Chapter 21: Must Apologize

Gu Yeting widened his eyes in disbelief, those usually casual and unruly eyes now full of suspicion: "Gu Wenyan, what did you say?"

He seemed to find Gu Wenyan's words laughable: "You want me to apologize to you?!"

"That's right, Third Brother, you misunderstood me. Shouldn't you apologize to me?"

Gu Wenyan's expression was gentle, but her attitude was exceptionally firm.

Gu Yeting pressed his tongue against the back of his teeth, smiling with a roguish air, looking at her with reckless indifference: "Don't think I really believe you're a good person. The reason I'm not holding it against you is because Mom doesn't know how you've been deceiving her… I just don't want to bother with it for now."

"But this matter, I'll settle sooner or later. Don't think your schemes and tricks will be of any use!"

Ye Yiwen, hearing her own son speak like this, felt a rare flicker of anger because of Gu Wenyan's matter: "Son! How do you talk to your sister like that?"

Gu Yeting snorted coldly: "Mom, you've been fooled right now. I'll expose Gu Wenyan's true face sooner or later, but there's no rush. Let's take it step by step, slowly."

At this moment, Ye Yiwen suddenly realized that once a person has a biased mindset… they simply cannot accept a truth that differs from what they know.

She wanted to explain a couple more things on Gu Wenyan's behalf, but Gu Wenyan suddenly smiled at her: "Mom, let me talk to brother myself."

"You say I bullied Gu Mianmian. Do you have proof?"

Gu Yeting said with full confidence: "No."

"Even Gu Mianmian herself won't admit it. If you think I did it… then whenever you have evidence, bring it out, put it in front of me and slap me in the face. I can accept that."

"But right now…" Gu Wenyan raised her eyes, neither servile nor overbearing, her back straight, calm and composed as she met Gu Yeting's gaze, not at all afraid of his intimidating aura, "I will absolutely not admit it."

Gu Yeting narrowed his eyes. How did it feel like… the impression of Gu Wenyan before, and the her he saw at this moment, were somewhat different?

But he had long been prejudiced, so he directly cast aside the unusual feeling and smiled contemptuously: "Looks like you were well prepared this time, so you didn't leave any evidence behind."

"No matter what I say, you're right. Anyway, you've decided it's my fault."

"If it's not your fault, then whose fault is it?"

Gu Wenyan looked at Gu Yeting with a hint of helplessness: "I didn't really want to bring up old matters, but since Third Brother doesn't trust me like this, I can only let you know… not everything is my fault."

Although she had agreed the video wouldn't be released to the public, it was still saved on Gu Wenyan's phone.

She tossed her phone onto the table, and the video played on a clear loop.

"If I really wanted to bully Gu Mianmian, I would have released this video. How the outside world would talk, how they would judge—you don't need me to remind you, do you?"

Gu Yeting's handsome brows furrowed: "This video might be fake."

He instinctively didn't want to believe Gu Wenyan, wanting to question it, but Gu Mianmian, her face deathly pale, had already said: "Brother, that day's matter wasn't like this. My original intention was for sister's own good, but I accidentally did something wrong. I know I was wrong…"

What?

Gu Yeting clenched his jaw, his emotions surging beyond control.

Of course he didn't believe that the purest, most innocent, well-behaved sister in his eyes would deliberately frame Gu Wenyan.

So there must be some misunderstanding in this!

But it also happened to prove one thing… this time, Gu Wenyan might really not have bullied Gu Mianmian. It was just a misunderstanding.

"Apologize? Brother?"

The stubbornness in Gu Wenyan's gaze was especially bright and clear.

Gu Yeting was certain—there was no room for negotiation on this matter. What she wanted was justice for herself; she wouldn't admit something she hadn't done.

"Brother shouldn't be the kind of person who dares to act but not take responsibility, right?" Gu Wenyan said aggressive words in the softest tone, forceful and resonant.

On Gu Yeting's handsome face, emotions flickered. After a long while, he gritted his teeth and forced out: "I'm sorry. This time I misunderstood you."

"I forgive you, Brother. A good child knows to correct their mistakes!"

From childhood to now, Gu Yeting had never suffered such humiliation, but this time, he couldn't utter a single word of complaint.

He flung his hand, face cold, and went upstairs. Gu Mianmian hurried after him: "Brother…"

Ye Yiwen said somewhat awkwardly: "Wen Yan, your Third Brother just has this temper. He's been unreasonable like this since he was little… Don't hold it against him."

"How could I? He already apologized, so naturally I won't hold it against him. But Third Brother's misunderstanding of me seems quite deep!"

Gu Wenyan revealed just the right hint of confusion: "Everyone dislikes me. Why is that?"

Ye Yiwen had also held much dislike for Gu Wenyan in recent days, so she could only console her guiltily: "It's all misunderstandings. Once they're cleared up in the future, everything will be fine…"

Gu Wenyan said to herself: "Is it because everyone thinks I don't have the bearing of a Gu Family Daughter at all, that I only bring shame to everyone? Is that it?"

Ye Yiwen was silent for a moment: "Wen Yan, don't overthink it."

"Or maybe there are some other reasons, because I bullied Gu Mianmian? But…"

Gu Wenyan pressed her lips together, a tiny hint of grievance in her tone: "I came back from the countryside, and the first person to approach me was Gu Mianmian. I wouldn't go that far."

Ye Yiwen looked at her daughter's earnest and aggrieved expression, and thought of how she was her own child. She couldn't help feeling that perhaps there really were many misunderstandings in between…

But many things couldn't be resolved overnight. Ye Yiwen held Gu Wenyan's hand, cradling it in her palm to soothe her: "Don't overthink it. In the future, everyone will be better…"

After her mother left, Gu Wenyan slowly returned to her room, leaned against the headboard, a somewhat deep smile playing on her lips.

Gu Yeting's impression of her today was definitely deep enough, and a different kind of deep.

He might still dislike her, loathe her, find her troublesome.

But even so, his impression of Gu Wenyan would be somewhat different from before.

Because before today, all of Gu Yeting's perceptions of Gu Wenyan came from Gu Mianmian's guidance—that was a completely fabricated Gu Wenyan.

From this moment on, although Gu Wenyan would still display many personality traits that Gu Yeting found less than satisfactory, Gu Yeting would gradually discover…

So it turns out his own sister was a different person!

When he became curious about Gu Wenyan's differences, these anomalies, that was the beginning of him gradually falling, gradually trusting Gu Wenyan, caring about her, valuing her…

On the weekend, the Charity Foundation's auction for Bai Lao's ink-wash landscape painting officially began. As the behind-the-scenes donor, Gu Wenyan obtained two entry tickets.

She took the initiative to invite Bao Sihan: "Do you want to come with me to the venue?"