Before she could even get close, Gu Zhiyuan frowned and pushed her away: "Go wash your face and change your clothes. You smell terrible!"
Sun Zhou chuckled and deliberately moved closer to Gu Zhiyuan: "If I hadn't covered your shift last night, you could have gone back to rest for the night and now you're showing up looking all grown up? Now you're complaining about your brother? Alright, I'll leave the rest to you. I'm going to take a shower and get some sleep! I've been working day and night like this, if I don't get some rest soon, my body won't be able to take it anymore."
Gu Zhiyuan waved his hand impatiently, signaling him to hurry up and leave.
Sun Zhou waved to Xu Ningyan with a smile, then left the small courtyard and headed towards the back.
Gu Zhiyuan led Xu Ningyan to a small house.
Two people were guarding the door. When they saw Gu Zhiyuan, they saluted and then opened the door.
Inside, there was a bed. Xu Zhenzhu was handcuffed to the bed railing with her hands behind her back, a handkerchief stuffed in her mouth, and someone was guarding her.
Xu Zhenzhu was pale, her eyes closed as she leaned back against the bed railing. It was unclear whether she was asleep or resting with her eyes closed.
The sound of the door being opened made Xu Zhenzhu open her eyes abruptly. She saw Xu Ningyan outside the door, her eyes widened, and she made a muffled sound as the handcuffs on her hands slammed against the bed railing.
The guard shouted at her, "Behave yourself!"
Xu Zhenzhu looked at Xu Ningyan excitedly, completely ignoring the guards watching over her.
Gu Zhiyuan stepped forward again, and with just one glance, Xu Zhenzhu became obedient and stopped moving around.
Gu Zhiyuan then spoke: "If you behave yourself, I'll let you speak; otherwise, I'll take my men and leave right now."
Xu Zhenzhu became anxious and nodded frantically to indicate her agreement.
Gu Zhiyuan then signaled for someone to remove the handkerchief that had been stuffed in Xu Zhenzhu's mouth to prevent her from biting her tongue and committing suicide.
Xu Zhenzhu held it in for a long time, and as soon as she took out the handkerchief, she swallowed it all at once. She coughed for a long time, coughing up snot and tears, looking extremely disheveled.
She tried to wipe it, but her hands were still handcuffed behind her back and she couldn't move. She could only say, "I want to put my hands in front of me. Don't worry, I'll be good. I just want to talk to her."
Gu Zhiyuan looked at Xu Ningyan, as if seeking her opinion.
Xu Ningyan didn't care whether Xu Zhenzhu's hands were cuffed in the front or back. In any case, even if Xu Zhenzhu wanted to do something to her now, she couldn't do it because she was cuffed.
So he nodded.
They had only unlocked Xu Zhenzhu's handcuffs halfway and then handcuffed them to the bed railing, so at least Xu Zhenzhu could move one of her hands a little.
She wiped the tears and snot from her face with her sleeve, trying to make herself look presentable.
Then he sat up straight and said, "I have some private things to say that I only want to tell Xu Siya."
The people next to Gu Zhiyuan were looking at him.
Gu Zhiyuan thought for a moment and said, "We can leave the room, but the door must be open and someone must guard it from the outside."
Xu Zhenzhu looked at Xu Ningyan: "I only want to tell you this."
Xu Ningyan gestured to leave: "Say it or don't, I'm leaving! Even if you want to say it, I might not want to listen. If it weren't for Brother Gu's sake, who would want to listen to your nonsense?"
Xu Zhenzhu cried out anxiously, "Don't go!"
Xu Ningyan slowly returned and sat down, while Gu Zhiyuan and the guards watching over Xu Zhenzhu retreated into the courtyard.
The door was wide open, and the actions of the two people inside could be clearly seen, and their conversation could be heard clearly.
Xu Zhenzhu calmed down and quietly observed Xu Ningyan for a long time. Her eyes were complicated, filled with envy, jealousy, resentment, regret, and a little relief.
Xu Zhenzhu wasn't in a hurry, and Xu Ningyan was even less in a hurry.
He watched Xu Zhenzhu's expression change, but remained silent.
Xu Zhenzhu couldn't hold back any longer. After a while, she sighed and said, "I lost! What's in this world that isn't meant to be yours, you can't keep even if you try every possible way to get it! I didn't understand this before! And now I've ended up like this!"
Xu Ningyan remained silent.
Xu Zhenzhu sat there alone, wallowing in self-pity for a long time, and even yawned out of boredom.
Xu Zhenzhu couldn't continue. After a pause, she abruptly asked, "Xu Siya, don't you have anything you want to say to me? Or anything you want to ask me?"
Xu Ningyan shook her head. "No."
"You don't hate me? Don't you feel smug and happy to see me reduced to this state?"
Speaking of this, Xu Ningyan was no longer sleepy: "Look at what you're saying. I'm not a blockhead or an idiot. You almost killed me. If I don't hate you, do you think I like you? Do you think everyone loves you?"
"But you're right, of course I'm happy that you've fallen to this state! I'll definitely set off a couple more strings of firecrackers during the Chinese New Year this year to have some fun."
Xu Ningyan was naturally happy, as this could be considered revenge for the original owner of the body, Xu Siya!
If Xu Siya were alive today, she would be satisfied.
After all, the Lu family, who had brought her trouble in her past life, are now either dead, crippled, or exiled to the Northwest for reform through labor. Apart from the innocent Lu Zheng, none of them have had a good ending.
Even if the richest man in the provincial capital is nowhere to be found, after this turmoil ends, the Lu family, with their treason and espionage charges, will only be imprisoned until death.
And then there's Xu Zhenzhu. If it's as the book says, she'll be pampered by the Xu family and loved by Lu Kai for the rest of her life, becoming the high-ranking wife of the richest man.
The reality is that she was convicted of poisoning and murder and sentenced to ten years of labor reform. She is now in her early twenties, and in ten years, she will be in her thirties when she gets out.
The labor camps in the Northwest were not easy; it was quite difficult to even get out alive.
It's easy to imagine that the ten years of labor reform must have made Xu Zhenzhu wish she were dead.
Xu Zhenzhu was not displeased by Xu Ningyan's words; instead, she revealed a strange smile.
He said softly, "Do you want to know why I'm targeting you alone, and why I've always wanted to kill you?"
Xu Ningyan finally looked at Xu Zhenzhu properly. Wasn't it because she wanted to steal Lu Kai away? Could there be another reason? Or did Xu Zhenzhu know she wouldn't have a good ending and wanted to disgust herself one last time?
A flurry of thoughts raced through his mind, but his face remained calm: "What do you want to say?"
Xu Zhenzhu looked at Xu Ningyan and said slowly, "Because I overheard some rumors that you're not my second brother's child, but a bastard child born from your mother's affair—"
At this point, Xu Zhenzhu glanced at Xu Ningyan, seemingly wanting to see how Xu Ningyan would react to these words. Would she be shocked? Would she deny it outright? Or would she curse her for talking nonsense?
Unfortunately, none of them were available.
Xu Ningyan raised an eyebrow, his expression dismissive, which almost made Xu Zhenzhu lose her composure.
"You...you don't have anything to say?"
Xu Ningyan scoffed: "First of all, as you said, this is just a rumor, and whether it's true or not is another matter! Besides, no matter who I was born to, I've long since severed ties with the Xu family, and I'm already so old that I'm past the age of needing to find my biological parents."
“I’m living a much happier life on my own now. I finally got rid of that Xu family of bloodsucking leeches. What would I be thinking to find myself another so-called parent to take care of me, spend my money, belittle me, and look down on me?”
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