The Xu family was inevitably dragged into the fallout of the incident.
Although Xu Yingjia and Gu Nianqing were technically the victims of the bullying—and Xu Yingjia hadn’t even been involved in what happened at the square—Gu Nianqing had been there.
Anyone with eyes could see she was the one being excluded and targeted. But when an avalanche happens, not a single snowflake is considered innocent.
Gu Nianqing didn’t escape punishment.
Xu Mingzhen gripped a wooden rod thicker than her arm and brought it down mercilessly on the small figure curled up in the corner.
“You’re just like your mother—nothing but trouble!”
He was truly enraged. What Gu Nianqing had done hadn’t caused major damage to the Xu family—but it was no different from openly turning against the entire elite circle of Beijing.
“Why wasn’t it you who died back then?! Huh?! If it had been Kangkang—”
Under Zhou Ya’s icy glare, he abruptly shut his mouth.
Gu Nianqing cried out loudly, her sharp, childlike sobs echoing through the house.
Hearing her cry, Xu Yingjia—already on the verge of tears from fear—burst into sobs as well.
Their cries overlapped, louder and louder, filling the entire space.
Xu Mingzhen’s ears rang from the noise. Finally, he stopped.
“Both of you, shut up!”
Gu Nianqing instantly fell silent. Her fox-like eyes were wet, making her look pitiful.
Xu Mingzhen panted heavily and jabbed a finger at her forehead.
“What a disgrace to the family! How did I end up with a child like you?!”
Gu Nianqing looked straight at him and asked calmly:
“Mr. Xu, if that Young Master Shen treats Miss this badly… what do you think he’d do if he saw Kangkang?”
“You insolent brat!”
Xu Mingzhen’s sore spot had been struck. He slapped her hard.
Her small body spun from the force and collapsed onto the ground. When she looked up, blood trickled from her nose.
This time, she didn’t cry out.
But Xu Yingjia, seeing the blood, cried even harder.
“That’s enough!”
Zhou Ya couldn’t stand it any longer and stepped in.
She had someone take Xu Yingjia away, then pulled Gu Nianqing behind her.
“Xu Mingzhen, you know exactly what kind of person that Shen boy is. What—are you unhappy that Nianqing stood up for Yingjia? Or is it because she wasn’t protecting your dead son instead?!”
“Zhou Ya!”
Xu Mingzhen pointed the stick at her, hands trembling with rage.
“You’re really going to bring up a dead child?!”
Zhou Ya raised an eyebrow, staring straight at the stick in front of her.
“What, you planning to hit me too?”
Grinding his teeth, Xu Mingzhen threw the stick aside and stormed out.
Zhou Ya called for the family doctor to bring a medical kit and motioned for Gu Nianqing to come over.
The little girl hugged herself, her face pale, streaked with blood and tears.
Even though Zhou Ya knew very well she was Gu Sheng’s daughter, the sight still made her heart tighten.
And yet—
There was no real grievance in the child’s expression.
Only confusion.
Zhou Ya suddenly had a strange thought:
Is she just crying because it hurts… physically?
The idea sent a chill down her spine.
“…Nianqing, come here and get treated first.”
Gu Nianqing limped over and sat on the sofa.
As the doctor gently applied medicine to her arm, the tingling sensation made her chuckle—only for the swelling on her cheek to make her wince right after.
The family doctor: ……
Zhou Ya didn’t know what to say.
“You’ve got quite the mindset.”
Gu Nianqing quickly stopped smiling and pressed her lips together.
“Madam,” she asked, puzzled,
“This isn’t really what I imagined a ‘good life’ would be like.”
Zhou Ya paused.
“…You did make quite a mess.”
Gu Nianqing pouted, finally showing a hint of appropriate grievance.
“But Shen Yu called Miss stupid…”
Seeing Zhou Ya’s expression darken instantly, the girl’s voice grew more justified:
“So I just wanted to see how smart he was. Turns out… not that impressive.”
Cough, cough, cough—
Outside the door, Xu Mingzhen choked on his cigarette.
He couldn’t help coming back in.
“You—you did that on purpose…?”
He didn’t even know how to describe what she had done.
In their world, privilege was always understood without being spoken. No one ever dragged it out into the open.
Except that spoiled brat from the Shen family—
And somehow, his own daughter—like some kind of little monster—had seized on it and blown it up completely.
What kind of child turns a simple quarrel… into a lightning strike from the sky?
It was said that even Shen Yu had been beaten by the Shen family patriarch and punished by being made to kneel in the ancestral hall—a first in his life.
Xu Mingzhen’s head buzzed. The way he looked at Gu Nianqing completely changed.
This… is really his and Gu Sheng’s child?
Are his genes really that good?
This wasn’t just childish mischief anymore. If the girl truly thought this way, then the “cards” in his hand had just changed entirely.
A strange sense of excitement rose in his chest. Even though he tried to keep a stern face, his voice softened noticeably.
“Qingqing… how did you come up with something like that?”
But his gentler tone only startled Gu Nianqing. She flinched and instinctively scooted closer to Zhou Ya.
Xu Mingzhen: ……
Zhou Ya shot him a glare and shoved him back.
“Now you want to ask? Where was all this thinking when you were hitting her just now?”
“I was just—” Xu Mingzhen began to argue, but when he met Gu Nianqing’s steady gaze, irritation flared again.
“What’s with that look? You think I shouldn’t have hit you?”
Gu Nianqing shook her head.
“Mr. Xu, I just don’t understand—if Shen Yu did something wrong, and I punished him, why are you so angry?”
Xu Mingzhen’s face twitched.
“What did you just call me?!”
She ignored his fixation on the title and continued calmly,
“If my method was wrong, then what should I do next time?”
Xu Mingzhen choked for a few seconds, then asked in disbelief:
“You got beaten like this, and you’re already thinking about doing it again next time?!”
His daughter looked even more shocked than he did.
“Then what? Next time Shen Yu bullies Miss, I’m supposed to just stand there and watch?”
There was now a hint of suspicion in her eyes as she looked at him.
She was starting to seriously wonder if Xu Mingzhen simply didn’t want her to live a good life.
New clothes. A big room. A soft princess bed. All kinds of delicious food…
This dream-like life—she had only enjoyed it for a few weeks.
But before that?
She had fought for it for two whole years.
Two years of effort just to prove her value to Zhou Ya and earn the promise of a better life.
And this time dealing with Shen Yu—it was her debut performance.
The outcome had been perfect.
Yet this man—this man she was supposed to call father—was dismissing all her efforts so unreasonably.
Being born into this world with such an embarrassing identity—fine.
Growing up without a father like other children—fine.
She didn’t even care for a father she couldn’t be proud of.
But if he tried to destroy the good life she had fought so hard to gain—
That was absolutely unacceptable.
He’s so annoying!
The more she thought about it, the more anxious she became. Even the wounds on her arms and legs started to itch.
She shifted restlessly, then looked at Zhou Ya with a silent plea for help.
Xu Mingzhen clearly sensed it—
Her rejection of him.
And her reliance on Zhou Ya.
…What the hell was going on?
Zhou Ya drove Xu Mingzhen out of the living room and dismissed the family doctor, who still looked like he’d just witnessed something unreal.
Taking over herself, she finished applying medicine, then led Gu Nianqing into her study.
Looking at the little girl sitting in the chair, her legs dangling in midair because they couldn’t reach the ground, Zhou Ya felt a complicated mix of emotions.
She shook her head and sighed.
“Qingqing… you really are a different kind of child.”
She poured her a cup of honey water. The sweet liquid made Gu Nianqing’s eyes light up the moment it touched her lips, and she gulped it down eagerly.
“Slow down,” Zhou Ya said. “Soothe your throat—you cried so much your voice is hoarse.”
“Thank you… cough… thank you, Madam.”
Zhou Ya nodded, pleased by her manners.
Then she suddenly asked,
“Qingqing, why don’t you want to take the Xu surname? Why don’t you call Old Xu ‘Dad’?”
Gu Nianqing blinked.
“Isn’t a dad supposed to live in the same house as the mom?”
Zhou Ya froze.
Gu Nianqing continued matter-of-factly:
“Mr. Xu promised my mom he’d bring us to the Xu family. Then he could live with her. But now Mom’s in prison, and they’re still not living together… so he’s still just ‘Mr. Xu.’”
Zhou Ya raised an eyebrow.
“He promised that? …Hah. What a bastard.”
Gu Nianqing sat up straight, clutching her cup, afraid of being caught in Zhou Ya’s rising anger.
She asked cautiously,
“Madam… did I really do something wrong this time? But Shen Yu, he—”
“You didn’t do it wrong, Qingqing,” Zhou Ya interrupted gently.
“You’re very smart. You always get full marks. Your teachers have told me your problem-solving methods are even beyond your grade level.”
She paused, then added:
“But this time… your method was like beating up the person who wrote the question.”
“Ah!”
Gu Nianqing jumped in surprise.
She suddenly began to understand why Xu Mingzhen had been so furious.
But she was still confused.
“…But I borrowed a higher-grade politics textbook once. It said—”
“Yes,” Zhou Ya cut in softly.
“What’s written in textbooks… isn’t the same as the rules of the world we live in.”
Zhou Ya understood her confusion.
But in their circle, too many things couldn’t be spoken outright—only understood.
“Qingqing,” she said, looking at her steadily,
“the ‘good life’ you want is built on a completely different set of rules than what’s written in those books. You need to learn how to play by this circle’s rules.”
“Rules!”
Gu Nianqing’s eyes lit up instantly.
“What kind of rules?”
Her gaze sparkled, like it held an entire universe—ready to absorb this brand-new world she was about to step into.