( Extra )

Gu Sijiao stood outside the hospital in a daze.

His usually cold and ruthless heart was feeling a bit at a loss.

He had manipulated the Gu family’s driver, Feng Qi, with the intention of tampering with Gu Mingyuan’s car to make him disappear from this world completely.

However, his biological father, Gu Yanqing, ended up in that car instead…

The accident was severe, and Gu Yanqing was seriously injured.

He was still undergoing emergency treatment.

Even if he survived, he was likely to be paralyzed.

Gu Sijiao never intended to harm Gu Yanqing.

Although he hated Gu Yanqing, he believed that all the blame lay with Gu Mingyuan.

But Gu Mingyuan seemed like a chosen one; no matter what methods he used or what crises he faced, he always managed to resolve them cleverly.

In contrast, Gu Sijiao had ended up becoming a mere collection of failed experiences.

If Gu Mingyuan discovered that he was behind this accident, he would definitely not let him off.

Gu Sijiao had been a tragedy since birth.

His mother was a greedy woman who used extreme measures to seduce the Gu family’s young master, Gu Yanqing, and got pregnant with him.

Her plan was to have him and then force Gu Yanqing to take responsibility.

Unfortunately, Gu Yanqing had left the family business to start his own company in City C, and Gu Sijiao’s mother, Qiao Wanqing, could never find him again.

Their lives fell into hardship.

Qiao Wanqing, being vain and desiring to appear as a “wealthy person,” could go without food but insisted on wearing designer clothes and using high-end cosmetics.

However, her meager salary couldn’t support such expenses.

Although she received 200,000 yuan in compensation after spending a night with Gu Yanqing, she was convinced that having his child would fulfill her dream of marrying into a rich family.

She nearly exhausted all her savings.

With only her grandmother supporting her, they had no other help.

Her grandmother was timid, old, and could only assist with childcare and buying groceries but couldn’t earn money for living expenses.

They were completely trapped in financial crisis.

As their financial situation became increasingly dire, Qiao Wanqing’s desperation for money and inability to find Gu Yanqing drove her thoughts to become extreme and irrational.

At first, she fantasized about marrying into a rich family through him, and took good care of Gu Sijiao.

She constantly fed him ideas about how amazing his father was, how noble his background was, and how he would be the Gu family’s future heir.

However, after gradually losing hope, she started treating him worse and worse.

Initially, when Grandma Qiao was around, she would protect him.

But after she passed away when he was 10, his life took a turn for the worse.

As for herself, Qiao Wanqing had to take on jobs she previously refused because she needed money.

With her good looks, she chose to become a model, mingling with all sorts of people and getting entangled in a colorful yet corrupt lifestyle.

As the possibility of securing Gu Yanqing grew slimmer, her moral boundaries lowered.

She became a mistress, a kept woman, and an underground lover.

Moreover, Qiao Wanqing developed a fondness for smoking and drinking.

When Gu Siqiao was a child, every time Qiao Wanqing returned from her affairs with men, she would often be drunk.

In her drunken state, she would beat and scold him, calling him a burden and a jinx.

She blamed him for turning her life into something she despised.

Growing up in such an environment naturally influenced Gu Siqiao’s education and mindset.

He often hung out with a bad crowd, turning into a thoroughly bad seed—greedy, selfish, and petty.

His only redeeming qualities were his ability to eat and sleep well, which at least made him appear human.

He both hated and resented Qiao Wanqing for being stupid and selfish.

Seeing her in her drunken stupor, he often thought of killing her.

He even bought rat poison once, planning to poison her.

Yet, on the other hand, he had no other source of livelihood and had to rely on the money Qiao Wanqing earned from selling herself.

Moreover, he always remembered that he was the illegitimate son of the renowned and wealthy Gu family and believed he had a large inheritance waiting for him.

So he kept seeking opportunities to connect with Gu Yanqing.

Unfortunately, Gu Yanqing was nowhere to be found, and the Gu family was beyond his reach.

He even considered exposing the situation to the media, but people were too scared to offend the powerful Gu family.

As Qiao Wanqing aged, her body deteriorated quickly from years of drinking and debauchery.

Before she even turned 50, she was already old and haggard.

Even thick layers of makeup couldn’t hide her wrinkles, and her wealthy patrons found younger, prettier girls to replace her.

Qiao Wanqing lost her market value and fell ill, causing her to become gaunt and unattractive.

People, fearing the disease might spread from her, were unwilling to associate with her.

The situation reversed; Qiao Wanqing had to rely on Gu Sijiao.

Gu Sijiao began to torment her, even intentionally placing her medication just out of reach when Qiao Wanqing was bedridden, watching her crawl painfully to get the medicine.

The suffering she had inflicted on him for ten years had finally given him immense satisfaction.

Good news followed: he had finally made contact with Gu Yanqing.

On a sunny afternoon, Gu Yanqing arranged to meet him at a café.

Gu Sijiao tidied himself up, took his wrinkled white shirt to a small shop downstairs where clothes were sold, flirted a bit with the salesgirl, and got the shirt ironed for free.

He paired it with jeans and a new pair of white sneakers, and confidently headed to the meeting spot.

At mid 20, he was now a young man.

After tidying up, he looked tall and handsome.

As he passed by a shop window, he couldn’t help but admire his reflection, feeling even more confident.

He had heard that Gu Yanqing had never married and had no children.

The only child in the family was a cousin adopted from a collateral branch, named Gu Mingyuan, who posed no significant threat.

Once Gu Yanqing recognized him and acknowledged him as part of the Gu family, he would be the sole heir to the Gu family’s fortune.

He would then reach the pinnacle of his life.

In the upscale café, which was so lavish it nearly made him dizzy and almost caused him to walk into a glass door, he saw the legendary Gu Yanqing.

At just 50, Gu Yanqing was well-preserved and showed no signs of middle-aged fatness.

He exuded a cold, authoritative aura, with a commanding presence that made it hard to look directly into his eyes.

The resemblance between them was striking; they were clearly father and son.

Gu Sijiao looked almost like a replica of him, as if a skilled artisan had carefully crafted them to be very similar, yet with subtle differences.

When Gu Yanqing saw him, he was momentarily stunned.

A flicker of excitement appeared in his usually indifferent eyes but quickly disappeared, and he resumed his indifferent demeanor.

He nodded slightly and said, “Sit.”

Gu Sijiao felt a bit intimidated by Gu Yanqing, but he forced himself to remain calm and asked, “Should I address you as Mr. Gu or as Dad?”

The term “Dad” made Gu Yanqing tighten his fingers involuntarily.

He replied, “Either is fine, it’s up to you.”

Gu Sijiao sat down across from him.

After they placed their orders and the waiter left, the atmosphere became quiet.

Facing Gu Yanqing, Gu Sijiao felt uneasy and momentarily forgot everything he had planned to say.

“Do you recognize me?” he heard himself ask directly.

“Yes.”

Gu Sijiao’s eyes brightened.

This was completely different from what he had imagined.

He thought Gu Yanqing would certainly make things difficult for him or something like that, but it didn’t happen.

The sudden happiness left him a bit disoriented, and he stammered a bit: “Don’t you need to do a paternity test or something?”

“No need,” Gu Yanqing’s tone remained calm, but his voice was firm. “I know you are.”

Thus, Gu Sijiao went back to the Gu family with Gu Yanqing.

Before this, he had also taken Gu Yanqing to see the critically ill Qiao Wanqing.

To avoid appearing inhumane and leaving a bad impression on Gu Yanqing, Gu Sijiao had admitted Qiao Wanqing to the hospital before meeting Gu Yanqing.

As expected, Gu Yanqing acknowledged him, but that did not mean he forgave Qiao Wanqing.

Gu Yanqing’s attitude toward Qiao Wanqing was not kind.

When faced with the critically ill Qiao Wanqing, he showed no sympathy, merely giving her a look of disgust before leaving without saying a word.

Gu Siqiao, seeing Qiao Wanqing barely clinging to life with the help of medications, thought she was on the verge of death.

When he returned to the Gu family home, he pretended to care for her for a few days.

However, she stubbornly clung to life, perhaps driven by an unfulfilled desire to become Mrs. Gu, unwilling to let go.

Ultimately, Gu Siqiao gave her a final push—taking advantage of a moment when the doctor wasn’t paying attention, he removed Qiao Wanqing’s life-sustaining oxygen supply.

He staged it to look like she had struggled and removed it herself, making it seem like she had given up on life.

Although the doctor found it suspicious, since the family didn’t pursue the matter, they didn’t want to get involved.

Gu Yanqing certainly didn’t intervene, and the incident was quietly swept under the rug.

Gu Siqiao felt completely liberated, now comfortably living as a young master of the Gu family.

In the Gu family, he met Gu Yanqing’s adopted son, Gu Mingyuan.

Gu Mingyuan was a handsome, intelligent mixed-race young man who naturally treated Gu Siqiao like a younger brother and was very kind to him.

While Gu Siqiao felt immense pressure around Gu Yanqing, Gu Mingyuan made it easier.

During the initial period after Gu Siqiao returned to the Gu family, Gu Mingyuan took care of him in many ways.

On the surface, they appeared to have a harmonious brotherly relationship.

But it was just on the surface.

Gu Siqiao didn’t see him as a brother.

Gu Mingyuan was four years older, already a university graduate, and had joined Gu Yanqing in the family business, quickly rising to the position of Executive Vice President at a young age, wielding significant power.

It was clear that Gu Yanqing was grooming Gu Mingyuan as his successor.

In contrast, Gu Siqiao only had a middle school education.

Gu Yanqing hired tutors to teach him, but the subjects were unrelated to business.

Although Gu Siqiao wasn’t stupid, he found these lessons irrelevant and tedious.

Moreover, he struggled to converse with Gu Yanqing, often resulting in awkward silences.

In contrast, Gu Mingyuan and Gu Yanqing shared a father-son, friend-like relationship, always chatting at the dinner table while Gu Siqiao silently ate his food.