Ye continued, “Qiang, you are the Empress Dowager’s granddaughter. Can you ask her if she’s willing to assign a decent position to Huaihuai?”

After finishing her words, Ye looked at Gu Qiang hopefully, who was taking her time to enjoy her tea. The peaceful scent of tea spread in the whole living room, together with the silence, making everyone feel sleepy. After a while, Gu Qiang finally uttered a sound.

“What kind of position do you want?” She looked at Gu Huaihuai. In the notebook given by Shen Qianshan, it was written clearly that Gu Huaihuai was not someone she could trust, and all the disgusting things done by their family were recorded too. If the notebook was not faked by Shen Qianshan, Gu Qiang would start to think about her revenge plan.

Gu Huaihuai never thought his older sister, who he had always looked down on, would speak to him one day.

He didn’t have any good impression of her, but she was the most powerful in their family right now. If only a little bit of flattery could make her give him what he wanted, that would be fantastic.

“Sister, I don’t mind starting from one of the basic positions. I believe I can prove my competence!” Gu Huaihuai had never treated someone so respectfully before. His tone even shocked Ye and Gu Zhihua.

Gu Qiang didn’t make any response. If she refused him right now, she would offend the whole family. She couldn’t do such a risky thing this early on.

She was aware of Ye’s pathetic intention. She and her two children treated Gu Qiang nicely right now only because they wanted to use her power to get some benefits.

If it were before, she would reject them immediately. But right now, she needed to take a second thought.

Ye was still staring at Gu Qiang with a hopeful look on her face. She knew that Gu Qiang’s body was badly injured this time and was not as healthy as before. According to Ye’s servants, her relationship with Shen Qianshan even became much worse. The new girl, Su Shuangning, seemed to have a stronger background than everyone expected. Even though Gu Qiang was an Infanta, Su Shuangning didn’t care about it at all.

Moreover, Su Shuangning acted very intimately with Shen Qianshan. Ye couldn’t wait to witness the day when Gu Qiang was abandoned by both Shen Qianshan and Shen Zhongbai.

However, Gu Qiang was still not moving. She didn’t agree, nor did she refuse.

After the lights in Gu Qiang’s house burned for a long time, Prime Minister Gu entered with two servants with a sullen face. He brushed off the dust on his clothes that didn’t even exist and looked around. He noticed all his important family were gathering in the small living room, which unsettled him.

After all the years in the political world, he had grown a sharp eye and known his wife and children all loved to find other people trouble. If he didn’t get here in time today, he had no idea what they would do behind his back.

As Prime Minister Gu walked over, everyone made space for him and gave out the main seat in the center to him. He flung his clothes back, sat down, and asked, “Why is everyone here? Are you holding a meeting here? Darling, why did you bring Huaihuai here instead of sleeping in your room?”

Ye immediately knelt on the ground as her face turned pale. With her head lowered, she didn’t know what to say at the moment. She knew that Prime Minister Gu had already been very disappointed at Gu Huaihuai since he didn’t pass the exam. Knowing Ye came to ask Gu Qiang for help would only make him more irritated.

“Answer my question! Did you lose your tongue? The Old Lady just passed away, and our family is having a tough time. As the madam who manages the whole family, instead of reassuring our family and taking care of guests, what are you doing here?” Prime Minister Gu’s upturned beard moved up and down as he talked, offering itself to everyone’s attention.

Ye shivered, looked up, and said cautiously, “I want Qiang to ask the Empress Dowager for a job for Huaihuai. He can start it low to accumulate more experiences.”

Her tone was honest, and her look was pitiful. However, this kind of simplicity and innocence no longer belonged to her age anymore. Ye’s action looked awkward while Gu Qiang sat aside, having no reaction at all. But the faint smile in her eyes leaked her thoughts.

Gu Qiang wanted to see how much this woman was willing to do for her child and how much of her dignity she could drop. She didn’t remember anything Ye did before, and the current situation felt like it was making up for the memories she missed.

“You asked Qiang to do that? Do you know how the Empress Dowager would think about her if you let her do so? The Empress Dowager will think Qiang calls her grandmother for her power instead of truly respecting her. I knew it. You don’t care about Qiang at all since she was not your child. You are just using her as you like!” Prime Minister Gu’s tone became more and more irritated, and he didn’t even notice what he had said. He didn’t realize it until everyone was staring at him in shock.

The hierarchy was one of the most terrifying things in the noble families. The Prime Minister Mansion right now was a perfect example.

Prime Minister Gu’s family was the most powerful one in the city regarding money, political influence, and social status. After Jiang Rou passed away, Ye thought her dream finally came true, and she now owned everything of the family. But she still needed to bear with the title of “concubine”. No matter how hard she tried, this was a fact that she couldn’t change.

Prime Minister Gu was not blind. With his own eyes, he saw how much Ye had done for their family and still appreciated her for doing so. However, he always felt Ye missed her vision on the big picture.

Without a vision of the big picture, it would be useless to push her to a higher position than she should be.

“I’ve worked so hard for our family, but you don’t see it, my lord. I only wish Huaihuai could have a better future, but why do you think it is such a disgusting thing, my lord?” Ye raised her head slowly and looked into Prime Minister Gu’s as tears formed in her eyes.

Prime Minister Gu froze for a second and then fell into silence for a while as if he was reflecting his own thoughts. Finally, he said, “There are too many things to take care of in our family. You should focus on the things you are responsible for. As for Huaihuai, I will handle it.”

Then he stood up and strolled away with his servants.

Slowly and casually, Gu Qiang raised her head. She was wearing a faint smile on her face and said to Ye, who was freezing on her spot in embarrassment, “Madam, I think you’ve heard my father. You can ask for his help for Huaihuai. If there’s nothing else, let’s just call it a day. Please go back with your children. I really need to sleep.”

After Gu Qiang finished her words, Ting Feng walked closer with a sullen face and cleaned up Ye, Gu Zhihua, and Gu Huaihuai’s cups, signaling them to leave. Ye looked more embarrassed, but she still forced out a smile, “It’s my fault that I didn’t consider your health condition, Qiang. But I feel you are more gentle than before. It seems that this accident is not totally bad, right?”

When Ye said so, the stress on her face suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a bright smile as if she couldn’t hold back her excitement anymore.

Gu Qiang gave her a bright smile back, looking pretty with her eyes curling. However, she suddenly stood up in the next second, and her movement startled people around her.

She said in a cold voice, “I’ve never been a casual person and always taken everything fairly and seriously. Madam, if you accuse me of being annoying and impolite, it seems that I didn’t have a good relationship with you before. If my guess is right, I have to think carefully about why our relationship turned this way.”

After finishing her words, she turned around and headed to her room. Ting Feng and Chui Xue walked up and guarded at the door, staring at Ye and her two children with a sullen face and waiting for them to leave.

People living in the Qingshui House had been bullied all the time before. The house was so shabby that it looked like no one lived here. A madam like Ye, who was in charge of the whole family, had never stepped inside, let alone Prime Minister Gu.

But every dog had its day. Ting Feng and Chui Xue, who once couldn’t have a nice meal, now had the confidence to drive those arrogant people away from their house.

Ye snorted, not even trying to fake her kindness. Gu Qiang didn’t change at all after she lost her memories, annoying and disgusting as usual, making Ye want to throw out every time she saw Gu Qiang.

Gu Zhihua followed her mother, acting cowardly. She turned into a different person after coming back, losing all her energy. Watching her mother spending so much effort on giving them a brighter future, she felt depressed since she couldn’t do anything, nor could she succeed.

As for Gu Huaihuai, after Gu Huaian left, he became the only son in the Prime Minister Mansion, pampered by everyone in the family. In school, those young men, whose fathers didn’t have much power, all tried every method they knew to flatter Gu Huaihuai. But now that he didn’t pass the exam, they all scattered immediately.

These unfaithful young men gave Gu Huaihuai a good taste of ups and downs in his life at a young age.

When Gu Qiang lay back on her bed again, it was late in the night. No one was around, and even Gusu Liang hadn’t been back yet. She wondered what happened to Gusu Liang. Also, she knew one thing clearly now – that girl was not as simple as she looked. Gu Qiang didn’t know how she convinced such a competent girl to be her maid before.

But since she had lost her memories, there was no point for her to think about it too much. She had too many questions to answer by herself and needed time to figure out the meaning of the past and how she should deal with the future.

There was no moonlight this night. Gu Qiang lighted up the candle on the table. The dim light enveloped her like warm water, giving her peace of mind.

She opened the notebook again on which many things were scribbled hurriedly and started to reread it. Before, she had already read it once, and everything seemed normal for her except for one thing. It was written that there was a secret compartment in the wall in front of her table. Inside was a diary, and she could “talk to herself” through it.

This made her feel funny. Why did she need to talk to herself? She should be the one who knew herself the best.