Gu Xiyan halted abruptly when she heard the cold words of her grandfather, then whirled around, eyes fixated on Gu Zhengxin as she exclaimed, "Did you tamper with the agreement?!"
"Tamper with it?!" Gu Zhengxin responded, his aged face darkening as he spread his hands innocently and said, "You signed it with black on white, how could I tamper with it?"
"Mom?!" Gu Xiyan ignored him and turned her disbelieving gaze towards Lin Lingling.
Lin Lingling lowered her head, not daring to meet Gu Xiyan's look of despair.
But this action was a clear admission to Gu Xiyan that the agreement she'd been given years before had indeed been tampered with.
Gu Xiyan felt a chill at the bottom of her heart, never expecting that all these years she had been manipulated by her own family.
She no longer wanted to ask her mother whether she knew about the problem with the agreement when she took it out, or if she found out about it later.
That question was no longer important now!
"My dear granddaughter, do you want to take a look at this agreement?"
Seeing the hopeless and helpless expression on Gu Xiyan's face, Gu Zhengxin's stern countenance softened considerably, and he once again showed a kind smile.
It was as if he truly were a benevolent grandfather concerned about whether his granddaughter was treated fairly!
In reality, he didn't want to expose the issues with the agreement; after all, doing so would seem rather distasteful.
But there was no choice; if Gu Xiyan had just been more compliant and chosen to be with either Zhang Qiuhuai or Chen Xuyang, he wouldn't have needed to tear away the mask of a kind grandfather.
Fortunately, though he had little faith in Gu Xiyan managing anything significant on her own with just one million yuan, his cautious mentality had still led him to plant numerous traps within the agreement prepared for Lin Lingling in advance.
Now, they were finally going to force Gu Xiyan into submission.
"Fine, bring it out for me to see!" Gu Xiyan forced herself to calm down, thinking that perhaps her grandfather was just trying to scare her.
Even though she knew the likelihood was slim, she still couldn't accept the cruel truth of being deceived and betrayed by her own family until she saw it with her own eyes.
Upon hearing this, Gu Zhengxin smiled faintly, taking his time to pull out a photocopied document from his pocket that had already been prepared, and handed it to Gu Xiyan.
Trembling, Gu Xiyan took the photocopy of the agreement, looking it over carefully numerous times. She discovered several traps within, stating that if she hadn't returned the one million yuan after a certain period, she would voluntarily do this and that, and if they needed, the company she started with that money would also become an unpaid subsidiary of Gu Corporation...
She was struck by a sense of absolute despair.
However, she wasn't completely defeated; with Yu Linglong at the company, she could still slowly dilute their shares and eventually kick them out of the game!
Seeing Gu Xiyan's expression forcibly calming, Gu Zhengxin spoke again, shattering her hopes.
"You're thinking that the shares in Yu Linglong's hands could give you a chance to turn things around, aren't you? Unfortunately, her father went to the Haojiang Casino yesterday. He first won several million yuan but then lost his cool and ended up losing tens of millions. Unable to pay on the spot and knowing you didn't have that much cash, your best friend sold her shares to me…"
Gu Xiyan trembled upon hearing this, thinking to herself, no wonder Yu Linglong rushed off work yesterday and booked a ticket to Haojiang. When she asked what was going on, Yu Linglong wouldn't say.
So, the truth turned out to be like this...
Then, Gu Xiyan suddenly realized, no wonder there had been no commotion from Grandpa after the birthday banquet ended that day, although she had initially thought he would make a move. He had been planning all this!
She even thought at that time that Grandpa was letting things slide because Mu Jinyu was her boyfriend.
Little did she know, Grandpa had been holding back his anger, plotting something big. Knowing that the agreement alone was only enough to take her shares but not enough to topple her position at Face of Jade Group, he had been scheming against Linglong's father all this time.
It wasn't until yesterday that his plotting came to fruition. Linglong was desperate to raise money to help her father, and knowing she couldn't easily sell her shares or come up with that much money herself, and not being fully aware of her relationship to the Gu Family, she naturally chose to sell her second-largest shareholding to Gu Zhengxin.
Such a ruthless person, such a poisonous heart...
To achieve his own ends, he would even calculate against his own family!
Gu Zhengxin, seeing Gu Xiyan's face turn pale in an instant, revealed a smile and said with a grin, "How about it? Do you still think you could have grown the company this large without any influence from our Gu Family?"
With a light chuckle, he continued leisurely, "Now, Grandpa still gives you two options. You either choose to marry either Zhang Qiu Huai or Chen Xuyang, to deepen our cooperation with one of their families, and then I will give you back your company. Even handing over the management of Gu Corporation to you is not off the table, or..."
Gu Zhengxin's tone suddenly turned cold, "Or, you really start from scratch, without taking a penny from the Gu Family and without using any of our connections. Then, Grandpa will let you have control over your life, and you can decide on your own marriage!"
"Oh, by the way..." Gu Zhengxin finished speaking and seemed to remember something, then added a reminder, "Your bank and credit cards are all frozen now, and those properties have been reclaimed by me!"
"So..." he said with a smirk, "If you still want to start from scratch, it looks like you might not even have a place to stay tonight."
Gu Zhengxin believed that Gu Xiyan, having been pampered since childhood and never having suffered any hardships, and with her extremely proud personality unwilling to let others see her downfall, would most likely end up roaming the streets tonight.
Not until she had suffered enough in the next few days and been battered by society, would she obediently return home and accept his arrangements!
But if she were smart, she might not have to suffer; she could straight away marry someone rich and not worry about these trifles anymore.
Gu Xiyan's parents, upon hearing Gu Zhengxin's words, felt it hard to bear but were unable to interfere with his decision, so they could only hang their heads, avoiding their daughter's expression.
As Gu Xiyan heard that her money, house, car... were all gone, her expression didn't change much. Her fists, however, clenched tighter, whitening her knuckles even further.
At this moment, Gu Xiyan's cousin, Gu Shiyu, came over and advised her:
"Xiyan, don't be stubborn. We are born into a great family, and from birth, we enjoy many conveniences; naturally, there are many things we can't decide for ourselves. Think about it, when I was your age, I also thought I could endure all hardships for love, and left home resolutely..."
Speaking of this, Gu Shiyu thought back to those simple yet embarrassing times, shook her head gently with a helpless smile, and said, "As a result, my credit card was frozen, I had no place to live, and I had to squeeze into a small broken rental with him, hearing the neighbors quarrel every night, hardly ever getting to sleep until late."
"And as for eating, I couldn't even eat what I wanted, I was eating food that seemed like chaff and vegetable stalks every day!"
Letting out a sigh, Gu Shiyu seemed to expel the bottled up frustration from her heart, her expression becoming much more relaxed and natural, and she said with an open smile, "I endured for two days before I couldn't take it anymore, and returned home to accept the arrangement, and then married your brother-in-law. Look, we're very much in love now, aren't we?"