Once Bo Xichen had finished what he was doing, he looked at Gu Anxi. "When did Zhang... Niuniu start following you?"
"He came looking for me, so I had him follow Zhou Yunchen. That ’punk’ is quite sharp," Gu Anxi said. She was sprawled on the sofa, sketching in her comic book as she spoke.
Bo Xichen said quietly, "Don’t call him ’punk’."
Gu Anxi just laughed. "Don’t you think calling him ’punk’ sounds better than Zhang Niuniu?"
Bo Xichen fell silent.
Sometimes, even he was at a loss with Gu Anxi.
Gu Anxi continued drawing her comic—
Currently, ’18 Ways for the Big Grey Wolf to Devour the Little Rabbit’ had a million favorites and over 800,000 fans.
Each new installment immediately topped the entire site’s view count.
Topic engagement, subscriptions, and tips—all number one on the site.
Her Weibo account, ’Miss Bunny Without Long Johns,’ had already surpassed two million followers and was still steadily rising by tens of thousands per day...
Around noon, Gu Anxi stretched.
As she looked up, she saw Bo Xichen watching her. She paused. "What is it?"
Bo Xichen gestured with the phone in his hand. "Your brother called. He wants to see you. What do you say?"
Gu Anxi opened her notebook again and asked casually, "Is it just him?"
Bo Xichen smiled but didn’t answer.
She understood there must be others with him, so she looked down. "I don’t want to go."
Bo Xichen nodded. "Alright, I’ll decline for you."
He then called Gu Changqing and declined on Gu Anxi’s behalf.
「Meanwhile, in a high-class restaurant.」
Watching his son make the call, Gu Yuanshan already knew the outcome from his expression. He lifted his teacup, took a sip, and asked softly, "She isn’t willing?"
Gu Changqing put the phone down and chuckled. "Auntie was right. If it were me, I wouldn’t want to go either."
To be labeled a demon child and abandoned, all because of some nonsense about her birth chart. How absurd.
Gu Changqing’s narrow eyes flickered as past memories surfaced—
That year, he was merely eight or nine years old. His mother had died young, and his father had remarried.
He didn’t like Tang Yuan. That woman treated him exceptionally well, but he still disliked her.
Not until she gave birth to his little sister, Anxi. That little ball of fluff was so adorable—her big eyes, tiny nose, and small mouth... every part of her was cherished by him as her older brother.
He remembered rushing home from school just to see the baby, and he would sneak in for another peek before bed.
And from then on, he stopped disliking Tang Yuan.
Until one day, he came home to find the baby’s crib empty.
Stunned, he asked the adults, but no one would tell him.
Including the woman who had given Anxi birth.
He searched frantically for her in Beicheng, day and night, accompanied by drivers and servants.
But he couldn’t find Gu Anxi.
Anxi... had just been thrown away like that...
A year later, another baby was brought into the family. She was also very pretty, but Gu Changqing never once went to see her...
Gu Mingzhu had called him ’brother’ since childhood, but he had never once acknowledged it.
In Gu Changqing’s heart, there was only one younger sister—the one who had been thrown away. It was also from that time that he thoroughly detested Tang Yuan and hated Gu Yuanshan to the extreme.
Now, seeing the flicker of pain in Gu Yuanshan’s eyes, he lowered his gaze. "Dad, stop bothering her. She’s doing very well. She doesn’t care for our Gu family, so let’s not try to flatter ourselves."
Gu Yuanshan was stunned for a long while before murmuring, "She must hate me, huh?"
Gu Changqing laughed coldly. "What do you think?"
Gu Yuanshan gave a bitter smile, playing with the cup in his hand.
His mind was filled with the image of that child.
That child was so well-formed, not like Tang Yuan at all, but more like him. She even bore a six-tenths resemblance to Changqing; no wonder Changqing had been so fond of her.
Gu Yuanshan suddenly spoke, "You kept going to Qingcheng two years ago. You already knew she was your sister back then, didn’t you?"
Gu Changqing didn’t deny it, saying very softly, "If Grandma Gu Rong hadn’t taken her from the orphanage to Gu Yuntian’s home, what kind of fate would Anxi have met? After all these years, don’t you feel even a little bit of remorse?"
Gu Yuanshan remained silent.
Gu Changqing ruthlessly laid bare the truth: "Sacrificing a child to secure your position as Family Head—what did that amount to!"
With that, he rose to his feet.
Gu Yuanshan called out to him, "Changqing, are you... going to see her?"
Gu Changqing turned his head, a wry smile on his face. "She doesn’t want to see you, but she never said she doesn’t want to see me, her brother."
Gu Yuanshan thought for a moment, then had his assistant bring over the things he had prepared...
"No need," Gu Changqing said lightly. "She won’t accept them."
Gu Yuanshan frowned. "It’s a token of my feelings, at least."
Gu Changqing chuckled, a hint of irony in his tone. "Dad, after all these years in a high position, you’ve probably forgotten just how cruel your own actions are. Anxi is your child, but you abandoned her... and you still expect her to forgive and reconcile? In that, you’re far less honest than Tang Yuan."
As soon as he finished speaking, a porcelain cup Gu Yuanshan threw flew past Gu Changqing’s forehead, leaving a long, faint streak of blood.
The assistant was terrified. "Young Master Gu, we should get that bandaged at the hospital right away."
Gu Changqing gently pushed him away and smiled. "It’s nothing. I’m not that fragile."
With that, he turned and left.
Gu Yuanshan’s furious expression suddenly crumbled into dejection. He slowly sat down, his hand resting on the table. "Congwen, am I a complete failure?"
Shen Congwen, his confidant, sighed softly. "Young Master Gu’s resentment runs deep; it’s been there for a long time. He’ll come to understand slowly in the future. Sir, Young Master Gu is likely going to see... her. Why don’t you take this chance to meet her as well?"
Gu Yuanshan waved his hand dismissively. "No. Didn’t you see? Both children hate me to death, as if I forcibly separated them."
Then again, it seemed he really had separated them. He said no more, just sat there silently, lost in a daze. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝⟡𝕗𝗂𝗋𝖾⟡𝕟𝕖𝕥
Shen Congwen, however, had some news. He spoke in a low voice, "I heard that Miss Gu Anxi will be an exchange student at North City University next month. When that time comes, won’t there be plenty of opportunities to meet? And won’t that help resolve Young Master Gu’s deep-seated issues?"
Gu Yuanshan looked up. "How are that child’s grades? Can she get into North City University?"
He seemed to have found an opening, a way to compensate. "In that case," he said to Shen Congwen, "you go and speak with the principal of North City University. Tell him a student will be coming... Regardless of her grades, they should accept her."
Shen Congwen nodded. "As an exchange student, her grades won’t be poor. You can rest assured, Sir."
Gu Yuanshan fell silent again for a long time, with no appetite for lunch.
At the experimental building, Gu Anxi and Bo Xichen were having lunch together; the meal, fragrant and delicious, had been prepared by Little Uncle.
Suddenly, a nurse knocked and entered. "Dr. Bo, a Mr. Gu Changqing would like to see you."
Bo Xichen first glanced at Gu Anxi. She was eating quietly—
No matter how many people came now, she wouldn’t make things difficult for Bo Xichen.
Bo Xichen asked, "Is he alone?"
The nurse said he was.
Bo Xichen then rose and opened the door for Gu Changqing.