By the time Zhou Gu returned to the Duke Residence, the world had sank into darkness.
After bidding farewell to Princess Sheng An, Zhou Gu leisurely returned to his Frost Linden Court.
As per the Duchess’s orders, a servant was waiting outside the court, and upon Zhou Gu’s arrival paid his respects, "Young Master Zhou, the Duchess instructed me to wait for your return and report to her that you are safely back."
Zhou Gu nodded and gestured a hand dismissively, "Tell my mother not to worry, my grandmother is fine and I am unharmed, so she should rest early."
"Yes," the servant replied, before departing.
Zhou Gu entered his quarters.
He did not feel tired and sat at his table pouring out a cup of tea, simply sitting there.
Ziye peeked his head through the door several times, seeing that Zhou Gu had not extinguished the lamp in his room. If his master was not sleeping, then naturally he could not sleep either. Seeing that it was already late, he couldn’t help but lean into the doorway and ask, "Master, why aren’t you sleeping yet? Are you having trouble falling asleep?"
Zhou Gu responded with a noncommittal hum.
Ziye pushed open the door and walked into the room, sitting down beside Zhou Gu, "Are you worried about the incident with his majesty?"
"No."
"Then, what is it?"
Zhou Gu glanced at him, "I am thinking of Su Rong."
Ziye’s eyes widened in surprise. So little time had passed and the young master was already unable to sleep because he was thinking of Lady Su Qi?
Zhou Gu glared at him, "It’s not what you think. What strikes me about her is that everything she does seems to have a purpose. At least from what I’ve observed in the month I’ve known her; every courtesy she has shown me seems to have an underlying objective. So, does that mean the expensive gifts she sent me were meant to test me? Or does she have other intentions?"
"Huh?" Ziye didn’t understand. Since he couldn’t accompany his master everywhere, he naturally did not know what had taken place between his master and Lady Su Qi in the long hours he was tasked with guarding Princess Duanhua.
Zhou Gu twirled a finger, "Eighteen thousand taels of gold, at least one hundred and eighty thousand taels of silver."
He turned to Ziye, "Could a commoner spend that amount in three lifetimes?"
"Yes...Yes, I suppose so!" Ziye was already astonished when Zhou Xi had mentioned the amount, and he was still struggling to accept it. Although this was no longer a secret in the Duke Residence, the Duchess had made sure to quiet everyone who knew about it, fearing that spreading the news might cause unwanted trouble.
"Hence, why did she send me so many sets of clothes?" Zhou Gu replied to his own question, "Even if I don’t know the actual value of these clothes, once I wear them, there is no way to keep it a secret from my family. Could it be that she wants to show everyone in the Duke Residence that despite her low status, she is wealthy and suitable for me?"
Ziye scratched his head, "Didn’t you ask Lady Su Qi directly?"
"I originally thought it would be worth tens of thousands of taels of silver at most. Xie Lin mentioned that the cost of those clothes were beyond the budget of my private earnings. It didn’t seem like a big deal at the moment," Zhou Gu sincerely believed that even if his private earnings were insufficient, his family would cover the deficit. He also had various properties accrued over his lifetime, so it wouldn’t be a problem.
Ziye felt that his master’s thoughts were reasonable, but who would have guessed that Lady Su Qi would be so overly generous? He asked, "Master, does Lady Su Qi have a lot of money?"
"I’m not sure." Zhou Gu had initially thought that Su Rong, as a lowborn woman, wouldn’t have much at her disposal. However, as they spent more time together, he realized that he had underestimated her. She seemed to have strong influence throughout Jiangning County, and people paid heed to her wherever she went. "I believe she is quite wealthy!"
Despite her riches, she didn’t flaunt her wealth. If she hadn’t personally taken him to Thrid Floor, and hadn’t sent him such extravagant clothes, he would never have known that his bride-to-be was so affluent.
"Lady Su Qi is really powerful," Ziye said, punctuated with admiration.
Yet, Zhou Gu thought of something else and suddenly asked, "Can you ask Zhou Xi about the value of the gifts I took to Jiangning County?"
Ziye immediately rose and rushed off.
Before long, Ziye returned and said to Zhou Gu, "Master, according to Zhou Xi, if the gifts are valued based on their worth, it should be around a hundred thousand taels of silver."
Zhou Gu’s expression soured, "At first, she said she’d give me ten sets of clothes."
Ziye didn’t understand.
Zhou Gu continued: "If we calculate the best materials, wouldn’t it be a hundred thousand taels?"
Ziye widened his eyes.
Zhou Gu suddenly rose to his feet, his back facing the room while he looked out the window. His hand tucked inside his sleeve was tightly clenched. The night outside was deep, heavy clouds blocked most of the bright moon, leaving only a faint outline of a crescent. He was reminded of Su Rong, who, despite having spent a month with him, remained an enigma, like the moon above, seemingly close but indeed far away, obscured by the layers of clouds, barely discernable, clearly the moon, yet the full image unseeable.
Zhou Gu stared at the scene for a while before he chuckled, "What a clever Su Rong! Is she deliberately returning all my gifts from her Coming-of-age Ceremony?"
He gritted his teeth, "Then, what’s the meaning of these extra items she now has?"
He paused as his voice lowered, "Could it be because of Jiang Sheng? I didn’t accept Jiang Sheng’s gifts for the ceremony, nor did she. But we both know, on the day of her coming of age ceremony, Jiang Sheng would certainly have sent gifts, gifts that he wouldn’t take lightly..."
Remembering the day when the doctor mentioned each of the gifts sent by the Jiang Family, his face grew even more unsightly, "Jiang Sheng’s gifts are worth almost seventy or eighty thousand taels..."
He suddenly closed his eyes, "If you add it up, isn’t that the value of these pieces of clothing?"
Ziye’s breathing lightened as he watched Zhou Gu, speechless and afraid to utter a sound.
Zhou Gu stood for a while before he turned back around to Ziye, "If my guess is correct, she returned the gifts combining the gifts for her Coming-of-age Ceremony and Jiang Sheng’s, what do you think she means by this?"
Ziye didn’t know either, so naturally he couldn’t answer him.
Zhou Gu continued: "She sent me off outside the city, saying that she will miss me, but I didn’t see much reluctance. Moreover, she said she was not in a hurry to marry me."
He stared at Ziye and asked, "Do you think she doesn’t want to marry me? Therefore, she doesn’t want to be tainted by me or take advantage of the Duke Residence?"
Ziye dare not say yes, but he could not deny it either. After stammering for a while, he cautiously said, "Young Master, could you have misunderstood? Maybe Lady Su Qi simply wanted to gift you the clothes. I heard the manager Zhou saying that when he was inquiring about the best embroidery workshop in Jiangning County, Lady Su Qi found out and said she knew where to shop and would handle it herself. She thought that the colors of your clothes were too dull and monotonous because they were all chosen by the Crown Princess and the lady. Lady Su Qi is your fiancee, so it makes sense for her to choose your clothes. Manager Zhou accepted the offer as he doesn’t see Lady Su Qi as an outsider."
"I would rather I misunderstood." Zhou Gu’s face still looked bad, "Prepare ink and paper, I will write her a letter and ask her."
Upon hearing, Ziye immediately went to prepare the paper and grind the ink.
When Zhou Gu said he would write, he didn’t hesitate and began to write to Su Rong directly. He finished the letter quickly, sealed it with wax, and handed it to Ziye, "Send it to her first thing tomorrow morning."
Ziye nodded.
After writing the letter, Zhou Gu decided to put the matter out of his mind. He waved Ziye off, extinguished the lamp, and went to bed.
Ziye carefully stored the letter, closed the door and quietly left the room. He returned to his own room and let out a deep breath, the gloomy expression on the Young Master’s face had been terrifying. It would be good if Duanhua Princess saw it, she definitely wouldn’t dare to like the Young Master anymore. Compared to the cold, indifferent, and annoyed Young Master, the menacing Young Master would scare away even the worst of fiends.
The next day, as soon as dawn broke, Ziye arranged for the letter to be sent out of the city.
At that moment, the city gate had just opened, and another day’s activity was just beginning.
After Zhou Gu got up, he thought about it, and finally decided to wear the clothes Su Rong had given him. Dressed in brand new clothes, he left the Duke Residence and headed for the Eastern Palace.
When he arrived at the Eastern Palace, the Crown Prince had just finished his morning court session. The vehicle arrived at the entrance of the Eastern Palace exactly when he arrived.
Zhou Gu dismounted his horse, and Yan Huisheng also got out of the horse-drawn carriage. Zhou Gu went forward to greet Yan Huisheng, "Crown Prince!"
Yan Huisheng looked at Zhou Gu, dressed in brand new clothes made from premium Yun brocade, in a moon-white color, embroidered with auspicious cloud patterns and edged with gold thread. Even though there was no sunlight that day, due to the overcast weather, the splendid colors of the top-grade fabric were still clear.
Zhou Gu, who was naturally handsome, looked even more irresistibly elegant in such clothes.
Yan Huisheng pursed his lips, and after a moment, gave a small smile, "No need for formalities. Let’s go inside and talk."
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