Chunling and Xia Hua were unaware that she and Gu Chengyan had not consummated their marriage, and they even advised her, "The child born to the madam might be even smarter and more capable than young master Yuebai."
"Give birth my ass!" Xie Xiangxiang thought irritably.
"Let's go see my elder sister." She wanted to see if Xie Zhaozhao was secretly pregnant.
She, along with Chunling and Xiahua, swayed as they arrived at Qingpu Courtyard. Just as they were about to push open the door, Beichen jumped out and blocked their way: "The Grand Secretary has ordered that no one is allowed to disturb Madam's rest."
Xie Xiangxiang glared and cursed, "You insolent lackey, open your eyes wide and see who I am!"
"Please be careful what you say, Your Highness's wife!" Bei Chen retorted without backing down: "No one may enter without an invitation."
Xia Hua whispered, "Madam, we can inform the old lady."
Xie Xiangxiang was furious and went to the old lady's courtyard.
Along the way, Xia Hua kept giving her mistress some ideas: "Madam, the old lady and the Marquis's wife can handle everything. There are some things you don't need to deal with personally."
Yes, my mother once said that we should learn to use others to do our dirty work.
Her anger gradually subsided, and by the time she reached the entrance of Ci'en Temple, a smile had appeared on her face.
"Grandmother," she said with a smile, "the weather is still nice, didn't you go for a walk with your great-aunt and the others?"
The old lady smiled and said, "For us, looking at crops, trees, and flowers is appreciating the scenery. But for your great-aunts, aunts, and cousins, the fields are just fields; they're used to them."
“That’s true.” Xie Xiangxiang’s eyes darted around as she smiled and said, “When we were at the Xie residence, my elder sister often went on outings, but now she’s cooped up in Qingpu Courtyard every day, I don’t know what she’s doing.”
"When you have free time, talk to your older sister more often and visit her more often."
"Speaking of this, I should also mention that I wanted to visit my elder sister, but I was repeatedly stopped by the servants at the gate from entering Qingpu Courtyard. I kept wondering if the young master had offended my third uncle."
“There’s no conflict between the uncle and nephew, so don’t overthink it. We people in the back courtyard shouldn’t cause trouble for the men in the front courtyard. Your elder sister has excellent manners and etiquette, so it must be the servants causing trouble.”
Xie Xiangxiang recounted how Bei Chen had stopped her, saying, "Are they all trying to ride roughshod over their master?"
The old lady fell silent.
Seeing that the old lady remained silent, Xie Xiangxiang tentatively asked, "Grandmother, are the Grand Secretary's people all off-limits?"
The old lady said, "Before the old Marquis passed away, he left a will stating that the third son is the hope of the Marquis's family and no one can disobey him. No one in the family is allowed to interfere with the third son's people, affairs, or possessions."
Xie Xiangxiang suddenly felt like she had punched cotton, feeling extremely powerless.
The eldest sister is indeed lucky. Not only did her husband, who was supposed to die, not die, but he also wields immense power and has absolute authority.
She now desperately hopes that Gu Chengyan will quickly take control of the government together with the Crown Prince.
The eldest aunt chimed in, saying, "Where's the third son? I haven't seen him yet. Eldest sister, your third son has a high status and a big attitude."
Xie Xiangxiang said with a smile, "My third uncle is young and promising, and he is very busy with official duties."
"No matter how busy you are, you can't not go home to pay your respects to your mother, can you?" The eldest aunt looked at the old lady. "Sister, you raised him with great care and hardship, so you still need to show your maternal authority."
The old lady sighed, lowered her eyelids, and said, "To be honest, I'm ashamed to say that I've never taken care of him for even a single day."
"What happened?" Auntie was shocked.
The old lady looked at Xie Xiangxiang. Xie Xiangxiang originally wanted to prick up her ears to listen to what kind of conflict the old lady and Gu Shaoyu had, but the old lady was looking at her like that, and it was obvious that she did not want her to know the inside secret.
She quickly stood up, smiled at the old lady, and said, "Grandmother, I just remembered I have something to do in the courtyard, so I'll head back now?"
The old lady nodded: "When you have time, go and help your mother-in-law out more often. She's too busy right now."
"Yes!" Xie Xiangxiang left.
"Big sister, what exactly do you mean by saying you never raised the third child?" Aunt Zhi asked anxiously.
Isn't he their biological child?
"When I was about to give birth to him, someone told me that the eldest brother was in a brothel, spending over a thousand taels of silver to compete with someone for a courtesan. I was furious, so I took some men to the brothel to find the eldest brother..."
Gu Boyu was fifteen years older than Gu Shaoyu, but he didn't learn any of the old Marquis's simplicity and hard work. He started to go astray when he was just over 10 years old.
He tells the old lady every day that he's going to the academy, but he's actually skipping school. When he comes to Kyoto, he not only doesn't keep a low profile, but he also hangs out with a bunch of spoiled rich kids. Those spoiled rich kids have mines, but what does he have?
At that time, the old Marquis was a valiant general, a fourth-rank official in the court. He was originally from a peasant background and had no family wealth whatsoever.
Gu Boyu spent a thousand taels of silver to visit prostitutes. In a fit of anger, the old lady led a group of people to the brothel and made a huge scene, which resulted in her having a miscarriage.
On the way back to the manor, the bleeding continued. Since the Marquis was not of high enough rank, he was not even qualified to call the imperial physician. He asked a doctor to come to the manor at Yuqing Hall. The doctor felt the baby's pulse, frowned and said that the baby seemed to have no heartbeat. He was afraid that the baby would not survive and that both the baby and the fetus might die.
Fortunately, the old lady gave birth to the child after exerting all her strength.
She gave birth to the child, and in her dazed state, she heard the word "stillborn" but fell into a deep sleep without seeing anything.
When she woke up, the old Marquis told her that the child was still alive, but very weak. He had begged His Majesty for mercy, and His Majesty sent an imperial physician and many nutritional supplements to the old lady.
He hired four or five wet nurses to take care of the child, which is how he survived.
Later, when His Majesty learned of their family's difficulties, he bestowed many gifts upon them.
When Gu Shaoyu was one year old, the old Marquis once again donned his armor and went into battle. In a battle against the Xia Kingdom, he won a great victory, and His Majesty personally bestowed upon the old Marquis the title of Marquis of Pingyang.
The old Marquis often held Gu Shaoyu in his arms and said to the old lady, "With this child coming into our family, everything has gone smoothly. He is our lucky star. I will personally teach the youngest son."
The old lady was very happy at that time. The old marquis was not very cultured, and the person he raised was probably just a general. He wouldn't compete with the eldest son for the title, and would even be the eldest son's helper.
It's not that she favors the eldest son; isn't that how it is in every family? The eldest son is the one who inherits the family business, while the second, third, and so on are just candidates or helpers.
The old Marquis passed away when Gu Shaoyu was six years old. On his deathbed, he arranged for Gu Shaoyu to study in another place and instructed him: "My family was poor when I was young. I only learned to read a few characters in the army. You must study hard and pass the imperial examination. If you can pass the imperial examination, I will die without regret."
On that one occasion, the old lady saw Gu Shaoyu standing in front of the old Marquis, crying. The little child was crying silently, and many tears fell without a sound.
She hugged him, but he didn't ask her to hug him back.
After the old Marquis died, Gu Shaoyu left, and several people picked him up in a carriage.
They said to the old lady respectfully, "We are all the old Marquis's men, and we will always protect the Third Young Master. We will escort him back after he finishes his studies."
Ten years have passed since I left.
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