Gu Beiyan did not reply to a single message from Guo Yueze. After sending a friend request, he headed straight back to the Gu family estate.
Yesterday’s engagement banquet had become the talk of all Jiangcheng. Returning at a time like this would not only provide a good show, but it would also allow him to add fuel to the fire and make sure this marriage was called off completely.
Recalling last night, when Sheng Sheng was lying beneath him, her eyes as bright and clear as peeled lychees, her thick eyelashes curled upward, and her small dimples showing when she smiled, overflowing with sweet wine—she was breathtakingly intoxicating.
She was so bright and proud. How could someone as utterly worthless as Gu Hongyu deserve to be with Sheng Sheng?
Things were turning out rather well as they were. It would let Sheng Sheng see Gu Hongyu’s true colors completely, wake her up for good, and get their relationship back on track.
He wouldn’t even need to storm a wedding and kidnap the bride in public as he had originally planned, which would have made the situation much more chaotic and out of hand.
Sure enough, the moment Gu Beiyan’s right foot stepped through the gates of the Gu family residence, his second sister-in-law’s furious scolding pierced through the courtyard and reached his ears.
Outsiders always said that even though the Gu family was a top-tier wealthy elite family, its members were inexplicably harmonious.
The person who deserved the most credit for this was the unassuming Second Master of the Gu family. Furthermore, the Second Madam had a reputation for being virtuous and dignified, holding the status of an exemplary wife.
However, ever since he was brought back to the Gu family at the age of eight, Gu Beiyan had witnessed far too much of the malice and ugliness of human nature that outsiders never got to see.
“You are getting more and more out of hand! At yesterday’s engagement banquet, you actually just dumped Sheng Sheng alone like that. The whole of Jiangcheng watched her get stood up by you! How do you expect her to face people from now on? Where are your father and I supposed to put our old faces? How are we going to face the Xu family and Sheng Sheng’s parents in the future!”
Gu Hongyu argued back, his emotions running high.
“I told you all long ago that Xu Nansheng and I haven’t had feelings for each other for ages. My heart is only with Qing’er now! You were the ones who insisted on forcing an engagement banquet to back me into a corner.
She brought this on herself, and it is her own fault for being laughed at!
As for you guys, aren’t you tired of acting so hypocritical all day long?”
Gong Mishuang raised her hand, about to discipline this unfilial son, when she heard a crisp sound of footsteps approaching. Everyone looked toward the noise, and when they clearly saw who was coming, everyone froze.
Gu Beiyan? Why was he back?
At the center of everyone’s gaze, Gu Beiyan had his suit jacket off, draped over his arm. His black leather shoes struck the floor, making a sharp, rhythmic clack, clack, clack.
He had a tall and imposing figure. Even wearing just a shirt, it couldn’t hide the violent, oppressive aura emanating from him. His sharp, pitch-black eyes looked at people as if he wanted to tear them to pieces, striking awe and fear into their hearts.
When those sharp, dark eyes looked at Gu Hongyu, who was kneeling in the center of the hall, the corners of his mouth twitched in an imperceptible smirk.
When he raised his gaze to look at the others once more, he reverted to his usual cold, expressionless grim reaper persona.
When he left the Gu family, he was only twenty-two. Even though he was more mature than his peers and gave off a precocious vibe, he hadn’t possessed such overwhelming pressure back then.
Gu Baichuan, standing beside Gong Mishuang, was the first to speak. His voice was gentle, and his smile carried its usual parental warmth.
“Beiyan, when did you get back? Why didn’t you give us a heads-up so I could have Hongyu pick you up at the airport?”
Gu Beiyan gave a slight nod in greeting, the corners of his lips curving upward, though his smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“Second Brother, Second Sister-in-law.”
After greeting them, he walked straight toward Gu Yanjun, who was seated at the head of the room, and called out respectfully.
“Eldest Brother.”
There were quite significant age gaps among the three Gu brothers.
The eldest, Gu Yanjun, was sixty-five years old this year with graying hair. He was the person who had managed the Gu family’s industrial empire the longest and was its current head.
He had been married three times and had two sons and two daughters.
Because of the age gap, and because Gu Yanjun had always cared for and doted on Gu Beiyan exceptionally since childhood, rumors had even circulated back then that Gu Beiyan was actually Gu Yanjun’s illegitimate son.
The second brother, Gu Baichuan, was respected by everyone in Jiangcheng as the Second Master. He was Gu Hongyu’s father, fifty years old this year, and his wife, Gong Mishuang, was his childhood sweetheart from school days to marriage.
Everyone knew the Second Master of the Gu family as a Buddhist-like figure—someone who didn’t fight for family property or contend for power, devoting himself entirely to tending flowers and plants with his wife, and occasionally heading to temples to practice Buddhism and stay for ten days or half a month.
Yet, only a very few people knew that if it hadn’t been for that accident years ago that failed to take Gu Yanjun’s life, the person ruling the Gu family today would have been this very Buddhist Second Master.
The third brother, Gu Beiyan, was the illegitimate son of Old Master Ji who had been abandoned in his old age and was only found and brought back to the Gu family to be raised after his biological mother passed away from illness at age eight.
He had been groomed as the successor since childhood, and everyone thought his coming-of-age ceremony would be the moment his takeover of the group was announced. However, Gu Beiyan suddenly got into a car accident, followed by kidnappings and food poisoning—accidents happened one after another.
Eight years ago, when Gu Beiyan was twenty-two, Gu Yanjun suddenly banished him to Europe under the pretext of expanding overseas markets.
Today, he returned abruptly without notifying anyone, suddenly showing up at the Gu family old residence and giving everyone a massive surprise.
Including his eldest brother, Gu Yanjun, who had always doted on him.
Right now, although Gu Yanjun was surprised, it was also within his expectations. He glanced at him sideways and simply nodded in response, “You’re back?”
“Yeah, I heard about Hongyu’s engagement, so I came back.”
Upon hearing this, Gu Yanjun’s hand holding the teacup paused, and his expression turned gloomy.
In the living room, Gong Mishuang was still scolding her son.
“That Liang Xueqing clearly wants to use you as a stepping stone to fly up the branch and become a phoenix! Only someone as blind as you couldn’t see through such petty scheming.
Besides, when it comes to looks, family background, education, personality, or character, she is inferior to Sheng Sheng in every single way! You really are so used to eating delicacies that whenever you see a piece of shit on the side of the road, you think it smells extra special!”
Gu Baichuan stood up, wrapped an arm around his wife’s shoulders, patted her lightly to soothe her, and helped advise his son.
“Times have changed. We don’t talk about matching social status anymore, nor do we demand that you must marry a daughter from some specific family for a business alliance.
However, Hongyu, you must know that when choosing a wife, one should look for virtue. Liang Xueqing’s character alone is something your mother and I can never accept.”
This Liang Xueqing was one of the many children sponsored by the Xu family back in the day. She had good fortune, became college roommates and good friends with Xu Nansheng, and entered the Xu family’s enterprise right after graduation—a company others would break their heads trying to get into.
She enjoyed all the kindness and favors from the Xu family, yet in the end, she bit the hand that fed her. Behind Xu Nansheng’s back, she seduced Gu Hongyu, who was engaged to her, and even deliberately staged a minor car accident on the day of the engagement to lure Gu Hongyu away halfway. This left Xu Nansheng all alone at the engagement venue, turning her into the laughingstock of all Jiangcheng.
It also made him and his wife lose face.
With such scheming and betrayal, it was utterly impossible for them to let her into the family.
Only a reckless fool like Gu Hongyu could be blinded by her looks.
No matter how Gu Baichuan and Gong Mishuang tried to reason with him, Gu Hongyu stubbornly insisted that he would marry Liang Xueqing no matter what.
“If you guys don’t agree, then Qing’er and I will elope and never come back!”
“You unfilial brat!”
Even the usually gentle and refined Gu Baichuan lost his temper. He immediately raised his hand and swung hard toward Gu Hongyu’s right cheek.
Slap!
A loud slap rang out, and the noisy living room instantly fell so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
Gu Hongyu’s eyes were red as he looked at his parents as if they were his enemies. At that exact moment, Gu Beiyan, who had previously stayed out of it, suddenly spoke up. His tone was light and casual, yet under the dead silence, it reached Gu Hongyu’s ears word for word.
“If you’re really that unwilling, just forget it. Look at how far the kid has been pushed.”
Gu Yanjun frowned and cursed him lowly, “This is the second branch’s business! Why are you sticking your nose in it?!”
“Isn’t it just seeing that the kid is pitiful?”
Though he called him a kid, he was actually only eight years older than Gu Hongyu.
He spoke with total nonchalance, but it reignited hope and anger in the defeated Gu Hongyu. He stood up and angrily demanded:
“In your eyes, am I really not as important as Xu Nansheng?!
Are you guys my parents, or are you her parents?!”
Even his youngest uncle, who was always the most cold-hearted and ruthless, knew how to feel sorry for him and speak up for him, yet his own parents kept forcing him against his will!
The more Gu Hongyu thought about it, the angrier he became. He lost his sanity and began to speak recklessly.
“You guys keep saying that you don’t need me to do a business marriage, but put your hands on your hearts and ask yourselves: can you honestly say that pushing me to marry Xu Nansheng wasn’t because you had your eyes on the Xu family’s financial power and influence?
You always claim you’re Buddhist and have no desire to fight for family property, but having been suppressed by Big Uncle for so many years, can you honestly say you don’t have a shred of ambition to seize power?
Are you sure you don’t want to use the Xu family as backing to increase your chips in a power grab?!”
Gu Hongyu’s roar was deafening, like a sharp sword tearing away Gu Baichuan and his wife’s fig leaf, and tearing open the fake harmony of the Gu family as well.
Gu Baichuan snatched up a golf club from nearby, making a gesture to strike him down.
“You unfilial bastard! It’s bad enough that your own life is a total mess, but you’re also trying to sow discord between me and your Big Uncle! Watch me break your dog legs!”
In an instant, the living room was in absolute chaos, with a row so loud it was unbearable.
At that moment, Gu Yanjun threw the teacup in his hand hard.
Crash!
Porcelain fragments shattered all over the floor, and tea splashed across the ground as steam rose into the air.
“Enough! Just how much longer are you going to make a scene?!”
As soon as Gu Yanjun spoke, everyone fell silent.
Gu Baichuan and his son Gu Hongyu glared at each other, frozen in place by his words, not daring to take another step.
Only Gu Beiyan leisurely held his teacup, savoring the aroma of the tea, humming a tune triumphantly in his heart.
This worthless blockhead was still as brainless as before.
Argue, make a scene—three days from now, Sheng Sheng will be my wife.
Gu Yanjun spoke with a dark face.
“Second Brother, who Hongyu wants to marry is your family’s business; it’s not my place to interfere.
However, the matter with the Xu family must be handled properly. Right now, because of Hongyu, Sheng Sheng is being laughed at. You two need to sort this out within three days.
If you can’t handle it, I will.”
With that, Gu Yanjun leaned on his cane and stood up.
He had suffered an accident in his early years, leaving his right leg with a chronic ailment that made walking difficult.
The cane in his hand had been a gift from Gu Beiyan.
After walking a few steps away, Gu Yanjun turned back to look at him. His voice was cold and carried strict severity.
“Follow me.”
Gu Beiyan gave a calm response, put down his teacup, stood up, and followed his eldest brother to the study.
As he passed Gu Hongyu, he raised a hand and gently patted his shoulder in an encouraging gesture, which left Gu Hongyu both astonished and wild with joy.
Was his youngest uncle actually supporting him?