Gu Maowen felt a flicker of displeasure, as if his authority was being challenged by his children.
But more than that, he was surprised—he hadn’t expected this usually timid, quiet child, the one who made him feel ashamed, to actually dare to look him straight in the eye. That was somewhat commendable.
He suppressed his displeasure and said in a deep voice, “Why did you hit Yuanhui?”
Jiang Huijun pitied Gu Yuanhui, holding him close as she stared at Gu Xi. Gu Yuanhui turned his head and glared fiercely at her.
Gu Yuanzheng stood at the top of the stairs, watching her with a thoughtful expression.
Gu Yuanxiang was also watching from the kitchen doorway.
Under everyone’s gaze, Gu Xi didn’t timidly lower her head and quietly admit fault like before. Instead, she even had the nerve to speak up: “He hit me first.”
“I didn’t!”
Gu Yuanhui shouted.
“I just came in and you threw a book at me. You even hit me! If you don’t believe me, ask Second Sister!”
Gu Maowen looked toward Gu Yuanxiang.
“Is that so?”
Gu Yuanxiang hesitated a moment before nodding.
It was true. Although Gu Yuanhui charged over looking ready to fight, it was actually Gu Xi who made the first move.
Gu Xi said, “He trashed my room, tore my books, and came into my room without my permission. What’s wrong with asking him to leave?”
No one agreed with her.
These days, family members living under the same roof had little concept of privacy. It was normal to go in and out of each other’s rooms as they pleased.
As for Gu Yuanhui trashing her room and tearing her books, everyone in the Gu family knew about it and didn’t think it was a big deal.
Gu Xi continued, “Later, he bumped into me. I got mad, so I had to hit him.”
She then asked Gu Yuanxiang, “Isn’t that right?”
Gu Yuanxiang felt a prickling on her scalp. She didn’t dare lie and could only nod.
Jiang Huijun said, “Xi Xi, you hit Yuanhui a few days ago. He got mad and trashed your room. If you were home, he wouldn’t have done that.”
In the end, she was still unhappy that Gu Xi went to the Shen Family’s place and stayed for days at a time.
If she was home, everyone could talk things out clearly. There’d be no reason for Gu Yuanhui to be so angry that he’d trash her room.
Gu Xi glanced at her.
“It was Gu Yuanhui who badmouthed me first, calling me a ‘broken shoe.’”
“What?”
This stunned Gu Maowen and his wife. They looked at Gu Yuanhui.
Obviously, when Gu Xi had hit someone that day, none of the three Gu brothers mentioned this. Perhaps to them, it was just some verbal conflict said in the family—no big deal and not worth mentioning.
Gu Xi had lived with them for five years and knew their nature well. She wasn’t unclear about their character.
She had been foolish before, raised for fifteen years by ignorant, misogynistic foster parents in the countryside who Pua’d her into being insecure and timid.
They told her if she was obedient and hardworking in her biological parents’ home, everyone would like her, the family would be harmonious, and eventually, after time, the fifteen years of separation would heal and she would become one of the family, loved like Gu Yuanxiang.
But she didn’t know if she’d ever wait long enough for that day to come—where they would love her as they loved Gu Yuanxiang.
Because she was dead now. She wouldn’t wait anymore.
She had died once and been a Ghost for decades. There wasn’t anything she hadn’t seen. She’d long since come to terms with it.
Life and death were nothing big. Looking back, all the things she cared about were ridiculous. She no longer cared about these people. If they wanted to fight, then fight. What was there to fear?
At worst, she’d die again.
Gu Yuanhui didn’t expect her to bring that up. At his age, he of course knew how hateful the term “broken shoe” was for a girl. If said outside, it could cause serious trouble. But he was used to putting Gu Xi down and would say anything to make her miserable.
He defended himself, “I—I was just saying it casually…”
Gu Xi said, “So I just hit you casually too. Isn’t that right?” She gave a faint smile that looked more like a forced grimace.
“If I ever hear that again, I’ll hit you every time.”
Gu Yuanhui shrank back.
Gu Maowen and his wife hadn’t expected this and didn’t know what to say for a moment.
Then Gu Yuanzheng spoke, “You hit me too, but I didn’t say anything.”
He paused, then continued, “And my room—was it you who trashed it?”
Originally, they thought it was just a fight between Gu Xi and Gu Yuanhui, but this didn’t seem like accidental damage. It seemed deliberate. Gu Yuanhui and Gu Yuanxiang wouldn’t do something like that without reason.
That left Gu Xi.
After all, she was now bold enough to hit people; she probably dared to trash rooms as well.
Had she finally snapped from being bullied by Gu Yuanhui for too long?
“You trashed a room too?”
Gu Maowen frowned.
Though he didn’t like how she had been raised timid and insecure by the ignorant couple in the countryside—nothing like the Gu family and not liked at all—she still shouldn’t be so brazen. She didn’t seem like a proper girl.
Gu Xi said, “You tried to stop me, so I hit you. Otherwise, should I have just waited for you to hit me? As for your room, since you all just stood there and watched Gu Yuanhui trash mine and tear my books, I trashed yours. That’s fair.”
She said it confidently, as if it was really fair.
No one knew what to say.
“What’s fair about that?”
Gu Yuanzheng gritted his teeth. He wanted to say he wouldn’t hit people, but now wasn’t the time. “You’re just making a fuss for no reason.”
Gu Xi didn’t argue. Indifferently, she said, “If you think that, fine. Or you can come trash it back? I’ll open the door and let you.”
Trash it back, then let you keep trashing?
Gu Yuanxiang silently thought Gu Xi had really lost her mind—mad in a terrifying way.
Gu Yuanzheng found her utterly unreasonable, like a crazy woman—impossible to reason with.
Suddenly, he missed the quiet, well-behaved Gu Xi from before and couldn’t help but wonder if this was her way of retaliating because he didn’t prepare her birthday gift that day. Maybe she was taking it out on him by trashing his room.
Gu Maowen and his wife, originally quite angry, found themselves unable to stay mad after her retort. The anger got caught in their throats.
What on earth was going on here?
“Even so, you can’t just hit people whenever you want!” Jiang Huijun reproached. “Can’t you talk things out instead of hitting?”
Her youngest son was beaten like this—how could she not be heartbroken?
Unexpectedly, Gu Xi nodded.
“Of course I have to hit, because some people don’t understand words. Talking doesn’t work.”
Those words carried a meaning everyone present understood—they knew she was talking about Gu Yuanhui.
Or maybe about others as well.
Jiang Huijun’s heart ached under Gu Xi’s sharpness and she could only emphasize, “Xi Xi, hitting people is wrong. You’re a girl; how can you hit others?”
“But if I don’t hit him, he’ll hit me,” Gu Xi insisted.
“I have to do it.”
“You don’t mean Gu Yuanhui doesn’t hit you?”
Jiang Huijun was stunned and turned to look at Gu Yuanhui.
“You hit Xi Xi?”
Gu Yuanhui wanted to deny it, but Gu Xi stared him down. Afraid that denying it would make her hit him again, he stammered.
Jiang Huijun saw through it immediately.
Gu Maowen felt headache coming on and said, “Gu Xi, Yuanhui is your younger brother. He’s still young and immature. You should give him some leeway as his elder sister.”
He didn’t bring up the hitting again. It was true Gu Yuanhui was in the wrong, but as the youngest son, he was spoiled by everyone and had become a little unruly. Still, he shouldn’t be allowed to be beaten like this by his sister.
Gu Maowen expected Gu Xi to admit fault and promise not to do it again, but instead, Gu Xi seemed to be opposing them deliberately. Not only did she refuse to admit fault, she said, “Why should I give in to him? When I do, he just hits and teases me. It’s better to hit him until he listens, until he dares not hit or tease me. Isn’t that right?”
Everyone was speechless.
Though it sounded like a flawed argument, it somehow made sense.
Unfortunately, no matter how reasonable, partiality always prevailed. Gu Maowen felt displeased. He thought she was deliberately defying him. His anger, which had been calming down, flared up again.
“Gu Xi!” Gu Maowen’s voice rose several decibels.
“What exactly do you want to do?”
Gu Xi looked confused.
“I don’t want to do anything.”
Gu Maowen was stunned. This was the first time his child not only disobeyed but also talked back, matching every word with several more. It was humiliating.
“Huijun, talk to her!”
He rarely interfered with his daughters’ education, leaving that to Jiang Huijun to teach and communicate. Now, seeing Gu Xi not listening and being unreasonable, he could only helplessly ask Jiang Huijun to speak.
Jiang Huijun looked at Gu Xi, opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say.
Tell her hitting people was wrong?
That she was too harsh?
That she shouldn’t have trashed Gu Yuanzheng’s room?
That she…
But the earlier events told her Gu Xi wasn’t listening anymore. Words were useless. This child seemed to not care about anything, leaving people helpless.
Finally, Gu Yuanxiang came over and said dinner was ready, breaking the silence in the house.
It was late, so everyone had to go eat first.
Gu Xi also sat down at the table, scooping a big serving of scrambled eggs into her bowl and ate quietly.
Actually, she had little appetite. It wasn’t just the stifling heat but also the heaviness in her body, making her feel awful. Still, she forced herself to eat more and take care of her health.
She didn’t know how much longer she could live. Since she was alive, she might as well live well.
Seeing this, the others wanted to say something but held back.
In the past, at meals, Gu Xi would only take the vegetables in front of her. She didn’t dare eat much else. Gu Yuanhui and the others wouldn’t give way to her, snatching the good food from her bowl without offering any to her.
But now, seeing her take the initiative to grab dishes and meat, competing with everyone for food, their feelings were complicated.
After dinner, Gu Xi returned to her room.
Gu Yuanxiang finished washing the dishes and came over.
“Second Brother, the wardrobe in my room fell over. It’s too heavy to carry. Can you and Dad help move it back?”
Gu Yuanhui was injured and weak, so only Gu Maowen and Gu Yuanzheng could do it.
Gu Maowen was puzzled.
“How did the wardrobe in your room fall over?”
“Gu Xi flipped it,” Gu Yuanxiang pouted, clearly aggrieved just talking about it.
“What?” Jiang Huijun was stunned.
“Why would Gu Xi flip a perfectly fine wardrobe?”
Gu Yuanxiang whispered, “Today she not only trashed Second Brother’s room, but also mine and Yuanhui’s.”
This stunned Gu Maowen and the others once again.
Docile Gu Xi suddenly doing such things was unsettling. They couldn’t understand why she was acting like this. What kind of temper was she throwing?
Gu Maowen’s lingering anger flared up again. He immediately knocked on Gu Xi’s door and demanded, “How could you trash Second Brother and Xiangxiang’s rooms? They didn’t offend you.”
Gu Yuanhui trashed her room and tore her books. She hit Gu Yuanhui. They could ignore those, but she shouldn’t trash Gu Yuanzheng and Gu Yuanxiang’s rooms.
Gu Xi said, “Gu Yuanhui trashed my room and you did nothing—no scolding, no punishment. So me trashing their rooms isn’t a big deal, right? If you’re unhappy, punish Gu Yuanhui first.”
Gu Maowen: “…”
When did his daughter get so sharp-tongued?
Gu Xi looked up at him calmly and asked, “Anything else?”
Gu Maowen gritted his teeth, feeling this couldn’t continue, that it was a disgrace. His tone became stern. “What you did was wrong. Go kneel in the living room and reflect. You can stand up when you admit your mistake!”
“I’m not wrong!”
Gu Xi turned her head away.
“If you want to kneel, you kneel. I won’t! If you don’t want to kneel, then make Gu Yuanhui and the others kneel!”
With that, she slammed the door in his face, daring him to make her kneel.
Gu Maowen trembled with anger.
This was the first time a child dared talk back to him so openly and refused to listen. He angrily pounded on the door.
“Gu Xi, come out!”
But the door remained shut. His palms reddened from hitting the door, yet he couldn’t get her out.
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