Gu Jia's heart stalled as she saw Mrs. Liu walking towards her. Her hands and feet turned ice-cold. "I...I didn't say anything...Mother...you heard wrong...I didn't say anything."
"Slap!"
A crisp, vicious slap landed on Gu Jia's face.
Gu Jia's body tilted to one side, and the slapped cheek swelled up high.
She licked the trace of blood oozing from the corner of her mouth, slowly raised her head, and stared at Mrs. Liu. This slap had stripped away their mother-daughter relationship. Would her mother still dote on her like before?
She couldn't hold back. Tears rolled down her eyes. "Mother, you hit me?"
Tears brimmed in Mrs. Liu's eyes. She was full of disappointment for the daughter in front of her. "Wicked child! It was you who harmed your sister back then?!"
Gu Jia yelled hysterically, "It wasn't me who harmed her! It was you! It was all you!"
Mrs. Liu shook her head, eyes bloodshot. "She fell into the pond in the winter. Only you were with her. I thought you didn't manage to grab her in time and felt guilty for her, so I kept comforting you! But now you tell me that you pushed her into the pond?!"
"So what if I pushed her! If you hadn't always cared only about her and neglected me, would I have wanted to kill her?!"
Gu Jia's words slapped Mrs. Liu hard.
Mrs. Liu cried loudly and slapped Gu Jia twice more.
Gnashing her teeth, she said, "Do you know...do you know your sister was already weak, and she was only ten! She was still a child! You were also still a child, yet your heart was so vicious!"
Gu Jia was tongue-tied. How could she explain to this woman who loved her daughter more than life?
How could she say that she didn't initially intend to kill Gu Min? But Gu Min insisted on sharing the new hairpin Mother gave her. She felt annoyed, jealous and resentful, so she gave her a hard push in that moment.
When she pushed Gu Min down, she regretted it and thought of pulling her back up.
But remembering how Mother always favored Gu Min, the hand reaching for Gu Min retracted...
"Mother..." Gu Jia felt awful and full of regret. She crawled over and hugged Mrs. Liu's legs, crying bitterly, "I didn't mean it...I really didn't mean it! Mother, please forgive me! I'm your only daughter! Mother!"
Mrs. Liu's eyes darkened completely.
She closed her eyes, then opened them slowly. She pried Gu Jia's fingers off one by one, her face full of disappointment and chill.
"Mother," Mrs. Liu said weakly. "I don't have such a vicious daughter who would kill her own sister. You can decide how to deal with her."
No one expected that after an afternoon of rituals, Master QingFeng would reveal the culprit to be Gu Jia.
Disappointed, Gu Boyan shook his head at his increasingly useless eldest daughter, even more displeased with her.
Aunt Zhao and Wang Auntie didn't make a sound, just glancing contemptuously at Gu Jia. Who didn't know how deeply Mrs. Liu grieved for her dead daughter?
Gu Min's memorial tablet was enshrined daily in the chapel, incense offered on holidays, and the maid responsible for cleaning would be beaten if any dust fell on it.
After investigating the killer for so long, nearly eight years, the truth spilled from Gu Jia's own lips. How could Mrs. Liu not feel disappointed and hurt?
The more hurt Mrs. Liu felt, the more delighted Aunt Zhao and Wang Auntie became.
Gu Old Madam stared grimly at Gu Jia. "Master's calculations are unfathomable. I wonder, how does Master think this wicked child should be dealt with?"
Master QingFeng stroked his beard and closed his eyes, counting on his fingers. "Confine her for three months to atone for the resentful spirit. Once the injustice is redressed, Old Madam can come to this poor monk again for other arrangements."
Gu Old Madam always obeyed Master QingFeng. She immediately had Li Mama and several maidservants who signed death contracts grab Gu Jia and cover her mouth. Her tone was devoid of feeling. "Take her to the remote tranquil room in the backyard and lock her up."
Gu Jia shook her head in panic, staring pleadingly at Mrs. Liu.
But Mrs. Liu just cried, not even glancing at her.
Gu Boyan was even more disappointed in this daughter. Furious, he bellowed, "Wicked child! It would have been better if you died!"
Tears brimming, Gu Jia looked at her once doting parents and grandmother who had arranged everything neatly. The deeper their past doting, the heavier their disgust and hatred now.
She let out a loud wail as she was dragged away, sobbing and whimpering.
The farce gradually came to an end.
Watching this absurdity unfold from the shadows, Gu Ying was extremely excited, then gradually calmed down.
She watched Gu Jia being taken away, Mrs. Liu's lonely and disappointed look, and Grandmother's cold, heartless old face.
She both wanted to laugh and cry.
After being tortured by them for a lifetime, a full ten bitter years, she had lived in their shadows.
But after tonight, she would never be restricted by them again. She would completely control the entire Gu residence and repay all the enmity and hatred from her previous life!
An elegant figure had appeared behind her at some point. His deep voice said, "Don't be afraid, it's over now."
Gu Ying's eyelashes fluttered, and a teardrop rolled down.
She turned back in surprise and saw the handsome man with a tall, sturdy build. He stood amidst the pure white fluttering snow, brows and eyes as exquisite as a painting, nonchalant and aloof.
Those eyes were an extremely dark black. Occasionally some faint candlelight shone into them, as if harboring countless stars, making people irresistibly sink into them.
It took her some time to regain her senses. Her lips moved numbly.
"Your Highness, you—"
Zhao Changdu chuckled lightly. Lowering his thick long lashes, he grasped her cold little hand in his large one. "Hearing that Hui'an told me about your plans today, I worried there might be mistakes, so I came to take a look."
Gu Ying's heart choked. What's the point of him having such long lashes, more beautiful than a woman's, if he wouldn't even let her live?
Her attention was completely drawn by his unparalleled looks, and she didn't even notice her hand being enveloped in warmth.
"So Jiang Yin—"
"I knocked him out and threw him behind the artificial hill."
Gu Ying froze, then smiled wryly. She had been anxious for so long, yet he had already arranged her escape route.
"What, unhappy about it?"
"No..."
"Then why do you look so worried?"
Gu Ying fell silent. She just felt unable to bear it. No one had ever been so good to her. His kindness to her, she didn't know how to repay.
The man raised his eyes. His heated gaze looked at her as he stroked the snowflakes on her lashes.
Gu Ying blinked, feeling the warmth from his palm. Perhaps it was too cold out. No one's heart could be trusted. But the person before her was willing to help even after seeing her vicious and ruthless means. Never cherished so much by anyone before, her eyes grew hot. Amidst the winter, her eyes lit up with smiles like a hundred flowers blooming.
