Xu Nansheng let out a laugh. “Don’t sing a double act here. This is my home, not a stage.
Gu Hongyu, you claim that I wedged myself in. Let me ask you, who is the one who cheated? And who is the little third party seducing someone else’s boyfriend?
Don’t make it sound like I am desperate to marry you. Gu Hongyu, get this straight: the ones begging for my forgiveness over and over again are your parents, the one apologizing to me again and again is you, and it is your family that is clinging on relentlessly, not me, Xu Nansheng!”
With the final sentence, she abruptly switched from Chinese to Portuguese, a seamless transition with no sense of awkwardness at all.
Gu Hongyu had originally intended to bend down and pull Liang Xueqing up, but halfway through, upon hearing Xu Nansheng’s words, he subconsciously replied in Portuguese as well.
“Qing’er and I are true love. You forcing me to get engaged to you makes you the third party. Xu Nansheng, matters of the heart have no order of arrival. You and I at best count as good friends with a pleasant dynamic, not romantic love between a man and a woman.
Besides, Xu Nansheng, I have had enough of you. Every single day being with you is a torture.”
In junior high, Xu Nansheng discovered that although the Xu and Gu families were fluent in several languages, no one spoke Portuguese.
Therefore, the two of them specifically learned Portuguese to use for secrets that they didn’t want the adults to know.
Now, he was using this secret language of the two of them to say to her, “Xu Nansheng, I have had enough of you.”
As the two of them blurted out their argument in Portuguese, the remaining few people at the table looked at each other in dismay.
Among them, Liang Xueqing’s expression was the ugliest.
She felt that Xu Nansheng was deliberately using such an obscure foreign language to humiliate her.
She clutched her chest and gave a light cough twice, successfully pulling Gu Hongyu back from the argument to her side.
He reached out to support her. “Qing’er, hurry up and get up. You are still very weak and need to rest more.”
The tenderness he showed her was something Xu Nansheng had never witnessed in all these years.
After helping her up, Gu Hongyu did not go back to his parents’ side, but instead sat down at the far end with Liang Xueqing.
Their ten fingers intertwined and resting on the table looked particularly glaring.
Gong Mishuang took the lead in erupting. “Gu Hongyu, what on earth are you doing? I told you to come and apologize, so why did you bring her here?!”
“Mom, I just want you to know that Qing’er and I are truly and deeply in love. You watched Xu Nansheng grow up, so you are definitely biased toward her and harbor prejudices against Qing’er. I can understand that, but can you please give Qing’er a chance, and give yourself a chance too?
I believe that once you understand Qing’er’s kindness, gentleness, consideration, and hard work, you will definitely grow to like her.”
“You!”
The look Gong Mishuang gave her son was filled with undisguised disgust.
The moment she thought about her son passing up a top-tier wealthy elite heiress like Xu Nansheng to insist on marrying such a green tea bitch who couldn’t even be picked out of a crowd, her heart hurt so much she felt like she was about to faint!
She looked at Liang Xueqing as if looking at a disaster star, wishing she could instantly tear the person to pieces and throw them into the ocean to feed the sharks.
Yet, given that they were currently at the Xu family’s residence, no matter how much she hated Liang Xueqing, she could do absolutely nothing.
Ironically, Liang Xueqing seemed to know this. Instead of backing down, she stood up and shielded Gu Hongyu behind her.
“Auntie, if you want to blame someone, please blame me. Don’t blame Hongyu. Just vent all your anger on me. I promise I will not talk back when scolded or fight back when hit, and I will accept any punishment you see fit, as long as you don’t hold it against Hongyu. Cough, cough, cough, cough.”
Gong Mishuang was already forced to swallow her anger because they were at the Xu home, and with Liang Xueqing phrasing it this way, it made it sound as though she was about to do something terrible to Gu Hongyu.
Gong Mishuang was so infuriated by her scheming words that with a wave of her hand, she accidentally knocked over the teacup beside her, spilling tea all over the table.
Gu Hongyu, who already believed that Liang Xueqing loved him to the very core of her being, was deeply moved after hearing Liang Xueqing’s words. Seeing that Gong Mishuang had started throwing cups, he immediately pulled her into his arms and loudly rebuked Gong Mishuang.
“What is wrong with us deeply loving each other? If you guys keep bullying Qing’er, don’t blame me for ignoring the ties of birth and cutting ties with you!”
Of course, Liang Xueqing couldn’t let him actually sever ties with his family. She hurriedly pulled Gu Hongyu back and softly persuaded him.
She talked about how parents had it difficult, how they all had their hidden hardships, and told him to be understanding toward his parents. Her understanding and tolerance made Gong Mishuang look like a venomous woman by comparison.
“Dad, Mom, did you see that? Even though you treat her like this, Qing’er is still speaking up for you. Don’t you feel ashamed?!”
Gong Mishuang was infuriated to the extreme by Liang Xueqing, and with her own biological son adding fuel to the fire, she was so angry she felt ready to explode on the spot.
The scene became increasingly chaotic. Amidst this farce, Gu Hongyu glanced at Xu Nansheng, who was standing aloof on the side. Thinking of his parents’ partiality over the years and how peers had mocked him since childhood as Xu Nansheng’s little child-bride, the anger in his heart rolled bigger and bigger like a snowball. Carried away by anger, he began splashing all sorts of dirty water onto Xu Nansheng.
“Xu Nansheng, it’s all your fault! If you hadn’t wedged yourself between Qing’er and me, refused to let go, and insisted on using the engagement to force me, our family wouldn’t have turned out like this!
You’ve been like this since you were a child, only caring about yourself and disregarding others!
Do you have any idea how difficult it was for Qing’er and me to try and stay together because of you? Because of you, Qing’er almost died! You murderer! You caused all of this! You’re a scourge, you should have…”
Gu Hongyu had always been like this since childhood; whenever he lost his temper, he would speak without any filter.
Before he could utter any more words that would hurt Xu Nansheng, Gu Beiyan, sitting at the center of the farce, curved his fingers and tapped lightly against the table. His low, magnetic, and mellow voice carried an undeniable authority.
Not only did Gu Hongyu quiet down, but even Gong Mishuang quieted down.
Only Liang Xueqing continued to sob softly, looking like a wronged little daughter-in-law.
As for Gu Baichuan, he stood on the side with a dark face, his gaze toward the group filled with absolute disgust.
Xu Lingyue and Dong Man wore gloomy expressions. They had watched Gu Hongyu grow up, and because he had a close relationship with Sheng Sheng since childhood, he ran over to the Xu family quite often.
While they couldn’t say they treated him like their own biological son, they had treated him very well.
They had originally thought he was just immature and lacked judgment in reading people, but they never expected him to be so blind, ungrateful, and heartless to this extent.
Sheng Sheng treated him so well, yet he cheated first without feeling any sense of wrongness, and even wanted to shift all the blame onto Sheng Sheng.
The two of them were so angry their complexions darkened and their gazes turned as sharp as knives, wishing they could carve open Gu Hongyu’s chest to see whether his heart was black or red.
Just as they were about to speak, Gu Beiyan spoke first, putting a stop to this farce.
He raised his chin slightly, carrying a trace of displeasure, and used his low, magnetic voice to sternly remind Gu Hongyu.
“Don’t forget why you are here.”
His tone was serious and laden with reprimand.
In Gu Hongyu’s eyes, his youngest uncle represented his eldest uncle. At that moment, he finally realized that his youngest uncle wasn’t being kind by bringing him along, but was instead representing his eldest uncle to supervise him.
Gu Baichuan also more or less understood why Gu Beiyan was here. He stepped forward, reached out, and gave Gu Hongyu a push on the shoulder, his face as dark as the bottom of a pot.
“You are the one who failed Sheng Sheng! Why aren’t you apologizing to Sheng Sheng right now?!”
Gu Hongyu clenched his teeth and fists, speaking with utter reluctance.
“Sheng Sheng, I’m sorry, but there is no possibility between us. You might as well give up on that thought early. My heart only holds Qing’er, and I could never possibly like you in this lifetime.”
“You…” Gong Mishuang’s chest heaved violently with rage, and just as she was about to scold him, she saw Xu Nansheng step forward and halt right in front of Gu Hongyu.
Following that, a crisp slap echoed out, leaving everyone stunned. For a moment, the reception room fell into absolute silence.