Chapter 43 Heartache (Part 2) Warm lips kissed his brows and eyes...
"The eldest young master's birthday is in two days, so everything has been cleaned inside and out."
Qian San stood at the door, hands on his hips, bossing around several new servants in an imperious manner.
"All the fish in this pond have been replaced with fish of the same size."
"Two leaves on the osmanthus tree are yellow; quickly cut them off."
"And over there, what's that...new guy's name?"
"Manager Qian, my name is A Niu."
A dark-skinned boy was struggling to carry a heavy wooden bucket. Hearing someone call him, he ran over.
Qian San beckoned to him, his expression somewhat unnatural, and said, "Aniu, take this to the second young master in the side courtyard. Remember, if anyone asks, just say it was sent by the Marquis."
Ah Niu nodded as if he understood but not quite.
He had only been at the Marquis's residence for three days, and was a newly hired servant specially brought in to handle the eldest son's birthday celebration. He had no idea where the second son's courtyard was.
I heard that the second young master was raised in the Marquis's villa when he was young, but he was not favored and had an eccentric personality...
Afraid of offending someone so soon after arriving, Ah Niu had no choice but to bite the bullet and agree: "Okay."
Ah Niu turned around and asked, "Is there anything else you need to tell me, Manager Qian?"
Qian San hesitated, his outstretched hand hovering in mid-air before falling limply to the ground.
The second young master is so young, yet the madam could still bring herself to harm him.
It's just a young child, what harm could it possibly do to her?
In the past two years, the old lady secretly added a significant amount of medicine to his food, causing him to become mentally impaired. He is only eight years old and already remembers nothing.
Even so, they still wouldn't let him go...
But then he thought about it again, and realized that the second young master's face was too similar to that of the late Lady Jiang. Every time the Marquis saw him, he would feel sad.
Ultimately, it was Madam Qian who called the shots in this household...
If it weren't for her support, how could I, a distant relative beyond the fifth degree of kinship, have become the steward of the Marquis's mansion?
Qian San sighed, shook his head, and said, "Never mind, go ahead."
Ah Niu scratched his head: "Yes."
After saying that, he picked up the food box and walked towards an inconspicuous courtyard in the Marquis's residence.
Yu Wenxue stood to the side, looking around blankly.
The Marquis's mansion was decorated with lanterns and colorful banners, and even the withered leaves on the branches of trees had been cleaned up.
All of this was to celebrate Gu Rongting's birthday.
Based on their conversation, we can roughly determine that this was ten years ago, a few days before Gu Rongting's birthday.
She followed Ah Niu's footsteps and walked forward until, without realizing it, she came to a dead end.
Ah Niu muttered to himself, "That's strange, this doesn't make sense, there's no such thing as a side courtyard..."
Seeing him pacing back and forth in the same spot for several times, Yu Wenxue picked up two stones from the ground and threw them eastward.
Hearing a strange noise, Ah Niu turned around immediately and said with realization, "So this is where it is. I've been looking for it for a long time."
He weighed the food box in his hand. He'd heard that the manor had specially hired a royal chef to prepare the meal for the eldest son's birthday. He wondered if the food inside was the same as what was served in the palace...
Ah Niu was just a ten-year-old boy, at the most mischievous age.
I couldn't resist my craving and, when no one was around, I secretly opened the package and tasted a piece of pastry.
"It really is good stuff, much tastier than brown rice." Ah Niu pursed his lips, stared at the pastries on the plate for a long time, and finally silently closed the lid.
The surrounding walls were mostly cracked, and even the gate was covered with ivy, so you couldn't even find the gate unless you looked closely.
Living in such a dilapidated environment, the second young master probably doesn't eat anything good usually, so he shouldn't be greedy.
Ah Niu touched the food box and strode inside.
In the courtyard, a boy who looked about eight or nine years old was squatting on the abandoned steps, doing something.
Yu Wenxue was curious about what Gu Yunshen would look like a few years older, so she floated in front of him and squatted down as well. "So you were watching ants moving house."
It's that feeling again.
Gu Yun Shen blinked slowly.
Ah Niu called out, "Second Young Master, the Marquis has come to bring you food."
However, no one answered.
Ah Niu pouted, thinking to himself, "How can a little kid be so rude? Sure enough, even a fallen master is still superior to his servants..."
Ah Niu placed the food box in front of Gu Yun Shen, and patiently squatted down to say to his master, who was only a few years younger than him, "I'm asking you a question. This is food that the Marquis brought for you. It's very delicious. Don't you want to try some?"
Gu Yun Shen then looked up, pointed to his ear, tilted his head and smiled, "I can't hear."
“This…” Ah Niu was dazzled by the smile and suddenly felt a pang of sadness.
This second young master is so handsome and lovely, how could he not be favored?
Looking closer, his exposed arms were covered with a dense array of wounds, new and old, layered together, looking painful...
He quickly slapped himself, cursing himself for being unable to control his mouth!
Gu Yun Shen glanced at him, said nothing, and continued to stare at the ants on the ground.
Seeing that he was engrossed in playing, Ah Niu couldn't help but glance at the box of pastries again.
To be fair, this was the best thing he had ever eaten.
From childhood to adulthood, he had only ever eaten cornbread and wild vegetable dumplings; he could only afford to eat steamed buns during the Chinese New Year.
He just ate one piece, so there should still be seven pieces left on the plate.
Even if such a small child eats only two or three pieces, he should be full.
Ah Niu coughed lightly: "Second Young Master, if you don't like it, could you share some with me?"
Gu Yun Shen ignored him.
Silence meant tacit approval. Overjoyed, Ah Niu quickly opened the box, took out a large piece, and handed it to him: "It's really delicious, Second Young Master, you should try it."
Gu Yunshen shook his head.
He disliked sweet and cloying things, and every time they brought them, he would put them on the ground to feed the ants.
As the ants worked together to carry pieces of cake crumbs to the entrance of their hole, he would pour wax dripping from the candle onto them.
The solidified wax oil coalesced into a single, intact block.
They can be together forever.
With permission granted, Ah Niu wolfed down three pieces in one go, his cheeks bulging out. "I hope I can bring you pastries again in the future."
That way he could eat good food instead of being squeezed into the servants' quarters and bullied by the older people.
A piece of debris fell to the ground. Gu Yun Shen picked it up and placed it not too far from the ant hole.
Soon, attracted by the sweet smell, the ants lined up in a long, straight line.
Gu Yunshen's eyes held a hint of excitement. He ran into the room, took down the candle that had burned down to the size of a thumb, and then ran back.
Looking up, I saw Ah Niu lying on the ground.
Ah Niu kicked his legs forward with all his might, curling up into a centipede shape.
"Ouch!" The plate was knocked to the ground, and the remaining pastries were broken into pieces. He clutched his stomach, cold sweat pouring down his pale face.
Blood slowly trickled from the corner of his mouth. Ah Niu stared helplessly at the spilled pastries on the ground: "Why does it hurt so much? Why...?"
Before he could finish speaking, blood began to flow from all seven orifices of his body, and he collapsed to the ground.
The ants scurried around the bloodstains on the ground.
Gu Yun Shen lowered his eyes, his emotions calming down somewhat.
It's always like this.
......
A servant boy died in the Marquis's mansion; his body, wrapped in a straw mat, was thrown into a mass grave.
To them, the lives of servants were as insignificant as ants under their feet, utterly worthless.
For just five taels of silver, you can buy another obedient and well-behaved child.
Yu Wenxue watched helplessly as A Niu's body was carried out, with half a piece of pastry still clutched in his hand.
The pastries are poisonous.
Although she knew from the beginning that he had a hard childhood, she still felt a chill run down her spine when she actually saw it with her own eyes.
He's so young, what did he do wrong?
Why?
Why can't anyone be kinder to him...?
Yu Wenxue is currently in a soul state, invisible, intangible, and impossible to perceive.
Even so, she still walked up to Gu Yunshen and gently embraced him.
A gentle breeze blew by, and Gu Yun Shen slowed down his movements as he tore at the dragonfly's wings.
After thinking for a moment, he withdrew his hand and let the dragonfly he had caught fly away.
Two days later, it was Gu Rongting's birthday.
The Marquis's residence only delivers one meal a day, which is mostly leftovers from the servants, and much of it is even spoiled.
Children have a keen sense of smell; they only pick out the barely edible foods to fill their stomachs, and then find something to do to pass the time, sometimes staying there all day.
Early that morning, two strong men kicked down the door and tied up Gu Yun Shen, who was still fast asleep.
Yu Wenxue was horrified and wanted to step forward to stop it, but there was nothing she could do.
One of them hesitated slightly, "Brother, are we really okay doing this? If the Marquis finds out, he will definitely be angry."
The other person replied, "These past two years, the Marquis has been away on campaigns, and the old lady and the madam have been handling all the affairs of the household. Do you want to wait for him to return and question you, or do you want to be questioned by the madam now?"
"We can't afford to offend either of them..."
The two looked at each other, and finally had no choice but to stuff Gu Yun Shen into the wardrobe and lock it up.
“This courtyard doesn’t even have a gate. If there are many guests, it would be bad if the child ran out and people saw him.”
"Remember, don't offend the lady."
With a "click," the cabinet door was locked.
Yu Wenxue shook it vigorously, but it was all in vain.
"System, can I appear in a physical form?"
[System: Sorry, if the physical body appears in the past, the host's safety cannot be guaranteed should any damage occur.]
Yu Wenxue: "Don't I have a life-saving charm?"
The system emitted a buzzing electrical sound.
"You've been playing dumb lately, you might as well change your name to 'Rice Bucket'!" Yu Wenxue ran out with the two burly men, intending to find a way to remind Gu Rongting to come over.
Many guests arrived in the front courtyard, most of whom came out of respect for the Marquis's residence.
At this time, Gu Rongting was already a young man, slender, but with gentle eyes and a very good spirit.
After bowing respectfully, he asked with a smile, "Grandmother, Mother, where is Xunhan?"
The old lady and Madam Qian exchanged a glance, and then she said, "He recently contracted a cough and asthma and was sent to the estate to recuperate. As you know, the scenery there is pleasant and good for his health."
Gu Rongting didn't think anything of it, but he couldn't hide the disappointment in his eyes.
He took out a bamboo basket and handed it to a servant: "The Grand Tutor has only granted me half a day off. Please ask my mother to help me deliver the gift to him."
Madam Qian looked somewhat uncomfortable, took a sip of tea guiltily, and replied, "You're too kind, son."
Yu Wenxue coldly stared at this vicious woman, wishing she could punch her a couple of times.
Although she has no physical body, she can still control some inanimate objects.
In a fit of anger, he threw a whole bunch of stones at once.
One of them hit Qian on the forehead.
"Ouch!" Madam Qian clutched her forehead, gasping in pain. "How... how could something have fallen from the ceiling?"
The old lady glared at her, saying emotionlessly, "Perhaps it's your imagination... Oh dear!"
He had just finished berating Qian when he was tapped on the forehead.
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, both with foreheads swollen like the God of Longevity, exchanged bewildered glances.
After venting her anger, Yu Wenxue followed Gu Rongting to the lakeside.
Gu Rongting sat in a chair, holding a collection of ancient poems with annotations in his hand.
This was originally prepared by him for Xun Han.
He is now serving as the Crown Prince's study companion in the Eastern Palace, with only one day off per month, and has not checked his studies for a long time.
The last time he returned home, the child acted like a stranger when he saw him. His grandmother said that he had suffered a shock that damaged his brain.
I wonder how his illness is now...
Over the next half hour, Yu Wenxue tried to remind him many times, but Gu Rongting, who had an extremely strong sense of perception, didn't feel anything was wrong at all.
In a fit of anger, Yu Wenxue simply used leaves to collect some bird droppings and threw them on his head.
Gu Rongting scratched his head and sighed, "There's no need to worry about hard work; everything is predestined."
"This bird must be trying to share in the good fortune."
Yu Wenxue: "......"
All roads lead to Rome; if one road doesn't work, she'll try another.
Steal the key!
Once she understood this, she immediately took action.
We passed a brightly lit room, from which came the sound of a man and a woman arguing.
"So what if I did it?"
"You're crazy!"
Yu Wenxue remembered the voice; it belonged to the Qian family.
She slowed her pace and hid under the eaves to eavesdrop.
In order to give his family a surprise, Gu Hou rushed back to the capital ahead of schedule, but he did not expect to find that Xun Han had disappeared as soon as he returned to his residence.
He sent people to search for a long time, and they actually found the child in a wardrobe in the abandoned courtyard.
"You're not just vicious, you're downright insane!"
Madam Qian gripped the edge of the table tightly, trying her best to control her emotions and maintain a calm demeanor: "Me, cruel? You brought a child back from outside without a word back then, why didn't you call yourself cruel then?"
When she recalled the painful events of the past, her eyes welled up with tears, and she roared angrily, "When you abandoned your wife who had shared your hardships and married me as your principal wife, demoting me to a concubine, did you ever think that this day would come?"
"You!" Gu Hou raised his hand, about to strike, but Qian Shi was not afraid at all. Instead, she looked up at him and said, "You can't bear to part with your old lover, you are greedy for power and status, and after you married me you treated me coldly. Even when the old lady sent your sweetheart to someone else's bed, you turned a blind eye. Who is the more vicious one?"
"You should be glad that I never hit women." After calming down for a moment, Gu Hou picked up a letter from the table. "This is a divorce agreement. From now on, we are going our separate ways."
"You want to divorce me?" Madam Qian laughed loudly. "Jiang Yaoniang died two years ago. Do you want to go down there and be her doomed lovers? Hahahaha..."
"I just don't know whose child that bastard is. I've already been very generous to let him live until now!"
"Incomprehensible!" After saying that, Gu Hou stopped talking, pulled Gu Yun Shen, who was hiding in the corner, and turned to leave.
Qian became agitated, picked up a candlestick from the table, and pointed it at her neck: "If you dare to leave this room today, I will die right here in front of you!"
Gu Hou paused slightly: "Whatever you say."
Past events had numbed her senses, and Qian's smile gradually twisted into a grimace. Suddenly, she cried out, "My Lord!"
"Do you have anything else to say?" Lord Gu asked, turning around.
"Guards! The Marquis has been stabbed by the Second Young Master!"
Before Lord Gu could react, Madam Qian grabbed a candlestick, aimed it at his throat, and stabbed him.
The candlestick was poisoned; it would kill instantly upon drawing blood.
Blood splattered all over Gu Yun Shen's youthful profile.
He touched the hot, sticky liquid, a hint of doubt appearing in his usually calm eyes.
In an instant, the candlestick used to kill was shoved into his hand.
This was the scene that Gu Rongting saw when he entered.
His revered father lay in a pool of blood, and his mother sat on the ground weeping, denouncing his younger brother's cruelty and ruthlessness.
The younger brother stood there indifferently, like an emotionless puppet, his eyes only showing icy coldness.
"No, that's not how it is, Xunhan... Father..."
Unable to accept any of this, he ran out in a daze.
The other guests rushed over upon hearing the commotion, and in an instant, eight-year-old Gu Yunshen was accused of murdering his own father.
Madam Qian wept bitterly, tearfully accusing the little madman of how he had harmed Lord Gu.
Gu Yun Shen's eyes were firm: "It wasn't me."
"You still want to deny it? I saw it with my own eyes, it was you who killed the Marquis!" Qian's words, each one piercing to the heart, moved many people present.
Everyone knows that Lady Qian was deeply in love with Lord Gu, and was willing to give up everything for him, even accepting that he had a child outside of marriage.
Gu Yun Shen composed himself, but his childlike voice carried a chilling undertone: "Did I really kill him?"
Qian: "Of course it's you!"
"I see." Gu Yun Shen walked towards Qian Shi, looking at her with innocent eyes: "Are you really going to say that I did it?"
For some reason, Ms. Qian found the child's eyes unusually frightening.
She rarely saw such an expression in a child's eyes, so cold and indifferent.
This thought only lasted for a moment; after all, he was only eight years old, and no one would believe him no matter what he said.
After calming down, she raised her voice and said, "There are witnesses and physical evidence. Even Rong Ting saw it."
"Okay." Gu Yunshen gave her an innocent smile, then forcefully pierced Qian's lower abdomen.
Qian covered her bleeding wound and stared wide-eyed.
The room was in complete chaos.
Given Gu Yun Shen's height, he could only stab an adult in the waist and abdomen, and couldn't reach the throat at all.
He used this method to prove his innocence.
Yu Wenxue felt a mix of emotions.
At the same time, someone outside announced: "Something terrible has happened! The eldest young master has fallen into the water..."
This farce ultimately ended abruptly with the death of Lord Gu.
Although Madam Qian survived, she became increasingly erratic and incoherent, leaving all matters of the Marquis's household to be managed by the old lady.
After falling into the water, Gu Rongting had a high fever for three days and three nights, and when he woke up, he remembered nothing.
Gu Yun Shen was abandoned in the mountains by the old lady under the pretext of recuperating, left to fend for himself, and disappeared without a trace...
Yu Wenxue's soul wandered outside for an unknown period of time before finally reaching the outside of Jingshan Temple.
It turned out that he had been taken in by someone.
It seems there's a missing part of the story.
Watching Gu Yun Shen practice martial arts day after day in an almost pathological way, leaving himself covered in wounds every day without ever uttering a sound of pain, her heart ached as if being stabbed with needles.
A boy of about ten years old, dragging his crippled leg, walked laboriously to Gu Yun Shen's side and handed him a steamed bun: "Why do you give yourself acupuncture every day?"
Gu Yunshen shook his head: "I don't remember."
He only knew that he wanted revenge, but he couldn't remember who his enemy was or why he wanted revenge.
He tried to deepen his memory through pain, but gradually, he couldn't even remember why he had been given acupuncture.
"Only in this mountain, where the clouds are so deep that one cannot know its location."
The young man chuckled and said, "Master is so good to you, he even gave you a name. Unlike me, I'm still called Lu Rong."
"Lu Rong, deer antler, it sounds like the name of a medicinal herb."
Gu Yun Shen didn't answer. He wiped the blood off his wrist and neatly arranged the silver needles.
He was always a man of few words, and the boy wasn't annoyed. When he turned to the side, a large scar on his right cheek was revealed. "But I've heard that acupuncture at a specific acupoint can relieve the toxins in our bodies."
“Master said that no one who was a test subject for medicine could live past the age of twenty-five. But since we were taken in by him, we just can’t believe in fate.”
"I plan to look for some medical books. Once I figure it out, I'll be the first to cure your poison. You'll have to thank me then!"
Gu Yun Shen slightly raised his eyes: "Thank you."
"It's really interesting talking to you. You can reply to one out of ten sentences." The boy patted the dust off his backside and reached out to him: "Help me up and come with me to find my master. I also want to have a poetic name."
"What do you think of the name Lu Xiangsong?"
"Very old."
"Then let's name him Lu Qinghong, as light as a feather..."
"......"
"We can't just call him Lu Taishan!"
"what ever."
*
Yu Wenxue slowly woke up and found herself lying in a soft quilt.
A dense, throbbing pain shot through my chest; this is a symptom that occurs every time I reminisce.
This is the third time; she should be used to it by now.
Feeling somewhat conflicted, she hadn't yet recovered from the heavy past when she glanced over and saw Gu Yun Shen, who was also asleep.
This face inexplicably overlaps with his childhood self, but now that he's shed his childishness, his features are even more refined and handsome.
As her gaze gradually shifted downwards, Yu Wenxue blushed and held her breath.
He wasn't wearing a shirt?!
She's always a restless sleeper, while he's a very well-behaved one. Surely she wouldn't have pulled him out of bed while she was asleep...
Yu Wenxue instinctively covered her eyes, but after a second, she squeezed a little gap through her fingers and chose to peek openly over peeking.
Before entering the memory, the system gave no prompt, so her mission must have been incomplete.
Could it be that the relative is in the wrong position?
She stared at that devastatingly beautiful face for a moment, lost in thought.
The boy's eyes were tightly closed, and his long eyelashes cast a shadow.
If not now, when? The more she thought about it, the more excited she became. Just like before, she tentatively brushed the corner of his eye with the end of her hair.
It's good that he's not awake.
Last time we kissed the cheek, how about we start with the eyelids this time?
Try everything, from top to bottom, from the outside to the inside... I refuse to believe I can't complete the task.
Isn't that how it's written in books?
It's just not a serious book.
Yu Wenxue took a deep breath, suppressing her inner excitement, and then gently tapped it with her hand.
During the time we were apart, his sleep quality did improve, and he didn't wake up even though we were apart.
She silently apologized, clutched her chest, and kissed his brows and eyes with her warm lips.
Author's Note: Xiao Gu's growth is fraught with difficulties. He was brainwashed from a young age and went to find his family alone... Unexpectedly, he entered a den of wolves and tigers. Realizing that his memory was getting worse, he kept pricking himself with needles to make himself hurt, trying to remember the hatred in this way. But after a while, he didn't even know why he was hurting himself... (The author sighs)
By the way, do you think this mission will succeed? [doge emoji with rose in hand]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
