Chapter 623 — A Blunder Born of Misunderstanding

Said that way, Wei Zhao offended no one: he had openly praised Gu Mengyao, yes, but he had also made clear that she only won out after makeup, and that before makeup the two were about even.

The young lady, however, conveniently ignored the words "after makeup." Rather pleased with herself, she shot Wei Zhao a glance and thought, So you do have an eye after all. Hmph!

"Oh, then what about me?" Shen Yushu sent Gu Mengyao out first as her vanguard, and only after that did she bring herself forward.

"You're about the same as Yaoyao." Wei Zhao could hardly have answered otherwise, so that was all he said.

"Oh, oh, am I really that pretty? Wonderful, at last I've met someone whose eyes aren't blind, oh, oh!" Shen Yushu cried out in delighted surprise, and when she had done, she glanced at Gu Mengyao.

"Xiaoshu, what are you looking at me for? Are you saying my eyes are blind?" Gu Mengyao glared at Shen Yushu.

"That's right, and whose fault is it but yours for saying I'm not as pretty as you!" Shen Yushu said, every word weighed and found justified.

"You rotten girl, when did I ever say that?" Gu Mengyao glared at Shen Yushu.

"Then what were you just admitting..." Shen Yushu shot back.

"I admitted nothing, you were the one looking at me!" Gu Mengyao was beside herself; she had let Shen Yushu talk her in circles.

"Then why do you feel guilty?" Shen Yushu asked.

"I don't feel guilty, though I have said before that my figure is better proportioned than yours!" Gu Mengyao said, fuming.

"Oh, people with small breasts always say they're well proportioned!" Shen Yushu retorted, unconvinced.

"You rotten girl, I'll tear that mouth of yours to shreds!" Gu Mengyao reached over to pinch Shen Yushu's cheek.

"Brother Shield, Sister Yaoyao's trying to murder me again!" Shen Yushu shrieked.

"Enough, I need to drive." Wei Zhao could hardly step in, nor did he know whose side to take, so he changed the subject. "By the way, Yaoyao, why did you go up Shuangyan Mountain with Zhong Yongliang in the first place?"

Wei Zhao had remembered the task Gu Pengzhan had laid on him over the phone, and this was just the opening to ask about it without seeming too abrupt.

"Wasn't it because that great liar Zhong Yongliang made a fool of me on purpose?" The very memory still stung. What Zhong Yongliang had deceived was not only her reason but her feelings, and by feelings she meant no love for Zhong Yongliang, but that longing for one's own flesh and blood.

Zhong Yongliang had given Gu Mengyao hope, then snuffed that hope out again. Had he never raised the matter, Gu Mengyao would have sealed it away at the bottom of her heart, an eternal sorrow seldom to be let loose.

But Zhong Yongliang had loosed that sorrow, and then handed her absolute hope besides. How could Gu Mengyao not be cast down?

Whenever she thought of it, Gu Mengyao would weep in silence. She wept not because she had been so easily taken in by Zhong Yongliang, but because she missed her mother. She missed her so very, very much. Everyone else had a mother's love; she had none.

Though she was the cherished young lady of the Gu Corporation, dressed in silks and fed on delicacies, she would have traded it all away for a whole family, a happy family that could sit down to dinner with father and mother every single evening.

"Made a fool of you?" Wei Zhao was driving, and so did not notice the strange turn in Gu Mengyao's mood.

"Mm..." Gu Mengyao thought of her mother, and the grief welled up again.

"Ah... Sister Yaoyao, don't cry, there there, even if you're the pretty one, you're prettier than me, all right?" Shen Yushu took hold of Gu Mengyao's hand to comfort her.

Quarrel as she might with Gu Mengyao over the most meaningless trifles, Shen Yushu still held her dear at heart, and at the sight of her grief she changed her tune at once.

"Cry?" Wei Zhao was startled, and looked at Gu Mengyao in the rearview mirror; sure enough, her eyes were rimmed red, as though the tears would come at any moment. "Yaoyao, what's wrong?"

"Zhong Yongliang tricked Sister Yaoyao, saying he had seen someone who looked very much like her, up on Shuangyan Mountain!" Shen Yushu spoke for Gu Mengyao. "Zhong Yongliang told it so convincingly that he fooled her, and so she and I went up the mountain with him, and then we were shut up inside a cave..."

"Someone who looked like her?" Wei Zhao was all the more astonished. Surely the young lady was not such a simpleton as that. For the mere resemblance of a stranger, she had let Zhong Yongliang lead her off to see with her own eyes?

"Mm, Sister Yaoyao mistook the person Zhong Yongliang saw for her mother!" Shen Yushu nodded and explained. In that moment, her former impish air had vanished entirely.

"Her mother?" Wei Zhao understood it even less. "Isn't Yaoyao's mother dead?"

"Your mother's the one who's dead!" Gu Mengyao flew into a rage. Not only would this Wei Zhao not comfort her, he had to go and curse her mother dead.

"Uh..." Wei Zhao scratched his head, wondering whether he had misunderstood something. Was Gu Mengyao's mother not dead after all? Then why had Gu Pengzhan said that Gu Mengyao's mother had left them when the girl was very small?

Damn! Wei Zhao suddenly caught on. He had misread that "left." As a rule, passing away might also be called "leaving," and in such a tone, in such a scene, "leaving" would almost certainly mean exactly that. But the "leaving" Gu Pengzhan spoke of might well have been "leaving" in its plainest sense: for some reason, Gu Mengyao's mother had walked out of the house.

At the thought, Wei Zhao broke into a sweat. This blunder had grown monstrously out of proportion; to have needlessly offended the young lady was a poor bargain indeed. As for her counterblow, though, Wei Zhao cared nothing for it.

"Your mother's the one who's dead." Wei Zhao had not the least idea who his own mother was, nor whether she lived, and so he bore no weight of conscience over it. He had never set eyes on her since he was small; as a child he had fancied what his parents might look like, but after so many years he had grown used to the lack, and had come to count the old man and his master as his own kin.

"Heh, my apologies, I misunderstood. So your mother left home." Wei Zhao explained, a little embarrassed.

"What kind of attitude is that? You're still laughing? Is it so funny? Are you mocking me for being pitiable?" To hear that Wei Zhao was actually laughing sent Gu Mengyao into a greater fury. This was the tender place sealed away deep in her heart, and his manner had enraged her.

"Heh, mocking you?" Wei Zhao shrugged and said, somewhat helplessly, "Don't grieve so. If it comes to being pitiable, I'm more pitiable than you. I don't even know who my own parents are, and I've never seen them since I was small..."

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