After Her Death, They Begged for Forgiveness - Chapter 34

Gu Xiaozhou returned to the Gu residence in a daze.

After getting out of the car, her entire body moved as if pulled by invisible strings, carrying her into the familiar home.

She couldn’t even bring herself to open her phone as usual, because every platform was flooded with countless notifications about her.

As she descended the stairs, Gu Xiaozhou had initially believed that this was what she owed Xu Bingqi, and she could calmly endure the consequences. Yet, the torrent of mockery on social media washed over her like an icy tide, and from the deepest, most hidden corners of her heart, a thread of confusion quietly began to grow.

The cyberbullying against Xu Bingqi had ended after her clarification, but the cyberbullying against herself seemed to have no end in sight.

It seemed Xu Bingqi truly had no mercy left for her.

When Gu Xiaozhou opened the door and entered, she found that, aside from her mother, Xu Qingci was also sitting there. The frozen atmosphere felt as though it could swallow everyone whole.

“Xiaozhou, even if you and Bingqi have conflicts, how could you do such a thing? Hurry up and apologize to Aunt Xu.”

Gu Nan, on one hand, felt her daughter had truly acted foolishly, while on the other hand, she subtly defended her, her expression carrying a trace of barely noticeable bias.

Worried that her proud daughter might refuse to apologize, Gu Nan kept shooting glances at Gu Xiaozhou.

“Qingci, you know how spoiled Xiaozhou has been since she was a child. She’s just confused. Let me apologize to you on her behalf.”

Seeing her daughter’s detached state, Gu Nan felt that waiting for her to apologize would take until nightfall. It was better to apologize first to her longtime friend.

She didn’t consider this to be a major issue. After all, Xu Qingci had never shown much concern for her eldest daughter, rarely even mentioning Xu Bingqi in daily conversations. On the rare occasions she did, her expression was always filled with disdain. So even if Gu Nan didn’t apologize, Xu Qingci wouldn’t pay much attention to the matter.

Still, Gu Xiaozhou had gone too far this time. Gu Nan sighed, unable to understand why her daughter would do something so childish and pointless.

Xu Qingci had been immersed in shock all day.

Before today’s incident, she had always believed that the previous trending searches were orchestrated by Xu Bingqi herself.

She had assumed that Xu Bingqi had staged this entire farce just to gain her attention.

It had never crossed Xu Qingci’s mind that Gu Xiaozhou had intentionally framed her eldest daughter.

Xu Qingci’s fingertips suddenly turned cold. She felt that Xu Bingqi might truly not want to return home anymore.

Or perhaps, Xu Bingqi’s departure wasn’t an impulsive act but the result of careful consideration.

Xu Qingci didn’t dare to dwell on it further. Her mind quickly shifted to another question.

Hadn’t Gu Xiaozhou always been her daughter’s friend? Why would she do such a thing?

“Xiaozhou, Bingqi always considered you her best friend. How could you do this?”

Everything that had happened today was beyond her expectations. She urgently wanted to know why Gu Xiaozhou had done this.

Gu Nan also patted her daughter’s shoulder. “Xiaozhou, explain this matter properly.”

She, too, couldn’t understand why her daughter would take such a huge risk for something that offered no benefit at all.

Moreover, she noticed that her friend seemed to care about this matter more than she had expected far more than she had imagined.

But Xu Bingqi had already clarified the plagiarism issue and hadn’t suffered any harm. Suddenly, she couldn’t quite tell whether her friend truly cared about Xu Bingqi or not.

“It’s all my fault.”

Just as Gu Nan thought her daughter would remain silent, the girl who had been quiet and seemingly out of it, suddenly spoke up.

“As for the reason, it’s my own problem. It has nothing to do with anyone else.”

Gu Nan was surprised to hear her daughter say this. After all, no one understood her daughter better than she did. Her daughter had always held herself in high regard and rarely apologized to anyone except, perhaps, to Jiang Ruo. Moreover, she was accustomed to shifting blame outward and seldom took responsibility herself.

“I’ll treat everyone to dinner tonight. We’ll invite Bingqi and clear the air. Xiao Zhou, apologize to Bingqi in person tonight, understood?”

Seeing her daughter’s dejected expression as she apologized, Gu Nan felt a pang of heartache. In any case, this wasn’t too serious a matter, the Gu family would quickly manage the public relations fallout from the scandal. This incident could also serve as a lesson for her daughter.

Gu Xiaozhou shook her head slightly.

Thinking her daughter was unwilling to apologize face-to-face out of embarrassment, Gu Nan frowned. “Xiao Zhou, you made a mistake in a moment of confusion. Are you really unwilling to apologize in person?”

“She won’t come.”

Gu Xiaozhou’s voice was low, as if forcing the words from the depths of her chest, carrying a barely perceptible tremor.

It took Gu Nan a moment to realize who the “she” in her daughter’s words referred to.

“What nonsense are you talking, child? Bingqi is the most sensible one. Has she ever refused an invitation to dinner?”

Believing Gu Xiaozhou was avoiding reality, Gu Nan added, “I’ll take you to invite her, and you can apologize along the way.”

After she finished speaking, she noticed both Gu Xiaozhou and Xu Qingci had fallen silent. The spacious room was filled with an oppressive stillness.

Unable to grasp the situation, Gu Nan nudged her daughter, signaling for her to speak.

“She won’t see us.”

Gu Xiaozhou stated it plainly.

Gu Nan turned to her longtime friend and saw her calm expression, though her index finger was pressed tightly against her middle finger, a subtle gesture Gu Nan recognized as a sign of her friend’s indecision.

A sense of unease suddenly welled up in Gu Nan’s heart. She never interfered with her daughter’s friendships and, naturally, rarely noticed any recent changes among her daughter’s friends. To her, whether it was Xu Bingqi or Jiang Ruo, they were merely symbols, abstract representations of her friends’ daughters or her daughter’s friends. She treated them equally but couldn’t say she paid them much attention.

Xu Qingci was quite tempted by Gu Nan’s suggestion.

Although Xu Bingqi was reluctant to see her, she would likely maintain basic courtesy toward Gu Nan and probably wouldn’t be able to refuse Gu Nan’s request.

After hearing Gu Xiaozhou’s apology, Xu Qingci’s anger had subsided by half. Once the shock wore off, she too didn’t consider this too serious a matter. Even though Gu Xiaozhou had framed her daughter for plagiarism, her daughter had quickly clarified the issue, and Gu Xiaozhou had paid the price. Like Gu Nan, she felt the matter could end here.

Beyond that, Xu Qingci felt an unexpected sense of relief after calming down.

She had always believed her eldest daughter was hopeless, a lost cause. The very reason she had wanted to bring her daughter back home was because of this perception.

Xu Qingci believed that aside from her elusive musical talent, her eldest daughter had achieved nothing in other aspects and was too timid without her support, the girl would likely fall into destitution within months.

This impression was reinforced when she saw the old, dilapidated apartment her eldest daughter had rented.

But now she realized that Xu Bingqi was not as incompetent and cowardly as she had thought.

At the very least, Xu Bingqi possessed sharp insight. She could quickly detect Gu Xiaozhou’s schemes and retaliate in kind, unburdened by past affections, handling matters with remarkable decisiveness.

With her younger daughter now busy filming on set, perhaps she could try entrusting the management of a subsidiary company to her eldest daughter, giving her some practical experience.

Xu Qingci glanced at the time. “Why not go now?”

She had a feeling that once this matter came to light, Xu Bingqi would immediately move out. They had to see her before she relocated.

Eager to meet Xu Bingqi, Xu Qingci didn’t dwell on one crucial detail: Gu Xiaozhou hadn’t personally installed the monitoring software on Xu Bingqi’s computer.

Xu Qingci simply assumed that Gu Xiaozhou had taken advantage of a moment when Xu Bingqi was distracted to plant the virus on her computer.

Because of this, she even warned Gu Xiaozhou again, “Xiaozhou, don’t let this happen again.”

Then, feeling her tone had been too harsh, she softened her voice and added, “Xiaozhou, don’t be so foolish next time.”

Gu Xiaozhou was momentarily taken aback but nodded and replied, “It won’t happen again.”

Even when she made mistakes, Xu Qingci would still pay attention to whether her tone was gentle when speaking to her. Yet, with Xu Bingqi, Xu Qingci never bothered with such considerations.

Gu Xiaozhou had even heard Xu Qingci openly criticize Xu Bingqi as incompetent and timid on numerous occasions, completely disregarding whether the quietly standing Xu Bingqi felt humiliated.

Gu Xiaozhou opened her mouth, wanting to remind Xu Qingci, but hesitated and ultimately remained silent.

Xu Qingci was not one to easily accept others’ advice whether she spoke up or not made little difference.

Gu Nan, seeing her daughter’s obedient demeanor, felt somewhat relieved and remarked casually, “Xiaozhou never takes my words seriously, the only person she’s afraid of is you.”

After a moment’s thought, she added, “Actually, you should be gentler with Bingqi too. She’s much more sensible than Xiaozhou.”

Gu Nan knew her daughter was proud and rarely compared her to others. This time, she had unintentionally spoken without thinking. Glancing at her daughter from the corner of her eye, she was surprised to see no trace of impatience on her face.

Gu Nan couldn’t quite understand her daughter. Before this, she had always looked down on Xu Bingqi, as if wanting the whole world to know she had no interest in being friends that it was Xu Bingqi who insisted on clinging to her.

But now, things seemed different.

Xu Qingci didn’t refute her old friend’s words either and sighed quietly.

Had she truly been too harsh on Xu Bingqi before?

If she could successfully bring her daughter back this time, she would be gentler at the very least, more patient.

After they left the Gu residence, Gu Nan, unaware that Xu Bingqi had already moved out, naturally instructed the driver to head straight to the Xu family home.

Only after Xu Qingci awkwardly reminded her did Gu Nan give her a puzzled look, confirming she wasn’t joking before directing the driver to the new address.

“Why did Bingqi suddenly go to a place like this? Did you two have a disagreement?”

Gu Nan’s gaze toward Xu Qingci was filled with inquisitive curiosity, as if searching for a puzzle that urgently needed solving.

Her impression of Xu Bingqi still lingered on the image of an introverted, well-behaved child someone who would simply stand with their head bowed even when scolded. She couldn’t picture Xu Bingqi quarreling with Xu Qingci.

“No.”

Xu Qingci shook his head. “I don’t know why either. She just moved out all of a sudden.”

Gu Nan knew Xu Qingci well. After hearing this, she smiled knowingly. “No wonder you came with me to find her, you want to bring the child back home.”

Gu Xiaozhou sighed helplessly, rubbing her temples. Her mother was so busy with work that she didn’t even know Xu Bingqi had deleted her old WeChat account, let alone that she had moved out.

When Gu Nan saw the dilapidated residential building, she gasped softly. Then, glancing at the silent Xu Qingci, she teased, “Maybe Bingqi lives here just to make you feel sorry for her. Why don’t you apologize too and persuade the child to come home?”

Gu Nan felt that both Xu Qingci and Gu Xiaozhou were making a mountain out of a molehill. It wasn’t such a big deal, yet the two of them stepped out of the car as if facing a formidable enemy.

She followed Xu Qingci up the stairs, one step at a time, amused as she watched her usually decisive friend step aside upon reaching the security door, yielding the position to knock.

Casually, Gu Nan knocked on the door. “Bingqi, are you home?”

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