Chapter 467: Gu Yinxue's Sense of Crisis

Everyone's gaze toward Jiang Lai changed.

Gu Jiashu suddenly burst into tears, turning to clutch his birth mother's thigh: "New Auntie is so scary, sob!"

His mouth was simultaneously covered by both his birth parents, who were now drenched in sweat.

Although the elder master presiding over affairs had fainted and been sent to the hospital, and the elder master's daughter-in-law and grandsons had followed along, Gu Kai was still present, and the final ancestral worship ceremony still had to be completed—a century-old rule could not be abolished.

Only, the originally harmonious scene now gave the illusion of falling apart; everyone remaining did not speak again of anything unrelated to the Qingming worship, but who knew what each person was thinking in their heart?

Ke Zhongyu and his sister along with Chi Ce waited to one side for Jiang Lai to finish the final worship, then escorted her away, surrounding her front, back, left, and right.

Once outside the main gate, Youyou came toddling over on short little legs—pitter-patter-pitter-patter.

After being picked up by Jiang Lai, two small hands clung tightly around Jiang Lai's neck, her little face nuzzling back and forth as she said softly: "Jiang Auntie, Jiang Auntie, don't be sad. Youyou loves you."

"Besides Mommy and Daddy, Youyou loves you the most." Saying this, she even felt wronged on her own behalf, large tears rolling down drop by drop: "I understand what they said. They don't want you, but Mommy and Youyou want you."

Jiang Lai's heart went soft hearing this. She gently rubbed Youyou's back and let out a single word: "Okay."

"Then come home with me!" Youyou looked at Jiang Lai face to face, both eyes sparkling bright.

Ke Zhongying laughed: "Haha, no can do. Your Jiang Auntie has her own home now, and even if she goes home with someone, it wouldn't be with you—it'd definitely be with me."

Youyou tilted her head, puzzled: "Why?"

Ke Zhongying tilted her head too, mimicking her: "Then why would she go back with you?"

Youyou: "My Jiang Auntie!"

Ke Zhongying put her hands on her hips, deliberately arguing with a child: "My older sister Jiang Lai!"

Youyou: "My mommy's younger sister!"

Ke Zhongying: "My big brother's wife!"

Ke Zhongyu, hearing these words, glanced sideways at his birth sister, suddenly feeling grateful to his parents for giving him a younger sister.

Jiang Lai watched the big one and the little one bantering to her heart's content; the confrontation and unpleasantness from just moments ago in the Gu family ancestral hall were about to be swept away by these two goofballs.

"Alright, you two." Jiang Lai reached out and poked Ke Zhongying's forehead, then pinched Youyou's cheek.

Youyou immediately beamed with joy—Mommy always liked pinching her face, Mommy liked her, so Jiang Auntie liked her too.

Ke Zhongyu suddenly spoke up: "Are you tired?"

"Not too bad." Jiang Lai looked at Ke Zhongyu, showing a genuine smile, the corners of her eyes and brows curving slightly.

Youyou was a sensible child, wriggling down from Jiang Auntie on her own, holding Jiang Auntie's hand and asking: "Jiang Auntie, are you coming home with me? I'll give you my bed."

Jiang Lai crouched down and said: "Next time. Thank you, Youyou, and thank you to Youyou's mommy and daddy too."

She knew that Gu Jin's mood right now was also not good. Song Shiwei's words had dealt the deepest wound to Gu Jin—equivalent to pushing the blame for Gu Jin's mother's death entirely onto Gu Jin.

Already suffering this much, Gu Jin still let her own daughter come over to comfort her; mother and daughter were truly a pair of bodhisattvas.

Youyou pouted: "Okay then."

Then she immediately asked Ke Zhongying: "Is your big brother him?"

Her fluttering eyes looked again at the tall, strapping Ke Zhongyu, who stood like a mountain.

Ke Zhongying nodded: "That's right, my brother is him."

Youyou walked up to Ke Zhongyu, and though a little scared, still took the initiative to pull his hand and place it on Jiang Lai's hand, saying with utmost seriousness: "You have to be as good as Daddy and Mommy. You have to be good to Jiang Auntie, you have to be good to Jiang Auntie!"

As if she had used every ounce of strength in her body, her little face had turned red from the effort.

Ke Zhongyu nodded at the child: "Mm."

Youyou was happy, and said: "I'm going, to find Daddy and Mommy. Bye-bye Jiang Auntie, bye-bye Jiang Auntie's boyfriend!"

Ke Zhongying was shocked: "Kids these days know quite a lot."

Chi Ce watched Youyou's retreating figure: "Little girls are just adorable."

"Mm." Ke Zhongyu nodded, silently glancing at Jiang Lai, thinking to himself: I want a child.

……

Hospital.

Gu Yinxue looked at Song Shiwei lying on the hospital bed, tightly gripping that divorce agreement in her hand, and thinking of the inscrutable looks Jiang Lai and Ke Zhongyu had given before leaving, her entire being burned with anxiety. She asked the nurse several times why the person still hadn't woken up.

The nurse said this was a fainting brought on by excessive shock; waking up would take time.

But she had no time right now.

Her father hadn't shown up, yet had sent over a divorce agreement—and in front of the Gu family's ancestors, in front of all the Gu family members. He was clearly serious.

If Mother divorced Father, what would be left?

The evenly split marital property?

Money was useful, but fame, profit, and power were more useful.

Was this great tree about to become unreliable?

Wait.

If Mother didn't sign, the divorce couldn't go through, right?

Divorces nowadays were not easy to get; even with signed agreements there was a one-month cooling-off period, and if either party had second thoughts, the divorce couldn't go through—unless filing for divorce through the courts.

Mother hadn't committed infidelity, hadn't been separated for two years, hadn't engaged in long-term emotional abuse, had no vices such as gambling...

Without these circumstances, the court would most likely rule against divorce on the grounds that "reconciliation remains possible."

Gu Yinxue pondered this and breathed a small sigh of relief inwardly.

But she could no longer let Mother carry on like this in her delirium; she had to take her real medication, otherwise it would only be disadvantageous to herself.

Gu Yinxue went through Song Shiwei's clothing pockets, wanting to find that bottle of medication but not finding it; she only felt a phone.

After pulling her mother's hand over for fingerprint unlock, she scrolled through the chat history between her mother, her father, and her brother. The more she read, the tighter her brow furrowed—these past days, it had actually been her mother talking to herself the entire time.

In there, the matter of sleeping in separate beds was also mentioned.

They were actually sleeping in separate beds?

The sense of crisis surged up again.

Gu Yinxue repeatedly opened the chat history between her mother and her brother, thinking: her brother was still different from her father. Her brother was Mother's own son — how could her own son not stand on Mother's side?

Mother had been angered into a faint by Jiang Lai, and Father wanted a divorce — only her brother could persuade them, right?

But she hesitated again.

Gu Zhiyan already knew about her dealings with Lin Shutong. What if he said it in front of Mother?

No.

She couldn't bring this bomb back.

But if she didn't call him back, she had no way to lobby Father at all.

Gu Zhiyan was Mother's own son, so he would surely think of Mother, right? Mother was ill, too — he definitely wouldn't provoke her... right?

Gu Yinxue herself was no longer certain.

Facing this feeling of being unable to control how things would unfold, she was furious to the extreme. It hadn't been like this before — how had it come to this now, driven to the brink of having no way out!

Bzzz bzzz bzzz...

In the silent hospital room, the sound of a phone vibrating suddenly rang out — from her own palm, startling Gu Yinxue.

The screen showed an incoming call from Gu Zhiyan.

This time, she had to pick up whether she wanted to or not.

"Hello, Brother..." Gu Yinxue's voice sounded both low and sad. "Mom was angered into fainting. She's in the hospital. Where are you?"

"About to board the plane." Gu Zhiyan's voice was unusually cold. Someone had still told him what happened at the ancestral worship ceremony.

In the end, Gu Hui failed to stop Gu Zhiyan from returning to B City.