Acquaintances of the Gu household knew who was the dominant Gu household member, it wasn’t Mr Gu or the Taekwondo expert Gu Jing but it was the ferocious Mrs Gu.
It was rumoured Mrs Gu came from a family of mountain hunters. When Mrs Gu was a young girl, she caught snakes and fought wolves with her bare hands. Of course Mrs Gu also used her physical strength for good too, she loved to fight for justice.
At Zhen Lang’s home, Mrs Gu’s sense of justice didn’t waver. She stood on Zhen Lang’s side against her daughter who abused Taekwondo to force Zhen Lang in bed. ‘You little scoundrel! Your mum is going to beat you to death.’
Mrs Gu hit her daughter hard enough for her daughter to fall onto Zhen Lang’s chest. Her daughter didn’t wait for her next attack, her daughter jumped off the bed and lied at the same time. ‘I didn’t force myself onto Zhen Lang.’
Gu Jing ran outside and her mum chased after her. She hid behind the sofa and her mum took something out of a suitcase. ‘I saw it with my own eyes. Stand right there for your mum to beat you to death!’
‘Mum, if you don’t hit me then I’ll stand still,’ Gu Jing said and she jumped over the sofa.
Mrs Gu held a marinated chicken in her hand and she glared at her daughter. ‘If you stand still, your mum won’t hit you.’
‘I don’t believe you,’ Gu Jing said.
Gu Jing was about to open the front door to escape when Zhen Lang came out of the kitchen. ‘Gu Jing, you’re not wearing underwear.’
‘I am wearing underwear!’ Gu Jing said.
Gu Jing jumped to avoid her mum’s attack but her head was. .h.i.t by a chicken. ‘Ah! Mum, there’s nothing between me and Zhen Lang.’ She ducked and she pointed at the traitor Zhen Lang. ‘Mum, if you don’t believe me, you can ask Zhen Lang.’
Zhen Lang was drinking a cup of coffee, his eyes lit up and he nodded his head.
‘What are you doing nodding your head? Hurry up and explain clearly to my mum!’ Gu Jing said and she ran to avoid the chicken.
‘You dare threaten Zhen Lang?’ Mrs Gu asked.
Zhen Lang drank his coffee and he enjoyed watching Gu Jing chased by aunty Gu and a marinated chicken. ‘Aunty Gu, Gu Jing had an allergic reaction. I’m taking her to the hospital. I’ll leave the house in your capable hands.’
‘What?’ Mrs Gu asked. She lowered the chicken. ‘My healthy daughter is sick? Oh, I’ve got to call the other side to let them know.’
Zhen Lang and Gu Jing both knew who ‘the other side’ were, his parents and her dad.
‘It’s a mild allergic reaction. Later Gu Jing just needs to avoid whatever made her itchy,’ Zhen Lang said.
Mrs Gu patted Zhen Lang’s shoulder. ‘You’ve suffered.’
‘Aunty, of course I need to take care of Gu Jing,’ Zhen Lang said.
Gu Jing changed clothes like the wind, she grabbed Zhen Lang’s shirt sleeve and she pulled him outside to his car.
On the way to the hospital Gu Jing grilled Zhen Lang. ‘Why didn’t you explain properly to my mum?’
Zhen Lang kept his hands on the steering wheel and his eyes on the road. ‘Do you think aunty needs an explanation? If I was the one who forced myself on you, aunty would have chased me with her chicken. Aunty wants to exercise her love for her daughter she hasn’t seen for a long time. You just need to let aunty release her love and it’ll be ok.’
Gu Jing rubbed her stomach. ‘Exercising too early in the morning with mum made me hungry.’
‘After you’re properly examined then you can eat. You need to be careful you don’t eat something that will make you itchier,’ Zhen Lang said.
Gu Jing loved to eat, she wasn’t too fussy about food and her fast metabolism made her deflate like a balloon if she didn’t eat enough.
Gu Jing itched her skin again. ‘Can you not remind me? I wasn’t itchy in the car until you mentioned it.’
‘If your examination is done within an hour, you can eat at the restaurant opposite the hospital. Any later and the restaurant will be closed until lunch,’ Zhen Lang said.
Zhen Lang parked the car in front of the hospital and Gu Jing jumped out of the car. ‘Hurry up, come out so I can be examined quickly and we can eat.’
Zhen Lang smiled and he stayed in the car. ‘I’ve waited twenty years to see you naturally sick. I’ll go buy breakfast for you to commemorate this momentous occasion.’
Gu Jing looked suspiciously at Zhen Lang.
‘Aunty’s here. Besides, bullying a sick person isn’t fun,’ Zhen Lang said and he drove off.
Gu Jing believed Zhen Lang because one of their parents were in the city, she walked into the hospital rea.s.sured she’d be fed breakfast and she wouldn’t be ambushed.
After Gu Jing was examined she walked to Zhen Lang’s office to eat the breakfast meal he promised he’d buy for her.
Although Zhen Lang wasn’t inside his office, Gu Jing’s eyes lit up one hundred watts because on the table were two take away meals from the best restaurant in the city. The restaurant wasn’t far from the studio, but it was popular and every morning there was a long queue. She didn’t need to line up and still got to eat a free delicious meal.
Gu Jing sat on Zhen Lang’s chair and she opened the two containers. One was congee and the other one was pork stew. She picked up the spoon and ate the pork stew, it tasted delicious as its fragrant smell.
Gu Jing leaned back in Zhen Lang’s chair and she rubbed her half full stomach. She saw Zhen Lang walked into his office and he held her results. ‘What was I allergic to?’
‘You ate too many seafood, drank too many fruity and nutty c.o.c.ktails and… you ate too many peaches. If you ate and drank moderately, nothing would have happened. But the combination made it hard for your body to break down the protein, your IgE tagged it as harmful protein and your white blood cells attacked the tagged protein, which triggered your allergic reaction,’ Zhen Lang said.
‘Then what should I do?’ Gu Jing asked.
Gu Jing felt her throat was itchier and her face started swelling.
‘Eat less, drink less…’ Zhen Lang said and he paused to look at the empty container. ‘Avoid eating seafood… did you eat the pork stew?’
Gu Jing wiped her mouth with a tissue. ‘Um, it was delicious but the portions were small.’
Zhen Lang looked up at the ceiling and he laughed helplessly.
‘Why are you laughing?’ Gu Jing asked.
‘It’s nothing, except the pork stew you ate contained crab stock,’ Zhen Lang said.
‘So what? Crab meat isn’t toxic… seafood?’ Gu Jing asked.
Zhen Lang couldn’t sit in his occupied chair so he sat on a spare chair and ate the congee. ‘The cafe only use fresh and real ingredients. If they said they used crab stock, they’re not lying, they’d use real crab meat to make crab stock.’
The following three days Gu Jing stayed home with a swollen pig face. If she was awake, there would only be one small bowl of plain rice congee to fill her stomach.
Gu Jing learnt she couldn’t accept kindness from an enemy, especially pork stew from an enemy because it gave her an allergic reaction.
End of Chapter Eight