Chapter 14

The one who came out to greet Gu Yanqiu and Lin Yuewei was Gu Huai’s eldest son—in other words, his illegitimate son, Gu Feiquan.

“Yanqiu, little sister-in-law.” Gu Feiquan was perfectly courteous, neither ingratiating nor arrogant.

He was three years older than Gu Yanqiu, tall, and had inherited Gu Huai’s refined looks; broad-eyed, thin-lipped, and scholarly in manner. To be fair, if not for Gu Yanqiu, Lin Yuewei’s first impression of him would have been quite good.

But once she thought about how he was Gu Huai’s illegitimate son, and that maybe he and his mother had been the reason the previous Madam Gu died of anger—what woman could tolerate a mistress, let alone one this brazen—these were all Lin Yuewei’s random guesses, with no evidence behind them, but they still inevitably formed a stereotype in her mind.

...He definitely wasn’t a good person.

“Big brother.” Gu Yanqiu’s gaze landed on the man’s face. She met his eyes once, then looked away and greeted him.

Lin Yuewei was holding Gu Yanqiu’s arm. She inclined her head; in order not to invite unnecessary trouble, she intended to cultivate a restrained persona in front of the Gu family. The less she spoke, the better; as long as she wasn’t rude, that would do.

Yet Gu Feiquan seemed very interested in her. He studied her meaningfully for a moment, then curved his lips and said, “Did I forget to introduce myself? There were too many people at the wedding banquet that day, and our seats were far apart, so we didn’t get a chance to talk. I’m Gu Feiquan, Yanqiu’s older brother.”

Lin Yuewei instinctively disliked him and frowned inwardly. Before she could speak, Gu Yanqiu suddenly cut into their conversation.

“Lin Yuewei, you know her.”

Her tone was calm.

Lin Yuewei saw that the man’s expression remained normal, his smile even deepening a little compared with before. He said nothing.

For some reason, Lin Yuewei felt that Gu Yanqiu despised him, even though her expression was flawless.

Lin Yuewei nodded, taking that as a greeting.

Gu Feiquan smiled broadly and stepped aside, giving them room to pass. “Come in. Dad and Mom have been waiting for a while.”

Gu Yanqiu held Lin Yuewei’s wrist and gave it a gentle pat before going inside.

On the day of the wedding, Lin Yuewei had met the Gu family. In her impression, Gu Huai today seemed even more sullen than he had that day; the smile he pulled at the corners of his mouth vanished in an instant. He had very deep nasolabial folds, carved into his face as if by a blade; once he stopped smiling, he looked so stern he might have been Yama himself.

Madam Gu, He Songjun, was the complete opposite. She smiled at everyone by default. Having taken off her apron, she came up and affectionately took Gu Yanqiu and Lin Yuewei’s hands, looking left and right as though seeing them for the first time, beaming as she said they were “such a perfect match.”

Gu Feiquan had both hands in his trouser pockets and leaned against the sofa with his back to Gu Huai, the corners of his mouth lifted in a faint smile that carried a touch of mockery.

The wall clock ticked on.

A chill ran down Lin Yuewei’s nape, and she inexplicably felt a creeping dread.

Every one of this family was scheming; the scheming ones were deeply scheming, the fake ones were completely fake. If she lived here, she might go crazy in less than three days.

Gu Yanqiu didn’t call He Songjun “Mom”; she called her “Aunt He.” Lin Yuewei followed her lead. At first, He Songjun’s eyes showed a flicker of hurt, but then she put on an air of magnanimity and answered with a soft “Mm.”

“I’m going to the kitchen,” she said. “There’s still one soup left to make. You have to try Auntie’s cooking tonight.”

Gu Yanqiu said, “Thank you, Aunt He.”

Lin Yuewei blinked. Her gaze stayed on He Songjun’s face for a moment, as though thinking of something, then she lowered her eyelids again.

Gu Yanqiu could tell that Lin Yuewei didn’t like this atmosphere. After exchanging a few pleasantries with the three of them, she led Lin Yuewei upstairs to her room.

“You...” Lin Yuewei had only just started to speak.

Gu Yanqiu raised an index finger to her lips.

Lin Yuewei closed her mouth and looked at her in confusion.

Gu Yanqiu took a small box-like device from her bag, checked the room inside and out, found nothing unusual, then looked around for a few places near the power outlets. Only after that did she put the device away and say to Lin Yuewei, “What were you going to say just now? You can say it now.”

Lin Yuewei raised a hand to catch her jaw before it could drop to the floor. She had long since forgotten what she’d wanted to say; her mind was full of what Gu Yanqiu had just done, which looked exactly like a spy thriller.

She swallowed and asked, “Were you checking whether there were listening devices and cameras in the room?”

Gu Yanqiu looked slightly surprised. Though she said nothing, she nodded, confirming Lin Yuewei’s guess.

Lin Yuewei lost the ability to speak for a moment. Were they playing espionage games at home?

Gu Yanqiu didn’t want to talk about that, so she changed the subject. “It’ll probably be a while before dinner. Do you want me to go downstairs and chat with my father, or stay here and bother you?”

Lin Yuewei was first stunned, then couldn’t help laughing. She thought, She’s actually got a sense of humor.

Gu Yanqiu saw her laugh, and the corners of her own mouth lifted as well, almost unconsciously.

Lin Yuewei magnanimously said, “Stay here and bother me, then.” After all, she didn’t want to be alone with that stepmother and cheap brother either; every single one of them was fake to the core.

She had thought Gu Yanqiu was already pretentious enough, but she hadn’t expected her family to be even worse. Compared with them, Gu Yanqiu was actually not so bad; at the very least, she was pretentious in a way that didn’t make people dislike her. Lin Yuewei found herself inexplicably looking a little more favorably on Gu Yanqiu.

Questions stuffed Lin Yuewei’s head to the brim. She held back for a long time, but in the end couldn’t restrain herself and asked, “Has your room been fitted with listening devices before?”

Gu Yanqiu nodded silently.

“Who put them there?”

Gu Yanqiu glanced at her and said nothing. The answer was obvious; in this family, it couldn’t have been her biological father, could it? That would be some kind of monstrous father. Considering how eagerly he remarried, that possibility was ruled out. The only people it could have been were He Songjun and Gu Feiquan.

“...Right.”

After asking the first question, there was a second. “Did you tell your dad?”

Another nod.

“What did he say?”

“Nothing.” More precisely, he had taken the listening device she found and thrown it into the trash without saying a word; he probably even thought she was staging the whole thing herself.

“What?!” Lin Yuewei had heard from Lin’s mother that Gu Yanqiu’s life in this blended family might not be easy, but her situation still exceeded Lin Yuewei’s imagination. She was, after all, the legitimate daughter of the Gu family; how had she ended up in this position? Yet Gu Huai, that old fox, was unfathomable, and he didn’t let anyone glimpse even a hint of his thoughts.

“What kind of person is your father?” Lin Yuewei said indignantly.

Gu Yanqiu caught the flash of sympathy that passed through her eyes. She controlled the hand behind her back, which had almost clenched into a fist, and her gaze turned cold as she looked at Lin Yuewei and said slowly, “Miss Lin, this is my family business. You’re overstepping.”

That one sentence immediately drew a clear line between the two of them again, and it poured cold water over Lin Yuewei’s warmheartedness.

Lin Yuewei fell silent, shrugged, and leaned back against the chair. She said indifferently, “My mistake. I was meddling.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I know what you mean. I won’t interfere with your family business, and I won’t ask again. I’ve got my own things to handle anyway; I don’t have the spare energy to worry about you.”

“...That would be best.”

“You—”

Lin Yuewei instantly felt terrible. She had even been thinking of asking whether Gu Yanqiu needed her family to help with anything; good thing she hadn’t asked. She’d tried to be kind and ended up with an insult in return.

She turned her chair around so her back was to Gu Yanqiu. “Forget it. You should go downstairs. Don’t keep bothering my eyes here.”

“I’ll come up and call you when it’s time to eat.” Gu Yanqiu didn’t defend herself at all. She went out, closed the door behind her, then turned and walked away. A crack appeared in the calm expression she had worn in front of Lin Yuewei; a look of daze flashed through her eyes.

Actually, Gu Huai hadn’t always been like this. When her mother was still alive, the whole family had been what outsiders would call a model household. Gu Huai was very busy with work, but as long as he wasn’t on a business trip, no matter how late he had social obligations, he would come home. Sometimes the smell of alcohol from Gu Huai would wake the sleeping Gu Yanqiu; when she opened her hazy eyes, she would see her father sitting by the bedside. That kind of loving gaze couldn’t be faked. If it were a performance, then a man who could keep it up for more than twenty years was truly terrifying. The previous Madam Gu practiced Buddhism and kept a small Buddhist shrine at home. She recited sutras there often; after school, Gu Yanqiu would go to the shrine to find her, and she would set aside her Buddha and use that time to accompany her daughter. On Saturdays and Sundays, Gu Huai and the previous Madam Gu would take Gu Yanqiu to amusement parks children liked, or to the movies, or on outings.

After the previous Madam Gu died, Gu Huai’s temperament changed drastically; or perhaps his true nature was simply laid bare, and he showed the same gloom and severity in front of his biological daughter as he did in front of outsiders. Gu Yanqiu did not want to believe it, but Gu Huai remarried, brought in an eldest son, shut down the Buddhist shrine, and erased every trace of the mother who had once existed in this home. His attitude toward her changed so completely that Gu Yanqiu had no choice but to be disappointed again and again. What hit her even harder was that Gu Feiquan was three years older than her, which made it clear that Gu Huai and He Songjun had been secretly involved for a long time; in that case, the good husband and good father he had played all these years in front of Gu Yanqiu and her mother had been a joke.

Gu Yanqiu gave a self-mocking smile, stopped in her tracks, and lifted her chin slightly to look up at the ceiling, forcing the wet heat in her eyes back down.

***

At the dinner table, Lin Yuewei kept her eyes lowered and her attention on her food. Whenever someone asked her a question, she would answer softly. Her eyes were bright, her cheeks faintly red, her teeth white and neat; that timid, restrained persona made her look obedient and harmless, like a fresh camellia blossom. Gu Feiquan even stared at her twice, stunned.

Lin Yuewei endured it all.

Gu Huai was eating quietly when he suddenly frowned and said, “Yanqiu, you’ve already gotten enough experience at the branch office. Since you’re married now, starting tomorrow, go work at the headquarters.”

He Songjun and Gu Feiquan both froze.

Lin Yuewei could clearly feel the atmosphere harden inch by inch.

Gu Yanqiu raised her head and replied flatly, “All right, Dad.”