’s why she later went crying to Mother.

Having realized this, Lu Yun felt that in Gu Feng’s heart, that girl probably wasn’t worth going to great lengths to fight for, so she wondered, "Well, if that’s the case, why is he acting so affectionate and devoted to his ex-girlfriend now?"

"He’s in his rebellious phase. He’s been repressed for too long and feels imbalanced now, a kind of retaliatory psychology," Shitou said offhand.

"..."

Lu Yun was speechless with wide-eyed amazement, "Then how should this knot be untangled?"

"Hasn’t Gu Feng already started his own business?"

Shitou chuckled, "He is in the process of untangling his own emotional knot. He likely realizes now that ’the economic base determines the superstructure.’ Just give him time, once he achieves success and feels that he is successful enough, he will naturally untangle this knot."

"Or, when he meets his true other half ordained by fate, his knot will also be untied. I believe by then, Aunt, even if she dislikes that girl, will certainly not dare to voice such strong opposition as before," Lu Yun said, suddenly understanding.

"Right. So, there’s no rush, he will meet his true destined partner eventually," Shitou said, kissing Lu Yun, "just like how we met each other."