Gu Manor was dead silent.

It wasn't that late, but Gu Zuhui and Su Wan'er sat in the living room, and upon seeing Gu Xiqiao come in with a calm expression, Gu Zuhui threw his cup onto the floor in frustration. "Unfilial daughter, stand there!"

Gu Xiqiao paused in her steps, feeling her head spin at the two words.

Back in her past life, she would argue endlessly with Gu Zuhui if something like this happened, and she had fantasized that the people that had misunderstood her would realize that they were in the wrong and be guilty, and in turn, be good to her like they should be.

But she never knew that these people had always thought that she came back to the Gu family for their riches, and of course, these people that were always biased against her, that never looked her in the eye, that never cared for her, and would never feel guilty towards her in the slightest!

Gu Xiqiao tried her best to put on a straight face, looking over at Gu Zuhui and smiling softly. "Yes, what is it?"

Her gaze was calm and collected, and her back was straight, the chandelier above masking her with a light halo.

Gu Zuhui was stunned by this reaction of hers, while Su Wan'er stood up with a mocking expression.

"Gu Xiqiao, you need to understand that the Gu family has done all we could by accepting you into our home! We didn't even ask you to contribute to the family, just learn your manners and stop to stop embarrassing the Gu family, but what have you done? I won't critique you for not coming back for two days and two nights during the holidays, but you're in your final year of school! The exams are coming up, and we're not even hoping for you to get into any good schools, just be a clean and chaste girl that won't shame our family!"

After she said so, the living room returned to a deafening silence that made the servants want to flee back to their quarters.

Gu Xiqiao chuckled softly before looking at Gu Zuhui. "I'm not chaste? Is that what you think tooFather?"

The last word was spoken so, so lightly, as if it were a flickering candle that could be blown out by the slightest breeze.

This was the first time that Gu Xiqiao called this person in front of her 'Father'. He was her father, bonded by blood, the closest person to her in this entire world. All she wanted was for him to just.

Look at her.

But in the end, she was always, always shunned.

Seeing Gu Xiqiao's show of fragility, Gu Zuhui didn't know what to do either, so he just sat down and waved her away. "Go upstairs, and study well in the future. Our family is a family of merchants, but we are a clean family, too."

Ah.

So in his eyes, she had always been a stain in the Gu family's clean resume, and that had never changed.

Why did she expect anything different?

Gu Xiqiao looked up and breathed deeply, blinking down her tears. Without saying a word, she made her way to the home telephone and dialed Old Ban's phone number, which went through quickly.

Then, she handed the phone to Gu Zuhui. "I just called my class teacher, he will tell you why I have been late to come home for the past few days. You're my elder, so I respect you and listen to what you have to say, but I hope you can be fair to me too. I came home late, so it must be my fault? I was doing dirty dealings outside? Am I such a person in your eyes?"

She didn't even try to bring up the fact that the chauffeur left without her. If Gu Xijin did such a thing, she would have prepared an excuse for it. Now, she could only expect Old Ban to help her out.

Gu Zuhui and Su Wan'er evidently hadn't expected Gu Xiqiao to retort in such a way, and upon seeing her expression, Gu Zuhui's words of blame were stuck in his throat.

After that, Gu Zuhui picked up the phone and talked to the person on the other side. Quickly, his stiff expression melted into a somewhat pleased one, and after he hung up, he looked at Gu Xiqiao with a smile that could be described as 'proud'.

He had always thought that Gu Xiqiao was lazy and irredeemable, but it seems that she wasn't that bad after all.

"Your class teacher told me that you stay behind in class every evening to ask questions about your studies and that your attitude in class was extremely diligent with great progress in your studies. Not bad, this is what a Gu family member should be like. Even though you're not as good as your sister, but you are excellent too." Gu Zuhui praised her uncharacteristically. "Alright, go upstairs now."

Gu Xiqiao slowly nodded and went towards the stairs, and even though she was out of trouble, her blood was running cold.

Seeing this, Su Wan'er looked at Gu Zuhui in disbelief before she swung a crystal ashtray blindly into the distance in anger.

So in the end, nothing happened to Gu Xiqiao, it was just a farce!

A farce!

Su Wan'er shook in anger as she pointed at Gu Zuhui. "Gu Zuhui, are you pissing me off on purpose for this dirty-blooded girl?! Do you want me to die from anger? What, am I an evil stepmother that can't even educate her?!"

Cue Gu Zuhui's apologies.

No one noticed that the ashtray had flown in the direction of Gu Xiqiao's head. When it flew to her head, it stopped in the air for a few seconds as she continued to walk forwards slowly, before dropping onto the floor with a 'clang'.

Returning to her room, Gu Xiqiao closed and locked the door.

[We don't have to do missions today anymore, let's sleep, yeah?] The system spirit's concerned voice rung out next to her.

Gu Xiqiao shook her head and took out a clean spare of clothes before walking into the bathroom. "No need, I'm still going to practice writing for two hours and compose some points for Chinese, but I won't be in the virtual space for too long."

Even though she was used to this, but when she felt it again, Gu Xiqiao couldn't help but feel desolate and forlorn.

As expected, it was best to not have any expectations.

After showering, she threw every bad thought to the back of her head and started studying in the virtual space.

To distract her, the system spirit took out a scroll about ancient martial arts. [Beauty Qiao, I'm going to teach you ancient martial arts every day to prevent you from ever getting bullied! How much you can learn depends on your potential!]

"Alright." Gu Xiqiao looked up and suddenly thought of a question. "System, how man points do you need to level up?"

[100, is Mistress going to level me up?] The system was quite happy.

"...Not now." She was still in debt!

[Don't be like this, Mistress. I have a reward for you if you level me up! Once I get to Level One, you can get an inventory with 10 spaces, isn't that enticing?]

"...No."

[...]

The next morning, Gu Xiqiao woke up on schedule.

Su Wan'er wasn't there at breakfast, definitely still having a fit over what happened the night before.

Meanwhile, Gu Zuhui rarely started caring about Gu Xiqiao. "You're at the age when you're growing, you can't eat so little. Auntie Lee, get your Second Miss a cup of milk."

Gu Xiqiao thanked him lightly, the change in attitude towards her not affecting her emotions in the slightest.

Gu Xijin who was sitting at a side looked up at Gu Xiqiao, her gaze predatory, and when the former looked at her, she blinked and smiled. "Father is right! You're at the age where you're growing, little sis, so you must have enough nutrition!"

Gu Xiqiao had just finished her breakfast, and she took over the boxed milk that the servant handed her along with her backpack, walking towards the entrance without a word.

Gu Xijin drank her cup of milk, before taking her backpack and trailing after Gu Xiqiao with a few quick steps.