Ji Wei lifted her eyes and was met with the fiery gaze of Nan Huiru, whose voice boomed above her head: "Who told you to pick it up? Mind your own business!"
Before Ji Wei could react, her wrist was seized by Gu Moqian, who strode over quickly. The man looked at the bloodstained tips of her fingers with a pained expression, his face cold and shrouded as if with frost.
"It’s just a small cut, I’m fine." Ji Wei tried to pull her hand back, but Gu Moqian held it tightly.
In front of Nan Huiru, he lowered his head and sucked the blood from her wounded fingertips.
This act, one reserved for only the most intimate of relationships, incensed Nan Huiru even more. Gu Moqian had never shown such tenderness or care for her as his own mother. What gave this woman the right!
"The distance between me and Moqian is all because of you, you vile woman! And you still have the audacity to show up here? Get out!" Nan Huiru exploded, pointing at Ji Wei with spittle flying as she berated her.
Gu Moqian pulled Ji Wei behind him, his tall and imposing figure shielding her entirely.
Just earlier, Gu Moqian had told Nan Huiru everything that had happened with the Zhu Family, including Zhu Ming’an’s bold and calculating plans.
Nan Huiru, enraged that the marriage alliance she had arranged with the Zhu Family had fallen through, and her most secret motives had been ruthlessly exposed by Gu Moqian, found herself utterly humiliated. When Ji Wei appeared, she unloaded all her ire onto her.
Seeing Ji Wei silently taking refuge behind Gu Moqian, Nan Huiru’s anger only escalated as she railed: "It’s all because of you, you vixen! You’ve bewitched Moqian to the point where he’s grown cold to me, his own mother. What have you done to cast such a spell on him? Now that I’m back, I absolutely won’t allow a woman like you to stay by his side! Get out of here, do you hear me?"
Nan Huiru’s words were as harsh as they were vile. Gu Moqian’s usually refined demeanor gave way to a tightly furrowed brow, the cold gleam in his dark eyes growing sharper.
Facing Nan Huiru’s aggressive tirade, Ji Wei remained composed, her face graced with a distant smile: "Mrs. Nan, you’ve only been back from abroad for less than half an hour and already call me a vixen. Not only is that unfair, but I’m genuinely puzzled—what exactly have I done to bewitch Moqian so much as to make you lose face? Surely someone from a scholarly family like you wouldn’t act like one of those shrewish women on the streets, brandishing your status as an elder to bully others."
"Mrs. Nan"—the address was distant and impersonal.
Since Nan Huiru had never regarded her as a daughter-in-law in her heart, Ji Wei no longer saw the need to call her "Mother."
Every word Ji Wei spoke landed like a sharp dagger, leaving Nan Huiru momentarily at a loss for a retort.
Her entire body trembled with fury. Convinced that Ji Wei was purposely antagonizing her because Gu Moqian was shielding her, she shouted again, voice cutting: "Stop twisting words with me! I don’t want to hear your excuses! Go back to your Ji Family—this is the Gu Family! I won’t allow some woman without proper status to seduce my son!"
"Ji Wei is the woman I’ve chosen as my wife, and no one can undermine her place in my life." Gu Moqian’s voice was cold and detached as his eyes stayed fixed on his mother’s enraged face. "Not even you."
Mother and son, who hadn’t seen each other in half a year, had already clashed bitterly twice within a short time of reuniting.
Nan Huiru’s blood boiled as she fumed: "I just don’t understand. There are so many women in Rongcheng. Why, out of everyone, are you fixated on this spoiled and willful rich girl? What does she have that Jianian doesn’t? In terms of education or looks, Jianian surpasses her in every way. How much longer are you going to let this woman cloud your judgment?"
"If Zhu Jianian were truly as perfect as you claim, then how do you explain what happened last night?"
A dangerous glint flickered in Gu Moqian’s eyes.
Don’t think for a second that he didn’t know Nan Huiru had tacitly approved of the Zhu Family’s actions the previous night.
When last night was mentioned, Nan Huiru’s face stiffened with embarrassment.
"You want to protect her? Well, I’ll just have to throw her out myself today! Someone, come here and drag this woman out of my house!"
Seeing that Gu Moqian had no intention of retreating and was determined to defend Ji Wei to the end, Nan Huiru immediately shouted at the doorway in a piercing voice.