“Leave us. I need to speak with Xiaozhu alone,” Father Gu said wearily, waving his hand.
Gu Shaoxuan had no choice but to turn and leave, but Nan Jin called out to him, “Hey, where’s the divorce certificate?”
Gu Shaoxuan froze in place. He had no intention of giving her the divorce certificate.
But now that she had specifically asked for it, he felt humiliated.
“Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind and don’t want to divorce after all?” she mocked.
Gu Shaoxuan clenched his fists tightly, barely restraining his anger. After a moment, he pulled the divorce certificate from his pants pocket and tossed it to her before turning and striding away.
Nan Jin picked up the divorce certificate. After reading its contents, a faint smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
She was finally free.
Father Gu pulled up a chair and sat down, hesitating before speaking. “Xiaozhu, you and Shaoxuan grew up together. You know his temperament and character. He’s not that kind of person.”
He knew his son’s character well—the child in Liang Yourou’s womb couldn’t possibly be his.
Nan Jin said softly, “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Good child, you’ve suffered.”
Nan Jin felt her eyes grow warm. From the original host’s memories, she knew Father Gu had genuinely cared for her.
“Dad, I’m fine. But could you give me the household register?”
Hearing her still call him “Dad,” Father Gu’s eyes also grew moist.
“What do you need the household register for?”
Nan Jin wanted to transfer her household registration, but she had no place to stay yet. She would take the register first and figure things out later.
“It’s no longer appropriate for my household registration to remain with the family.”
“What nonsense are you talking? Even if you’re no longer my daughter-in-law, you’re still a daughter of the Gu family.”
“Dad, please give it to me,” she said, looking at him earnestly.
Seeing her determination, Father Gu sighed inwardly. He stood up and left, returning shortly with a cloth-wrapped bundle.
“Keep this safe. If anything happens in the future, come back to me. I only want you to be well.”
With that, he turned and left.
Nan Jin sensed something was off. She unwrapped the cloth bundle to find a stack of ten-yuan bills, with the household register tucked underneath.
She quickly got up and hurried to the door, watching his slightly stooped figure as her eyes stung.
“Dad, what is this?”
Father Gu didn’t look back, merely waving his hand as he walked toward the staircase.
Nan Jin didn’t follow him. She returned to her room and counted the money.
There were small bills—a few jiao, a few yuan—but most were ten-yuan notes. It was clear he had secretly saved this money bit by bit over time. The total came to five hundred yuan.
So, there were still people who genuinely cared for her.
Father Gu’s gesture made her feel somewhat ashamed of the wicked thoughts she had been harboring.
“You wretched woman, why aren’t you packed yet? Don’t tell me you’re deliberately stalling because you know we’re going out for a meal, planning to steal something?” Gu Qingya’s spiteful voice sounded from the doorway, her eyes glaring at Nan Jin with venom.
The cash in Nan Jin’s hand vanished instantly. She picked up her clothes and began folding them slowly and deliberately.
“What in this house is worth stealing?”
“Hmph, you’d better be sensible and get out quickly. I don’t want to see you here when we return from dinner.”
“And give me back the keys. You don’t need them to lock the door anyway.”
She couldn’t stand the sight of her for another moment.
As it happened, Nan Jin felt the same way. She tossed the house keys to her.
Gu Qingya picked up the keys and left behind a cold, threatening remark: “You wretched woman, you poisonous witch, I won’t let you off easily.” With that, she turned and left.
She wouldn’t let that bitch off so easily—she would make sure the woman regretted ever crossing her.
Nan Jin slowly lifted her head, a faint smile curling at the corners of her lips.
She had been wondering when an opportunity would present itself, and now they had delivered it right to her doorstep.
Faint sounds of commotion drifted up from downstairs, but no one called for her, as if she didn’t exist.
Soon after, the sound of a closing door echoed from below. She stood up and walked to the window to look outside.
The window of Gu Shaoxuan’s room offered a clear view of the front gate downstairs.
The family had all gotten into the car, while only Yuan Zheng and Gu Shaoxuan were pushing their heavy-duty bicycles, riding off together.
Once Nan Jin confirmed they had all left, she turned back and cleared everything from the desk into her space.
She didn’t stop there—she took the desk, chairs, the lucky fan, the wardrobe, the bed, and everything else along with her.
Next, she went to Gu Qingya’s room and cleared it out completely.
When she reached the door of Gu’s father’s room, she hesitated.
Taking things from the scumbag, Gu Qingya, Liang Yourou, and even Yuan Limei didn’t bother her conscience in the slightest.
But when it came to Gu’s father’s belongings, she felt a twinge of softness.
Still, leaving his room untouched would only invite trouble later.
“Sorry, Dad,” she murmured softly, pushing the door open and clearing out everything inside.
After emptying the rooms on the second floor, she went down to the first floor and took the sewing machine, radio, furniture, and even the pots, pans, and dishes from the kitchen—leaving nothing behind.
As for the third floor, which was mostly used for storing odds and ends, she thought for a moment before heading up and clearing that out as well.
Once everything was gone, she took measures to cover her tracks, then made her way downstairs.
The entire house was stripped bare—even the paintings on the walls were gone.
Finally, she picked up a woven bag containing her own change of clothes and locked the door behind her.
As she left, she deliberately passed by a neighbor, Aunt Lan.
“Nan Zhu? I heard you weren’t feeling well—are you okay? Where are you headed?”
Nan Jin forced a bitter smile. “Aunt Lan, Shaoxuan and I are divorced. I just came back to pack a few clothes before leaving.”
“What? Divorced? What about the baby you were expecting?”
Nan Jin’s smile grew even more pained. “I lost it.”
“How could this happen? What went so wrong that you ended up divorcing?”
“Haven’t you heard? Lately, there’s been a woman always hanging around with Xiao Gu. It just doesn’t look right.”
“Nan Zhu, what are you going to do now?”
Nan Jin sighed helplessly. “What else can I do? I’ll have to stay at the factory dorm for now.”
Since she planned to go to the countryside, she wouldn’t be keeping her job at the textile factory anyway.
She intended to sell her position—it could fetch a decent sum of eight hundred to a thousand yuan.
While it was still early, she went to the post office and mailed the five hundred yuan Gu’s father had given her back to his factory.
With that done, she felt a weight lift from her shoulders. She walked to the bus stop, waited for a while, and then boarded a bus heading toward the textile factory.
As for how the Gu family would react when they returned to find their home emptied out—what did that have to do with her?
She had no place to stay at the textile factory, so she found a nearby inn to spend the night.
Meanwhile, after the meal, Yuan Zheng stepped out to make a phone call.
The phone rang for a long time, but no one answered. He guessed Nan Jin had already left.
After saying goodbye to his sister and brother-in-law, he returned to his friend’s place.
By the time the Gu family arrived home, it was already dark.
As they reached their doorstep, Yuan Limei unlocked the door and stepped inside.
However, standing at the door, she remained dazed for quite some time.
“Mom, why are you standing at the door?”
Gu Qingya couldn’t help but give her a slight push. “I sweated during the meal, and my wound is hurting badly. I need to clean up and change the dressing…”
She, too, stood there in a daze, rubbing her eyes before looking more carefully. Suddenly, she let out an ear-splitting scream.
Just as Mr. Gu, who had finished parking the car, walked in, he froze in shock at the sight of the empty living room.