My sister, whom I raised, has turned evil after faking her death for three years.

Gu Lei raised her eyes, which appeared particularly cold under the dim light of the ward.

The handprint on her face was still red, but her voice was as calm as still water, without anger, resentment, or any other emotion.

"You have never said I am your daughter." She looked at Meng Yan, her eyes devoid of expectation or questioning, simply stating a fact. "Now you don't need to force yourself to play the role of a good mother. He is not my brother, and you are not my mother. I am just a substitute you hired to do his work. From today onwards, I will continue to manage the Gu family's affairs, but not because I owe you anything, but because Father begged me."

After she finished speaking, she turned her head and glanced at Gu Dongshan.

Gu Dongshan stood by the window, and the hand that had been hanging in mid-air slowly lowered down.

He looked at the clear, glaring handprint on his daughter's face, then at his wife's face, which was filled with shock and anger. His lips moved several times, but in the end, he didn't say a word.

Gu Lei shifted her gaze away from him, her lips twitching slightly, but the curve wasn't exactly a smile; it was more like a calm acceptance, something she had already anticipated.

She never expected her father to say a word for her in front of her mother; he never did before, and he never will now.

"I will complete this transaction and ensure the Gu family's complete stability, but after that..." She paused, released the hand that was still clutching her collar, and straightened up.

Her height was already much taller than the hospital bed, and now, standing there against the light, she looked like a sword drawn from its sheath. "I am Gu Lei. I will no longer be coerced or bound by you. I will no longer live for anyone. Gu Lei is Gu Lei. I am not anyone's substitute, nor am I destined to be tied to this position for anyone."

After saying that, she turned around and walked straight towards the door.

Behind her came Meng Yan's shouts, both surprised and angry. First, she questioned her sharply, then she ordered her with a sob in her voice, telling her to stop, to come back, and to explain herself.

The sounds echoed through the empty corridor, but Gu Lei didn't stop or even slow down.

She walked through the corridor, pushed open the door to the stairwell, and the sound of her shoes on the concrete steps was even and firm, until it disappeared completely into the depths of the stairwell.

Meng Yan stared blankly at the empty doorway, her expression shifting from anger to bewilderment, and then from bewilderment to a panic she herself didn't quite understand.

She subconsciously turned around and pushed Gu Dongshan, telling him to go after her, to call his daughter back, and to tell her the things she hadn't had a chance to say yet.

Gu Dongshan stood still, quietly watching her with a gaze she had never seen before. His gaze lacked the usual submissiveness and forbearance, and was filled with silence.

Meng Yan felt a sudden tightness in her heart when she saw that gaze, and her hand that was pushing him froze in mid-air.

She couldn't quite describe the feeling. She was shocked but could understand her daughter's resistance, but her husband's sudden silence made her feel a real sense of fear for the first time.

Gu Dongshan looked at her and finally said in a very tired voice that they should deal with Xiao Lei's matter first.

Three days later, Gu Lei's ashes were placed in an inconspicuous cemetery on the outskirts of the city.

There was no memorial service, no funeral, and none of the business tycoons who had once fawned over the eldest son of the Gu family came to pay their respects.

An unmarked tombstone, a bunch of white chrysanthemums placed there by an unknown person, with a few petals scattered on the stone steps by the wind.

The once-shining young master of the Gu family in the Linjiang business district died without even a tombstone bearing his name.

They dared not carve a name for him. Until everything settled down, Gu Lei could only be a non-existent person, lying nameless and faceless in this unknown corner.

Gu Lei did not go.

She stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window in her office, holding a cup of coffee that had gone cold, looking at the hazy skyline outside.

Gu Lei is dead. The only person who could make her shed her disguise has completely disappeared from this world.

She is destined to continue moving forward under the identity of "Gu Lei".

  

But ending all of this now is easier said than done.

She sat down on a chair by the window, forcing herself to calmly analyze the current situation.

She had considered the conventional path countless times: find the weak points in Jiang Ran's plan, unite with other forces that Jiang Ran had suppressed to launch a counterattack, find a new breakthrough in the niche market, or directly arrange to meet with Jiang Ran for another formal negotiation.

She had tried these methods before.

Those forces that Jiang Ran had suppressed had long been subdued, and none of them dared to join forces with her.

The entry point to the niche market was blocked before she even realized it.

Even when she tried to bypass Jiang Ran's sphere of influence and find another way, she discovered that the other way had already been quietly acquired several months ago.

As for negotiation... she had already bowed her head once in the shopping mall, but Jiang Ran didn't even bother to acknowledge her sincerity.

This is not an ordinary business competition; it is a game of chess where the winner is crushed from the very beginning.

Jiang Ran had calculated several steps ahead of her, each step precisely targeting her most fatal weakness.

She had considered despicable methods before; such tactics were never lacking in this industry.

Stealing trade secrets, bribing insiders, framing and creating negative publicity for competitors... She did her homework, and even wrote down the feasibility and costs of these methods in her notebook that she never left behind.

Then she tore that page out and burned it.

She had personally witnessed the fate of those who took this path.

Gu Lei died because of this path. He offended the wrong people and was framed and plotted against. In the end, he lay in a hospital bed for several years without even being able to leave a complete last word.

Those methods might give you a temporary advantage, but no one can rely on them to get ahead in the end.

She put her coffee cup on the table, closed her eyes, and leaned back in her chair.

She went through all the possibilities in her mind over and over again. Every entrance was blocked, every escape route was cut off, and in the end, only the direction she had always refused to look at or think about remained.

The girl Baozi called "Sister Su," the face that stood next to Jiang Ran in the shopping mall, being gazed at by Jiang Ran with a gentle smile she had never seen before.

If she could track down the girl's whereabouts, if she could find an opportunity to talk to the girl alone, without threatening or harming her, just by saying a few words to her.

Perhaps it's just asking her to help convey my request, or perhaps it's just letting her know my current situation. Perhaps Jiang Ran will change her mind because she cares about this person's feelings.

But the thought only lingered in her mind for a moment before she suppressed it.

She raised her hand and slapped herself hard.

Without holding back, the sound of his palm striking his cheek echoed crisply in the empty office.

She can't do that.

Putting aside whether Jiang Ran will let her go because of this, let's just talk about Baozi... If Baozi finds out, regardless of whether that Sister Su was ultimately harmed or what her original intention was, Baozi will definitely be very disappointed and heartbroken.

She didn't want Baozi to think that she was no different from those who would do anything for profit.

She doesn't want to become that kind of person.

But what else could she do...?

As dusk settled outside the window, the city skyline was swallowed by twilight, and the distant buildings lit up with twinkling lights.

Gu Lei sat in the darkness, looking at the lights, and suddenly felt very cold.

It wasn't the kind of cold that comes from setting the air conditioner too low, but a chill that seeped into your bones and that you couldn't warm up no matter what you did.

The lights looked very close, but they were actually very, very far away from her.