Gu Xi followed Old Master Gu downstairs.
As soon as she walked down the stairs, she saw a girl walking to the staircase and pretending to go upstairs. She didn't stop until she saw Old Master Gu coming down.
Gu Xi looked at the other party with a hint of surprise in her eyes.
— — Gu Xueer?
If she remembered correctly, this was his name.
Gu Xi recalled that this person was Gu Xueer, the leader of the group of people that Gu Xi and Dong Mingming had met when they came out of the library that day. At that time, the other party had even asked them to take a photo on the wall.
However, seeing Gu Xueer in the Gu family's house surprised Gu Xi.
— —
On the other hand, Gu Xueer was also a little stunned when he saw Gu Xi. And he quickly remembered Gu Xi — — the girl he saw at school that day.
At that time, Gu Xueer had a deeper impression of Gu Xi because this girl was very beautiful.
Later, Gu Chenyi and Gu Yanxiao helped this girl canvass for votes on their WeChat Moments.
At that time, Gu Xueer found it strange. Why did the two of them help Gu Xi to canvass for votes? So it turned out that they knew each other?
"Grandpa, is this a guest at home today?" Gu Xueer suppressed a trace of annoyance in his heart, blinked, and looked at Old Master Gu with a sincere expression.
"She's not a guest." Old Master Gu went straight to the point and said, "This is your second uncle's daughter."
"Xixi used to live with her mother, but she's back now," Old Master Gu said. He gave Gu Xi an explanation for Gu Xi's appearance, but he didn't talk too much about Gu Xi's previous situation in the Lin family or what had happened back then.
This was Old Master Gu's way of protecting Gu Xi.
Hearing Old Master Gu's explanation, Gu Xueer was surprised. Second Uncle had been alone for so many years. No one had heard of him having any marriage or romantic history in the past. Why did he suddenly have a child?
An illegitimate child? Or was it some random child that came out of nowhere? I wonder if it's true or not …
Gu Xueer thought to himself, but he quickly concealed the surprise on his face.
Before Old Master Gu could introduce her to Gu Xi, Gu Xueer gave Gu Xi a warm smile.
"Hello, Xixi. My name is Gu Xueer. Nice to meet you," Gu Xueer said to Gu Xi.
"We've met in school before. Do you still remember?" Gu Xueer asked. He didn't hide the fact that they had met in school before, and he didn't seem embarrassed at all.
"I remember him." Gu Xi nodded.
The smile on Gu Xueer's face widened as he continued, "When I first saw you, I felt that you looked familiar. I didn't expect that we would be so fated to be family."
— No wonder Gu Chenyi and Gu Yanxiao helped Gu Xi to canvass for votes. It seemed that they had already known about Gu Xi.
Gu Xueer thought to himself.
Then she looked at Gu Xi and said, "I should be a little older than you. You can call me Sister Xue 'er."
Gu Xi nodded again and called out to him as a form of greeting.
Gu Xueer's friendliness and friendliness were just like when they were in school. No one could find anything wrong with it.
However, Gu Xi was a little puzzled.
It seemed that Gu Xueer was also a member of the Gu family. However, she had never heard Gu Chenyi and the others mention it before. Even when Gu Shao introduced the Gu family to her, he only mentioned Eldest Uncle, Youngest Uncle, and the three boys.
Gu Xi subconsciously looked in the direction of the living room. She realized that there was another person in the living room besides Gu Shao and Gu Xuan.
At this moment, Gu Shao and Gu Xuan were sitting on one side of the sofa, while the man in a dark gray suit was sitting on the sofa opposite them.
The three of them were chatting.
Their expressions didn't seem strange, but Gu Xi vaguely felt that the atmosphere over there was an indescribable sense of strangeness.
Although it was just a normal conversation and there wasn't anything special about the content of the conversation, the three of them sitting together didn't feel like they were chatting. It felt more like they were playing a game.
—
At this moment, the other party looked over. When he saw Old Master Gu, he nodded at Gu Shao and Gu Xuan, then got up and walked over.
The man stood in front of Old Master Gu and greeted him, "Father."
At the same time, he glanced at Gu Xi, who was beside Old Master Gu.
This glance made Gu Xi shudder inexplicably.
The man in front of her looked to be about the same age as Gu Shao and Gu Xuan. His facial features were gentle, and he smiled humbly. However, there was a sense of coldness behind his smile.
This kind of coldness was completely different from Gu Shao's and the other members of the Gu family's aloofness when they didn't speak. It didn't feel like there was anything wrong with it, but it felt like a chill down her spine.
"You're here," Old Master Gu replied.
"We ran into some trouble and were delayed for a while. I specially asked someone to bring you some ginseng from Country A. I asked Butler Zhou to take it away," Gu Yaobai said.
Old Master Gu nodded. "It's good that you've settled the matter."
Other than this sentence, Old Master Gu didn't say anything else.
Gu Xi snuck a peek at Old Master Gu's face and realized that he no longer had the kind smile on his face that was a little out of place but full of kindness.
At this moment, Old Master Gu didn't have much of an expression on his face, as if this was his usual serious and steady self.
"Since everyone is here, let's go and eat," Old Master Gu said.
His tone sounded alright and there wasn't anything special about it.
Since Old Master Gu had spoken, everyone in the family naturally started to move.
Gu Yaobai and Gu Xueer also followed Old Master Gu towards the dining room.
—
At this moment, Aunt Mei came over.
She had been helping out in the kitchen earlier. After everything was done, she returned to her previous room and changed into a set of clothes that didn't smell like oil and smoke.
Aunt Mei was stunned when she saw Gu Yaobai. "Third Young Master is here too."
Aunt Mei muttered. She saw that Gu Xi was in a daze and wondered if Old Master Gu had forgotten to introduce them. She walked over and whispered to Gu Xi, "That's the third son of the Gu family. You should call him 'Third Uncle.' The one beside him is your Third Uncle's daughter. She's one year older than you."
After hearing Aunt Mei's introduction, Gu Xi didn't feel enlightened. Instead, she felt even more confused.
— Gu Shao was the second son of the Gu family, while Little Uncle was the fourth son. The two of them were very close to each other. They were only less than two years apart. How could there be a third son in between?
Before Gu Xi could think about it, Old Master Gu, who was in front of her, felt that something was wrong after taking two steps. He then realized that his granddaughter wasn't following him. He stopped and turned around to call Gu Xi.
"Xixi, let's go and have dinner with Grandpa."
When Old Master Gu spoke to Gu Xi, his tone naturally became amiable. His expression also became kind at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Okay." Gu Xi caught up with him in a few steps.
Seeing that Gu Shao was also walking over, Gu Xi moved to Gu Shao's side discreetly.
Looking down at Gu Xi, who was walking to his side, Gu Shao's eyes flashed with a hint of a smile. Fortunately, she had forgotten about her father before she arrived at the Gu residence.
The few of them entered the dining room together.
The dining room in the main residence of the Gu residence was as big as the other rooms.
There was a large round table in the middle of the dining room. At this moment, the dishes were already prepared on the table. At first glance, almost half of the dishes were sour and sweet.
Previously, Gu Xi had heard from Aunt Mei that the entire Gu family's eating habits were more towards sweet food, except for Gu Shao.
"Everyone, take a seat." Old Master Gu was the first to take a seat, then he spoke to the others.
Although the Gu family didn't usually pay attention to such things, and some of the children were often impudent, they still had to pay attention to such things during festive occasions.
Gu Xi originally thought that Eldest Uncle and the other elders would be next to take a seat. However, she didn't expect that Gu Shao would be the second to take a seat.
Moreover, what puzzled Gu Xi even more was that Gu Shao wasn't sitting to the left of Old Master Gu, but directly opposite him.
Gu Xi had a puzzled expression on her face.
At this moment, Gu Chenyi whispered in Gu Xi's ear, "Do you find it strange?"
Gu Xi nodded.
Gu Chenyi smiled again and explained, "This order is correct, because Second Uncle is the head of the Gu family."
"Ah?!" Gu Xi was stunned and looked at Gu Chenyi in surprise. She really didn't know this.
Then why didn't Gu Shao stay at the Gu residence? It seemed that there wasn't any barrier between Dad and Grandpa.
Gu Xi thought to herself.
— —
The rest of the people didn't pay much attention to it.
Gu Xi looked around and finally sat next to Gu Shao.
Opposite him, Old Master Gu, who had originally wanted his precious granddaughter to sit with him, silently felt sad for a while.
However, he was afraid that Gu Xi wouldn't be used to eating at home on her first day, so Old Master Gu didn't force Gu Xi to leave Gu Shao and sit with him.
"I'll sit with Xi- my sister." Gu Chenyi moved the fastest and directly snatched the seat next to Gu Xi, while Gu Yanxiao and Gu Yanlin sat next to them.
Gu Xueer originally wanted to sit there, but when he walked over, he realized that there were no more seats. He couldn't help but feel a little awkward standing there.
However, Gu Xueer quickly smiled casually and easily resolved the awkwardness. He walked over and sat opposite Gu Xi.
Gu Xueer didn't let himself be awkward. He looked at Gu Xi and asked curiously, "Xixi, did you just transfer to The High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China?"
"Yes." Gu Xi nodded.
Gu Xueer smiled and said, "No wonder I didn't see you in school before."
After saying that, Gu Xueer asked with concern, "Are you adapting to the new school?"
"It's okay," Gu Xi replied.
"That's good." After saying that, Gu Xueer said enthusiastically, "I'm in Junior High Class 3, Class 6. If you encounter any problems in school, you can come to my class to find me."
After Gu Xueer finished speaking, Gu Xi was about to politely express her gratitude, but she heard Gu Chenyi whisper, "We don't need you."
Gu Xi looked at Gu Chenyi and was also very confused. Since Gu Xueer was also from the Gu family, why hadn't she heard them mention this Third Uncle and Gu Xueer before?
Seeing Gu Xi's confusion, Gu Chenyi whispered, "I'll tell you in the group."
Just now, Gu Xi had not only been pulled into a bunch of "Happy Family", "Amusing Family" … but a few others had also created a new small group: [The Four Handsome Gu Family/Beautiful Base].
Gu Xi didn't want to complain about this group name. She felt that only the other app, [The Battle of Tianchang Peak], could compete with it.
[Gu Xueer didn't grow up in the Gu family, so we're actually not that close to her.] Gu Chenyi said in the group.
Then, Gu Yanxiao added: [And she can't be considered a member of the Gu family.]
Gu Xi was confused.
In the end, Gu Yanlin explained to Gu Xi in more detail: [Third Uncle isn't Grandpa's child. He's the child of an old acquaintance of the Gu family. Third Uncle moved out of the Gu family more than ten years ago, so we don't have much contact with each other. We only get together during the holidays. Therefore, everyone doesn't have much interaction with Gu Xueer.]
Gu Yanxiao and Gu Chenyi didn't know much about Third Uncle's family. Gu Yanlin had only found out about it from his father.
Grandpa and Granny had always had a good relationship. At that time, Granny was pregnant with Fourth Uncle. One day, a woman named Yang Wanni came looking for them with a child who wasn't even a year old.
Yang Wanni was a nurse in Old Master Gu's camp at that time. Later, she disappeared for a period of time, and when she came back, she had already given birth to a child.
Yang Wanni insisted that Gu Qinghua had slept with her while she was asleep on duty, which caused her to get pregnant.
At that time, there were no surveillance cameras in the ward, and Old Master Gu was indeed recuperating in the ward where Yang Wanni was on duty.
Although Yang Wanni didn't look like a lady from a wealthy family, she still looked like a pretty daughter from a humble family. In addition, she was usually docile, so she always gave people the impression that she was a good girl.
Therefore, when news of this matter spread, most people believed Yang Wanni's words, and Old Master Gu was at a loss for words.
At that time, the paternity test wasn't so easy. Gu Qinghua spent a lot of effort to prove that the child wasn't his, and he didn't do anything bad to Yang Wanni.
Unfortunately, before Gu Qinghua could look for Yang Wanni, that woman died. It was said that Yang Wanni was sick and didn't have long to live.
The child was abandoned at the Gu residence.
Out of sympathy, Old Master Gu and Mrs. Gu discussed it and adopted the child, who was now the third child of the Gu family.
Therefore, Gu Yaobai was actually about the same age as Gu Shao.
Later on, perhaps because he slowly grew up and learned about his background from some people around him, Gu Yaobai gradually left the Gu family.
…
After reading Gu Yanlin's explanation, Gu Xi finally understood and nodded. "So that's how it is."
—
At the main seat, Old Master Gu looked at the four members of his family with their heads lowered. He didn't know what they were playing, so he put on a stern expression and coughed. "Eat properly! Are all of you holding onto your phones like gods? "
Upon hearing Old Master Gu's words, Gu Xi and the other three put away their phones almost at the same time. Then, they looked at Old Master Gu with the same "obedient and sensible" faces.
Looking at his grandsons and granddaughters, Old Master Gu's heart felt at ease, and he could no longer maintain his stern expression.
"Okay, okay, let's eat."
After Old Master Gu spoke, everyone picked up their chopsticks.
Gu Xi was still eating quietly as usual.
However, Gu Shao, who felt that it was too "quiet" next to her, lowered his head and looked at Gu Xi. Then, he frowned.
Previously, Gu Shao had noticed that Gu Xi's eating state was not quite right. Perhaps this was a habit she had developed when she was in the Lin family. Most of the time, Gu Xi would not speak or even make a sound while eating. She would bury her head in the bowl and rarely reach out to pick up the dishes on the table. She would eat whatever was in her bowl. Occasionally, she would pick up the nearest dish in front of her, but her movements were very gentle.
When Gu Shao first brought Gu Xi home, Gu Xi was like this. Later, when she finally got better, Gu Xi would talk to him at the table and pick up the dishes herself.
However, now that there were more people, Gu Xi unconsciously returned to her previous state.
…
In fact, Gu Xi herself did not realize this until a piece of her favorite sweet and sour pork ribs appeared in her bowl.
Gu Xi was stunned. When she looked up, she realized that Gu Shao had picked up the dish for her.
"Don't just focus on eating," Gu Shao reminded her.
"Okay." Gu Xi nodded blankly and smiled at Gu Shao.
Gu Xi ate the sweet and sour pork ribs. As soon as she tasted it, she knew that it was Aunt Mei's cooking. However, she did not know if it was an illusion, but Gu Xi felt that the sweet and sour pork ribs this time tasted better than the ones Aunt Mei had made before.
"Pick up whatever you like," Gu Shao reminded her again.
"Oh."
However, before Gu Xi could eat, a plate of pumpkin shortcake appeared in front of her.
Not one, but a whole plate.
Gu Yanlin was the one who brought the pumpkin shortcake to Gu Xi. "Xixi, try it. You should like it."
Without waiting for Gu Yanlin's voice to fall, Gu Yanxiao and Gu Chenyi, who were on the side, were not to be outdone. They brought Gu Xi's favorite dishes to her.
"You'll definitely like this glutinous rice ball."
"That one is too dry. This cheesecake is amazing."
…
Thus, in the blink of an eye, a mountain of snacks was piled up in front of Gu Xi.
Looking at the three pairs of shining eyes beside her, Gu Xi silently withdrew her gaze.
It was difficult to refuse such kindness.
But she could not eat it!
"It's delicious." With a pumpkin shortcake in her bowl and a glutinous rice ball on her chopsticks, Gu Xi took a bite of the cheesecake as she spoke to the three of them.
Finally, when they looked away, Gu Xi quietly pushed the plates of snacks in front of Gu Chenyi.
"It's really delicious. Have some."
"Hehe, okay." Sure enough, he was the closest to Xixi.
However, before Gu Chenyi could show off for a few seconds, he was caught red-handed by Gu Xuan.
"Xixi, eat your food. Don't worry about him. He won't starve," Gu Xuan said. Obviously, he had misunderstood.
Old Master Gu, who was sitting at the head of the table, also echoed, "Yes, there's no need to share with them. If Xixi wants to eat anything else, Grandpa will ask the kitchen to make it."
Gu Xi: "…" No, she just couldn't eat anymore. Really.
Looking at his granddaughter's obedient appearance, Old Master Gu felt relieved.
—
Old Master Gu looked at Gu Yaobai and asked, "Yaobai, how have you been?"
Hearing Old Master Gu call Gu Yaobai, the others did not react. However, Gu Xi dropped the spoon in her hand into the bowl with a clang.
"What's wrong?" Several people looked over nervously.
"Nothing, my hand slipped." Gu Xi smiled embarrassedly and said, causing a moment of horror in their eyes.
After calming down, Gu Xi tugged at Gu Chenyi's clothes under the table.
"What do you want to eat? I'll get it for you."
"No, it's not that." Gu Xi shook her head and motioned for Gu Chenyi to come closer. Then, she asked in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "What did Grandpa call Third Uncle just now?"
"Oh, Gu Yaobai, Third Uncle's name." Gu Chenyi thought that Gu Xi was wondering why Third Uncle's name was different from other people's names. He explained, "Third Uncle's name was probably given by his birth mother, so it's different from our father's."
"Yao as in dazzling light, Bai as in white?"
Gu Chenyi thought about it and nodded.
However, he did not notice Gu Xi's gradually frozen expression.
— In the novel, there was also someone with this name. However, it was not Gu Yaobai, but Xie Yaobai.
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