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"I'd like to see what other tricks the Bai family can pull!"

"Don't worry, leave this little matter to me!" Gu Yugui cradled his wife's hand, blowing on her palm while thumping his chest in eager agreement.

Watching his parents settle scores, fiercely defend their own, and still find time to flaunt their affection, Gu Jiuque lowered his eyes in silence. He thought of his previous life again.

He had lain unconscious in the hospital for three months and missed his family's funerals. Bai Yuesheng had helped arrange Grandpa Gu's funeral. But Bai Yuesheng had been young and inexperienced then, busy appraising antiques and hunting for bargains, with little time or energy to spare. So he had entrusted Grandpa Gu's funeral entirely to his parents.

The Bai couple had readily agreed on the surface, but behind the scenes, they had used the funeral arrangements as an opportunity to plunder quite a few valuable items from the Gu family. When Gu Jiuque discovered it afterward, Bai Yuesheng, ashamed, had wanted to return the things to him. Yet somehow, word of the matter reached Bai Yuesheng's many admirers, and Gu Jiuque, the actual victim, ended up being mocked mercilessly.

They all believed Gu Jiuque was petty and stingy—at the time, everyone in the Gu family was dead, while Gu Jiuque, the only survivor, lay unconscious in the hospital. As outsiders, Bai Yuesheng's parents had been willing to arrange Grandpa Gu's funeral. No matter how one looked at it, they were warmhearted people who had worked hard. Even if they kept a few things as mementos, that was only reasonable. Yet Gu Jiuque had to split hairs and act so unreasonable, making an issue out of such a trivial matter.

"When you hire someone to arrange a funeral, don't you pay them?"

Gu Jiuque had been rendered speechless. He had wanted to say that voluntarily giving them something was entirely different from the Bai couple taking things without asking. But at that time, no one cared what Gu Jiuque thought. The trauma had left him with aphasia, and he could not even speak in his own defense.

Fortunately, Bai Yuesheng treated him as he always had and did not distance himself from him because of it. "Those things belonged to your family to begin with. My parents were in the wrong. Don't listen to those people outside talking nonsense. I'm so ashamed over what happened. It's enough if you don't blame me."

Of course, Gu Jiuque would not blame Bai Yuesheng. No matter what, Bai Yuesheng had offered to help arrange his grandfather's funeral out of kindness. Besides, at that time, Bai Yuesheng was the only one Gu Jiuque had left. If he did not trust Bai Yuesheng, who else could he trust? He had regarded Bai Yuesheng as the only light in his life. Yet not long afterward, Bai Yuesheng met Jin Weixie, his destined match, at the Antique Appraisal Tournament.

The two hit it off immediately, and after the Antique Appraisal Tournament ended, they partnered up to open an antique auction house. But the field of antique collecting depended heavily on connections and reputation. Bai Yuesheng was merely a newcomer who had luckily acquired a golden finger, possessing supernatural ability but lacking connections and knowledge. Jin Weixie had only just returned from abroad and was unfamiliar with the domestic collecting circles as well.

To expand the auction house's influence, Bai Yuesheng came looking for Gu Jiuque again.

By then, under the weight of all the rumors outside, Gu Jiuque had somehow begun to feel guilty toward Bai Yuesheng. At Bai Yuesheng's persuasion, he put the jade ornaments he had carved while honing his craft, the antique curios he had restored, and the jewelry he had made up for sale at the auction house. He also introduced Bai Yuesheng to quite a few useful connections.

Never realizing that his actions had also helped the Gu family's enemies gain a foothold quickly.

At the time, Bai Yanliang happened to be the auction house manager. Seeing Gu Jiuque was no different from seeing an enemy. He went around spreading the word that Gu Jiuque was a jinx who brought death to his parents, his spouse, and his entire family. He also claimed that customers found Gu Jiuque unlucky and refused to accept his works. For Bai Yuesheng's sake, Gu Jiuque did not make an issue of it.

It was not until old family friends of the Gu family could no longer stand it and personally came to urge Gu Jiuque not to wrong himself so much for Bai Yuesheng's sake, while Bai Yuesheng also came before him weeping and apologizing for his parents, that Gu Jiuque suddenly realized his presence had put Bai Yuesheng in an impossible position between his parents and his lover.

"I don't want you to suffer, but they're my parents. What can I do?" Bai Yuesheng said through tears. "Jiuque, I'm really in so much pain. I'm so sad. I'm useless. I can't protect you, and I can't change Dad's mind."

After learning of Bai Yuesheng's conflict and suffering, his admirers also came looking for Gu Jiuque one after another, angrily accusing him of having no sense of responsibility and not being a real man. "Yuesheng treats you so well. How could you bear to make him unhappy?"

Gu Jiuque could not understand how even his yielding could become the source of Bai Yuesheng's pain.

It so happened that Gu Jiuque had gathered almost enough funds as well, so he decided to withdraw from the auction house and reopen the Antique Appreciation Studio.

To prove his feelings for Bai Yuesheng, Gu Jiuque invited Bai Yuesheng to run the Antique Appreciation Studio with him. Yet unexpectedly, Bai Yuesheng rejected the proposal. Bai Yuesheng said he wanted a career of his own and did not wish to become anyone's dependent. And everyone knew that the Antique Appreciation Studio was the Gu family's ancestral business.

Gu Jiuque thought Bai Yuesheng's words made sense. So, in the name of partnership, he invited Bai Yuesheng again to help revive the Antique Appreciation Studio with him, even intending to give Bai Yuesheng a ten-percent stake in it—although Gu Jiuque did not say it aloud, he believed Bai Yuesheng would understand what he meant. Before their deaths, his mother and grandmother had each owned a ten-percent stake in the Antique Appreciation Studio. Those shares had been betrothal gifts Grandpa Gu and Gu Dad gave to the women they loved when they married.

But Bai Yuesheng rejected Gu Jiuque's proposal again.

"I'm not a greedy person. I know what the Antique Appreciation Studio means to the Gu family and to you. Nor am I trying to retreat in order to advance, forcing you to give me shares in the Antique Appreciation Studio. I don't want to participate in its operations because I respect the Gu family's ancestral rule that outsiders may not hold shares in the Antique Appreciation Studio. You mustn't misunderstand me. Although I won't take part in its management, I'll definitely work hard to help you fulfill your wish of reviving the Antique Appreciation Studio. Because I promised you, didn't I?"

Bai Yuesheng's response moved Gu Jiuque deeply. Despite Bai Yuesheng's repeated objections, he insisted on registering a ten-percent stake in the Antique Appreciation Studio under Bai Yuesheng's name. He never imagined that after his death, Bai Yuesheng would inherit the Antique Appreciation Studio as a partner, then merge it into the antique auction house he and Jin Weixie had founded together.

—Everything he had planned and worked for in his life had ultimately become a wedding dress for his enemies. Even if it had all been arranged by the original novel, this tool character had been far too foolish. No wonder Bai Yuesheng had been so grateful for his profound devotion after learning of his death!