Chapter 55: Su Wan's Illegitimate Daughter?

Su Wan smiled lightly, brushing the matter aside. “Wenyu, don’t joke around. We don’t have that many rooms in our house.”

Hearing this, Zhao Wenyu couldn’t help feeling a surge of irritation, her annoyance even turning inward toward Su Wan.

How could Su Wan be the kind of person who only cared about that thin thread of blood ties? Now that her biological daughter was here, she herself no longer mattered. The kindness Su Wan had shown her before was nothing more than the way one might humor a pet—indulging her when the mood struck, discarding her when it faded.

“How could I be mistaken, Aunt Su?” she replied, pretending not to understand Su Wan’s meaning and heading straight for the guest room in the Gu family’s house.

She opened the guest room door and looked back at Su Wan with an innocent smile. “I remember my room was always decorated just the way I liked it. There are even pictures of me inside! Aunt Su, do you remember, when we went together…”

She didn’t know why Su Wan’s daughter had suddenly appeared at the Gu family’s home.

But no matter what, she could not let her own position in this house be shaken.

In truth, that room was only a guest room, but since Zhao Wenyu had stayed there the most, she had come to think of it as her own. She’d made countless little decorations to mark it as hers, to the point that when other guests arrived, they could no longer stay in the house.

But since Su Wan and her daughter had been away most of the time, no one particularly cared.

Now, however, with Gu Ci’s arrival, things were different. Su Wan treasured this “daughter” so much that she wanted Gu Ci to feel the warmth of home the very moment she stepped inside. She had people hurry back and redecorate the room from top to bottom.

Su Wan was even planning to redecorate it again the next day, this time in accordance with Gu Ci’s personal tastes.

And so, when Zhao Wenyu turned to look at what she considered “her room in the Gu family’s house,” she stood frozen in place.

Gu Ci lazily swept her gaze over the space.

An ARMANI CASA bed and nightstand, the latest Tom Dixon ceiling lamp, a Versace cashmere Persian rug—each item was a classic.

She could even recognize the unmistakable style of the designer, Farnsworth.

Zhao Wenyu didn’t know much about these things, but she could tell the room was vastly different—far more exquisite and dreamlike than anything she’d done.

Her face blossomed into a bright smile as she turned sweetly to Su Wan. “Aunt Su, did Uncle Gu prepare this for me? I never imagined you would give me such a wonderful surprise. I really love it!”

So, the reason Su Wan hadn’t let her in earlier must have been that Uncle Gu hadn’t finished preparing the room for her and wanted to wait until it was complete to surprise her.

All her anger toward Su Wan dissipated instantly, and she shot a triumphant glance at Gu Ci.

So what if this woman was Su Wan’s daughter?

Even if Uncle Gu had, at Su Wan’s pleading, allowed this illegitimate daughter into his home, would he ever truly care for her?

Thinking this, Zhao Wenyu couldn’t help but feel a touch of contempt for Su Wan.

If her mother had been Uncle Gu’s wife, she would never have done something so humiliating as giving him a child out of wedlock!

Su Wan truly had no sense of shame, keeping such a grown illegitimate daughter outside all these years.

The next moment, however, Su Wan gently corrected her, “Wenyu, this room is for A’Ci.”

Rubbing her temples, Su Wan felt a headache brewing.

What a mess—she had just finished preparing a room for her “daughter,” and Zhao Wenyu had arrived, insisting it was a surprise meant for her.

Zhao Wenyu’s face turned pale.

Moments ago, she’d been so excited that she’d missed all the details.

For example, the photograph she always kept on the nightstand was gone…

The throw pillow she’d always kept on the bed had vanished…

Her favorite lipstick was missing from the vanity…

This was supposed to be her room—all of it hers. But now it had been taken over by this daughter of Su Wan’s who’d appeared out of nowhere!

Zhao Wenyu couldn’t believe Uncle Gu would go to such lengths for Su Wan’s daughter. The only explanation was that these things had originally been meant for her.

But because she hadn’t returned, Su Wan’s daughter had claimed it all for herself!

Jealousy consumed her. She couldn’t hold back any longer and spun around, gritting her teeth as she demanded of Su Wan, “Aunt Su, I’ve always respected you as an elder, and you treat me like this? This is my room, all my things are here. How could you give them to someone else without even asking me?”

Su Wan was stunned, not expecting the usually well-behaved Zhao Wenyu to speak to her that way.

This was just a guest room, meant for visitors, and Su Wan had never given it much thought when Zhao Wenyu stayed there often.

How could she have known that Zhao Wenyu considered this room her own, or that she’d resent Su Wan for redecorating it for her “daughter”?

And what did she mean, all the things inside were hers?

Su Wan had just had everything redecorated for Gu Ci!

“Wenyu, this is just a guest room. Now that A’Ci is back, we decided to give it to her…”

Su Wan tried to maintain her composure and reason with Zhao Wenyu, but Zhao Wenyu wouldn’t listen.

She dashed off to Gu Changrong, dragging him toward the room as she complained, “Uncle Gu, come see what Aunt Su and her daughter have done!”

Gu Changrong, utterly confused, looked at Su Wan, who rolled her eyes at him in exasperation.

She knew Zhao Wenyu had always been fonder of Gu Changrong, but hadn’t expected her to run tattling to him like a child, making Su Wan feel like the outsider in her own home.

“Wenyu, what’s going on? Did something happen?” Gu Changrong asked, more bewildered than ever.

He glanced around, unable to discern what the fuss was about.

With tears in her eyes, Zhao Wenyu recounted how her room had been stolen.

Having surveyed the room, Gu Changrong was dissatisfied with the arrangements for Gu Ci—the décor was rushed and simplistic, hardly the warm homecoming he’d wanted for her. The room was small, cluttered with furniture, and he forgot entirely that it had only been hastily redecorated in the twenty minutes since they’d left. He simply felt that Gu Ci was being slighted.

He frowned, already thinking he’d need to redecorate for Gu Ci.

Meanwhile, Zhao Wenyu was sobbing, and all he caught from her tirade was the word “room.”

But Zhao Wenyu misunderstood everything.

She believed Uncle Gu’s silence meant he was displeased with Gu Ci because of what she’d said.

Her eyes brimmed with tears, which rolled down her cheeks in fat drops. She looked as though she’d suffered an enormous grievance, but forced herself to remain strong. “Uncle Gu, if you want to give this room to Aunt Su’s daughter, that’s fine. I can bear a little hardship. But Aunt Su and her daughter were too much; they used my room without even telling me, and threw out all my things…”

Gu Changrong snapped out of his thoughts, his brows knitting tightly. “Wenyu, this is the room your Aunt Su and I prepared for A’Ci, not for you.”

Afraid Gu Ci might misunderstand, he explained to her, “A’Ci, Wenyu just misunderstood. Don’t mind her. Everything in this room is brand new.”

And mentally he added, he’d have it redone again the next day.

What did he mean, telling that wretch not to mind, and emphasizing everything was new?

Zhao Wenyu was so furious she nearly spat blood, her eyes reddening further.

Su Wan, however, picked up on something Zhao Wenyu had said, her laughter tinged with anger. “Wenyu… what do you mean, ‘my daughter and I’?”

Gu Changrong realized the slip as well and immediately corrected her. “Wenyu, Gu Ci is the daughter of your Aunt Su and me.”

Zhao Wenyu stood as though struck by lightning.

So… Gu Ci’s surname was Gu—she was Uncle Gu and Su Wan’s daughter?