Chapter 34

“Alright, alright, as long as you think this way, I can rest easy.”

Gu Qinglan nodded in relief, reaching out to stroke her daughter’s hair with deep emotion. “In the blink of an eye, you’ve grown so much. I still remember when you were just born—you were so tiny. Your father didn’t even dare to hold you, afraid he might accidentally crush you. I told him it would be fine, but he still didn’t dare. He was such a coward back then.”

Hearing this little piece of her father’s embarrassing history, Shen Lihuan raised her hand to cover her mouth, stifling a laugh.

Just picturing it was amusing enough.

“During my postpartum period, your father took over everything at home—bathing you, changing your diapers. The only thing he didn’t do himself was breastfeeding. Whenever you cried, he’d get so anxious, holding you and coaxing you until you finally calmed down before putting you back in bed. In the middle of the night, if you cried, he’d wake up even faster than I did. When you got sick, he was so worried he developed ulcers in his mouth, looking even worse than you, the actual patient…”

As Shen Lihuan listened, her eyes gradually turned red. She hugged her mother’s shoulders and rested her head against them. “Mom, I must have accumulated great fortune in my past life to be born into our family in this one. To have parents as wonderful as you and Dad… Thank you for loving me so much.”

“Silly girl, there’s no need to thank us. This is what we do willingly.”

Gu Qinglan gently patted her daughter’s back, her gaze deep and thoughtful. “In life, one must have a sense of responsibility. If you bring a child into this world but don’t raise them properly, then what’s the point? Why let them suffer? Your father and I both grew up without good fathers, and your grandmother and maternal grandmother never had good husbands. I only hope that when you get married in the future, you’ll treat your wife well and never let her down. And if you have children, you must love them wholeheartedly, so they never feel like having a mother is worse than not having one at all.”

Shen Lihuan blinked rapidly, trying to evaporate the tears in her eyes, and didn’t even notice that her mother had said “treat your wife well.” She nodded solemnly. “Mom, I will.”

“Good. I got off work early today, so I’ll personally cook all your favorite dishes.” Gu Qinglan dotingly tapped her daughter’s upturned nose. Shen Lihuan pursed her lips into a smile. “Want me to help?”

“Absolutely not. If you’re going to study medicine in the future, you can’t cook. You need to be careful with your hands.”

A doctor’s hands are their most important asset. If they got injured, how could they perform surgeries?

Gu Qinglan quickly pushed Shen Lihuan, who was about to get up, back down. “The kitchen is no place for you.”

Shen Lihuan understood the reasoning. With her abilities, even if she lost a hand, she could reattach it, but her mother didn’t know about her powers. So, she compromised. “Then I won’t use knives. I’ll just help with washing vegetables and doing the dishes.”

She even mimicked washing dishes, looking quite serious about it.

Gu Qinglan waved her off. “It’s just one meal. If I get too busy, there’s always Zongse to help. You just stay here, read your books, take notes, and wait for me to call you for dinner.”

“Alright then, I’ll read for a while and come down when dinner’s ready.” Shen Lihuan sighed in resignation. If her mother wouldn’t let her into the kitchen, what else could she do?

Watching Gu Qinglan walk away with a light step, Shen Lihuan let out a long sigh and pulled a copy of Clinical Neuroanatomy from the bookshelf. She was only about fifty pages in—there was still a lot of content to study thoroughly.

---

While the Shen family was filled with warmth, things were quite different at the He family’s Biyun Pavilion.

Ever since Gu Qingrong developed that horrifying face tumor, He Xi had locked her in the villa for more than ten days, forbidding her from stepping outside.

Gu Qingrong valued her beauty above all else. Now that her face had become like this, she felt as if she were better off dead. However, her will was far stronger than her appearance. No matter how hideous she had become, she still wanted to live.

Who knew? Maybe one day the tumors would disappear on their own, or perhaps a brilliant doctor would find a cure for her. If she died now, wouldn’t that just leave the position of the He family’s young madam open for some other lowly woman? She could never allow another woman to take what was hers!

“Husband, please, open the door and let me out. I’m so scared being in here alone.”

Even now, Gu Qingrong hadn’t lost her composure. After accepting her disfigurement, she had calmed down faster than anyone. She deliberately spoke to He Xi in a soft, sorrowful tone—he had always loved it when she spoke like this.

“You’re scared? I’m even more scared!”

Outside the door, He Xi shouted at her, his voice trembling.

That morning, when he had woken up and seen her face, the sight had been so horrifying that he actually fainted. Even now, thinking back on it made him feel utterly humiliated. And because she had embarrassed him, he couldn’t help but resent her. But after all, he had loved Gu Qingrong for so many years, so he still forced himself to stand outside her door.

“Husband, do you not love me anymore? Your fear makes me terrified. Without your love, and with my face like this… how am I supposed to go on?”

Gu Qingrong sobbed behind the door. He Xi felt an inexplicable irritation but couldn’t bring himself to abandon her completely. Frustrated, he shouted, “Then tell me, what do you want me to do? Why did you suddenly grow those tumors?”

“I don’t know! They just appeared overnight. Husband, I’m really scared. Please, talk to Mother and have her get a doctor to examine me. Maybe I’m sick or poisoned. You know better than anyone what kind of person I am.”

Even with tears streaming down her face, Gu Qingrong didn’t dare wipe them away. The sharp teeth on those three tumors were too dangerous—one wrong move, and her fingers could be bitten clean off.

“Fine, wait here. I’ll have the servants bring you food. Just stay in your room for now.”

Don’t come out and scare people.

Gu Qingrong easily picked up on the unspoken meaning behind He Xi’s words. She clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms, breaking the skin, yet she felt nothing.

If He Xi truly found her repulsive now, what would she do in the future?

The Gu Corporation was already on a downward slope, and that ungrateful wolf of a younger brother actually followed in Gu Qinglan’s footsteps and ran away from home. Did he not know that he was their biological son? Yet he looked down on his own mother just like Gu Qinglan did, choosing to start his own company and struggle through entrepreneurship rather than returning home to take over the Gu Corporation.

Their mother had truly given birth to the wrong child!

If Gu Tingyu had been willing to stand by her, his own sister, why would she have needed to establish a charity foundation, spending time with those filthy, lowly orphans and old men, cutting their hair, dressing them, and washing their faces…

If not for the sake of maintaining a good reputation, she would never have done such things.

Now, she was truly at a dead end. Her parents were of no help, and the only one who could assist her—Gu Tingyu—wanted nothing to do with her. How was she supposed to save herself?

He Xi personally went to the Gu family and invited Gu Xiujin and Luo Jiangyue to the villa.

When the couple heard their son-in-law say that their daughter had grown a tumor on her face that resembled a human face, their eyes widened in shock.

Gu Xiujin’s brows furrowed tightly, unable to relax. What had their daughter done to develop such a ghostly affliction?

Luo Jiangyue’s heart skipped a beat, nearly causing her to lose her balance. Could this be retribution for what she did to Pei Yuanning all those years ago?

No, she couldn’t let herself panic. If Pei Yuanning had truly been able to take revenge on them, they wouldn’t have been alive for so long. It must be that someone else had schemed against her daughter, causing her to develop this demonic affliction.

What she didn’t know was that her guess was exactly right—Gu Qingrong’s facial tumor was indeed the result of Shen Lihuan’s machinations.

Gu Qingrong ate her meal with a pitiful expression, but the food was tasteless, completely unappetizing. With a loud clack, she put down her chopsticks and ran to the mirror. The face on the tumor moved, meeting her gaze through the reflection. Her bloodshot eyes filled with rage as she cursed in a low voice, “If I can survive this, I’ll make sure the one who plotted against me suffers a fate worse than death!”

The human face on the tumor was silent for a second before grinding its teeth at her.

Gu Qingrong let out a breath through her nose and started laughing quietly—a chilling, eerie sound.

As soon as they arrived at their daughter’s house, Luo Jiangyue said to her son-in-law, “Your father-in-law and I will go in and see Qingrong first. My poor daughter must have been the victim of someone’s scheme. Son-in-law, you mustn’t despise her for this.”

Gu Qingrong bore a strong resemblance to Luo Jiangyue, inheriting seven-tenths of her looks. She had also learned all her mother’s tricks and schemes, though her skills were slightly inferior.

Even when crying, they were different. Luo Jiangyue’s tears were like raindrops on a pear blossom—her face remained dry, exuding a fragile yet resilient aura. Gu Qingrong, on the other hand, looked pitiful when she cried, like a weak and clinging dodder vine—evoking sympathy from men but lacking a certain dignity.

At the very least, He Xi showed no impatience when faced with his teary-eyed mother-in-law. “Of course not, Mom and Dad. Qingrong and I have been married for so many years—how could I ever despise her?”

“With that reassurance from you, I feel at ease.”

Luo Jiangyue exchanged glances with Gu Xiujin, both of them relaxing slightly.

He Xi led them to Gu Qingrong’s room. As he pulled out a key to unlock the newly added lock on the door, he chuckled awkwardly. “Mom, Dad, don’t blame me for locking Qingrong in. Even I get scared looking at her in this state, let alone others. I also didn’t want people gossiping.”

Gu Xiujin’s long, narrow phoenix eyes flickered with anger when he realized his daughter had been locked up. Luo Jiangyue was equally furious, but scolding her son-in-law would only make things harder for her daughter. Forcing a bitter smile, she said, “Son-in-law, you don’t understand Qingrong well enough. They say women beautify themselves for those they love—now that Qingrong looks like this, I doubt she’d step outside even if you dragged her.”

He Xi opened the door, embarrassed. “Mom, I know I was wrong. As long as Qingrong doesn’t leave the house, I won’t lock her in anymore.”

Hearing that her son-in-law was willing to compromise, Luo Jiangyue let out a sigh of relief. She shook her husband’s hand to keep him from making a fuss and then dragged him into the room.

The moment Gu Qingrong heard the door open, she immediately grabbed a towel to cover her face. When she saw that it was her parents, she ran toward them, crying, “Mom, Dad, I’m so scared!”

“Don’t cry, my poor child.”

Luo Jiangyue pulled her daughter into her arms and tried to wipe away her tears, but Gu Qingrong quickly stopped her. “Mom, don’t touch my face—you’ll hurt your hands.”

“What on earth is going on? Tell us everything so we can help you figure out a solution.”

Luo Jiangyue became even more anxious when she heard that even touching Gu Qingrong’s face could cause injury.

“Hubby, if my face scares you, why don’t you wait in the living room? I’ll show it to my parents first.”

Gu Qingrong’s first instinct was to send He Xi away. Not wanting to look at that terrifying human-faced tumor, he nodded repeatedly and rushed out.

Once the door closed behind him, Gu Qingrong finally removed the towel. Even though Gu Xiujin and Luo Jiangyue were well-traveled and knowledgeable, they were still startled by what they saw.

Luo Jiangyue grabbed her daughter’s hand, tears streaming down her face. “My poor child, how did you end up with such a terrible thing?”

“Is this Ghost-Face Ulcers? How could you have developed this?”

Before entering the business world, Gu Xiujin had been a highly respected scholar, so he was no stranger to such afflictions.

There was an old saying—once, a hardworking farmer found a hundred-year-old ginseng root while digging in the mountains.

Excited, he shared the news with a friend he met halfway up the mountain. Upon hearing that the ginseng was worth a thousand taels of silver and realizing that they were alone in the wilderness, the friend’s greed was sparked.

He deliberately slowed his steps and fell behind the farmer. Then, with an axe, he struck the farmer dead, stole the ginseng from his body, and threw his corpse off a cliff to destroy the evidence.

Since no one had seen them go up the mountain together, when the farmer’s wife noticed his disappearance, no one suspected the friend. Even when she asked him directly, he remained calm and claimed ignorance.

Over time, the farmer never returned home. His wife eventually assumed he had met with an accident, and after a year, she remarried. Meanwhile, the so-called friend, having sold the hundred-year-old ginseng for a thousand taels of silver, lived in luxury.

However, just over a year later, on the farmer’s birthday, the friend suddenly fell ill. His family discovered a black lump growing on his face. As the lump grew larger, a blurred human face gradually appeared on it—one that eerily resembled the farmer.

Then, one day, the lump spoke. It was the farmer’s vengeful spirit. Because the farmer had died with resentment, he couldn’t reincarnate, while his murderer enjoyed a prosperous life. His hatred festered, and ultimately, he chose to infest his killer’s body, causing it to rot away day by day. Only when the murderer perished would his vengeance be fulfilled, at which point he, too, would dissipate into nothingness.

Since then, people have called this curse “Ghostface Sores”—grievances given form, parasitic growths resembling human faces.

“Ghostface Sores?” Gu Qingrong was puzzled. “What is that?”

Just hearing about it disgusted her.

Gu Xiujin recounted the legend to his daughter. The moment Gu Qingrong recalled the people she had wronged, her face paled. “Dad, don’t scare me! If what I have is truly Ghostface Sores, does that mean I’ll have to live with this face until I die?”

How was that any different from being killed outright?

“What exactly have you done? Did you really take someone’s life?”

Gu Xiujin had both a businessman’s shrewdness and a scholar’s rigid integrity. The thought that the daughter he had raised with his own hands might have blood on them filled him with rage.

“Dad, don’t you know what kind of person I am? I wouldn’t even hurt an ant, let alone kill someone!”

Of course, Gu Qingrong wouldn’t admit to murder.

“Good. If I ever find out otherwise, I’ll break your legs.” Gu Xiujin believed her without question.

“Brother Xiujin, Qingrong is our daughter. I believe she wouldn’t do such a thing. She must have been set up.”

Luo Jiangyue spoke gently. “Qingrong, think carefully—have you encountered anything strange recently? Has anyone bumped into you or touched you unexpectedly?”

She still suspected someone had drugged her daughter.

“Touched me unexpectedly…?” Gu Qingrong thought carefully. “No… I haven’t even left the house recently, except for that one time when He Xi and I attended the You family’s banquet.”

Then she suddenly remembered—Shen Lihuan had touched her face that night! Gu Qingrong’s eyes widened. “Shen Lihuan! She touched my face at the banquet!”

“Shen Lihuan?”

Wasn’t that Gu Qinglan’s daughter—their granddaughter?

“No one else? Why would she target you? Would a mere girl really go to such lengths to poison you?”

Luo Jiangyue started crying again.

“It must be her! She’s just as vicious as Gu Qinglan! Mom, you don’t know what she said to me that night—she even called me a ‘skinny horse’!”

The more Gu Qingrong thought about it, the more she wanted to tear Shen Lihuan apart.

“What? You’re her aunt! How could she be so cruel to you?”

Luo Jiangyue collapsed into Gu Xiujin’s arms. “Brother Xiujin, you have to get justice for Qingrong!”

“Good, very good.” Gu Xiujin, who prided himself on self-restraint, could no longer suppress his anger. “Gu Qinglan has grown bolder and bolder. She’s unfilial herself, and now she’s raised a venomous daughter too!”

Enraged, he stood up. “I’m going to settle this with her right now!”

“Wait, Brother Xiujin!” Luo Jiangyue grabbed his hand. “What if she and Shen Lihuan refuse to admit it? And we still have to consider the Shen family—we can’t afford to offend them!”

No matter how much she loved her daughter, Luo Jiangyue understood that as long as the Gu family remained standing, Qingrong would have a future. Gu Qinglan was, after all, the Shen family’s daughter-in-law. They couldn’t afford to provoke the Shen family.

“I’m her father! I have every right to demand an explanation. I refuse to believe she has the audacity to throw me out!”

Though he spoke firmly, Gu Xiujin hesitated. Luo Jiangyue sensed his uncertainty and gently held his hand. “Brother Xiujin, we need to think this through. We can’t let one moment of recklessness bring disaster upon the Gu family.”

Gu Xiujin exhaled sharply, gradually restraining his fury. “You’re right. We need to focus on finding a cure for Qingrong’s face first.”

Leaving Gu Xiujin to discuss matters with He Xi in the living room, Luo Jiangyue stayed in the room to comfort her daughter. Gu Qingrong sobbed into her mother’s arms for a long time before finally suppressing her tears. Her eyes burned with hatred. “Shen Lihuan, I’ll make you regret ever being born!”

Luo Jiangyue gently stroked her daughter’s hair. “Don’t worry, Qingrong. You’re my daughter. I’ll make sure you get justice.”

---

“Dad, what did you just say? Who poisoned Qingrong?”

He Xi couldn’t believe his ears.

“Shen Lihuan—my unfilial daughter’s child.” Gu Xiujin’s voice was heavy.

“Wait… why would the Shen family’s eldest daughter poison Qingrong? When did they even meet? Since arriving in the capital, she’s only attended two banquets. Would she really have the time to scheme against Qingrong?”

He Xi was bewildered.

“This is a family matter. Gu Qinglan has always resented me and Qingrong. If she poisoned Qingrong, then it’s no surprise that her daughter would hate us too.”

Luo Jiangyue dabbed at her tears with a handkerchief. “But we can’t afford to offend the Shen family. We won’t demand an apology—only the antidote. As long as Qingrong regains her original face, I’ll be satisfied.”

The thought that his wife’s beauty could be restored tempted He Xi for a brief moment. However, neither the Gu family nor the He family could afford to provoke the Shens.

Shen Jiashu was infamous for doting on his wife and daughter. Even if he learned that Shen Lihuan had poisoned Qingrong, so what? Would he actually punish his own daughter for an outsider’s sake?

If they were to ask for an antidote, He Xi knew he himself would have no leverage. Only if his father intervened would Shen Jiashu even consider giving them a shred of respect.

---

If they only wanted the antidote, his own efforts likely wouldn’t be enough—only if his father intervened might Shen Jiashu be willing to give them some face.

Seeing He Xi’s hesitation, Luo Jiangyue added more fuel to the fire. “Son-in-law, as long as Qingrong’s appearance is restored this time, I will even kneel before her to make her agree to have a child with you. She’s not young anymore—she can’t keep acting like a spoiled child forever.”

Back when He Xi and Gu Qingrong got married, He Xi didn’t want children too soon, so they agreed to discuss it again after she turned thirty. But now, she was well past thirty, and she still refused. She complained that having a child would turn her into an old, unattractive woman, never realizing that maintaining a marriage required more than just appearances.

It was only because He Xi truly loved her that he had tolerated her stubbornness for so long.

“Really?” He Xi’s eyes lit up. He had long wanted a beautiful little princess who resembled Qingrong. But she refused to have a child, and she wouldn’t even consider in-vitro fertilization, so they had been delaying it for years.

“Would I lie to you, son-in-law?”

“Alright then, I’ll go ask my father for help. No matter what, I’ll make sure he personally approaches Shen Jiashu.”

With He Xi agreeing, Gu Xiujin and Luo Jiangyue were both satisfied.

No one noticed a butterfly clinging to the ceiling, having listened to their entire conversation.

A brown Shiba Inu carried a blue butterfly on its back as it dashed across the crosswalk, heading toward a small alley. Inside, five stray cats and dogs were gathered. The kind owner of a nearby restaurant always brought them food.

At the moment, all five strays were huddled together, along with a white Eskimo dog and a green snake, playing with a ball of yarn. The yarn rolled swiftly across the ground, being batted back and forth by paws.

As soon as the brown Shiba Inu entered the alley, it looked around warily. Once it confirmed that no humans were nearby, it quickly slipped inside. “Woof! Woof! Boss! Second Brother! I’m back!”

Hearing the barking, the Eskimo dog lifted its head with a steady gaze. “So, Caibao, did you find out anything about that woman?”

“I did! And it’s all thanks to Jialan—this butterfly brother on my back. He flew into that woman’s house to gather intel for us. Otherwise, I never would have gotten the chance to sneak in.”

After sprinting all the way back, Caibao was exhausted. It collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily as it answered.

The butterfly on the Shiba Inu’s back fluttered its wings and took flight. “General, Overlord, nice to meet you. I’m Jialan. I’ve heard a lot about you from Caibao.”

“Jialan, thank you for helping us gather information. If you ever need anything, General and I will definitely help you,” Overlord said gratefully, sticking out his tongue.

Jialan swooped down and landed on General’s back. “No need to be so polite—we’re all friends here.”

Then, it recounted everything it had seen and heard at the He residence. “You wouldn’t believe it—this butterfly was nearly scared to death! That woman has three tumors on her face, and they all look like human faces! The moment I saw them, I almost fainted from fright.”

Just thinking about it made Jialan clutch its tiny chest with a leg. It had never seen anything so horrifying before.

“Human-faced tumors?!”

“Oh my god, how could someone grow something so terrifying?!”

A particularly timid kitten fainted on the spot, and the other strays were visibly shaken. General and Overlord quickly huddled together for comfort.

General, recalling a melodramatic TV drama he had watched recently, said in a trembling voice, “I bet that evil woman has done too many bad things, and even the heavens couldn’t stand it anymore. This must be divine punishment—now she won’t dare show her face in public!”

“Yes, yes, that must be it! She’s been locked in her room ever since those tumors appeared—this must be her punishment!” Overlord nodded fervently.

General huffed angrily. “That woman totally deserves this! She used to take out her anger on pets all the time. Before me, I don’t even know how many of my dog brothers she killed. But she always pretended to be kind and fooled so many people. Only her younger brother saw through her act and always mocked her as a black-hearted white lotus.”

“Overlord, we need to hurry back and tell our master about this. If she really did give that evil woman the poison, she definitely won’t want her to get the antidote. We have to make sure she’s prepared!”

“Right! We need to tell our master immediately!” Overlord nodded rapidly.

After thanking Jialan once again, General and Overlord bid farewell to their stray friends and hurried back to the Shen household.

“Master! Master! We have something important to tell you!”

Before Shen Lihuan even saw them, she heard Overlord’s voice first. She carefully placed her bookmark in her book and put it back on the shelf.

“I’m coming~” She opened the door, and the two animals dashed inside. “Master, Master, we found out…”