Chapter 386: You Shouldn't Have Come Back

"I just got back and don't know what happened to Song Nvshi, that she's always taking medication." Jiang Lai did not address Song Shiwei as mother; calling her "Nvshi" was already a show of respect.

Tang Yun sighed: "This afternoon your mother wasn't herself. She didn't mean it. After you were born, her condition wasn't right. During that time she saw a lot of doctors and took a lot of medication. It took at least two or three years before she recovered. Parents everywhere only want the best for their children—try to be more understanding of her."

"So before I was born, Song Nvshi was perfectly healthy in body and mind," Jiang Lai stated in an ordinary tone. "It was only after having me that she became abnormal."

Tang Yun realized she had said the wrong thing. Her lips parted, then closed, and after a moment parted again: "It was probably because the place your father was posted wasn't a healthy environment, and your mother was raised pampered and sheltered."

Jiang Lai had wanted to ask whether Song Nvshi's mental state deteriorated after giving birth because she was a daughter. But the question was too blunt, and she was afraid it wouldn't be appropriate to ask.

"I looked around today. In my generation, there are only two girls—Gu Jin and me. The next generation has quite a few."

Tang Yun: "Nowadays everyone has really come to like daughters. It's different from before."

Jiang Lai caught the words "come to," and could also hear the faint helplessness in Tang Yun's tone, like a soft sigh from the previous era directed at this one.

After that, Tang Yun stopped talking about these matters and instead earnestly introduced the old residence to Jiang Lai, explaining which courtyards and rooms had been lived in by whom, and how they had moved out after starting their own families.

As they talked, Tang Yun's gaze paused on a room at the end of the corridor. She said, "That's all. This is everything."

Jiang Lai noticed the room at the end. It had a lock on it—a very old-fashioned lock, covered in dust, as if no one had set foot there in many years. Yet the rooms on either side had been renovated and swept spotless.

"What is that room?"

Tang Yun looked over: "It used to store miscellaneous items."

Jiang Lai felt that wasn't the case, but she didn't press further.

After the introduction, Tang Yun was called away by Gu Hai.

Gu Hai asked sternly: "Did you see the message I sent you?"

Tang Yun was puzzled for a moment: "What message?"

She took out her phone and looked. The message had been sent immediately after she took Jiang Lai away, instructing her to only introduce the old residence—not to mention a single word about Gu Sen and Song Shiwei's family, and not to bring up anything from twenty-eight years ago.

Tang Yun's face went slightly pale.

Gu Hai understood at a glance: "You said something?"

Tang Yun: "I said a little."

Gu Hai gave her a cold look. He didn't need to say a word—Tang Yun already knew she had said things she shouldn't have.

She explained: "I only said a bit more because I was hoping Jiang Lai and Song Shiwei's mother-daughter relationship would draw closer sooner. The baby swap wasn't Gu Sen and Song Shiwei's fault—it was all the hospital nurses' mistake."

"What do you know." Gu Hai warned, "Don't say anything else reckless. That girl Jiang Lai is not ordinarily clever."

Tang Yun didn't understand why: "Is there something you're hiding from me?"

"Don't ask what you shouldn't ask." Gu Hai asked in detail about the contents of their conversation, then left.

Gu Hai found Gu Sen.

"Your daughter most likely came back to dig into what happened back then. She has no attachment to the Gu family. If she finds out and spreads the word, where will the Gu family's face be?"

Gu Sen frowned: "What do you mean by that tone? Gu Hai, when you were humbly begging me back then, you weren't so high and mighty."

Gu Hai froze for a moment, his gaze darkening: "Are you going to just watch the Gu family fall? Where is the Gu Sen who back then put the Gu family and his wife first? What? After years in business, you've gone and softened your heart instead?"

This time it was Gu Sen's turn to stiffen.

……

Jiang Lai received a message from Fu Youqing: 【You're at the Gu family old residence, right? We're almost there.】

【I see Li Dan, and Xie Yongsi too. But didn't the Gu family not invite the Xie Family?】

【I don't know when those two got so close. I've seen people bring female companions to banquets, but never a male companion.】

Jiang Lai: 【Male companion?】

Fu Youqing: 【Just saying. Both are straight.】

Jiang Lai: 【I'm at the old residence. Come find me directly in a bit.】

Fu Youqing: 【No problem.】

Jiang Lai put away her phone and looked up at Ke Zhongyu: "Youqing and the others are almost here. What about Chongying?"

Ke Zhongyu: "Probably all the guests are almost here."

In the Gu family courtyard, square tables were set up in every spacious and scenic spot, with pastries and cold dishes on top, along with ordinary drinks.

Jiang Lai and Ke Zhongyu sat in the pavilion, looking together toward the main gate. Guests were already arriving one after another.

Jiang Lai: "Time to recognize people again."

Before she finished speaking, Ke Zhongyu took a tin of throat lozenges from his coat, opened it, unwrapped one, and brought it to Jiang Lai's lips.

Jiang Lai parted her lips, took it in, and pressed it in her mouth.

She raised her eyes and, sure enough, saw Xie Yongsi staying with Li Dan. She didn't know what method Li Dan had used to bring him in.

Xie Yongsi seemed to be looking for someone, glancing around a bit, and got tugged by Li Dan.

Xie Yongsi composed himself, his peripheral vision sweeping past the pavilion, then snapping back to look: "Is the person sitting in the pavilion Jiang Lai?"

"Don't you know her the longest? If even you aren't sure, how would I know?" Li Dan followed Xie Yongsi's gaze and looked over. He indeed wasn't close with Jiang Lai, but he knew Ke Zhongyu. "Ke Zhongyu is sitting next to her, so that's Jiang Lai."

Xie Yongsi truly didn't dare to recognize Jiang Lai. Compared to the elegant grace of that fleeting glimpse at the reception back then, Jiang Lai at this moment had an ethereal presence that didn't match the person in his memory at all.

"How can you be so sure it's Jiang Lai?"

"Ke Zhongyu has practically become Jiang Lai's watermark." Li Dan had never known the former Jiang Lai as Mrs. Shen, so he wasn't doubtful like Xie Yongsi. He said with certainty, "That's Jiang Lai."

Xie Yongsi quickly raised his phone, zoomed in, and snapped a photo. Li Dan frowned: "What are you doing? Don't cause trouble."

Xie Yongsi quickly sent the photo to Shen Xun: 【Brother Xun, this is Jiang Lai. I almost didn't dare to recognize her. She's changed so much.】

【Oh right, Brother Xun, let me tell you something. Jiang Lai is the daughter the Gu family of B City swapped by mistake back then. She is Gu Zhiyan's biological younger sister.】

After sending it, he immediately pocketed his phone.

"Li Shao, take me to find Gu Zhiyan."

Li Dan: "…Can you not be in such a rush? The banquet hasn't even started and you're already stirring things up. Gu Zhiyan is the biological older brother of today's leading lady! If you cause trouble, believe me when I say I'll throw you out right this second? Think of me—I'm here under the name of the Li family's Young Master, not Li Dan."

Xie Yongsi wasn't truly ignorant of how the world worked, so he had to let it go.

In the next second, he saw Gu Zhiyan walking toward the pavilion; he was going to find Jiang Lai, so he also hurriedly followed.

Li Dan didn't even manage to grab a corner of his clothing.

"……"

He also hurriedly went around to the other side of the pavilion; as soon as he got close, he heard Gu Zhiyan say to Jiang Lai with a cold face: "Second Grandfather and Father called you over; the guests have all arrived."

"Can't you speak properly?" Ke Zhongyu especially wasn't used to Gu Zhiyan: "Just put that dead‑person face on a corpse; don't bring bad luck to the living."

Gu Zhiyan knew he couldn't out‑argue Ke Zhongyu, and said to Jiang Lai: "You shouldn't have come back."

"Oh?" This time, without Ke Zhongyu speaking, Jiang Lai slowly stood up and casually said to Gu Zhiyan: "Is it that I came back and stole your position and limelight?"

Gu Zhiyan's breath hitched.

He admitted that, when he was sitting at the second table and saw Jiang Lai at the main table, he felt jealous.