Chapter 91: A Life of Blissful Ignorance Part 2

Afraid that her tone was too gentle to draw out her daughter’s true thoughts, she added, “Personally, I always thought Ming Li’s personality was too lukewarm; she couldn’t handle things. I was quite dissatisfied with her in the beginning. On the contrary, Miss Zhou is prettier and more lively—somewhere between Shen Lideng and Ming Li. She’s just right.”

Gu Qingshuang immediately took the bait. “Anyone can see that Ming Li is the prettier one.”

Gu Xueqiang shrugged. “That just shows we have different aesthetics.”

“Your aesthetics have severely degraded,” Gu Qingshuang countered. “You’ve started to favor Western features.”

Gu Xueqiang didn’t argue about the merits of Western versus Eastern beauty. Fearing the topic would drift too far to return, she simply asked, “So you still feel like you can’t settle for Miss Zhou?”

“I can’t,” Gu Qingshuang said. “Why must my life be a series of ‘settling’?”

“Isn’t it?” Gu Xueqiang asked, sounding genuinely puzzled. “Weren’t you and Ming Li just ‘settling’ before?”

Gu Qingshuang blurted out, “When were Ming Li and I ever sett—”

She cut herself off halfway, not daring to finish the sentence.

Gu Xueqiang watched her with a faint, mocking smile. “So, you still think your time with Ming Li was just settling? Just a contract?”

Gu Qingshuang finally realized. “You did this on purpose.”

“Otherwise?” Gu Xueqiang laughed. “If I didn’t push you, when would you ever recognize your own heart?”

Gu Qingshuang’s expression darkened, and she remained silent.

After a moment, the smile vanished from Gu Xueqiang’s face. The atmosphere at the table grew suffocatingly heavy. Gu Xueqiang gave a forced laugh. “Did I help you the wrong way again?”

“No,” Gu Qingshuang said. “How could you ever be wrong? You are the high-and-mighty President Gu. You are never wrong!”

By the end, Gu Qingshuang’s voice was trembling with biting sarcasm.

“Gu Qingshuang, what kind of attitude is that?” Gu Xueqiang frowned deeply. She hadn’t expected a thank-you for her meddling, but she hadn’t anticipated such a violent reaction either.

“What kind of reaction do you want from me?” Gu Qingshuang let out a cold, bitter laugh. Her expression was gloomy as she hid her hands beneath the table, digging her nails into her palms. The sharp pain was the only medicine that allowed her to stay composed enough to speak. “How should I react? With boundless gratitude? Should I thank you for helping me see my own heart?”

Gu Xueqiang shot back, “Shouldn’t you?”

“You are always so self-righteous,” Gu Qingshuang summarized.

“But I have always been right.”

“Heh.”

A simple, mocking sound, but it carried a world of insult.

The fire in Gu Xueqiang’s heart was instantly ignited. “Am I not? Gu Qingshuang, you are thirty years old. You should have established yourself and a family by now. But look at you—what have you done? Your career is nonexistent, and your home has fallen apart. Do you really think your way is the right way?!”

“What could I possibly do that would be right?!” Gu Qingshuang looked up at her, her eyes terrifyingly bloodshot. “In your eyes, what could I ever do that would be right?!”

“In this moment, recognizing your feelings, chasing Ming Li back, and protecting your home would be the right thing to do,” Gu Xueqiang said.

Gu Qingshuang closed her eyes, losing the strength to argue. Her voice became eerily quiet. “When did I ever have a home? This place is nothing but a cage where I’m left to gasp for air. What am I to you? A bird? A pet? You do whatever you want with me.”

She would always compromise anyway. She would always obey. Gu Qingshuang had no backbone.

Break one of her legs, and the other would naturally fall to its knees.

In front of Gu Xueqiang, her legs didn’t even need to be broken. As long as her mother started a scene, it always ended with Gu Qingshuang’s surrender.

And yet, everyone thought she was the lucky one because she had such a powerful mother.

Gu Qingshuang was exhausted. She looked at the stunned, bewildered Gu Xueqiang and said softly, “You discovered Father was cheating, but you didn’t divorce him. Instead, you took your anger out on me. You blamed me for being friends with Liu Siwang, and you hated us so much you nearly got us both killed. And now, suddenly, you’ve transformed into the person who wants what’s best for me. You want me to have a ‘home.'”

“Gu Qingshuang, you…” Gu Xueqiang didn’t understand why she was suddenly bringing these things up.

But Gu Qingshuang looked lifeless, exactly as she had at eighteen—like a walking corpse.

“I didn’t intend to say these things. I thought I’d keep them buried in my heart forever so that you could be fine, and I could be… okay.” Gu Qingshuang stared at her. “After all, you gave birth to me, didn’t you? My life belongs to you. But what did I do wrong? My birth, even my every breath, was a mistake.”

“I can only walk the path you set for me. You wanted me to study finance, so I had to study finance. You wanted me in the company, so you used every trick in the book to get me there. I don’t feel like your daughter. I feel like a hostage you’ve taken.”

“I’ve spent all these years living in a muddle. I found a tiny bit of joy and started living a lie just to survive. But then you force me to find myself? You force me to wake up? What do I do once I’m awake? How do I convince myself to keep going? Do you have any idea how hard I’ve worked to deceive myself all these years?!”

By the end, Gu Qingshuang’s emotions finally collapsed entirely.

Two lines of tears fell silently. She stood up. “You always pride yourself on being ‘awake,’ so why don’t you get a divorce? Aren’t you also sinking and struggling in the mud? Haven’t you also spent half your life living in a daze? Why can’t I do the same?”

Gu Xueqiang was too shocked to speak.

This was the first time she had heard Gu Qingshuang say so much. In the past, every argument, every hysterical outburst had been a one-sided lecture from Gu Xueqiang. Gu Qingshuang would argue for a few moments, shout a few words, and then immediately shut down, watching her with a calm, vacant expression.

Gu Xueqiang hated that look the most. it always reminded her of Gu Liufu. It made her hate Gu Qingshuang’s existence even more, fueling her hysteria.

But now, Gu Qingshuang had calmly spoken the words she had held back for years.

Every word cut like a knife. Gu Xueqiang felt as if someone were squeezing her throat; she couldn’t breathe.

Gu Qingshuang let out a soft sigh. “Life… is better lived in blissful ignorance.”

If one is too awake, it becomes impossible to live.

Besides, Ming Li wasn’t the type of person who would simply be there waiting just because she woke up and turned around.