Chapter 16
Qiuqiu pretended to be sick all day, and by the time she finally got home it was already evening.
Today, things in the novel changed, and Jiang Xueru's fate was also changed. Qiuqiu is very happy.
Gu Qingyue will no longer be buried in the mud and sand, and Jiang Xueru will not die of excessive grief. Everyone will have a bright future!
Jiang Xueru was in a good mood, feeling a strange sense of liberation from the shackles of fate. But when she reached her doorstep, her expression suddenly changed.
Gu Qingyue noticed her expression. "What's wrong?"
Jiang Xueru remained silent with a sullen face, but she easily twisted open the door that should have been locked.
It opened without even needing a key.
This means there are people inside.
Gu Qingyue quickly pulled her behind him.
Jiang Xueru shook her head. "I know who it is."
Besides her, the only other person allowed in this house is her father.
Gu Qingyue: "I know, but you shouldn't face this alone. I've said I'll always stand by your side."
Jiang Xueru hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "We'll go together, but I can handle this myself." She then took a step forward.
Walking to the very back, Qiuqiu, whose little hand was being held by Jiang Xueru, was completely confused. After entering the room, she saw someone sitting in the living room with their back to them.
Qiuqiu was certain she didn't know that person, yet she felt a strange sense of familiarity with him.
"Xueru, you're back."
It wasn't until she heard that voice that Qiuqiu finally recognized the person.
He is the bad adult in Jiang Xueru's dream!
That big bad guy who always made Jiang Xueru unhappy and cry when she was a child!
But the person in front of me now is very different from the one in my dream.
The man in my dream was in his prime, exuding an annoying arrogance.
The person in front of me, however, looked utterly dejected, with graying hair, and even a little pitiful.
But Qiuqiu didn't want to sympathize with him at all!
The man turned around, and Qiuqiu finally saw his face.
A face that is extremely similar to Jiang Xueru's, especially the eyebrows and eyes, as if they were carved from the same mold.
“You’re not feeling well, you should be resting at home, you shouldn’t have come over.” Jiang Xueru said expressionlessly, her tone distant.
The distance between them made Ye Shengren somewhat unhappy.
Ye Shengren snorted, "If you don't want to go home, can't I come to you?"
Ye Shengren's health is not as good as before, but his personality and temper have not changed much, especially when he is with Jiang Xueru.
Jiang Xueru remained silent.
Ye Shengren added, "I came here to tell you that it's your sister Sisi's birthday in a while. Since we all have some free time, let's go back to the old house and have a meal together."
Jiang Xueru looked up and said, "I've told you many times, she's not my sister."
Ye Shengren was somewhat displeased upon hearing this, "You're really that unwilling to accept them? So many years have passed, I thought you would understand me a little better after getting married, why are you still so stubborn?"
"Whether I'm willing to accept it or not, have you ever given me a choice? Just like with my entry into the entertainment industry, didn't you also not give me a choice?"
Ye Shengren couldn't swallow his anger.
He and Jiang Xueru haven't had a normal conversation in a long time. Every time they meet, either he gets so angry at Jiang Xueru that he's driven her crazy, or Jiang Xueru gets so angry at him that she's driven her crazy.
To avoid this situation, he hadn't communicated with Jiang Xueru for a long time. The last time they talked was when he tried to forcefully arrange a marriage for Jiang Xueru, which ended in a fight.
Then Jiang Xueru slipped away and got married, essentially severing her father-daughter relationship.
After Jiang Xueru got married, the two basically never saw each other again. She thought that this time they could have a calm and peaceful conversation, but unexpectedly, it was still the same as usual.
Ye Shengren, unusually restraining his temper, explained, "There's a reason I don't want you to enter the entertainment industry. Have you forgotten how your mother left? If she hadn't been so caught up in her roles, would she have suffered from depression and committed suicide? I'm doing this all for your own good, because I'm afraid you'll repeat your mother's mistakes. Why can't you understand me after all these years?"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Xueru couldn't help but chuckle softly.
"You're afraid I'll repeat my mother's mistakes, so you won't let me enter the entertainment industry. You really absolve yourself of all responsibility. Then why don't you have any objections to your other daughter entering the entertainment industry?"
Ye Shengren: "Sisi entered the entertainment industry just for fun!"
"Then do you know why I did this?" Jiang Xueru stared blankly at Ye Shengren, her eyes filled with indescribable disappointment.
"I did this for my dream, such an insignificant dream, and you've trampled it underfoot for so many years. You say I don't understand you, but have you ever understood me?"
Ye Shengren fell silent for a moment.
When Jiang Xueru first entered the entertainment industry, Ye Shengren did indeed impose no restrictions on her.
Later, when Jiang Xueru, whom he hadn't spoken to in a long time, looked at him with a desire to be praised and showed him the Best Actress award she had just received, Ye Shengren suddenly became afraid.
Jiang Xueru's mother, Jiang Wei, was an excellent stage actress. She played a character who was extremely melancholic and often tormented herself. She became so immersed in the role that she could not get out of it for a long time and suffered from depression. Not long after, she left them.
Seeing Jiang Xueru's "Liu Mo," a character with a very strong tragic element, Ye Shengren was instantly reminded of Jiang Wei from that time.
He was afraid that Jiang Xueru would follow the same path.
So Jiang Xueru, who had expected to receive praise, instead received a scolding.
So later he used his connections to begin restricting Jiang Xueru's development in the entertainment industry.
He wanted to force Jiang Xueru to leave the entertainment industry and go home.
After winning the Best Actress award, Jiang Xueru's career should have been on a very promising trajectory.
Just like what people in the industry were saying back then.
A lucky star has descended from heaven; they are good-looking, talented, and hardworking.
She was born to shine on this path.
However, due to Ye Shengren's restrictions, Jiang Xueru couldn't get any good scripts during those years.
Later, Ye Shengren realized he had gone too far, and after he stopped, Jiang Xueru's acting career finally recovered.
But his arrogance and pride never allowed him to bow his head.
Ye Shengren turned his head away, "What kind of dream is it to be a star?"
The atmosphere in the living room was so tense that Qiuqiu felt like punching the person in front of her.
Gu Qingyue broke the atmosphere by pulling Jiang Xueru behind him and saying to Ye Shengren, "Uncle Ye, what you said is not right."
Ye Shengren then turned his attention to Gu Qingyue.
He gets angry whenever Gu Qingyue is mentioned.
The Ye and Fang families, as two well-connected and equally matched wealthy families in Haishi, had already verbally agreed to marry when their children reached the appropriate age.
But after he found a suitable candidate for Jiang Xueru early on, Jiang Xueru went against him again.
It would have been fine if Jiang Xueru disagreed; with so many people in the Fang family, she could have found someone she clicked with. But how did Gu Qingyue manage to bewitch Jiang Xueru? The two of them went and got their marriage certificate behind his back.
Ye Shengren learned of their marriage later than most netizens.
Jiang Xueru and Gu Qingyue announced their marriage registration on Weibo immediately after receiving it, shocking the entire internet and causing multiple social media platforms to crash. Ye Shengren only found out about the news from someone else.
That night, Ye Shengren was furious and wanted to ask Jiang Xueru what was going on, but he was told, "I'm already married, don't arrange any more marriages for me."
Although the Gu family was considered quite well-off, things that were beyond his control made him feel very uncomfortable.
Gu Qingyue continued, "As a businessman, you certainly don't understand Xue Ru's dream as an actress. Not understanding shouldn't be a reason to deny her. Besides, no matter what, you can want Xue Ru to go home and stop her from acting, but you can't deliberately ruin her reputation and let her suffer so much criticism over the years."
Ye Shengren: ?
"I didn't do any of those things!"
All these years, the only thing he's done is prevent Jiang Xueru from getting any good resources; he wants to cut off her from the idea of acting.
Gu Qingyue had anticipated his reaction, and smiled as she said, "In the past few years, Xue Ru not only had trouble getting roles, but her appearances on variety shows were also maliciously edited, and she was constantly subjected to baseless rumors. Wasn't this something you instructed certain people to do?"
After deliberately pausing for a moment, he emphasized each word and phrase, saying, "Or is it that someone is harming your daughter in your name without your knowledge?"
Ye Shengren suddenly panicked.
He doesn't usually pay much attention to the entertainment industry. He only knows that Jiang Xueru is indeed not doing very well, just as he wished. He has been waiting for Jiang Xueru to come home soon, but this is the first time he has heard about these things.
He was quite shocked: "What do you mean?"
Gu Qingyue, unusually serious, went to the bookshelf, pulled out a document, and handed it over: "I have some documents here that you can take a look at. They explain why Xue Ru has such a bad reputation in the industry. I believe that after you read them, you will have a new understanding of some people. You are welcome to come again then."
Ye Shengren took it, and Gu Qingyue was already looking like she was seeing the guest off.
He then remembered one of the reasons he had come today, "Sisi's birthday party..."
Gu Qingyue interrupted, "I said, you can decide after you've read it. Goodbye."
Now that things have come to this point, why didn't Ye Shengren say that it was inconvenient for him to stay any longer? Before leaving, he glanced at Jiang Xueru, who still had that cold expression.
Ye Shengren sighed. He had come to apologize to her properly. He knew he had made many mistakes over the years, and now that he was old and his health was failing, he realized these problems when he looked back. However, he couldn't help but argue with Jiang Xueru every time he saw her, and this time was no exception.
He glanced at the documents in his hand again.
Never mind, let's talk about it next time.
When Ye Shengren left, Jiang Xueru didn't even spare him a glance.
Instead, she stared at Gu Qingyue and asked, "When did you prepare those things?"
Gu Qingyue dropped her serious expression and raised an eyebrow: "Actually, I was prepared a long time ago."
Jiang Xueru: "Actually, there's no need. We all know what kind of person Ye Sisi is."
"But the person who should know best doesn't."
Gu Qingyue gestured with her chin toward Ye Shengren's still-visible back.
Jiang Xueru finally turned her gaze over there.
Ye Shengren is not yet sixty years old, but he squandered his youth and recently fell ill. His recovery has been slow and painful, and he looks at least ten years older.
His back view now looks rather weathered.
It was because of that illness that he figured some things out, so he began to try to salvage his relationship with Jiang Xueru.
Gu Qingyue pressed Jiang Xueru's head onto his shoulder.
Jiang Xueru: ?
Gu Qingyue explained, "Go ahead and cry if you want to. My shoulders aren't afraid of getting wet."
Jiang Xueru couldn't help but laugh, and pushed him away, saying, "I promised you I would never cry again. And this is such a small thing. In the past, I might have been upset for a long time, but now I don't feel anything at all."
Gu Qingyue: "Are you really not going to feel anything? After all, they are your family."
His family didn't have that many troubles, but he was also very clear that some things weren't so easy to give up.
Jiang Xueru shook her head, "I already have family members who are more worthy of my love."
Jiang Xueru held Qiuqiu's hand with one hand and Gu Qingyue's hand with the other.
Qiuqiu was initially very angry, but after being led by Jiang Xueru, her mood immediately brightened, and she hopped around asking, "Can I be Mommy's family now?"
Jiang Xueru nodded: "If Qiuqiu is willing, of course Qiuqiu can."
Qiuqiu looked up and said, "Then I want Mommy to kiss me!"
Qiuqiu loves her mom's kisses the most!
Jiang Xueru very cooperatively kissed Qiuqiu on the cheek, then turned her head and saw Gu Qingyue, who had been stunned ever since she held his hand, and prepared to kiss him on the cheek as well.
Gu Qingyue: !!!
Gu Qingyue was so frightened that she quickly backed away.
Jiang Xueru: ?
Before she could ask, Gu Qingyue ran away, leaving behind the words, "It's getting late, I'm going to take a shower."
Jiang Xueru looked at his retreating figure, completely bewildered.
Didn't he often kiss me on the cheek when we were little? It's only been a little over ten years, why can't he let me anymore?
Qiuqiu, the only one present who could hear the sounds, secretly smiled.
Hehe, someone's getting shy!
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