Chapter 187: Sun Family Banquet (Gu Family Embarrased)
Madam Gu reluctantly agreed and the whole Gu family walked towards Li Chen, who was standing with his biological mother Sun Lixia, as well as Sun Fang, Li Xinjie, Zhang Mei and Cen Yuhuan.
Master Gu, with a fawning expression said, "Li Chen, my former son-in-law, haven’t seen you in so long! Who would have known your mother was from the prestigious Sun Lixia!"
Li Chen sized up Master Gu coldly as Madame Gu tried hiding her nervousness. She said, "Aren’t you going to introduce us to your mother, Li Chen? We never had any idea you were from such a prominent background."
Li Chen replied icily, "That’s because you treated me like trash for the last 5 years after old Madam Gu’s passing, isn’t it?"
Sun Lixia scornfully added, "So this is the heartless Gu family who worked my precious son like a slave."
Li Chen crossed his arms, his expression hardening into unforgiving lines as he stared down the Gu family. When he spoke, his voice was razor sharp. "You show your true colors now that you know my background. Such sniveling and groveling."
Master Gu quailed under Li Chen’s scorn but managed a weak smile. "Surely we can put the past behind us...bygones be bygones..." His plea trailed off under Li Chen’s icy glare.
Madame Gu gripped her husband’s arm, not daring to interject as Li Chen seethed.
Sun Lixia watched haughtily as the once mighty Gu family withered. They had always acted so superior to the orphaned Li Chen - even in their arrogance mistreating him. A smug grin pulled at her lips now as she saw them practically fell over themselves in pitiful attempts to get into her only son’s good graces now that his esteemed lineage was revealed.
She cocked one painted eyebrow. "Well? How shall my son handle such a slight against his honor and dignity?" Her voice purred with anticipation, fueling Li Chen’s rage.
The Gu family trembled as they awaited Li Chen’s verdict, the patriarch bowed in deference. Righteous anger stirred in Li Chen at the sight...
As Master Gu stumbled through insincere apologies, Li Xinjie stepped forward, seething with anger at how his newfound twin had suffered. "Your veiled attempts to smooth this over are pathetic! My brother will see justice - and so will our whole family on his behalf!"
Knowing Li Xinjie’s threat carried the might of the influential Sun family behind it, the Gu family trembled.
Gu Hua now tried pleading directly to Li Chen. "Old brother, I...I was but an ignorant youth then! I beg your forgiveness for those childish humiliations I dealt you..."
His reference to the mortifying way he exploited Li Chen - making him launder Gu Hua’s soiled undergarments himself - made Li Chen bristle with remembered shame and disgust.
The Gu family held their breaths, beads of sweat on their foreheads as they awaited the feared backlash of Li Chen and the formidable Sun family against them. The future looked dire, but they knew they fully deserved whatever punishment was in store for how abominably they had treated the unknowingly distinguished Li Chen.
As the Gu family awaited Li Chen’s response, a foreboding figure emerged—Li Yanyan. Madame Gu blanched at the sight of her, tremors of fear instantly racking her body.
Although the rest of the Gu family remained oblivious, Madame Gu and Li Yanyan had bitter secret history that stretched back for years. None knew of the dark shadows that hung over this relationship except the two women themselves.
Li Yanyan spared the cowering Madame Gu no verbal acknowledgement. She simply fixed the woman with a bone-chilling smile that sent waves of dread through her.
Madame Gu shuddered under the silent promise of retribution in Li Yanyan’s eyes. Whatever fate Li Chen decided for the Gu family, she knew Li Yanyan’s presence signaled additional vengeance against her specifically...though its shape still remained a mystery to all besides the two women
Li Yanyan suddenly directed her attention toward Master Gu, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "You will all pay dearly for the wrongs inflicted upon my nephew. Do not doubt that a reckoning is coming for the Gu family."
Master Gu withered under her piercing warning, his knees nearly buckling in dread.
Just then Sun Fang boldly stepped forward. "I look forward to assisting however I can when my dear cousin’s retribution is meted out." He cracked his knuckles, relishing the Gu family’s horrified reactions.
Li Xinjie chuckled coldly at his twin’s side. "Yes, please don’t forget your brother in arranging appropriate vengeance. I want in on the action."
Throughout this all, Li Chen remained silent, his frigid eyes fixed unblinkingly on the Gu family - specifically Madame Gu - who had made his life hell for years. They would come to regret ever crossing someone with the might of the Sun family behind him.
Sensing the impending doom swirling around the Gu family, Master Gu threw himself at Li Chen’s feet, pathetic tears streaming down his face.
"Have mercy, my boy! We were fools, ignorant fools I tell you! Please spare this old man and his household!"
Madame Gu hurriedly tugged her husband back, fear and indignation warring on her face at his utter loss of composure. Yet desperation clawed at her too. She turned to Li Chen, struggling to keep her voice steady against fate’s suddenly crushing turn.
"Surely we can discuss reasonable reparations? Must more family histories be stained over this...regrettable matter?" She shot Li Yanyan a look loaded with meaning only they understood.
Li Yanyan’s smile only widened at Madame Gu’s pathetic attempts to redirect disaster. She would not be dissuaded from finally balancing the bloody ledger between them, no matter the cost.
Sun Lixia now circled the shrinking knot of Gu family members, regarding them imperiously as one would ants about to be crushed underfoot.
"You daring speak to my son of reason? Of mercy?" Her laugh sent ice shards down their spines. "The time has passed for such niceties. Now...you will understand a mother’s wrath, revenge for her suffering child."
"Enough." His quiet voice instantly stilled the vengeance-fueled group.
Master Gu remained pitifully huddled on the ground before Li Chen. Disgust flashed across Li Chen’s face.
"Get up," he commanded. "I don’t like people kneeling before me - it obscures the truth."
Master Gu slowly obeyed, shame and fear still dripping from him.
Li Chen surveyed the group, his expression unreadably dark. "I did not suffer cruelty all those years simply to visit the same upon others."
Gasps and murmurs of surprise arose.
Li Chen continued, stone-faced as ever. "For their perfidy, the Gu family will pay most dearly..."
He paused, letting foreboding sink into the Gu’s bones.
"But revenge is a meal best served cold. Let them dread what awaits. For now...we leave them to tremble over their impending fate."
Li Chen motioned for his family to follow him as he turned his back on the ashen Gu family. Their imaginations would torture them more than any immediate retaliation could...
As Li Chen strode away, the many onlookers who had witnessed the shocking scene exploded into hushed but eager chatter, gossiping behind raised hands.
"Did you see how Master Gu kneeled at Li Chen’s feet just now?"
"He was begging for mercy! What grievance exists between those families?"
"And who was that imposing woman who seemed to terrify Madame Gu so? This is turning out to be highly entertaining..."
"I overheard Li Chen was married to the Gu’s daughter for years until recently. Perhaps some bitterness lingers from the divorce?"
As whispers and speculation ran rampant amongst the banquet-goers, most were simply enthralled by the promise of more family drama and political machinations bubbling under the surface. They watched avidly as the powerful Sun family collected around the stoic Li Chen, while the Gu patriarch hurriedly assisted his pale, trembling wife away from the venue.
Face burning crimson with humiliation, Master Gu roughly grabbed his wife’s arm, barking at her, "Come, let’s go!" Gu Hua and Gu Liang hurriedly moved to support the shaken Madame Gu as Master Gu hurried them all away from the street, the sound of tittering guests trailing them.
Several eager reporters among the onlookers noted everything in little black books for the scintillating news coverage soon to follow. The dramatic confrontation between the prominent Gu and Sun families would no doubt feature front and center in all the gossip pages by tomorrow.
By revealing Li Chen’s esteemed origins, his cruel in-laws’ public pleading and begging forgiveness, the promise of ominous retribution...this incident contained everything needed to capture the public’s imagination.
As the thoroughly disgraced Gu family disappeared from view, the crowd’s excited chatter crescendoed. Everyone could already sense this little drama was destined to become the stuff of legend - the moment that marked the Gu family’s precipitous fall from grace, while Li Chen finally took his long-denied place among the elites.
