Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I handed a portion of my living allowance to the class monitor, calling it an “advance payment for tutoring.”

Song Xiaoli stared at the hundred red bills in the envelope, stunned into silence.

In truth, whether in my past life or this one, the Gu Family never mistreated their adopted daughter when it came to basic necessities and living expenses.

What was pocket change to Gu Zhiyue was enough for Song Xiaoli to buy medicine for her grandmother and pay for hospital bills. It was even enough for her to rent a small apartment off-campus and escape her abusive father.

After scheduling the next day’s tutoring session with the class monitor, I headed home.

The luxurious villa was empty. Mr. Gu was out for a business dinner, and Madam Gu was at a beauty salon for a treatment.

As for Gu Zhiyue, he was likely eating at the Zhou Family’s house right now.

In my previous life, Gu Zhiyue had the driver take me home. When my adoptive parents saw him, they enthusiastically insisted he stay for dinner.

Then, following the standard plot of an idol drama, a single dinner allowed the young master-who had grown up in the cold environment of a wealthy household-to experience the warmth of family affection in a poor home.

The simple, honest smiles that always graced the faces of the Zhou parents, and the cramped, dilapidated room filled with the cozy aroma of home cooking…

All of it made Gu Zhiyue yearn for such a life, and it made him fall even harder for the impoverished Little White Flower born into that family.

At this very moment, even though he and Zhou Shiman were eating meager, oil-free food, they were likely very happy.

I slowly changed into my Hermès robe, washed my face with Chanel cleanser, and ate a bowl of bird’s nest soup with rock sugar that the nanny brought up. A cold sneer played on my lips.

No one knew that while the Zhou couple was indeed poor, they were anything but simple and honest.

The pair favored boys over girls and had originally intended to adopt a son. However, since there were no non-disabled boys available at the orphanage, they settled for the next best thing: a beautiful daughter they could use to reel in a wealthy son-in-law later on.

Seeing Gu Zhiyue drop their daughter off must have made their blood boil with excitement. They would have immediately dragged this potential “golden son-in-law” inside to treat him like royalty.

That so-called familial warmth and cozy atmosphere were nothing more than a performance.

After all, those were the only things they could offer to impress a young master from a wealthy family.

In my past life, when I told them I didn’t want to marry Gu Zhiyue, my adoptive mother locked me in my room while my adoptive father beat me half to death with a table leg and a belt.

Shiman thinks she has entered heaven in this life, but she doesn’t realize that true heaven doesn’t exist in this world.

The Gu Family is a wealthy hell, and the Zhou Family is a poor hell.

As for who can crawl out of hell alive, that depends on their own capabilities.