Chapter 469: I Don't Recognize Her

Gu Zhiyan looked at the person before him with a plain face and a slightly timid gaze, and thought to himself: Where is this again?

"Brother, you're back…"

"Didn't I tell you? Don't call me brother any more; I can't bear it." Gu Zhiyan gave a cold stare, walked straight past Gu Yinxue, and headed toward his mother on the sickbed.

Gu Yinxue froze in place, her lips turning pale.

Is twenty‑eight years of friendship ultimately no match for blood ties?

She turned around, watched Gu Zhiyan walk to the bedside, picked up her mother's medical record, and slowly closed the door herself.

She was about to describe her mother's condition, but was interrupted again.

"I'll read it myself; I don't need you to say it." Gu Zhiyan had already endured Gu Yinxue's twisted words and didn't want to hear her chatter in his ear any longer.

Gu Zhiyan looked at his mother on the sickbed, gaunt and with makeup smeared from crying; she was more than a little haggard, nowhere near the dignified, elegant lady of wealth she usually appeared as.

This is his mother, whose bones are broken and tendons torn; of course he worries, but thinking of her deeds makes his heart cool a little more.

He abandoned his biological daughter twenty‑eight years ago, and twenty‑eight years later he confined his own husband.

For whom, after all?

For their sake, or for his own?

Gu Zhiyan frowned and stared at his mother for a long time, then took the medical record to consult a doctor about her condition. After learning, he returned, and several times Gu Yinxue looked at him and tried to speak, but he ignored her.

Gu Yinxue felt stifled inside, not knowing how it had come to this point.

She occasionally glanced at the clock, waiting for it to pass ten p. m., to see whether Gu Zhiyan, this brother, was truly cold‑hearted.

The last time Jiang Lai returned to the Gu family, she had a conflict with Gu Zhiyan, this brother; after she fainted and was taken to the hospital, Gu Zhiyan still appeared there and cared for her.

Reminding her to sleep at ten o'clock is a habit the Gu family has cultivated for over twenty years.

Habit is the most terrifying thing; correcting it requires repeatedly returning to the starting point until it is finally done in one go.

Time passes minute by minute, second by second.

Exactly ten o'clock.

Gu Yinxue noticed Gu Zhiyan's gaze turning toward her, felt a slight stir in her heart, but the next second saw Gu Zhiyan pick up his phone and take a call.

"Uncle Hui." Gu Zhiyan stood up and walked toward the balcony.

Gu Yinxue's heart instantly fell into a bottomless valley.

Her nose began to feel sour, her heart started to throb with a pain unlike any she had felt before.

After finishing the call, Gu Zhiyan returned and saw Gu Yinxue still sitting by the sickbed, her eyes red and moist, as if she were about to burst into tears the next moment.

But what does this have to do with him?

After ten minutes of silence, Gu Yinxue could no longer bear it herself; she spoke, "Brother…"

Gu Zhiyan: "Change your address."

Gu Yinxue's tears swirled in her eyes, as if silently rebuking his hardened heart.

But Gu Zhiyan didn't think his own heart was hard; whose heart could be as hard as Gu Yinxue's?

Her father embraced her and brought her back, raised her in silk and jade, with doctors and nannies diligently caring for her illness, yet in the end he turned against his own biological daughter.

He had been with her since childhood, caring for her cautiously, fearing any bump, cold, or freeze that might strain her heart, yet in the end he was deceived and schemed against.

Heart disease relies on gentle nurturing; how could the whole family have wronged her?

Gu Zhiyan grew angrier in his heart, his complexion darkening, and slowly said, "Gu Yinxue, has anyone in our family ever wronged you? You colluded with Lin Shutong to deceive me, to conspire to kill Jiang Lai—so what, are you outlaws beyond the law?"

Gu Yinxue felt as if sitting on a bed of needles, suddenly rose, striving to stay calm: "Brother, do you really believe those words of Lin Shutong?"

Gu Zhiyan's gaze turned faintly toward Gu Yinxue: "You concealed from me the trial matter and Lin Shutong's illness; did you ever think I might fall into the trap one day?"

Gu Yinxue's leg knocked against the stool, the sound confirming her nervousness.

"It seems you know," Gu Zhiyan's hands gradually clenched into fists, his eyes bulging as he stared at Gu Yinxue, "but you still did it!"

Bang!

Gu Zhiyan kicked the stool beside Gu Yinxue away.

The huge noise attracted doctors and nurses, and also caused the sleeping Song Shiwei to slowly open her eyes.

Doctors and nurses, seeing the patient stir, naturally rushed to attend to her.

But Gu Yinxue was terrified, standing motionless in place, her complexion completely drained.

Is she infected?

Wasn't it already split?

Why would it get infected?

She hesitated at the time, and she also warned Lin Shutong!

"Zhi Yan…" The awakened Song Shiwei's first sight of her son brought her comfort; the son she raised had finally shown concern for her and returned.

A son is still the best.

Hearing his mother's voice, Gu Zhiyan stopped looking at Gu Yinxue, his clenched fist gradually relaxed, and he walked toward his mother.

Song Shiwei still had a needle in the back of her hand and couldn't move freely; she, ignoring advice, lifted her hand to grab Gu Zhiyan, trying to hold onto this only son, the son she had devoted half her life to.

Gu Zhiyan grasped his mother's hand and placed it back on the bed.

The moment Song Shiwei touched her son, she could no longer suppress the coldness she had endured from Gu Sen over the years, nor the reprimand she received in front of the whole Gu family that afternoon regarding Jiang Lai; she cried, "Zhi Yan, they are too overbearing!"

Gu Zhiyan, seeing his mother in such distress, felt even worse inside, caught between two emotions; he knew who the "they" his mother called too overbearing referred to.

"Zhi Yan, your father actually wants to divorce me!" Song Shiwei, trying to sit up, was forced back down; she kept saying, "How can your father divorce me? How can he divorce me!"

Gu Zhiyan was stunned.

He truly hadn't expected his father to do this.

Gu Yinxue caught the change in Gu Zhiyan's expression; since the father hadn't told her brother about this, it meant there was still room to maneuver, perhaps the brother would persuade the father not to divorce, so she took out the crumpled divorce agreement she had folded and handed it over.

Gu Zhiyan reached out, took the divorce agreement, read it from start to finish, and finally saw his father's signature—clean strokes, without any pause.

It is obvious that Father has thought things through thoroughly and has made up his mind.

Moreover, this agreement clearly divides the couple's joint property, not using the usual equal split, but dividing it according to a three-to-seven ratio.

Father only takes thirty percent of the property, while the remaining seventy percent is allotted to Mother's name; this arrangement is already utterly kind and proper, thoughtful and complete.

Gu Yinxue whispered, "Brother, persuade Dad; even if he's angry, they can't divorce—this would be too hard on Mom."

Song Shiwei, eyes reddened, looked at Gu Yinxue and reached out to take her hand; their son and daughter were attending by the bedside, and her heart felt somewhat relieved.

Gu Zhiyan didn't mention the parents' divorce, but instead looked again at Gu Yinxue: "Didn't you hear a word of what I told Dad? I've told you many times—change your address!"

He now gets irritated whenever he faces Gu Yinxue.

Song Shiwei clearly felt Gu Yinxue's body trembling, furrowed her brows and said, "Zhi Yan, how can you speak to your younger sister like that?"

"I don't acknowledge her!" Gu Zhiyan looked impatient, turned to Mother and said, "Mom, do you really know nothing about what she's done so far?"