Chapter 14
Jiang Huijun's expression became somewhat strained.
She awkwardly looked away, handed over the cup in her hand, and said gently, "Your stomach isn't good, drink some malted milk powder to soothe it. Drink more in the future, don't be stingy."
Malted milk powder is a good thing in this era; it's a nutritional supplement that can be used to nourish the body.
The Gu family is not short of money, and they always keep malted milk powder on hand. The children often make it for themselves or to serve to guests.
But this was the first time Jiang Huijun had personally brewed the tea and brought it over to her.
Gu Xi remained unmoved and said, "Thank you, but I don't want to drink."
"Don't want to drink? What's wrong?" Jiang Huijun asked, puzzled.
"I have no appetite."
Gu Xi lowered her eyes, looking listless, and her face appeared somewhat pale under the light.
Jiang Huijun asked with concern, "Xixi, where do you feel unwell?"
Gu Xi said, "I feel uncomfortable everywhere."
She wasn't lying. Since coming back to life, she had been seriously ill and in poor spirits. She was in a daze every day. She didn't know if it was a side effect of being a ghost for too long, or the price of being resurrected.
Otherwise, how could a person come back to life after death? Such an incredible thing must come at a price.
Gu Xi accepted this situation well, and even thought that perhaps God would take her life one day.
Being alive for one more day is a bonus, and that's pretty good.
Jiang Huijun was a little anxious. She quickly put the cup on the table and took Gu Xi's hand, saying, "Where do you feel unwell? Tell Mom, and Mom will take you to the hospital to see a doctor."
Gu Xi withdrew her hand, sat down next to the bed, and said calmly, "No need, I won't die."
Her expression was calm to the point of being indifferent, giving the impression that she didn't care.
You couldn't even see any signs of discomfort on her face.
Jiang Huijun began to have doubts. Was this another way for her to cause trouble for them? Or was her discomfort just an excuse, and she simply didn't want to drink the malted milk powder she had brought? Did she really resent herself that much?
Jiang Huijun now understands that Gu Xi is no longer the obedient daughter she used to be. She seems to harbor resentment towards them, resenting Gu Yuanxiang for replacing her as the daughter of the Gu family and enjoying fifteen years of happiness, and also resenting their favoritism and lack of concern for her in recent years.
So she hit Gu Yuanhui, smashed their room, and angered Old Gu because Gu Yuanzheng spoke rudely to her and hit her...
"Xixi!" Jiang Huijun said helplessly, "Don't be like this, can't you talk properly? Mom didn't come here to argue with you!"
Gu Xi could tell from her expression that she had misunderstood; perhaps she thought she was pretending on purpose to cause trouble for them.
Feeling utterly bored, I said, "Alright, if there's nothing else, you can leave. I'm going to sleep."
Since they didn't see eye to eye, she didn't want to waste any more time.
Jiang Huijun didn't leave. She came over to talk to her, hoping to make her realize her mistake and stop causing them trouble. Wouldn't it be better to go back to how things were before?
She pulled the chair in front of the desk over and sat down in front of Gu Xi, as if she wanted to have a long talk.
Jiang Huijun decided to start with a relatively safe topic: "Xixi, you've graduated from high school. What are your plans for the future? Do you want to continue to university? Or find a job? Or get married?"
Twenty-year-old girls are not young anymore. Many are already married, and those who are not married, like Gu Yuanxiang, are either going to university or looking for potential partners.
It's normal for her to want to get married.
I wonder when the Shen family will come to discuss the two children's marriage. If they can marry her off, that would be good, and the family wouldn't be so noisy anymore.
Although Gu Xi was too lazy to pay attention to her, since she asked, she immediately said, "If I want to continue my university studies, can you get me a spot recommended by workers, peasants and soldiers?"
The number of places recommended by workers, peasants and soldiers for university admission is not large, and is even very scarce.
Although the value of worker-peasant-soldier universities was low in the future, they were highly sought after by many students at that time.
Jiang Huijun shook her head: "We don't have any spots, but I think the Shen family should have some."
With the Shen family's capabilities, securing a spot should be easy. Since Feng Min likes her so much, she will definitely find a way to help her.
With the Shen family around, there's no need to worry about this at all.
Hearing this, Gu Xi looked up at her and sneered, "So you don't want to give me a recommendation spot, and you want me to ask the Shen family for it? What right do you have? Just because Aunt Feng is protecting me, you think you can just let them be the suckers? Am I your daughter or the child raised by the Shen family?"
“You people are really—” she said, enunciating each word clearly, “utterly disgusting.”
"Xi Xi!" Jiang Huijun looked at her in shock. "How could you say such a thing?"
Gu Xi said coldly, "Isn't this the truth? You can't even stand it?"
Jiang Huijun's face turned ugly.
She came from a good family, and few people had ever said such hurtful things to her since she was a child, especially since it was her daughter who said it. It was absolutely heartbreaking and chilling.
Looking at Gu Xi's unmoved face, she felt a pang of sadness and injustice, her eyes welling up with tears: "Xi Xi, I'm your mother! How could you..."
Gu Xi didn't want to listen to her anymore and stood up: "Alright, I know you're my mother, and I'm your biological daughter, that can't be changed! But look at what you do, is that how a mother acts? Or are you like what people outside say, enjoying raising other people's children? Perhaps you'd rather be a mother to other people's children, wouldn't you?"
She smiled slightly at this point, but the smile didn't reach her eyes.
Jiang Huijun's eyes widened in shock; she was heartbroken.
"Xixi!" Her voice choked, her eyes reddened, and she gritted her teeth as she said, "You...you can't say that. I love you. No mother doesn't love her child..."
Even if she usually favors Gu Yuanxiang, it doesn't mean she doesn't love her daughter. This is her own flesh and blood, whom she carried for ten months and gave birth to!
I just sometimes think that it would be nice if she could have grown up by my side.
If only she would side with her own mother when Feng Min sarcastically insulted her. After all, she wasn't raised by her side; she's just not considerate...
“You’re wrong. There really are mothers who don’t love their own children,” Gu Xi corroborated. “My adoptive mother didn’t love her own daughter. When she didn’t know I wasn’t her daughter, she didn’t love me, nor did she love Gu Yuanxiang and her two younger sisters.”
Having been a ghost for so long, I've seen all sorts of human tragedies. The saying "parents are never wrong" is wrong. Not all parents love their children.
Jiang Huijun was speechless again, and a feeling of shame and humiliation suddenly rose in her heart. She felt that she had been humiliated.
She actually compared herself to that ignorant and foolish country couple from the Xu family?
Jiang Huijun has many people she hates in her life, and the Xu couple are definitely among the top of the list!
She loathed the couple's ignorance and greed, as well as their mistreatment of Gu Xi. She was even more disgusted that they had raised Gu Xi to be so unsophisticated and ugly, so petty and unpresentable, causing her to lose face among her relatives and friends.
She never felt that she could be compared to the Xu family. She was a city dweller, an educated person, someone who had studied and gone to university. How could she be compared to those country bumpkins?
Jiang Huijun was furious. "Xixi, how could you become like this? You not only hit people, but you also curse at them. You are disrespectful and unfilial to your parents... Aren't you afraid that the Shen family will find out what you've done and be disappointed in you?"
Even if Feng Min likes Gu Xi a lot, she wouldn't be able to accept it if she knew what Gu Xi had done, right?
These days, people still value the reputation of unmarried women, and a family like the Shen family would never want a girl with poor character as their daughter-in-law.
Gu Xi's expression turned cold, and she said indifferently, "It's nothing, at most it's just the annulment of the engagement."
Hearing her casually mention breaking off the engagement, Jiang Huijun was stunned again, finally realizing that Gu Xi had really changed and was indifferent to everything.
It seems that in her heart, her relatives are no longer important.
Jiang Huijun was both angry and anxious, but she really didn't know where to start with Gu Xi.
Her chest heaved violently; she desperately wanted to escape, to avoid Gu Xi's humiliation, and to avoid this aggressive daughter, to pretend she hadn't heard what was said, to pretend that nothing had happened...
"Aren't you afraid of being jilted?" Jiang Huijun asked unwillingly. "If the engagement is broken off, where will you find a partner as good as the Shen family again? Aren't you afraid of being pointed at and gossiped about, unable to get married, and being ridiculed?"
Gu Xi scoffed: "Let them laugh. Our family has already lost face long ago. Haven't we been ridiculed enough by outsiders?"
These words were truly hurtful, and Jiang Huijun couldn't bear it. She stood up abruptly, her eyes red, and turned to leave the room.
As she was leaving, she wiped her eyes and turned around to see her three children hiding not far away, watching her.
They stared at her in astonishment.
Jiang Huijun quickly lowered her hand, her voice a little hoarse: "What are you doing?"
The three of them remained silent, staring at her face to confirm that she was indeed crying. They knew without asking that Gu Xi must have made her cry, since she had just come from Gu Xi's room.
"Mom, did Gu Xi make you cry?" Gu Yuanhui asked angrily.
Jiang Huijun didn't want to talk. She was a strong-willed person and couldn't let her children see her crying from anger. She immediately turned her head and said, "You all go back to sleep."
"But……"
Jiang Huijun said sternly, "Listen to me, all of you go back!" Then, remembering something, she added, "Don't go looking for Xixi."
She was afraid that her youngest son would impulsively go to find someone, and then he would get beaten up again.
Gu Xi is ruthless when it comes to beating people now; she can even anger her own mother, so beating her own brothers is nothing to her.
After giving her instructions, Jiang Huijun left in a hurry, not wanting to stay any longer, fearing that she would be even more embarrassed.
Back in the room, seeing Gu Maowen lying on the bed with medicine being applied, she suddenly felt a pang of sadness and said, with a wronged expression, "Old Gu, I...I..."
Judging from her expression, Gu Maowen knew that her conversation with Gu Xi had broken down.
He frowned, angrily slammed his hand on the bed, and said unhappily, "What's wrong with her? Does she have to cause such a commotion in the whole family?"
Jiang Huijun said sadly, "She's blaming us, blaming us for being biased and neglecting her..."
"What does she have to complain about? Have we ever starved her or deprived her of clothes?" Gu Maowen didn't care. After introducing her to the Gu family, he believed he had never been shortchanged by her, so what did she have to complain about?
He didn't take Gu Xi's antics seriously. A young, unmarried girl with no job and no money had no way to escape her parents' control.
Even if she wants to make a scene, she can only make a scene for a short time.
Although Jiang Huijun was brought to tears by Gu Xi, she calmed down when facing Gu Maowen.
She suddenly said, "Actually, she's right. Our family is really becoming a laughing stock! Today, that woman Wu Yinglan deliberately came to find me and asked me what was going on in our house yesterday, with all the commotion. I didn't know how to answer her..."
Gu Maowen paused, remembering what Gu Xi had said that morning.
You must be very happy raising other people's children, right?
He is a very traditional man who values his own bloodline. Of course, he only wants to raise his own children. Who would be happy raising someone else's children?
The reason Gu Yuanxiang was kept back then was because she was just a girl.
Raising a child to this age requires a lot of effort. Even if she isn't their child, they wouldn't send her back to her biological parents' home. In the future, they'll marry her off and find her a good family, which would also be a valuable connection.
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