Chapter 11
After a chaotic breakfast, Gu Maowen and the others were exhausted.
Gu Xi was completely unaffected. After finishing her breakfast, she threw down her bowl and chopsticks and went back to her room.
Gu Yuanxiang pouted as she watched her walk away.
In the past, Gu Xi would always stay until the end. She would wait until everyone had finished eating before clearing the table and washing all the dishes and chopsticks, so no one had to worry about it.
But she didn't dare call Gu Xi back. She got up to pack, reminding him, "Dad, Mom, it's getting late. You'll be late for work."
Jiang Huijun glanced at her watch, startled, and quickly said, "Old Gu, weren't you supposed to go to the meeting early today? If you don't leave now, you'll be late."
Gu Maowen took today's meeting very seriously. Upon hearing this, he immediately stood up, but unexpectedly, he stood up too suddenly, pulling on his injured waist. He froze there, his face pale with pain, and he was covered in cold sweat.
"Old Gu, are you alright?" Jiang Huijun asked, looking very worried about him.
Gu Yuanzheng and Gu Yuanxiang rushed over to help him, carefully guiding him to sit on the sofa.
Remembering how he had fallen down, chair and all, earlier, Jiang Huijun was genuinely worried about his back and said with concern, "Why don't you take the day off? Your back..."
Gu Maowen gritted his teeth and said without thinking, "No, I can't take leave!"
After a while, when the pain subsided, he finally got up and went out, but he moved more carefully than usual and didn't take as big a step. You could tell that he was enduring intense discomfort, which was very distressing to see.
Although Jiang Huijun and the others were worried, they knew his temper and knew they couldn't persuade him. They could only wait until after get off work to accompany him to the hospital.
After seeing Gu Maowen off, Jiang Huijun turned to her second son beside her. Seeing the injury on his lip, she felt a pang of heartache and quickly said, "Sit down, I'll put some medicine on it for you." Then she complained, "Xixi hit you too hard! You're her brother, how could she really hit you like that…"
Upon hearing this, Gu Yuanhui glanced at the injury on his second brother's face and felt resentful. He couldn't help but say, "Mom, my second brother only has a cut on his lip. It doesn't look serious at all. My injuries are the real serious ones, aren't they?"
At this point, she felt somewhat aggrieved.
Compared to his injuries, his second brother only had a cut on his lip and a bruise on his chin, which was nothing.
Jiang Huijun turned to look at him and saw her youngest son's swollen face. He really looked pitiful. She said with some sadness, "Xixi is too much. I don't know how she became like this. She used to be so well-behaved..."
Suddenly, she also missed the quiet, well-behaved, and unassuming Gu Xi from before.
Why did this child suddenly become like this? What happened? She felt this wouldn't do. When she got home from work, she still had to talk to her and find out what she was thinking. Why couldn't the family talk things out instead of resorting to violence?
Gu Yuanxiang went to get the external wound medicine.
As Jiang Huijun applied medicine to Gu Yuanzheng's wound, she asked, "Do you know why Xixi suddenly became like this? Did you bully her?"
Her gaze lingered on her three children, wondering if Gu Xi had been bullied too much, which was why she suddenly snapped.
Gu Yuanzheng sat there silently, his eyes downcast, not saying a word. He had been silent ever since Gu Xi hit him, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
Gu Yuanhui wanted to say something, but he didn't dare, and just pursed his lips.
Gu Yuanxiang looked at her two brothers with some unease, wisely remaining silent, knowing that Gu Xi's current state was probably related to the birthday gift her second brother had given her that day.
In fact, Gu Yuanxiang had been thinking about why Gu Xi suddenly hit someone in the past few days. Coupled with what happened last night, she was certain that Gu Xi might have been provoked by the birthday gift she received, so she didn't want to tolerate it anymore.
They share the same birthday, but she received a gift from her family while Gu Xi did not. It's normal for her to feel angry and resentful.
Gu Yuanxiang naturally had her own selfish motives. Ever since she learned that she was not the daughter of the Gu family, she had been uneasy.
This unease made her want her family to love her more, to prove that blood ties didn't matter, that she had spent fifteen years with the Gu family, and that she was the Gu family's true daughter.
Even if Gu Xi returns, it cannot affect or shake her position in the Gu family.
So when she learned that her second brother and younger brother had prepared birthday gifts for her, while Gu Xi hadn't, she was extremely happy. Just like every time before, when her family openly showed her favoritism, she would inadvertently boast to Gu Xi about their doting on her, making Gu Xi understand that even if she was the Gu family's biological daughter, she could never compare to her.
It had always been like this before; Gu Xi would always watch silently and then walk away quietly.
It's like dough, completely even.
Over time, Gu Yuanxiang got used to Gu Xi's docility and felt that she posed no threat and was very easy to deal with, just like having an extra housekeeper at home.
Who would have thought that the dough figure would suddenly erupt with such reckless madness? It was truly terrifying.
Gu Yuanxiang regretted her past actions. If she had known that they would drive Gu Xi crazy, she would never have done them again, and she would have kept the good things to herself.
She had a strange premonition that her home would never be peaceful again and would never be able to return to its former tranquility.
-
Jiang Huijun was unaware of her adopted daughter's thoughts. Seeing that the three of them remained silent, and recalling what Gu Xi had said earlier, she felt a dull ache in her heart and her mood became irritable.
However, that's not the most annoying thing.
When she went out to work, she encountered Wu Yinglan and her mother-in-law, who were not on good terms with her, in the family compound, which made her even more annoyed.
When Wu Yinglan saw her, she greeted her warmly, but asked with ill intent, "Huijun, what happened at your house yesterday? I heard from Aunt Huang next door that there was a lot of banging and crashing at your house yesterday, like someone was throwing things. It was quite a noise. What were you doing?"
Jiang Huijun's face twitched, and her expression turned somewhat unpleasant. She forced a smile and said, "What's wrong? The children are just playing around at home during their holiday. It's inevitable that they'll bump into each other. It's quite a nuisance."
She pretended to be relaxed, not wanting others to see her family make a fool of themselves.
"Really? I don't think so?" Wu Yinglan looked at her, her face full of disbelief. "Even if the child is very fussy, he wouldn't make such a commotion, would he? Oh, if there's anything wrong, you can tell us. We all live in the same compound, it's only right that we help each other out."
What do you mean by helping each other? You just want to see us make a fool of ourselves, don't you?
Jiang Huijun was getting impatient and sped up, not wanting to pay any attention to Wu Yinglan. She was also annoyed by Old Lady Huang next door. Old Lady Huang was a notorious gossip in the family compound, always talking about everyone's business. No one in the compound had escaped her gossip.
Jiang Huijun prides herself on being a civilized person and dislikes those who are uncultured, lack manners, and are ill-mannered. She often feels the urge to move.
I was so angry last night that I forgot the two houses are next to each other and the soundproofing isn't very good. Knowing Old Mrs. Huang's personality, she'll investigate and spy on every little thing. Who knows how many people she's gossiping about their family.
Thinking about this made her very annoyed, and she complained that Gu Xi was being unreasonable and making a fool of their family in front of outsiders.
Seeing that Jiang Huijun was ignoring her, Wu Yinglan became even more certain that something must have happened to the Gu family.
She didn't know Jiang Huijun was a pretentious person who always thought she was civilized and superior, and looked down on those who were inferior to her.
She was once publicly scorned by Jiang Huijun, who said she was uncultured and didn't want to associate with her.
Wu Yinglan may not have been to school, but she did attend literacy classes and has not given up learning over the years. How could she not be angry when Jiang Huijun looked down on her like that?
That's how the feud between the two began.
Over the years, she and Jiang Huijun have had many arguments and conflicts, and she has never won against Jiang Huijun.
Until five years ago, when the Gu family had a baby swap incident, she mocked them quite a bit. She even went to Jiang Huijun and laughed at her for a while. Thinking of Jiang Huijun's forced face at that time, she felt relieved.
Wu Yinglan turned to her daughter-in-law and said, "I'm sure something's up with the Gu family! Maybe this time we can see them make a fool of themselves and embarrass Jiang Huijun, that pretentious woman."
Although her daughter-in-law was a little curious, she couldn't say anything while they were outside, so she just smiled.
**
After breakfast, Gu Xi went back to her room for a nap.
When I woke up, the sun was already high in the sky, and the weather was getting increasingly hot and humid.
She slowly got up, tidied herself up, opened a drawer, took out some money and tickets, stuffed them into her handbag, and then went out.
The house was quiet, as if no one else was there.
However, when Gu Xi passed by Gu Yuanhui's room, she knew he was inside.
With his face bruised and swollen, Gu Yuanhui was definitely too ashamed to go out and see anyone. He could only stay at home and wait until his face recovered before daring to go out.
After leaving the residential compound, Gu Xi went to a nearby supply and marketing cooperative, bought some candy and daily necessities, and then went to the nearby post office.
She bought an envelope and stamps, put the letter she had written the night before inside, and also put in the twenty yuan that Gu Yuanhui had given her as compensation, along with some national coupons.
Then she mailed the letter along with the things she had just bought.
Because she frequently came to mail letters, the post office staff recognized her and said with a smile, "Comrade Gu, are you sending something to your relatives in Xujiatun Commune again? By the way, there's a package for you; it's from Xujiatun Commune."
As he spoke, he pulled out a large, heavy package, clearly filled with a lot of things.
Gu Xi would come to the post office every month to send things to Feng Min's hometown, which was also her adoptive parents' home.
The adoptive parents' surname was Xu, and they lived in Xujiatun Commune, where Xu was a common surname.
She wasn't sending things to her adoptive parents, but to her two younger sisters.
The adoptive parents had four children together. The first three were girls, and the fourth was a boy.
Years ago, the adoptive mother came to the city to visit relatives while heavily pregnant, but unexpectedly went into labor early. She was taken to the hospital by a kind person. At that time, Jiang Huijun was also in the same hospital. The two gave birth to children one after the other. Unexpectedly, due to the hospital's negligence, the two families switched the babies.
Gu Xi replaced Gu Yuanxiang as the eldest daughter of the Xu family. She took care of her two younger sisters, and the three sisters had a very deep bond. Although she left the Xu family, she still acknowledged her two younger sisters as her own.
Over the years, she saved up her pocket money and sent it to the younger girls in Xujiatun Commune, hoping they could go to school, live with more dignity, and not be degraded to the dust and become ignorant just because they were girls.
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