banquet
Gu Sidu would naturally choose Jiang Yufan, choose the Bodhisattva. He shook off Jiang Yaoguang's hand and stood between Jiang Yufan and Jiang Yaoguang. He said, "Lord Jiang, please go back. What's done is done. This is an irreversible situation. Your commotion here won't change anything."
"Well, Gu Sidu, I really wanted to befriend you, to have you under my command and become one of my people, and this is how you repay me? I really misjudged you. I should have realized long ago that you and Jiang Yufan were in cahoots."
"Really? Do you really value Gu Sidu?" Jiang Yufan persisted. "Isn't it because you value Gu Sidu's sharp tongue that you want to win him over, to make him a weapon in your hands? Are you looking for someone who can speak the most to get all the benefits you want but can't say yourself?"
Jiang Yufan knew best what kind of person Jiang Yaoguang was.
Those doubts from the past can be understood in a few days. Gu Sidu was noticed because of his poetry and his sharp edge, but this very sharpness will kill Gu Sidu and push him into the eye of the storm.
No one cares whether Gu Sidu lives or dies. If Gu Sidu is defeated, it will just be another person.
After Jiang Yufan finished speaking, Gu Sidu was stunned. He turned around and looked at Jiang Yufan. He had never imagined that he would be chosen by Jiang Yaoguang in this way. It had nothing to do with his talent; it was simply because he had a silver tongue.
Gu Sidu turned to look at Jiang Yaoguang: "Lord Jiang, is that so?"
If that's the case, then he'll always be fish on the chopping block, cattle on the butcher's block. How foolish he must have been to try so hard to get himself into this dead end.
Jiang Yaoguang didn't speak, but his eyes were evasive. In the end, he could only weakly retort, "How can you listen to a mere woman and let yourself be provoked like this?"
"Looking at it this way, you're no good either. It's a good thing you're not under my command."
So Gu Sidu is the one who's wrong?
Before Jiang Yufan could even speak, Gu Sidu stepped forward and said, “So, Lord Jiang would rather accept many gifts than give the promotion order to my clerk and my colleagues, because you know they will never fight for you or bring peace to the world for you. So even if I didn’t give you any gifts, you would still choose me.”
"You just want to use me."
Now I understand, everything makes sense. Why didn't Jiang Yaoguang use Gu Sidu to give gifts? Why didn't he give up on Gu Sidu? Why didn't he accept the person in charge and his colleagues?
None of this has anything to do with Gu Sidu's talent. Gu Sidu's talent has never been seen, never has been.
All of this was Gu Sidu's own fantasy, his own illusion.
What is Gu Sidu in other people's eyes?
The man before him, who had once thought of Lord Jiang as a paragon of virtue and incorruptibility, was now shifting all the blame onto others and even questioning him and Jiang Yufan.
"Lord Jiang, please leave. You are not welcome here." Gu Sidu gave him the order to leave.
"Fine, you just wait, Jiang Yufan, are you really going to be this ruthless? I am your father!"
“Really? You’re my father? Then why did Lord Gu never know you had a daughter? Didn’t you only have a son?” Jiang Yufan became more and more agitated as she spoke, her cheeks turning redder and redder. Ignoring Gu Sidu’s attempts to stop her, she went to Gu Sidu’s side. “Jiang Yaoguang, the moment you severed ties with me eight years ago, you could no longer use your status as my father to suppress me.”
"But you used it twice, and you've always been the one who doesn't know how to use it properly."
The shameless person, the one with the least confidence to stand here, is Jiang Yaoguang.
Jiang Yaoguang wanted to argue further, but Gu Sidu had already summoned servants to the courtyard and asked Jiang Yaoguang to leave. From a distance, Jiang Yaoguang looked at his daughter and Gu Sidu beside her; he couldn't afford to gain any advantage.
His daughter is no longer the easy person he used to be; she has grown up.
He gave a cold laugh and said to Gu Sidu, "You're just a dog by Jiang Yufan's side."
"You're actually willing to be a dog."
Gu Sidu didn't react much to these words. He knew it was a provocation, meant to anger him. In his eyes, Jiang Yaoguang no longer held the aura of a high-ranking official; he was just a busy man chasing fame and fortune.
He's a shameful man who abandoned his own daughter.
Such a person is not qualified to criticize others, much less to speak ill of them.
This time, he stood up for the Bodhisattva. Although he had not personally experienced the Bodhisattva's suffering before, he was now involved. He had begun to share hardships with the Bodhisattva, and whatever the Bodhisattva said or did was right. Jiang Yaoguang deserved to be demoted!
He wanted to go back and pay his respects to his Bodhisattva again.
Gu Sidu never expected that when he returned to the Bodhisattva, he would be met with the Bodhisattva refusing to see him.
Buddha?
Gu Sidu waited at the door for a long time, wondering why Jiang Yufan wouldn't see him. Was Jiang Yufan angry with him? He wanted to see the Bodhisattva. He had so much to say to the Bodhisattva. He and the Bodhisattva had never had any grudges, and they would live well together in the future.
Gu Sidu seemed to have forgotten that he had invited the Bodhisattva and prayed to Buddha in his home so that he could realize his grand ambitions. He had forgotten his original intention, but some people had not forgotten. Their wishes came to nothing, like trying to draw water with a bamboo basket. Some people could not stay here.
As dusk approached, Gu Sidu saw Daoyun open the door, leaving it slightly ajar for him.
“Lord Gu,” Dao Yun said to Gu Sidu, his expression indifferent, as if he did not recognize Gu Sidu, “the Buddhist nun will be coming out soon, please wait a moment.”
"Is the Bodhisattva in a good mood?" Gu Sidu asked.
"Lord Gu, the Buddhist nun has prepared a meal for you. If there is anything you need, she will tell you after the table is set."
Dao Yun seemed very polite, unlike before when he confronted Gu Sidu head-on. Gu Sidu was quite uncomfortable with this. He simply responded a few times and could only obey Dao Yun's words, obediently attending the banquet that the Bodhisattva had prepared for him.
He and the Bodhisattva had never seen the autumn maple leaves, nor had they experienced the four seasons. They still had many regrets to fulfill. Gu Sidu had made up his mind. He would have more opportunities to accompany Jiang Yufan to appreciate the scenery in the future, and he wanted to extend an invitation to the Bodhisattva.
With this in mind, he finally met Jiang Yufan again.
Jiang Yufan was dressed as a woman, as if she had returned to the appearance of a noble lady from the past, with a simple gold hairpin still in her hair. Gu Sidu seemed to see Jiang Yufan as she used to be in the Jiang family. He was stunned and for a moment forgot to sit down.
Jiang Yufan spoke first, saying to Gu Sidu, "Lord Gu, please take a seat."
"Bodhisattva, why are we holding a banquet today?" Gu Sidu came to his senses and quickly sat down opposite Jiang Yufan, smiling at her.
"The Bodhisattva is rewarding my loyalty; I have firmly chosen to stand on your side."
“Gu Sidu,” Jiang Yufan began, “there are some things I need to make clear to you. I used you to do what I wanted to do.”
“I know that,” Gu Sidu nodded. “I don’t care. What the Bodhisattva said was right. I don’t care about these things.”
"Even if they were using you?"
“But don’t the Bodhisattvas suffer even more?” Gu Sidu said matter-of-factly. “I can understand the Bodhisattvas’ suffering, I can empathize with it, so I don’t blame the Bodhisattvas.”
“Gu Sidu,” Jiang Yufan laughed self-deprecatingly, “but do you still remember why you invited me here in the first place?”
Gu Sidu remembered that, in order to make his path easier and more open, he looked at Jiang Yufan. He had already sensed something was wrong. He remained silent, just looking at Jiang Yufan, knowing that Jiang Yufan was about to say something he didn't want to hear.
Jiang Yufan was saying goodbye, which is why she wore ordinary clothes. She wanted to tell Gu Sidu that she had always been a fake bodhisattva, unable to bear any worries, and unable to relieve Gu Sidu's troubles.
Recalling everything that had happened when Gu Sidu brought Jiang Yufan back, Jiang Yufan's gaze fell on Gu Sidu. She said, "The pain of the beating, the scheming, the belittling words of others—Gu Sidu, these are all the things I brought you. I only brought you these hurts. Are you sure you still want me to stay in your manor?"
"Bodhisattva, it's not like that. These things weren't all given to me by you." Gu Sidu shook his head. He stood up and tried to grab Jiang Yufan to prevent her from leaving.
"Gu Sidu, think about it carefully, do you still want to seek enlightenment and ask Buddha for guidance?"
They prayed to Buddha but found a fake Bodhisattva; this farce must eventually come to an end.
Jiang Yufan smiled slightly, took off the gold hairpin from her hair, and let her long hair cascade down. Jiang Yufan faced Gu Sidu with her bare face and handed the gold hairpin back to Gu Sidu.
"Gu Sidu, I have used you, so I have no face to stay. I can't help you with what you want. I will return all the money to you. If you want to achieve your wish, then you should find someone else."
Strands of hair fluttered and brushed against Gu Sidu's palm, tickling him slightly. A chill and coldness slowly swept in; the falling yellow leaves were nearing their end. In a few days, what would float in the air again would no longer be yellow leaves, but winter snow.
Gu Sidu stood up and watched Jiang Yufan's figure slowly disappear into the distance. He clenched the gold hairpin in his hand and quickly followed after her.
"Bodhisattva, where are you going?" Gu Sidu asked Jiang Yufan. Jiang Yufan could not return to the Jiang family, and Chenxiang Temple was also a prison for her. Where could she go?
Gu Sidu wanted to keep Jiang Yufan.
But Jiang Yufan didn't answer. She turned around and gave Gu Sidu a faint smile.
That smile made Gu Sidu feel as if he could already see snow falling all around him.
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