He Xinyan walked back into the dining room to see Gu Yechen listening to his uncles speak as he calmly took a sip of tea.

He looked up when he heard He Xinyan's footsteps and put down the porcelain cup.

The talking stopped as he stood up and walked over to He Xinyan.

"Do you want to go back to our room?"

"It's okay. I can wait until you are done talking."

"I'm done." Gu Yechen grabbed onto He Xinyan's hand and looked over at his uncles, "Excuse me, uncles. I will be returning to my room now."

His second and third uncle glanced at He Xinyan before nodding their heads, "Okay."

He Xinyan didn't say anything as she was pulled out of the dining room and back into her room with Gu Yechen.

They sat down on the couch and He Xinyan immediately shook Gu Yechen's arm, "Gu Yechen, you know your cousin, Gu Zihao?"

It took a few seconds for Gu Yechen to finally remember, "Oh, yes! Why?"

He frowned slightly upon hearing He Xinyan mention another guy, but he suppressed his disapproval to hear what she had to say about him.

"He likes Gu Kexin!" He Xinyan clapped her hands together excitedly as she spoke.

Gu Yechen raised one eyebrow, "Really? How do you know? Are you paying attention to him?"

His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked suspiciously at He Xinyan.

"No!" He Xinyan rolled her eyes, "Of course not! When I was walking outside earlier, I met Gu Kexin. Then, Gu Zihao came and told me to stay away from Gu Kexin. So, me being the smart person I am, I guessed that he liked her. And I was right!"

Gu Yechen smiled sweetly as she listened to He Xinyan's story, and chuckled softly at the end.

"Are you not surprised?" He Xinyan asked. Shouldn't he be?! His cousin liked his "sister"!! Wow!!

Gu Yechen shrugged, "They are all irrelevant people. I don't really care."

". . ." He Xinyan blinked a few times. Of course. What should she expect? He was Gu Yechen.

--- In Gu Zihao's Room

Gu Zihao was sitting on his bed, deep in his thoughts, when there was suddenly a knock at his door.

He stood up and walked over, opening it slightly. His eyes widened when he saw Gu Kexin standing outside, her eyes slightly red.

"Sister Kexin?" He opened the door wider and looked at her in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Gu Kexin looked up at Gu Zihao and put one hand up to her eye, rubbing it gently. Her hair was slightly messy and she looked extremely pitiful. . . in Gu Zihao's eyes.

"Brother Zihao, can I sit in your room for a moment?"

Gu Zihao opened his mouth and closed it again before nodding his head, "Of course."

Gu Kexin stepped into the room and walked over to the couch, taking a seat. Gu Zihao sat down next to her and poured a cup of warm tea.

"Here, drink this."

Gu Kexin smiled slightly as she took over the tea cup with both hands, "Thank you, Zihao."

She took a sip of the warm tea and her lips trembled slightly, "Brother Zihao!"

She put down the teacup, causing some of the liquid inside to spill out onto the table. Then, she suddenly turned around and hugged Gu Zihao.

Gu Zihao was taken aback as his eyes widened, and he didn't know where to place his hands.

"Kexin! You - What are you doing?"

Gu Kexin let go and rubbed away the tears that were flowing down her face again, "I'm sorry. I - I just, suddenly. . . suddenly. . ."

Gu Zihao sighed, "It's okay. What's wrong, Kexin?"

Gu Kexin suddenly started crying again, "Brother Yechen's girlfriend. . . She doesn't seem to like me a lot! She said. . . she said I am not a part of the Gu family, and. . . I am just an adopted child with no mother or father."

Gu Zihao knit his eyebrows together slightly. He had been there listening when Gu Kexin was talking to He Xinyan. Why did he feel like something was off?

Although He Xinyan wasn't exactly nice in her word choice, she also didn't say things like Gu Kexin was a parentless child.

Gu Zihao gently patted Gu Kexin on the back, and she grasped onto the end of his shirt sleeve.

'A white lotus. . . that's fake.' Gu Zihao narrowed his eyes as the phrase He Xinyan had used to call Gu Kexin came back to his mind.

'A white lotus. . . that's fake.'

'A white lotus. . . that's fake.'

Gu Zihao shook his head to stop thinking about those five words and closed his eyes. The crying sound stopped as Gu Kexin looked up confusedly.

Normally, Gu Zihao would always comfort her. . . She came here because she knew that he was always the nicest to her. Gu Kexin also knew that he liked her.

She always knew. She just didn't show the fact that she knew.

Gu Kexin blinked a few times and stood up, "I'm sorry, brother Zihao. I shouldn't have come to your room so abruptly. . ." She wiped the tears off her face again and turned around, "I'll leave now."

She then walked away quickly, and she slowed down a bit when she heard Gu Zihao stand up from the couch behind her.

She lifted one arm up to pretend to wipe her tears as she waited for Gu Zihao to come and stop her.

However, to her surprise, nothing happened. She didn't feel his hand or hear him say anything.

Gu Kexin frowned as she slowed down her pace again, hesitantly placing her hand onto the doorknob. When there still was no reaction, she couldn't help but glance back slightly to see what was going on.

This wasn't like Gu Zihao! He would always comfort her and treat her extremely well, like a princess. He wouldn't let her just leave like this after seeing her cry! There was no way!

However, when she looked back, she saw Gu Zihao standing near the couch with a frown on his face. He didn't seem like he was going to move any time soon, and his lips were tightly together.

Gu Kexin opened her mouth but she didn't know what to say. In the end, she began sobbing again as she opened the door and ran out of the room.

Gu Zihao stared at the open door for several seconds before he slowly walked over and closed it.

What happened?

If it was in the past, he would have definitely stopped her. But just then. . . He suddenly didn't feel like stopping her or comforting her anymore.

Gu Zihao took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

After several seconds, he sighed and walked back into his office room.

---

It was lunchtime, and He Xinyan and Gu Yechen decided to go to the main dining room and eat with the rest of the family.

When they walked in, Wang Yani was already seated in the center of the room.

She looked up and glared at He Xinyan, who ignored her as she calmly sat down in her seat next to Gu Yechen.

"No manners!" Wang Yani said angrily, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.

However, He Xinyan pretended not to notice as she took a sip of the tea on the table in front of her.

Gu Yechen furrowed his eyebrows together, but He Xinyan gently placed her hand onto his, signaling for him not to do anything.

He glanced at her and she smiled back at him.

In the end, Gu Yechen decided to listen to his wifey and he didn't say or do anything.

A few minutes later, everyone had arrived and sat down in their seats.

The meal went on normally, and nothing much happened. Wang Yani did say some mean things about He Xinyan once in a while, but she pretended to not know that Wang Yani was talking about her, and continued to eat her lunch peacefully.

This only made Wang Yani more mad.

It was almost as if she was punching into the air! Wang Yani slammed her chopsticks onto the table and stood up angrily, "I'm done!"

Most of the people inside the room stood up when they heard this, except Gu Yechen's family and He Xinyan.

"Mom, the dessert didn't even arrive yet!" Gu Yechen's second uncle said.

"Whatever! I'm not in the mood to eat anymore."

No one said anything as they watched Wang Yani leave.

Gu Yechen's second uncle looked over at Gu Yechen's table angrily and sighed, "Miss He, tomorrow is New Year's Eve. I would like to ask you to try not to make the mood here unpleasant please."

He Xinyan slowly looked up and smiled innocently, "You are asking me?"

Gu Yechen's second uncle frowned, "Yes."

"Mr. Gu, I am not exactly sure I understand you. Why would you ask me? I am sure everyone here today saw what happened. I didn't do or say anything! Why is it me that is making the mood unpleasant?"

--- IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS

hello readers ~ I have a few announcements to make ^o^

1. In case you haven't seen the Webnovel Event yet, the Win-Win event is upgraded this month! Put simply, the Win-Win event is an event to encourage authors and readers to create and buy privilege with rewards at the end of the month if we do well.

If you haven't tried out privilege yet, this is the month to do so! You can get huge coin rebates if we reach enough readers! Please take a look at the event to learn more about it. You can find this book in the 'New Novels' list.

Please help all the other readers to earn a rebate by unlocking privilege chapters! I will definitely upload a chapter a day until the end of the event!

2. Our power ranking is dropping this week :( Please don't forget to vote! Thank you so so much, I really appreciate it!

3. Don't worry, Gu Kexin and Wang Yani are going to be gone very soon! I promise!

Have a great day! Love you