These Brothers Were That Fierce?

Gu Yijin took another careful look at Shen Qingling. He was no longer smiling, merely giving him an indifferent glance.

Right. How could Shen Qingling possibly smile at him?

Had he become so nervous that he was hallucinating?

Gu Yijin looked at Shen Qingling with an uneasy expression.

Gu Chenwang took his seat at the head of the table. "Sit down."

A family meeting was held at the Gu Family home.

Gu Chenwang looked calm.

Gu Yutang wore a teasing expression.

Gu Yijin looked uneasy.

Wen Sulan looked guilty.

Shen Qingling seemed to sense that something was wrong with the atmosphere, especially when he saw Wen Sulan's tear-filled eyes.

Shen Qingling looked at Wen Sulan. "You said you knew about my background. What exactly is going on?"

Wen Sulan had used this excuse to bring Shen Qingling back to the Gu Family.

Through tears, Wen Sulan told Shen Qingling the whole truth.

Shen Qingling remained calm throughout.

That was beyond everyone's expectations.

They did not understand how Shen Qingling could face them so calmly after learning the truth.

He had gone from an orphan with no identity to the Gu Family's true young master. Shouldn't that have made him ecstatic?

It meant he could cross class boundaries and no longer live the hard life he once had. It was a dream countless people could only long for.

Even setting aside the benefits, from an emotional standpoint, shouldn't a child who had never known parental love be moved after finding his parents?

"I'm sorry, Qingling. It was Mom who failed to protect you. Mom has wronged you."

Wen Sulan trembled as she held his hand, scorching tears dripping onto it.

Shen Qingling asked only three words. "So what?"

Everyone's breathing stalled.

Gu Yutang exchanged a glance with Gu Yijin. Why was this not going the way they had imagined?

Gu Chenwang frowned. "Qingling, we are your parents."

Only then did Shen Qingling smile.

"President Gu, I have no parents. I grew up in an orphanage. The orphanage director and the aunties there were the ones who raised me."

"I have never eaten a grain of your rice or drunk a sip of your water. You cannot even claim the kindness of a drop of water, so where does this parent-child relationship come from?"

Gu Yutang looked astonished. This brother was that fierce?

Even she did not dare speak to her father like that. How did Shen Qingling dare?

Did he not want to return to the Gu Family or have the status of a Gu Family young master?

Hearing Shen Qingling's words, Wen Sulan felt even more guilty. Her tears flowed harder, and she did not know how to answer him. She truly had no answer. She had failed this child.

Gu Chenwang was not angry. He was merely curious, because Shen Qingling seemed rather different from what he had imagined.

And compared with those other two children, Shen Qingling seemed bolder and less afraid of him. This was what his ideal heir should be like.

Gu Yijin also found it strange. Shen Qingling could not be foolish enough to not want this identity, could he?

Of course Shen Qingling was not foolish.

How could he not want this identity? If money were placed before you, would you not want it?

He simply did not want to follow the path they had planned for him.

If Shen Qingling accepted everything with a clear conscience, they would persuade themselves that they had already made it up to him, and they would become comfortable with it as well.

The better Shen Qingling's attitude was, the more they would take it for granted.

In their eyes, Shen Qingling should be overwhelmingly grateful and ecstatic to receive this identity.

What kind of image would Shen Qingling become in their eyes?

Someone who craved money, power, and the Gu Family's recognition.

That was precisely the persona Gu Yijin wanted to force onto Shen Qingling. It was also the stereotype the Gu Family members had formed of him before ever meeting him.

Why should Shen Qingling become the person from their stereotype?

He absolutely would not.

This way, Gu Chenwang would instead be wary of him. Would he really trust a child he had not raised himself, one who had come from an orphanage?

Would he not think that Shen Qingling's overly smooth acceptance, even his show of closeness, was because he coveted the family fortune?

Gu Chenwang was a suspicious man. Shen Qingling knew that clearly.

It was not only Gu Chenwang who would be wary of him. There were also Gu Yutang and Gu Yijin. Gu Yijin already had an irreconcilable relationship with him, but Gu Yutang did not.

Although Shen Qingling did not like this sister, he at least could not let Gu Yutang become Gu Yijin's helper.

Most importantly, there was Wen Sulan. Wen Sulan was too weak. Shen Qingling hoped her guilt toward him would change her.

077: "Host, won't this anger Gu Chenwang and make him give up on bringing you home?"

Shen Qingling: "Impossible. Would Gu Chenwang hand his family fortune to Gu Yijin, a child with no blood relation to him? Besides, now that he has me, Gu Chenwang will definitely think Gu Yijin is unqualified."

"So I can be certain that no matter what, he will do everything he can to win me over. The more I resist him, the more at ease he may feel."

To Shen Qingling, Gu Chenwang was not merely a father. He was the ruler of a family. When he looked at Shen Qingling, he would see him more as an heir than as a son.

Shen Qingling did not expect him to possess something like paternal love, either.

Gu Chenwang said, "But Gu Family blood runs through your veins. Your mother carried you for ten months and endured untold hardship to give birth to you. Surely you cannot forget the debt of giving birth."

Shen Qingling paused, then asked again, "So what does President Gu mean now? Do you want me to repay your debt of giving birth to me?"

Wen Sulan shook her head. "Qingling, that is not what we mean. We only want you to come home, so our family can reunite and live well together. We want to make up everything we failed to give you. I have even prepared your room already. We are just waiting for you to come home."

Shen Qingling flatly refused. "There is no need. I am doing very well now. You do not need to make up for anything. What happened cannot be undone. We can simply live our own lives from now on."

Wen Sulan looked at Gu Chenwang in panic, signaling for him to say something.

Gu Chenwang said, "What do you mean by doing well? Living in a leaking apartment that costs seven hundred a month? Working yourself to the bone at part-time jobs for twelve hundred a month? Or attending a banquet where you need to get an invitation from a woman?"

Shen Qingling met his gaze directly. "Anything can be created with my own two hands. I study so I can rise in the world. Once I graduate from Jiang University, I will no longer live in a leaking apartment or earn twelve hundred a month. How do you know what the future will be like? Are you so certain that I will definitely live badly?"

Gu Yutang and Gu Yijin did not even dare breathe.

Shen Qingling was brave. Truly brave...

Wen Sulan grew nervous too, afraid that Gu Chenwang would abandon Shen Qingling in a fit of anger.

Unexpectedly, Gu Chenwang laughed.

An odd light seemed to gleam in his eyes. As expected of his son.

Shen Qingling was very much like him when he was young, an innocent and hopelessly foolish idealist.

Gu Chenwang did not deny his courage and persistence, because this was how young people were before they had hit a wall.

He believed that he could change everything through his own efforts, create his future, and gain everything he wanted through his education and knowledge.

But in the end, he would discover that these were merely delusions, lies and dreams woven for him by this world.

No matter how hard you worked, you could never compare to a single word from someone with power and influence, not even to a word from one of their lackeys.

Shen Qingling knew Gu Chenwang's background and knew how he had climbed step by step to where he was today. Naturally, he said these things so Gu Chenwang would admire and trust him, then hand everything in the family over to him.

This was a long process, not something that could be achieved in a moment.

Gu Chenwang spoke in a tone that was almost a smile. "You are right. I truly cannot be certain."

"But if you return to the Gu Family, at least your future will not be an illusion. It will be clear and visible."

"You can enter the best companies and have the best resources and connections. Those are not things you can obtain simply by graduating from Jiang University, are they?"