Chapter 36
Since the car accident, Lu Yu had never mentioned his family affairs, and Gu Wan had never asked. So when Gu Wan suddenly heard this news, she couldn't help but be surprised.
However, Gu Wan quickly regained her composure and said, "Alright."
In these few months, Gu Wan hadn't seen Lu Yu have much contact with his family. She vaguely sensed something, but she didn't ask about it.
As for the gifts needed for the family visit, of course, Lu Yu prepared them himself.
On the morning of New Year's Eve, when Gu Wan arrived at the underground parking garage, she happened to see Lu Yu putting things in the trunk. At a glance, it was obvious that they were all high-quality tonics for the elderly - ginseng, American ginseng, deer antler, and so on. They were clearly expensive. As for Lu Yu's father, he seemed to have prepared nothing for him, not even making a token effort, completely ignoring him.
Gu Wan immediately understood the situation.
Halfway through the journey, Lu Yu, as if forced to speak, briefly introduced the situation at the old house without any emotion.
It turned out that Lu Yu's parents had divorced when he was less than a year old. It was originally a business marriage, and the couple had no feelings for each other before getting married. After the wedding, Lu Yu's father didn't restrain himself at all, having multiple affairs during Lu Yu's mother's pregnancy. When Lu Yu's mother found out, she couldn't swallow this bitter pill and had many fights with Lu Yu's father. As things got worse and worse, to the point where it couldn't be resolved, and if it continued, it would turn from a marriage into enmity, both families had no choice but to agree to a quick divorce for the couple who had been married for less than two years.
Perhaps because of her extreme disgust for Lu Yu's father, to the point where everything related to him made her feel nauseous, after the divorce, Lu Yu's mother didn't even fight for Lu Yu's custody. She left the child with the Lu family and never looked back.
The whole process was both quick and smooth. The two people had suffered from being forced to be together, they had rebelled, and in the end, they were fortunate enough to be freed. Except for leaving behind a small aftereffect, namely Lu Yu, everything seemed to have returned to normal, and the outcome could be said to be satisfactory for all.
Lu Yu's father had no feelings for Lu Yu's mother, let alone for his son. So Lu Yu was raised in the old house by Old Master Lu.
After hearing the general course of events, Gu Wan was slightly stunned.
Even she hadn't imagined that Lu Yu had grown up in such an environment, after all, he had never mentioned a word about it before.
Gu Wan didn't notice that Lu Yu seemed to glance at her while waiting for a red light, his hand gripping the steering wheel and rubbing it unnaturally.
For some reason, whenever he mentioned these things to her, Lu Yu always felt a sense of shame, so he always glossed over it. Unless necessary, he wouldn't say a word about it normally.
So in fact, before Gu Wan lost her memory, she knew about this much. As for more details, even the previous Gu Wan didn't know.
How similar was this to the previous Gu Wan?
Fortunately, Gu Wan's subsequent reaction made the lump in Lu Yu's throat slowly loosen.
She just nodded calmly, as if everything was just ordinary.
For Gu Wan, it indeed could only be considered ordinary. No matter what, at least Lu Yu had his grandfather accompanying him during his growth.
However, Gu Wan wouldn't think Lu Yu was lucky because of this. She couldn't think that Lu Yu's pain wasn't pain just because she only had nannies coming and going around her, while Lu Yu still had a grandfather, right?
Gu Wan just said, "It seems every family has its own difficulties."
When she was young, Gu Wan thought all families in the world were like Qianqian's, with a caring father and a loving mother, living happily and contentedly. She thought happiness and joy were something everyone had, and that she was an exception, that she was just too unlucky to encounter such misfortune.
Later, as she grew up and learned more, Gu Wan understood that happiness and joy were the exceptions, and that unhappiness and suffering were the norm in the human world.
In fact, in some aspects, she was already much luckier than others. At least her parents only despised her and ignored her, rather than frequently subjecting her to violence. Although it might also be because both of them were busy seeking pleasure, the outside world was too fresh, and she was too boring for them to be interested in tormenting her for fun, but... even so, thinking back now, Gu Wan was already grateful.
Correspondingly, since Gu Wan didn't feel sorry for herself, of course, she wouldn't sympathize with Lu Yu. She didn't think Lu Yu needed her sympathy.
No one can truly empathize with another person, can't replace another's pain, and can't share the burden of pain. In the end, everyone can only digest it themselves.
Since she could laugh it off, she believed that someone as strong as Lu Yu would have no problem with it.
Someone like Lu Yu would not be defeated by such trivial matters that were no longer important now.
So Gu Wan didn't waste words trying to comfort him.
"From love comes pity, from love comes worry."
For some reason, Lu Yu suddenly thought of this saying.
Lu Yu remained silent and stepped on the accelerator.
About an hour later, the car slowly pulled up in front of an estate.
The estate still retained an ancient charm, suggesting that Old Master Lu must have been a formidable figure in his day. It was unfortunate that he had a prodigal son who had nearly squandered the entire family fortune over several decades. If it weren't for Lu Yu's success, this estate would probably have to be sold in a few years.
As the car slowly drove into the courtyard, Gu Wan thought the one opening the door would be a butler or someone similar. She didn't expect it to be a young man not much younger than Lu Yu.
The young man was also extremely handsome, but his features were much softer compared to Lu Yu's. At the moment, he was smiling, seemingly very cheerful, but his cheerfulness didn't seem as sunny and unclouded as Xiao Chi's. It felt more like a habitual smile.
Seeing Gu Wan and Lu Yu, he didn't show any surprise at all, just greeted them naturally.
"Big brother, sister-in-law."
This form of address immediately made Gu Wan understand the identity of the person - the child Lu Yu's father had with someone else while he was out living a life of debauchery. He should be considered... Lu Yu's brother?
Because the young man's mother had finally properly married Lu Yu's father and obtained a marriage certificate about six or seven years ago, so they were indeed brothers.
Just as Gu Wan involuntarily thought of the two unfortunate beings her own father had produced, Lu Yu acted as if he hadn't heard the other person greeting him. His gaze didn't even sweep over him as he walked straight in.
Gu Wan noticed that the young man's expression seemed to freeze for a moment.
When the young man looked at her, Gu Wan thought for a moment, then followed Lu Yu's example and ignored him as well.
At this point, Gu Wan wouldn't go so far as to undermine Lu Yu's stance.
This time, the young man's expression was beyond just unpleasant, but no one paid any attention to his reaction.
When they entered the living room, what met their eyes were furniture made of pure redwood, and a few scattered huanghuali wood round-backed armchairs. What puzzled Gu Wan was that these armchairs looked like they were part of a set, but she couldn't find any corresponding tables or chairs around them.
Later, Gu Wan learned that the matching tables and chairs had all been taken out and sold by Lu Yu's prodigal father.
Whenever Old Master Lu refused to give him money, or when the money in his pocket wasn't enough for his expenses, Lu Yu's father would sell items from the house, including but not limited to Old Master Lu's antique furniture, calligraphy, and paintings by famous artists. This happened every so often, and after several decades, no matter how rich Old Master Lu's collection had been, it was nearly emptied by Lu Yu's unfortunate father.
However, at this moment, Gu Wan didn't know that more than half of the antiques on the display shelves were actually fakes. She simply walked with Lu Yu to Old Master Lu and greeted him.
As for the middle-aged man in his fifties slouching to one side, still faintly smelling of alcohol, he had initially appeared drowsy. But upon hearing the commotion, he suddenly sat up straight.
Gu Wan couldn't help but glance at him before quickly averting her gaze.
Looking at Old Master Lu, who had aged considerably in recent years, Lu Yu lowered his eyes and said, "Grandfather."
Gu Wan also smiled and greeted, "Happy New Year, Grandfather."
She then placed the items she had been carrying since getting out of the car in front of Old Master Lu. "These are all specially brought back from Changbai Mountain by someone Lu Yu asked. Please see if they are to your liking."
Looking at his grandson, whom he had raised himself and who had now become increasingly mature and reserved, Old Master Lu's lips quivered a few times. He was about to say something when he was suddenly interrupted by Lu Yu's father, Lu Guangcheng—
"What's going on with you two? You're only talking to the old man? I'm sitting right here, can't you see me?"
Then Lu Guangcheng craned his neck to examine the things Gu Wan and Lu Yu were carrying, his expression growing increasingly dissatisfied. "And these things you two brought, how come there's nothing for me? So I'm not your father, is that it?"
For Lu Guangcheng, he never truly saw Lu Yu as his son. When Lu Yu was younger, it wasn't so apparent, and Lu Guangcheng was even quite pleased to have this little thing to attract Old Master Lu's attention, preventing the old man from watching him as closely as before. He had even thought that if he had known, he would have had a child earlier for Old Master Lu to raise, it would have saved him so much trouble!
However, as Lu Yu grew up, Lu Guangcheng, as a father, finally realized that things were starting to go wrong. The old man was giving him money to start companies, handing over his own connections, all adding up to at least two or three hundred million. Two or three hundred million! Enough for him to spend for five or six years, and it was all given to this little brat Lu Yu in one go. How could Lu Guangcheng not feel heartbroken?
In Lu Guangcheng's eyes, the money Lu Yu initially received all belonged to him.
Lu Yu had no feelings for him and would never indulge him like Old Master Lu did. Even after starting companies and making money, he never gave any to Lu Guangcheng to spend. This made Lu Guangcheng, who had finished leeching off the old and was trying to leech off the young, gradually stop seeing Lu Yu as his son and start seeing him as a competitor for Old Master Lu's inheritance.
Lu Guangcheng himself had no real abilities and loved luxury. Without Old Master Lu's inheritance, wouldn't he starve to death in the future? Even if he didn't starve, he couldn't bear to live a life of hardship!
Thinking this way, Lu Guangcheng decisively married the only woman who had borne him a child, then let this younger child compete with Lu Yu for affection. Even more so, in recent years, he had moved his entire family back to the old house, with the purpose of preventing the old man from continuing to favor Lu Yu.
And wouldn't you know it, this trick actually worked quite well. Lu Guangcheng clearly felt that in the past two years, Old Master Lu's attitude towards him had softened considerably, and he no longer looked at him with such disdain as before.
This gave Lu Guangcheng a sudden boost of confidence, and he began to speak more rudely to Lu Yu.
Soon, Lu Guangcheng turned his attention to Gu Wan: "And you, tell me, is this how you act as a daughter-in-law? It's one thing for Lu Yu, a grown man, not to understand, but how come you don't understand either?"
In Lu Guangcheng's eyes, Gu Wan was an orphan without father or mother, without any backing. Her family in City A could only be considered nouveau riche. Plus, Lu Guangcheng was generous with money and always flattered and fawned over by women outside. All these factors led to him not taking Gu Wan seriously at all.
Lu Guangcheng put himself in Lu Yu's shoes and didn't think Lu Yu would value a wife who was clearly inferior to him in all aspects. He subconsciously believed that Gu Wan needed to please Lu Yu every day to maintain her position as the main wife, so he naturally didn't see any problem with targeting Gu Wan.
However, after Lu Guangcheng finished speaking and looked up, he saw his eldest son staring at him with a frighteningly cold gaze.
Lu Guangcheng exclaimed, "Huh! What are you looking at me like that for? Am I still your father or not!"