He Lianchen, together with Feng Tianyi and Tang Moyu, had gone out for a while to have lunch while she spoke with her hard-headed grandfather. Had she known that her reunion with him would turn out this way, she wouldn't have come here to confront him.

  "I understand now, Yaoyao. This grandfather of yours is at fault. I won't force you again." The old man conceded, seeing that his granddaughter had made up her mind.

  Gu Yuyao narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her grandfather. What was he up to? Why was he so agreeable with her now?

  "Can you get to the point? I don't understand why you have to drag me back home, considering my dead parents didn't want me to be here anyway." She said with annoyance.

  The old man's eyes flickered. The sadness in his eyes upon mentioning his dead son clearly showed that it affected him.

  "That's not true, Yaoyao. Your father had wanted you to come home all this time. Even before he passed away, he'd been looking for you." He said in a low voice.

  When Gu Yuyao remained silent, he continued.

  "We tried our best to fulfill his wish. We tried so hard to look for you, but whenever we could get a sniff of your whereabouts, we were always one step behind as you'd have already left the place. Your father couldn't wait anymore and passed away with a grieving heart."

  Gu Yuyao couldn't believe what she was hearing. She only had a few memories of her father as he was always away or busy with work. He was barely home, even before her brother's death.

  "But I thought…" She choked a sob, "I thought he didn't care about me."

  Elder Gu shook his head and looked at the old photograph of his son together with his family. Gu Yuyao was still a toddler in it, she was in her brother's arms. They looked like a happy family in the photo. He'd never thought that Zihao's death would cause the family to crumble and drift apart.

  Gu Yuyao's mother lost her mind while his son had buried himself with work, trying to cope with his grief. Their grief was too much to bear that it started to hurt more whenever they saw Gu Yuyao's face.

  "Wasn't I just a reminder of what you've lost?" Gu Yuyao's voice trembled as she started to cry again.

  It was obvious that her parents detested her, because if they really cared about her or loved her, her mother wouldn't blame her for her brother's death and her father wouldn't turn his back on her whenever he saw her.

  Gu Yuyao ran away not because she wanted to rebel against her family, but because she couldn't take the harsh treatment she'd been receiving from them. She could no longer delude herself that one day, they would look at her with love.

  "We should have been there for you. Do you know why you and Zihao have a huge age gap? That was because your parents had trouble conceiving a child. Even Zihao's conception and birth was considered a miracle. None of us expected that you would arrive a few years later."

  Gu Yuyao had no idea that that was the case before. Still, it wouldn't change the fact that they had forgotten about her.

  "You left as soon as you finished high school. At first, we assumed you were just pulling some sort of stunt to prove your independence. I convinced your father to leave you be and do whatever that would make you happy. We've already failed you as your family, we didn't want to further trap you here if it'd only cause you pain." Elder Gu continued.

  She could only stare at her grandfather in disbelief. So this was the reason her life as a commoner during her first years had been peaceful?

  "But that changed when your mother passed away and your father contracted a grave illness. We wanted you back. We suddenly realized that you'd been gone for too long and none of us knew of your whereabouts."

  Gu Yuyao said nothing. She'd heard about her mother's passing over the news, but she never bothered to go back to check if it was true. Perhaps her mother would be at peace now, knowing she would be with her dead brother in the afterlife.

  It had been a shock to her, and she was saddened by her passing. Although her relationship with her mother had never been good, she was still her mother, the person who gave birth to her and her beloved brother.

  "Your father loved you. He really did. Your mother did too. But I know her words cut you deeply. They blamed themselves for losing Zihao."

  Gu Yuyao raised her head in shock. "W-what?"

  "It's true. Zihao and your parents had an argument about your brother driving you out of town for your birthday. Your parents argued that you don't need to go far just to celebrate your birthday, but Zihao insisted that they were just too busy to pay attention to you and he would take the responsibility as your brother to make sure you aren't forgotten. Zihao loved you deeply, Yaoyao. Please do not blame yourself anymore."

  Gu Yuyao's hands trembled on her lap. She tried everything for her parents to notice and acknowledge her for the longest time, but they never cared. They never cared until it was too late.

  "Yaoyao, it was too late for your parents to realize their mistakes. They didn't have enough time to make up for it but… Yaoyao, do you think it's too late for this old man too?"