But Mr. Gu looked at them, reached out his hand, but then pulled it back, his eyes full of hesitation.
Cecilia Gu's heart slowly turned cold. If even her father couldn't protect them, how much longer could she stay in this house?
After so many years, Dad had always been this weak. Every time Mom was scolded or beaten by Grandma, Dad would either stand by helplessly or kneel and apologize afterward, but nothing ever changed.
Enough! I've really had enough!
This kind of home is truly hopeless.
Mr. Gu didn't dare say a word for his wife and daughter, he could only weakly plead with Grandma Gu: "Mom, if you hurt her, who will cook dinner tonight?"
Grandma Gu shouted, "I'm not dead yet! I can still cook! Tell them to get out, get far away!" With that, she hobbled into the kitchen and actually started cooking.
From that moment on, Cecilia decided she would take her mother and leave—never coming back again!
Cecilia turned to pull her mother away from this house that devoured people whole, but saw her mom staggering to her feet and rushing into the kitchen to snatch the knife from Grandma's hand: "Mom, I've always been the one cooking all these years. As long as I'm in the Gu family, how could I let you do it?"
Grandma Gu saw Mom snatch the knife and lifted her foot to kick, but was suddenly hugged around the leg by Mom, who pleaded, "Mom, for all the years I've worked so hard in the Gu family, can't you let us off just this once? Cecilia knows she was wrong. We'll never do anything like this again!"
"You're already getting older, how can I let you do such tiring work?" Mom kept pleading, "There's so much housework in the countryside, your health can't handle it!"
Grandma Gu struggled to chop cabbage for a long time but couldn't cut through it! Only then did she glance at her daughter-in-law, "Enough, enough, hurry up and cook. Afterwards, go kneel at the ancestral shrine for two days and nights!"
Cecilia looked at the two people in the kitchen, and at the other person silently smoking on a chair. She felt she simply couldn't stay here any longer.
She stood up, grabbed her unopened suitcase she'd just brought back, and once again set out on her journey.
She still needed to keep working. She had to earn money, and once she had enough, she'd bring her mother out.
Sitting in the car heading back to the city, she couldn't hold back her tears any longer.
Suddenly, a message popped up on her phone: "Cecilia, what's wrong with you these past two days? Why haven't you answered my calls? I'm doing well abroad. When you see this message, remember to call me back. Love you, Zach."
Cecilia gripped her phone tightly, her heart aching.
But saying the words 'let's break up' was just too hard.
Two years. A whole two years of love—how could she just let it go? Love isn't a balloon; you can't just pop it and pretend it never existed.
Cecilia could only act like an ostrich, hiding herself away in a tiny corner, passively rejecting Zach Zhao's calls again and again.
To avoid losing her bonus, Cecilia only rested for one day. As soon as her injuries had mostly healed, she went back to work and continued with her menial tasks.
Every morning, she was responsible for ordering milk, coffee, and juice for everyone in the logistics office, and also had to deliver the newspaper to each person's desk.
Others would dump tasks on Cecilia that weren't even her responsibility, and she would always accept them and work overtime to finish.
She was just an ordinary girl, almost to the point of being humble.
No prestigious university degree, no overseas study experience—just being able to work at this massive conglomerate spanning Asia and Europe already made her feel grateful.
Time passed quickly.
The busy days made her feel as if that night a month ago, that man, and all those painful things were just a nightmare.
As usual, Cecilia delivered the coffee and juice to her colleagues' desks in the morning, and placed the files she'd finished working on last night on their desks as well.
It was only then that her colleagues began to arrive at the office.
"Morning!" Cecilia greeted them respectfully, but no one responded.
Embarrassed, Cecilia withdrew her hand and prepared to return to her desk to keep working.
Just then, the head of the logistics department rushed in and called out, "The CEO has suddenly called a board meeting. Everyone needs to help out. You too, Cecilia—come along!"
Cecilia was stunned for a moment, then quickly followed.
Her colleagues, as usual, stuffed all their files into Cecilia's arms before leaving together, laughing and joking.
They were used to it—whenever Cecilia was around, it was as if they suddenly lost their hands. No matter what needed doing, they'd hand it off to her and just wait for the results.
Luckily, Cecilia didn't mind. Struggling under the weight of a huge pile of files, she followed behind.
She awkwardly hugged a stack of folders almost taller than herself, squeezing into the elevator with the others and constantly apologizing to those beside her.
When the elevator doors opened, Cecilia staggered after the others, hurrying toward the huge conference room.
Just then, someone shouted, "The CEO is here!"