Chapter 287 Wanting a Grandson
This day is a day off.
When Gu Xiuming arrived at Wei Rui Xuan to pay his respects, Meng Jinyao had just finished breakfast.
Looking at her gentle and respectful adopted son, Meng Jinyao thought he really did seem like a filial son. She secretly admired his acting skills, which had improved over the years. She couldn't see any flaws in his performance.
She smiled gently, adopting the demeanor of a kind mother, and said in a gentle tone, "Xiuming, it's still snowing and the weather is cold, so you don't need to come and pay your respects to me during this time."
Gu Xiuming replied respectfully, "I am deeply honored to have such a loving mother as my mother, but my mother's consideration for me and my desire to be filial to her are two different things. How can I not go to pay my respects to my elders just because of the wind and snow?"
Hearing him say this, Meng Jinyao did not refuse his visit to pay his respects. After all, it wasn't her who would be exposed to the north wind on the way. So she said, "I am pleased with your filial piety as your mother."
Gu Xiuming asked, "Mother, why haven't I seen Father?"
Meng Jinyao smiled and said, "Your father hasn't gotten up yet."
Gu Xiuming was quite surprised: "At this hour, Mother is already up, why hasn't Father gotten up yet?"
Meng Jinyao didn't hide anything from him about such a small matter, and replied truthfully, "Your father has been busy with official duties lately. He came back quite late last night and didn't go to bed until after dawn. Do you need to see him? If it's urgent, I'll go and wake your father up."
Gu Xiuming hurriedly said, "There's no need to wake Father. I'm fine. I just didn't see Father and was curious, so I asked."
The mother and son exchanged insincere pleasantries for a while before Gu Xiuming finally left.
After he left, Meng Jinyao chuckled softly and murmured, "No matter how well you act, there will still be flaws."
Gu Xiuming sat not far from her, at a distance where he could smell the medicine on her. If he were a truly filial son, he would definitely be concerned about whether she was sick. Even a fake filial son who was pretending to be filial would notice this problem.
However, Gu Xiuming, this fake filial son, did not realize the problem. He probably felt disgusted by his adopted mother and ignored it because of his extreme aversion.
Ningdong only heard her murmur something, but couldn't make out what she said, so she asked, "Madam, what did you say?"
Meng Jinyao shook her head: "It's nothing."
Not long after, Chunliu entered the room carrying a rectangular wooden box, wider than a man's palm, and handed it to Meng Jinyao: "Madam, this is the hairpin you ordered. The manager of Jinyuge just delivered it. Do you like it?"
Meng Jinyao reached out and took the box, then opened it to find a hairpin inside. It was a gold hairpin inlaid with rubies, symbolizing wealth and prosperity. Bright rubies were set in the center of the petals, and gold threads were wrapped around them, making it both gorgeous and beautiful.
She picked it up and examined it carefully, then nodded in satisfaction: "Not bad."
With only a few days left until her friend Aning's wedding, she specially commissioned this hairpin from Jin Yu Ge as a dowry for Aning.
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afternoon.
Gu Jingxi went to the study in the front yard to handle official business. Meng Jinyao was bored and didn't want to go out because of the cold weather, so she followed him to the study.
He was handling official business, while she quietly read a book beside him, neither of them disturbing each other.
Not far away, a copper incense burner was burning silver frost charcoal. Silver frost charcoal is smokeless, unlike the thick smoke that fills the room when lit. You won't be bothered by the smoke even if you're not far away.
Gu Jingxi glanced up casually and saw that Meng Jinyao had taken off her cloak at some point, moved a chair to a spot three steps away from the bronze incense burner, sat down, and was engrossed in reading a book.
Seeing her serene appearance, Gu Jingxi smiled and then buried himself in his work.
Time passed by unnoticed. Gu Jingxi put down his pen and looked up to find that the lights in the study were already on and dusk had fallen outside.
Just then, there was a knock on the door, followed by a familiar voice: "My lord, it's your subordinate."
Meng Jinyao was already a little sleepy, but upon hearing the voice, she immediately perked up and became gossipy. If she remembered correctly, the person outside the door should be Yu Chuan, who had been monitoring Gu Xiuming.
Gu Jingxi called out, "Come in."
Yu Chuan entered and immediately closed the door. When he saw Meng Jinyao was also there, he was slightly taken aback. He then bowed respectfully to the two of them and got straight to the point: "My lord, the young master seems to be ill."
Meng Jinyao was quite surprised and asked softly, "Xiuming came to pay his respects to me this morning. He seemed to be in good spirits then. How did he suddenly fall ill?"
Gu Jingxi looked at Yu Chuan, equally puzzled.
Yu Chuan glanced at his two masters. Although it wasn't a very important matter, he felt it concerned the issue of offspring and still needed to be discussed with them. So he replied, "The young master is having some problems in that area. I saw Consort Li send a maid out of the manor to secretly buy deer penis and pig penis from the pharmacy to make soup for the young master. He drank deer penis soup the day before yesterday and pig penis soup yesterday, but neither seemed to have any effect. Consort Li didn't tell the young master what kind of soup it was to save face for him."
Upon hearing this, Gu Jingxi frowned slightly.
Meng Jinyao found it unbelievable. That rebellious son was only seventeen years old after the New Year. He wasn't that old. Young people are in the prime of their lives. He wasn't injured or sick. How could he be like this?
Gu Jingxi said calmly, "Don't worry about this. Keep an eye on him. If he dares to do anything despicable, stop him immediately."
Yu Chuan was slightly taken aback, but then he thought that even if the young master was no longer able to live, another child could be adopted so that the lineage of the Marquis would not be broken. There were plenty of children in the Gu family clan. He quickly replied, "Yes, Marquis."
After Yu Chuan left, Meng Jinyao asked in bewilderment, "Husband, he's so young, why is his body so weak? Did he ruin his health by being a womanizer in the past?"
Gu Jingxi shook his head slightly and said, "Before he ran away from the marriage, he seemed to be a person of good character and self-discipline. He didn't even have a maidservant. I reckon his body should be fine. He just didn't want to."
Meng Jinyao didn't understand: "What do you mean?"
Gu Jingxi explained, "Isn't he trying to find himself a proper wife? If a concubine gets pregnant and gives birth, good girls from low-class families won't dare to marry him. After all, Aunt Li isn't an ordinary concubine; she's his favorite concubine, the one he abandoned his family's reputation to elope with."
Meng Jinyao was taken aback: "If you don't want children, isn't there a contraceptive soup?"
Gu Jingxi countered, "What if he doesn't want Aunt Li to know that he has betrayed their relationship? Since he has already decided to be with one person for life, why not have children?"
Meng Jinyao frowned. Gu Xiuming did have feelings for Aunt Li, but he couldn't be faithful in the face of interests. Perhaps he felt guilty, or perhaps he was afraid that Aunt Li would make a fuss, so he kept it from her. He would only let Aunt Li know when the marriage was a done deal, and then he would coax her a little, and Aunt Li would have no choice but to accept it.
She curled her lips into a sly smile: "He drank those tonics without knowing they were aphrodisiacs, so he can only endure it for now. Speaking of which, I've never experienced what it's like to be a grandmother. I hope Aunt Li can work harder, stew more tonics, and give me a big, fat grandson."
Gu Jingxi was speechless at her words. Seeing her sly smile, he chuckled helplessly and said, "We'll have a grandson later. Let's have dinner first."
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