The Heiress's Game

Wang Manyun has been having afternoon tea with Ruotang every Thursday afternoon for over ten years.

They were high school classmates. Later, one married into the Gu family and the other into the Shen family—both arranged marriages. Both were shrewd and capable of navigating life with ease, speaking directly to each other without beating around the bush.

—This is one of the few people in this city that Wang Manyun can take off her mask and open her heart to.

Ruotang took a sip of black tea and glanced at her: "Your Mr. Gu still doesn't come home very often lately?"

"The old house is almost covered in dust."

Wang Manyun stirred the sugar cubes in the cup with a small silver spoon.

"Julie's new art studio has just been renovated, and he's been going there more often than he's going to the company."

"That Chinese-American painter? The one who's only twenty-five?"

"Twenty-five years old, with an impressive resume that could be framed."

Wang Manyun even had a smile on her lips as she said this, "The young girl is also very pretty, with eyes like amber. If I were a man, I would like her too."

Ruotang looked at her and sighed, "Are you just going to let him do this?"

"What can we do if we don't let him have his way? Cry, make a scene, or threaten suicide? Ruotang, you've known me for so many years, when have I ever done anything like that?"

Wang Manyun picked up her teacup, the icy jade bracelet on her wrist gleaming warmly under the light.

"Our marriage was originally an arranged one. He didn't want love, and neither did I."

He gave me the position of Mrs. Gu, and I gave him prestige in both political and business circles. This deal was clearly priced from day one.

As long as he doesn't bring Julie back to the old family house, and doesn't sit next to her at Yunxuan's graduation banquet, I can pretend I didn't see anything.

Ruotang remained silent for a while.

She couldn't say she felt sorry for Wang Manyun; in their circle, sympathy was a luxury and a joke.

"And what about you?" Ruotang asked, "After all these years, haven't you made any plans for yourself?"

"What good plans do I have? Yunxuan will take the college entrance exam next year. Once he gets into university, my mission will be complete."

Wang Manyun put down her teacup, leaned back in her chair, and maintained her elegant posture.

"At that time, Gu Zhenxing can come and find whomever he wants. I'll have my shares and real estate, and my life will be much more comfortable than it is now."

Ruotang didn't ask any further questions.

She had known Wang Manyun for thirty years and knew that every word this woman uttered was carefully selected—she would tell you things she didn't want to hear.

What she doesn't want you to know, she'll always find a way to avoid you no matter how you ask.

"By the way, how's Grandma doing lately?" Shen Ruotang changed the subject.

Wang Manyun sighed, "Still the same. The nursing home sends me a report every month, saying that the old lady's physical indicators are relatively stable, but her mental state has not improved at all."

Last month, when the caregiver gave her a bath, she hit the caregiver again, saying that the caregiver was sent by Su Wanning to harm her.

"It's been so many years, and she still mistakes the caregiver for Su Wanning. You can imagine how terrified she is of Su Wanning."

Ruotang also sighed.

The story of Mrs. Bei is the kind of thing that won't make any headlines in this circle, but those who know the inside story will talk about it in private.

The Gu family has always said that the old lady is old and in poor health and needs to rest. When the media occasionally takes pictures of the nursing home, the captions are always "The old lady of the Gu family is enjoying her old age".

The true cause of the illness was kept completely hidden.

Mrs. Bei suddenly went insane more than a decade ago.

It started with insomnia; he said that every time he closed his eyes, he would see Su Wanning standing by his bed.

Later, he began to hallucinate even during the day, saying that Su Wanning was standing in the garden, standing on the stairs, and sitting opposite him at the dining table.

Later on, she stopped recognizing people, mistook the family maid for Su Wanning, and cried and begged her. She also hid a fruit knife under her pillow, saying it was for self-defense.

I've seen many doctors, both domestic experts and renowned doctors abroad, and the diagnoses are all pretty much the same—schizophrenia, accompanied by paranoid delusions.

I've taken the medicine, had injections, and even tried electroconvulsive therapy, but my condition fluctuates.

When she was feeling better, she was as lucid as a normal person. She would ask Gu Zhenxing how his business was going and would hold Gu Mingcheng's hand and call him "my dear grandson."

When she was feeling down, it was as if she was possessed by something. She would cower in a corner and scream, saying that Su Wanning was back and that Su Wanning was going to drag her into hell.

"You know how badly she treated Su Wanning before."

Ruotang put down her teacup, lowering her voice slightly.

"I still remember those reports—publicly calling them actors, and not letting them sit at family dinners."

When Su Wanning was pregnant, she burned incense and exorcised evil spirits at the entrance of the Gu family's old mansion, saying that the child conceived by an actress was of dubious origin. Is this something a human being would do?

Wang Manyun didn't respond to that, but just sighed again.

She had seen Mrs. Belle when she was insane.

The first time was late at night when Mrs. Bei ran barefoot from the bedroom to the living room, pointed to the empty hallway and said, "Su Wanning is over there."

At that moment, Wang Manyun stood on the stairs, watching the old lady who had lived a life of elegance and grace collapse to the ground and wail. She had only one thought in her mind—what you did back then, that's how scared you are now.

She never believed in karma or retribution, but looking at Mrs. Bei, she sometimes couldn't help but think that there might really be such a thing as inner demons in this world.

"Retribution," Ruotang said, her tone so certain it was as if she were stating a physical law.

"If you do too many bad things, they will naturally come knocking on your door when you get old. She knows what she has done, which is why she is so afraid."

Wang Manyun picked up her teacup, took a sip, and changed the subject:

"Gu Yunjin mentioned to me a couple of days ago that she wanted to visit the old lady."

Ruotang raised an eyebrow: "Gu Yunjin? Didn't she just return to the country not long ago?"

"It's been almost half a year since she returned to China. She hasn't seen the old lady since she came back, which is normal. She was sent abroad when she was young and spent more than ten years abroad, so she didn't have much of a relationship with the old lady to begin with."

But now that she's back, it's perfectly reasonable for her to want to see her grandmother, and I can't stop her.

Wang Manyun said, slowly drawing circles with her finger along the rim of the teacup.

"As for Gu Mingyue and Gu Mingcheng, they just stay in the country and don't go abroad even once a year."

"Mingyue is so busy being the top socialite, she doesn't have time to take care of Grandma."

Ruotang's tone carried a hint of sarcasm.

"Mingcheng goes without saying, a very busy man, the next generation's heir. The old lady doted on them, and in the end—"

She didn't finish her sentence, but the meaning was clear.

The two of them were silent for a few seconds, and Wang Manyun was thinking about something else.

She recalled how Su Wanning died; the police concluded it was suicide, but Wang Manyun didn't quite believe it.

At that time, Su Wanning's career was experiencing a second spring, and she was incredibly popular. How could a normal woman at that time possibly be so distraught as to want to commit suicide?

"What are you thinking about?" Shen Ruotang asked.

"It's nothing." Wang Manyun snapped out of her thoughts and gently pushed the teacup away.

"I just feel that some things will still be remembered by people no matter how much time has passed."

"Let her go. Anyway, the old lady is in that state; she doesn't recognize anyone, and everyone looks like Su Wanning."

Two birds chirped outside the window, and sunlight streamed in through the gaps in the blinds, casting long, thin streaks of light on the teacup in front of Wang Manyun.

She looked down at the spots of light and suddenly smiled silently.

She was laughing at herself—back then she thought marrying into the Gu family was like entering a safe, but it turned out that the explosives in that safe were buried deeper and deeper.

All she could do was protect herself and her child before all the explosives detonated.