Ziye stared at the undried ink.
He asked, "Young Master, should we bring this painting? Most of the Court Officials will present gifts to the princess at the palace banquet. Shouldn’t we wait a little longer? The ink will dry soon."
Zhou Gu waved his hand, "No need to, once the palace banquet is over, I will bring her to see it."
Ziye nodded in agreement.
The three of them left the study room.
There weren’t many people on the way, presumably all had gone to the palace banquet early.
Halfway there, they encountered a few young boys running towards the palace banquet. Zhou Gu, with his sharp eyes, spotted Cui Yanjin amongst them and immediately told Ziye, "Go, bring him to me."
Ziye softly urged, "Young Master, the palace banquet is about to start, isn’t it inappropriate to take on Cui Yanjin now? Maybe we should wait."
Zhou Gu impatiently commanded, "Go get him."
Ziye, seeing that Young Master was insistent on venting his anger now, could only oblige and was on his way immediately.
He quickly intercepted the young boys. Without any further ado, he grabbed Cui Yanjin by the collar and dragged him away.
Cui Yanjin gasped, "Brother Ziye, why are you doing this to me?"
For that honorable mention of brotherhood, Ziye kindly reminded him, "Young Master Cui, don’t you know you’ve offended my Young Master?"
Fear flooded Cui Yanjin’s face and he immediately started yelling loudly, "Cousin’s wife! Cousin’s wife! Cousin’s wife! Save me!"
He was yelling so loudly, as if trying to break his voice. The noise was deafening and penetrating, not caring about attracting attention.
Ziye was initially startled by his screams. Once he regained his bearings, he immediately covered Cui Yanjin’s mouth, regretting his leniency. Without delay, he dragged Cui Yanjin before Zhou Gu.
Cui Yanjin’s mouth was covered, but he stared at Zhou Gu with widening horror-filled eyes, his gaze saying unmistakably, "Cousin, you dare to make a ruckus on the day of my cousin’s wife’s birthday."
Zhou Gu, looking more like a villain than a cousin, fished out a jade bottle from his robe and shook it in front of Cui Yanjin, "Tell me, if I were to make you mute, could you still call your cousin’s wife to save you?"
Cui Yanjin stared at him even more intensely, a defiant look in his eyes that clearly said, "I don’t believe you would dare to make me mute, I have my cousin’s wife to back me up."
Zhou Gu laughed coldly and ordered Ziye, "Let him go."
Ziye let go of Cui Yanjin’s mouth but did not release him.
Zhou Gu took out a pill and pushed it directly into Cui Yanjin’s mouth, "See if I dare to."
Cui Yanjin, having been forced to swallow the medicine, wanted to spit it out, but Zhou Gu was clutching his chin and throat, forcing Cui Yanjin to uncontrollably swallow it down.
"Okay, now let him go!" Zhou Gu ordered.
Ziye released Cui Yanjin.
Unable to vomit out the medicine, Cui Yanjin loudly confronted Zhou Gu, but nothing came out when he opened his mouth, just like a mute. The medicine worked exceedingly fast.
Cui Yanjin was shocked and instantly grabbed Zhou Gu, refusing to let him go. He continued to accuse him, though in silence, "Cousin, are you even a human being? Are you blaming me for gifting my cousin’s wife with something she’d like? How is it my fault? It’s your incompetence if your gift can’t compare to mine. Why take it out on me?"
Despite his flamboyant display, Zhou Gu merely shot him a glance, shoving him off. "Don’t think I don’t know that you ran to our maternal grandfather to tattle on me. Since your mouth is disobedient, you need not speak."
Cui Yanjin went pale, but he continued to insist on defending himself. "It’s not my fault you have such a terrible temper. Look at you now, instead of reflecting on your own faults, you blame me for having a better gift. That’s simply unreasonable."
Zhou Gu scoffed, "So what if I’m unreasonable? You offended me, you must bear the consequences."
Frustration surged within Cui Yanjin.
Zhou Gu ignored him and continued on his way.
Left behind, Cui Yanjin stood there, stomping in rage, and seething in anger.
The few young boys who had been playing with him from the Cui Family dared not approach until Zhou Gu was out of sight, and only then they all surrounded Cui Yanjin.
They spoke cautiously, "Little cousin, what did you do to get on cousin’s bad side?"
"Yeah? How did you offend him?"
"I’d never seen the cousin’s face turn that dark."
"What did he force you to eat?"
"..."
Unable to speak, Cui Yanjin naturally couldn’t respond to their questions. Regardless of what he said, they could only read his lips but hear no sound.
Giving up on speaking, Cui Yanjin waved his hand dismissively at them, his face inflated like a bun out of frustration, and he headed for the palace banquet.
By the time Zhou Gu arrived at the palace banquet, almost everyone was already there. The Nanchu King and Su Rong were seated. Unlike other Emperors who would habitually arrive fashionably late, Nanchu King was punctual. Now that he had a daughter, he had everything he needed, so he arrived early.
The seat next to Su Rong had been saved for him. A eunuch, seeing Zhou Gu arriving, eagerly beckoned for Princess’s husband to take his seat.
Zhou Gu had long since composed his expression and sat down next to Su Rong. Su Rong turned to him and asked, "You spent half a day lecturing Chu Duan, didn’t you?" 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖
"Not really, I had some other matters to take care of." Zhou Gu replied.
"You look tired, what happened?" Su Rong asked.
Having expended all his energy on the painting, Zhou Gu felt utterly drained. Even though he tried his best to hide it, Su Rong could still tell. He forced a smile, "Cui Yanjin annoyed me."
Su Rong laughed lightly, "What did he do to annoy you this time?"
Zhou Gu glanced at the fan in her hand, she was still not putting it down, indicating how much she loved it. The golden bracelet on her wrist was indeed beautiful. The painting he had laboured over for half a unit of time, could certainly not be carried around all the time.
Zhou Gu focused his gaze on the two gifts and remained silent.
It suddenly dawned on Su Rong, "Did you get upset because he gave me these two gifts?"
Zhou Gu snorted, "Pieces of junk."
"Oh, these are no junk. These are collected by fourth aunt, were among the top ten weapons in Jianghu. I’m not familiar with Jianghu, if Fen Ling hadn’t recognised them and told me, I wouldn’t have known. They are indeed valuable." Su Rong said, grinning as she handed the fan to him, "Take a closer look, don’t be ignorant of good things."
Zhou Gu reached out to take it.
Seemingly reminded of something, Su Rong quickly drew back her hand, "No, I’m not showing it to you. I worry your stinginess might lead you to confiscate it."
Zhou Gu’s anger spiked, "Am I that kind of person?"
"You are."
Zhou Gu’s patience thinned, and his face darkened.
Su Rong leaned in closer, "Don’t be angry, it’s my birthday today. I don’t want to be scolded by Uncle Xie on my birthday."
Zhou Gu gritted his teeth, "If you don’t want to be scolded by Uncle Xie, then put these junk items away. They are an eyesore."
Indulging his temper, Su Rong agreed, "Alright, alright, I’ll put them away."
She promptly stuffed them into her sleeve.
Zhou Gu’s irritation had not yet subsided, "You like them so much?"
"Of course, anyone who loves martial arts would prize these two items." Su Rong looked at him, "You would love them too, if given to you."
"The fan’s okay, the bracelet is too feminine." Zhou Gu said.
Su Rong wanted to laugh, "Little cousin only gave them to me, he wouldn’t give them to you. I remember, when he knew it was your birthday, he randomly picked a gift for you, didn’t he? In comparison, he put quite a bit of thought into these two gifts for me."
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