Gu Hong stopped pretending and openly smiled at Shu Juan—a smile filled with satisfaction, delight, and even a sense of immense relief. “I can only say I’m sorry, but if you insist on seeing it that way, there’s nothing I can do.”
At that moment, a surge of anger and indignation welled up in Shu Juan’s heart, and she spat at him, “Get lost!”
With that, she slammed the door shut with a bang.
Leaving Gu Hong outside cursing loudly.
Later, Shu Juan heard Zhou Hui’s voice outside as well, carrying a note of lightness as she said to Gu Hong, “She really has cancer? She’s going to die? If she really dies, that’s for the best—saves us a lot of trouble!”
Shu Juan trembled with cold, her whole body shaking. No matter how many times she had mentally prepared herself, she still couldn’t remain unaffected.
She heard Zhou Hui admonishing Gu Hong: “Even if she’s going to die, she can’t die in this house. When the time comes, she has to die outside—otherwise it’ll bring bad luck!”
“She even wanted to have a bastard child. Well, now she can die with that bastard! And she thought she could lord it over us? Even heaven couldn’t stand to watch. This is her retribution!”
Retribution?
Shu Juan thought, yes, this truly was her retribution—retribution for all these years of being blind and muddle-headed, treating ungrateful wolves as her closest kin, retribution for swallowing her pride and giving her heart and soul to people who didn’t deserve it!
In the living room, Gu Qianqian asked in confusion, “Is she going to die?”
Zhou Hui said, “Qianqian, how about we get you a new mommy? One who’ll dote on you and love you.”
Gu Qianqian cheered, “Great, great! This mommy is mean and nasty, she’s never been good to me! I want a new mommy!”
Shu Juan heard all of this, feeling her chest tighten and ache. Now that she was sick, her whole family couldn’t wait for her to die!
But she was stubborn by nature, and she refused to let them have their way!
Shu Juan had set aside some money. When she first opened that account, it was meant to be education savings for Gu Qianqian. Later, when she grew disheartened and became pregnant, she planned to use it for the childbirth. But now, plans had changed faster than she could keep up, and she needed to use it ahead of schedule.
She handled her work matters, sending a message to her business partner Sister Hua. She didn’t mention what was happening at home, nor did she bring up her own health condition—she only said she planned to take some time off to rest.
Sister Hua replied quickly: Did something happen? Let me know if you need help.
Shu Juan: Nothing’s wrong, just tired and want to rest.
Sister Hua: Then give yourself a break and rest well.
Shu Juan packed her things and prepared to go check herself into the hospital. But as she was about to leave, she discovered her bank card was missing.
She searched everywhere but couldn’t find it.
By the afternoon, Shu Juan received a text message from the bank. All the hundreds of thousands in savings on her card had been withdrawn, leaving only a few yuan in the balance!
Shu Juan’s hands trembled, and her vision blurred. Had her card been stolen?
She calmed herself down and thought it through more carefully. That was unlikely. The bank card had been kept at home ever since she opened the account, and even if the card had been stolen, the thief wouldn’t have known her PIN.
Then her heart sank into an icy abyss.
No, there was one person who might know her PIN.
Gu Hong came home early from work today, arriving in the middle of the afternoon. He had even gone to pick up Gu Qianqian from school.
He walked in holding Gu Qianqian’s hand, with Zhou Hui and Gu Jianguo following behind, both carrying fish, meat, and vegetables from the market.
Shu Juan came out of her room and saw the family laughing and chatting, all warm and harmonious.
Gu Qianqian was five years old now, and since she started kindergarten, the number of times Gu Hong had picked her up from school could be counted on one hand. Clearly, he was in a very good mood today.
But when the family saw Shu Juan, the atmosphere inevitably turned cold. Zhou Hui shot Shu Juan a vicious glare, then turned back to Gu Qianqian with a beaming smile and said, “Go play for now. Grandma will cook you some fish in a bit!”
Gu Qianqian agreed readily, and as she passed by Shu Juan, her face was full of disgust and hatred. She snorted and ran off.
Gu Jianguo sat down in the living room by himself and lit a cigarette.
Gu Hong took off his jacket and prepared to go play with Gu Qianqian. The whole family treated Shu Juan as if she were air.
Shu Juan went straight to the point and asked Gu Hong, “Did you take my bank card?”
Gu Hong turned his head to glance at her and said, “Yeah, I took it. What about it?”
His attitude was one of complete indifference—a “what are you going to do about it” kind of look.
So it was him. It had to be him.
Rage surged in Shu Juan’s heart, and she suppressed it as she asked, “Did you withdraw all the money in it?”