Chapter 773 - 668: Just Deserts
Chapter 773: Chapter 668: Just Deserts
The moment Wei Shumin arrived, she rushed straight to Guo Yanyan. Seeing her daughter’s wretched state, the mother’s heart naturally ached. Wei Shumin, however, was even more dramatic. While comforting her weeping daughter, she began shouting and demanding to know what had happened. How could she just fall here, while walking on a perfectly flat road? Her words heavily implied that someone had deliberately harmed her daughter. The crowd of onlookers, never ones to shy away from drama, started to chime in. "That’s right, that’s right! How is it that she was fine walking everywhere else, but just so happened to fall right at Director Xia’s front door? If you think about it, it’s really suspicious!"
Guo Yiyong was in the middle of a conversation with Director Xia and a few nearby deputies. The moment he heard them, he knew something was wrong. ’Aren’t they implying that Director Xia harmed my daughter? The top leader of a department secretly attacking a low-level employee who’s a complete nobody? And the evidence is that she fell at his doorstep?’ Guo Yiyong’s portly body trembled. Wiping away a cold sweat, he whirled around and snapped at his wife and daughter.
"What is all this racket? You weren’t watching where you were going. You just had to wear those high heels. A good, hard fall is exactly the lesson you needed! Now hurry up and get home! You’re making a complete fool of yourself!"
Wei Shumin wasn’t a complete fool. She understood her husband’s meaning and quieted down. Seeing that her daughter’s knees were scraped raw and that she was likely in too much pain to walk, she quickly ordered the nanny who had followed them to carry Guo Yanyan home on her back.
But Guo Yanyan refused. She pressed one hand to her injured mouth and pointed at Gu Shaojun with the other. Her speech was muffled, but everyone understood her meaning. "Shaojun drove here. Have Shaojun take me to the hospital!"
The area fell silent. Then, Xiao Man’s voice cut through, clear and sharp. "Let my fiancé take you to the hospital, so you have a chance to seduce him, is that right? In your dreams, Guo Yanyan!"
Guo Yanyan glared at her. "You..."
Guo Yiyong glanced at Director Xia’s stormy expression, then at the icy aura radiating from Gu Shaojun. He roared, "Guo Yanyan! Shut your mouth!"
Guo Yanyan had taken the day off, so she had no idea her father had been put in his place by Gu Shaojun that very morning. She was already feeling a little apprehensive, but she still assumed her father would coddle and indulge her like always. She twisted her body, whining coquettishly, "Daddy, I just want Shaojun! Daddy, you have to make him..."
Before she could finish, an utterly furious Guo Yiyong strode forward and slapped her across the face. "You wretched thing! Have you no shame?"
A shriek rang out—it was Wei Shumin’s high-pitched voice. Guo Yanyan couldn’t scream; she couldn’t open her mouth. The slap had reopened the already treated wounds on her lips and nose, and they started bleeding again. The female doctor hadn’t left yet, but Qiu Limai had already told Xia Qingting to put the first-aid kit away. Now, she couldn’t be bothered to get it out again. Didn’t Guo Yanyan want to go to the hospital? Fine. A car was arranged to take her there directly.
The crowd dispersed. Gu Shaojun and Xiao Man bid farewell to Director Xia’s family, returned the car, and got back to their dorm around eleven o’clock. While they were washing up, Xiao Man was still unhappy. "It’s all your fault! You must be seeing and talking to that Guo Yanyan all the time, aren’t you? Otherwise, why would she think you two are an item? Why do you have to attract such unsavory romantic interests? It’s completely ruined my mood!"
Gu Shaojun dotingly ruffled her hair. He had been in a bad mood too, but now he was happy again. As long as he was alone with her in their own little world, nothing else mattered. He teased her with a smile, "I’m not the one with unsavory romantic interests. You’re the one who attracted a big dragonfly. If we hadn’t given that dragonfly a ride home, we wouldn’t have run into all this trouble tonight!"
Xiao Man gave him a playful glare. "Lame excuse!"
"It’s the truth. Even if Guo Yanyan hadn’t provoked us this time, Guo Yiyong and his wife wouldn’t have been able to stay in the family compound much longer. The investigation into them is uncovering more and more; the truth will always come out. They will have to face the full extent of the law. As for Guo Yanyan, she always uses ’visiting her father’ as an excuse to get into the office building. I’m not an idiot, and my eyesight is perfectly fine. I know what she’s thinking. Whenever she tries to talk to me, it’s always in a public place with several other people around. She has to leave during official business hours, so we’ve never had a chance to speak alone. Guo Yanyan is spouting utter lies. She’s courting death. If you don’t teach her a lesson, I won’t let her get away with it."
Xiao Man said, "She threatened me! She said she’d make me regret it forever if I didn’t leave you! How could I not be furious? Since she has the heart of a viper, I’ll just grant her wish. I gave her a little juice from the Black Scale Grass in the space’s herb grove. It will enter her bloodstream through her wounds, and her entire body will grow layers upon layers of black bumps. She’ll even shed her skin like a snake, once a month... The cure is actually quite simple, but since Guo Yanyan looks down on people from the countryside, I doubt she’ll ever have the chance to get it!"
What kind of symptoms were these? Xiao Man had never personally witnessed them; she had only read about them in the medical codices within her space. The description was only a few lines long, but the implications were terrifying enough to give her goosebumps.
’Guo Yanyan dared to provoke her. Well then, let her have a taste.’
’Without the antidote, she’ll have to suffer for the rest of her life. The layers of black bumps will make her skin as thick, coarse, and wrinkled as old tree bark. She could bathe every day and never feel clean, and parasites would begin to grow on her. It would be itchy and irritated on humid days, and it would crack and split on sunny days. With her beauty gone, we’ll see how she plans on stealing anyone’s man!’
Gu Shaojun had no objections. His beloved could play however she liked, as long as it vented her anger and made her happy.
’If it were up to him to decide Guo Yanyan’s fate... Daring to threaten my beloved? She must have a death wish. She might as well just drop dead.’
They had just showered but couldn’t sleep. On top of that, they were hungry. It was the aftermath of eating so much of the Feng family’s spicy and sour food, which had digested all too quickly. So, Xiao Man went to the kitchen and made two bowls of savory beef noodles using ingredients stored in her space. The noodles were perfectly chewy and silky, and the beef was tender and naturally sweet. Gu Shaojun finished his bowl in no time. Xiao Man then gave him half of hers, and he polished that off, too. As they washed the bowls and chopsticks, letting their meal settle, their conversation turned to the two people they had seen in the small plaza on their way back from the Feng family’s home.
Gu Shaojun and Xiao Man both recognized the two: Gongsun Ruxue and her father, Gongsun Changting.
That time, Gu Shaojun had fought a vicious battle against three Foundation Establishment Cultivators from the Gongsun Clan. He killed Gongsun Hanshan on the spot, avenging a grudge that spanned two lifetimes, and severely wounded Gongsun Li and Gongsun Xiang. Gu Shaojun was also gravely injured in the process. But he had Xiao Man, and Xiao Man had the Treasure Pearl Space with its Spiritual Spring and Spiritual Medicine. Under her meticulous care, he recovered with astonishing speed. Gongsun Li and Gongsun Xiang weren’t so lucky. Although the Gongsun Family did not lack for superb medical skills, they had no life-extending spirit plant medicine. The Gu and Tang Families had such resources, but the Gongsun Family had foolishly made an enemy of them. In the end, Gongsun Li and Gongsun Xiang died one after the other.
Before Gongsun Li breathed his last, he did designate Gongsun Chongshan as the new Clan Leader. But Gongsun Chongshan was completely incapable of shouldering the responsibility, nor could he command the respect of the clan. With the two elders dead, the Gongsun Clan fractured and fell apart like loose sand, descending into chaos. To make matters worse, Gu Shaojun had already dug up and carted away nearly all of the clan’s hidden treasures, creating a livelihood crisis for the entire family. And right at that moment, the Southern Yue Shu Family, a Cultivation Family with a grudge against the Gongsuns, came knocking at their door. The Gongsun Clan had no power to resist and was instantly routed, its members scattering to save their own lives.