Chapter 160: Unfriendly Visitors

Guo Jingyuan followed Guo Yang into a modest restaurant. Since it was not mealtime, the place was virtually empty. Guo Yang looked at the menu for a long time before tentatively asking Guo Jingyuan, "Are you hungry?" Upon receiving a negative reply, he contentedly ordered two glasses of orange juice.

"Father remembers that your eighteenth birthday should have been recently, right?" Guo Yang shook his head with a trace of regret. "It's a pity that Father couldn't find you at the time and couldn't celebrate it with you. Let's consider today's meal as making up for it."

Today's meal? Guo Jingyuan cast a skeptical glance at the glass of orange juice by her hand and said nothing.

On such an important day as her coming-of-age ceremony, no family member had remembered it, no relatives had sent their blessings, and only Chen Ruowen had called her, gifting her a practical professional suit and telling her they would go out for a meal together once she returned...

It was certainly not a meal consisting of two glasses of orange juice, as Guo Yang claimed.

"Are you still living at that classmate's house from before?" Guo Yang asked again.

The moment Chen Ruowen was mentioned, Guo Jingyuan instantly grew vigilant. Ever since Chen Ruowen confronted Guo Yang at the school gates of First High, she had been certain that Guo Yang would eventually cause trouble for the Chen family. However, Chen Ruowen had never brought it up, and Guo Jingyuan had no way of knowing whether she had encountered any trouble.

Therefore, Guo Jingyuan shook her head.

"I moved out as soon as I graduated. I'm living in the school dormitory now."

Guo Yang nodded. "It's good that you moved out. It doesn't look right to always live in someone else's home. Since you've already been accepted into university, you should come home more often to visit."

Guo Jingyuan bit her lip and remained silent. That place had long ceased to be her home!

"The school conducts bed checks every night, so it might not be convenient to come back."

The bed checks were real, but calling it "every night" was a bit of an exaggeration. It wasn't entirely impossible to go home either; it just required asking the counselor for leave.

Then there were a few special students like Chen Ruowen, who had never even set foot inside a dormitory.

However, Guo Yang didn't genuinely want Guo Jingyuan to come home. He was just saying it to close the distance between them. Hearing Guo Jingyuan come up with a legitimate excuse herself, he didn't press the matter at all.

"Right, did you pay back the money you borrowed from that friend before?"

Guo Jingyuan lowered her gaze. "I'm figuring out a way, paying her back a portion every month. After all, it's not a small amount—just a few months of rent is very expensive."

Hearing that the debt had not decreased but rather remained a burden, Guo Yang promptly changed the subject, sending another chill through Guo Jingyuan's heart.

After beating around the bush for who knows how long, Guo Yang estimated that his daughter—whose mind was never very quick on the uptake—must have been subdued by him, and finally circled back to the main point.

"Jingyuan, do you still remember your little uncle?"

Uncle?

Guo Jingyuan's face showed confusion.

She had once heard her mother, Yu Chuyao, mention that before getting married, her family had an older brother who had doted on her immensely in her childhood. However, ever since Yu Chuyao ignored her family's dissuasion and insisted on marrying down to Guo Yang nineteen years ago, her family had completely severed ties with her.

For more than a decade, let alone some little uncle, even her maternal grandparents were people Guo Jingyuan had only ever seen in old photographs.

Seeing that Guo Jingyuan didn't understand, Guo Yang suppressed his displeasure and said,

"Your little uncle is your mother's... I mean, your Aunt Liu's younger brother. He even took you out to play the year before last. Have you forgotten?"

Guo Jingyuan only froze for a split second before her face instantly turned pale.

Of course she remembered this person!

During the very time Guo Yang mentioned—when Liu Yong and his sister Guo Yakong took her out—they had almost... almost violated her!

What little uncle? When had she ever had such a beastly little uncle?

Noticing Guo Jingyuan's poor complexion, Guo Yang frowned in displeasure.

"We're family, why hold onto grudges? Besides, didn't Xiaoyong already explain? It was just a misunderstanding. Jingyuan, a person shouldn't be so petty."

A misunderstanding? What kind of misunderstanding could lead a man to almost commit such beastly acts against his own niece?

Guo Jingyuan bit her lip, her face pale and silent. Forget it, hadn't she known this for a long time? Her father's heart was biased; ever since that woman replaced her mother's position in the Guo family, hadn't she long become someone who did everything wrong and was redundant everywhere?

Seeing that Guo Jingyuan didn't speak, Guo Yang assumed she had tacitly accepted the matter—after all, this daughter of his had a weak personality. Even if she had some rebellious thoughts, a few reprimands would surely make her obediently fall in line.

"Alright, Father won't lecture you anymore. Go back and tell that classmate of yours to let your little uncle out, and then find some time to come home for a meal."

That classmate? Let the little uncle out?

Guo Jingyuan turned the thought over several times in her mind without comprehending what Guo Yang meant. As for the last half-sentence about coming home for a meal... she automatically filtered it out.

Seeing that his daughter still didn't understand, Guo Yang impatiently tapped the bottom of the glass—which still held a mouthful of orange juice—against the table twice.

"It's the friend who took you in. Your little uncle had a bit of a misunderstanding with her, and he didn't even do anything to her, yet that damned girl used connections to throw Xiaoyong into prison, and he still hasn't been released."

By this point, if Guo Jingyuan still hadn't figured out why Guo Yang had come to see her today, she would truly be a fool.

Her heart, which was already far from warm, cooled by another thirty percent. She lowered her gaze to look at the untouched glass of orange juice in her hands, her expression hidden beneath long eyelashes tinged with sorrow.

Guo Yang looked with moderate satisfaction at Guo Jingyuan's appearance of "bowing her head in self-reflection" and continued,

"That daughter of the Chen family is willful, spoiled, and loves to bully others with her power. You finally managed to get into a good university, so don't hang around messing about with her."

Guo Jingyuan couldn't help but raise her head, defending softly yet firmly, "She... she isn't that kind of person."

"If she isn't, how could she go looking for trouble with Xiaoyong? Your mother has cried her eyes out these past few months, and it's all your fault, you ungrateful wretch. Look at the kind of people you associate with, always bringing trouble to the family."

Guo Jingyuan didn't know what grievances existed between Liu Yong and Chen Ruowen, but she knew that although Chen Ruowen was somewhat willful, she never caused trouble for others without reason. If Liu Yong had been sent to prison by Chen Ruowen, he must have done something truly terrible to provoke such intense fury.

Yet what on earth had happened? Why had Chen Ruowen never told her?

At this thought, Guo Jingyuan couldn't help but feel a surge of worry. She pushed aside Guo Yang's lecture entirely, solely concerned whether Chen Ruowen had suffered any unfair treatment to make her this angry.

"What on earth is this about?" Guo Jingyuan couldn't help asking.

Guo Yang, however, had no intention of explaining it to her at all.

"It's all because that person from the Chen family has a twisted temperament. Your little uncle was just doing an honest business, and it's only because of you, good-for-nothing, that he got dragged into this. Instead of thinking of ways to solve the family's problems, why are you sitting here interrogating me?"

Guo Yang drained the last mouthful of orange juice, cast a disgusted look at Guo Jingyuan, and spoke with reluctant charity, as if bestowing upon her a tremendous favor.

"If you get this matter sorted out, I'll take you to attend your aunt's sixtieth birthday banquet next month."