Chapter 16
Gu Xi spent the day at the Shen family's house, playing with Shen Mingrong and checking his homework.
In the evening, Shen Chenshan and Feng Min returned from get off work and were both very happy to see her.
"Xixi's here!" Feng Min immediately pulled her over to look at her, then suddenly frowned. "Haven't you been eating or resting properly these past few days? Why do you look so pale?"
This looks like someone who hasn't fully recovered from a serious illness, which is heartbreaking to see.
I was thinking to myself that I should take her to the hospital for a check-up next time I have a break.
Gu Xi said, "I've been eating and resting well, it's just that the weather is too hot, and I'm suffering from summer heat."
"Really?" Feng Min thought about how hot the weather was and how little appetite she had, so she reluctantly believed her and asked, "Is everything alright at home?"
Seeing how bad Gu Xi's complexion was, she was still worried about the Gu family members. She was afraid that they would take advantage of her good temper and bully her, especially that Gu Yuanhui. She really didn't know how Gu Maowen and his wife raised their child. How could they raise such a cunning and hateful boy who bullied his own sister without any mercy, as if she were his enemy.
Although Gu Xi never complained about these things to anyone, she had her mouth to ask and her eyes to see. Every time she visited the Gu family, Gu Yuanhui would make sarcastic remarks about Gu Xi in front of him, a guest, which showed that he had bullied her a lot in private.
Although Gu Maowen and his wife scolded Gu Yuanhui, it was only because they were present. If she hadn't been there, they probably wouldn't have cared and would have just thought it was a sibling fight, and that Gu Xi should have tolerated it. Otherwise, they would have thought it was making a mountain out of a molehill.
Gu Xi smiled and said softly, "It's fine, it's just that my dad accidentally strained his back, it's quite serious, he's resting at home today."
Did you strain your back?
Feng Min and Shen Chongshan were both somewhat puzzled.
Gu Xi remained expressionless and downplayed the issue, saying, "He hurt his back while helping Gu Yuanxiang move the cabinets. The cabinets in Gu Yuanxiang's room are quite heavy."
She wasn't afraid that the Gu family would come over and say something to Shen Chongshan and the others; Gu Maowen and his wife couldn't bear the embarrassment.
After several years together, she could easily see how much Gu Maowen and his wife cared about her reputation. Even if they disliked her, they wouldn't go around telling others what she had done.
This is why she dared to turn against them directly. Anyway, she didn't know how long she would live, so why should she care about anything else?
People who have concerns live a stifled life.
The Gu family's behavior of being so obsessed with saving face that they suffer for it is quite laughable.
Neither Shen Chenshan nor Feng Min thought much of it, assuming that Gu Maowen was just old and would strain his back even when moving a cabinet, so they just sighed and moved on.
During the meal, she learned that Gu Xi's adoptive parents' younger sister had sent her some local specialties from the countryside. She was very happy and felt that although the two girls from the Xu family came from such a family, they were good and had not let down the arrangements Gu Xi had made for them.
Feng Min looked at the clothes and shoes she had made for herself and said, "Xu Yuansheng is such a skilled craftsman. The clothes he makes fit him perfectly and make him look very smart."
These days, there aren't many styles of clothing, but the tailor's ingenuity is evident in the details.
When Xu Yuansheng made the clothes, he specially cinched the waistline, making them look particularly flattering and giving the wearer a very energetic appearance.
Gu Xi smiled and said, "My second sister has loved watching people make clothes since she was little. She learned from the old tailor in the commune and even assisted him."
That was before she looked back on her family.
In her spare time, the second sister, Xu Yuansheng, would shamelessly help the old tailor. Sometimes the old tailor would give her some food as a reward for her hard work, which Xu Yuansheng would secretly bring back. The three sisters would then huddle together in the woodshed and share the food.
After dinner, it was getting late, so Gu Xi got up and left.
Feng Min saw her off and said, "Xixi, why don't you stay here tonight? It's summer vacation now, and you don't have much to do. As for work, there's no rush. Take care of your health first before looking for a job."
Since Gu Xi doesn't want to continue studying, she does need to find a job. However, seeing that she doesn't look well, there's no rush. Let her rest and recover first.
Gu Xi said, "I've been busy lately. I'll come over when I'm done. Even if you try to kick me out, I won't leave."
"What's wrong?" Feng Min asked, puzzled at first, then chided, "I'd be happy if you came over, I wouldn't chase you away."
Gu Xi simply smiled, said goodbye, and left.
-
Back at the Gu family home, it was completely dark. The Gu family members had all eaten dinner and were chatting in the living room.
Gu Yuanxiang brought over a fruit platter and asked Xixi, "Xixi, have you eaten? We saved some food for you."
"have eaten."
Gu Xi gave a casual reply, without greeting the people in the living room, and went straight back to her room.
Gu Maowen and his wife did not look well.
They were angry that their daughter was disobedient, but being ignored by her like this was another matter. They felt that she was ill-mannered and did not know how to respect her parents.
Gu Maowen said angrily, "He's really been spoiled by that country couple."
Gu Yuanxiang's face stiffened upon hearing this.
Because the "country couple" he mentioned were her biological parents. Even though she always considered herself Gu Jia's daughter and was unwilling to acknowledge that the Xu family were her blood relatives, she knew in her heart that blood ties could not be severed.
Seeing her pale face, Gu Yuanzheng changed the subject: "Dad, Gu Xi has graduated from high school. What are her plans for the future?"
In the past, he wouldn't have brought these things up. After all, his parents had made arrangements for her, and he was just the second brother, so he didn't need to care too much.
However, his mindset has changed somewhat now. He knows that he can no longer be indifferent as before, otherwise the family will get worse and worse.
Jiang Huijun sighed and said, "I asked Xixi the same question last night."
What did she say?
The whole family was watching her, wanting to know what Gu Xi was thinking. They hoped to find her something to do as soon as possible, otherwise, she would cause trouble at home every day, which was unbearable.
"She said she wanted to study and asked us to get her a recommendation for a worker-peasant-soldier university."
Upon hearing this, everyone present fell silent.
Gu Maowen frowned and asked, "Why doesn't she go to the Shen family?"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Huijun looked embarrassed. She recalled what Gu Xi had said last night, and that undisguised mocking face. Every time she thought of it, she felt ashamed and wanted to disappear.
Seeing her like this, Gu Maowen and Gu Yuanzheng understood perfectly well, and wisely refrained from asking any further questions.
It's definitely not something nice to say.
"Why not just let her get married?" Gu Yuanhui muttered. "Anyway, she has a marriage agreement with the Shen family. I heard that Shen Mingzheng is already twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. If she doesn't get married soon, she'll be too old."
To a sixteen-year-old, a man who is still unmarried at twenty-seven or twenty-eight is an old man.
It's fortunate that Shen Mingzheng is engaged and in the military, otherwise people would really suspect that he has some kind of hidden illness for not getting married so late.
Gu Maowen and Jiang Huijun exchanged a glance, then remained silent.
This marriage arrangement is clearly orchestrated by the Shen family, and the Gu family has no say in it. The timing of their wedding is decided by the Shen family. What if they bring it up, and the Shen family uses the excuse that Shen Mingzheng is busy in the military and can't come back for the wedding? How embarrassing would that be? They don't want to lose face in front of the Shen family.
“Indeed, let’s bring this up,” Jiang Huijun said. “Xixi is already twenty years old. If she doesn’t go to university, she might as well get married first and then find a job after marriage.”
Once she's married, she'll be someone else's child, and then she won't be able to go back to her parents' house every day and cause trouble, right?
With that thought, Jiang Huijun immediately felt relieved.
Gu Maowen thought so too, nodded, and decided to find some time another day to send a message to the Shen family and ask about this matter.
**
Gu Maowen rested at home for two days and felt that his back was not so uncomfortable, so he went back to work.
In the following days, the Gu family remained restless, causing some disturbance every day.
Perhaps he had forgotten the pain once the wound had healed; Gu Yuanhui's face was still not fully healed, but he had become bold again and dared to throw Gu Xi's clothes that she had hung out to dry in the yard on the ground.
In the past, Gu Xi would have silently picked it up and washed it again.
Now, we don't tolerate him at all. We beat him up, forced him to wash his clothes, and said that from now on, he would be responsible for washing all the family's dirty clothes.
Gu Yuanxiang hesitated whether to try to persuade her, but after hearing Gu Xi's decision, she silently shut her mouth.
Recently, she has been doing all the housework at home, and she has realized how much there is to do at home and how tiring it is to finish all of it. How did Gu Xi manage to keep everything so organized and not at all chaotic before?
Especially when washing the whole family's clothes, she always felt sore and aching afterward, making her feel that this summer vacation was too unbearable. She couldn't wait for school to start so she could hide at school and not have to do these things anymore.
Gu Yuanhui was the type of person who wouldn't hold a grudge after being beaten, but even he couldn't withstand being beaten too many times, and he finally learned his lesson.
Perhaps because of the long-standing disturbance, even the family compound knew that the Gu family had been restless lately, especially because of a gossipy neighbor, Old Mrs. Huang, who liked to spy on her neighbors. Any slight disturbance would be spread by her big mouth.
Whenever Gu Maowen and his wife heard rumors about their family, they felt embarrassed, angry, and anxious.
What they found most unbearable were the comments about them liking to raise other people's children, and even accusations that they abused their own daughter and made Gu Xi work like a slave for them, serving their entire family...
They always came home with pale faces.
Back home, seeing Gu Xi, the culprit, only fueled his anger. He wanted to yell at her, but he couldn't win. After all, Gu Xi truly knew how to hurt people deeply—although Gu Xi thought she was just telling the truth, the truth was often the most hurtful. Hitting her was out of the question. The Gu family had no tradition of hitting children, and even if they did, Gu Xi wouldn't stand there and let them hit her; instead, she would hit back directly.
If you can't hit them, and you can't out-argue them, what can you do?
They knew that Gu Xi was just taking advantage of their pride to cause trouble, but they could never tell anyone what she was doing. The Gu family couldn't bear the loss of face, so they could only endure it, which was incredibly painful.
That day, Gu Xi was drinking water in the kitchen when she heard a knock on the door. She went to open the door and saw a group of teenagers standing outside. They were Gu Yuanhui's friends from the family compound.
Upon seeing them, Gu Xi's eyes flickered slightly.
The boys greeted her with smiles, "Hui Zi's sister, we've come to see Hui Zi. Is he home?"
Gu Xi's gaze swept over their faces one by one, something deep within her eyes, and she calmly said, "Yes."
He stepped aside to let them in.
These teenagers were good friends with Gu Yuanhui and often came to the Gu family home to visit him. They didn't treat themselves as outsiders at all, and would go straight to knock on Gu Yuanhui's door after entering the house.
Soon, a series of exclamations rang out.
"Oh my god, Hui Zi, what happened to your face? Who hit you?"
"He must have been beaten up, and that was quite a hard beating!"
"Hui Zi, why didn't you call us when you got into a fight? If you had just called, we would have grabbed our weapons and come at you together, and seen who dared to bully our brothers!"
"..."
Gu Xi sat calmly on the sofa, drinking water, listening to Gu Yuanhui upstairs stubbornly explaining that he wasn't beaten, but that he accidentally bumped into something.
Teenagers in their teens value face and self-esteem above all else. How could they possibly admit that they were beaten, especially by their own sister whom they despise the most? They would rather announce to the world that they were the ones who fell or bumped into something.
A little while later, Gu Yuanhui and a group of teenagers came downstairs and were so frightened when they saw Gu Xi sitting in the living room that they almost exploded.
The boys didn't notice his subtle reaction. When they saw the person sitting quietly in the living room, her fair and beautiful face came into view as she turned her head, making the boys, who rarely interacted with such a beautiful woman, blush.
Gu Xi rarely looked at people so directly in the past; most of the time she avoided people and remained silent.
This was the first time the group of teenagers had clearly realized that Gu Yuanhui's sister was really beautiful, a rare and stunning woman.
One of the boys said, "Hui Zi, it's so hot, let's go boating."
"Yeah, yeah, call your sister to come along!"
The group of teenagers shouted enthusiastically, and several of them winked and made faces at Gu Yuanhui, clearly plotting something bad.
They had a good relationship with Gu Yuanhui and knew his attitude towards the older sister who had come to live with them halfway through their marriage.
To be honest, they couldn't quite understand why Gu Yuanhui disliked his older sister so much. In their eyes, Gu Xi was really beautiful, much prettier than Gu Yuanxiang, the fake heiress. If they had such a beautiful older sister, they would be able to show her off to their friends and would be too busy protecting her to dislike her.
However, Gu Xi's personality was really easy to bully, and they saw Gu Yuanhui bullying her several times.
Junzi, who was close to Gu Yuanhui, would come up with ideas and help bully her, such as catching caterpillars and snakes to scare her, or chasing her with dogs on her way home from school... Later, he would tell them with a grin how he bullied her, and when she was scared and her eyes turned red, he would laugh very maliciously.
When Gu Yuanhui heard their suggestion, his heart almost jumped out of his chest, and he looked terrified.
They actually want to invite her? What if she hits someone?
In the past, Gu Yuanhui would definitely have agreed. When he saw Junzi winking at him, he knew that the kid was up to no good and that there might be a good show to watch.
But now, all he wanted to do was punch Junzi's lewd face.
Just as Gu Yuanhui was about to refuse in fear, Gu Xi spoke up: "Okay."
Okay, okay? Okay what?
Gu Yuanhui looked at her in fright, instinctively feeling that she had ill intentions.
Gu Xi stood up, looked at Gu Yuanhui who had a bad expression, and suddenly gave him a smile.
To Gu Yuanhui, that smile was more terrifying than a female ghost.
What is she going to do?
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