Emperor Hui's edict was directly conveyed to Gu Chengyan by Minister of Personnel Zhang (Zhang Yanyan's father).

A lowly official of the seventh rank is not qualified to issue imperial edicts.

None of the men and women of the Marquis of Pingyang knew that Gu Chengyan had permanently lost his official career in the court.

He was then held down and given a severe beating.

When Granny Wei heard that Xie Xiangxiang was going to give the flower crown to that woman and adopt that child, Granny Wei was filled with despair.

"Second Miss, this old servant doesn't understand why you insist on adopting a child? Isn't it better to give birth naturally? Although it's painful, isn't that how all women go through it?"

Xie Xiangxiang remained silent. She wanted to give birth herself, but Gu Chengyan wouldn't allow it!

Sigh, Egg's sadness!

"Second Miss, this old servant doesn't think the Young Master's words can be trusted!"

Xie Xiangxiang felt troubled, but she couldn't tell anyone that Gu Chengyan couldn't have children.

The last time, the mysterious prescription from the witchcraft doll aroused suspicion among the people in the mansion that Gu Chengyan was infertile, and the second branch of the family immediately wanted to seize the title.

She looked at Granny Wei impatiently: "If I don't trust my husband, who should I trust? My father? My mother? Or that high and mighty eldest sister?"

Granny Wei was somewhat desperate, and for the first time began to suspect that Madam Xu and Xie Xiangxiang had been targeting Xie Zhaozhao.

Logically speaking, the two sisters, one the wife of a high-ranking official and the other the wife of a prince, should have been able to effectively control the Marquis's household instead of undermining it at every turn and allowing those petty people in the Marquis's household to benefit.

She went to the main kitchen to get hot water, feeling down. As she walked past the patch of blue honeysuckle, she suddenly heard a man and a woman gossiping in hushed tones.

"Have you heard? There's a man in the manor who's keeping a mistress in the south of the city, and they've already had a child."

"Really? Madam doesn't care?"

"He's hiding it, saying he's impotent!"

"The baby's already born, and he still can't get it up? If it were me, I'd give him a packet of pills and see if he could get it up then!"

"Heh heh, isn't that right? Just for a single pill, she was so foolish as to have her dowry money swindled away to support his mistress and her children. The servants are all idiots too, their eyes are blinded by shit..."

"Thump~"

Ah~

Someone threw a brick, and then there was a series of footsteps across the honeysuckle bushes. Two gossipy people ran away.

The more Granny Wei thought about it, the more she felt something was off. Why did he sound so much like the young master?

Think of the prescription for treating impotence that the witch doctor found back then, think of the second young lady wanting to adopt a child only a few months after her wedding, think of the family of three I saw today...

Granny Wei's hands were trembling. Could that group of idiots in the courtyard be a group from their Fanghua Garden?

She stopped halfway as she was running towards Fanghua Garden, standing in the cold wind for a long time, thinking about Xiangxing, Biyou, and Chunshan, whom she couldn't find no matter what she did... She walked resolutely out of the mansion.

Yuanyuan, who had been standing in the corner, clapped her hands and walked out confidently.

Granny Wei, are you going to buy the "Golden Spear" medicine?

Sure enough, it's more effective to talk to this ruthless old woman when you have something to say.

"Yuanyuan, you're awesome!" Yuanyuan praised herself in a male voice, then giggled, "I'm doing pretty well learning ventriloquism from Nanxing!"

...

Gu Chengyan was beaten up, his buttocks were bruised and battered, but he didn't dare go back to the Marquis's mansion. Clutching the flower crown, he asked Ping An to pull him to Guan Yingying's place.

Guan Yingying was furious and wouldn't even let him in the door.

Ping An pounded on the door, but dared not shout.

On a snowy day, Gu Chengyan, clutching the box, felt cold and in pain, and fainted in front of her door.

Ping An cried outside the door, "Open the door, the master has fainted."

Guan Yingying then asked Yan Ke to open the door, only to find out that he had been caned that day.

He hurriedly told Nianke to go to the pharmacy and ask the resident doctor to come to his home for treatment.

Gu Chengyan woke up and reached out his trembling hand to Guan Yingying.

Guan Yingying was both angry and resentful, but seeing him like this, she couldn't bear it and couldn't help but tease him, "Oh, come on, feel it, is Gigi frozen?"

Gu Chengyan opened his mouth, and called out in a hoarse voice, "Ying..."

"Shut up. We'll talk again when you're better."

Gu Chengyan had a high fever for three days in a row, his cheeks were flushed red, and he kept calling out Guan Yingying in his delirium.

According to Ping An, the Imperial Censor saw the two shaking hands at the South Gate and also saw Gu Chengyan buying jewelry for him. He then impeached Gu Chengyan, who was punished with forty strokes of the cane and beaten half to death, but he still couldn't confess.

Despite her weakness, she called out to him with such deep affection. Guan Yingying's pent-up anger gradually disappeared, replaced by a mix of sadness and heartache.

"If you're sick, just stay put. Once you're better, hurry back to see your wife. What if she brings a bunch of people here to catch you in the act again!"

“Yingying, if it weren’t for the fear of you getting into trouble, why would I marry such a useless person? For you, I would give up my title as the heir apparent and I’m not afraid of breaking with the Marquis’s mansion.”

Gu Chengyan was so weak that he could only crawl, but he answered without hesitation.

He's been with Guan Yingying for several years, how could he not know what she's thinking!

She wanted him to hold a high position of power more than anyone else, and she couldn't bear to see him lose his status as the heir apparent.

Therefore, he kept the fact that he would never be employed by the imperial court a secret for as long as possible.

Sure enough, Guan Yingying slapped him: "Why did you break ties with the Marquis's mansion for no reason? Aren't you just making your mother hate me to death?"

Sigh, let it be. He only cares about himself, why should she care about those superficial things?

Gu Yuebai wanted to come in to see her father. When Aunt Wang saw the two of them alone behind closed doors, she knew something was bound to happen. Even though he was sick, there was a certain charm to tormenting the sick.

He then tried to scare Gu Yuebai, saying, "Master is sick; it wouldn't be good if he passed his illness on to you."

Gu Yuebai blinked: "My dad's sick, will they still be so siding with each other?"

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