Chapter 71: Stealing a Chicken Only to Lose the Rice

Ever since the incident where she fled her marriage some time ago, Gu Wenyan had rarely shown her sharp side in front of the Gu Family.

When mentioning the past, she mostly maintained a light and breezy attitude, as if she were no longer troubled by what had happened, and didn't care about the grievances she had suffered or the hardships she had endured.

Although Ye Yiwen also felt heartache for Gu Wenyan, she had never seen those past events with her own eyes, so after a brief moment of sadness, she felt more that one should look forward rather than remain immersed in the pain of the past.

As for Gu Wenyan's other brothers... although they knew of the grievances Gu Wenyan suffered as a child, even if Gu Wenyan stated them directly, they could not empathize, making it difficult for them to truly feel heartache for her or realize how hard her life had been.

Until this moment, Gu Mianmian thought she had made a very clever move.

She wanted to use this behavior to tell Gu Wenyan that she was the one who had grown up pampered by the family, and that her significance to the Gu Family was completely different.

Even if Gu Wenyan, the biological daughter, had returned, and even if they would pamper her, they could never treat her, Gu Mianmian, poorly!

She would definitely snatch away most of the Gu Family's affection and attention; Gu Wenyan should never think of competing with her!

Only...

Gu Mianmian happened to overlook the most important point.

That was, when she played these videos and Gu Wenyan happened to appear, this attitude of hers made the Gu Family clearly realize exactly what they had owed her in the past.

Gu Mianmian made this debt concrete; for example, birthdays—which of her childhood birthdays hadn't been carefully prepared by the family?

The Gu Family would invite all of Gu Mianmian's good friends to host a very large birthday party, so Gu Mianmian enjoyed the treatment of a little princess.

But what about Gu Wenyan? What did she, this true Gu Family Daughter, receive? Nothing at all!

Only what she had just said: at five years old, she hadn't had a birthday.

Ye Yiwen was so shocked that she stood up directly: "Wen Yan, what did you say? You didn't have birthdays when you were little?"

Gu Wenyan slowed her pace and turned around, a bitterly suppressed smile seemingly on her calm face: "On my birthday when I was five, I think I was... squatting at the doorway, holding a small basin, washing my own clothes."

"I remember that day, it was extremely cold, and after I finished washing, my hands were frozen to the point of numbness."

It was precisely because the experience of that day was too indelible that Gu Wenyan still remembered it to this day.

"How is that possible?!"

Ye Yiwen's expression changed abruptly, she took a few steps back and muttered: "I instructed your father that we must have that family take good care of you. How could they, how could they..."

"Yes, you did instruct them, but after you gave those instructions, you never went to check on how I was actually doing, so you didn't know that in that family... I was like an invisible person."

Gu Wenyan chuckled: "Because after you sent me there, that family had a new child."

"Then... then later, why didn't you tell Mom?!"

Ye Yiwen's face was full of deep pain and sadness, with countless regrets intertwined on her features.

Gu Wenyan shook her head lightly: "Who was I to tell? To me at that time, they were not my parents, and my real parents were far away beyond the horizon. How was I supposed to tell you?"

"Then... then when we went to pick you up, you also..."

Gu Wenyan said softly: "By that time I had nothing to do with them anymore, and I wasn't relying on them to live. You and Dad weren't there, were you?"

"Right... Gu Mianmian came to pick me up. Why not ask her where she actually picked me up that day?"

It wasn't at that family's house at all, but at a distant intersection, where Gu Wenyan stood all alone, carrying a suitcase.

But Gu Mianmian had never told her parents about this, and even when they asked, she would say that she felt Gu Wenyan was doing quite well.

Ye Yiwen kept muttering to herself: "Impossible, how could it be like this... there must be some misunderstanding..."

She found it hard to accept this fact; if it were really as Gu Wenyan said, the life she lived in that family was so terrible and wretched...

Ye Yiwen couldn't take it anymore.

Gu Wenyan acted as if nothing had happened and said: "It's all in the past, and I haven't remained in the shadows of the past. As for birthdays, I didn't have them back then, so I can't understand Gu Mianmian's happiness. You all continue watching; I'm going upstairs."

At this moment, among the three brothers, only Gu Yeting was at home.

Gu Yeting couldn't help but glance at the screen still playing on the television, and as the sounds of laughter and joy drifted out...

He was finally able to imagine a weak little girl on a cold day, squatting at a doorway washing clothes in cold water...

His chest suddenly felt as if it had been heavily struck by something, leaving him feeling stifled and unable to breathe.

Along with this, his previous hostile attitude toward Gu Wenyan now seemed exceptionally ironic.

Seeing the changes in his mother's and brother's expressions, Gu Mianmian thought to herself that it was bad and hurriedly said: "Brother, this isn't your fault either. We can make it up to her by being better to Sister in the future. You must not blame yourself..."

Gu Yeting had previously not taken Gu Wenyan seriously at all, never kept her in his heart, and was disgusted by everything she did, even wishing that Gu Wenyan would hurry up and get out of the Gu Family.

But some facts could not be changed: Gu Wenyan would always be a child of the Gu Family, and while Gu Mianmian, the adopted daughter with no blood relation, lived a happy and blissful life, she had been suffering in loneliness...

The Gu Yeting of the past had never thought about these things, but now he realized belatedly that what he had done before was another form of harm to his own biological sister!

Had he been too excessive?

For someone as proud and unrestrained as Gu Yeting to reflect on his own mistakes was like a fantasy, but the fact was...

Now, Gu Yeting began to seriously consider this question.

Gu Wenyan returned to her room, closed the door, and walked to the balcony to water the plants; besides the flowers in the backyard, she had also planted some plants on the balcony.

Gu Wenyan hummed a classical tune, the corners of her mouth curled up high.

She hadn't lied just now; the memory of her fifth birthday was indeed fresh, but they would never know...

After she was five... many neighbors had moved in around that family, and they had completely changed her life.

Therefore, Gu Wenyan would no longer think about how many regrets there were in her childhood; although she wasn't with the Gu Family, she hadn't actually lived a bad life.

It was just that this had nothing to do with the Gu Family; the sense of debt they ought to have, they must have.

After watering a few pots of flowers, unsurprisingly, Gu Wenyan heard rapid knocking at the door.

From the urgent rhythm, she knew exactly who it belonged to.

Gu Yeting had come.