Chapter 32: Chapter 32

Chapter 32: You Painted It?

Xiao Yun showed the school forum to Gu Xiqiao, and was stunned by it for a while, before looking up and realizing that most of the people in the class were fiddling with their phones…

“Gu Xiqiao, come with me.” Old Ban knocked on the window and brought Gu Xiqiao to the teacher’s office solemnly.

This matter had long since surpassed the level of simple schoolyard gossip, and not only had it been posted on the web, but also on all sorts of electronic and printed media too. On the internet, the topic had entered the top three on the trending tab, and talk of an ungrateful illegitimate daughter became all the rage. This illegitimate daughter was brought home by the original matriarch of the family, and had been educated well and raised properly, but not only was she not thankful, she even stole an oil painting from the legitimate daughter of the family to join an art exhibition. Everyone knew who the legitimate daughter was—The genius young lady of the Gu family, Gu Xijin.

The posts on this topic had been seen by tens of thousands of people, and the replies had already multiplied by more than ten thousand!

These keyboard warriors only knew how to degrade and throw slander onto people that they don’t even know through the internet from a high moral standpoint.

“Give me your guardian’s phone number, I’ll talk to them.” Old Ban had a grasp on Gu Xiqiao’s demeanor and knew that she was the last one to ever do something like this. He didn’t want to get involved in the matters of higher society, but he couldn’t stand there and watch this young girl get ruined by society.

Gu Xiqiao accepted the newspaper clipping that Old Ban handed her and stuck it into her pocket. “Thank you, Teacher. I’ll deal with this myself. I promise this won’t affect my studies.”

She stuck both of her hands into her pocket and looked at him seriously, but her obsidian orbs shrouded ad not letting him see her true emotions.

Old Ban had wanted to say something, but his words got stuck in his throat as he looked at this young girl. It wouldn’t be strange that an illegitimate daughter that grew up under prejudice and exclusion would be mature beyond her years, and he could only feel sad for this young girl that could have led a happy life like other people of her age.

When Gu Xiqiao returned to class, school had already let out. She slung her backpack over her back, holding it by the handle while the other was tucked in her pocket. Her face was like a delicate jade sculpture, and her eyes were squinted slightly, coldness peeking out from within. Even though she was expressionless, no one could look directly at her.

Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen followed behind her.

Coming to the school gates, Gu Xiqiao wasn’t surprised in the least that she saw the Gu family car, and she waved towards the duo behind her. “I’m going, see you guys tomorrow.”

Gu Xijin rolled down the window of the car and smiled sweetly at her. “Little sis.”

Gu Xiqiao glanced at her, before going to the front seat and sitting in without replying her.

Gu Xijin didn’t speak anymore upon seeing this, and when the two sisters got to the Gu Estate, she twirled a strand of hair around her finger and stepped close to Gu Xiqiao. “If you know what’s good for you, then say that I was the one that drew the oil painting. I’ll tell everyone to stop talking about this, and we can consider things done and over with. After that, you can continue studying at First City High, and be the second daughter of the Gu family, or else…Just wait for your reputation to get ruined and for you to get expelled, not even Grandfather would be able to save you!”

Her tone was mocking, but one wouldn’t have been able to tell just from her expression that still seemed normal. With a smile, she walked into the gates as if she had everything was in her grasp.

Gu Xiqiao didn’t react at all to her words and followed her into Gu Manor without a change in her expression.

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Seeing this, Gu Xiqiao thought about what might be going through her head. Did she have any trump cards up her sleeve? Or maybe she didn’t care about all this in the first place? Gu Xijin placed her bag into the hand of her servant and wasn’t surprised in the slightest when she saw the servant glaring at Gu Xiqiao.

Well no matter what tricks she had, none of them would work in front of sheer power, and her objective had already been achieved anyway. The one that had unrivaled talent in art in the eyes of everyone was her, Gu Xijin!

Gu Zuhui had barely become guilty towards this illegitimate daughter and had started to give her more attention, but now it was all gone due to the rumors that were spreading around.

As soon as he heard Gu Xiqiao insist that she was the one that drew the oil painting, his blood practically boiled with anger.

“You drew it? You grew up in such a backwater place that didn’t even have a proper school! Do you know what oil painting is? Did your adoptive mother have any money to send to learn art? Gu Xiqiao, do you not even the slightest bit of regret? I shouldn’t have let you stay in the Gu family in the first place!” Gu Zuhui was so angry that he threw the porcelain teapot that still had hot tea inside towards Gu Xiqiao’s head.

There was only a short distance between the two, but the teapot suddenly dropped down onto the ground five centimeters in front of Gu Xiqiao’s forehead as if it bumped into an invisible wall, but at this point, no one would point out such a trivial thing.

As the boiling hot tea seeped into the extravagant carpet, the servants that were standing around the living room all lowered their heads, their nerves stretched thin and not even daring to take a spare breath.

Gu Xiqiao knew that anything she said at this point would be useless, and even though she wanted to explain, who would believe her?

She didn’t even have the strength to smirk. The one that was in front of her was her father, her one and only father!

In her past life, she had even done a DNA test in secret.

Su Wan’er stood next to Gu Zuhui and looked at Gu Xiqiao as if she were an ant, and she had never seen this child as an actual person in the first place, after all. “I accepted you into our family without caring about your background, and had you educated with food and a roof to live under, and this is how you repay us? You stole Jin’s oil painting! Who taught you to do that?! Since you came to our house, you should learn proper manners and leave those bad habits of yours back in your backwater countryside, you are in the prestigious Gu family! Even if you don’t care about your image, the Gu family still has a reputation to uphold!”

Gu Zuhui spoke up again. “Ah right, at the press conference tomorrow, tell them all what really happened and apologize to Jin! Jin is going to take her national finals and has to prepare her entry for the art exhibition, so I won’t forgive you if this affects her badly! After the press conference, I’ll send you to live at your grandfather’s place to learn how to be a proper person, so we’ll have you pulled out of school for the time being.”

“Fine.” Gu Xiqiao nodded and walked upstairs, locking herself in her room.

The people downstairs were so surprised by this reaction of hers that they didn’t know how to react. Wasn’t she insisting that she was the one that painted it just a minute ago? Why did she give up so easily?

That bring said, Gu Zuhui didn’t want to spend anymore thought on her, holding down his anger as he called Grandpa Gu, explaining the situation to him.

Because this matter had been reported in the papers, and it must have impacted the Gu family greatly. The stocks of the Gu family would definitely plummet the next day, and Gu Zuhui had been bidding for the national base lately, and he almost lost his qualification to do so, so how could he not be angry?

Mrs. Zhang had gotten a call from Gu Xiqiao saying that she wouldn’t return to the mansion when she was out buying groceries, and she met one of her neighbors, an old man. This old man knew that Gu Xiqiao lived in the mansion when they met a few times on their morning exercise trips, so he gave Mrs. Zhang the newspaper with Gu Xiqiao on it.

The article was written with half-truths, but it was successful in arousing the rage of the masses, mostly against the illegitimate daughter.

Upon seeing this, Mrs. Zhang immediately stuffed the newspaper into her pocket and called Jiang Shuxuan with fire in her eyes as soon as she returned to the mansion. “I saw Qiao Qiao paint that oil painting with my own two eyes, and you’ve built her that art studio too, Master Jiang! What are those people saying, that she stole her sister’s painting? Those family members of hers are blind too, throwing away such a good child. Did you know that they even said that they’re going to have a press conference to have her apologize to her sister tomorrow? I can’t believe this, Master Jiang!”