Gu An'an rushed into Gu Anchen's arms, saying, "Daddy, Mommy hit me. Mommy is nice to other kids now; she doesn't love me anymore."
Hearing these words, I felt no stir in my heart and calmly applied a band-aid to Tian Tian.
"Be good, don't cry. We'll go have ice cream later, okay?" I said as I picked up Tian Tian and gently comforted her. She leaned on my shoulder and after a soft hum, she stopped crying.
But Gu An'an continued to cry and shout, "I want ice cream too! Mommy took me for ice cream; don’t let her have any!"
I ignored her and carried Tian Tian out.
Suddenly, Gu Anchen, who had been silently watching, spoke up, "Zhou Muqing, where did you get such a big child? You didn't secretly give birth to a wild child behind my back, did you?"
I didn’t even look at him and simply said, "Get lost."
But what I didn’t expect was that at that moment, as I was about to step outside, Gu An'an raised her arm and slapped me hard across the face.
She shouted, "I hate Mommy! I will always hate her!"
The action was quick and forceful, just like the slap Gu Anchen had given me.
Gu Anchen smugly remarked, "See? This is the price of divorcing me. You deserve it, shameless wretch."
Looking at the malicious expression on Gu An'an's face, I held back my tears and said firmly, "Mommy will never forgive An An. Never."
My resolute demeanor made An An panic.
In an instant, he began to cry and throw a tantrum again, but no matter how much he cried and fussed, I would not look back at him this time.
If I had felt guilty towards An An because of the divorce, after that slap, all my feelings for An An were wiped clean.
That evening, I cooked a large spread to apologize to Tian Tian.
Tian Tian smiled as she served me some ribs: "It's okay, Aunt Zhou. He is him, and you are you. I know you care for me, and I won't be angry with you because of Gu An'an. I won't play with Gu An'an anymore."
Tian Shanshan gently patted my shoulder: "That's right, you don't need to feel guilty. Tian Tian told me everything; they are them, and you are you. This has nothing to do with you, so please don't blame yourself."
After saying that, Tian Shanshan took out a document from her bag.
"I have good news for you! We successfully secured the new energy project, and it will start operating next month. So let's celebrate this meal as a toast to our career taking its first step. Cheers!"
"Cheers!"
The three of us raised our glasses together, and at that moment of clinking glasses, there was an indescribable feeling of warmth in our hearts.
After that, life returned to normal.
Suddenly, one afternoon, several friends whom I hadn't contacted in years sent me messages one after another.
I opened them up to find they were all about Gu Anchen's new post on social media.
He and Xia Anzhi had registered their marriage, and the accompanying picture showed a huge diamond ring along with a family photo of the three of them.
I looked at the proud faces of their family in the photo, and I couldn't help but feel disgusted.
But soon, news about Gu Anchen's infidelity spread everywhere, even the anonymous video from back then was exposed.
I knew this was the backlash effect taking place.
In no time, the scandal of their affair circulated on every colleague's phone within the circle.
As a result, the Gu family halted their planned IPO for next week and urgently convened an executive meeting.
Having once been part of the executive team, I was also invited to this meeting.
It had been a long time since I last saw Xia Anzhi, and she looked much less vibrant than before.
Now that Gu Anchen's company was on shaky ground, she had to take on the role of a stepmother while dealing with the scandal; it truly wasn't easy for her.
But one thing that hadn't changed was her air of being a schemer.
"Honey, I don't think we need to postpone the IPO. We're already married; let them expose it. We can treat it as a benefit," she said.
The executives present all responded with a unanimous "No."
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