Chapter 29: She's Definitely Faking It!

Gu Mianmian suddenly had a strange premonition—the person who had originally done all these things was her, but now…

Gu Wenyan had seen through every one of her thoughts, so she struck first, leaving Gu Mianmian able only to passively take the hit, watching as Gu Wenyan gained more and more of their mother's trust and affection.

Gu Mianmian was still in a daze, not yet having figured out what was going on, when Gu Wenyan had already gone ahead and started chatting with their mother on her own.

When it came to the various elements currently trending in the fashion world, Gu Wenyan actually spoke with great authority, and she had her own unique fashion insights—she didn't merely chase trends.

"We should find what suits us, not pick the most expensive, the most special… don't you think so, Mianmian?"

"…Y-yes, isn't that an obvious truth? Everyone should understand it perfectly well."

Gu Wenyan smiled: "Yes, everyone understands perfectly well. Just like when I had just returned to Jingcheng, the outfits you picked out for me—they actually didn't suit me at all."

Without changing her expression, she spoke the real reason she had once been criticized, stating it plainly not only in front of Ye Yiwen, but also in front of the surrounding sales staff…

How many contact details for Jingcheng's wealthy ladies and heiresses did these sales staff have on hand?

Any little bit of gossip they casually shared would spread like wildfire in no time!

Gu Mianmian had only just thought of this when Gu Wenyan had already continued: "Although I'm very grateful that you helped me choose those clothes back then, they really weren't quite right for me."

"From now on I won't wear anything you pick out for me—don't be upset, okay?"

"I—" Gu Mianmian gripped the dessert in her hand, itching to hurl it straight into Gu Wenyan's face!

Gu Wenyan's mockery was truly on another level—while ostensibly thanking her, she was secretly letting everyone know just how terrible Gu Mianmian's taste was, so terrible that she couldn't even pick a suitable style for Gu Wenyan.

Or perhaps… Gu Mianmian's taste wasn't bad at all. If it wasn't bad, then only one reason remained—she had done it on purpose.

Either way, it would leave Gu Mianmian drowning in other people's gossip, unable to extricate herself.

"Sister!" Gu Mianmian grew anxious. "Back then I also thought those suited you, so I… if you didn't like them you could have just told me directly, no need to bring it up only now, right?"

"It just happened to cross my mind." Gu Wenyan used the very same act of playing pure and innocent that Gu Mianmian had always favored in the past, her eyes brimming with grievance. "I haven't taken it to heart anymore—you wouldn't mind, would you?"

Gu Mianmian nearly choked to death on a mouthful of old blood, wanting desperately to curse her: green tea bitch!

But in front of so many people… Gu Mianmian didn't dare do that, and could only nod with a forced smile: "Since Sister doesn't like them, I won't do any more thankless tasks in the future either."

"Alright." Seeing that the atmosphere between them wasn't quite right, Ye Yiwen immediately stepped in to smooth things over. For her now, both daughters were important—she didn't want to neglect either of them.

Nor did she want to see more conflict arise between them.

So she would only choose to paper over the cracks between them.

Gu Wenyan's eyes dimmed slightly—it would be a lie to say she wasn't disappointed.

But everything had to be taken step by step; she wasn't in a hurry…

After finishing their shopping and returning home, Gu Wenyan knew that what she needed to do these past two days was largely done, and from now on she could ease up a little.

Although she had ways to spend most of her time with Ye Yiwen, that wasn't her ultimate goal.

Moreover, Gu Mianmian would certainly now rack her brains for ways to keep winning their mother's favor—in that case, let her keep at it.

When Gu Mianmian had exhausted herself with all her efforts only to discover in the end that she had lost everything… that taste should be even more bitter.

A couple of days ago, the Eldest Young Master of the Gu Family and the Chairman of Gu Group—their father—had gone abroad together on a business trip to negotiate a cross-border cooperation involving several billion in funds, which was why they had been away for so many days.

Seeing that they were about to return, Gu Wenyan also began to make preparations.

She already had a thorough plan in mind for how to handle her older brother, and from their previous encounters she was quite certain she had left a sufficiently different impression on the Eldest Young Master of the Gu Family.

But as for her father…

This man in his youth had been the textbook domineering CEO—to put it bluntly, somewhat of an extreme straight-laced male.

After Gu Jue and Ye Yiwen got together, he had let his wife give birth to several children in succession before gradually realizing that his wife shouldn't keep having children like that—otherwise, as she grew older, her body would gradually be unable to bear it.

But an unexpected pregnancy led to the birth of Gu Wenyan.

However, Ye Yiwen had encountered quite a few problems during her pregnancies, and after Gu Wenyan was born, they took their sickly child to have his fortune told—and received a result that shocked them.

This child… was born to collect a debt!

Born with a fate that brought doom, she would only bring unprecedented disaster upon the Gu Family!

The best solution was to send the child away—the farther she stayed from the Gu Family before she came of age, the safer they would be!

They hadn't wanted another child to begin with; if Ye Yiwen hadn't discovered she was pregnant and been unable to bear to terminate it, Gu Wenyan would never have been born.

Therefore, the lack of affection from the start, combined with eighteen years of neglect, and the estrangement and coldness between father and daughter, left Gu Jue with absolutely no feelings for his biological daughter.

In the past, Gu Wenyan had naturally been full of resentment and rage, but living this life a second time, those emotions had faded considerably.

Perhaps because…

When her soul was drifting, she had seen her always cold and stern father, holding her mother, weeping with bitter regret—and she realized that many things in this world could actually be changed.

So this time she didn't want to come back with nothing but hatred; she also hoped to truly change something.

But changing her father's mind was genuinely no easy task—Gu Wenyan herself didn't have that much confidence…

The day before Gu Jue and Gu Yechen returned to the country, Gu Mianmian had specially prepared thoughtful gifts for her father and brother, waiting for them to come back so she could go to the airport to pick them up in person.

She even planned to get up early the next morning, go to the garden, and pick the flowers she had painstakingly cultivated to welcome them home.

But Gu Mianmian never imagined that everything she had so carefully prepared would be destroyed by Gu Wenyan in such an underhanded way…

Gu Wenyan had also arrived at the airport, but upon seeing the figures of her father and older brother, she suddenly tilted her body and collapsed onto the ground.

Ye Yiwen screamed in terror: "Yan Yan! What's wrong? Wake up!"

Even if he didn't care much for his biological daughter, he couldn't just watch her faint and do nothing—Gu Jue and Gu Yechen both sprinted toward Gu Wenyan at once.

Gu Mianmian's nails dug into her palms as she watched this scene, nearly screaming and tearing off that woman's mask.

Gu Wenyan!! She's definitely faking it!