Chapter 378: Making the Gu Family a Cloud of Chaos

Gu Sen immediately frowned; Xiang Lv acted without ever asking him, implying that someone of higher rank was behind it.

Having him resign voluntarily was probably Xiang Lv's way of saving his face.

"Who have you offended recently?" Gu Sen asked his son directly.

Gu Zhiyan replied, "Who could I possibly offend?"

Gu Yinxue pursed her lips, seemed about to speak, but finally stayed silent.

The scene caught Gu Zhiyan's eye, and he soon thought of something.

He gritted his teeth and said the three words: "Ke Zhongyu."

Gu Yinxue said, "He wouldn't disregard the relationship between the Nian Family and the Gu Family, nor would he ignore Dad's friendship with Ms. Nian."

Gu Zhiyan was instantly clear on this point: "What couldn't he do for Jiang Lai?"

Seeing the goal achieved, Gu Yinxue stayed completely silent.

This time Gu Sen also didn't side with his son, speaking: "Think about the things you said to Jiang Lai; how could you say them? You're her older brother."

Gu Zhiyan strained his neck: "I didn't know back then."

Gu Sen: "Now you know, take it."

Gu Zhiyan said nothing.

Whose feelings could be as tangled as his? The one who got the "white moonlight" imprisoned is his own sister; the one he called fatherless and motherless is also his sister. He can't tell whether the two should cancel each other out or fuel his resentment.

Gu Sen: "It's a good time to prepare for the exams, and also to settle matters with Miss Qu quickly."

Gu Zhiyan and Qu Er Xiaojie had already met and dined before the Lantern Festival; neither side complained about the other, and the elders of both families thought it was quite a match, having privately suggested that the children spend more time together.

Gu Sen took out an invitation: "Deliver it to Miss Qu yourself, and invite the guests."

It's the banquet invitation to welcome Jiang Lai back and give her a fresh start.

Gu Zhiyan didn't reach out to take it; instead he frowned and questioned his father: "Is a mistaken raising something glorious? Why do you make such a big show of it? You even invited politicians and celebrities, as if to make sure no one thinks Yinxue is fake, that she's not my real sister, right?"

Gu Yinxue's lowered eyelashes trembled slightly.

"Have you ever considered Yinxue's feelings?" Gu Zhiyan seemed to have found an outlet, intent on voicing the suppressed tension that had built up in the house these days. "Yinxue's health is still poor; she's already full of self‑blame. You adults didn't keep watch, letting someone make a mistake, and now the one who has to bear the cost is the one who is small."

"If she wants to return, she should return quietly; after the parent‑child identification is done, no one will deny her. Coming back in such a flamboyant way is to blame you for your fault, to blame me, her brother, for my fault, to blame Yinxue for her fault?"

"It's not Jiang Lai's own decision." Gu Sen raised his eyes, staring at his son, "Gu Zhiyan, don't force me to slap you."

Gu Zhiyan sneered: "It's not like I haven't been hit before."

Gu Sen rose and gave Gu Zhiyan a slap, "Remember, you're her older brother. When you called her fatherless and motherless, you wronged her. I wronged her, and your mother also wronged her!"

Gu Yinxue remained silent; the survival rule she learned in the Gu Family is to stay silent for self‑preservation and speak only pragmatically.

Either say nothing, or only say something useful.

In the current situation, whatever she says is useless; speaking more is pointless. It's better to downplay her own presence, appear detached while actually using stillness to control the motion, and even leverage others' words to fulfill her own aims.

Isn't her brother just speaking for himself?

The father's slap instead pushed her brother toward her side.

Sure enough, Gu Zhiyan gave his father a cold stare, grabbed his sister's hand and said: "Come with me; we can't stay in this house."

Gu Yinxue's internal alarm rang loudly.

You can say "leave" and leave, or "come back" and return, but she can't; she has no blood relation to the Gu Family, she's not a true Gu, and if she leaves she has no proper reason to return.

Such willful running away only exists within blood relations.

Gu Yinxue withdrew her hand: "Brother, calm down. Jiang Lai was always supposed to come back; this is her home, and you're her older brother."

"Gu Yinxue, I am your brother!" Gu Zhiyan, three years older than Gu Yinxue, recalled that when their mother, suffering postpartum depression, would toss the younger sister around, he learned from his father to care for his sister little by little. Even though Jiang Lai is his biological sister, how could that compare to the one who watched her grow!

Gu Yinxue gently embraced him: "It's okay."

The next second she let go.

She previously didn't understand why her father said siblings should keep some distance; after learning Jiang Lai's identity, she fully understood.

She also understood why she could live as she pleased in the Gu Family, while her brother Gu Zhiyan had to follow the family's arranged path, because she is not a Gu family member, and the Gu Family's future development has nothing to do with her.

What does this indicate?

It shows that father had long known she wasn't a biological daughter.

Regarding the mistaken raising, she still remains skeptical.

"What are you arguing about now?" Song Shiwei, who has recently been taking anti‑anxiety medication and tends to feel sleepy, had just woken up, opened her eyes, went downstairs and saw her husband, son, and daughter quarreling, and frowned to ask.

Song Shiwei approached, saw the bleak smile on her daughter's face and the faint slap mark on her son's face, and asked the three again: "What's really going on? Yinxue, you always listen to Mom the most, speak up."

Gu Yinxue glanced at her father and brother, shook her head: "It's nothing."

Gu Zhiyan couldn't tolerate: "Because of Jiang Lai."

Song Shiwei's head ached at hearing the name: "This person hasn't even returned yet and already makes the house a mess; when she returns, will it be chaos? Really, really…"

She couldn't find a suitable excuse for half a day.

Finally she looked at the daughter she had raised herself, took her hand and said: "It's okay, it's okay, you are always Mom's daughter; Mom will never abandon you, never abandon you."

Gu Yinxue always felt that when her mother said these words, it was strange, not really addressed to her, more like speaking to herself.

A bit rambling.

Gu Yinxue's mind filled with tangled doubts, a knot of confusion.

Now the important thing is to rely on her mother, the big tree.

Father likes Jiang Lai a lot, but whenever mother says something excessive yet not overly so, father never rebukes mother.

"Mom, it's fine, it's okay, as long as everyone is fine."

Song Shiwei looked at her daughter, wanted to say something but didn't know what, her mind also a mess.

She looked at Gu Sen: "When will she come back?"

Gu Sen: "The day after tomorrow."

Song Shiwei: "I and Yin Xue won't go. I've been feeling unwell lately. You hold such a grand banquet, and where do you place Yin Xue? The old master doing this is too self‑serving and cold‑hearted."

Gu Sen frowned: "When the daughter returns and you, as mother, are not here, what will the daughter think? What will the guests think? The people at home are also gradually coming back."

"I care about what the guests think? I care about what you Gu family think?" Song Shiwei suddenly exploded, eyes fixed on Gu Sen, "Am I not doing enough? I married you, married into your Gu family, and for so many years I've been shot at by colored glasses—have I ever said a word? I have been silently thinking of changing myself, trying to be perfect everywhere, not to be outshone by other daughters‑in‑law, not to bring shame on you, not to bring shame on the Song family. I swallow the sour, I've used countless folk remedies, even our … days are …"

This cannot be said in front of the children.

Speaking like that is not the behavior of a mother.

Song Shiwei is so angry that tears fall.

Gu Yinxue seized the opportunity, quickly embraced her mother to comfort her, and led her back to her own room.