Heart-to-heart talk
Jiang Yufan wasn't joking with Gu Sidu. She looked at him seriously, which finally made Gu Sidu realize that things weren't so simple. He stared at Jiang Yufan and heard her continue.
"Your superior will not trust you, because once you are out of his control, more people will know that you are talented and extraordinary. You will block his opportunities, and your superior may even think that you are behind all of this."
"He wants to create a misunderstanding between you and Jiang Yaoguang."
This letter of recommendation and promotion order would never reach Gu Sidu's hands anyway; they would only slowly become worthless.
Gu Sidu gritted his teeth and remained silent. Jiang Yufan always managed to hit the nail on the head when he still had hope for humanity, forcing him to bow his head and face reality.
He received nothing.
He had to admit that Jiang Yufan was right.
But he still held onto a sliver of hope. He looked at Jiang Yufan and said, "Bodhisattva, you advised me from the very beginning. Did you know then that this path wouldn't work and that there would be too many obstacles?"
Jiang Yufan remained silent.
"But if there were these obstacles from the beginning, why did the Bodhisattva change his mind and help me? Why did he ask me to use the jade pendant to befriend Lord Jiang?"
Without that jade pendant, things wouldn't be so clear; at the very least, the person in charge wouldn't have seen that Gu Sidu had such intentions.
Why is that?
Jiang Yufan's thoughts were caught. Indeed, even without that jade pendant, Jiang Yaoguang might have approached Gu Sidu to befriend him. But given Gu Sidu's personality, he might not have been able to reach a consensus with Jiang Yaoguang.
In this way, the person in charge wouldn't have any doubts. At least when it came to the promotion order and recommendation letter, the person in charge wouldn't hold any more grudges against Gu Sidu, and might even be willing to let Gu Sidu off the hook.
Jiang Yufan's jade pendant catalyzed this series of conflicts, making things irreversible.
Thanks to this jade pendant.
Jiang Yufan couldn't explain these things, but she could assure Gu Sidu: "Even without that jade pendant, the result would be the same."
That's how people are; Jiang Yufan simply added a little something extra to it.
“Gu Sidu,” Jiang Yufan knew that Gu Sidu was in a state of confusion at the moment, and said, “You can go back and think carefully about what I said today.”
Gu Sidu bid farewell earnestly and left.
This time, Daoyun looked at Gu Sidu's back and said to Jiang Yufan, "Buddha, Gu Sidu seems angry. Has he sensed something and is disappointed in us?"
"It's alright, whether he's disappointed or not doesn't matter to me," Jiang Yufan said, but she stared at the direction Gu Sidu had left for a long time, unable to look away.
After a long while, she looked away and said to Daoyun, "He has his own pursuits, and I have my own things to do. We can't just give up and turn back."
The Buddhist nun was always like this, very clear-headed, but the clearer she was, the more distressed Daoyun felt. She had witnessed the Buddhist nun's suffering, and naturally she would support everything the Buddhist nun did. The Buddhist nun would not do anything wrong, and she would follow the Buddhist nun.
But Gu Sidu... never mind, Gu Sidu isn't important.
-
Gu Sidu hadn't visited Jiang Yufan for some time. It wasn't that he had any issues with the Bodhisattva; he had been keeping an eye on the court these past few days, trying to figure out if he really had no chance.
He followed the steward for a few days and saw with his own eyes that the steward entered the Jiang family's residence once again. Just like last time, the steward presented gifts and left full of confidence.
Not satisfied with that, Gu Sidu also went to see the colleague who had delivered the gift. The colleague, angered by his appearance, refused to let Gu Sidu in. Gu Sidu didn't give up; he simply wanted to ask the colleague if he had truly gone to the Jiang residence to deliver a gift.
The colleague got angry after hearing this, and after pushing Gu Sidu out, he felt that he could not get revenge, so he pulled Gu Sidu back and said to him, "Are you satisfied now? Go ahead and complain. I missed this opportunity, do you think you can succeed?"
"You won't do that. The person in charge has been unhappy with you for a long time."
Gu Sidu fell silent. Gu Sidu asked, "So you went to deliver a gift to Lord Jiang?"
"What else?"
These words shattered Gu Sidu's dream. He could never succeed, never from the beginning. Jiang Yufan was right. He shouldn't have questioned Jiang Yufan, but he always needed to do this to give up.
What finally made him give up was that after leaving the court, he saw with his own eyes the official in charge take Jiang Yaoguang's hand and talk to him on the other side.
He despised eavesdropping, but at this moment he felt that listening might not be a bad thing.
He heard the rumors and gossip, he heard the person in charge belittle him to nothing, the person in charge pointed out all the bright and promising paths to himself, and took all the credit for himself.
According to the person in charge, Gu Sidu became someone who lacked manners, didn't understand rules, and disrespected his superiors. Only then did Gu Sidu realize that the poem he had written before had incurred the person in charge's wrath for so long. Although he had no such intentions, public opinion was powerful, and no matter how he explained, he couldn't make it clear.
They've turned black into white, making the false seem true.
Gu Sidu was utterly disappointed. Without looking back, he walked down each step and returned home. He first went to find Jiang Yufan.
Jiang Yufan wasn't surprised by Gu Sidu's rare arrival. She poured him tea and waited for him to speak. Daoyun wanted to break the silence, but Jiang Yufan shook her head, telling her to wait outside.
Judging from Gu Sidu's expression, Jiang Yufan could roughly guess why. He figured that Gu Sidu had realized he was destined to be suppressed, and he must be in immense pain. Jiang Yufan wasn't good at offering advice, but she would stay by Gu Sidu's side.
Finally, Gu Sidu looked at Jiang Yufan and said, "Bodhisattva, what you said is all correct."
“It’s not that I’m right, it’s just how the world is, and that’s how people’s hearts are.” Jiang Yufan still had that cold and aloof demeanor.
“But I also had some selfish motives,” Jiang Yufan said. “I knew your journey would be difficult, but I still wanted you to face the challenges head-on, which is why you suffered such a blow.”
“But I must give up. I have one more question to ask you, Bodhisattva.”
"you say."
"Bodhisattva, you said you would help me, so what do you want?"
Gu Sidu was very clever. Jiang Yufan looked at Gu Sidu quietly and said, "I don't want to say it, Gu Sidu. Can you accept that I keep my private thoughts to myself?"
"I can."
Gu Sidu's answer surprised Jiang Yufan. Jiang Yufan thought that Gu Sidu would still have some doubts about her, but Gu Sidu trusted her so openly and was willing to let her keep herself.
"Why?" Jiang Yufan asked.
"Just as the Bodhisattva said, everyone has their own suffering and they all cultivate themselves. They are not related to each other, but everyone has their own reasons for suffering."
Jiang Yufan stopped dwelling on these things and asked Gu Sidu, "So what about you? What are you going to do next?"
"I want to go to Lord Jiang to explain the situation, write a letter to thank him for his appreciation, and then let things take their course." As for any promotion to a high position, those are all just pipe dreams. At worst, Gu Sidu will just continue to stay in the Hanlin Academy.
"Aren't we going to expose Jiang Yaoguang as someone who accepts bribes?" Jiang Yufan reminded Gu Sidu. "As you can see, his empty titles are nothing but a facade. He and the Hanlin Academy official are birds of a feather. If they continue like this, more people like you will be trapped."
What should you do?
"When I placed my hopes on Lord Jiang, I gave him the jade pendant, which was itself a bribe. I also had no chance to stand up and expose Lord Jiang, because no one would believe me."
All Gu Sidu could do was explain his innocence and then leave the rest to fate.
This is not quite what Jiang Yufan had expected.
Things seemed to have spiraled out of Jiang Yufan's control.
After Gu Sidu left, the room remained silent for a long time. Finally, Daoyun spoke first: "Buddha, what should we do now?"
Jiang Yufan's original plan was to use Gu Sidu to expose Jiang Yaoguang's true colors, so that the Emperor would punish him and make him understand that even abandoning his own daughter would be punished by Heaven. She wanted to make Jiang Yaoguang regret it, destroy everything he had, and force him to admit his mistakes.
She took advantage of Gu Sidu, whose career was doomed to fail, turning him into a weapon to stab Jiang Yaoguang. But this weapon had rusted and was no longer effective on the battlefield.
However, forcing Gu Sidu to do things he doesn't want to do will backfire.
"No need, Gu Sidu won't do things he doesn't want to do."
"So all our previous efforts have been in vain?"
Having come this far and already entered the game, are we really going to give up halfway?
Anyway, Gu Sidu and Jiang Yufan have already gone this far. At worst, they'll just have a falling out and never see each other again. As long as their goal is achieved, isn't that what matters?
Dao Yun was strategizing and thinking about what to do next for Jiang Yu Fan. She was even more unwilling to see this fail than Jiang Yu Fan herself, and she didn't want to see Jiang Yu Fan worry.
At this moment, she looked at Jiang Yufan, and seeing the worried expression on Jiang Yufan's face, concerned for Gu Sidu, she felt a pang of regret. Her Buddhist nun should be carefree; she was already unhappy at Chenxiang Temple, so why was she still so unhappy after leaving Chenxiang Temple?
She wanted to comfort the Buddhist nun, so she said, "Forget about it today. We'll think of another way tomorrow."
“I wasn’t thinking about anything else,” Jiang Yufan said. “Daoyun, you have to say, Gu Sidu is actually quite clever.”
"What?" Dao Yun was completely baffled.
He could sense that something was wrong with Jiang Yufan and knew what Jiang Yufan was doing for him. Sure enough, the talents selected through the imperial examination were different. Gu Sidu was indeed a dragon among men.
It's just that such a smart person, who knows about Jiang Yufan's past, doesn't he think about the relationship between Jiang Yaoguang and Jiang Yufan? If he had thought about it, wouldn't everything be clear and the truth would have come out?
“He’s still a bit short.” Jiang Yufan shook her head and smiled helplessly.
Dao Yun froze on the spot: "Buddha Maiden, what do you mean by this?"
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