"Mom, please stop fighting, okay? I'm scared." Gu Nuan Nuan warily tugged on Zhang Minzhen's sleeve. Seeing that her mother was still furious and refused to let it go, she quickly yanked harder, looking up at her with a pitiful expression.
'Discretion is the better part of valor.'
Although Gu Nuan Nuan couldn't recall if her scum dad had ever laid a hand on her mother, her grandfather was a man with a severe tendency for domestic violence.
So, even if her scum dad hadn't shown his violent side in her presence in her past life, she felt that anyone who grew up immersed in an environment of domestic abuse would have a hard time learning to truly respect women. This was especially true for someone as supremely selfish as him.
Seeing the look of strained tolerance on her scum dad's face, she was terrified that if her mother kept talking and pushed him over the edge, she would be the one to get hurt.
'Damn it. If only I had enough strength—'
Gu Nuan Nuan looked down at her small body, disheartened. Suddenly, she remembered the Internal Cultivation Methods Luo Hongyi had stumbled upon in his youth during her past life.
Back when she and Luo Hongyi were deeply in love, he had coaxed her into practicing the Internal Cultivation Methods for a while, and she had even learned a few fist techniques. Unfortunately, she had absolutely no interest in any of it. Besides, her body was well past the prime age for martial arts, so after dabbling in it for a few days, she refused to continue.
'Maybe I can pick it up again in this life. After all, I put a lot of effort into memorizing those Internal Cultivation Methods back then, so I still remember them very clearly.'
'When you don't want to be bullied, strength is often far simpler and more effective than words.'
'Just like my grandfather. When he couldn't be bothered to argue, he'd let his fists do the talking. It was much more effective than nagging away, trying to "reason" with people who were completely unreasonable to begin with.'
'Of course, you need strategy even if you're strong. Simply meeting violence with violence is what brutes do, and it just makes people shun you. If a girl like me gets a reputation for being crude, reckless, and possessing only brute courage, Mom would go crazy, even if I didn't care.'
'So, you reason with reasonable people. For those who are unreasonable and just trying to make trouble, you use strategy. Intimidating them with force in secret should be enough.'
Gu Nuan Nuan clenched her fists, her heart filled with ambition. 'No one better mess with me. In this life, I'll be all smiles on the outside, but anyone who dares to provoke me will face consequences they can't handle…'
"Nuannuan, don't be afraid. Mommy will protect you." Seeing her daughter's timid, frightened little face, Zhang Minzhen came to her senses. She suddenly remembered how she, too, used to be terrified of seeing her parents argue when she was little.
In that moment, she forgot all about arguing with Gu Lihui. Her heart aching, she squatted down, swept her daughter into her arms, and soothed her by gently patting her back.
She had no idea that the daughter in her arms now had a completely different soul inside.
While the person before her was still her daughter, Gu Nuan Nuan's soul had long since seen through the ways of the world and was no longer simply naive and innocent.
Gu Nuan Nuan peeked over and saw that Gu Lihui's expression had softened, which allowed her to relax slightly.
She leaned against her mother's warm chest, nuzzling her head into the embrace before frowning. As far as she could remember, there had never been a scene like this, where her parents had started a fight right in front of her.
Even though she had deliberately tried to forget these memories, she was still certain of this. Furthermore, she had never heard her mother mention the outrageous thing her paternal grandmother had done back then—stealing the new cotton-padded jacket and swaddling blanket her maternal grandmother had made for her.
Gu Nuan Nuan pondered. 'Seeing Scum Dad's reaction—flying into a rage out of shame, without a hint of guilt—could it be that Grandma already knew about those twins? Did she just steal my padded jacket and blanket from Mom and secretly give them to his mistress?'
Gu Nuan Nuan didn't realize she had just stumbled upon the truth.
She struggled out of her mother's arms, turning her head. She was just wondering how she could test her scum dad to confirm her theory when suddenly, her eyes froze—
She didn't know when he'd gotten there, but the man who had become her nightmare in her past life, a man radiating pure violence, was already rushing over. Without a sound, he twisted the cap off the bottle in his hand and flung the liquid at her scum dad's face...
Her scum dad's first reaction was to grab her mother—who had just gotten to her feet and was still unsteady—and pull her in front of him as a human shield.
A ROAR exploded in Gu Nuan Nuan's mind. Her eyes went bloodshot as she watched her scum dad brutally yank her mother, completely powerless, and saw the look of absolute terror flash across her face.
'No! Nothing can happen to Mom!'
It was in this moment that she finally had an epiphany. She understood now what that nagging sense of panic and fear had been about. She had tried to forget this scene, but it had long been seared into her very soul, along with the terror.
'Nothing can happen to Mom.'
That single thought was all that remained in her mind. Her hands moved faster than her brain could process. At the same instant her scum dad yanked her mother forward, she reached out and grabbed her mother's other arm, pulling back with all her might.
Feeling his "shield" about to be snatched away, Gu Lihui's face contorted into a hideous snarl. He tightened his grip and glared viciously at Gu Nuan Nuan, looking as if he wanted to swallow her whole.
Gu Nuan Nuan paid no mind to Gu Lihui's murderous glare. Her eyes were fixed on the liquid now arcing from the bottle's mouth. She could even see its slow-motion trajectory through the air. At the same time, she felt the sudden surge of strength from her scum dad as the horrifying liquid was about to splash all over her mother's face.
She could clearly feel the despair and terror radiating from her mother.
Panic and rage surged through Gu Nuan Nuan. A sudden, immense strength erupted from somewhere within her, and with a powerful heave, she wrenched her mother free from her scum dad's grasp.
In that instant, the liquid splashed down, accompanied by a piercing, agonized scream.
"AHH! AHH! AHH! My eyes! My eyes!"
Gu Nuan Nuan and her mother collapsed onto the floor together, tears streaming down their faces as Gu Lihui's agonized shrieks filled the air.
"Nuannuan! Nuannuan, are you okay?" Sitting on the floor, Zhang Minzhen paid no mind to herself. The first thing she did was pull her pale-faced daughter, who had also fallen, into her arms, her own heart still pounding as she looked her up and down.
"I'm okay, Mom. I'm just... completely drained of strength." Gu Nuan Nuan looked at her mother's face, still as smooth and unblemished as ever, and let out a long breath, her entire body relaxing. In this life, she had finally, completely changed her mother's destiny.