Chapter 223: The Lin Family’s Child

Chapter 223: Chapter 223: The Lin Family’s Child

Tao Jianren forced a smile that looked worse than tears. Her heart was filled with nothing but despair. Chen Suxiang and Gu Lihui usually kept too tight a leash on her, and she had no money or identification. It was sheer luck she’d managed to escape the Gu Family’s gates this time. She probably wouldn’t be so lucky again.

Sorrow welled up in Tao Jianren’s heart. She looked up again at Mrs. Tao and Tao Junhao, her eyes filled with despair. "Mom, brother, I know I’ve embarrassed you. I was wrong. I was so wrong. I don’t blame you for treating me this way now. I’m the one who let you down, and I let down Lin Dong even more. This is all my own doing. I deserve it."

After she finished speaking, she stood up. Ignoring the stunned looks on Mrs. Tao and Tao Junhao’s faces, she turned to Chen Suxiang and Gu Lihui. A strange smile played on her lips, and she bared her teeth in a chilling grin as her eyes swept back and forth between them. Her expression sent a chill down their spines, and they watched her guardedly. But when they heard her say, "Gu Lihui, let’s just get a divorce," they relaxed. Mocking smirks immediately appeared on both their faces.

Chen Suxiang sneered, "In your dreams. You think I’ll be scared just because you’re acting strange? Your own mother told you to follow the man you marry, for better or for worse. Whether you like it or not, from now on, you belong to the Gu Family in life and you’ll belong to the Gu Family in death."

"And you? You really won’t give me a way out, either?" Tao Jianren asked, her gaze fixed on Gu Lihui, that same eerie smile still on her face.

Gu Nuan Nuan’s heart skipped a beat. As if sensing something, she glanced at Tao Jianren, who was clearly determined to die, and then at the other four people who still hadn’t reacted. Silently, she turned her head away. ’So what if I’ve figured it out? I can’t bring myself to forgive her, much less feel sorry enough to help her escape my scumbag dad. If I did that, he’d probably just find an excuse to start pestering my mom again.’

’Repay injustice with kindness...’

’No way. I’d never do that. Why should I be expected to do something even a saint couldn’t?’

’Death?’

’There are many hardships in this world. Only those who have the courage to stay alive and break free are worthy of admiration. If Tao Jianren could actually do that, then I wouldn’t mind settling the score between us so we could both go our separate ways. But if she wants to take the easy way out and escape through death, that’s her choice. I won’t—I can’t—interfere and forgive her just because of that.’

"Give it up," Gu Lihui sneered as well. "Unless you can somehow get Zhang Minzhen to come back and remarry me, this is your fate. You want a divorce? Hah! If it weren’t for you, would I be in this wretched state? And you dare be disgusted by my face? The more you hate looking at it, the more I’ll make you look at it. Every single day and night. You owe me a debt you could never repay, even if you spent the rest of your life as my slave."

The words from the Gu mother and son made Mrs. Tao and Tao Junhao’s expressions darken once again. Tao Junhao couldn’t help but clench his fists, but he ultimately said nothing. Mrs. Tao gritted her teeth and finally spoke. "Don’t you two go too far. Her family is still here, you know. Are you trying to hound her to death?"

"Oh, that’s right. I’d almost forgotten her family was still here. My apologies, dear in-law," Chen Suxiang said with a fake smile. "Look, it’s getting late. Why don’t you head back now, so we can close our doors and properly discipline our own daughter-in-law?"

"You... you... don’t you go too far! Don’t you dare think I have to... have to..." But before Mrs. Tao could finish her sentence, Tao Jianren suddenly cut her off. "Mom, brother, I don’t hate you. Tell the Lin Family that Gu Jiabao looks more and more like Lin Dong these days. I heard there’s a place in the city that can do a DNA test; it can prove whether he’s really Lin Dong’s son. If he is, please, beg Lin Dong for me. For the sake of our years as husband and wife, ask him to take Jia Yi too. Don’t leave her alone in this wolf’s den. If he agrees, I’ll spend my next life repaying his kindness."

Tao Jianren’s words stunned everyone. Even Gu Nuan Nuan was startled to hear her say Gu Jiabao looked like Lin Dong. Strictly speaking, Gu Jiabao looked much more like Tao Jianren, with very little resemblance to Lin Dong. This was precisely why the Lin Family had given up on him so readily back then. After all, cases of twins with two different fathers weren’t unheard of in the future, but at this time, in an era where most people had never even heard of DNA, the idea was simply incredible.

Still, she had to admit that Tao Jianren’s guess was dead-on. Ever since reaching Foundation Establishment, Gu Nuan Nuan found that she had a faint, almost imperceptible sense of connection to anyone related to her by blood, no matter how distant. But she felt absolutely no such connection from Gu Jiabao. So, Gu Jiabao really was a child of the Lin family.

And so, the first reaction from everyone who heard Tao Jianren’s words was stunned silence—

In that brief instant, a loud SPLASH snapped everyone out of their stupor. Tao Jianren was gone. All eyes shot fearfully toward the well. Mrs. Tao, Tao Junhao, Chen Suxiang, and Gu Lihui scrambled over, only to see ripples spreading across the water’s surface. There was no sign of Tao Jianren.

"Damn her! If she wanted to die, why not do it at her own family’s house? Why did she have to ruin our well? How are we supposed to drink from this well now?" Chen Suxiang seethed, gritting her teeth. The moment she finished speaking, Mrs. Tao slammed into her, knocking her off balance. If her son, Gu Lihui, hadn’t had the quick reflexes to grab her, Mrs. Tao would have knocked her into the well too.

Chen Suxiang was about to erupt, but Mrs. Tao had already plopped onto the ground and started wailing. "My poor daughter! You were hounded to death by the Gu family! We pampered you and raised you all these years, but you just had to fall for that heartless beast from the Gu Family! Even after he became a monster, neither human nor ghost, you still insisted on being so loyal and marrying him. And what was the result? They didn’t even treat you like a person! They humiliated you right in front of your own family... My poor daughter, even as a ghost, you must never let them go..."

"She jumped in herself! What’s that got to do with the Gu family? ’Loyal and faithful’? Pah!" Chen Suxiang was dumbstruck. She glanced into the well, and the memory of Tao Jianren’s eerie smile made her shiver uncontrollably. But hearing Mrs. Tao’s accusations, she refused to stand for it. She lunged forward to grab her and shut her up, but Tao Junhao, who was watching from the side, refused to let his mother be bullied. He stepped in to block her. Chaos erupted, and in the end, Gu Lihui jumped into the fray as well.