Chapter 1776 - 1775: If the Chu Chengfeng of the Past Returned

"That’s right, it’s that Xino!"

Sima Xiaowen nodded heavily. "It’s said he’s from a noble family. If not for that, the Phoenix Clan would never have let his great‑grandmother marry in."

Back then the Phoenix Clan was in a foreign land, but they had power, heritage, and cultivation. Even in a strange country, they could still live very well on their own abilities.

But there were very few people when the Phoenix Clan left, and for some reason, the two suitable young people at the time couldn’t get married yet.

They could only turn their eyes to others. One chose a Chinese of overseas descent, and this one fell in love with a beautiful foreign girl.

You could tell from Xino’s looks that his great‑grandmother must have been a great beauty too.

And it’s said Xino carries a lot of the Phoenix Clan’s inheritance in him. Plus, he has investments here, so this time he’s leading the team back.

The grudges between Gu Qiaoqiao and Xino had long since passed. Neither of them ever brought it up again. Besides, from what Gu Qiaoqiao gathered from Liang Yan’s tone, she vaguely guessed Xino was probably working for our side here.

So this person could be considered rather noteworthy.

However, Gu Qiaoqiao immediately thought of another person. "Sister Xiao Wen, do you know anything about that Alina who used to follow him around?"

"I know, I asked about that." Xiao Wen nodded.

"Will Alina be coming with him this time as well?"

Gu Qiaoqiao narrowed her eyes slightly.

Sima Xiaowen shook her head. "Xino said Alina hasn’t been with him for a long time. It seems she went to her half‑brother, should be Chang Jianhua."

"Chang Jianhua?" Gu Qiaoqiao murmured to herself.

"Yeah, that’s the one. I asked Xino then, and he said he doesn’t know where Chang Jianhua went either."

The wife Chang Jianhua left behind in the Imperial Capital had already appealed to the court to file for a unilateral divorce, and it was said it had been granted.

This was something others had told Gu Qiaoqiao.

At the time, Gu Qiaoqiao thought this might be for self‑preservation, maybe to cut ties.

Anyway, if the Gu Family wanted revenge, they wouldn’t be able to take it out on his wife and children.

But they were judging a petty man by the standards of a gentleman. Never mind his wife and kids—even Chang Jiansheng himself, isn’t he still living just fine?

Though grudges should be repaid and wrongs complained of, the most hateful ones had long turned to dust. The Gu Family was doing better and better now; some things could only be magnanimously let go.

As for whether the Old Patriarch was secretly putting pressure on Chang Jiansheng, Gu Qiaoqiao had no way of knowing.

But now Chang Jiansheng was living a very hard life, because the burden on him was simply too heavy.

A father paralyzed in bed, an eldest sister and second sister who’d gone mad and foolish...

Only his mother was still relatively all right.

Yet even so, a family like that was almost impossibly hard to turn around, and no girl from any family would be willing to marry into such a household.

In the past she’d still run into him now and then by chance, but in the past year she’d never seen him at all, and had heard very little news about him, not even knowing whether they were still in the Imperial Capital.

Gu Qiaoqiao sighed. "Chang Jianhua really is cunning. Good thing we never gave him room to grow, or he’d be a real problem."

Gu Qiaoqiao said this with complete sincerity, speaking from the heart.

Because just from what had happened to their family last time, it was clear the one who set everything up was an expert. And in this lifetime she also knew that some things weren’t just done by Lin Fanpeng; most of it had been led by Gu Cheng’s whole family.

Then the core of Gu Cheng’s family should have been Chang Jianhua.

Because he was discovered early and suppressed in time, he left quickly and lost many advantages and conditions.

But even from that you could see that Chang Jianhua did things decisively and steadily.

He wasn’t someone who dragged his feet.

Who knew where Chang Jianhua was now?

If he came back after the statute of limitations ran out, that really would be infuriating.

And Alina—so she really ended up with him.

Gu Qiaoqiao shook her head and stopped thinking about it, instead asking softly, "Sister Xiao Wen, are you going with Chu Chengfeng to pick them up that day?"

"Chu Chengfeng isn’t going. He’ll be waiting for them in the courtyard where my dad and the others are staying. The ones going there are me, my dad, and another elder."

Then Sima Xiaowen smiled sweetly. "Qiaoqiao, don’t get so tense. Sometimes I still feel a little sad, but it’s not for the Chu Chengfeng of now—it’s for the Chu Chengfeng from back then."

Gu Qiaoqiao fell silent. She understood what Sima Xiaowen meant.

Sima Xiaowen unconsciously poked at the pastries on the snack plate with the fork in her hand, saying with some regret, "Qiaoqiao, do you know what I regret most now?"

"Sister Xiao Wen, what do you regret?" Gu Qiaoqiao couldn’t help asking.

"I regret that I should’ve agreed to marry him earlier, to fulfill his wish. That way, in that instant before he disappeared, he wouldn’t have had any regrets."

A moment of stillness settled over the elegant little private room.

Gu Qiaoqiao felt somewhat at ease, but still said, "Not necessarily. If he had consciousness in that moment before he disappeared, he’d definitely regret it. It’s better the way it is now—breaking up, with nothing tying you to each other."

"Ai..." Sima Xiaowen let out a long sigh and murmured, "Who knows. Back then I didn’t even realize it. I just couldn’t get close to him. When he had an episode, my heart would hurt so badly, like something was being dug out of my chest. At the time I only thought I was just feeling sorry for him, but it actually wasn’t like that."

"Sister Xiao Wen, can I ask you a question?" Gu Qiaoqiao hesitated, then still spoke up.

"Ask whatever you want, it’s fine, don’t worry about me. I’m already much better now. Look, I didn’t even go to Uncle to have my memory erased—that proves I’ve accepted some things and let them go..."

"If the old Chu Chengfeng came back, would you still be with him?"

Sima Xiaowen froze at that. She had thought about this question. Her answer back then was beyond doubt—of course she would agree, because the one she’d fallen in love with was that Chu Chengfeng.

But after all this time, Sima Xiaowen no longer had her original thoughts. Some things weren’t that simple. Even if Chu Chengfeng came back, what about Liu Ling...

Gu Qiaoqiao quietly observed the look on Sima Xiaowen’s face. She had an intuition—that the matter between Sima Xiaowen and Chu Chengfeng was far from over.

She heard Sima Xiaowen say softly, "I don’t know either. We’ll talk about it when the time comes."

After all, she couldn’t make pronouncements about the future now.

She could only take it one step at a time.

There were three days to go before New Year. Liu Ling, who was out strolling with Chu Chengfeng, had never imagined she would run into someone from the Qi Family—one of her younger brothers, named Qi Fang.