Chapter 416: Chapter 374: How Could There Be Such a Man
Mu Fan looked at the bewildered Gu Qili for a while and said, "You, you don’t know?"
"Mu Fan, you’re confusing me," Gu Qili suddenly recalled Fan Bin had also mentioned that he had met Mu Shuoqian when she was in junior high, "What exactly is going on, clarify it."
Mu Fan guessed that Gu Qili really didn’t know about elder brother’s secret crush on her, nor did she likely know the secret in his room.
With an air of mystery, Mu Fan pulled Gu Qili up: "Come with me, I’ll show you something."
Gu Qili left Mu Qinian with the servant and followed Mu Fan upstairs.
"Isn’t this your elder brother’s room?" Gu Qili had been in there once when she felt nauseous from a car ride, and he lent his room to her. Back then, their interactions were quite awkward, he always treated her indifferently while she was also very cautious; it was merely a marriage in name.
In fact, he liked her back then, just pretending to be unconcerned on the surface while secretly solving her worries behind her back.
The key, stolen from the servant by Mu Fan, unlocked the door as he said sneakily, "Come inside."
As soon as Gu Qili stepped inside, she saw the mural wall and exclaimed in surprise, "Isn’t this my family’s vineyard?"
Mu Fan glanced outside the door; true to the thieve’s heart, he was terribly afraid that Mu Shuoqian might suddenly come back.
"Is this really your vineyard?" Mu Fan had found it strange when he saw it last time, guessing it was Gu Qili’s vineyard, and it turned out to be true, "It wasn’t there ten years ago, the house was renovated, and suddenly elder brother had someone come to paint a vineyard, I even mocked his taste back then."
He painted this picture here more than ten years ago? But back then they didn’t even know each other.
No wonder she felt a sense of familiarity the first time she came here—it was because of this mural.
"There’s something even more surprising," Mu Fan handed her a remote control, "See for yourself, I’ll stand guard outside."
Mu Fan turned and closed the door behind him.
Holding the remote, Gu Qili pressed as directed by Mu Fan, and the wall in front of her began to slide to both sides, revealing a completely unexpected scene—walls covered with her own photos.
Gu Qili was so shocked that she couldn’t describe it in words. She stared blankly at the wall covered with photos, possibly hundreds of them, starting from the first one from her junior high third year, just before she graduated, still preoccupied with preparing a speech, that photo captured her sitting under the cherry trees at school, reciting her speech.
How is it possible? Even she hadn’t seen this photo before, when had he taken it.
Gu Qili continued to look down, even finding a picture from when she was taking the university entrance exams, standing among a group of students, nervously clutching her backpack.
With so many photos, almost encapsulating her teenage years, her riding a bicycle, her playing badminton, her giving speeches, even her sleeping on the desk.
Gu Qili, understanding the words Fan Bin once said, he mentioned, "One day I went to pick you up from school, and I saw Mr. Mu’s car."
He had been secretly taking her photos, in these unseen moments, he had always been silently watching over her.
While she was still a young girl, he had already liked her. When was it, when exactly did he meet and start liking her?
This feeling should be creepy, for so many years, she was unknowingly being watched silently by a man, he even took so many photos about her, maybe some of her privacy was also invaded, but what Gu Qili felt was nothing but profound emotion, moved by his unrequited love, touched by his years of devotion.
He fell for her six years before she had any feelings, she only regrets that she had missed out on such a wonderful period of time.
With tears in her eyes, Gu Qili looked earnestly at the last photo, a picture of them together in Provence, he rarely showing a happy smile, she did not even know when he had transferred that photo to his phone.
At the bottom of the photo, there was a USB stick. Gu Qili accidentally knocked down that group photo as well, and it fell to the floor with the back facing up. She could clearly see the back written in forceful handwriting: "Me and Qiqi in F country Provence, Shuoqian LOVE Qiqi, forever, year month day,"