Gu Lingling fiercely pinched her own thigh, squinting her eyes to hide the hatred in her heart, continuously shouting, "No... Don't hit me, don't push me into the river, I will wash the clothes, I will definitely wash them clean."
Gu Chunhai initially wanted to comfort Wang Meili, but was interrupted by Gu Lingling's sudden cries.
Listening more closely, he looked at Wang Meili in confusion.
What's wrong with this child? What clothes? Pushed down?
"She must be having a nightmare." Wang Meili's face changed upon hearing Gu Lingling's voice, and the fleeting malice turned to loving kindness when Gu Chunhai looked over.
She reached out, trying to grab Gu Lingling's struggling hand outside, "Lingling, be a good girl, don't be scared."
"Don't hit me, I'll behave."
How could Gu Lingling allow her to grab her? Not only that, she even took the opportunity to scratch Wang Meili's hand a few times. If it weren't for some concerns, she really wished she could scratch that deceitfully kind face to shreds.
'Hiss...'
Wang Meili's hand got scratched, bleeding, and if Gu Chunhai weren't there, she would have slapped her long ago.
At this moment, she could only hold back, yet she had to smile gently at Gu Chunhai, "This child must be confused."
"Auntie, I will never dare to fight with Gu Juan to call you mom again, please don't hit me." Gu Lingling's face was covered with tears, shaking her head vigorously, but she was still in a coma.
Yes.
This stepmother, Wang Meili, was actually Gu Lingling's aunt.
Back then, when Gu Lingling's mother, Yao Ruanqian, gave birth to her, she was injured from a difficult childbirth and was always sickly. When Gu Lingling was six years old, she passed away.
Six months later, Gu Lingling's uncle, who was also Gu Juan's father, and Gu Chunhai went to the river bottom to dig stones for work points. Uncle Gu, in order to save Gu Chunhai, was hit by a stone. Before he died, he entrusted his wife Wang Meili and Gu Juan's siblings to Gu Chunhai.
After a year of mourning, under Grandma Gu's insistence, Wang Meili remarried to Gu Chunhai.
The children also changed the way they addressed her.
However, whenever they encountered Wang Meili or Gu Juan in a bad mood, if Gu Lingling addressed Wang Meili as mom, she would get punished by this mother and daughter duo.
They would hit her with whatever was in their hands, sometimes a needle, sometimes a firewood stick.
"This child is talking nonsense, am I not your mom?" Wang Meili listened to Gu Lingling's words, wishing she could choke Gu Lingling to death, but her face carried a smile, as she climbed onto the kang to forcibly hug Gu Lingling into her arms.
"Yaya, wake up quickly, don't scare mom," she raised her voice several notches.
Yaya? This pet name was given by her biological mother, Yao Ruanqian. Since her mother's death, no one in the family had called her that.
To Gu Chunhai and Gu Shaohua, Gu Lingling was an ominous person. If it weren't for her, Yao Ruanqian wouldn't have died.
This is why for so many years, Gu Lingling was not well regarded in the Gu Family.
Of course, there was an element of Wang Meili and Gu Juan's act, but mainly it was because Gu Chunhai didn't care for this daughter, always feeling she had caused the death of his beloved wife.
As expected, when Gu Chunhai heard the name 'Yaya', the worry on his face disappeared.
"Ah..." Gu Lingling opened her eyes, screaming in fright, curling up entirely under the quilt, trembling.
"Gu Lingling." Gu Chunhai's expression was already quite upset, and he shouted loudly.
Wang Meili had been trying to comfort her, but Gu Lingling kept making a fuss, people always said it's difficult for stepmothers, but he thought Wang Meili had done well enough.
"Dad, Dad..." Gu Lingling suddenly threw herself onto Gu Chunhai, crying pitifully, "Dad, I'll be good and listen, don't abandon me."
"I won't fight with Gu Juan for things anymore, I already don't have a mom, I don't want to be without a dad too."
After saying all this, Gu Lingling dramatically fainted in Gu Chunhai's arms.