I Heard You Liked Me First - Chapter 7
Gu Nan took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.
Maybe it was because she had returned to the place where her mother once lived. Maybe it was because she had met this woman, someone who had been deeply entangled with her mother, that she found herself losing control.
Still, she hadn’t expected that after all these years, Chi An would only grow more breathtaking.
She remembered how Chi An used to have a face full of baby fat, her eyes still carrying a hint of youthful softness. Now, though time had thinned the collagen from her cheeks, her refined bone structure only made her beauty more striking.
But what surprised Gu Nan most was the cold distance that now lingered in Chi An’s expression.
From that indifference alone, Gu Nan could imagine how much this woman must have endured to become so frozen, so unreachable.
Yet, the one who had hurt her mother didn’t deserve pity. Part of Gu Nan even thought viciously that Chi An’s current misery was nothing but her own doing.
That flicker of emotion in Gu Nan’s eyes didn’t escape Chi An’s notice.
Chi An lowered her gaze slightly, her voice trembling as she said, “I’m sorry about your grandmother. It was my fault I didn’t think things through.”
Gu Nan let out a cold laugh. “Oh? And how exactly do you plan to atone? Why don’t you go down there and apologize to her yourself?”
Her words cut through Chi An like a knife.
If it weren’t for her, Gu Nan wouldn’t have lost the last family she had left in this world.
Chi An had hated the Gu family so much that she wanted nothing more than to see them ruined, to see them crumble into ashes.
She had thought that, now that she was in her thirties, she had learned to stay composed, to be calculating. But she hadn’t expected that her very first move would lead to consequences she couldn’t bear.
“I can,” Chi An said quietly. “But not yet. Let me first get back everything that rightfully belongs to you. When the Gu family falls into ruin, I’ll go down there myself and apologize to her in person.”
Gu Nan sneered. “You’re just painting me a pretty lie. Who knows? Maybe you’ll die before that. Maybe you’re just saying this like you did to my mother all those years ago before turning around and getting into bed with my father.”
Chi An’s hand trembled around the handle of her umbrella.
It took her a long moment before she could steady her voice again. “If you don’t believe me, I won’t try to convince you. But there’s something else something important I came to tell you.”
Before she could speak further, someone approached and said, “Miss, the madam wants to see you.”
The “madam,” Su Mingfang, was the Gu family matriarch and nearly had a stroke when she heard Gu Nan had returned.
Though Su Mingfang didn’t see her granddaughter as a real threat, Gu Nan’s reappearance unsettled her deeply.
She knew Gu Yue had gone to find Gu Nan, that had been her idea, after all. She was the one who had told her daughter, Gu Hongyun, to call Gu Nan’s grandmother.
And she remembered clearly: before the call ended, there were shouts on the other end someone crying out for a doctor.
When word came that Gu Nan’s grandmother had passed away, Su Mingfang hadn’t felt an ounce of sadness. In fact, she was pleased.
Back when her son had married Gu Nan’s mother the so-called “phoenix girl” from a humble background, she had to bow and scrape to her mother-in-law to make the match happen.
After the Gu family rose to power, every time she remembered that humiliation, she thought of that old woman and hated her all over again.
She hadn’t expected Gu Nan to come back. She’d thought the girl too timid, too soft, to even speak up after her grandmother’s death. But instead, Gu Nan returned in style—driving a luxury car worth millions and honking at the Gu family’s front gate.
That was a slap in the face, and Su Mingfang wasn’t going to let it slide.
She immediately sent someone to summon Gu Nan. The girl needed to be reminded who ran this house.
Gu Nan turned to Chi An. “Auntie, go unpack and rest. I’ll go see that old woman.”
Chi An called someone over to help with the luggage, then followed quietly after Gu Nan toward the living room.
Su Mingfang had been confident she could crush Gu Nan with ease, after all, she’d easily controlled her mother back then.
She remembered Gu Nan as a meek, obedient girl. Surely she hadn’t changed much.
But when Gu Nan walked in short, tousled hair brushed just above her shoulders, with streaks of silver-gray near her ears she looked nothing like someone raised by a “proper” family.
Just the sight of her made Su Mingfang’s fingers tremble slightly, though she didn’t realize it herself.
Still, her tone was full of superiority. “Well, well. After all these years, you finally came back. But you’re too late your father’s already been buried.”
Gu Nan flopped lazily into a chair opposite her, crossing one leg over the other. Her voice was sharp and unrestrained. “Who said I came back for that man’s funeral?”
“Then what did you come back for?” Su Mingfang’s eyes narrowed. “Your grandmother must’ve left you a fair bit of inheritance. Shouldn’t you be busy guarding it?”
Gu Nan tilted her head. “Is that a threat? Are you saying if I don’t watch my back, you’ll take it all away just like how you and your precious family stole everything from mine?”
Su Mingfang’s lips curled into a cold smile. The look in her eyes said, Of course. You should be afraid.
Gu Nan let out a low laugh. “I came back to make sure none of you in the Gu family live well again.”
“You’re not a Gu? You haven’t even changed your last name,” Su Mingfang said mockingly.
“Do you know why?” Gu Nan smiled thinly. “So I never forget what you people did.”
Su Mingfang didn’t understand. She thought Gu Nan just couldn’t bear to let go of the Gu name.
To her, this girl was nothing more than a rebellious child playing tough.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” she said coldly. “You’re all alone now. What can you possibly do against the Gu family?”
Just then, Chi An entered the room.
Both women turned toward her.
Su Mingfang’s expression shifted as she saw Chi An as her person. After all, hadn’t she been the one to betray Gu Nan’s mother and side with her son? Hadn’t she promised to help Su Mingfang’s younger son become president of the company?
But Chi An’s next words shattered that illusion.
“Gu Nan isn’t alone,” she said calmly. “She inherited 20% of the Gu Corporation’s shares from her late father.”
“What?!”
Su Mingfang shot up from her seat, slamming a hand on the armrest. “What did you say? Why would Hongfu leave his shares to her? Those should’ve gone to me!”
Chi An’s tone stayed even. “Before he passed, Mr. Gu called in a lawyer and revised his will. His 20% was left to his daughter.”
Su Mingfang’s face twisted with fury. She couldn’t believe it.
The Gu family currently holds 55% of the company’s shares, 20% is held been her eldest son, 15% is hers, another 15% is held by her younger son, and the remaining 5% to her grandson.
It had been a perfect balance of power.
Now, everything had changed.
The largest shareholder of the Gu Corporation was Gu Nan.
Even Gu Nan herself was stunned.
So that’s what Chi An had wanted to tell her earlier.
She didn’t know what her father or Chi An had been thinking but it didn’t matter.
No matter what, she would never forgive her father for what he did to her mother.
Nor would she ever forgive the woman standing before her.
Gu Nan stood up, smiling with an almost reckless arrogance. “Twenty percent, huh? That’s enough to make things… very interesting.”
She tilted her head, eyes glinting. “Tell me, do you think 20% is enough to make the other shareholders panic? To shake your precious company’s stock price?”
Su Mingfang’s hands began to tremble uncontrollably.
In a listed company, share prices were everything proof of power and wealth. If they plummeted, her fortune would crumble with it.
Watching her face turn pale, Gu Nan couldn’t help but smile. She hummed a tune as she turned to leave.
Chi An followed close behind.
Su Mingfang stood in place, gasping for air. After a long, trembling pause, she roared, “Get Gu Hongyun in here right now!”
Gu Nan had never come back to the Gu family, had never contacted anyone in years yet she suddenly returned right after her grandmother’s death!
It was all because of that useless pair, Gu Hongyun and her daughter!
If not for them, she would’ve had time to pull the right strings and make that will completely worthless.
At that moment, Gu Hongyun was in the middle of scolding her own daughter.
“Tonight, no matter what, you’re going to meet the young master of the Xiao family! Who do you think you are, huh? Without the Gu family, what are you? If you were a son, at least I could fight for you to have a place in the Gu family and even in that useless husband’s house, I’d still have a say. We wouldn’t be trampled underfoot by some slut and her bastard child!”
“If a woman marries wrong, her whole life is over!”
“I made that mistake once, and look how I ended up. I won’t let your marriage go wrong too!”
But her daughter, Gu Yue, was huddled in a corner, arms wrapped around her knees, head buried between them as if she couldn’t hear a word.
Gu Hongyun’s anger spiked again. She was about to lash out and hit her daughter when her mother’s summons came.
She pointed furiously at Gu Yue. “Just wait till I get back I’ll deal with you then!”
But the moment she stepped into her mother’s room, a sharp slap landed across her face.
Then came the storm of curses.
“You mother and daughter are nothing but bad luck! Useless at doing anything right, but you never fail when it comes to ruining things! You couldn’t even keep an eye on her, and now because that girl ran off, Gu Nan’s grandmother is dead! And now Gu Nan’s back to snatch your brother’s shares, becoming the largest shareholder in the company!”
“How did I ever give birth to such a worthless thing as you? I should’ve strangled you the day you were born!”
“You’re useless enough on your own, but you can’t even control the little bastard you raised!”
No matter how much she screamed and cursed, it didn’t calm the fury boiling inside her.
But she didn’t have time to keep berating her daughter she had to figure out a way to deal with Gu Nan.
“Get out of my sight! Just looking at you disgusts me!”
Gu Hongyun stumbled out of the room, her face pale and numb, her mind blank.
It took her a long while to steady herself enough to walk back.
So… Gu Nan’s grandmother was really dead? She’d died because of that phone call?
Hadn’t someone shouted for a doctor on the other end of the line? How could they not have saved her?
Her eyes darkened, glinting with venom as she walked back.
It was all Gu Yue’s fault.
Everything every single thing was because of Gu Yue.