Chapter 68 Chapter 68 is the only genuine version...
"How could that be possible?"
Mrs. Xu said with a smile.
"Ying'er is my own daughter, how could I treat her badly? I found her the best match possible, with Gong Hai, the Left Admiral of the Five Armies Commandery, Lord Gong."
Gu Zhiwei's face puffed up, and her cheeks turned red with anger: "He's already over fifty!"
"What's wrong with being over fifty?" Mrs. Xu laughed. "Master Gong is a devoted man. After his wife died, he didn't even have a concubine. Our Ying'er will be able to take charge of the household right away after she marries. What's wrong with that?"
She didn't forget to give a sarcastic remark: "Zhiwei, you're young and don't understand. Even if you despise this marriage, after all, it's better than your mother being a widow for so many years. At least there's someone who understands you, right?"
Jing Niang, the wet nurse beside Gu Zhiwei, frowned upon hearing this: "Madam, please be careful with your words!"
The two daughters in her family are not married yet, and the second daughter is only eleven years old. What dirty words did this aunt say? How could she say such words in front of the girls?
Gu Zhiwei was angry and annoyed. If this wasn't her aunt, she really wanted to slap her.
"Madam," Gu Zhizhuo said politely, bowing behind him. "Ying'er is a guest. If she wants to leave, she can leave. If she doesn't want to leave, no one can take her away. Madam, this is the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion, not some small family. You can't act so recklessly here."
"The Gu family built a mourning hall, not a wedding hall."
"If my wife says anything weird again, don't blame me for thinking that the Xu family is going to sever ties with our Gu family."
The spirit of someone else's family came to talk about marriage or something like that. If she didn't want to embarrass her second aunt Xu and Weiwei, she would have kicked him out long ago.
Mrs. Xu choked and said with a wry smile, "Miss, look at what you said. My Ying'er..."
"Okay."
From the other side of the floral curtain, a man with a protruding belly quickly emerged. It was unclear how long he had been eavesdropping there. At least when Gu Zhizhuo arrived, he noticed the boots protruding from under the floral curtain.
Now, as soon as he came over, he first scolded her, "If you keep talking nonsense, get out of here and go home." Then he smiled ingratiatingly at Gu Zhizhuo and said, "The eldest lady likes Ying'er, so let Ying'er stay here for a while longer."
"But."
"Stop nagging." The man tugged at Mrs. Xu's arm and shouted, "It's a blessing for Ying'er that the eldest lady likes her. Besides, it's my aunt's house, so why shouldn't I stay there?"
He turned his back to her, winked at her, and said in a loud voice: "Hurry up and leave."
"Uncle." Gu Zhiwei greeted with anger, and there was not much respect in his words or on his face.
He is Xu Xian, Xu's biological brother, and they are born of the same mother.
Gu Zhizhuo also said, "Uncle-in-law."
"Don't be so polite, big sister." Xu Xian acted like a tolerant elder. "We haven't even offered incense to the Duke yet..."
"We just saw someone from the palace coming," he explained, to show that he had no intention of being rude. "So we just stayed away for a while. Your aunt missed Ying'er so much that she decided to go and see her."
"You are indeed!" He shouted at Madam Xu, "Don't you see that the Duke's Mansion is busy? It's the same if you want to welcome her and then come to see her in a few days."
As he spoke, he pulled Mrs. Xu again.
Seeing Gu Baibai also coming over in a wheelchair, he hurriedly said with a smile: "Third Master, we'll go to the front first."
Mrs. Xu was reluctant, but she didn't dare to say no, so she was dragged away reluctantly.
After walking a distance, Xu Xian looked around and saw that there were no servants nearby. He quickly pulled Mrs. Xu behind a rockery and said in a low voice, "Don't mess with that Miss Gu. She's very fierce. I heard that she even hit Prince Jin in court today, and Prince Jin didn't dare to say a word after being beaten."
"Your sister..."
Mrs. Xu wanted to say that considering that Xu had been a widow for so many years for the Gu family, she would not really drive her away.
Xu Xian snorted and sneered, "Won't she just block your mouth and throw you out? You still don't listen. This is the Duke's Mansion. If even a little bit of it leaks out, it will be enough for our family to eat and drink. Do you really want to offend her completely? Don't you think about our son?"
When it comes to her son, Mrs. Xu falls silent.
"I'm just anxious. Our Abao is almost thirteen." Mrs. Xu said angrily, "Your sister is also useless. She has been married to the Gu family for so many years, but she still has no say in the Gu family. In the past, she could still say that she had the Duke's wife, but now the Duke's wife has been demoted to a concubine, and she still can't even get the power of housekeeper. If she had the ability and was willing to ask the Gu family for help, our Abao could at least become the deputy commander of the Imperial Guard! Why would she need to ask Admiral Gong for help?"
"Commander Gong has taken a fancy to Ying'er and has promised to let us, Abao, go to the Five Military Commandery as an experience officer. If we don't marry Ying'er off to him, this will be a dead end! Look, it's almost June. If Commander Gong takes a fancy to another girl, and you want to send Ying'er there again, who knows, they might not want her anymore."
That's true. Xu Xian nodded silently.
A man like Admiral Gong could get any girl he wanted, so he wouldn't be so infatuated with waiting for Ying'er.
"Besides, our Abao always says he won't marry anyone but his cousin. And we need Abao to get a proper job first before we can ask for his hand in marriage from the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion." She said disdainfully, "Even though Zhiwei has a bad temper and loves to play with weapons, she's really not worthy of Abao, but she's still a daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion after all."
"Okay." Xu Xian pulled her aside, then looked around and said, "Stop talking."
The Xu family was able to marry into the Zhenguo Mansion back then, as if they were lucky.
A Bao kept talking about marrying Zhiwei, and just listening to him was enough. If he really dared to bring it up, I would definitely let the Gu family, no, there would be no need for the Gu family, my younger sister would kick him out.
Xu Xian cleared his throat and changed the subject: "If you really can't wait, let's get engaged first and get the marriage certificate. It's the same if we come to pick her up before the wedding. With the marriage certificate, even if the Gu family is unreasonable, they can't just refuse to release her after the wedding. If they still don't release her, let Admiral Gong come to the Gu family to pick her up."
"I'm really anxious..."
Xu Xian interrupted her impatiently: "Alright, alright, let's do it this way. You mustn't offend that Miss Gu. She likes Ying'er, so let Ying'er flatter her more and make her happy. If she can get some of the money out of her fingers, it will be enough for our Abao to have enough to eat and use. As for you, go and talk to the Madam more often if you have nothing to do..."
Mrs. Xu grumbled, "Your niece won't even let me into the inner courtyard."
I can't accompany you even if I want to.
"You..." It's useless! Xu Xian was furious. "If you are not allowed to come in, then just stay here."
As he spoke, he straightened his collar.
He just saw the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works coming and had to go over to meet him. He heard that the Ministry of Works was going to purchase a large quantity of raw materials this year. If he could get the order, he could make at least 100,000 taels.
Mr. Xu left in a hurry, leaving Mrs. Xu spinning around in circles in frustration.
She knew she could get engaged first, but...
Nanny Sun, who was beside Xu, secretly told her that Xu had suddenly asked for some reason whether the child she gave birth to that year had a birthmark.
Xu had clearly fainted that year.
Without Xu Ying'er around, she couldn't feel at ease. She had better marry her off soon, so she could spend less time with the Gu family. Mrs. Xu stamped her feet and walked out from behind the rockery.
Unable to enter the inner house, she could only call a maid to take her to the waterside pavilion to sit for a while.
After the maid took her there, she came back to report to Gu Zhizhuo, and said: "Uncle Xu took Madam Xu to the back of the rockery and talked for a long time, and I did not follow them." The servants of the Gu family did not have the habit of eavesdropping on guests' conversations.
Gu Zhizhuo was taking Gu Zhiwei and Gu Zhinan hiding behind the screen in the main hall.
She quietly told them the identities of these people, and whether they were enemies, friends, or neutral to the Gu family. She raised her eyebrows when she heard this.
"They definitely won't give up." Gu Zhiwei said angrily, "They might be hiding behind the rockery to discuss how to take Cousin Ying'er away. You should go over and listen." The last sentence was said to the maid.
The Xu family was originally a small merchant at the border.
When Gu Weiwei, the second master of the Gu family, was young, he was ambushed while chasing a group of Di people and was seriously injured. He was rescued by Xu, and the two of them fell in love.
The Gu family is a duke's mansion, but there is no prejudice against family background. Take the old duke Gu Xie for example, he used to be a little beggar begging on the street, so who would look down on whom?
At the time, the Xu family, driven by a wool trade, was forcing Xu to marry a fifty-year-old county magistrate. In her previous life, after the Gu family suffered a disaster, my grandmother offered Xu a letter of divorce, urging her not to stay and die. Xu refused, revealing the details herself. She declared that, in life and death, she was a member of the Gu family, and the wife of Gu Weiwei.
Therefore, when the Duke of Zhenguo came to propose marriage, it was like pie in the sky for the Xu family.
The marriage went smoothly and Xu entered the Gu family.
The Xu family also took advantage of their marriage with the Gu family to expand their business and moved the whole family to the capital.
Gu Zhiwei was so angry she almost died: "Big sister, you don't know, that Admiral Gong they arranged for cousin Ying'er, he married two wives, and both of them died. I asked my brother to help find out, and they were both tortured to death by him.
Gu Zhiwei urged Jing Niang, "What did my brother say? You guys refused to talk to me properly. Now that my elder sister is here, you should tell me quickly!"
Jing Niang looked embarrassed.
It’s even harder to say now that the eldest girl is here.
If the Second Madam knew that I had said in front of the three girls that Master Gong liked young girls and that the two wives he had married before were under fourteen years old and had been beaten to death, I would definitely be beaten to death! No, the Gu family did not beat or kill servants casually, but they would definitely be beaten and thrown to the farm.
She shouldn't have listened to the second girl and let her son find out about these dirty things.
The Xu family is also a wealthy family. Why would they be like those poor people who have to rely on skirts to support themselves and send their daughters to be abused by such people?
Miss Ying'er is only thirteen years old! Jing Niang was completely disgusted.
"Young lady," Jing Niang said with an embarrassed smile, "that's right. This Mr. Gong loves to beat people. The first two were all tortured to death by him. He doesn't really have concubines, but he has a lot of maids in the house, none of them have official titles."
To put it bluntly, there is no status for the person. Once he is dead, you can just wrap him up in a piece of broken mat and throw him into a mass grave. It not only saves trouble but also avoids giving people a chance to talk about him.
She definitely didn't say everything, but even without listening, Gu Zhizhuo knew that her hesitating words were definitely not good things.
"Big sister." Gu Zhiwei hugged her arm and said, "Please help my cousin and don't drive her away."
Gu Zhiwei also knew that there had been a lot of things going on in his family recently.
After her third brother came back from Xinjiang, he told her about what he had seen and heard along the way, and also about what happened in the city of Aul. She cried all night.
The elder sister is now trying to secure the survival of the Gu family, and she shouldn't bother her with these trivial matters.
However, if nothing is done, cousin Ying'er will definitely be taken away by force, and then for the sake of Xu Yaobao's future, she will be betrothed to someone else by the Xu family, and she might even die.
My cousin is obviously also my aunt’s daughter, how can you treat her like this?
"I see."
Gu Zhizhuo patted her cheek.
"Tell Ying'er not to leave the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion. No one can take her away."
She has already taken control of the inner and outer courtyards of the Duke Zhenguo's Mansion. Now it is impossible for her to take people away from the Duke's Mansion as she did in the past.
"Just because she saved you, you have to take care of this trivial matter."
"Big sister, you are so nice!" Gu Zhiwei buried her head in her arms and acted coquettishly.
Gu Zhinan tilted his head to look at his two sisters, then hugged her other arm and shook it: "Cousin Ying'er is very nice. She even helps me feed the little rabbits."
"Weiwei, you..."
Gu Zhizhuo was just about to ask her to ask Xu Ying'er what she thought when a maid came hurriedly and said, "Miss, the prince is back."
Oh, it’s quite early.
Gu Zhizhuo looked at the sky and realized that he had been gone for less than two hours?
"Let's go first."
Gu Zhizhuo walked out around the screen with his two sisters, and Gu Yican strode over and stepped over the threshold.
The main hall became even quieter, with only the sound of his military boots stepping on the ground.
His footsteps became heavier and heavier, as if every step weighed a thousand pounds.
Gu Zhizhuo stood there without moving, watching him silently, watching him walk from the door to the center of the main hall.
He fell to his knees and kowtowed heavily.
Three kneelings and nine kowtows.
When he stood up, his forehead was bloody red, and blood oozed out from the broken skin and slid down along the corner of his temples.
He stared at the coffin and stood silently for a long time. When he turned around, he showed his usual unrestrained and ostentatious smile.
He first blinked at Gu Zhizhuo, then saluted him seriously.
"Third uncle, aunt."
Several younger brothers and sisters also called him "Big Brother".
After greeting everyone one by one, Gu Baibai said with relief: "I'm glad you're back. This time, you seem to have grown taller and darker."
Gu Yican smiled brightly: "My sister said so too."
Since there were guests present, Gu Baibai didn't say much.
"Go back and pay your respects to your grandmother. She's been thinking about you."
"I'll go later." Gu Yican took off his armor and handed it to the steward, then waved to Gu Zhizhuo, "Sister, I'm leaving."
"Where are you going?"
Gu Yican's smile didn't fade. He raised the corner of his eye, and his dark eyes swept over the guests inside and outside the main hall. He said in his voice without lowering his voice at all: "Go find someone to bring bad luck."
Wherever the eyes looked, many people felt numb.
The Gu family observed mourning for three years, and they almost forgot that Gu Yican was different from the good-tempered Gu Taotao. He used to lead a group of playboys in the capital, acting recklessly and causing trouble.
"Uncle, Aunt, we'll be back soon. Wait for us to have dinner when we come back!"
He pulled Gu Zhizhuo along, and the brothers and sisters disappeared in a short while.
Gu Baibai: ...
One Yaoyao was already enough to startle him, and now there was Cancan... He rubbed his aching forehead, raised his eyes and smiled gently, as if nothing had happened.
Out of the corner of her eye, she was watching the hem of Gu Zhizhuo's skirt disappear into the hanging flower gate.
Gu Zhizhuo pulled Gu Yican's arm and walked happily, and asked casually: "Gu Cancan, he didn't make things difficult for you, did he?"
He was referring to the emperor.
"without."
Gu Yican shook his head. He was actually mentally prepared to be embarrassed and punished by standing or kneeling.
After arriving, he waited in the waiting area for a while before being summoned. The whole process was uneventful. Gu Yican returned the token of the Fifth Army Camp, and the emperor gave him a few words of encouragement before sending him away.
Gu Yican knew that with the emperor's temper, he would never tolerate his sister threatening him with military power today.
The more peaceful it is, the more wrong it is.
Gu Yican shook his high ponytail, raised his arm and put it on her shoulder, lowered his voice and said, "Sister, I think we should put the matter of inheriting the title aside for now, and let him vent his anger first."
Gu Zhizhuo: "...You are right."
First it was the Ji family, then the Ziji Pavilion. Her steps were indeed a bit fast.
Gu Zhizhuo lowered his eyelids.
When the Emperor was still a prince, he was inferior to the deposed Crown Prince in every way, both in front of the late Emperor and the officials. He wasn't as intelligent, popular, or virtuous as the deposed Crown Prince... So, after ascending the throne, he constantly flaunted the late Emperor, hoping to surpass him and become a wise ruler.
Gu Zhizhuo took advantage of his emphasis on reputation to buy the Gu family a chance to breathe.
However, when the emperor was angry, millions of people died.
The current Zhenguo Mansion does not have the strength to compete with the entire Daqi Dynasty.
On the surface, the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion did indeed possess a Northern Frontier Army of 200,000 men, but in reality, years of warfare had left the soldiers exhausted and the imperial court withheld provisions for a long time, forcing the Northern Frontier to rely entirely on self-sufficiency. Last year's battle had severely reduced the army's strength, with many of them elderly, weak, and disabled. My third uncle had even sacrificed his own legs to drive the Northern Di away.
To put it bluntly, even if they rebelled, the Northern Frontier Army could not defeat the powerful and well-equipped Imperial Guards.
Gu Yican went to report. It would have been fine if the emperor had made things difficult for him, but now it seemed like he was holding something back.
Let him vent his anger first!
The two looked at each other and reached a tacit agreement.
Yan Yunzhao was waiting at the door, and without anyone pulling the reins, he followed behind out with a clattering sound.
Gu Zhizhuo asked excitedly, "Who are we going to bring bad luck upon?"
Gu Yican grinned, revealing his white teeth.
"Prince Jin."
Back then, he only brought back his father's armor. It was useless to him, which made his father rest in peace after his death, and his body suffered all these years.
Gu Yican pulled her onto the horse, and the two of them rode straight to Prince Jin's Mansion.
Prince Jin's Mansion was not far from the Duke Zhenguo's Mansion, both were in the inner city. Yan Yunzhao ran fast and steady, turning through the streets and alleys, and at the end of the left bank bridge was Prince Jin's Mansion. From a distance, Gu Zhizhuo saw that many people had gathered in front of the gate of Prince Jin's Mansion.
There was also a faint smell of blood lingering in the nose.
Who is fighting at the gate of Prince Jin's Mansion?
Just as this thought came to mind, the young men in gorgeous clothes at the door heard the sound of horse hooves, turned around, and shouted in unison: "Brother Can!"
Gu Zhizhuo:?
Zhou Liulang added attentively when he saw Gu Zhizhuo: "Sister."
As soon as he shouted, the others looked at each other and shouted in unison: "Sister!"
Gu Zhizhuo: ? ?
Have they not forgotten that?
Gu Yican sat on the horse, his black hair tossed, and asked arrogantly, "Where are the things I asked you to prepare?"
“I have it with me!”
Zhou Liulang shook the wooden barrel in his hand, and the dark red liquid inside swayed with his movement.
Gu Yican nodded with satisfaction and praised. He looked up at the plaque "Prince Jin's Mansion" hanging above the vermilion gate and waved his hand.
"Knock on the door!"
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