After receiving the money, Gu Xia was thrilled.
She even thought to herself that marrying Lu Shaoting hadn’t been for nothing—she’d gotten several hundred yuan out of it.
Gu Xia had previously led a comfortable life; though her family wasn’t wealthy, her father was a professor and her mother was an artist.
Before her mother left the cultural troupe to avoid the spotlight, she had enjoyed a stable income.
Even after her mother stopped working, they still had money to spend.
Her maternal grandfather had given her mother a substantial dowry.
Her mother had even said that one day, she would divide this money equally between her two daughters.
It would be enough to ensure they lived comfortably for the first half of their lives.
Unfortunately, someone reported them, and their home was raided; the dowry my maternal grandfather had given my mother became the evidence used to brand the Gu family as “counter-revolutionaries.”
When they were sent down to the Northwest, they didn’t have a single penny to their name.
They went from a life of comfort straight into a harsh, cold environment filled with scorn, ridicule, and abuse—without even a moment to adjust.
Gu Xia’s heart ached deeply whenever she thought of the situation her parents and older sister were in now.
She was currently pregnant with Lu Shaoting’s child; even without an income, the Lu family would certainly provide her with food, shelter, and a place to sleep.
But her parents and older sister were in a different situation.
Winters in the Far Northwest were extremely harsh.
Gu Xia worried about her mother, who was in poor health. She planned to use the money Lu Shaoting had given her to buy some supplies and mail them to her family.
The next day, after taking care of Lu Shaoting, Gu Xia headed out.
The Lu family didn’t place much importance on Gu Xia, even though she was now married to Lu Shaoting.
Of the Lu elders, only Old Master Lu treated her a little better—though that was limited to telling her to eat more because she looked too thin.
As for the Old Lady Lu, she treated Gu Xia as if she were invisible.
Actually, this worked out just fine; it meant Gu Xia didn’t have to waste energy dealing with them.
As for the rest of the Lu family, they usually came by after work, and not even every day.
Since Lu Shaoting married her, Lu Jianming and Lu Xiaojing seemed to visit less often.
Lu Xiaoyan dropped by every now and then, bringing some fish, shrimp, and meat.
She’d also remind Gu Xia once or twice not to forget to go to the hospital for a checkup.
Lu Xiaoyan’s implication was that since she worked at the hospital, it would be convenient for Gu Xia to visit her there.
Regardless of Lu Xiaoyan’s motives for looking out for her, at least it made Gu Xia feel that Lu Xiaoyan meant no harm.
After leaving the Lu family compound, Gu Xia took the bus to the mall.
It wasn’t until she arrived at the mall that she realized she had taken the same route she used to take with her older sister before being sent down to the Northwest.
She boarded the bus not far from the entrance to the residential compound, and after one transfer, she arrived directly at the department store.
With the money she had, Gu Xia planned to buy some warm clothes for her family, as well as some medicine.
Her mother had developed severe asthma after moving to the far northwest.
She also needed to buy medicine for her father’s arthritis.
As for her older sister, she thought she’d buy her two bottles of frostbite ointment and two tubes of snow cream.
Her mother and sister loved her so much and cherished life so deeply—if she bought these things, they would surely be delighted to receive them.
Items at the big department store would surely be expensive, so after much thought, Gu Xia decided to check out a smaller supply and marketing cooperative instead.
But since she was already at the department store, she couldn’t resist taking a quick look inside.
Even if she didn’t buy anything, just browsing was enjoyable.
She just didn’t expect to run into Lu Ye there.
Besides Lu Ye, there were also Lu Tingting and Lu Tingting’s classmate, Ye Qian.
Ye Qian’s parents were both ordinary workers, but since she was a classmate of Lu Tingting’s and they got along well, she often visited the Lu family.
The Lu family and the Gu family didn’t live far apart; they both lived in the same compound.
And since Gu Xia had once had a crush on Lu Ye, she was naturally on high alert whenever any girl appeared by his side.
What a stroke of bad luck—running into all three of them here today.
Lu Tingting was the first to spot Gu Xia.
Although Lu Tingting hadn’t attended her uncle’s wedding banquet,
she had still heard from her parents that her uncle, Lu Shaoting, had gotten married—and to Gu Xia, no less…
Lu Tingting didn’t like Gu Xia; in fact, she didn’t like either of the Gu sisters.
Living in the same compound, the Gu sisters were constantly praised in all sorts of ways.
Since the Lu and Gu families were so close, and Lu Jianming and Professor Gu were both colleagues and friends,
Outsiders naturally joked about comparing Lu Tingting to the Gu sisters.
It was just neighborhood gossip, and had nothing to do with the Gu sisters themselves.
But it made Lu Tingting come to dislike both of them, and she often picked on Gu Xia.
Gu Mingyuan had a stronger personality, so when Lu Tingting couldn’t get the better of her, she would take it out on Gu Xia, who seemed easier to bully.
Meanwhile, because Gu Xia harbored a secret crush on Lu Ye, she had always tried to curry favor with Lu Tingting.
It was precisely because of this attitude that Lu Tingting came to see Gu Xia as an easy target.
Now, seeing Gu Xia appear, Lu Tingting rushed over in a single bound.
She blocked the path Gu Xia was taking to turn and leave.
“Gu Xia, what are you running from? You’re really something. I’m just curious—what tricks did you use to seduce my uncle?”
Facing Lu Tingting’s intimidating presence,
Gu Xia knew there was no escaping it, so she decided to confront her head-on.
“Is that any of your business? Remember, I’m your aunt now. You’re a grown woman, yet you don’t even know how to address your elders properly—and you’re yelling at me like that? You really have no manners or upbringing at all.”
Lu Tingting hadn’t expected that Gu Xia, who usually looked harmless and like a pitiful little flower, would speak so sharply.
“You… you’re shameless. Do you even know how many years younger you are than my uncle? You’re so brazen—you’re younger than me, yet you expect me to call you ‘auntie’?”
“I get it. You like my brother, but he doesn’t like you, so you’re deliberately getting back at him by going after my uncle instead, right?”
Gu Xia said coldly, “As if your brother is even worthy of my affection?”
“My love for your uncle is real. Otherwise, why would he marry me? If you don’t believe me, ask your brother Lu Ye—he was right there when your uncle said those things in front of your grandparents.”
Gu Xia’s off-the-cuff lie actually managed to throw Lu Tingting off balance.
Hadn’t her parents said it was all because Gu Xia had pestered her uncle relentlessly that she’d ended up marrying into the Lu family?
So how could Gu Xia claim that she and her uncle were truly in love?
Lu Tingting turned to look at her brother, Lu Ye.
At that moment, Lu Ye’s face was as dark as soot from the bottom of a pot.
All he could do was grit his teeth in anger and say, “Gu Xia, I never knew you were so sharp-tongued and good at twisting the truth.”
“It was clearly you who seduced my uncle. If you hadn’t gotten pregnant with his child, he would never have wanted you in the first place.”
“My uncle is so shrewd—he would never have been fooled by you. He was just using your womb to have a child.”
Gu Xia looked at Lu Ye, who had risen in a fit of rage, and really wanted to ask him directly:
Is it just because I liked you and wrote you a love letter that you hate me so much?
So much that you’d team up with your father to try to kill our entire Gu family?
But Gu Xia knew she hadn’t uncovered any evidence yet, so she couldn’t say that.
Saying it would be like stirring up a hornet’s nest.
Gu Xia forced herself to suppress the rage in her heart as she looked at Lu Ye, whose face had contorted into a grimace of fury.
Instead, she said calmly, “I don’t care what he wants to do. At the very least, Lu Shaoting’s child will call me ‘Mom’ from now on.”
“And the two of you—you should now call me ‘Auntie.’”
“My niece can’t bring herself to say it. How about it, my eldest nephew—why don’t you call me ‘Auntie’?”
“You should’ve come that morning when we served tea. If you’d brought the tea to me and called me that, I would’ve given each of you a big red envelope.”