Campus Ace Girl

Of course she wasn’t going to swallow this loss, so the couple started grappling with each other, ignoring their dignity and their past feelings...

In the middle of the night like this, fighting to that extent naturally alarmed the two elders of the Wang Family, as well as Wang Kefu and a bunch of servants. They all came out to break it up, but by the time they arrived, the fight was almost over—

Gu Xiufen had taken a slap, but Wang Kegui didn’t fare much better either; his face and neck had been scratched up badly, streaks of blood looking shockingly gruesome.

Old Wang slammed his cane on the floor in a fury: "What, your good days are over now? Brawling in the dead of night—has Kegui got someone on the side, or did Xiufen do something you can’t stand?"

Wang Kegui stopped, took a step back, exhaled a long breath, and said nothing.

Gu Xiufen’s hair was a mess; she was covering one side of her face: "Wang Kegui, you’d hit your wife over a book?"

The anger in Wang Kegui’s chest hadn’t gone yet. Now that the elders were out and she was still making a scene and being unreasonable, he said in a cold voice, "I’ll sleep downstairs."

Old Wang didn’t let him off either: "Kegui, it’s better to make this kind of serious matter clear."

The old lady murmured a sutra under her breath and looked over at Gu Xiufen.

Gu Xiufen said coldly, "What’s unclear about it? All these years, who he’s been thinking about—does anyone in this family not know? After they broke up back then, didn’t he still secretly support that Lin girl’s younger brother, thinking I wouldn’t find out?"

At this, Wang Kegui turned his head and stared hard at her, asking in an incredulous tone: "So, back then it was you who went to see Lin Shuang’s brother?"

He lowered his voice: "So that’s why Lin Shuang took her brother and left Jiangcheng straight away, isn’t it?"

He suddenly roared, "After I got married I never saw her again, not even once. I just pitied those worse off than us, that’s all. Gu Xiufen, is your heart really that hard? He was a kid I knew. Even if his sister and I had broken up, could I just watch while he had no money for treatment?"

Gu Xiufen looked a little uneasy, but she was always tough: "I didn’t force her to leave. I only told her brother who I was, and that it wasn’t convenient for you two to meet. Where was I wrong?"

"Right, you weren’t wrong at all. You did a great job. You’ve really lived up to the title of Mrs. Wang." After Wang Kegui finished, he slammed the door and left; the door shook a few times and nearly came off.

Gu Xiufen was about to go crazy again, but this time it was Wang Kefu who stepped in with a few words of persuasion: "Sister-in-law, I don’t know if I should say this or not. Technically your business isn’t mine, but Kegui’s my brother and you’re one of the Wang Family now. After all this time, don’t you know what his temper’s like?... It’s not that I’m being nosy, but every man’s got some kind of white moonlight in his heart. As long as it doesn’t affect the family, what do you care what’s in his head? As long as it doesn’t affect you playing mahjong and spending money, what do you care what he’s doing? Besides, Kegui’s so honest. Socializing in business is inevitable—tell me, when has he ever really made you feel suffocated? Think about those good points of his and just tolerate this little hobby of his, will you? It’s only a book. Can it turn into a living person to ease his lovesickness?"

Wang Kefu pushed shamelessness to the limit, making Gu Xiufen so angry she almost spat blood, yet she couldn’t find a single word to refute him. Right, refuting meant she was in the wrong, refuting meant she was unreasonable and asking for too much.

She always felt guilty; that business with Shen Wanqing could never be erased, so she could only accept it.

At this point, Old Wang thought it was about enough and said calmly, "Kefu, you take her to the hospital then."

Wang Kefu immediately got unhappy: "Old man, what’s it look like if I’m the one taking Kegui’s wife to the hospital? People will get the wrong idea; that’s not good."

"You little bastard, can’t you get anything normal into that head of yours?" The old man whacked him with his cane, and Wang Kefu immediately felt aggrieved: "Fine, fine, I’ll go. You just don’t dare scold Kegui right now, ’cause you feel guilty, don’t you? Back then..."

The old man shot him a look and he didn’t dare go on. Realizing Gu Xiufen was right there, he grinned and said, "Sister-in-law, don’t take it to heart. That’s an old story from way back. Kegui’s long forgotten it. It’s just that the book was still there. Now that it’s torn up, he’s got nothing left to moon over."

"Tear up the book and he won’t think about her anymore?" Gu Xiufen said in a low voice.

Wang Kefu looked baffled: "If that’s how you see it, why bother tearing it up in the first place?"

After he said that, he suddenly scratched his head, something stirring in his mind.

Nothing else—he just thought of his ex-wife.

Her temper was a bit fierce, but she rarely lost it, and she didn’t care much about his flowers and plants outside, unless he went too far. This sister-in-law of his, Kegui’s wife, hadn’t really done anything wrong either. Jealousy was fine; the mistake was that she was too wholehearted. Her love for Kegui was beyond reproach, but it was obvious that all these years, Kegui’s heart had been stuck on that Lin Shuang.

Though he said all that, in the end Wang Kefu still played the good guy and took Gu Xiufen to the hospital. After an examination, nothing else was wrong, except half a tooth had been knocked out.

On the way back, sitting in the car, Wang Kefu tried to comfort her: "Sister-in-law, if you ask me, you used to do pretty well. You were gentle and considerate with Kegui. Why can’t you just keep it that way? A harmonious home and everything goes well. Sometimes you just need to turn a blind eye and let things pass. Kegui’s not young anymore; you still afraid that Lin Shuang’s going to suddenly show up and steal your husband?"

Gu Xiufen turned her face to the car window, the tip of her nose a little red. "I just can’t swallow it. In what way am I worse than her?"

Wang Kefu chuckled and said nothing, though what he thought was—

Of course you’re worse. You’re worse in every way.

He’d seen Lin Shuang back in the day too. She was born dignified and elegant, beautiful, poised, and proper—her only shortcoming was her family background.

He stayed silent, and Gu Xiufen grew uncomfortable: "What, I’m not as good as her?"

"How could that be?" Wang Kefu gave her a fawning smile. "How can she compare with you, sister-in-law? It’s just that... she’s a little prettier, that’s all. No other advantages."

Gu Xiufen’s face dropped long, and she stayed silent for a long while.

Then she quietly touched her own face: she wasn’t young anymore. It had only ever been a face that could be called "delicate," and now it had grown a few more traces of age...

*

Two days later, Wang Kefu was actually conscientious enough to visit Gu Anxi, and to curry favor he told the story of Wang Kegui and his wife fighting as a joke, to amuse Gu Anxi...

Gu Anxi leaned against the head of the bed, gnawing on the apple her uncle had brought as tribute, and gave him a sidelong glance: "Was Lin Shuang very pretty? Where is she now?"

"What’re you asking that for? Planning to bring her back as your secretary?" Wang Kefu asked offhandedly.

Gu Anxi smiled with narrowed eyes. "And what if I am?"

Wang Kefu was also chewing an apple. When he heard that, a chunk of apple fell out of his mouth... Then he stammered, "Anxi, what bad idea are you hatching now?"