Chapter 7: She Took Away His Smile
The next morning, Gu Hai woke up with purpose. He planned to coax Bai Luoyin into riding with him to school instead of trekking. They could also get breakfast somewhere Bai Luoyin preferred if he still didn't want to eat at home.
Gu Hai took a bath and knocked patiently on Bai Luoyin's room door.
There was no reply.
He tried turning the knob of the door, but the door wouldn't budge.
"Ayi," he called a housekeeper who happened to be passing at the moment.
"Da Shaoye," the housekeeper replied.
"Where's Bai Luoyin?"
"He already left for school."
Gu Hai furrowed his brows. It was only a little past 7 am. What was the hurry?
"Ayi, his room key must have a spare. Can you please get it for me?"
"That…" she hesitated. "The young master doesn't let anyone enter his room."
Gu Hai's frown deepened. "Just get the key, please?"
The housekeeper left and returned with a spare key for Bai Luoyin's room. As she handed the key over to Gu Hai, she implored him not to go in as this might trigger Bai Luoyin's short fuse.
Gu Hai waved his hand nonchalantly at her and opened the door to the room anyway.
As Gu Hai stepped into Bai Luoyin's room, his jaw dropped to the floor as he stared at it in bewilderment, wondering if he had just entered a person's room or a pig sty.
Bai Luoyin's room was easily the messiest place he had seen in his life. They were clothes, paper wrappers, and books scattered everywhere in the room. On the bed, the floor, the sofa, and even on the windowsill.
The only spot in the room that could be remotely described as clean was on the floor where a dirty quilt was spread out. The layout of the quilt — which had a pillow on it — suggested that Bai Luoyin had slept on the floor.
Gu Hai found himself pondering about the state of the room and the quilt on the floor.
"Does Bai Luoyin sleep on the floor? And why the hell is this room in this state? Ah! If you don't allow anyone to clean up for you, that should be because you clean up by yourself," he complained.
Like a person who had no control over his actions, Gu Hai started cleaning up Bai Luoyin's room.
Sorting out the books, he arranged them in a bookcase which had only a few books he was sure were in the room before Bai Luoyin's arrival.
"Doesn't he know how to use a bookcase?" he complained
He sifted through the clothes on the floor. Putting away the clean ones, he gathered the dirty ones and put them on the couch. He could wash them when he returned from school.
As Gu Hai sorted through the last items on the floor, his eyes fell on a photo album.
The first pictures were of a younger Bai Luoyin with a seemingly younger Jiang Yuan and Ban Hanqi. The image was a little strange as all three of them had big smiles on their faces, as if no one on earth could be happier than they were. This was strange to Gu Hai as he had neither seen Bai Luoyin nor Jiang Yuan smile this widely before. He legitimately didn't think smiling was something Bai Luoyin was capable of. As for Jiang Yuan, he had seen her smile before, but her smile was somewhat sad, never reaching her eyes.
As Gu Hai continued leafing through the album, Jiang Yuan completely disappeared, and it seemed as if she took the broad smiles away with her.
The remaining pictures were either of Bai Luoyin alone, or Bai Luoyin with Bai Hanqi or an elderly couple he assumed were Bai Luoyin's grandparents.
Adding one to one, Gu Hai suddenly realized what had happened to this family.
Jiang Yuan had left them when Bai Luoyin was still young.
That was why Bai Luoyin seemed to be nursing so much resentment for her.
She had just gone, and now, she was trying to force her way back into his life.
The more Gu Hai thought about it, the more his hatred for Jiang Yuan increased.
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