Gu Xiaowei was extremely disappointed that she hadn't been able to witness Yu Wangyou's heroic and fierce beatdown.
Seeing that Yu Wangyou looked utterly exhausted, she stepped forward to shove Elder Gu aside and sat down in his place.
"Hey!" Elder Gu protested.
Gu Xiaowei put on a flattering smile and began pounding Yu Wangyou's legs and massaging her shoulders.
"Unprovoked courtesy usually means someone's up to no good. What do you want?"
"Hehe, Big Sister-in-law was so cool just now! It's such a pity I missed it."
"Plenty of chances for that. I worked up quite an appetite beating that guy up. Is there anything to eat?"
"Grandpa, is there any food?" Gu Xiaowei turned to ask her grandfather, causing Elder Gu to blow his beard and stare in fury.
"Have you completely forgotten about respecting your elders? Do I look like someone who carries food around?" Elder Gu thumped his cane against the floor.
*Thump, thump, thump.*
"How about we go out to eat?"
"Yes, exactly! Xiaowei's hotpot restaurant is doing great business, let's go support it and have a taste."
Su Ruowan helped Elder Gu up, while Gu Xiaowei helped Yu Wangyou, who had finished resting, to her feet.
"Ah..." She just wanted a proper rest. Why was it so difficult?
Gu Wangci found her melancholic expression amusing. Did she finally realize that beating people up was tiring?
"The day is still young anyway, it won't hurt to rest a bit before we go."
"Wow! You really are a wonderful person." Yu Wangyou immediately grabbed his arm, her expression exaggerated to the extreme.
Caught off guard by her sudden grab, Gu Wangci lost his balance for a second, but fortunately managed to steady himself against the sofa before falling.
Embarrassed, Yu Wangyou let go of his arm.
"Ahem..." Gu Wangci coughed twice and turned toward his bedroom.
Yu Wangyou eagerly followed right behind him. Su Ruowan watched the two of them leave, a gratified smile blooming on her face.
"Those two young ones really have a great relationship."
As she climbed the stairs, Yu Wangyou heard this remark and inexplicably wanted to see Gu Wangci's expression.
By the time she came to her senses, however, there was no one in front of her.
***
At the entrance of the Wei Family's estate, Wei Quan lay sprawled on the ground like a corpse. The mother and daughter, returning from a shopping trip, were startled out of their wits at the sight.
"Dad!"
Wei Ziting dropped her mother's arm and ran toward her father, her eyes red.
Wei Shuyu nearly stopped breathing at the sight, coming close to fainting on the spot.
"It must have been Gu Wangci! It has to be him, sob, sob..." Wei Ziting plopped down onto the ground, weeping in terror.
Wei Shuyu looked as though her soul had left her body, collapsing heavily onto the pavement.
"It's gone. Everything is gone."
Two bodyguards hiding in the shadows watched this scene and couldn't help shaking their heads. "A couple of idiots. How did brains like theirs ever come up with the idea of drugging our Young Master?"
"Don't pry."
The two bodyguards walked away.
Wei Quan had regained consciousness by now. He opened his bloodshot eyes in rage, his hands clenched into tight fists.
"Gu Wangci, I'll make you pay for this."
Lost in their own emotional turmoil, the mother and daughter hadn't noticed that he was already awake.
Annoyed by the wailing in his ears, he lashed out and struck Wei Ziting across the face. The sudden blow sent her crashing backward onto the ground, stark terror written all over her features.
Trembling, she extended an index finger and placed it under her father's nose. Enraged, Wei Quan shoved her away violently.
"I'm still fucking alive, you two! Are you both wishing for me to drop dead early?" All the humiliation Wei Quan had suffered at the Gu Family was now being unleashed upon his wife and daughter.
Startled by his shout, Wei Shuyu snapped back to reality. Seeing her husband "returned from the dead," her eyes instantly turned red.
"Honey! Thank goodness you're alright."
Wei Shuyu threw her arms around Wei Quan in a fit of emotion. Wei Quan had originally intended to hurl a few more insults, but seeing his wife's tear-rimmed eyes, his heart softened.
He patted her back to soothe her. "I'm fine, it's alright."
After comforting his wife, he turned his gaze to his daughter and coughed twice. "Xiaoting, Dad was in the wrong just now, raising his voice like that. Don't hold it against me."
Wei Ziting pouted, looking deeply unhappy.
Having placated the pair of them, Wei Quan led them back into the house.
Yet his limping, halting gait truly cut a desolate figure.
***
Yu Wangyou was hitting people again.
Her chest heaved violently, her fists clenched so tight her knuckles were white. Her glare looked as though she wanted to murder the person in front of her.
Half an hour earlier, the family had decided to patronize Gu Xiaowei's hotpot restaurant, never expecting to run into someone they despised.
"Xiaowei." Yu Qianpan was utterly shameless. Even after taking a beating and receiving a clear warning, he refused to change his ways and kept hounding Gu Xiaowei.
It was as if he had a GPS tracker installed on her; no matter where Gu Xiaowei went, he would invariably be waiting for her.
If it were the past, she would have been overjoyed, but now, only bitterness remained.
The moment she caught sight of Yu Qianpan, Gu Xiaowei's previously cheerful and serene little face dropped instantly.
Yu Wangyou patted her back to reassure her.
"Let's ignore him. Out of sight, out of mind."
"Yeah."
Yu Wangyou led the visibly upset Gu Xiaowei to a table, seating her on the innermost side so that if that scumbag Yu Qianpan tried anything, she would notice immediately.
Not wanting to worry her parents, Gu Xiaowei forced herself to put on a brave face, introducing the restaurant's signature dishes to them.
Fifteen minutes later, all the dishes were served. To chase away the dark cloud that was Yu Qianpan, Gu Xiaowei turned her grief and anger into an appetite, eating continuously without speaking a word.
Yu Wangyou watched her with a worried expression.
As if sensing her concern, Gu Xiaowei managed a weak smile before resuming eating.
"Ah..."
"What are you sighing for out of nowhere?"
"Nothing. Ah..."
It was a tragedy to choose the wrong partner, but at least she had woken up in time.
Listening to her repeated sighs, Gu Wangci furrowed his brow in confusion.
At that exact moment, the obnoxious Yu Qianpan strolled over to their table with a self-satisfied, full-score smile plastered across his face.
He was holding a cup of water, apparently intending to make a toast.
"Xiaowei, I know you aren't willing to forgive me yet, but I still want to say that I will only ever love you in this lifetime, so..."
Yu Qianpan delivered his lines with seeming sincerity, but it only made Yu Wangyou clench her fists harder. She really, really wanted to hit someone right now.
Especially this chattering scumbag.
Hearing this, Su Ruowan shifted her gaze to her daughter and noticed that the hand holding the chopsticks was trembling slightly.
She reached out and gave her a silent, comforting squeeze.
"Mom, I'm fine." Gu Xiaowei raised her head, her voice trembling slightly.
The previous few times, he hadn't dared say such things in front of her family, so she had let it slide. But this time, she simply couldn't endure it any longer.
She picked up the cup of water beside her and dashed it straight into Yu Qianpan's face. Yu Qianpan staggered back a step, disbelief written all over his face.
The gentle and obedient Gu Xiaowei from ordinary days had actually dared to splash water on him?!
"Gu Xiaowei, we were together for a whole year, at least! Is this how you treat me?"
"I haven't beaten you up yet, which is already the utmost mercy on my part. Since my mom is here and your parents are too, let's get things straight once and for all."
Gu Xiaowei's eyes were red-rimmed. She gripped her chopsticks tightly, as if doing so gave her more courage.
"Yu Qianpan, I've never felt that I owed you anything. When we first got together, you asked me to pull strings to help your parents' company. I did it, thinking it would make our relationship stronger. But... we had only been together for half a year when you went behind my back to rent hotel rooms with other girls! What did you take my sacrifices for? What was I to you?"
As she spoke, Gu Xiaowei began to choke back sobs. She had entered the relationship with the genuine resolve to marry him and spend the rest of her life by his side. Yet he was the one who abandoned the relationship, and now he stood here blaming her for being too ruthless and unreasonable.
Ha! She really wanted to ask her past self how she had ever fallen for his sweet-talking lies.
"It's all in the past now. You have to look forward." Yu Wangyou patted her back, soothing her gently.
"Such a petty-minded woman! Just because you wouldn't sleep with my son, does that mean my son couldn't sleep with other women?"
Since ancient times, indulgent mothers have ruined their sons; it was precisely because he had a mother like this that he turned out the way he was.
Hearing his mother's words, Yu Wangyou finally lost her restraint. She threw a direct punch straight into Yu Qianpan's face, sending him sliding backward along with his wheelchair.
Just at that moment, a waiter carrying a scalding hotpot was walking past, and Yu Qianpan crashed right into him.
The waiter, not expecting this sudden mishap, scrambled up hurriedly, not even having time to mind Yu Qianpan, who had been splattered by the hotpot soup.
"Ah!"
Seeing this spectacle, the patrons inside the hotpot restaurant all wore expressions that clearly said, *serves you right.*
"A scumbag like that deserves no pity."