Qin Yuan sighed and asked, "Have Zhao Niangzi's two children arrived?"
Gu Jinghui carefully examined her face but couldn't discern anything, so he asked, "How did you guess?"
"I thought it was the Qian couple when they came, but I didn't expect them to arrive so late. Perhaps the Qian couple said something that offended Zhao Niangzi."
As Qin Yuan spoke, she smiled and said, "Didn't you say you wanted the Qian couple to help you clear your name outside, and that you wanted to give Zhao Niangzi a dowry?"
Qian Duoduo was a shrewd man. He originally wanted to swallow his pride and keep Bai Que in the mansion, but after hearing what Lord Gu said, he immediately decided to take Bai Que away.
He wouldn't swallow this insult for nothing; when he took Bai Que away, he was bound to break ties with Zhao Niangzi to prove his loyalty.
Gu Jinghui was taken aback for a moment, then smiled wryly and said, "You're so clever. I hadn't even thought of that."
Qin Yuan smiled and said, "The Marquis isn't concerned with matters of the inner quarters, so of course he wouldn't think of them, just as I wouldn't think of matters on the battlefield. I guess you'll still have some muddying to do later. Zhao Niangzi's fuss is probably a tactic of feigning retreat to advance. But I'm a little curious, who brought those two children?"
The Sixth Madam would never do such a thing.
Gu Jinghui said in an unfriendly tone, "You would never guess that it is Baozhu."
Qin Yuan looked at him without speaking, but her beautiful eyes had already revealed her thoughts—wasn't Gu Baozhu supposed to be in solitary confinement? How did she manage to escape? Was she confined like this?
Gu Jinghui said angrily, "She actually managed to escape. I'm going to punish those bastards severely."
Before he could finish speaking, Gu Baozhu's voice came from outside the corridor, "Third Brother, where are you? Cheng-ge'er, Yu-jie'er, and I are anxiously looking for you."
The sound was loud, somewhat agitated, and accompanied by the crying of two small children.
“You’re getting more and more unruly. You’re even barging into my and your third sister-in-law’s yard?” Gu Jinghui poked his head out, glared at Gu Baozhu, and said, “How old are you? It’s one thing for you to be crazy and disorderly, but you’re also dragging Cheng Ge’er and Yu Jie’er into your madness. I’ll teach you a lesson.”
Gu Baozhu exclaimed, "Oh dear, I can't go into details now. Third Brother, Zhao Niangzi is crying to Mother, saying she wants to go back to her hometown."
"Hometown?"
Gu Jinghui frowned, looking at the two sobbing children, feeling a pang of annoyance.
Is this what Yuan'er meant by "retreating to advance"?
He clenched his fingers tightly.
Gu Baozhu said, "Yes, Cheng Ge'er and Yu Jie'er had nowhere else to go, so they came to my courtyard and that's why I ran away. Third Brother, you can't let Zhao Niangzi go back to her hometown. Cheng Ge'er and Yu Jie'er are so young, they'll be all alone with Zhao Niangzi. How can you bear to do that?"
Yu Jie'er screamed, "Father, Yu Jie'er doesn't want to be separated from Father. Father, Father."
Cheng Ge'er's eyes were also blurry with tears; he was heartbroken.
Gu Jinghui sighed, pulled back, and complained to Qin Yuan, "What's she up to now?"
Qin Yuan understood that "she" referred to Zhao Niangzi.
"Let Baozhu come in and talk. The head matrons will be here soon."
Gu Jinghui was stunned for a moment, then he understood. Zhao Niangzi wanted to go back, but she wasn't going to just walk away.
He looked at the calm and composed Qin Yuan and asked, "Yuan'er, what do you think we should do?"
Qin Yuan countered, "What do you think we should do?"
The one who can make the decision is Gu Jinghui, not her.
If Gu Jinghui regrets it one day, wouldn't he blame her again?
Although she really wanted to ask the Zhao mother and son to leave, she did not want to make the decision for Gu Jinghui.
She's just adding fuel to the fire.
Gu Jinghui said with distress, "I wanted them to move out of the manor, but not too far from the Marquis's residence. If anything happens, the Marquis's residence can help them out. Their daily expenses are a given, and I won't stand idly by as to the future of the two children. But Madam Zhao is insisting on taking the two children back to her hometown, and... sigh, how can I face my former brothers?"
Qin Yuan understood that military generals and civil officials were different.
Civil officials liked to form factions and support each other in court.
Military generals, on the other hand, must live and die with their comrades, forging bonds of loyalty and righteousness.
As the saying goes, "Like father, like son."
The best way to maintain a bond is through natural blood ties like father, son, or brothers, but if there are no blood ties, other ways must be used to bind them together.
Many military officers would support their families and adopt sons or godsons.
The servants in the Dingbei Marquis's mansion, going back three generations, all came from families that had survived countless bloodshed and carnage alongside their ancestors.
Gu Jinghui had received a life-saving grace, so he should repay that kindness by taking care of the person's family. If he failed to do so, he would lose the hearts of his brothers.
This is precisely why both Madam Gu and Lord Gu find Lady Zhao troublesome.
She smiled and said, "Hasn't Your Excellency already figured out how to arrange things? If I'm wrong, and Madam Zhao really wants to go back to her hometown, Your Excellency can't force her, but you can still take good care of her and her child."
Reading her words carefully, Gu Jinghui immediately said with delight, "Yuan'er, you did a wonderful job in showing kindness to Mr. and Mrs. Qian just now. Not only did they not force Bai Que to stay in the mansion, but they also put an end to their resentment. We are husband and wife, so you still need to help me come up with a plan for Zhao Niangzi's matter. Not for any other reason than that I don't want to break the hearts of the two children and ruin their future."
The implication was that he could avoid Zhao Niangzi, but he had watched the two children grow up, genuinely loved them, and even adopted them as his godsons. He hoped they would grow up to be successful and find good homes, and he couldn't let Zhao Niangzi's actions delay his plans.
Qin Yuan didn't agree, but pushed him and said reproachfully, "Why don't you call them in? Baozhu ran out and made a scene because of them. Listen to what they have to say and then send them back right away, otherwise Mother will be angry when she finds out."
A smile involuntarily crept onto Gu Jinghui's lips.
His young wife is also very vengeful; she's still keeping an eye on him, wanting to lock Gu Baozhu up again.
He'd better be careful not to offend her.
"Baozhu, bring them in quickly, your third sister-in-law is here too."
Gu Jinghui spoke up, and Gu Baozhu, though extremely unwilling, had no choice but to pull the two children inside.
The three were led by Cuiming into the outer room of the main house. There were not many things inside. The objects on the antique shelves were simple and antique in shape. Next to them stood lush green bonsai. On the wall hung a picture of a spring outing and a couplet. The window faced the lush flowers, plants and trees in the courtyard. A fragrance that I had never smelled before was burning in the room, long and lingering.
This was the first time Gu Baozhu and the others had entered this room.
I felt inexplicably restrained.
At the head of the table, Qin Yuan and Gu Jinghui sat side by side.
Qin Yuan wore a gold hairpin in her hair and a floral appliqué on her forehead, looking elegant and beautiful; Gu Jinghui was dressed in a blue casual outfit, his thick black hair tightly bound with a white jade hair crown, handsome and arrogant, his long, dark eyes looking at them with displeasure, looking very unapproachable.
"Baozhu, you're just fooling around all day long."
Yu Jie'er's short legs, which were about to run over, stopped in their tracks.
“Your father is different now. He doesn’t want us anymore,” her mother told her. She hadn’t believed it before, but now she had no choice but to.
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