Chapter 112: The Gu Family's Great Calamity
"You were so cocky just now, Little Yaoyao. Why've you stopped?" As Zhou Fan spoke, Chen Yao could even smell the cigarette he had just smoked. She instinctively turned her face away, only for Zhou Fan to forcefully grab her chin.
"Don't squirm, you hear me?" Zhou Fan said with a wicked grin. At that moment, it was as if the carefree, unrestrained playboy from years past had returned.
"Zhou Fan, let me go! I was wrong!" Chen Yao didn't dare to look directly into Zhou Fan's eyes. She was afraid that if she did, this version of him would make her fall completely.
"Let you go? Where to?" As he spoke, Zhou Fan gave her a provocative kiss. His left hand, however, settled on her waist and began to roam…
"Mmph... You... you bastard! You're bullying me!" Feeling his hand's transgression and smelling the lingering scent of tobacco, Chen Yao was overcome with shame and anger. She stopped trying to get away. A misty sheen of tears welled up in her beautiful eyes as she furiously cursed him.
"Hey, don't cry. I was just punishing you a little for being so cocky, wasn't I?" When Zhou Fan saw Chen Yao's tears, he knew he'd taken it a bit too far. He quickly let her go and started to back away, but old habits die hard. Before he was out the door, he gave her two firm pats on the rear!
"Get the hell out, Zhou Fan! I'm going to kill you!" Chen Yao's lovely face was flushed red, as breathtakingly beautiful as a plum blossom blooming in the dead of winter. She snatched a cup from the table and hurled it at Zhou Fan, but he was already out the door, and it smashed against the wood.
"Little Yaoyao, don't be mad! I'll take you out some other day to make it up to you!" Just as the door shut and Chen Yao thought he was gone for good, it cracked open again. Zhou Fan poked his punchable face back in, offered a placating smile, dropped that line, and then quickly slammed the door shut again.
Sitting in her chair, replaying that last moment in her mind, Chen Yao gently bit her lip. A blush crept across her face, so deep that it spread all the way down her snow-white neck.
'That jerk. If you don't take me out somewhere nice to make up for this, I'll kill you!' She pulled out her phone and typed out a message to Zhou Fan.
"Don't you worry, Little Yaoyao. I guarantee you'll be satisfied!" The simple sentence was followed by two grinning emojis, which made Chen Yao laugh in spite of herself.
After leaving Chen Yao, Zhou Fan took Gu Changkong and Gu Feifei up to the seventh floor. He found rooms for them and got them settled in for the time being. Only then did Gu Changkong begin to explain what had happened.
"The night before last, it was past ten o'clock. Our family was preparing for bed, and it was time for the bodyguards to change shifts. A group of about seven or eight people suddenly burst in. Before we had a chance to react, they cut down the bodyguards in the courtyard."
"Afterward, the group left a few men to block all the exits and began hunting down the members of our Gu Family within our own compound. My youngest son knows a little of the Martial Dao, so he managed to stall them for a moment, which allowed the others to get me to safety through a secret passage."
"But just as I was about to enter the passage, I saw someone appear. He sent my youngest son flying with a single kick, then led his men to chase after me. The guards protecting me chose to stay behind and fight to the death, just so I could escape safely."
"The secret passage can't be opened without my password, so they probably didn't dare try to force it open. They must have been afraid the noise would attract the attention of Wolf Fang's members. That's the only reason I was able to escape."
"I'm just an old man. I didn't know where else to go, so my only choice was to find Feifei. But I had only just arrived, and Feifei was preparing to bring me to you for help, Mr. Zhou, when that group tracked me down to her apartment and started pounding on the door!"
"Thankfully, when Feifei bought this place, she bought both this floor and the one below it on a whim. She even had a hidden passage installed between the two. If not for that, I'm afraid we would have already fallen into their clutches!"
Gu Changkong was choking back sobs, tears streaming down his face. Gone was the man who remained calm in the face of crisis. Now, he was just a pitiful old man in the twilight of his life, one who had lost everything in a single stroke, with only his granddaughter left to him.
"Did you get a clear look at who was leading them?" Zhou Fan asked, cutting to the heart of the matter, though he was privately thankful for Gu Feifei's foresight in buying two floors.
"Chu Yifeng. I am certain it was him," Gu Changkong said, his voice firm. "He was the one who appeared at the last second, sent my son flying with a kick, and then led the pursuit after me!"
"Sir, you should get some rest. You're safe here," Zhou Fan said with a nod. He then motioned for Gu Feifei to follow him.
After they entered Gu Feifei's room, Zhou Fan turned to face her. "That day you called me... was that when they were at your door?"
"Yes," Gu Feifei nodded meekly, fresh tears welling in her eyes. "At that moment, I didn't know who else I could possibly call." Any girl in her situation would have been on the verge of a total breakdown.
"Silly girl. Next time you're in danger, just tell me what's happening, you understand? What good does it do to ask where I am?" Seeing her pitiful expression, Zhou Fan couldn't resist pulling her into a hug. "However... there's something I'm going to need your help with."