Chapter 456| Chapter 457| Chapter 458
Chapter 456: Settlement of Accounts
Gu Tingxiao charged toward the noise the instant he heard the scream. Sheng Wanyan’s heart dropped; she knew from the sheer panic in the cry that something was terribly wrong.
She quickly set down the items she was holding and ran after him, with Mother Gu following close on her heels.
When Gu Tingxiao burst into the aisle, he found Yiyi standing there weeping, her face flushed red. A slightly older boy stood right in front of her, taunting her and making ugly faces.
An adult woman stood right beside the boy, watching the display, but she didn’t make a single move to stop him.
“Lululu~ You’re just a little money-loser who only knows how to cry!” the boy jeered. “You think you can steal my stuff? Dream on!”
After spitting out the insults, the boy turned around, grabbed the woman’s hand, and puffed out his chest proudly. “Mom! I want this book! The money-loser lost!”
“Good boy, good boy. Mommy will buy it for you,” the woman cooed, patting his head. “My son is so clever.”
The mother and son completely ignored the weeping toddler. But the moment Yiyi saw Gu Tingxiao materialize in the aisle, she felt an instant surge of relief. Her backer had arrived.
“Daddy… Waaah… Papa~~”
Yiyi ran toward him through her tears. Gu Tingxiao scooped her up in one swift motion, his eyes frantically scanning her body for injuries. When he caught sight of her little hand, his face turned deathly pale.
The wound wasn’t deep, but the delicate skin across her palm had been completely scraped raw from the rough impact, and the bloody surface was covered in a layer of dark floor dust.
“Yiyi!”
Sheng Wanyan reached them just as the little girl threw her arms around Gu Tingxiao’s neck, sobbing so violently she could barely draw a breath, her eyes already swollen.
“Oh, my goodness gracious! Is she badly hurt?!” Mother Gu gasped, her voice trembling the moment she saw the child’s hand.
Sheng Wanyan managed to keep her head. She rapidly unzipped her handbag, retrieving a tube of healing ointment, a bottle of liquid disinfectant, and a roll of clean gauze. Fortunately, she had long since maintained the strict habit of carrying a well-stocked medical kit whenever she stepped out; otherwise, she wouldn’t have known how to handle an emergency in a crowded store.
“Waaah… Mommy, it hurts so bad~” Yiyi wailed the moment she saw her mother, pouring out all her pain and grievances.
Looking at the raw flesh, Sheng Wanyan’s own eyes welled with tears. She forced her voice to remain steady, soothing the girl as she stepped closer. “Give her to me, Tingxiao. I need to clean the wound immediately.”
Gu Tingxiao carefully transferred the toddler into her arms. Sheng Wanyan guided her over to a quieter corner of the aisle, gently spreading the little hand to evaluate the damage.
Mother Gu hadn’t been able to see the injury clearly while Yiyi was running, but now that the palm was exposed under the bright shop lights, the sight of the raw, bloody skin made her feel so faint she had to steady herself against a shelf. “Merciful heavens… why is there so much blood?”
The moment Sheng Wanyan began dabbing the disinfectant onto the scrape, the sharp sting caused the toddler to convulse with pain.
“It hurts~ Waaah… Mommy, it hurts so much~”
Nothing cuts a mother deeper than watching her own child suffer. Sheng Wanyan’s heart ached so fiercely she wished she could physically absorb the pain herself. “I know, baby, I know. It’s almost over. Mommy is putting the soothing medicine on right now.”
Seeing Yiyi flinch and struggle against the sting, Mother Gu stepped in, wrapping her arms securely around the little girl to hold her still so her mother could work safely.
Throughout the cleaning and dressing of the wound, Yiyi’s frantic cries echoed through the department. It was the first time Gu Tingxiao and Sheng Wanyan had ever heard their daughter weep with such sheer terror. This specific kind of crying—heavy with a sense of violation, fear, and raw physical pain—is the hardest thing for a parent to endure.
Sheng Wanyan worked quickly, wrapping the small palm in neat layers of gauze. Fortunately, the injury wasn’t structurally dangerous; once the raw skin regenerated, she would heal completely. The immediate complication was that Yiyi wouldn’t be able to use her right hand to feed herself for a while, meaning they would have to guard the hand against moisture and dirt during the holiday.
“Grandma… Mommy…”
Yiyi’s frantic sobs slowly decelerated into quiet, shaky breaths. She looked up at Sheng Wanyan, her eyes red and watery.
“Mommy’s right here, sweetheart.” Sheng Wanyan pulled her close. Yiyi wrapped her uninjured arm tightly around her mother’s neck, burying her face deep into her shoulder.
“Mommy… what is a money-losing item?” the toddler whispered, her voice tight. “Is Yiyi a money-loser?”
Hearing her daughter echo those toxic words, Sheng Wanyan’s face hardened, and a dangerous coldness settled over her features. Mother Gu’s expression also turned incredibly dark.
“Yiyi, tell Mommy. Who said that to you?”
“The big brother~” Yiyi replied honestly, pointing a tiny finger back toward the aisle. She had been raised to always tell the truth. “He pushed me down. And his mommy praised him for winning.”
Sheng Wanyan followed her finger, her gaze locking onto the mother and son standing near the book display. Her face turned entirely black.
Mother Gu peered over her shoulder to inspect the targets. Well, well, well. A spark of recognition flashed in her eyes. Wasn’t that woman the eldest daughter-in-law of the Wang family—Wang Chunmei’s maternal relatives?
What a disgusting way to raise a child! How dare the Wang family teach their grandson to brand their precious Yiyi with such a derogatory label? But as she thought about it further, it made perfect ancestral sense. A household that produced a selfish, entitled woman like Wang Chunmei was bound to treat daughters like garbage while coddling their sons. Still, to instill such backward, toxic prejudices into a five-year-old boy was proof of an absolute lack of basic culture and human decency.
“Our Yiyi is a priceless treasure, do you hear me? You are absolutely not a money-loser!” Sheng Wanyan stated, her voice fierce and clear. “You are our one-of-a-kind, precious treasure. You must hold onto that truth forever.”
Yiyi nodded, rubbing her tear-stained face against her mother’s coat. Even at her tender age, she intuitively understood that “money-loser” was a nasty insult, otherwise her gentle mother wouldn’t look so terrifyingly angry right now.
“Mom, hold Yiyi for a moment,” Sheng Wanyan said, transferring the girl into Mother Gu’s arms.
Before she stepped away, Mother Gu leaned in and murmured a quiet warning, identifying the woman as the primary daughter-in-law of the Wang lineage. Hearing that the bully belonged to the Wang family only caused Sheng Wanyan’s inner fury to sharpen.
First, the daughter of the Wang family creates a rift in the compound, hoarding family assets for her maternal home while completely neglecting her own children. Now, the grandson of the Wang family is marching through public stores, physically assaulting and verbally abusing her daughter.
“You don’t need to hold back on account of family ties, Wanyan,” Mother Gu whispered, her voice flat. “Wang Chunmei’s relatives do not represent the Gu family.”
Mother Gu’s direct statement completely unlocked any diplomatic constraints. Under normal circumstances, since the Gu and Wang families were linked by marriage through the fourth branch, initiating a public scene could potentially fracture the extended family’s harmony. But Mother Gu had just explicitly given her full permission to ignore the connection and settle the accounts thoroughly.
“I understand, Mom,” Sheng Wanyan replied coldly.
She turned and strode back down the aisle. By this point, Gu Tingxiao had already intercepted the pair. He stood like an iron wall, blocking their exit, his massive frame towering over them. The Wang daughter-in-law clearly recognized him; she knew exactly what kind of formidable, unyielding commander Gu Tingxiao was.
Panic had begun to set in. She had never imagined that the little girl her son had shoved was Gu Tingxiao’s personal daughter. If she had known the toddler belonged to the elite third branch, she would have never allowed her son to provoke this disaster.
Sheng Wanyan walked up, her expression completely icy as she appraised the trembling pair before looking up at her husband. “Let him go.”
Gu Tingxiao stepped back, releasing his shadow over them. The young Wang boy was so petrified by the commander’s intense gaze that he instantly scrambled behind his mother, burying his face in her coat.
“I would like to ask you a question, madam,” Sheng Wanyan began, her voice cutting through the quiet aisle like a razor blade. “By what right did your son brand my daughter a money-loser?”
She didn’t waste a single breath on diplomatic pleasantries. She had zero intention of bickering with a five-year-old child, but she was absolutely going to hold the adult accountable.
“This… well, it was just an accident,” the Wang daughter-in-law stammered, her face flushing as she tried to minimize the incident. “The boy is still small, he was just talking nonsense without thinking.”
“Oh? Nonsense?” Sheng Wanyan scoffed.
“Children are simply ignorant at that age,” the woman quickly added, trying to smooth things over. “How about this—I’ll purchase a nice toy as a gift for your little girl to apologize? It’s completely normal for children to have a little rough and tumble when they play.”
While she understood that the Gu family held immense political leverage, she privately rationalized that this was merely a trivial childhood squabble. There was absolutely no reason for adults to blow a playground dispute out of proportion.
“I could have excused a child’s ignorance,” Sheng Wanyan countered, her voice rising with cold authority. “But you are a fully grown adult. You stood right there, watching and listening as your son physically assaulted and verbally degraded a younger child.”
She took a slow step forward, pinning the woman with an unyielding glare. “Not only did you fail to offer a single word of discipline, but you actually celebrated his behavior, praising him for stealing from a girl. But then, looking at the family tree, it makes perfect sense. The daughter of the Wang family is notoriously shameless, plundering her husband’s family assets to fund her maternal home while leaving her own children to starve. It seems the daughter-in-law and the grandson of the Wang family are equally uneducated, arrogant, and vicious.”
Sheng Wanyan didn’t spare her a single shred of dignity. “I suppose this is simply the grand tradition of the Wang household. Uterly classless from top to bottom.”
She ripped away any pretense of family politeness, directly targeting the entire moral foundation of the Wang household’s upbringing. She made it blindingly obvious that she held their entire lineage in absolute contempt.
“You… how dare you?!” the Wang daughter-in-law sputtered. Her entire frame began to shake with pure indignation, her hand trembling violently as she raised a finger to point at Sheng Wanyan’s face. “How dare you insult the entire Wang family name like this! No matter what grievances you harbor, the Wang family remains an honorable in-law to the Gu lineage!”
Chapter 457: Sheng Wanyan Goes Crazy
“Oh?” Sheng Wanyan scoffed softly. “But my surname isn’t Gu. It’s Sheng.”
Her expression was as cold as ice. She walked straight forward, reached behind the protesting woman, grabbed the young boy by the collar, and dragged him out into the open. Without hesitation, she pressed the boy’s hands flat against the rough floorboards.
“Ahhhhhhh!!!”
“What are you doing?! Let go of him! What are you doing?!”
Both mother and son shrieked in absolute shock at her sudden, aggressive movement. The Wang daughter-in-law immediately lunged forward to intervene, but Gu Tingxiao stepped directly into her path, blocking her like a solid wall of iron.
“What do you think I’m doing?” Sheng Wanyan asked, her voice completely calm. “Naturally, since your son injured my daughter’s hands, I am simply returning the favor.”
“You’re going too far! How can you treat a little child this way?!” the woman shrieked, struggling against Gu Tingxiao’s unyielding frame.
“You had the nerve to stand there and watch your son brutalize my child, so why should I feel embarrassed doing the exact same thing to yours?”
The moment the words left her mouth, Sheng Wanyan forcefully pressed the boy’s palms against the floor and rubbed them against the grain of the wood. The immediate sting of friction caused the boy to burst into hysterical, terrified tears.
“Mom! Help me!!! Waaah!”
“Listen well, little boy,” Sheng Wanyan murmured to him, her voice devoid of warmth. “Auntie is teaching you a vital life lesson. When you bully others, retribution is guaranteed.”
The boy was so petrified by her terrifying aura that he wet his pants on the spot. Watching her precious son wail in agony, the Wang daughter-in-law felt her knees go weak; she nearly fainted from sheer panic.
“Stop! Please! If you want to take it out on someone, do it to me!” she screamed desperately.
The moment the woman offered herself, Sheng Wanyan immediately released the boy’s hands and stood up.
“Alright then. Step forward and take your son’s place.”
In truth, Sheng Wanyan hadn’t applied any real physical pressure to the boy’s palms at all; she had merely intended to thoroughly terrify the malicious little brat. The boy was completely uninjured.
“Come over here, you money-loser.” Sheng Wanyan taunted, throwing the insult right back in her face. “Isn’t that the logic? Girls are considered money-losing goods. As a woman, shouldn’t I address you by your proper title?”
The Wang daughter-in-law bit her lower lip so hard she nearly drew blood. But seeing that her sobbing son was still effectively trapped under Gu Tingxiao’s shadow, she knew she had no choice. She walked forward, slowly lowering herself to squat on the floor, officially trading places with her child.
“So, are you a money-loser? Hmm?” Sheng Wanyan stared down at her with undisguised mockery.
The Wang daughter-in-law gritted her teeth. She knew perfectly well that if she didn’t submit and answer the question, there was no guarantee her son would walk out of the aisle safely.
“Yes…” she choked out.
“Excellent. Then you should play the part of a proper money-loser.”
Sheng Wanyan grabbed the woman’s hands, pinned them to the rough wooden floorboards, and applied immediate, crushing force, grinding her palms violently against the grain. In a matter of seconds, the delicate skin was stripped raw, and bright red blood welled up to the surface.
The intense, burning agony caused cold sweat to break out across the woman’s forehead, but she clamped her jaw shut, enduring the punishment in complete silence.
She understood the political dynamics at play. Mother Gu had explicitly permitted Sheng Wanyan to execute this brutal retaliation right in front of her to send a definitive message: the Gu family unconditionally protects Sheng Wanyan!
The Wang family possessed absolutely no right to resist. If they dared to offend the Gu lineage any further, the entire Wang family’s social and political standing in the capital could be eradicated overnight.
Even if the Gu family patriarchs ultimately chose not to instigate a full-scale political war over a squabble involving a young girl, Gu Tingxiao had dozens of untraceable methods to ensure her son simply disappeared.
Gu Tingxiao was… more ruthless than anyone else in the Gu lineage. He was a terrifying tiger cloaked in a calm, composed exterior. On the surface, he appeared strictly disciplined, but behind the scenes, he was entirely capable of executing the most sinister, uncompromising tactics to destroy his enemies.
She recalled the historical crisis perfectly. Years ago, when the eldest son of the Gu family, Gu Tingye, was left comatose following a catastrophic mission, the entire capital had watched the Gu estate like vultures. Political rivals had assumed the main lineage lacked a capable heir to carry on the legacy, and they had actively maneuvered to dismantle the family’s power base while Grandpa Gu and Father Gu were struggling on the front lines to maintain their honor.
It was Gu Tingxiao—who was only seventeen years old at the time—who had stepped into the void. He had single-handedly shouldered the burden of the entire Gu legacy, ruthlessly guarding the weakened estate against every attack. He had proven to the entire capital that every single child bearing the Gu name possessed the strength to hold up the sky!
The older generation within the military compound remembered that era vividly, as did the younger generation who had grown up in his shadow. Having been raised in the capital, the Wang daughter-in-law knew exactly what Gu Tingxiao was capable of. For a man of his skill, quietly eliminating her young son would be effortless. Furthermore, she had an older son currently enrolled in middle school; if an unfortunate “accident” befell him on his commute, no one would ever be able to trace it back to Gu Tingxiao. It would simply be written off as an unprovoked tragedy without a shred of evidence.
With her palms rubbed raw and bleeding, the Wang daughter-in-law remained utterly silent.
Sheng Wanyan casually uncapped the bottle of liquid disinfectant and poured a liberal amount directly into the woman’s open wounds. The excruciating sting caused the Wang daughter-in-law to let out an involuntary scream of agony.
“I’m simply cleaning your wounds,” Sheng Wanyan stated coolly.
The Wang daughter-in-law didn’t dare utter a single word of complaint. What else could she do to ensure her son’s survival?
“If any member of your Wang family ever dares to bully my daughter again,” Sheng Wanyan whispered, leaning close, “I will personally sever your son’s hands and feed them to the dogs.”
The woman nodded frantically, her entire body trembling in submission. Satisfied, Sheng Wanyan released her grip and stepped back.
With the confrontation settled, Yiyi scrambled forward. She quickly gathered up the stack of storybooks she had originally selected—including the exact copy that the Wang boy had tried to steal—and clutched them tightly against her chest. To ensure the toddler didn’t aggravate her injured hand, Gu Tingxiao gently took the heavy books from her and tucked them under his arm.
Yiyi peeked over to look at the young Wang boy. He was still glaring at her with venomous, hateful eyes. However, noticing the massive, terrifying shadow of Gu Tingxiao looming directly beside her, the boy didn’t dare make a single aggressive move.
You little money-loser! the boy thought bitterly. Not only did you humiliate me, but you stole my storybook! Just wait until the adults aren’t looking—I’ll beat you to death!
“Lululululu~” Yiyi suddenly stuck her tongue out and pulled a grotesque face directly at him, perfectly mirroring the exact taunt he had used earlier, before instantly darting behind Gu Tingxiao’s legs for cover.
The Wang boy was so infuriated he wanted to lunge forward and strike her, but with the towering commander standing right there, his courage failed him completely. His mother immediately wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, physically restraining him to prevent any further suicidal provocations.
With Yiyi safely secured in Gu Tingxiao’s arms, Sheng Wanyan and Mother Gu had completely lost their appetite for casual shopping. They quickly paid for the items they had selected and immediately returned to the military compound, desperate to keep the little girl safe from any further public incidents.
“Oh, my poor darling. Does it still throb?” Mother Gu asked as they drove, her face etched with profound distress.
Yiyi’s two tiny hands had been carefully wrapped in thick layers of white gauze, making them look like two miniature dumplings. Only her fingertips could wiggle slightly.
“Grandma~ It hurts~” Yiyi whimpered, pressing her face into Mother Gu’s chest and unleashing her sweetest, most pitiful coquettish tone.
Mother Gu’s heart shattered all over again. The Wang family’s upbringing was an absolute disgrace! How could any civilized household raise a child to behave like a feral animal, violently snatching whatever he wanted with complete disregard for basic manners or gentlemanly conduct?
“There, there, the pain will pass,” Mother Gu coaxed gently. “Grandma will give you a sweet piece of candy the moment we get home.”
It took a long while, but Mother Gu’s soothing murmurs finally worked. Yiyi calmed down, acting like a perfect, obedient angel, no longer crying out in pain. Yet seeing her so unnaturally quiet and stoic only made the adults’ hearts ache even more.
Mother Gu let out a heavy sigh as she stared out the window. She knew that Sheng Wanyan’s brutal, uncompromising retaliation against the Wang mother and son today would inevitably deepen the bitter rift between the third branch and the fourth branch.
Naturally, the Wang family wouldn’t dare seek open retribution; Mother Gu had been physically present during the altercation, clearly signaling the Gu family’s official stance on the matter. But Wang Chunmei’s loyalties lay entirely with her maternal bloodline. Once she caught wind of this humiliation, she would undoubtedly target her third sister-in-law with renewed venom. It was also entirely possible that the Wang elders would pressure Wang Chunmei to orchestrate covert acts of sabotage against the third branch from within the estate.
It is a complete tragedy, Mother Gu thought bitterly. Why on earth did the Gu family ever permit a toxic, uncultured woman like Wang Chunmei to marry into our lineage? Her presence was the sole reason the brothers’ relationship was fracturing, and the root cause of the endless unrest polluting their home.
When the group finally walked through the front doors of the estate, Grandpa and Grandma Gu immediately noticed Yiyi’s heavily bandaged hands. They froze in absolute shock. How had a simple shopping trip resulted in the child returning looking like a battlefield casualty?
“Let me see! What on earth happened?!” Grandma Gu cried, rushing forward to inspect her great-granddaughter. The child had only been back in the capital for a few days, and she was already sustaining serious injuries!
“What is the meaning of this?” Grandpa Gu demanded, turning a fierce, deeply displeased glare onto Gu Tingxiao. What kind of elite military commander failed to protect his own daughter during a civilian outing?!
When Mother Gu quickly recounted the events at the department store and revealed that the culprit was a member of the Wang family, the expressions of the two old patriarchs turned so terrifyingly dark that water could have dripped from their faces.
“Is this how the Wang household disciplines their descendants?!” Grandpa Gu roared. “How dare they spew such vile, toxic garbage in front of our Yiyi?!”
Chapter 458: The Children’s Shadow Operation
“Yiyi is a little girl, after all,” Grandma Gu said, her voice tight with worry. “If she takes those awful words to heart, she’s going to carry an inferiority complex for the rest of her life. First, that Wang family traumatizes our Jingjing, and now they want to ruin our sweet Yiyi?”
Grandma Gu unleashed all her pent-up frustration. What had happened to Gu Jingjing in the past remained a permanent thorn in the old lady’s heart. There were only these two precious girls in the entire Gu lineage, and the elders protected them like the absolute apples of their eyes.
“Wanyan, you fought well! It’s exactly what they deserved,” Grandpa Gu snorted coldly, his expression grim. “That mother stood by and watched her son brutalize a toddler, even applauding from the sidelines. Do they honestly think the Gu family is an easy target?”
The old patriarch’s temper was thoroughly flared. The Wang family was becoming entirely too outrageous. When he had taken his great-granddaughter out that morning, she hadn’t shed a single drop of blood despite multiple neighborhood scuffles. Yet a single encounter with the Wang boy left her palms raw and bleeding!
“If the fourth branch has the audacity to complain about this, she can pack her bags and move back to the Wang household permanently!” Grandpa Gu barked. “Jinmin is nearly three years old; he can survive perfectly well without a mother who would raise him to be utterly lawless.”
Grandpa Gu’s irritation spiked all over again just thinking about how poorly Gu Jinmin had been disciplined. The boy was practically three, yet he possessed absolutely no concept of table manners or respect for his elders. He simply threw tantrums and snatched whatever he wanted, behaving completely unlike a child of the Gu family.
It took a long while of cradling and soothing from both Grandpa and Grandma Gu before Yiyi finally forgot her grievances. She wasn’t even sad anymore, but seeing her great-grandparents looking so incredibly distressed made her little face fall in sympathy.
“My precious darling has suffered such a terrible ordeal,” Grandma Gu murmured, smoothing the girl’s hair.
Yiyi patted Grandma Gu’s cheek with her uninjured fingers, leaning forward to plant a soft kiss on both of the elders’ faces. “It doesn’t hurt anymore~” she chirped sweetly. “Yiyi is super happy~”
“Oh, sweet mercy! Why must you be so heartbreakingly good?” Grandma Gu sighed, her heart aching even more at the toddler’s attempt to comfort them. “The scratches on this little face haven’t even faded yet, and now your poor hands are ruined. It truly breaks my heart.” The old lady kept muttering her complaints, unable to let the matter rest.
Sheng Wanyan exchanged a warm, quiet smile with Mother Gu before heading back into the kitchen to coordinate dinner. Surrounded by the fierce, protective devotion of the family elders, Yiyi was rapidly deciding that she loved the Capital immensely.
Later that afternoon, Eldest Sister-in-law arrived home from her shift. The Education Bureau was entirely swamped with the post-exam logistics, forcing them to postpone all annual holiday leave. The moment she stepped into the living room, her eyes locked onto the white gauze.
“Yiyi, what on earth happened to your hands?”
“It was the Wang boy who attacked our Yiyi,” Grandma Gu supplied crossly.
Hearing her name, Yiyi immediately scrambled onto her feet to voice her own tactical report, her chest puffed out. “But Yiyi beat him up too~”
“Yes, yes, our brave girl fought right back,” Mother Gu coaxed gently. Even though the toddler had technically been physically overpowered, she had charged into the fray without a single shred of fear.
Sitting in the corner, ten-year-old Gu Jinfang’s eyes narrowed the moment he heard that the Wang family’s grandson had caused the bloodshed. He quietly slipped out of the room to track down Gu Jingjing.
“Jingjing,” he whispered, waving her over.
Gu Jingjing set down her drawing pad and followed her older brother into the secluded backyard.
“We are launching a counter-strike tomorrow morning!” Gu Jinfang declared, his voice low and serious.
“Huh?” Gu Jingjing blinked, thoroughly bewildered. “How am I supposed to fight him? I’m just a weak girl, why are you always dragging me into these combat maneuvers?”
“No, you misunderstod. I am gathering my crew to handle the physical engagement,” Gu Jinfang clarified efficiently. “You can’t participate, otherwise Grandma will have a fit and blame you for the trouble.”
Gu Jingjing nodded in immediate relief. In her eyes, her older brother’s strategic assessments were always flawless; after all, every formidable boy in the military compound answered to him. Furthermore, she had almost forgotten that the Wang family was technically her maternal grandmother’s household. Her maternal cousin had assaulted her paternal cousin—it was a convoluted domestic feud.
She recalled her experiences with the Wang boy vividly; whenever he visited the estate, he would violently snatch her toys. If she refused to hand them over, Wang Chunmei would swoop in to scold her severely. On multiple occasions, her grandparents had discovered the bullying and ordered Gu Jinfang to march out and reclaim her property by force.
“Tomorrow, you stay indoors and keep Yiyi entertained,” Gu Jinfang instructed, a cold focus in his eyes. “I’m going to assemble the boys and completely flatten him.”
“Alright,” Gu Jingjing agreed.
The siblings cemented their tactical understanding in complete secrecy, ensuring not a single adult caught wind of the shadow operation.
The following morning, Gu Jinfang flatly refused to accompany Eldest Brother Gu to the military headquarters for his regular conditioning drills. Eldest Brother inspected his son’s stubborn expression, deduced there was an alternative agenda afoot, and casually let him go without pressing the issue.
The moment breakfast concluded, Gu Jinfang slipped out the front gates to rally his infantry. A proper military descendant executed operations cleanly, avoiding any unprovoked bullying of the weak. To ensure total cooperation, he brought along his personal reserve of premium sweets.
He gathered his core crew, distributed the candies, and instructed them to draft their younger brothers—specifically the ones aged between four and six years old—for active duty. Gu Jinfang’s lieutenants worked with sharp, practiced efficiency, a clear indication that they had executed similar tactical maneuvers numerous times in the past.
“Take these candies,” Gu Jinfang commanded the younger boys. “Use them to lure the Wang grandson out of his courtyard. Trick him into the deserted clearing where we usually run drills, and then point-blank refuse to share the treats with him.”
Given the deeply entitled, aggressive character of the Wang boy, the moment he observed a group of local kids enjoying premium sweets without offering him a share, his default setting would drive him to charge forward and snatch them by force. The second he initiated physical theft, the boys would have full legal justification to retaliate.
“Don’t worry, Commander Gu!” the younger boys chirped, saluting cleanly. “Mission will be executed flawlessly!”
The miniature vanguard went to work. Within the hour, the neighborhood children had successfully coaxed the Wang boy out into the designated clearing. True to their briefing, they pulled out the vibrant candies and began devouring them right before his eyes.
“Give me those! I want some!” the Wang boy demanded, his face contorting into an immediate scowl.
“No way! We’re not sharing with you!”
“Hand them over right now!” the bully roared, lunging forward to steal the sweets.
When his initial grab failed, he immediately unleashed a volley of wild punches. But the children of the military compound were bred from elite soldier lines, every single one of them operating with a surplus of fierce, hot-blooded courage. Within seconds, the younger boys swarmed the bully, completely suppressing his movements and delivering a thorough, calculated thrashing.
Gu Jinfang stood at a secure distance behind a row of winter trees, calmly monitoring the engagement alongside his lieutenants. If you dare lay a hand on my sisters, he thought coldly, we will flatten you every single time you step across the line.
Before long, local adults noticed the chaotic dust cloud of the childhood brawl and rushed forward to separate the combatants. The entire courtyard echoed with the lively, dramatic shouts of the neighborhood. Satisfied with the operational outcome, Gu Jinfang distributed the remainder of his premium candies to his crew and marched back to the Gu estate.
“You’re back?” Grandpa Gu noted, looking up from his newspaper the moment the boy slid through the front door.
Gu Jinfang shifted his gaze, completely guilty under the old patriarch’s piercing eyes. The compound was currently buzzing with the dramatic details of the Wang boy’s public defeat; there was absolutely no way Grandpa Gu remained oblivious to the orchestration.
“Yes, Great-Grandpa…” the boy mumbled.
“Hmph! Drop into a horse stance!” the old man barked.
Gu Jinfang didn’t dare waste a second. He immediately assumed a deep, rigid horse stance in the center of the living room. Undergoing a strenuous physical penalty was infinitely preferable to facing his great-grandfather’s heavy wooden cane.
Yiyi, spotting her cousin’s sudden disciplinary exercise, trotted over and anchored herself directly beside him, attempting to mirror his posture. However, she was swathed in entirely too many layers of padded winter gear, and her chubby little frame carried a surplus of healthy baby fat. She physically couldn’t splay her legs or lower her hips properly, resulting in a squat that looked comically clumsy.
“Brother~” she whispered, straining against her clothes.
“Yeah?” Gu Jinfang grunted, looking down at her, his eyes softening despite the physical strain of his punishment.
Seeing her stability wavering, he helplessly reached out a hand to adjust her alignment. However, he severely underestimated the toddler’s solid mass. The moment Yiyi took a small step to adjust her footing, she lost her balance entirely and crashed backward onto her padded bottom.
In his frantic rush to break her fall, Gu Jinfang lost his own leverage, and both children tumbled onto the rug in a tangled heap, with the older boy selflessly positioning himself at the bottom to shield her from the impact.
Gu Tingxiao, watching from the armchair, chuckled softly. He strode over, scooped his daughter off his nephew’s chest, and pulled the young boy back onto his feet.
One truly shouldn’t underestimate Yiyi based on her miniature height; carrying that healthy baby fat made her surprisingly heavy! Sheng Wanyan routinely strained her arms whenever she had to carry the toddler for extended periods, let alone a ten-year-old boy serving as a human cushion. Fortunately, the thick layers of winter clothing had completely absorbed the impact, leaving Gu Jinfang entirely unbruised.
“Are you hurt anywhere from the tumble, sweetheart?” Gu Jinfang asked immediately, ignoring his own dust as he checked the little girl over, terrified she had aggravated her raw palms.
Yiyi shook her head happily. Keeping her bandaged right hand raised, she managed to use her left hand to dig deep into her overalls pocket, pulling out her fingers to reveal her hidden prize.
“For Big Brother~” she chirped, dropping two pristine White Rabbit milk candies into his hand.
