freenovelworld Chapter 1372 Good News...
Chapter 1372 Good News...
The office fell completely silent...
The only sounds were the barely audible, even airflow from the air conditioning system running at its lowest setting, and Gu Chengyuan's own heavy, almost stagnant heartbeat.
Gu Chengyuan didn't move...
He sat there in the large chair, his back straight and almost stiff, his gaze fixed blankly on a point on the table in front of him.
The light outside the window gradually shifted from a leaden gray gloom to a pale hue, and then turned into a cold, bleak daylight.
Light filtered through the gaps in the heavy curtains, casting several narrow, blurry patches of light on the mahogany floor.
Time loses its meaning in this oppressive office.
Those cold, hard report terms—"mass explosion," "no survivors," "all killed in action," "sacrifice"—are no longer just words on paper.
They began to ferment, swell, and turn into countless sharp fragments, repeatedly cutting into his nerves.
Each fragment reflects the tearful, radiant smile of Gu Chengyun, the younger brother, in his final dream; it is mixed with the unspoken worry in Wenwan's eyes as she gently placed her brother's hand in his palm; it echoes the silent yet weighty expectations of Gu Jianguo, the father; and it reveals the forced smiles and red-eyed faces of Wanying and the other two as they bid him farewell.
Thinking about all this, Gu Chengyuan began to hallucinate.
"Back then, you assured me that Jinling was safe and sound, and that your brother Chengyun was going there to gain experience, not to die!" the mother asked, heartbroken.
"Brother, I'm leaving. The family... I'm leaving it to you." These were the younger brother's final words.
"Big brother, when will Cheng Yun be back? We're waiting for him." This was the younger brother and sister-in-law's expectation.
...
It was him...
He defied public opinion and squeezed his younger brother into the "Revival Phase I" program, personally draping that military uniform over his shoulders.
He pointed to the map and described Nanjing's future strategic position to his worried parents, confidently stating that it was the best stage to make a name for himself.
It was he who, at the most critical moment of the battle, issued that chilling and unquestionable supreme order: "Hold out for four hours. Without orders, do not retreat even a step. Anyone who disobeys will be executed on the spot!"
That order cut off all escape routes, and naturally it also cut off the younger brother's... any chance of survival.
He was like a ruthless chess player who personally pushed his most cherished younger brother to the most brutal killing point on the chessboard, and then watched helplessly as it was swallowed up.
No, he even gave it a hard push from behind.
"Brother, you need to take good care of yourself..."
The younger brother's farewell words in his dream have now become the cruelest irony.
Feelings of guilt and self-reproach surged forth like a tidal wave, quickly spreading through Gu Chengyuan's heart...
He blamed himself for his self-righteous "arrangements" and "training," which ultimately became a death warrant.
I feel guilty as the older brother for not providing a haven, but rather a hellish experience, during the age when my younger brother needed protection the most.
He couldn't imagine how to face his parents and sister-in-law, how to tell them this devastating news...
Should I tell my mother, who is over fifty, "Mom, Chengyun is not coming back. I sent him to the most dangerous place, I ordered him not to retreat, and he... died in battle."
Should we say to Wanying and her two sisters, who are in the prime of their youth and have entrusted their entire lives to their younger brother:
"I'm sorry, your husbands... will never come back because of one of my orders."
Every imagined word he uttered caused him excruciating pain and unbearable shame.
Outside the window, light and shadow moved slowly...
The bright, glaring daylight gradually softened, taking on a warm hue, before being quickly swallowed up by the deeper twilight.
The office was dark, and shadows spread from the corners, slowly engulfing him.
He shifted from one frozen posture to another, with only occasional, uncontrollable, minute tremors revealing the storm raging within his body.
As night fell completely, the scattered lights of the night market reconstruction area outside the window lit up one after another, looking from afar like faint fishing lights struggling on a dark sea.
After sitting there all day, he finally, very slowly, moved.
It was as if every joint was rusted, making his movements sluggish and heavy.
He raised his head, his eyes still empty in the dim light, but now seemed to hold a kind of desperate, almost numb resolve.
Running away won't help... eventually, you have to face it...
He is the son, the elder brother, and the only pillar of this family now.
No matter how cruel the truth, he must be the one to uncover it. He is the one primarily responsible for his brother's sacrifice, and there is no way he can escape this responsibility.
Trembling, icy fingers groped and finally touched the dark red secure phone on the table. The smooth body felt like a red-hot branding iron.
What he now faces is a homecoming that is even more difficult than war...
His fingers hovered above the keys, trembling violently. They fell and rose several times. Those few numbers felt incredibly heavy, as if pressing them would ignite another world, shattering all the peace, expectations, and even the remaining integrity of the family.
I don't know how much time passed; maybe only a few seconds, maybe as long as a century.
Gu Chengyuan's index finger finally fell heavily.
However, just as he was about to dial the number, the phone suddenly rang without warning.
ding ding ding-
The piercing ringing of the bell was like a death knell, making his heart tremble. This was a tension he had never felt, not even when he had strangled the zombie auntie naked.
He stared at the dark red telephone as if it were not a communication tool, but a bomb about to explode, and the one that would detonate it was likely the ultimate judgment from his family that he had just mustered the courage to face.
The bell rang persistently, one ring after another, echoing in the empty, silent room, sounding particularly urgent.
Finally, he took a deep breath, the breath cold and carrying a premonition of despair.
He reached out, his fingers still trembling slightly, and slowly picked up the receiver, gently placing it to his ear.
"Hey?"
At this moment, Gu Chengyuan's voice was terribly hoarse and dry, as he mentally prepared himself for the devastating news his family would experience upon hearing the devastating news.
however--
"My youngest child!?"
The voice coming through the receiver was his mother's gentle voice, but it was completely different from any emotion he had expected.
The voice carried a long-lost, almost jubilant brightness; the speech was fast and clear, filled with irrepressible excitement and joy, even penetrating the radio waves to bring an unreal warmth.
"mom……"
Gu Chengyuan was stunned, his throat tightened, and all the grief-stricken words he had prepared were stuck in his throat, unable to utter a single word.
His mother's unusual, vibrant voice stood in a stark contrast to the icy hell he was in, leaving him momentarily unable to react.
"Great! We finally got through! You, my child, were you too busy to keep track of time? I have some fantastic news for you!"
The mother's voice trembled slightly with excitement, but it was a tremor of joy:
"It's Miaomiao! Your brother's wife, Lin Miaomiao!"
Upon hearing the words "brother's wife," Gu Chengyuan's heart sank, as if those words were a dull knife cutting through his heart.
However, the mother on the other end of the phone, Wenwan, seemed completely oblivious. Her voice was filled with pure, untroubled joy as she continued to announce cheerfully:
"Just found out! I'm pregnant! Pregnant!! Almost two months along! The doctor said everything is going very well, they can even hear the baby's heartbeat!"
……