Impossible; Gu Yankai begged in vain, so he simply ran to serve in the Northern Frontier Army.
At the time, war was raging, the soldiers were in danger, and life was at stake. The old marquis and his wife endured a year or two of dread, finally succumbing to their eldest son's demands and agreeing to the marriage. They resigned themselves to the fate of the situation, believing that if the Qin family had no children, they could raise a bastard's son. However, their naiveté was soon shattered.
After marriage, the couple loved each other more than usual and were inseparable. One year, two years, three years passed, and the old marquis and his wife became anxious, but Gu Yankai could not bear even a female mosquito in his eyes, let alone a concubine. The old marquis used the family rules and filial piety to threaten his mother, and his mother begged with tears. Gu Yankai had no choice but to obey and patiently comforted his wife. As soon as he left, Da Qin burst into tears. She did not dare to refute in front of her parents-in-law, but was so heartbroken that she fell ill with a high fever.
There was a great deal of chaos in the mansion. The person was finally rescued, but when he opened his eyes, he cried bitterly and almost fainted. Gu Yankai quickly sent away all the concubines. He took care of her and cherished her for half a year. At the request of his parents, Gu Yankai once again got close to the woman next to him. Although Da Qin was in poor health, she was well-informed. Before the two of them had finished taking off their clothes, she fainted again and lost consciousness.
After this happened several times, Gu Yankai felt that he could not go on like this, so he asked for a transfer to the southwest border without telling his parents, and then ran away with his wife. His parents were furious and scolded him, but it was of no avail. In the following years, the old marquis and his wife wanted to sign a divorce letter several times to settle the matter, but the Marquis of Dongchang and his wife came to their house in person to beg for mercy, and they could not bear it.
The year after Empress Jing'an's death, Gu Tingyu was born. Before the Ningyuan Marquisate could celebrate this long-awaited grandson, disaster struck. In reality, the lost funds weren't entirely due to the Gu family's extravagance. Several monies had clear provenances: Fujian shipping, southwestern border trade, and even procurement for the Imperial Household Department, all handled through the trust of old friends. But Emperor Wu suddenly became extremely tyrannical, refusing to listen to anything. The few officials who could explain the Gu family's debts were embroiled in palace strife to varying degrees, facing execution and exile, with their families exiled and their property confiscated. With everyone feeling threatened, who dared to step in and help others?
The kind-hearted old marquis suffered a stroke, and his family was in a state of panic. At this time, an old friend came to tell him that he had received a letter from his hometown in Jiangnan, telling him about a story: there was a salt merchant in Haining, who was extremely wealthy and had only one daughter, who was in her prime and was looking for a good husband.
The Marquis's family was both happy and embarrassed. Their three legitimate sons had already been married, so what should they do? They were afraid that they would not agree to let them be concubines.
No need for the Gu family to worry; that kind old friend had already sent someone to Jiangnan to act as a matchmaker. Old Master Bai was a man of such stature that, no matter how tempted by the prestige of the Marquisate, he wouldn't listen to a matchmaker's word when it came to his only daughter's marriage. A man of swift action, he rushed to the capital a few days later. He encountered the Fifth Elder, engaged in a lively conversation, in a teahouse, and then "coincidentally" ran into the Fourth Elder at the entrance of the red-light district. Most infuriatingly, these two men, whom he despised, were actually married.
Furious and angry, he scolded the matchmaker after returning, indicating that the matter was over, and then said: "Your ancestors for eighteen generations must have been blind. How could my only daughter be someone's concubine!" - When Mrs. Bai married into the Marquis's Mansion, she also brought some family members with her as a dowry. Although these people were sent away, they also talked about a lot of past events, and several old servants still remembered them.
After the kind-hearted and nosy old friend passed on the message, the old marquis desperately ordered people to carry him onto a carriage and hurried to the southwest. He held his eldest son's hand and begged silently. Above him was his old mother who was almost crying her eyes blind, below him were his helpless and frightened brothers and sisters, and beside him was his beloved wife. Gu Yankai went crazy almost all night.
The well-informed Da Qin naturally knew about it. Despite her mother-in-law's promise that it was only a temporary divorce and she would remarry her in the future, she still could not accept it. She was already weak after giving birth and struggled in pain for several days. Before she died, she pointed to a maid to be her husband's concubine and passed away.
There was no time to grieve, the old marquis immediately sent someone to Haining to propose marriage. Old Master Bai was reluctant at first, but when he thought about his beloved daughter becoming the legitimate wife of the Marquis of Ningyuan and no longer being the daughter of a lowly merchant, the temptation was too great!
He gritted his teeth, decided to give it a try, and went to the southwest to look for a woman as usual. This time, he found the one he liked.
Old Master Bai had a keen eye throughout his life, and he had never made a mistake in judging anyone from all walks of life, from high-ranking officials to high-ranking officials. He concluded that Gu Yankai was a man of integrity, uprightness, kindness, courage, and courage, and a good match for him. Although his previous wife had died, it didn't matter. Losing a wife was not uncommon. He had lost two wives, and that was fine. He should find a lover and a concubine. He heard that his son-in-law was deeply in love with his previous wife, but that didn't matter. Men are fickle. If he treated his previous wife well, it meant he would be a good husband. After he married his beautiful daughter, over time, the past would fade.
Gu Tingye had already told Minglan what was going to happen next.
The wedding took place in the southwest, so none of the relatives and friends in Beijing were invited. Bai didn't wait long for her wedding; she died before she was twenty, leaving behind an uncared-for child. When Old Master Bai arrived from Haining, he found only his daughter's coffin. He was overcome with rage, but too old and frail to seek justice for his daughter, and he died soon after.
A few years later, Gu Yankai remarried, again to a young lady from the Qin family. When Gu Tingwei was seven or eight, he was summoned to the capital by imperial decree, and he returned to the mansion with little Qin and his three sons and two daughters. Not long after, the old marquis and his wife passed away, and he inherited the title of Ningyuan Marquis. Due to deliberate concealment, few people knew that between the two Qin ladies there was also a Bai lady. For some unknown reason, Gu Yankai, intentionally or unintentionally, led people to believe that Gu Tingye was also a Qin child.
Gu Tingcan was his last child and his most beloved. In fact, apart from her appearance, her other habits, hobbies, and even her personality were not very similar to Daqinshi. However, under the conscious or unconscious expectations of her parents, she unconsciously imitated a dead person.
Children have very sharp instincts; they naturally crave attention. For Gu Tingcan, the more her actions resembled Daqin, the more her father loved her and granted her every request, benefiting her mother as well. Sometimes, when the Dowager wanted to do something, she'd ask her youngest daughter to speak to the old marquis, and it almost always worked.
Minglan sneered inwardly. A truly detached and talented woman, cold and proud, wouldn't care about the trivialities of the mundane world. The bickering between mother-in-law, daughter-in-law, and sisters-in-law was nothing but a passing cloud. She was so frustrated with her mother that she came up with a plan to embarrass her sister-in-law... Humph, what a shame, she tried to imitate a tiger but ended up with a dog, her imitation was neither fish nor fowl.
Shao hurriedly followed behind: "What should we give as a gift?" Tingcan almost included everything.
Minglan turned around and said with a smile, "That's not easy. Just give her some silver. It saves time and effort. My sister really cares about me, a sister with a dull mind. She saves me the energy of thinking." This was exactly what she wanted. If she gave a lot of delicate and valuable items as a gift, it would be difficult to carry them around. So she could just give silver. Later, when she talked about it, she could just report a number. The value would be about the same, but it would be more shocking.
Shao was shocked: "Silver?" Tingcan hated these gold and silver things the most. Suddenly, she thought about how much cash she had on hand, "How much silver should I give?" She worried.
Minglan took her arm and comforted her, "I am going to give you some silver, sister-in-law, please consider it as a favor and don't give me too much."
"Then what should I give?" Shao Shi had a headache.
"Sister-in-law, just pick a few honest and loyal servants to serve as my sister's companions, that's all."
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