Chapter Thirteen: Subsequent Compensation (Part 2)

Night had fallen.

The lights of Mingmu Town shone bright.

“This Gu Yaming sings quite well, you know. I heard he’s released a new song lately, but there’s something oddly familiar about the melody,” said Chen Yuan, who loved to join in any excitement, yet was always attentive to the smallest detail.

The boy on stage looked to be eighteen or nineteen, delicate and handsome in appearance.

Looking closer, one could see he bore some resemblance to Gu Zhiheng.

Perhaps they were family—such similarity would be only natural.

“Aran, don’t you think the song he’s singing sounds familiar?” Some of those lyrics, she felt, she’d heard somewhere before.

“Yes, it’s almost eighty or ninety percent similar to the poems Aheng wrote. It’s no wonder you find it familiar.” As expected, the Gu family’s fools had been deceived.

A star in the music scene? In his dreams!

“Sis, is this your handiwork?” Why would Chu Xingran do this—was it for himself?

It didn’t seem likely. If he wished to return to the Gu family, he could have done so openly as the current head. Even if Grandmother was displeased, she wouldn’t show it directly; at most, she’d stir up trouble behind the scenes.

But for such a young boy to be drawn into this—it seemed rather unjust.

No matter the grudges, they were between him and the elders of the Gu family. Involving the younger generation was truly unfair.

“Heh, do you really think there’s anything good left in your precious Gu family?” A bunch of insatiable, greedy fools.

If not for her promise to Gu Zhiheng and those old ghosts in the ancestral hall, she’d have wiped out the entire Gu family already.

Outwardly, they all seemed so refined, but behind closed doors, they were worse than beasts.

Had they not set fire to the ancestral hall all those years ago, she wouldn’t have hated them so deeply.

If not for that incident, Gu Zhiheng would have regained his memory long ago—none of these troubles would have followed.

So, in her eyes, every member of the Gu family deserved their fate.

“All right, let’s just listen to the music.” Gu Zhiheng’s heart was restless.

He had no interest in whoever was singing on stage; all he felt was that everyone was keeping him in the dark, hiding everything from him.

Clearly, Mo Han had taken action against him, stopping him from taking the blood from his brow.

But a whole day had passed and no one had mentioned it, as if the three of them truly were here only for a holiday.

His thoughts were a tangled mess, and, feeling vexed, Gu Zhiheng turned and left the crowd.

He was never fond of such bustling scenes; the noise always made his mind feel all the more muddled.

He found a bench by the park and sat down, letting the gentle night breeze carry his annoyance slowly away.

“So, you’ve come back, but you don’t even think to return home?” The voice was shrill enough to make Gu Zhiheng’s ears ache.

It was clearly a young, pretty girl, but she spoke like an old witch.

With a touch of disdain, Gu Zhiheng replied, “And why should I go back? To hear your complaints, or to watch your faces?”

He would go back—of course he would.

He’d go back so they could see for themselves who the true clown was, who really held the power in the Gu family.

The Gu family would always bear the name Gu.

And its affairs could only be settled by its own; outsiders had neither say nor right to interfere.

The girl hung her head, her tone pleading. “Mom misses you. Can’t you at least go see her?”

The girl sitting across from Gu Zhiheng was his younger sister, Gu Zhixia, five years his junior.

She was, at least on the surface, the only one in the family who still showed him any warmth.

“It was eldest sister who set the fire—I have video evidence. If you go see Mom, I’ll give you the video.” Gu Zhixia felt miserable. Why did her brother never trust her?

“My affairs are none of your concern. I’ve already paid a million and a bottle of thirty-thousand-yuan red wine as compensation for her.” The rest was for Gu Zhixin to settle.

Did she really think that just because there was no surveillance, they couldn’t get evidence?

Even without legal means, they had their ways to deal with her.

Wasn’t she adept at magic?

Then let him, the head of the family, see for himself just how much Gu Zhixin had learned, and how far she’d come.

...

“Your Gu family is worth nothing! If it weren’t for Aheng, I’d have finished you all long ago!” Chu Xingran’s face was twisted with hatred as she lashed out at the old matriarch of the Gu family.

They’d been watching the younger generation perform, but when it ended, Gu Zhiheng was nowhere to be found.

Chu Xingran had searched everywhere she could, but there hadn’t been a single clue as to his whereabouts.

In the end, a drunken Mo Han told her that Gu Zhiheng had been taken back to the family estate, and was in an awkward situation.

Hearing this, Chu Xingran dashed to the Gu house, kicked the main doors open, and stormed inside.

She cared nothing for the so-called elders of the Gu family.

Seeing the old matriarch trembling with rage on the sofa, Gu Zhiheng’s face was just as cold. For this woman, who had always treated him with hostility, he could muster no respect.

“Well? Are you deaf or mute? I’m speaking to you!” Suddenly, Gu Zhiheng’s demeanor shifted, and he glared fiercely at everyone in the living room.

If Gu Zhixia hadn’t insisted on bringing him back, he wouldn’t have known that this old witch had forbidden his mother’s hospital treatment, dragging out her illness until now she was at death’s door.

“Have you all forgotten? This family bears the name Gu, and I, Gu Zhiheng, am now its head.” As he spoke, he smashed the cup at hand at the old witch’s feet.

She was clearly unconvinced. “You? You’ve never spent a day in this house. How could you be in charge?”

Smack—a stinging slap landed squarely on the old matriarch’s face.

Unable to bear her arrogance, Chu Xingran struck out, both with her hand and with her words. “What did you promise the old master before he died? If Gu Zhiheng can’t lead the family, you think you can?”

“Just this afternoon, Gu Zhixin tried to murder her own brother by setting a fire. And tonight, you want to torment your own grandson to death?” Chen Yuan, too, could no longer stand the ugliness of the Gu family, and spoke out in indignation.

“Wretched woman—you’ve turned the world upside down!” Suddenly, a booming man’s voice rang out from the staircase.

Everyone in the living room stared in shock at the speaker, unable to believe their eyes.

“You shameless woman, always scheming and swapping things in secret. Tonight, I’m divorcing you—get out of my house!”

With that, a glaring red divorce certificate was thrown in the old woman’s face.

Look at that—even the old man had been provoked into returning from the ancestral hall!

“Send Gu Zhixin, that unfilial wretch, to prison for attempted murder,” he ordered. Truly, the old master wasted no time in taking decisive action.

“Have all her assets checked and compensate Mr. Mo and Miss Chu. The rest goes to Zhiheng.”

Having made his intentions clear, he left the Gu house with a look of bitter disappointment.

“Does anyone else have anything to say?” At that moment, Gu Zhiheng exuded a commanding presence, as if he stood above all.

This was his true nature.

Now, the Gu family members were left speechless. Even the old master had been provoked into returning from the ancestral hall—who would dare speak now?

The affairs of the Gu family were no secret; they had been passed down for generations, and everyone was well aware.

For the old master’s spirit to return from the ancestral shrine to the family residence—unless it was absolutely necessary, he would never have come.

Clearly, tonight the old matriarch and Gu Zhixin had crossed the final line.