It wasn’t until after Guo Tiandi was criminally detained that Guo Yingying learned her brother had hit and killed a child. She couldn’t believe it—Guo Tiandi had always been a cautious driver, especially when he worked as a chauffeur for others.
After repeatedly questioning him, Guo Tiandi finally admitted the truth: Liu Er had been the one driving at the time of the accident. To protect Liu Er, Jennie Yang had asked Guo Tiandi to take the blame. In return, she promised to fund Guo Yingying’s treatment for her congenital heart disease and provide financial compensation so that Guo Yingying could live comfortably throughout her university years.
Guo Yingying strongly opposed her brother sacrificing his bright future for her, but it was too late. If Guo Tiandi retracted his confession, he would be punished for perjury and aiding in covering up the crime.
Guo Tiandi was sentenced to two years in prison. After he was incarcerated, Liu Er began to pursue Guo Yingying aggressively. However, she blamed Liu Er for her brother’s imprisonment, grew to despise him, and avoided him at all costs.
Every week, Guo Yingying would visit her brother. During one visit, Guo Tiandi made a surprising request: he asked her to find a way to get strands of hair from both Liu Er and Jennie Yang.
Curious, Guo Yingying questioned him, but Guo Tiandi was vague in his explanation. He instructed her to send the samples to a lab to determine if the two were biologically related as mother and son.
Half a month later, the results confirmed that they were indeed mother and son!
However, Guo Tiandi seemed to be in disbelief after seeing the results, as though he had been deeply shocked.
Concerned, Guo Yingying pressed him for the reason behind the test. Guo Tiandi said he had suspected that Jennie Yang and Liu Er weren’t biologically related. Guo Yingying didn’t probe further, but she felt that his explanation was evasive, as if he were hiding something from her.
Soon after, Guo Yingying experienced the darkest moment of her life.
After being rejected several times, Liu Er finally revealed his sinister intentions toward her. He arranged for Guo Yingying to intern at Fang Zheng Group and, with the help of his assistant, drugged her, intending to assault her.
But in the midst of the drug’s effects, Guo Yingying briefly regained consciousness and managed to escape the villa. While fleeing from Liu Er, she stumbled into a construction site, where an even worse fate awaited her—she was assaulted and violated by three homeless men.
The three homeless men were brought to justice, but Liu Er escaped punishment by blaming everything on his assistant. The assistant took full responsibility, receiving only a one-year prison sentence.
Upon hearing this terrible news, Guo Tiandi was consumed by guilt and rage. He blamed himself—if he hadn’t taken the fall for Liu Er, Liu Er would have been in prison, and Guo Yingying wouldn’t have suffered such a tragedy. His anger toward Liu Er, that despicable and shameless person hiding behind the status of a wealthy second-generation heir, only grew stronger.
But his greatest fury was directed at Jennie Yang. As Liu Er’s mother, she had a responsibility to discipline him. His arrogance and recklessness were partly her fault.
As soon as Guo Tiandi was released from prison, he began searching for Liu Er’s assistant, the one who had taken the blame. After much effort, he finally convinced the assistant to tell the truth. Guo Tiandi was determined to bring Liu Er to justice—he couldn’t let the same mistake happen twice.
However, Liu Er, in desperation, accidentally killed the assistant during a confrontation.
The golden son of a billionaire had, overnight, become a ruthless murderer! Liu Er’s life had reached a dead end, with no way to turn back and nothing ahead but a cliff.
As the saying goes, “A femme fatale brings disaster.” Had it not been for Guo Yingying, he wouldn’t have fallen from his lofty position to this pitiful state.
Even at the point of death, Liu Er wanted to drag someone down with him. He kidnapped both Guo Yingying and Guo Tiandi, imprisoning them in an abandoned underground factory for an entire month.
At the time, Liu Er was on the city’s most-wanted list. No one knew how he had managed to pull it off. When Guo Yingying was finally rescued, she discovered that Liu Er had accomplices. In a last-ditch effort, one of the accomplices doused Guo Tiandi with acid, severely burning his face, while Guo Tiandi, in self-defense, accidentally killed the accomplice.
That’s roughly how the entire incident unfolded.
Liu Er was wanted for killing his assistant, and as he evaded capture, how did Guo Tiandi and Guo Yingying, who should have been on high alert, end up being kidnapped? Meng Jin was perplexed.
A cold smile tugged at the corners of Guo Yingying’s lips. “You see me here, enjoying all the comforts of this first-rate sanatorium, with the best medical care and services. For that, I have to thank Liu Er’s mother, Mrs. Jennie Yang.”
When she said “Mrs. Jennie Yang,” her teeth clenched, her voice filled with hatred.
Her expression shifted abruptly, and a flash of bitterness flickered in her hollow eyes. “To the outside world, Jennie Yang is doing everything she can to make amends for me, driven by guilt. But my eyes might be blind, my heart isn’t. I suspect that she was involved in our kidnapping.”
Her fists clenched tightly, nails digging into her palms until her knuckles turned white and even made a faint cracking sound.
She then described what had happened on the day they were kidnapped.
That day, the weather was clear and the sky was a special kind of blue, clean to the point of being almost transparent, with a faint hint of gray. The clouds were unusually plentiful, one after another, in all shapes and sizes.
She had wanted to grab her paintbrush and immediately start painting. Instead, she took several photos with her phone, but no matter how many she took, she couldn’t capture the true color of that sky. That grayish blue couldn’t be replicated through a camera lens—perhaps only oil paints could recreate it.
She turned around, eager to go home and grab her palette.
At that moment, Guo Tiandi called and asked her to meet him at the gate of their community. She didn’t want to put down her palette, so she asked what was so urgent. He simply told her they’d talk in person and quickly hung up.
Reluctantly, she set her palette aside, casting one last wistful glance at the sky outside. The blue was still there, seemingly waiting for her to capture it.
She hurried downstairs and stepped outside, only to find that the sky had already changed. The gray tint was gone, leaving behind an ordinary blue.
When she met Guo Tiandi, all he said was that they were going to meet someone. He wouldn’t say who.
Although she was curious, she trusted her brother, so she didn’t press him further. After all, her brother was the one person in the world who would never harm her.
She even fell asleep in the car and didn’t wake up until they had driven far from the city center.
She asked again who they were going to meet, but Guo Tiandi still wouldn’t say.
The van eventually stopped in front of a farmhouse. When Guo Yingying got out, she realized the van they had ridden in wasn’t the one Guo Tiandi usually drove. Though they looked similar, there were subtle differences that made her certain it wasn’t the same vehicle.
Her curiosity gradually turned into unease.
At the gate, Guo Tiandi made a phone call, and the door opened automatically. Once inside, her questions were finally answered—they were there to meet Jennie Yang.
She immediately turned to leave, but Guo Tiandi persuaded her to stay.
Jennie Yang assured her not to blame Guo Tiandi, as she had begged him to bring her there.
For her brother’s sake, Guo Yingying reluctantly stayed, but she was determined not to be swayed, no matter what Jennie Yang said.
By then, she had already guessed Jennie Yang’s motive—she would surely be pleading for Liu Er. No matter how she threatened or tempted her, Guo Yingying had made up her mind not to accept anything.
Just as expected, Jennie Yang spoke earnestly, but Guo Yingying treated her words like passing wind.
Guo Tiandi remained silent the entire time, knowing that anything he said would only break his sister’s heart.
After Jennie Yang finished her pleas, Guo Yingying stood up to leave, only to find the door wouldn’t open.
At that moment, she suddenly felt drowsy. Through the haze, she saw Guo Tiandi beginning to stagger and Jennie Yang collapsing weakly onto the sofa.
Then Liu Er emerged slowly, flashing a hideous smile at Guo Yingying.
When she woke up again, she and Guo Tiandi had been moved to the underground factory. What followed was an experience she never wanted to recall.
Guo Yingying and Guo Tiandi were kidnapped and imprisoned, and Jennie Yang had a hand in it.
Meng Jin asked, confused, “After you were rescued, did you report this to the police? Whether Jennie Yang was complicit or being used, she’s still an accomplice.”
Guo Yingying’s eyes darkened, and she let out a soft sigh. It turned out she had intended to report Jennie Yang
to the police and hold her accountable, but Guo Tiandi convinced her otherwise. At the time, he argued that since Jennie Yang had also fainted, she likely hadn’t known about Liu Er’s plan in advance.
Jennie Yang’s plea for Liu Er was simply a mother doing what a mother should. In that, she wasn’t wrong.
Guo Yingying, consumed by her hatred, believed that Liu Er had turned into a monster because of Jennie Yang’s poor parenting. Even if Jennie Yang didn’t know about Liu Er’s insane plan, the fact that she had lured the Guo siblings out, creating the opportunity for Liu Er, meant she deserved to be punished!
But Guo Tiandi pointed out that with Guo Yingying now blind and deaf, her only chance at living a high-quality life was through Jennie Yang’s financial compensation. Therefore, they couldn’t afford to offend her.
Guo Yingying was unwilling to accept this, but out of understanding for her brother’s difficult position, she swallowed her pride and bitterness, forced to endure the injustice.
Looking back, she realized that may have been the point where the bond between her and her brother began to fracture.
Her brother, who had always put her first no matter how much he struggled or suffered, now seemed different.
Since she had become blind and deaf, since she had become completely useless, everything had changed.
Even the brother who had loved her the most had changed.
This was why she harbored such deep hatred for Liu Er. If she could, she would have his body dug up and flogged. Unfortunately, even if she did, that scum wouldn’t feel an ounce of pain.
Only the living can feel pain.
A child’s behavior reflects the failure of the parents. Guo Yingying transferred her hatred onto Jennie Yang and Liu Tianshi, especially Jennie Yang. Why had she given birth to a demon?
Whenever she mentioned Jennie Yang, Guo Yingying spoke through gritted teeth, her rage needing an outlet, and Jennie Yang was that outlet.
But when she spoke of Guo Tiandi, her tone was filled with sorrow, pity, and despair.
If she knew that the real Guo Tiandi had already died, but that the brother who died still loved her and had never changed, would she feel comforted or fall deeper into despair?
Should they tell her the truth? It was truly a troubling dilemma.
Even the usually stern and unfeeling Meng Jin found himself at a loss and passed the dilemma over to Zhao Yunzhi.
Zhao Yunzhi turned to Long De for help. Long De, more rational and cold-blooded than Meng Jin, believed they should tell Guo Yingying the truth.
Guo Yingying had suffered enough, her wounds deep and gaping. Who could bear to sprinkle salt on those wounds? Zhao Yunzhi simply couldn’t bring himself to do it.
