Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Chen Lie honestly did not know when Huo Shaoheng would return, but he could not say anything even if he knew. He could only distract her at this juncture. “He’ll be back when he’s supposed to, won’t he? But you have to be more careful between you and your sister as well. She did a good job showing others that she cares about you. Had I not known you well enough, I’d have thought that you were giving her the cold shoulder.”
“Why would I be giving her the cold shoulder? You know me, Brother Chen, my memory hasn’t returned, so I have no memory of them at all. You people were the ones who told me that she was my sister and Gu Xiangwen was my father, so I listened. I believe Huo Shao and you. I tried treating her as my elder sister as well and listened to her about the things she said that made sense. However, I really couldn’t handle her taking money so seriously all the time, like she hadn’t seen money before in her entire life. How is this behavior acceptable for a billionaire’s daughter…” Gu Nianzhi pouted, ranting to Chen Lie. She would only mention things like this to Huo Shaoheng, Chen Lie, Zhao Liangze, and Yin Shixiong. She wouldn’t mention anything to anyone else.
Seeing that Gu Nianzhi had her mind off of Huo Shaoheng, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. However, hearing Gu Nianzhi talk about Gu Yanran being particular about money, he understood her train of thought in an instant.
Gu Nianzhi not having the same DNA as Gu Xiangwen meant they were not biological father and daughter. Even Gu Nianzhi herself and the army didn’t know. The only people who did were probably He Zhichu, Gu Yanran, Huo Shaoheng, and Chen Lie. Since He Zhichu hadn’t mentioned this in such a long time, most likely he wouldn’t bring it up at all.
On the other hand, seeing that Gu Yanran did not mention this at all, Chen Lie felt that it should not be the case. He initially thought that it was due to the close relationship between the sisters, which was why they would never mention topics like this that might hurt their relationship.
However, according to Gu Nianzhi, it now seemed like Gu Yanran was trying to guard against her in every way. Thinking of the situation they were in, Chen Lie could also put himself in Gu Yanran’s shoes, and he could roughly understand the reasons why she did this.
She kept mum about Gu Nianzhi not having a blood relationship with Gu Xiangwen most likely because Gu Nianzhi was Huo Shaoheng’s girlfriend. She was doing this because she wanted to have connections in the Hua Xia Empire. Consequently, she would never bring up the fact that Gu Nianzhi was not her biological sister to others on her own accord.
Therefore, as long as Gu Nianzhi was Huo Shaoheng’s girlfriend, Chen Lie felt that there should be nothing much to worry about. Gu Yanran couldn’t wait to lick Gu Nianzhi’s boots. There was no reason for her to burn her own bridge. He remembered that Huo Shaoheng was the first one she thought of when she wanted to find an influential supporter in the Hua Xia Empire… Chen Lie smiled widely and said to Gu Nianzhi, “Alright, off you go. We have nurses here. You wouldn’t be of much help, anyway.”
Gu Nianzhi stood up and turned to look at Gu Xiangwen again. He was skinny and wrinkled. She had heard that he was really suave in his younger days. However, seven years of being in a vegetative state had apparently landed him in such a condition, no matter how strong and suave he had been before.
This was her father looking like that… Gu Nianzhi felt that she did not really have the heart to see her father go through so much suffering. Lowering her voice, she asked Chen Lie, “Brother Chen, are there no other ways? Why don’t you open him up and see what’s wrong? Sis said that father became like that after the accident.”
“I am considering that as well, but your sister was always too busy to discuss it with me. I have no choice, either.” Chen Lie realized that Gu Nianzhi actually cared about Gu Xiangwen. This is how a daughter should behave. On the other hand, Gu Yanran showed a more perfunctory manner compared to Gu Nianzhi. Chen Lie had no idea if it was because she did not trust his doctoring skills or did not want him to undergo treatment. It had already taken a really long time just for the appointment to speak to her regarding the air-bound accident years ago. She kept postponing it. Finally, Gu Yanran agreed when Chen Lie brought the topic up in front of General Ji. Chen Lie was smart as well. He could roughly guess what was going through Gu Yanran’s mind.
Gu Nianzhi’s brows furrowed. She understood the meaning between Chen Lie’s words. Turning around, she looked at Gu Xiangwen’s unconscious body again. “Let me try.”
“You?”
“Yes. I’ll go and ask sis about the accident six years ago.” Being Gu Xiangwen’s daughter, she had the right to know exactly what happened.
“Hmm… Sure, that could work, too. You ask her. I mainly want to find out about the situation in which she discovered Gu Xiangwen, what injuries he had at that point in time. It’d be great if she could provide me with his medical records, too.” Chen Lie took out a pen and a piece of paper, and began scribbling some questions he wanted Gu Nianzhi to ask.
After skimming through them, Gu Nianzhi memorized the questions and handed the piece of paper back to Chen Lie. “No problem. I’ll get it done today.” After exiting the medical building, Gu Nianzhi returned to her condominium that she hadn’t been back to for the past month.
Ever since Gu Nianzhi knew that Gu Yanran had bought the apartment above her, she stopped asking the part time helper to go over to clean up for her. It had been vacant for a month. There was a thin layer of dust everywhere. Whenever Gu Nianzhi was in a bad mood, she liked doing household chores to distract herself. Putting on her long rubber gloves, she took a pail of water and a piece of cloth, and began cleaning her home. She polished the doors, changed the sheets, and cleaned the blinds one by one. After an entire afternoon of hard work, she felt way better than before.
Opening her refrigerator, she realized that she did not even have a bottle of water inside. She was thirsty and hungry. Therefore, she grabbed her wallet, keys, and phone, and placed them in her Hermes bucket bag before making her way to the supermarket nearby to get some groceries.
She had a car there, so she took the elevator to the basement parking lot to get her car. It was a really cool sports car in bright red. After getting in, she drove to the supermarket. Since it wasn’t a weekend, there weren’t many people at the supermarket. Gu Nianzhi found the things she needed in a short while—food, water, juices, and some daily necessities—and filled an entire cart.
After paying, she pushed the cart to her car and transferred the things into her car’s trunk. Upon closing the trunk, she saw a Bentley sedan driving in her direction. It stopped somewhere nearby. Gu Nianzhi didn’t mind much and walked to the driver’s side of her car. Opening the door, she was about to sit down when she heard Gu Yanran’s voice coming from behind her. “Nianzhi? Is that you?”
Gu Nianzhi turned around in surprise and saw Gu Yanran getting out of the Bentley wearing a huge pair of shades. Ye Xuan opened the door for her like a chauffeur. Since Gu Nianzhi wasn’t in a rush, she leaned against her car and waited for Gu Yanran to walk over.
“It’s really you, Nianzhi?” Gu Yanran’s eyes fell on the car that Gu Nianzhi was leaning against, taken aback. If her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her, this car was a custom-made Ferrari. The car even had Gu Nianzhi’s name printed on it… You couldn’t have cars like that, even if you were rich. Other than the buyer’s name, the car had the designer’s autograph. No wonder it attracted her attention–it was a car of such caliber. Gu Yanran had seen the car first before seeing Gu Nianzhi. She looked at Gu Nianzhi with a mixture of emotions. After a while, she asked, “Is this car yours, Nianzhi?”
“Yep.” Gu Nianzhi toyed with the keys in her hand. “There’s my name on the car. Of course it’s mine.”
“Huo Shao gave this to you, didn’t he?” Gu Yanran guessed straightforwardly. “Return it to him. You’re not anyone to him, but you accepted such an expensive present? Our family would mind, even if you didn’t.”
Gu Nianzhi raised her eyebrows. “But they’ve already engraved my name on the car. It was also bought under my name, so why should I return it?”
Gu Yanran walked to her front and held her hands. Looking at Gu Nianzhi pitifully, she said, “Sis will get a car for you if you want one. You’re not even married to Huo Shao yet, but you’ve accepted such a present. How could you bring yourself to? Moreover, Huo Shao is a signed-on regular soldier. How much can he earn a month? Everyone knows how much a soldier earns. If he got found out, wouldn’t you be worried that he would be investigated by the Military Commission?”
“Oh? Sissy knows about the Military Commission? I don’t even know…” Gu Nianzhi smiled knowingly. “Since Sis said that I shouldn’t accept such an expensive car and also said you’ll get me one, why not… You give me the money for this car, and I’ll return it to Huo Shao. Would that do?”
Ye Xuan couldn’t take it anymore. He stopped Gu Nianzhi. “Enough! Cars like these are so expensive. How on earth would you have the guts to even suggest something like that? Even if Yanran isn’t calculative, you can’t make use of her like that!”
“Huh? We’re having our sisterly talk. What has it got to do with you?” When Gu Nianzhi decided to be unreasonable, even Yin Shixiong wasn’t able to handle her. What’s more, Ye Xuan wasn’t good with words in the first place.
Turning around, she tilted her chin up and looked Ye Xuan up and down. Her black eyes sparkled, full of expression. She turned to Gu Yanran and smiled extremely happily. “Sissy… What do you say? True, I shouldn’t be using someone else’s money, but our family’s money, I can use that however I want, can’t I?” Gu Nianzhi pulled Gu Yanran’s arm and swung around like an adorable sister whining to her elder sibling. “Sissy, buy me this car, will you? I really, really like this car so much!”
“Gu Nianzhi, how can you be so shameless?” Ye Xuan pushed her aside. “You think your sister is an automated teller machine? You want such a big amount all at once, aren’t you afraid that you will bite your own tongue by accident?”
“My tongue is working fine. Why would there be any accidents?” Gu Nianzhi stuck her little pink tongue out at Ye Xuan and made a face at him. She wriggled out of Ye Xuan’s grip. “Moreover, we haven’t seen each other in such a long time. What’s so wrong with Sissy buying me a car? No matter how expensive it is, it wouldn’t be more precious than our sisterly love, right, Sissy?”
There were traps in Gu Nianzhi’s words. Even though Gu Yanran sensed something was amiss, she could not pinpoint what it was and couldn’t retort. She smiled awkwardly and used her finger to tap on Gu Nianzhi’s forehead. “You playful girl. Fine, let’s go home now.” Then she asked Gu Nianzhi again, “Why are you here?”
“I’m here for the same reason you are.” Gu Nianzhi smiled adorably. “This is a supermarket. What else can I do when I’m here? Be a thief?”
“Silly girl.” Gu Yanran’s tone was full of love and care. “Alright. Since you’re back today, go to my place for dinner.” Then she asked meaningfully, “What about Huo Shao? Will he be joining you today?”
Of course, Gu Nianzhi couldn’t reveal the fact that Huo Shaoheng was on an overseas mission. Chuckling, she intentionally did not answer Gu Yanran’s question and bugged Gu Yanran instead. “Sissy, silence means consent! I’ll tell Huo Shao that my sister will be buying the car for me. Oh man~ My Huo Shao has struck it rich! Yay!”
