Conversation 260: A Bolt from the Blue
Gu Mingxia gently stroked her slightly protruding belly, her smile exceptionally gentle and elegant as she spoke.
The expressions were like those of a close aunt and niece talking. Alice looked at Gu Mingxia with a smile, and the latter looked at her with equal gentleness. There seemed to be a faint warmth flowing between the two of them.
But both of them knew in their hearts that this was just an illusion. The two eldest daughters of the Gu family were now in a silent standoff.
Time passed second by second, and Gu Mingxia continued to unconsciously tap her lower abdomen with one hand and the other hand on the sofa armrest. Finally, Alice smiled first.
"You are no longer just a little girl."
“I have never been the little girl you imagine.”
"Of course, she is not a simple little girl, as she was able to stab Bai Hua at such a young age and drive away your father's many women."
Gu Mingxia didn't take Alice's words seriously. Her smile remained gentle and elegant, as if Alice's words were a compliment.
"It's an honor for Mingxia to receive praise from her aunt. But no matter what, I can't compare to her, don't you think?"
then……
Alice felt she had almost forgotten, but now that Gu Mingxia had brought it up, she couldn't help but try to recall it. However, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to remember what she or Gu Huaikun looked like back then.
If she can no longer remember what each other looks like, then what has she been doing all these years for?
Alice was a little confused. She suddenly couldn't figure out what she had been doing all these years. She had forgotten what he looked like back then, but she still couldn't let go of that obsession in her heart. Was it because she was unwilling to accept it or because she wanted to get that person back?
But she knew very well that she never wanted to be with that person again. Because if she insisted on something that she knew was impossible, it would be a foolish thing to do. Would she, Gu Huaiyan, do such a foolish thing?
Gu Mingxia seemed to have noticed Alice's unusual behavior, but she didn't point it out. She quietly watched Alice's constantly changing expressions, and the smile on her lips grew wider and wider until finally her lips curled up and her eyes were full of smiles.
“Aunt, I’m not here today to talk about what happened between you and Dad. I just want to ask one question: back then… how exactly did my mother fake her death and fool everyone, even my usually shrewd father?”
Alice was both surprised and somewhat expectant of Gu Mingxia's question. Gu Mingxia and Nan Lan had a particularly good relationship back then, and Alice felt she would be heartbroken if Gu Mingxia simply ignored the news.
Alice looked at Gu Mingxia quietly for a while, then lowered her head to avoid her gaze and gave a bitter smile.
How naive she and Nan Lan were back then! They thought that if she left Gu Huaikun, she would accept them. But they always forgot one thing: she was not just surnamed Gu, but Gu Huaikun's own sister. This was a blood fact that could never be changed.
How wonderful those days were! Even though she suffered a lot of hurt and never received any love from Gu Huaikun, Alice had to admit that the days she spent in the Gu family were the most beautiful and memorable days of her life.
"Actually... Nanlan and I were both too naive back then."
This is a recollection of the past, and also Alice's most honest self-assessment: naive, impulsive, selfish, and even shameless—these were all traits of Gu Mingxia in her youth.
But so what? Everyone has been impulsive in their youth. Alice never regretted it, nor did she think there was anything wrong with what she did. She loved, and that was that. It's just that the person she loved was wrong.
Gu Mingxia didn't speak, and the smile on her face gradually faded. In the end, she looked at her calmly, showing no intention of saying anything.
“At that time, I was obsessed with Gu Huaikun. It was like I was addicted to drugs. I was so addicted to that kind of feeling that I didn’t want to quit at all. But I forgot one thing: Gu Huaikun will always be my brother. Even if I never want to admit it, I can never change that blood relationship.”
Perhaps only Alice could openly admit to liking her own brother without any burden. She never felt it was shameful, but for some reason, saying such things to Gu Mingxia now gave her an inexplicable feeling.
Perhaps it was because the person sitting in front of her was her junior that she could say these things without any burden in front of others, but she still felt a little burdened saying them in front of her niece, and she couldn't say them at all in front of Tina, who was as innocent as a child.
"Back then, I lived at the Gu family's house and would visit Gu Huaikun from time to time. Even if he wasn't with me, I would still try to sour his relationship with Nan Lan. Every time I visited him, Nan Lan would be angry for days, sometimes even a month. I always had an insatiable interest in such things back then. Looking back now, it was so naive. Gu Huaikun is my brother. He's such a rational person. He would never love his own sister. It was all just wishful thinking on my part."
It took Alice all her strength to utter the words "self-delusion." This was something she had always been unwilling to admit, and now that she had said it, Alice felt as if she were saying goodbye to the past, but this farewell felt somewhat cruel to her.
Seeing Gu Mingxia's still calm face, Alice sighed and continued.
“Nan Lan also loved Gu Huaikun very much, which is why she chose to endure it after witnessing my absurd affair with Gu Huaikun. Even after giving birth to A Dong, she never thought of leaving. However, in those years, because of my presence, Gu Huaikun and his wife often quarreled and got angry, and other women gradually appeared around him. Nan Lan always proudly ignored him, while Gu Huaikun chose to be even more proud and go find other women, which made their relationship even worse. Finally, one day, Nan Lan fell ill. After returning from the hospital, she suddenly found me. She then told me that she wanted me to help her leave the Gu family, not just temporarily, but forever and ever, in other words, to disappear from Gu Huaikun's world forever.”
The matter seemed to be clear, but for some reason, Gu Mingxia felt there were more things she didn't understand.
Her brows furrowed, her fingers tapping lightly on the armrest, and finally she looked up at Alice intently.
"How did she manage to leave Xiangcheng without everyone knowing? I saw her go into the incinerator with my own eyes."
"She bribed the entire hospital to get a diagnosis of late-stage cancer, and she also bribed the crematorium. You know, if she wanted to, the Nan family would have plenty of money. Old Mrs. Nan had a daughter late in life, how could she bear to refuse her daughter's request?"
Sometimes, an overly pampered mother is not a good thing, but what's the point of saying this now?
Alice's explanation seemed plausible. The Nan family had plenty of money; bribing the entire hospital and crematorium was nothing compared to bribing everyone in Xiangcheng. However, Gu Mingxia felt that things were definitely not as simple as Alice made them out to be.
But asking Alice now probably wouldn't yield any useful information, so Gu Mingxia decided to stop pursuing the question.
"Do you... know why A-Dong died?"
"How would I know? I've been in the United States all these years and have never been back to Xiangcheng. I really don't know anything about Adong's affairs."
Gu Mingxia lowered her eyes, and after a long while, she looked up at her seriously and calmly.
"Have you ever heard anything about Adong not being my dad's biological son? Have you ever heard my mom mention it?"
"How could that be! Nan Lan doesn't even look at anyone else except Gu Huaikun. Saying she has other men is less accurate than saying Gu Huaikun has countless women. You might not know, but back then, to break them up, I had someone specifically watching Nan Lan. I knew exactly who she met every day, let alone who she had other men."
There were no other men! That means A-Dong is still Dad's son, so everything Uncle Gu said was false, or what Dad heard was false. But who would tell him all this?
Given Gu Huaikun's current condition, it's unlikely we'll get any answers from him anytime soon!
Alice's words were like a bolt from the blue for Gu Mingxia. But upon closer reflection, the claim that A Dong wasn't her father's biological son wasn't true. According to Uncle Gu Qi, her father had listened to her mother's phone recording, which led him to do what he did.
If that's really the case, then it means that all of this was arranged by the mother. She wanted to kill Adong, so she used the father to set up this scheme!
Gu Mingxia found it hilarious for a moment; the truth she had been trying to uncover had given her such a mocking slap in the face.
Is everything you're saying true?
Alice gave a bitter smile, her usual elegance and composure gone, as if she had aged five to ten years in an instant. She looked calmly at Gu Mingxia.
Do you think I still have any reason to hide anything from you?
"I don't know, but I don't think you need to tell me the truth."
Alice smiled and looked at Gu Mingxia with gentle eyes.
"Believe it or not, this is all I can say. I came back to strike at Gu Huaikun, and even after telling you all this, I will not change my mind. Go back now, and don't come looking for me again, because you are his daughter, and he is my enemy, and so are you."
"Are you and Xiao Yan on the same side?"
"We all have the same goal, Gu Mingxia. You and your mother both have terrible taste in men. Instead of coming here, you should go find Xiao Yan and ask him for a clear answer!"
"Who is Tina?"
"It has nothing to do with Xiao Yan or Gu Huaikun, so you can rest assured about that."
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