Stars In His Eyes
Chapter 1076: Value 6

Chapter 1076: Chapter 1076: Value 6

"I’m not just afraid of bringing shame to you. What I fear even more is that I don’t have the courage to face the disgust and contempt in your eyes. I don’t hate you for failing to recognize your own biological daughter—I only hate you for this: why, when I went missing, you didn’t look for me? Didn’t miss me? Instead, you let Gu En appear in the Gu Family, replacing my existence. I even question whether all those memories of love you gave me were real or fake. If you truly loved me, then why did you allow Gu En to take my place in the Gu Family?"

"Mrs. Gu, do you know? Thirteen years—I searched for you for thirteen years. You were the belief that sustained me throughout those thirteen years, a belief I dared not put down for even a moment. In order to leave that small mountain village to find you, I studied hard, worked tirelessly for good grades, and tried everything to get to the capital. I was only six years old when I left you. I couldn’t even remember your full names. But I searched for you for thirteen years. And you? Did my disappearance mean nothing to you at all?"

Faced with He Zhilan’s accusations, Gu Mother cried out in anguish, "No, Zhilan, no—it’s not like that. No one could ever replace your place in your father’s and my hearts. Gu En is Gu En, you are you. I have never forgotten my daughter, Gu Zhilan. Your father and I didn’t stop searching for you—we searched, we mobilized everyone we could to look for you. But still, we couldn’t find you. Even after Gu En entered the Gu Family, we kept searching for you. Yet, all this time, there was never any news of you. We searched until we were desperate, and that’s when we gave up."

"If you truly cared for me, how could you so easily talk about giving up? You are my only family in this world. Do you realize that if even you gave up searching for me, who else in the world would remember me—Gu Zhilan? I was so young, and yet you gave up, despaired, leaving me to wait endlessly for you to come find me. Six-year-old me, relying on just a sliver of memory, searched for you for thirteen years. I had no connections, no skills, only shameless persistence and ruthless means to get close to people, trying to uncover every bit of news about you. Even if I knew someone might be lying to me, as long as there was even a tiny glimmer of hope, I refused to give up."

Back then, knowing full well Gu En had set a trap for her, she had jumped in without hesitation, just to cling to that faint, star-like shred of hope.

"Six-year-old me, after being taken by human traffickers, began waiting, began searching for you. For over ten years, I endured, persevered, until I finally found you. And you? As my dearest parents, I want to ask you—how dare you give up before I did? How dare you tell me you were in despair?"

He Zhilan could no longer hold back. She broke into soft sobs. "Mrs. Gu, let me tell you what despair is. Despair is standing right in front of you, yet being met with looks of disgust and disdain. Despair is nearly dying because of Gu En, yet hearing you casually tell me, ’Well, aren’t you still alive?’ Despair is recalling how little me would wait, time and time again, at the village entrance for a miracle—how foolish I was to believe that the parents who had already given up on finding me would suddenly appear and take me back to the home I remembered. That is despair! That is cruelty!"

He Zhilan cried bitterly. "Time hasn’t just changed my appearance—it has distorted yours as well. Turned you into people I can no longer recognize. Turned you into the people I hate most in this world. Hate, with every fiber of my being."