"That’s probably it. The girl has a perceptive eye." After he finished, the old man Gu glanced at Gu En, who was still standing in anger, and directed, "Gu En, you stay home alone tonight for some reflection. Everyone else, proceed to the hotel. I apologize profusely, giving everyone such a comical spectacle."
"Grandpa!" Gu En was still in shock from the news of He Zhilan’s marriage, and now she’s amazed that grandpa wanted to leave her at the Gu’s for reflection over He Zhilan, and not let her attend the dinner party?
"Xiao’en!" The grandma Gu chided Gu En in a low voice, signaling her not to provoke the old man’s anger.
At the gate of the military compound, Zhou Chenyue was hugging He Zhilan tightly, quietly comforting, "The Gu family has gone too far. Don’t be sad. There isn’t a single good person in Gu En’s family!"
At that moment, Zhou Hongjin finally drove over, "What happened in Gu Mansion just now? Did Gu En hit you? She’s gone too far, daring to hit people in the Gu Mansion. What a shrew!"
Suppressing her sobs, He Zhilan took a while to recover, "I’m sorry, Zhou, and Chenyue, I made you lose face in front of so many people, unintentionally. I wasn’t intending to eavesdrop at the Gu’s, I just happened to overhear."
"It’s not your fault. Gu En went too far." Zhou Hongjin shook his head, "Let’s go, I’ll take you back. I won’t attend tonight’s banquet either."
Zhou Chenyue pulled open the car door and yanked He Zhilan in. She felt that He Zhilan was almost like a woman bereft of soul.
The car left the compound, silence engulfed, as Zhou Hongjin drove, deeply worried about He Zhilan in the back seat. Meanwhile, Zhou Chenyue’s eyebrows were tightly knotted as she watched He Zhilan silently shedding tears beside her.
"Zhou." He Zhilan suddenly spoke. Her voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping a table, "Your mother was right. I was born with little parental affection."
The sudden confession left a profound silence.
Then, she hugged her shoulders in the manner of a helpless child and gazed blankly out of the car window. She appeared as if her previous statement had been just an illusion of Zhou Chenyue and Zhou Hongjin.
The increasingly distant Gu mansion, the fading kinship becomes irrelevant to her from now on.
She summoned her remaining courage and pride to leave without turning back, severing the dream of returning home across two lives.
She is called He Zhilan, not Gu Zhilan. Thirteen years ago, the name Gu Zhilan ceased to exist.
Zhou Chenyue sighed and handed He Zhilan a handkerchief discreetly, wondering why He Zhilan’s tears flowed incessantly like a faucet. Seeing her cry in silence, Zhou Chenyue almost cried too.
As Zhou Hongjin drove, He Zhilan was depressed, and Zhou Chenyue didn’t have anyone to chat with. She aimed her attention at the roadside to kill time, but what she saw gave her a shock.
"Brother! Your car is under the big truck’s tire!" Zhou Chenyue exclaimed suddenly, promptly standing from her seat to tap Zhou Hongjin’s shoulder. She forgot she was in a car, and hit her forehead on the roof due to the sudden movement. Suffering the pain, she began to cry out, "It hurts terribly!"