Looking at Gu Rongrong now, Gu Shengsheng found her pathetic. It was a pathetic desperation for their parents’ approval.

Gu Shengsheng truly didn’t give someone like her a second thought. She would just let nature take its course; it had nothing to do with her.

Song Shuhua continued to look at Gu Shengsheng.

“Shengsheng,” she said, “you don’t have to formally reconcile with the family. Just come home and visit when you have time. All right?”

“Oh, right. Visit so the Gu family’s stock can soar, you can publicize it everywhere, and you can use my name to get loans? Do you think I’m a fool?”

“Ms. Song Shuhua, have you no shame? I’m almost impressed by how shameless you can be, but that’s as far as it goes. Whatever mother-daughter bond we might have had was gone from the very start.”

“I once hoped for a mother’s love, but you’re unworthy of the name.”

“A mother like you doesn’t deserve my filial piety. It’s a good thing we’re not in ancient times, where I’d be crushed by tradition and ceremony.”

Song Shuhua trembled all over. “Believe it or not, I’ll expose you online! I remember you made your fortune from livestreaming, didn’t you, Shengsheng?”

“I believe you would. But I don’t care.”

“I think everyone will sympathize with a daughter whose own mother tried to marry her off to a dying man.”

“Who do you think will be the one getting mobbed online then? Ms. Song Shuhua, I suggest you don’t shoot yourself in the foot.”

“Do you really not have a single shred of feeling for me, your mother?” Song Shuhua asked incredulously. “But I’ve always loved you. You’re my most beloved child. I’ll leave the family fortune to you in the future.”

“After all, Gu Rongrong isn’t my biological daughter.”

When Gu Shengsheng heard this, she looked at Gu Rongrong.

Gu Rongrong’s expression was completely overcast. ‘On what grounds… Why?’

‘Song Shuhua really has no emotional intelligence,’ Gu Shengsheng thought. ‘Now I’ve seen it all.’

She raised an eyebrow. “The entire Gu family fortune is barely a third of what I just made in Rui City. You think I’d want it?”

Gu Rongrong was speechless. ‘I want it,’ she thought. ‘I want it so badly, but I have nothing.’

“Song Shuhua, get a clear look at yourself. You are no longer my mother.”

The moment she said this, Song Shuhua fainted.

She was quickly taken to the hospital by the family’s housekeeper.

Gu Shengsheng folded her arms and looked at Gu Rongrong. “Aren’t you going to check on her?”

“Hah. Gu Shengsheng, you think this is funny, don’t you? Seeing me like this?”

“You must be thrilled, right? It looks like I have everything, but in reality, I have nothing! I can’t even compare to you. Everything goes your way, while the one thing I had, Mom and Dad’s love, could vanish at any second.”

She shrieked hysterically, “How is that fair?!”

“You were born with so much. You can have anything you want, but I can’t! I have to fight and claw for everything, even for Mom and Dad’s affection!”

“But now, all you have to do is show up, and it’s all yours again. Why don’t you just drop dead?” Her eyes were filled with venom. In that instant, she genuinely wanted Gu Shengsheng to die.

Gu Rongrong dropped the act. There was no point in pretending anymore!

She had always known her parents only cared about a person’s utility. That’s why she’d always packaged herself as someone useful.

But now, her mother had actually said that after she died, she would leave the family fortune to her biological daughter.

If she were just trying to deceive Gu Shengsheng, Gu Rongrong would have been able to see through it.

But Gu Rongrong knew, with chilling clarity, that it wasn’t a trick or an empty lie. Her mother really meant it.

She didn’t understand why. ‘Did all those years I spent by her side mean nothing?’

Gu Rongrong’s eyes were red. “Gu Shengsheng, this is all your fault! The moment you appeared, my claim to everything became illegitimate.”

Gu Shengsheng laughed. “That’s actually hilarious.”

‘I’m not in a hurry to fight,’ she thought. ‘I need to find a way to trick her into giving up Grandma’s things.’ Gu Shengsheng had plenty of ways to get under Gu Rongrong’s skin.

“You feel a little wronged? So what? Why don’t we talk about how you stole my identity, forcing me to suffer my entire childhood?”

“How about the fact that you stole my father’s love? Do you have any idea why Song Shuhua and Guan Wutian only see people in terms of what they can gain? Why do you think they’d say something like that about you right in front of me?”

“You know what? If I told them to abandon you, their daughter, and that I’d come back to the family, they would agree in a heartbeat. Don’t you believe me?”

“I don’t believe you!” Gu Rongrong’s denial was utterly lacking in confidence. Because she wasn’t so sure herself.

‘Because her mother… her mother really did seem like the type to do exactly that.’

Gu Rongrong felt a lump in her throat, on the verge of tears.

But there was nothing she could do. It felt like her fate.

Watching her break down, Gu Shengsheng almost burst out laughing. Sorry, but Gu Shengsheng was a person completely devoid of empathy, especially for someone like Gu Rongrong.

It was impossible to have any for this kind of person.

Gu Shengsheng then continued, feigning a guiding tone. “Do you know why this is happening? Why someone like Song Shuhua seems so unreasonable, like she only cares about her own interests?”

“Why?” Gu Rongrong asked, her face cold. “Gu Shengsheng, don’t play games with me.”

“Play games? You think I need to play games with you? You think I even care about you?” Gu Shengsheng looked at her with utter disgust, as if staring at a piece of trash.

The words were true, but they were also cutting.

Although Gu Rongrong was hurt, she paradoxically felt a sense of relief…

She hated this feeling of being inferior to Gu Shengsheng in every way, yet she was also resentful and jealous.

It all coalesced into a sense of powerlessness. She was furious but had no idea what to do.

Gu Shengsheng kept talking. “Listen, Gu Rongrong.”

“Instead of standing here wondering why nobody treats you well, you should take a good look at yourself.”

Gu Rongrong completely broke down, screaming, “There’s nothing wrong with me! I’m outstanding! Ever since I was a child, I practiced piano until my fingers were raw just to satisfy Mom’s demands. Every single day, I was mechanically learning one thing after another.”

“I was never happy. If I was too slow, I’d get hit. Whenever other people looked down on me, Mom would get angry because she believed someone like me had to be the absolute best. I was constantly being compared to others, constantly being molded. But I couldn’t do anything about it! I had no choice but to become her doll.”

“Gu Shengsheng, what right do you have to say there’s something wrong with me?”

“Tsk tsk,” Gu Shengsheng said. “Sounds like you had it real tough. How about we send you to the countryside? You can feed the pigs, chop pig feed, haul sacks, and do some real hard labor. We can even sign you up for one of those rural reform reality shows. How does that sound?”

“Shut up! Gu Shengsheng, just shut up!”

“If I shut up, how am I supposed to tell you where you went wrong?” Gu Shengsheng stared at her. “You want to have your cake and eat it too. But with family, that’s not how it works. You took what belonged to Grandma, yet you still want to keep your place with your adoptive parents. Who’s going to think well of you when you act like that?”

“How do you know that?” Gu Rongrong was stunned. “That old hag’s stuff was just a pile of junk! I only snatched it because she was going to leave it to you! I’m the only heir in that family!”

Gu Shengsheng shrugged. “See? I know all about it. And it’s not like Guan Wutian and Song Shuhua are idiots.”

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