Chapter 44: Gu Shiyan would never yield cards to any woman except Su Mo.

For several days in a row, Luo Xing did not see Gu Shiyan.
She spent her time with her grandmother and Grandpa Gu. Today, Grandpa Gu mentioned how he used to listen to opera with her grandmother when they were young.
He had specially invited performers to sing in the family’s private theater.
It was the first time Luo Xing had seen a family with its own opera house.
She rarely listened to opera, but knowing her grandmother enjoyed it, curiosity led her to go along.
The three of them sat in the audience. Even someone like Luo Xing, who understood nothing about opera, found herself thoroughly entertained.
“I still remember when the whole family came to watch the opera together—it was lively, the courtyard filled to the brim,” Gu Yunzhi said, glancing around at the now deserted surroundings.
“Why care about that old bustle…” Gu Taihua’s tone was half-mocking, half-sarcastic. “Back then, when you listened to opera, it wasn’t the plays you liked. Isn’t it better now, when you can listen freely?”
Luo Xing sat by, quietly listening to the two elders chat.
It seemed her grandmother had not been valued in the family in the past.
There were the beginnings of tears in Gu Yunzhi’s eyes. “True. Back then, when the old lady asked what you wanted to hear, you’d deliberately choose the ones I liked.”
Gu Taihua glanced at Assistant Song behind him. “Was it you who tattled?”
Assistant Song pleaded, “How could I dare? Second Miss asked me. I was rescued by her back then, and have been by her side ever since. I would never intentionally hide anything.”
Gu Yunzhi shook her head with a smile. “What does it matter even if I knew? The Gu family truly passes down the obsession with saving face from generation to generation.”
Luo Xing’s ears perked up. From their words, it sounded like Assistant Song used to take care of her grandmother?
Is that why he called her Second Miss?
No wonder—she had always felt their forms of address were odd. So Assistant Song only began working for Grandpa Gu later.
But then, why would Grandpa Gu employ someone who used to serve her grandmother?
Hadn’t her grandmother already severed ties with the Gu family?
Assistant Song was someone her grandmother had saved, yet he was still allowed to stay in the Gu household.
“You’re just the same as ever—knowing your words will embarrass someone, yet you still say them,” Gu Taihua chuckled. “Besides, you’re still a Gu, aren’t you?”
Sitting beside her grandmother, Luo Xing clearly felt her grandmother’s grip on her hand tighten for a moment.
“Brother, I stopped being a Gu decades ago. I was expelled from the family and even reverted to my original surname.”
Luo Xing was stunned. The news had always said her grandmother had willingly given up her wealthy status for love.
But from her words just now, she had been cast out by the family?
What had really happened?
Gu Taihua took a deep breath. “I’m the head of the family now. If I say you’re still a Gu, then you are.”
Hot tears rolled down onto the back of Luo Xing’s hand.
She looked up in surprise—never before had she seen her grandmother cry like this.

“Brother, it no longer matters whether I’m part of the Gu family or not.”
Luo Xing noticed Assistant Song’s eyes growing red as well.
She looked around, confused, but dared not ask her grandmother what could have hurt her so deeply.
“Let’s just listen to the opera,” her grandmother said, squeezing Luo Xing’s hand.
Even Gu Taihua’s rarely solemn face was tinged with sorrow.
He turned to the quietly seated Luo Xing, “You’ve done well raising your granddaughter.”
Gu Yunzhi smiled. “Xingxing’s parents are busy, so she grew up with me. I raised her myself, of course she’s good.”
“Thinking of my own useless sons—it’s laughable that not one of them bothers to visit now,” Gu Taihua said, the words bleak, though his face betrayed no sadness, as if he were merely making an offhand remark.
Luo Xing listened silently. She wondered why, in such a family, only a dog and a servant remained by the old man’s side.
“Too obsessed with money and power,” Gu Yunzhi muttered.
Gu Taihua simply smiled. “If not money and power, then what? Sentiment? In the end, it comes to nothing. One must learn to let go.”
The maid brought over a fruit platter. Luo Xing noticed pineapple on it and switched it out for her grandmother. “Grandma, have mine instead.”
Assistant Song frowned at the pineapple and glanced at the maid. “Second Miss can’t eat pineapple.”
Gu Yunzhi waved her hand. “He likes it. Just because I can’t eat it, should I deny it to those who do?”
Assistant Song added, “After you left, pineapple and such fruits were no longer allowed here.”
Gu Taihua looked at Assistant Song. “The way you say it, you make it sound as though it was done for her. I simply stopped liking pineapple.”
Standing nearby, Luo Xing’s mind grew more and more muddled. The atmosphere felt strange.
After the opera, Luo Xing played cards with the two elders. Thankfully, her grandmother seemed to know she only knew how to play Landlord, so they played that.
Luo Xing never expected to lose ten games in a row…
She struggled to keep her composure.
She was terrible at cards, but even in the rounds where luck was on her side—when she had bombs and jokers—she still lost.
She looked at her grandmother.
A faint smile lingered on Gu Yunzhi’s lips as she comforted her, “Don’t expect to win when you play against him.”
Then she glanced over at Gu Taihua, who had just won ten rounds in a row. “Still the same as ever—always calculating, never letting anyone else win, even at cards.”
Gu Taihua tossed his cards onto the table, unimpressed by his victories. “How do you let someone win?”
Listening to Grandpa Gu’s words, Luo Xing unknowingly thought of Gu Shiyan.
‘You should know how to accept defeat gracefully, understand?’

‘I won’t let you win.’
‘Don’t cry later.’
Clutching her cards, Luo Xing murmured, “Maybe it’s just because we’re not people Grandpa Gu cares about. If he liked someone, he’d surely let them win.”
She was not Su Mo, after all.
Gu Shiyan would never let any woman win at cards except Su Mo.
It wasn’t until she felt everyone’s eyes on her that Luo Xing realized what an inappropriate thing she’d just said.
Blushing, she stammered, “I—I was just joking, Grandpa Gu, please don’t take it seriously.”
But the atmosphere grew strangely quiet.
Luo Xing knew her comment was perhaps untimely, but didn’t think it would cast such a heavy silence.
Even Assistant Song’s gaze seemed distant, lost in some memory.
Gu Yunzhi was the first to recover. “Xingxing, are you tired?”
Luo Xing nodded and tactfully excused herself.
Gu Taihua watched her leave out of the corner of his eye. “She’s still young—this whole business of liking and not liking…”
Gu Yunzhi gazed out at the lush greenery below the balcony. “Youth is a gift. When you’re young, you have time to make mistakes, time to waste.”
...
Luo Xing returned to her room and plugged in her phone, which was down to less than twenty percent.
Would Gu Shiyan let Su Mo win at cards?
Her phone lit up.
It was a message from Yun Cai.
Luo Xing opened it; it was a video of Qi Zhi’s magazine shoot.
Yun Cai had sent a message:
“Doesn’t Qi Zhi’s mouth look so soft and kissable in this photo? Damn, who picked that perfect lipstick for him!”
Kiss…
Luo Xing swallowed.
Speaking of kissing…