10
As Yan Wenbai went upstairs, Yan Wenjia’s tightly shut door suddenly opened.
The two exchanged a glance, indifference in each other’s eyes.
Yan Wenjia’s gaze dropped to the insulated food jar.
“She sent that to you?”
Yan Wenbai answered flatly, “Mm.”
“Isn’t she a bit too late to start trying so hard to please the Yan family?” Yan Wenjia’s words didn’t carry any mockery; he seemed genuinely puzzled and curious.
Yan Wenbai couldn’t answer such a question.
They had never known much about her to begin with…
Yan Wenbai pressed his lips together, feeling a bit foolish for still holding the insulated jar. As he turned toward the kitchen downstairs, he said impatiently, “Oh. Maybe she’s possessed.”
Yan Wenjia quietly watched him walk away, then closed the bedroom door.
He lounged lazily against the sofa, flipping through a magazine for a while, then playing three rounds of a game, browsing Weibo to enjoy the day’s stupid comments, and even watching a movie.
Still, he couldn’t wait for Gu Xueyi to come to his door.
Yan Wenjia pursed his lips tightly.
…Was that it?
He had thought she would take the opportunity to go on a tirade, put on her “sister-in-law” airs, pour out chicken soup for the soul, lecture him with grand principles, or even curse him out directly—wishing she could tear him apart with her bare hands.
But no… none of it happened.
Their interaction had begun when she pressed him firmly underwater, and it ended there as well.
He felt as if he were merely an insignificant ant that had happened to pass by under her nose.
With a merciful heart, she had picked up that ant and set it aside. And then… and then nothing more.
On the set, she hadn’t spoken to him again, nor had she so much as spared him an extra glance.
Back at the Yan family home, it was the same… She gave him less attention than she gave Yan Wenbai.
Yan Wenjia suddenly crushed the earphones in his hand, deforming them. Then he got up and went to bed.
Staring at the ceiling…
Another day that seemed unbearable, without any sense of purpose in living.
Yan Wenjia suppressed his restlessness and closed his eyes.
Meanwhile, Gu Xueyi—the one who was actually “possessed”—sat in her bedroom, slowly and methodically tending to her skincare routine based on her memories and information gathered from the internet.
It was less complicated than in her own era, but far more effective.
After finishing that, she leisurely enjoyed her dinner and some fruit afterward, then took another hot bath before going to sleep.
The little dress she had bought at the mall, Gu Xueyi didn’t throw away. Instead, she hung it in the closet.
No matter how wealthy a family was, unnecessary waste should be avoided.
The members of the Yan family were no longer children. The temperaments they had developed hadn’t been formed in a day. Correcting them wouldn’t happen overnight either. Let them sit and stew for a while…
One by one, the names—Yan Zhao, Yan Wenbai, Yan Wenjia—slowly faded from Gu Xueyi’s mind. She slept well.
The next day, Gu Xueyi went about her routine as usual: getting up, washing up, and eating a Chinese-style breakfast.
The villa was extremely quiet.
“Fourth Young Master has gone to school.”
“Second Young Master… Second Young Master hasn’t stirred yet.”
Perhaps afraid that Gu Xueyi might do something rash, the maid quickly added, “Second Young Master doesn’t allow anyone to disturb him while he’s resting, so… so he probably won’t come down in the morning.”
“Mm, I see,” Gu Xueyi said calmly.
The maid cautiously studied her expression, confirming several times that Gu Xueyi truly wasn’t angry, before finally walking away relieved.
Perhaps because of the scene Gu Xueyi had made when Jiang Yue came calling, the Yan family, even without Yan Zhao, no longer seemed to see threats lurking in every shadow. Even after learning that Jian Changming was coming, the household continued to run smoothly…
It wasn’t yet afternoon. Jian Changming hadn’t arrived, but Gu Xuemin and his wife showed up first.
Wanting to learn more, Gu Xueyi turned to the maid and asked, “When was the last time they came to the Yan family home?”
The maid was dumbfounded.
It took her a long while before she finally managed to say, “It seems… it seems it was last year, on the day you and Mr. Yan got married?”
Gu Xueyi: “…”
That was a long time ago.
When Jiang Yue had come calling before, they hadn’t called, let alone shown up in person.
Now, the reason for their visit was obvious…
Because of Jian Changming?
In the original owner’s memories, she had a good relationship with her parents. After all, Gu Xuemin and his wife had put in tremendous effort and taken a huge gamble to help her marry Yan Zhao. In the early years, they had spared no expense on the original owner in hopes that she could marry into a higher-status family in high society.
Unfortunately, building someone purely with money and resulted in exactly the kind of person the original owner had turned out to be… self-evident.
It wasn’t hard to imagine that Gu Xuemin and his wife were hardly any better.
For now, Gu Xueyi didn’t want to get tangled up in any trouble outside the Yan family. Nor was she afraid of criticism…
“Keep them out,” Gu Xueyi said.
“Huh?” The maid was stunned. Her voice faltered. “K-keep them out?”
The maid’s eyes met Gu Xueyi’s expression, and she realized she wasn’t joking.
“But if they refuse to leave…”
“Then let them wait outside the door.” We’ll see who caves first.
“But what if people outside criticize the Yan family…”
“My personality is willful, eccentric, and I have a terrible temper. Isn’t it perfectly normal for me to do something like this?” Gu Xueyi asked calmly.
“…” That… actually makes a bit of sense.
The maid looked at her composed, unruffled demeanor and suddenly felt as if she were in a different lifetime.
If not for this, how could the madam have changed so completely, like a different person?
She didn’t care at all about what others thought of her, freely describing herself that way. Yet the more she did so, the harder it became to associate those negative words with her.
Ever since Gu Xueyi married Yan Zhao, Gu Xuemin and his wife had been waiting to reap benefits from the Yan family. Yes, it was true that some people, simply out of respect for the Yan family’s name without the Yan family even having to say a word—had automatically offered them certain conveniences…
But soon, they could no longer enjoy those conveniences.
Aside from that, they hadn’t received any substantial benefits at all.
How could Gu Xuemin and his wife be content?
They waited and waited, and now, Yan Zhao had gone missing.
It seemed that this move had been a mistake—the Yan family might be on a downward slide… But then Jian Changming, as Yan Zhao’s close friend, was personally coming to visit. Did that mean there was still hope for Yan Zhao’s situation? Perhaps they could even take the opportunity to build a good relationship with Jian Changming!
Having waited this long, Gu Xuemin and his wife naturally weren’t willing to leave easily. They simply waited outside the door.
They didn’t wait for Gu Xueyi to open the door, but they did wait for Yan Zhao’s secretary.
Yan Zhao’s secretary was named Chen Yujin. He had inherited some of Yan Zhao’s style and was a smiling tiger.
A few years ago, a major figure in the industry whom Gu Xuemin had once paid respects to had suffered greatly at Chen Yujin’s hands. Gu Xuemin had witnessed it firsthand, and it had left a bit of a shadow on him.
Even without seeing Yan Zhao himself, the moment the car window rolled down and that smiling face of Chen Yujin appeared, Gu Xuemin instinctively shrank back.
“Mr. Chen,” Gu Xuemin greeted him.
Jian Changming must be about to arrive!
Otherwise, Chen Yujin wouldn’t be here!
Thinking of Jian Changming’s imminent arrival made Gu Xuemin bolder. “I don’t know what’s going on today. Maybe Xueyi hasn’t gotten up yet. The servants in this villa aren’t very clever either, they just won’t open the door and let us in…”
Chen Yujin smiled. “I’ll go in first and see what the problem is.”
Gu Xuemin was about to say “Alright,” when his mental radar went off. He suddenly realized if Chen Yujin went in first, wouldn’t they still be locked out? And Chen Yujin certainly wasn’t going to come back and help them!
No one in the Yan family, from top to bottom, including the people under Yan Zhao, took the Gu family seriously at all!
“Then I’ll go in with you, Mr. Chen.” Gu Xuemin opened his car door and stepped forward. “I’d like to see how you get them to open the door.”
Chen Yujin was somewhat annoyed.
He turned and signaled the driver to step on the gas.
The gate to the Yan family villa soon opened.
Chen Yujin’s car drove through.
Gu Xuemin started to follow on foot, but then remembered that the property was quite large and he would still have a distance to walk. He turned back to get his car. But just as he sat back inside, the gate closed again.
Gu Xuemin’s face darkened. He couldn’t help but curse silently.
Every single one of them looks down on me, don’t they!
Chen Yujin quickly entered the house.
The maid said, “Madam is upstairs reading a book.”
Reading a book?
Chen Yujin found it amusing.
Could it be How to Capture a Man’s Heart, or perhaps How to Get More Assets in a Divorce?
Chen Yujin found it funny, and a hint of amusement showed on his face—though it came across as a polite smile.
He went upstairs.
Gu Xueyi was just getting up from the sofa, her bare feet on the thick, plush carpet. For some reason, a small freezer sat beside the sofa. Gu Xueyi was crouching down, taking something out of it…
Hearing footsteps, Gu Xueyi turned her head unhurriedly.
“Care for some afternoon tea?” Gu Xueyi asked.
Unlike with Jiang Yue.
The visitor was Yan Zhao’s secretary—one of “their own.”
She wore no makeup, dressed in a soft, emerald-green loungewear set made of satin with excellent drape, which made her slender figure look even more elegant.
The deep color didn’t age her, instead, it gave her a unique, noble air and made her fair skin look even more radiant.
Light streamed in through the window behind her, crowning her with a halo of light, making her breathtakingly beautiful.
The Yan family villa was extremely quiet.
Yan Wenjia and the others were absent, showing no intention of helping their sister-in-law out or taking on the responsibility of meeting Jian Changming. Not that it would have mattered if they were there.
Chen Yujin wasn’t surprised by this.
But what did surprise him was Gu Xueyi herself.
She was Gu Xueyi, yet she wasn’t like Gu Xueyi at all.
She had returned to sit on the sofa, slightly slouched, extending her slender fingers to push the plate of fruit forward. “Want some?”
Her posture was calm and composed.
For an instant, Chen Yujin thought he was seeing another Yan Zhao.
Downstairs.
Another car arrived at the Yan family home.
Gu Xuemin had finally waited for the car he had been hoping for.
But when the window rolled down, the face revealed was not Jian Changming’s, but that of a woman around thirty.
“I’m Jian Rui. I’m here to visit Mrs. Yan.”
“My uncle is already at Yan Corporation waiting for Mr. Chen.”
Jian Changming had felt that going to the Yan home was quite unnecessary. He had returned to the capital because of Yan Zhao’s situation. For matters concerning Yan Zhao, meeting with Chen Yujin was enough. As for placating Yan Zhao’s family, he could leave that to Jian Rui.
Meanwhile, Chen Yujin had taken a seat across from Gu Xueyi.
Gu Xueyi had switched to another book. Beside her lay the one she had been reading halfway through. The cover read—
The Human Chair.
Chen Yujin’s gaze paused.
That happened to be a book he quite liked.
**
Author’s Thoughts:
Chen Yujin’s timing was unlucky. If he had come tomorrow, Gu Xueyi might have been reading “Postpartum Care for Sows.”