What a coincidence.
There were really no other rooms left at the provincial guesthouse?
Mu Guiying didn’t believe it for a second.
So Bai Lin had already fallen for Gu Yunche by this point. She had already regarded Mu Guiying as a potential romantic rival, which meant she never truly believed Mu Guiying was merely a distant relative of the Gu family.
Gu Yunche frowned and looked at Mu Guiying awkwardly.
But Mu Guiying had no intention of squeezing into Bai Lin’s aunt’s house. Hugging her cloth bag tightly, she said, “Don’t worry, Brother Gu. I’ll be fine staying alone.”
Only after Bai Lin’s uncle Zhang Qingguo repeatedly promised to take good care of Mu Guiying did Gu Yunche hand over the snacks he had bought in the county town.
“I bought these for you to eat on the road. You got carsick and barely ate anything, so take them back and eat them later.”
Gu Yunche wasn’t a man of many words, but those words sounded rather pleasant.
Mu Guiying accepted the food and urged him on. “Hurry and go to Sister Bai Lin’s house. They’re waiting for you.”
Watching Gu Yunche leave with them, the tension in Mu Guiying’s body finally relaxed completely.
After washing up, she planned to peel an apple when she suddenly noticed the little porcelain cat Gu Yunche bought for Bai Lin was also inside the knitted bag.
Mu Guiying stared at the layers upon layers of newspaper wrapping around it and carefully unwrapped them.
As she ate the apple, she read the newspaper. She wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the era she was now living in.
After reading several papers, the corners of her lips rose uncontrollably.
She had truly arrived at the perfect time.
Smirking to herself, she whispered, “Tsk tsk, the goddess of luck finally favors me. I’m going to become rich riding the tides of this era! Shenzhen, stocks, real estate, internet, mobile games, artificial intelligence—I’m coming!”
Just as Mu Guiying was immersed in dreams of possessing a golden cheat code, she heard a knock at the door.
She opened it and saw Gu Yunche rushing back in a hurry.
“Little Mu, have you seen my—”
His gaze landed on the two porcelain cats on the bedside table before sweeping across the newspapers spread over the bed.
Following his gaze, Mu Guiying looked toward the porcelain cats. Under the light, the smiling little cats looked somewhat eerie.
She had intended to wrap them back up after finishing the newspapers. Who would have thought Gu Yunche would suddenly return?
She originally assumed he would at least finish dinner at Bai Lin’s aunt’s house before coming back for the little gift. Then he and Bai Lin would stroll the streets together, exchange gifts, watch a movie, hold hands, maybe steal a kiss, and deepen their feelings.
But she hadn’t expected Gu Yunche to rush back so impatiently just to retrieve the porcelain cats.
Gu Yunche frowned. “Why did you unwrap the newspaper?”
“Uh…”
Mu Guiying thought for a few seconds. “I planned to eat sunflower seeds and spit the shells onto it.”
Gu Yunche’s sharp eyes locked onto her.
He chuckled lightly. “I didn’t buy sunflower seeds.”
Her lie failed instantly.
Mu Guiying cleared her throat. “Ah! I was planning to go out and buy some later. Borrowing one sheet of newspaper to hold the shells isn’t too much, right?”
Gu Yunche suddenly felt as though he were a scholar trying to reason with a soldier—completely unable to win the argument.
He nodded slightly. “Reasonable enough. But you’re unfamiliar with this place, so don’t wander around carelessly.”
After speaking, he strode over and picked up the two porcelain cats.
The moment he looked at them, his expression softened noticeably. He held them carefully in his hands.
As he left, he reminded her again, “Don’t run around.”
Before Mu Guiying could answer, Gu Yunche had already hurried downstairs.
For some reason, her heart suddenly sank.
Being the unwanted female supporting character was truly difficult—especially bad for one’s mood and emotional health.
Mu Guiying closed the door and walked to the window.
Outside, Gu Yunche had already returned to Bai Lin’s side. Like presenting a treasure, he showed her the two porcelain cats.
Bai Lin clearly loved them. Her smiling eyes curved beautifully, the corners of her lips lifted in a youthful and pure expression.
The way Gu Yunche looked at Bai Lin was incredibly gentle, completely unlike the coldness he showed Mu Guiying.
Mu Guiying pulled the curtains shut tightly, blocking out the tender scene outside.
She sat back down and continued reading the unfinished newspapers, but her mood had already been affected. Uncontrollably, scenes from the original novel replayed in her mind…
Although the original Mu Guiying had been unlikeable, it was Gu Yunche’s coldness that gradually made her become even more unbearable.
When Mu Guiying first married Gu Yunche, despite all her flaws, other than trying to climb into his bed and use him to escape Liu E’s family, she hadn’t harbored any truly malicious intentions.
It was Gu Yunche’s indifference, the Gu family’s rejection, and Bai Lin’s constant provocations that slowly caused her to lose herself and turn into the universally hated Mu Guiying.
Her marriage and relationship with Gu Yunche became trapped in a vicious cycle.
The colder Gu Yunche became, the more outrageous Mu Guiying acted.
And Bai Lin was the catalyst that worsened everything.
In the original novel, Mu Guiying came from the countryside and had been terrified of poverty her whole life. She loved saving money, carefully storing away Gu Yunche’s salary for emergencies.
But Gu Yunche always insisted on giving half of his salary, food coupons, and fabric coupons to Bai Lin.
He said Bai Lin was in university and couldn’t eat or dress properly. As her older brother, he couldn’t bear to see her suffer.
At first, Mu Guiying tolerated it.
But once, after Gu Yunche used several precious ration coupons to buy two boxes of imported chocolate biscuits, Mu Guiying wanted to keep one for herself because she had never tasted them before.
Gu Yunche had agreed at the time.
Yet in the end, he sent one box to the Gu family and the other to Bai Lin.
To placate Mu Guiying, he bought her two jin of hawthorn flatbread from the store instead.
He had even said, “Bai Lin’s sick and has no appetite. She asked for them, and I couldn’t refuse.”
Mu Guiying had been deeply disappointed then. Right in front of Gu Yunche, she threw away the hawthorn flatbread. Gu Yunche thought she was being unreasonable and returned directly to the army.
But afterward, Mu Guiying regretted wasting the food and secretly picked it back up.
As she ate it while crying, the choking dryness in her throat slowly turned her heart cold as well.
From then on, Mu Guiying stopped saving money.
She began wasting the other half of Gu Yunche’s salary instead. She dressed extravagantly, flaunted herself everywhere, and the entire residential compound said she wasn’t a woman fit for family life and that Gu Yunche had been ruined by her…
Thinking about all this, the apple in Mu Guiying’s hand suddenly tasted sour instead of sweet.
She tossed the apple core into the trash can.
“I absolutely can’t follow the original host’s path! Stay away from men, avoid marriage and children, stay safe, and make lots of money!”
Mu Guiying clenched her fists, cheering herself on.
After tidying up briefly, she lay on the bed and continued reading the newspaper.
Meanwhile, at Bai Lin’s uncle Zhang Qingguo’s house, everyone gathered happily around the dining table.
The table was filled with delicious dishes, making the Zhang siblings realize that truly important guests had arrived today.
Bai Lin’s cousin Zhang Qingqing kept her beautiful eyes fixed on Gu Yunche across the table. She sat with her back perfectly straight, trying hard to appear graceful and proper.
Her little actions didn’t escape Bai Lin’s notice.
Bai Lin sneered inwardly, thinking her cousin was still as unsophisticated as ever.
Picking up a piece of braised pork, Bai Lin placed it into Gu Yunche’s bowl.
“Brother Yunche, I made this. Try it.”
Gu Yunche was surprised. After not seeing each other for so many years, Bai Lin actually knew how to cook now.
But she was a student about to take the college entrance examination.
Why was the Zhang family still making her cook and prepare meals?