Gu Xia’s gaze was evasive.
She had only dared to meet Lu Shaoting’s eyes for that brief moment earlier.
Not a second longer.
She feared that a man as shrewd as Lu Shaoting would see through her pretense at a glance.
If she hadn’t died once before, Gu Xia would truly have been innocent and harmless.
She would still be the cheerful girl who, upon encountering Lu Shaoting, would obediently greet him with a “Hello, Uncle Lu.”
He would respond with a perfunctory “Mm.”
And Gu Xia would complain to her friends, saying things like “Uncle Lu is so fierce, no wonder he can’t find a wife.”
But now, having died once, she could no longer trust anyone so naively.
She knew Lu Shaoting responded better to softness than to force, so she catered to his preferences.
If she really married Lu Shaoting, even if they divorced later without her taking anything from him, it would still be no loss for Gu Xia.
As for the child in her womb, Gu Xia hadn’t considered that aspect yet.
First, she was still young—both now and in her previous life when she faced death, she was only around twenty.
Second, she had just become pregnant, and the child in her womb hadn’t yet begun to show.
Apart from missing her period and feeling hungrier than usual, she had no other discomfort.
Before the child was born, how could she possibly feel so-called maternal love?
In the eyes of the Gu family, Gu Xia was still a child herself. It was only natural that she felt no attachment to the fetus in her womb and hadn’t given it much thought.
For now, she only wanted to coax Lu Shaoting into trusting her.
Naturally, Lu Shaoting had no idea what Gu Xia was thinking. He only felt conflicted.
He knew Gu Xia had ulterior motives for being nice to him.
But her kindness felt so natural, as if it came from the heart.
Lu Shaoting couldn’t tell whether Gu Xia was genuinely kind to everyone or if she was simply scheming and hiding it too well.
Seeing that Lu Shaoting didn’t respond, Gu Xia lowered her eyes, seemingly a little disappointed, and didn’t ask further.
Lu Shaoting hadn’t answered her question—whether they would get married or not…
They packed their things and left the hospital at two in the afternoon. By the time they returned to the Lu family home, it was past three, and they spent some time talking with everyone in the living room on the first floor.
When Lu Shaoting finally returned to the second floor and lay down in bed, it was already past five.
After tidying up the bedroom on the second floor, Gu Xia asked Lu Shaoting where she should sleep that night.
Lu Shaoting bluntly told her to sleep on the floor.
But by evening, he still called his driver, who had been with him for a long time, and asked him to deliver a camp bed.
Dinner was brought upstairs by the maid, but only one portion was delivered for Lu Shaoting.
The maid did call out to Gu Xia, telling her to come downstairs to eat later.
Gu Xia didn’t think much of it. She took the meal from the maid and placed it on the table in front of Lu Shaoting, then went over to help him sit up.
Lu Shaoting seemed difficult to please, but his needs were surprisingly simple and easily satisfied.
Gu Xia busied herself taking care of him, which only made Lu Shaoting feel uncomfortable.
“You can go downstairs to eat. Come back to clean up after I’m done.”
Gu Xia paused for a moment. She wasn’t confident that the Lu family would leave any food for her.
The Lu Family Matriarch’s gaze, filled with dislike and calculation, made her uneasy.
But Gu Xia still set the meal in front of Lu Shaoting.
She followed the maid downstairs.
Lu Jianming and Qin Xiulian were still there, but Lu Ye was nowhere to be seen.
Lu Xiaojing and Lu Xiaoyan had both returned home. As married daughters, they could often visit their parents during the day.
Usually, they still had to go back to cook dinner, as their husbands and children were waiting at home.
Seeing Gu Xia come downstairs, not a single member of the Lu family gave her a friendly look.
Gu Xia couldn’t be bothered to care anymore.
She now only listened to Lu Shaoting. Lu Shaoting had said he would marry her. Since she was already Lu Shaoting’s wife, why couldn’t she eat the Lu family’s food?
If she didn’t say anything and Lu Shaoting didn’t say anything, who would know they were pretending to be husband and wife?
Besides, she was really hungry now—an unbearable hunger that was too uncomfortable to ignore.
Watching Gu Xia go to the kitchen to serve herself rice and then pull out a chair to sit down, she did it all in one smooth, natural motion, without the slightest hint of embarrassment.
Qin Xiulian glanced up at her mother-in-law.
She knew very well that her mother-in-law favored her eldest son, who was also her husband, and naturally, she also favored her eldest grandson, Lu Ye.
As for this younger brother-in-law, who hadn’t been raised by her side since childhood, there was hardly any affection to speak of.
It was only in recent years, as this younger brother-in-law kept getting promoted, that the old lady looked upon him more favorably. But deep down, she still didn’t like him much and wouldn’t show him any partiality.
Since they didn’t even like Lu Shaoting, how could they possibly like the woman he married?
Seeing how much her mother-in-law despised Gu Xia, Qin Xiulian deliberately remarked:
“Gu Xia, your father is a university professor. How did he raise you to be so ill-mannered? No one invited you to eat, yet you served yourself rice and started eating. You have no manners at all.”
Gu Xia looked at Qin Xiulian.
“Is eating a sign of bad manners? I am, after all, Lu Shaoting’s fiancée. Whether you acknowledge it or not, the child in my belly—he acknowledges it, so he is the father of my child.”
“As Lu Shaoting’s fiancée, I’ve just arrived at the Lu family. While you were eating, you deliberately didn’t call me. Does that make you very well-mannered?”
Gu Xia’s words seemed to be directed at Qin Xiulian, but in reality, they also included the Lu Family Matriarch.
She had seen favoritism before, but she had never seen it to this extent.
Gu Xia even began to wonder—was Lu Shaoting really the Lu family’s biological son?
Even if they didn’t love the crow for the sake of the nest.
Knowing that Lu Shaoting was in poor health and that she happened to be carrying his child.
Instead of persuading her to keep Lu Shaoting’s child, the Lu family treated her with nothing but contempt.
What was their purpose?
Old Mrs. Lu slammed her chopsticks on the table with a bang.
Her words were sharp as she said, “Gu Xia, who are you pointing at while cursing the mulberry tree?”
Gu Xia replied calmly, “Old Mrs. Lu, take care of your health. Don’t let anger harm you. I wasn’t talking about you. You’re not the kind of person who would begrudge me eating the Lu family’s food.”
Lu Laoyezi glanced at the housekeeper.
“Didn’t I tell you to call Gu Xia for dinner? Make sure you do it next time.”
“Eldest daughter-in-law, say less. Since Shaoting has made his decision, what Gu Xia said isn’t wrong. She is Shaoting’s fiancée, and since she’s staying at home now, treating her as one of the family isn’t inappropriate.”
In the Lu family, only Lu Laoyezi and Lu Xiaoyan showed her a bit more concern.
But Gu Xia knew that the concern they gave her was only because she was carrying Lu Shaoting’s child.
Without this child, they would be no different from the rest of the Lu family.
They were all thinking about how to get rid of her.
This made Gu Xia see even more clearly—there wasn’t a single decent person in the Lu family.
Gu Xia didn’t bother with anything else; filling her stomach came first.
After eating and drinking her fill, she took the bowls and chopsticks to the kitchen.
Then she told the Lu Family Old Master that she needed to go take care of Lu Shaoting and headed up to the second floor.
She could hear Qin Xiulian complaining to her mother-in-law:
“Mom, look at this Gu Xia—she has absolutely no manners or upbringing. She seemed quite well-behaved before, but who would have thought it was all an act? I always said, what kind of good girl could come from a Black Five Categories family like the Gu family?”
“Gu Xia isn’t even married into the Lu family yet, and she’s already so arrogant. If she marries into the Lu family in the future, would we even dare to come home for meals?”
Old Mrs. Lu said with great authority:
“As long as I’m alive, I’d like to see how arrogant she dares to be. This Fourth Son is also confused—why on earth does he insist on marrying Gu Xia?”
“She looks young, but she’s full of schemes.”
Qin Xiulian muttered quietly:
“What other reason could there be? Isn’t it just because she’s young and pretty? She’s got that seductive, fox-like charm. I never realized before how good Gu Xia is at seducing people.”
“Fourth Son is the same—he didn’t like this one, didn’t fancy that one, and in the end, he actually wants to marry Gu Xia.”
Men are all the same—they love eighteen-year-olds till the day they die.