The chaotic breakfast finally came to an end, and Gu Maowen and the others were utterly exhausted.
Only Gu Xi seemed completely unaffected.
After finishing her meal, she tossed aside her bowl and chopsticks and returned to her room.
Gu Yuanxiang watched her leave, pursing her lips.
Gu Xi used to stay until the very end, waiting for everyone to finish before clearing the table and washing the dishes, so no one else had to worry about it.
But Gu Yuanxiang didn’t dare call Gu Xi back. Instead, she got up to tidy the table herself, reminding, “Dad, Mom, it’s getting late. You’ll be late for work.”
Jiang Huijun glanced at her watch and was startled. She hurriedly said, “Old Gu, aren’t you supposed to head out early today for that meeting? If you don’t leave soon, you’ll be late.”
Gu Maowen took the meeting very seriously. Upon hearing this, he immediately stood up but pulled his injured waist too abruptly. He froze in place, his face paling and cold sweat breaking out in pain.
“Old Gu, are you okay?”
Jiang Huijun looked worried seeing his condition.
Gu Yuanzheng and Gu Yuanxiang quickly came over to support him, carefully helping him to the sofa.
Thinking back to when he had fallen with both man and chair, Jiang Huijun was genuinely concerned about his waist and anxiously said, “Maybe you should take the day off. Your waist…”
Gu Maowen clenched his teeth and said without hesitation, “No, I can’t take leave!”
After a while, once the pain subsided a bit, he finally got up and left, moving more carefully than usual and taking smaller steps. It was clear he was enduring strong discomfort, which made everyone’s hearts ache.
Though worried, Jiang Huijun and the others knew his temper. There was no persuading him, so they decided to accompany him to the hospital after work.
After seeing Gu Maowen off, Jiang Huijun turned to her second son. Seeing the wound at the corner of his mouth, she felt a pang of sympathy and said hurriedly, “Sit down, I’ll put some medicine on you.”
Then she scolded, “Xi Xi hit too hard. You’re her brother—how could she really hit you like that? It’s just…”
Gu Yuanhui, feeling a bit unjust, looked at his second brother’s injury and said, “Mom, second brother just has a cut on his mouth—it doesn’t look serious at all. The wounds on me are much worse, right?”
He sounded a little wronged. Compared to his own injuries, his brother’s mouth cut and bruised chin were nothing.
Jiang Huijun glanced at her youngest son and saw his pig-like face, genuinely pitiful. She said with some sadness, “Xi Xi is too much. I don’t even know how she turned out like this. She used to be so well-behaved…”
Suddenly, she found herself missing the quiet, obedient Gu Xi of the past—the one who never caused trouble.
How did this child suddenly become like this?
What on earth had happened?
She thought this was unacceptable.
After work, she had to talk to her, find out what she was really thinking. How could a family not talk things through properly and resort to fighting?
Gu Yuanxiang went to fetch the Pain Relief Balm for external use.
Jiang Huijun applied the medicine to Gu Yuanzheng and asked, “Do you know why Xi Xi suddenly became like this? Did you bully her?”
Her gaze swept over her three children, wondering if Gu Xi had finally snapped because of some severe bullying.
Gu Yuanzheng sat silently, eyes lowered, not speaking. Since Gu Xi had hit him earlier, he’d been unusually quiet, lost in thought.
Gu Yuanhui wanted to say something but held back, pursing his lips.
Gu Yuanxiang looked uneasily at her two brothers and wisely kept silent, aware that Gu Xi’s sudden outburst might be connected to the birthday gift their second brother had given her that day.
Actually, these past few days, Gu Yuanxiang had also been wondering why Gu Xi suddenly lashed out. Coupled with what happened last night, she was certain Gu Xi had been triggered by the birthday gift she received, and had finally decided not to hold back.
They shared the same birthday, but while Gu Yuanxiang received gifts from the family, Gu Xi had none. It was natural for her to feel angry and resentful.
Gu Yuanxiang had her own selfish motives. Ever since discovering she wasn’t Gu family’s biological daughter, she’d been anxious.
This unease made her crave more affection from the family, to prove that blood ties didn’t matter—that the fifteen years spent together formed the real bond, and she was the true Gu daughter.
Even if Gu Xi returned, it couldn’t affect or shake her status in the family.
So when she found out that her second brother and youngest brother had prepared birthday gifts for her but not for Gu Xi, she was extremely pleased.
Just like before, whenever the family blatantly showed favoritism, she would casually flaunt their affection to Gu Xi, making it clear that even as Gu family’s biological daughter, Gu Xi could never compare to her.
In the past, Gu Xi would quietly watch and then silently walk away—like soft dough with no temper.
Over time, Gu Yuanxiang got used to Gu Xi’s meekness, thinking she was no threat and could be dealt with easily. She treated her like an extra housekeeper in the family.
Who knew this soft dough would explode?
The reckless fury was terrifying.
Gu Yuanxiang even regretted her past behavior. Had she known she would drive Gu Xi mad, she never would have acted that way, nor flaunted her gifts.
She had a strange premonition that the family would never be peaceful again, never return to how things were before.
***
Jiang Huijun was unaware of her adopted daughter’s true thoughts. Seeing the three children silent, and recalling what Gu Xi had said earlier, she felt heavy-hearted and irritable.
But this wasn’t the worst of it.
On her way out to work, she ran into Wu Yinglan and her daughter-in-law, with whom she had a strained relationship, and the annoyance deepened.
Wu Yinglan greeted her warmly but with ill intent asked, “Huijun, what happened at your place yesterday? I heard from Huang Auntie next door that there was a lot of banging and crashing, like someone was throwing things around. It was really noisy. What was going on?”
Jiang Huijun’s face twitched and her expression darkened. She forced a light tone, “Nothing happened. The kids were just playing at home during the holiday. It’s normal to have a bit of noise.”
She pretended to be casual, unwilling to let others gossip about her family.
“Really? I don’t buy it,” Wu Yinglan said skeptically.
“Even if the kids were noisy, it wouldn’t be that loud, right? If something’s wrong, you can talk to us—we all live in the same compound. Helping each other out is only right.”
What help? She just wanted to see the show.
Jiang Huijun felt annoyed and quickened her pace, not wanting to engage Wu Yinglan. She was also irritated by old Mrs. Huang next door, the biggest gossip in the Cadres’ Compound, always spreading rumors about every family. No one escaped her tongue.
Jiang Huijun prided herself on being civilized and despised people without education, manners, or upbringing, often feeling like moving away.
She had been so angry last night that she forgot the houses were close together, and the poor soundproofing meant Mrs. Huang would investigate even the slightest disturbance and had probably told countless people about their family troubles.
Just thinking about it made her even more upset and she blamed Gu Xi for being so thoughtless, airing the family’s dirty laundry.
Seeing Jiang Huijun ignore her, Wu Yinglan grew even more convinced something was wrong with the Gu family.
She didn’t know Jiang Huijun well but knew she loved to put on airs, thinking herself superior and looking down on those beneath her.
Jiang Huijun had publicly rejected Wu Yinglan before, calling her uneducated and refusing to associate with her.
Wu Yinglan had never had formal schooling but did attend literacy classes and had kept learning over the years. Being despised by Jiang Huijun naturally made her angry.
That was how their grudge began.
Over the years, they’d had many verbal disputes, most of which Jiang Huijun won.
Until five years ago, when the switched-baby scandal in the Gu family gave Wu Yinglan a chance to mock Jiang Huijun. She had even gone to Jiang Huijun to gloat, and the memory of Jiang Huijun’s forced expression made her feel satisfied.
Wu Yinglan turned to her daughter-in-law and said, “I’m sure there’s trouble in the Gu family! Maybe this time we can see them fall flat on their faces, make that pretentious Jiang Huijun lose face.”
Her daughter-in-law was curious but said nothing outside, only smiling.
***
After breakfast, Gu Xi went back to her room for a nap.
When she woke up, the sun was high, and the weather had grown oppressively hot.
She got up slowly, tidied herself, opened her drawer, took out some cash and tickets, stuffed them into her shoulder bag, and then left the house.
The house was quiet, as if no one else was home.
But Gu Xi knew Gu Yuanhui was inside his room. With his swollen and bruised face, he surely didn’t dare go out and face people, waiting until his face healed before venturing out.
Leaving the Cadres’ Compound, Gu Xi went to the nearby Supply and Marketing Cooperative to buy some candy and daily necessities, then headed to the Postal Bureau.
She bought envelopes and stamps, placed the letter she’d written last night inside, and put in the twenty yuan Gu Yuanhui had given her as compensation, along with some national tickets.
Then she mailed the letter along with the items she’d just bought.
Because she often came to send mail, the postal staff recognized her and smiled, “Comrade Gu, sending something again to your relatives over at Xu Jiatun Commune? Oh, by the way, there’s a package for you—it came from Xu Jiatun Commune.”
He carried out a large, heavy parcel, clearly stuffed full of goods.
Gu Xi came to the Postal Bureau every month to send things to Feng Min’s hometown, where her foster parents lived.
Her foster parents were surnamed Xu and lived in Xu Jiatun Commune, where the Xu name was prominent.
She wasn’t sending things for her foster parents but for her two younger sisters.
Her foster parents had four children together—the first three girls, and finally a boy.
Back then, when her foster mother was heavily pregnant visiting the city, she unexpectedly went into labor early. Thanks to a kind stranger, she was taken to the hospital where Jiang Huijun also happened to be giving birth.
Due to the hospital’s negligence, the two families’ babies were switched.
Gu Xi had taken the place of Gu Yuanxiang as the eldest daughter of the Xu family. She raised her two younger sisters, and the three girls were very close.
Though she left the Xu family, she still considered those two her sisters.
Over the years, she saved her pocket money and sent it to her sisters in Xu Jiatun Commune, hoping they could go to school and live with dignity, not be degraded to dust just because they were girls and remain ignorant.
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