Chapter 242: Wang Chunmei Publicly Proposed to Adopt Gu Jingjing
The final send-off meal was prepared by Mother Gu, Liang Zhenna, and the household nanny, so Sheng Wanyan was strictly banned from helping in the kitchen.
When the family gathered around the long dining table, little Gu Jingjing sat down directly next to Gu Tinghao. Her father deliberately positioned himself as a human shield between the little girl and Wang Chunmei.
After spending the past month being nurtured in the main military compound, Gu Jingjing had gradually grown much braver. Although a deep-seated instinctual dread of Wang Chunmei still lingered in her heart, she was no longer the type of child who could be easily intimidated or manipulated by her mother. Crucially, the little girl no longer ached for her mother’s affection; she had finally realized that nothing Wang Chunmei said carried any real power over her life. Under the patient, daily guidance of Grandma Gu and Mother Gu, her entire perspective on her own worth had shifted.
Tonight’s farewell spread was just as lavish and celebratory as the grand feast they had shared on New Year’s Eve.
As usual, the prime chicken drumsticks were explicitly distributed to the children. In the past, whenever chicken was served, Wang Chunmei would ruthlessly reach across the table to pluck the meat right out of Gu Jingjing’s bowl to feed herself.
True to form, Wang Chunmei extended her chopsticks toward her daughter’s plate to seize the drumstick. But this time, the moment the utensils descended, Gu Jingjing firmly slid her bowl out of her mother’s reach.
Jingjing was still so small, and because this marked the absolute first time in her life she had dared to actively rebel against her mother, terror gripped her instantly. The second her tiny body shifted the bowl away, she began to tremble. She instinctively raised her head, her wide eyes locking onto Sheng Wanyan sitting directly opposite her. Encountering her third aunt’s encouraging gaze, along with the fiercely protective looks directed at her by the other family elders, the little girl’s panic began to evaporate.
Jingjing isn’t afraid. Jingjing is a brave girl, she told herself silently, fiercely reinforcing her mental boundaries.
Wang Chunmei stared at her daughter, utterly unable to believe her own eyes. She never anticipated that this once-submissive child would execute such a blatant act of defiance, and a wave of pure rage distorted her features as she glared at the girl.
Gu Jingjing shivered beneath the venomous look, her internal monologue shifting instantly: Actually, Jingjing is still very, very scared!
Driven by sheer, nervous adrenaline, she picked up the drumstick and aggressively took a massive bite out of it, keeping her head lowered as she ate, completely refusing to grant Wang Chunmei another look.
Watching the tiny rebellion unfold, Mother Gu nodded with immense satisfaction. Although the child was clearly trembling, she had displayed genuine, unyielding steel. As expected of a daughter of the Gu line—the girl possessed true courage!
Mother Gu shot Wang Chunmei a lethal, warning glare, and the sheer hostility in the matriarch’s eyes forced Wang Chunmei to freeze. Lowering her head, she aggressively stabbed at her rice, silently cursing her daughter with absolute venom.
What an ungrateful, treacherous little wretch! She has only been under Mother Gu’s care for a little over a month, and she already refuses to recognize her own biological mother. If she’s this lawless at four years old, won’t she be entirely uncontrollable when she grows up? If she’s treating me like an enemy after a single month, how can I ever expect her to fulfill her filial duties and support me in the future?
Once the dishes were cleared, Wanyan bypassed her usual post-lunch nap, choosing instead to join the family in the spacious living room to enjoy their final evening together.
“Have you finalized your transit tickets? What hour is your departure?” Mother Gu asked, mentally organizing the morning schedule. If their train was slated for the afternoon, she could easily coordinate a grand lunch to ensure they were properly fed before embarkation.
“The train leaves the station at exactly one o’clock tomorrow afternoon,” Gu Tingxiao replied. He had personally secured the tickets earlier that morning, deliberately purchasing accommodations in a premium soft-sleeper compartment to ensure his wife’s absolute comfort.
Mother Gu nodded in approval. “Excellent. We will simply move our family lunch to an earlier hour tomorrow, ensuring you both enjoy a hearty meal before you hit the road.”
Sitting across the room, the mention of their departure made Wang Chunmei’s eyes dart anxiously toward Gu Jingjing. Her chest tightened with impatience.
Why on earth is this stupid girl just sitting there? We explicitly rehearsed this! She was supposed to throw a tantrum and demand Sheng Wanyan become her legal mother while the entire clan was assembled!
Seeing Gu Jingjing remain completely frozen in the kids’ corner, Wang Chunmei’s patience evaporated. She couldn’t contain her greed for another second.
“Mom, Dad—I have a formal announcement to make!” Wang Chunmei declared loudly, abruptly standing up in the center of the room.
The second she rose, Mother Gu’s expression darkened. She knew instantly that a manipulative stunt was incoming. Before she could voice a strict refusal to listen, Wang Chunmei blurted out her scheme.
“Mom, Dad, this is the reality of our situation: I have officially decided to transfer Jingjing to the third branch. I want the third brother and sister-in-law to adopt her permanently!”
The moment the words left her lips, an icy, suffocating silence descended over the entire living room. Gu Tinghao’s face turned a dangerous, thunderous shade of purple as he glared at his wife.
“Shut your mouth!” he roared.
He was filled with absolute fury. He had assumed that after her brutal exile at the Wang estate, she had finally reformed her character and returned to the compound determined to be a decent wife. He never could have dreamed that she was still obsessing over this vile scheme to discard their daughter.
Sitting on the sofa, the pleasant smile permanently vanished from Sheng Wanyan’s face, her expression turning completely rigid.
“Third Brother, Third Sister-in-law, Jingjing is your own biological niece!” Wang Chunmei pressed on, her voice adopting a sickeningly sweet, ingratiating tone as she smiled at Wanyan. “Third Brother commands a magnificent officer’s salary of one hundred yuan a month; taking on a second child wouldn’t cause your household a single ounce of financial pressure. But Tinghao only brings home fifty yuan. Our branch genuinely lacks the economic margins to cultivate two children. Giving Jingjing to your branch for adoption simply ensures you have another loyal child to care for you when your bones grow old, doesn’t it?”
Gu Tingxiao didn’t look at Wang Chunmei. Instead, he fixed a piercing, lethal stare directly onto Gu Tinghao. Caught in his third brother’s absolute, terrifying gaze, Gu Tinghao felt his entire scalp go completely numb with dread.
Over in the adjacent armchairs, Gu Tingting and Lin Junhu exchanged a look of pure, unadulterated shock. They had never witnessed a mother so desperately eager to pawn her own daughter off onto her relatives. A fifty-yuan monthly salary, if managed with basic fiscal discipline and modesty, was more than enough to raise two children comfortably in this era! Furthermore, the fourth branch had just received a massive fortune of over eighteen thousand yuan from the recent division of the family estate! Was she genuinely trying to claim that eighteen thousand yuan was insufficient to feed a four-year-old girl?! Forget two children—that level of capital was more than enough to bankroll an entire extended lineage for decades!
Gu Jingjing had been quietly playing a board game with her cousins in the corner, but hearing her mother’s loud declarations, she looked up, her small face filled with intense confusion and distress as she scanned the adults’ expressions.
Mother Gu was so thoroughly consumed by rage that a harsh, cynical laugh escaped her throat. Old Master Gu, Grandma Gu, and Father Gu sat like stone statues, their faces dark with absolute disgust at the woman’s parasitic logic.
“In your wildest dreams!” Mother Gu spat.
She marched across the rug, her eyes blazing with absolute fury as she advanced on Wang Chunmei. Remembering the woman’s heavily protruding belly, Mother Gu fiercely commanded her own instincts to remain under control, forcing herself to refrain from launching a physical assault against a pregnant woman.
SMACK!
A sharp, deafening slap reverberated through the quiet living room. Everyone gasped, staring at Mother Gu in absolute disbelief.
Gu Tinghao stood frozen, five dark crimson finger marks rapidly raising across his cheek. Because his wife was pregnant, Mother Gu legally and morally could not lay a hand on Wang Chunmei—but there was absolutely nothing stopping her from executing brutal physical discipline upon her own biological son!
Gu Tinghao didn’t utter a single syllable of protest, simply absorbing the blow in absolute silence. Deep down, he recognized that if his mother hadn’t stepped in to deliver that slap to appease the room, his third brother would have dragged him out to the courtyard and delivered a beating ten times more severe.
“Tinghao!” Wang Chunmei shrieked, clutching her own cheeks as she stared at Mother Gu in total horror. This was Mother Gu’s own flesh-and-blood son! How could she subject him to such humiliating violence in front of everyone?!
“Wang Chunmei, anchor my words deep into your mind,” Mother Gu hissed, her finger pointing rigidly at her daughter-in-law’s face, her chest heaving violently with raw rage. “The Gu family will never, under any circumstances, permit you to abandon a descendant of our bloodline! If you truly despise Jingjing so intensely that you refuse to act as her mother, the only way she will ever be declared an orphan is if both you and Gu Tinghao perish!
“Alternatively, you and Gu Tinghao can pack your bags this exact evening, march out of this compound, and sign a formal document completely severing your ties with the Gu clan forever! But as long as you draw breath beneath the Gu name, you will shoulder your duties, or I will destroy your position entirely!”
Liang Zhenna rushed to Mother Gu’s side, gently anchoring her arm as she lightly stroked her back to help soothe her labored breathing.
Wang Chunmei stood entirely paralyzed, her mind plunged into absolute chaos by Mother Gu’s ruthless ultimatum. Is Mother Gu genuinely prepared to go to these extreme lengths just to shield the third branch? Is she truly willing to completely cast aside the fourth room over a useless daughter? They are both her biological sons! Why does this biased old woman continuously elevate the third boy above everyone else?!
She bitterly recalled the past few weeks. Every single luxury item and premium nutritional supplement brought into this estate had been funneled straight into the third branch’s hands. During the entire month Wanyan had resided at the main villa, she hadn’t been forced to expend a single cent of her own capital on food or lodging. Even the eldest brother and sister-in-law happily permitted the third branch to operate like absolute parasites within their home! Yet what had the fourth room ever received?!
Wang Chunmei had anticipated Mother Gu’s fierce resistance all along. In her mind, the grandmother’s opinion was ultimately secondary; as long as she could manipulate Sheng Wanyan into accepting the arrangement, Mother Gu would be forced to swallow the outcome regardless!
Shifting her focus, Wang Chunmei bypassed Mother Gu entirely, lunging across the rug to seize Sheng Wanyan’s hands.
But before her fingers could even graze Wanyan’s silhouette, Gu Tingxiao rose like a tower of steel, seamlessly stepping into her path and shielding his wife entirely behind his broad shoulders. He refused to let this toxic woman get within an inch of his pregnant wife.
Confronting Gu Tingxiao’s icy, imposing frame, a wave of instinctual dread seized Wang Chunmei, and she scrambled backward. Lacking the courage to address him, she tried to peer over his shoulder, desperately directing her frantic, manipulative pleas toward Sheng Wanyan.
“Third Sister-in-law, I beg you to show a shred of maternal kindness! Jingjing is your own niece!” she wailed, her voice thick with artificial desperation. “Furthermore, you and Third Brother are the senior siblings here; extending a helping hand to support your younger brother’s household is simply your duty! By absorbing Jingjing into your branch, you’re merely gaining an extra loving child to enrich your lives, aren’t you?!”
