Chapter 31 Chapter 31 is the only genuine version...
After Gu Zhizhuo returned, he handed the divorce document that had been filed with the Jingzhao Yin to Gu Liaoliao.
It was already past midnight, but Gu Liuliao had not yet gone to bed. She took the document and carefully read every word on it, as if she wanted to deeply imprint it in her heart.
"Ah Man..." Gu Liao Liao was very surprised, "The Qin family is willing to give up Ah Man?"
The document clearly stated that Qin Guirou was raised by the Gu family and entered the Gu family ancestral hall, and from then on she had no relationship with the Qin family.
Qin Guirou is A'man's full name.
Gu Liuliao originally thought that it would take some effort to get Ah Man to be hers, but she didn't expect that Gu Zhizhuo could do it so easily.
Gu Zhizhuo sneered repeatedly: "The wife of the Marquis of Jing'an thought Ah Man had drowned, so she was too lazy to bother about it."
When Lady Jing'an signed the agreement, Gu Zhizhuo was standing by. When Lady Jing'an saw this, a look of sarcasm appeared on her face, and she signed without hesitation.
Gu Liaoliao sneered. Yes, in the heart of Lady Jing'an, Ah Man was already a dead person. It didn't matter who a dead person belonged to. It could also save a coffin.
She put down the document and asked, "Yaoyao, how did you know she wanted to...she wanted to drown Ah Man?"
At first, Gu Liaoliao's mind was in a mess, and the only thought in her mind was to find her daughter. It was not until she held her daughter in her arms again and thought back that she noticed that Yaoyao seemed to know something in advance.
"I went to Taiqing Temple early this morning and drew a fortune for Ah Man. It was a very bad fortune. The temple master said that Ah Man's life was in danger."
Gu Zhizhuo had said this before, and in order to avoid explaining some reasons, she deliberately borrowed the name of the temple master.
"Later, perhaps out of the ancestor's mercy, when I went to the ancient cypress tree to hang a fortune stick, I overheard two pilgrims from Liangzhou talking. They were talking about how a relative of theirs had cruelly taken their daughter's heart's blood and then drowned her in order to have a son. Now, they didn't get a son, they're seriously ill, and their wealth has been swindled away. This is all retribution."
She rephrased what Huai Jingzhi had said and said, "I thought Ah Man was afraid of needles."
"The wife of the Marquis of Jing'an is from Liangzhou."
She stopped there and didn't say anything further.
Heart blood?
At this moment, countless sharp needles pierced into Gu Liaoliao's heart, causing her to bleed profusely due to the pain.
A'man had her heart blood taken away and she almost died young.
At this moment, she completely understood why Ah Man didn't remember what happened that day.
She was only two years old at that time. If she could not forget this painful memory, how terrifying her life would be.
"Yaoyao, I'm glad I have you."
Fortunately you are here!
Gu Liaoliao's lips turned pale, and waves of strong hatred surged over her, almost drowning her.
Gu Zhizhuo pinched her knuckles to divert her attention, saying, "From now on, Ah Man will be a daughter of our Gu family. Tomorrow we will go to Jingzhao Prefecture to change Ah Man's household registration. I think we should call her Gu Zhiman, okay?"
She abandoned her original name and followed the generational order of the Gu family girl, and from then on she had nothing to do with the Qin family.
"good……"
"Aunt!"
Ah Man's wet nurse, Fang Niang, hurried out and shouted in horror, "Aunt, the girl is having a seizure."
Gu Liaoliao stood up suddenly, lifted her skirt and rushed in without thinking, and Gu Zhizhuo quickly followed.
Ah Man was in the inner room. She lifted the curtain and walked around the screen. She saw a little child with purple lips lying on the couch. Her eyes were half open and half closed, and her limbs were twitching constantly. Even the two strong maids could not hold her down.
"Aman!"
Gu Liao Liao rushed over and ordered, "Go get the jade plate quickly."
The jade plate was for her to bite to prevent her from biting her tongue when she convulsed.
Ah Man's face was flushed deeply and she was moaning in pain. Gu Zhizhuo sat beside her and took her hand to feel her pulse.
It's fear.
Fever caused by fear.
The situation is very dangerous.
Gu Zhizhuo asked, "When did the fever start?"
"Just now," Fang Niang said in a trembling voice, "The girl has been sleeping since she came back. The doctor said the knockout drug hasn't worn off yet and she'll be fine once she wakes up. About an incense stick ago, the girl seemed to have a nightmare and slept very restlessly, and then suddenly she had a fever."
Gu Zhizhuo retracted his finger and said decisively, "Aunt, use the needle."
Originally, I didn’t dare to use the needle because I was afraid that it would scare Ah Man and cause a high fever convulsion. But now that he has already had a convulsion, what is there to worry about?
Good, that makes sense! Gu Liaoliao was speechless. If any other doctor had said this, she would have kicked him out long ago, but her niece must have had her reasons for saying this.
"good."
Gu Liaoliao nodded.
Yaoyao is Ah Man's cousin and would never harm her.
She believed her.
Gu Liuliao silently made way for the seat and asked the maids to stay away. She walked aside, lit the wick of the table lamp, and asked someone to bring a few more lamps.
Actually, whether the lights were on or off didn't make much of a difference; even in the dark, Gu Zhizhuo could still accurately extract blood. But Gu Zhizhuo knew she was getting nervous, so he said nothing and let her busy herself and distract herself.
Gu Zhizhuo first inserted the silver needle into Ah Man's Ren Zhong and Yong Quan points to ease her convulsions, then he took off her clothes and took blood along the heart meridian and pericardium meridian.
Her movements were extremely fast and her needlework was extremely steady. Gu Liaoliao had just lit and arranged the lamps one by one when she turned around and saw that Gu Zhizhuo had already stopped.
Gu Liaoliao's heart was pounding. She walked over nervously and saw that Ah Man's upper body was almost covered with needles. These needles were extremely thin, much thinner than any silver needles she had ever seen.
Ah Man was motionless and no longer twitching. He slept soundly. The blush on his face faded, leaving only a hint of paleness.
The flickering candlelight illuminated the room.
"The fever's gone." Gu Zhizhuo saw what she was thinking and reassured her before saying, "It'll take at least an hour to remove the needle."
Seeing that her eyes were red from staying up late, Gu Liao Liao said distressedly, "Yaoyao, why don't you go get some sleep?"
"Stop it."
Gu Liaoliao: “…”
She pulled Gu Zhizhuo to sit down, gave her a cup of warm water, and went out to ask the maid to cook a bowl of noodles.
Chicken soup was simmering in the small kitchen, so the noodles were served very quickly. The noodles used chicken soup as the base, and the white and thin noodles were sprinkled with a handful of green onions, which looked very refreshing.
Gu Zhizhuo was indeed hungry, and the smell made her even hungrier. She finished her noodles and even drank all the soup. She finally recovered and licked her lips in satisfaction.
“I’m full!”
Feeling a bit lazy after eating, Gu Zhizhuo perked up and sat beside Ah Man's couch, checking her pulse every now and then. At the hour of Yin, she began to remove the needles.
The movements were equally crisp and smooth.
She put the pulled out needles on the needle bag, and Gu Liaoliao carefully picked up one. Indeed, the needle was extremely thin, even thinner than her hair, and extremely long. She couldn't even hold such a tiny silver needle if she was not careful, but in Yaoyao's hand, it was as flexible as a part of her body.
Her niece is amazing! Gu Liuliao's eyes were full of satisfaction. She didn't say anything, for fear of disturbing her concentration. After gently replacing the silver needle, she suddenly noticed Ah Man's eyelids moving out of the corner of her eye.
Ah. Gu Liaoliao immediately covered her mouth with her hand and said in a low voice, "Yaoyao, Ah Man seems to be waking up."
Gu Zhizhuo was pulling out the last silver needle. Hearing this, he looked up and saw that Ah Man's eyelids trembled violently a few times. Then she opened her eyes without warning, her eyes empty, staring at the silver needle in Gu Zhizhuo's hand.
Gu Zhizhuo didn't dare to move.
"ah--"
Ah Man suddenly screamed loudly. It was a sound that came from deep in her throat, full of fear and helplessness.
Gu Liaoliao exclaimed: "Aman..."
Gu Zhizhuo stopped her and shook his head.
“Waaaaaaaaaa——”
Ah Man continued to scream, louder and louder, and she didn't stop until she could hardly catch her breath, her cheeks flushed red.
Gu Liaoliao's heart was in turmoil, but she held it back and didn't go over.
She put her hands to her lips to silence herself.
Gu Zhizhuo held Ah Man's wrist with one hand, paying attention to her pulse, while holding the silver needle steadily with the other hand.
This was a silver needle pulled out from Tianchi Lake. The longest one was as long as her palm.
The silver needle emitted a cold light in the candlelight, which was reflected in Ah Man's dark pupils.
Her pupils shrank, filled with horror.
Gu Zhizhuo pursed his lips tightly, and Ah Man was still missing an opportunity to speak.
Taking risks is like living towards death. Ah Man has already walked between life and death once. Heaven has returned her life, so it should also return her life to her.
Gu Zhizhuo raised the silver needle high and pretended to stab it down hard.
"ah!"
"mother--"
Gu Zhizhuo's hand holding the silver needle barely stopped above her heart.
Ah Man curled up into a ball, crying out in fear, "Mother, Mother!"
Her voice was hoarse and unclear, but both Gu Liaoliao and Gu Zhizhuo could clearly hear her cry: "Mom, it hurts."
Gu Zhizhuo moved his index finger that was blocking the needle tip, clenched his fist loosely to hide the bleeding finger, and used his other hand to feel his pulse. A faint smile appeared on his face, and he nodded to Gu Liaoliao.
Gu Liao Liao could no longer restrain herself and rushed over: "Ah Man, mother is here, mother is here."
"Mom, it hurts, it hurts."
Ah Man sobbed and cried loudly.
"It hurts, there's a needle, Mom, it hurts so much."
"Mom is here, mom is here, mom will call for Ah Man..." Gu Liuliao hugged her tightly, repeating the same sentence over and over again, with tears and smiles on her face.
"A'man, my A'man. Don't be afraid. I'm here."
Gu Zhizhuo put the silver needle back into his sleeve pocket, walked out quietly, wrote a prescription with the charcoal pencil he carried with him, and handed it to Qingmei.
"These medicines should be available in the small storehouse in my yard. Go grab some and boil them."
Qingmei pulled her right hand away without saying a word. Her index finger was still bleeding, staining her palm red.
Qingmei wrapped her wound with a clean handkerchief and left with the prescription.
The handkerchief was tied into a beautiful bow on her finger. Gu Zhizhuo bent her fingers and walked back happily around the screen.
Ah Man calmed down completely and fell asleep in Gu Liao Liao's arms. There were still traces of tears on Gu Liao Liao's face. She sang a nursery rhyme softly. When she saw her coming, she raised her eyes and smiled.
"Your finger..."
"It's okay. Just a needle prick." Gu Zhizhuo sat on the edge of the couch nonchalantly and said with a smile, "A'man is fine. It's a blessing in disguise."
Gu Liaoliao's heroic brows slowly relaxed, revealing a contented smile that had not been seen for a long time.
"Let her fall asleep. I'll have someone make some medicine. Take it after she wakes up."
"Keep the calming incense burning, and don't leave the jade token."
"If you raise him for a few more days, he'll be just like any other child."
"But my speech might not be very fluent, and I'll have to teach myself again."
Gu Liaoliao agreed to all of them.
She looked at her daughter's chubby face with a smile, her heart and eyes full, and she felt that she could never see enough.
Her daughter, her life.
Gu Liuliao didn't dare to blink the whole night until Ah Man woke up and called "Mom" sweetly. She finally confirmed that she was not dreaming.
For several days, she was a little worried and anxious, and all her attention was focused on Ah Man, and she was unwilling to let her out of her sight for a moment.
Gu Zhizhuo specifically told Madam Gu not to disturb them. She had originally thought it would be best to stay at the farm for a while, but Ah Man didn't want to. After Ah Man woke up, he forgot about some things and happily followed her around all day, watching her heal the bird's wings and even secretly feeding it pine nuts.
When the bird was finally willing to pick pine nuts from her hand, an invitation was delivered to Gu Zhizhuo.
It was a post for the third-day bath banquet held by the Jing'an Marquis's Mansion.
Finally, it's here.
Ji originally wanted to send this post to Gu Liaoliao.
However, now everyone in the mansion knew that Gu Zhizhuo was forcing Ji to hand over the housekeeper power, so some of the smart daughters-in-law began to pretend to obey and gave this note to Gu Zhizhuo.
"Qiong Fang, reward."
The daughter-in-law went down happily with the reward money in her hand.
Gu Zhizhuo opened the note and said without looking up, "Send Sishi to mother and ask her if the account books have been sorted out."
Qiongfang agreed with a smile. Sishi had been running around the yard these past few days, delivering a lot of information to the lady. Although the girl was busy, she actually saw everything.
Gu Zhizhuo can read ten lines at a glance.
Aunt Sun gave birth to this baby several days earlier than in her previous life, but it was still a boy.
My aunt signed the divorce agreement and moved her dowry with great fanfare. The Jing'an Marquis's Mansion most likely wanted to save face, so they brazenly sent the invitation to the Gu family.
So funny.
In the previous life, the Qin family's third-day-birth banquet was extremely luxurious. Now that Lady Jing'an is so pretentious, even inviting most of the capital wouldn't be enough.
Gu Zhizhuo casually threw the post aside, stood up and said, "Prepare the horses."
She rode on the jade lion and went out.
She originally wanted to go to Taiqing Temple, but unexpectedly, when she passed Xuanwu Street, she saw the person she wanted to see. This was such good luck that even she was a little surprised.
“Senior Brother!”
Gu Zhizhuo happily stopped the jade lion and called out in a very familiar and intimate manner.
Qingping, who was turning into the alley, didn't even stop and didn't even think that he was being called.
"Third Brother!"
Qingping is the third in the sect. He was stunned for a moment. Who is it?
Turning his head, Qingping saw Miss Gu, who was extremely unlucky and had bad luck all the time, and whoever got close to her would be doomed, standing not far behind him, looking at him with a smile.
“Senior Brother!”
Who is your senior brother? Stop yelling! Qingping looked at her with disdain. This fate was really... so cruel that he didn't even want to look at it.
There was no benefit in being too close to her. Qingping took several steps back, his mustache sticking up, and he was just short of saying "stay away".
Gu Zhizhuo pretended not to notice his disdain. After getting off his horse, he leisurely walked towards him and greeted him with a smile: "Brother, where is Master now?"
"Don't shout, who is your master?"
What about Master and Senior Brother? Qingping looked alert, not understanding what she was going to do.
"Master's Taoist name is Wuweizi. This year..." Gu Zhizhuo counted on his fingers, "I'm eighty-one. Our sect is called Tianxin Sect. Besides you, I have seven senior brothers above me. You are the third."
She said this with confidence and without any guilt at all.
In this life, she has not yet become a disciple, but in the previous life, Qingping was indeed her senior brother.
Qingping was stunned.
He never told anyone about his master except the temple master.
She, she, she...
When he left Tianxin Temple, the master was still in retreat. He had been gone for just over a year. How could the master be so desperate that at his age he would add a little junior sister to his family?!
Especially since she is such an unlucky junior sister!
Qingping felt a little unwell.
"Master, Junior Sister?"
Qingping rubbed his forehead. This was really hard to accept.
He had to slow down, really slow down.
Am I dreaming? This is such a horrible dream!
Qingping closed his eyes, and after reciting the mantra in his mind for a full hundred times, he suddenly opened his eyes and looked left and right.
No one!
He stroked his mustache and sighed, "Luckily it was just a dream."
Gu Zhizhuo patted him lightly on the back: "Senior Brother."
He jumped up in fright, and the hand that was pinching his mustache shook, pulling out several black hairs, making him grimace in pain.
"Brother." Gu Zhizhuo said with a smile, "You are not dreaming."
Qingping scolded with tears in his eyes: "What are you doing standing behind me!?"
"To scare you." Gu Zhizhuo said as a matter of course.
Qingping glared at her.
Gu Zhizhuo's smile remained unchanged, and he let him watch. After a long while, Qingping seemed to have accepted his fate and asked dejectedly, "When did Master accept you as his disciple?"
"When you see Master, just ask him." Gu Zhizhuo said nonchalantly, "I can't run away. Besides, you're so poor that you can't even afford a meeting gift. There's no benefit in me blindly recognizing you."
This is really heartbreaking!
Qingping was skeptical and kept counting with his fingers in his sleeves.
Gu Zhizhuo had of course noticed his little move, but she pretended not to know and asked, "Brother, did you go to the Jing'an Marquis's Mansion between June and July last year?"
Qingping paused his calculations. If he remembered correctly, the Jing'an Marquis's Mansion was related to the Gu family, right? He wondered what Gu Zhizhuo meant by asking this, and after some recollection, he nodded.
He had indeed been there.
“Yes.”
"Senior Brother has set up a Feng Shui formation for the Jing'an Marquis's Mansion to help him have children, right?"
"right……"
"What did Senior Brother calculate that day?"
Qingping fell silent. Although he had only been in the capital for a short time, he had spent his days wandering among the wealthy families. He knew exactly what he could and could not say.
Gu Zhizhuo didn't need his answer and continued, "You calculated that the palace of descendants of Qin Su, the son of the Jing'an Earl, is inauspicious and he is destined to have no heirs."
Qingping was shocked.
How did she know?! I had never told anyone about this except Lady Jing'an!
"I calculated it." Gu Zhizhuo made a finger-pinching motion and said half-seriously, "Master said that I was given a living by the Grand Master."
Qingping said disdainfully: Master says this to everyone.
"Master..." He accidentally almost called out "Junior Sister".
He cleared his throat and said, "This Jing'an Earl's son is destined to be childless. This is heaven's will and cannot be defied. As for Jing'an Earl's wife asking me to set up a feng shui formation to bring prosperity to his son, she didn't say it was only for his son."
"Look, his family has had several children in the past year."
There are indeed quite a few. Gu Zhizhuo has specifically inquired about it. The Earl of Jing'an has seven or eight illegitimate sons and daughters. Qin Su has no son, but all of Qin Su's illegitimate brothers have many descendants.
He pinched his sleeve and said seriously: "This money of mine was definitely not obtained by fraud!"
Gu Zhizhuo suppressed his smile and said seriously, "Brother, I know you mean well. You want to tell Lady Jing'an that the Crown Prince is destined to be childless and not to force it. But you know, Lady Jing'an only understood the meaning of 'evil stars offend taboos' and has determined that Ah Man is an evil star."
"A'man is the only daughter of my aunt and the son of the Jing'an Earl."
"Huh?" Qingping was stunned.
"I have reminded the wife of the Marquis of Jing'an that the Crown Prince was destined to die childless. Fortunately, the Crown Prince's wife was very evil-minded, and she was lucky enough to have a daughter. It is important to be content in order to ensure the safety of the whole family."
Gu Zhizhuo sighed.
As expected! Her senior brother was a bit greedy for money, but he would not take ill-gotten gains. He would remind people of what needed to be reminded.
However, as the saying goes, the secrets of heaven cannot be revealed.
Even if a person who practices Taoism has seen through the secrets of heaven, he can only tell the other party in an obscure way so as to avoid bearing the consequences of revealing the secrets of heaven.
Gu Zhizhuo spread his hands and said, "Because of what you said, the wife of the Marquis of Jing'an was convinced that it was Ah Man who caused Qin Su's family line to end. So, she first used a needle to draw Ah Man's heart blood to pray for a child, and then she wanted to drown her."
"Fortunately, it didn't succeed."
Qingping's face turned very bad and he fell silent for a while.
Gu Zhizhuo continued, "Brother, this was not your original intention, but it was caused by you."
Indeed. Qingping nodded silently. If the child really died, it would be because of him. Not only would the merits he had cultivated for half his life be greatly lost, but he would also have to bear the heavy consequences.
Ahhh! Qingping scratched his head irritably, dandruff flying everywhere, not looking like a Taoist master at all.
He has been very cautious since he came to the capital this year. Who would have thought that he would fail in the Jing'an Marquis's Mansion!
Gu Zhizhuo patted his shoulder comfortingly and changed the subject: "The son of the Jing'an Earl has just had a baby boy. The third birthday celebration will be held in two days. This baby's birth is also thanks to my senior brother. Now, you should go and celebrate, right?"
Qingping always felt that every word was mocking himself.
etc!
"Has the prince of the Jing'an Marquis's Mansion been replaced?" Qingping asked.
"without."
"Don't talk, let me think." Qingping realized for the first time that his brain was not working well.
The son of the Jing'an Earl was destined to be childless, but if he had a son, it would be his third birthday, so...
"I understand!"
"The Jing'an Marquis's Mansion will definitely send you an invitation." Gu Zhizhuo's lips curved, and he smiled innocently. "Brother, please take the trouble to go to the third-day bath banquet and explain to those members of the Qin family what they didn't understand in detail, word by word. This will prevent them from misunderstanding again and doing something stupid that will implicate you. That would be bad."
Qingping:!
This girl was truly evil! She clearly meant to invite him to the Third Baptism Banquet, where she would reveal to all the guests in the capital that the Prince of Jing'an was cuckolded and unable to bear children, which would lead to the extinction of the family line. And yet she kept saying it was for his own good.
Look at this heart, wow, it must be black.
How desperate must the master be to accept her as his disciple!
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