Chapter 121 is truly a terrible way to insult people...
The man's one hand gripped the woman's wrists, pinning them against the rough bark of a tree. His other hand was buried beneath the layers of her skirt. The woman's face was flushed, her expression a mixture of fear, shame, and indignation. Her small, white teeth were nestled deep within her red lips, and tears welled in her eyes.
A pair of wild mandarin ducks; the man was handsome and elegant, while the woman was beautiful and graceful.
Two very well-matched people.
It would be great if I didn't recognize any of them.
It's not a big deal that they know each other, as long as one of them is unmarried and the other is unmarried.
Two people who are both married have gotten into this mess...
Shanlai really didn't know what expression to make.
Li Hao merely raised an eyebrow, then smiled calmly, as always. Gu Zhishou, on the other hand, was filled with shame, his face deathly pale.
What I couldn't break free of before, I now only needed to move slightly, and the shackles on my wrists came off.
Her entire body was trembling slightly as she walked, adjusting her clothes and the loose hair floating in front of her eyes...
The sisters looked at each other.
Shanlai was always considerate of others, so she didn't ask a single question and just let her sister pull her away from the place in a hurry.
After an unknown amount of time, the person walking ahead suddenly stopped.
Just as the person in front of her turned around, Shanlai opened his mouth and said, "Sister, there's no need to say anything more. I'm not a troublesome person."
So Gu Zhishou's lips twitched slightly.
The two sisters understood each other perfectly, and said nothing more.
"Big sister really did get lost."
This is Shanlai's explanation to the other two people.
The carriages at the Duke of Jingguo's residence were spacious enough, and the sisters were so close that they didn't prepare any extra carriages; the five of them would ride together on the way back.
"My three older sisters and younger sister, I'm feeling a bit tired and want to sleep for a while... It's unavoidable, please don't be angry with me..."
As the eldest sister, Gu Zhishou was like a mother to her younger sisters. Whenever her younger sisters did something wrong, she was always the first to speak up, showing them all kinds of care and concern. They had been like this since they were little, and the younger sisters had long been used to it.
We have to wait for the older sister to speak first.
However, this time the older sister remained silent, only lowering her head, seemingly oblivious to what was happening before her.
The older sister was probably tired too, after all, she had walked a long way.
So Gu Chunling took her sister's place.
"Why are we angry with you? We're sisters, why are you being so reserved? Lie down now!"
Shanlai smiled sheepishly, lay down, and closed his eyes.
Fearing she wouldn't sleep well, none of them dared to make a sound, even six-year-old Xuanyun sat quietly with her head down.
The carriage stopped, and Gu Chunling looked up at her older sister. Her sister noticed her, looked up and smiled at her, and then leaned over to shake their younger sister.
"Crane Fairy, wake up, we're home."
Shanlai frowned, slowly opened his eyes, sat up groggily, looked around, and asked, "...Are we home yet?"
Upon returning home, they all went to pay their respects to their grandmother.
Grandma Rong held her granddaughter in her arms and talked to her granddaughters with a smile.
Gu Chunling replied to her grandmother, her eyes darting left and right, sometimes looking at her eldest sister, sometimes at her fourth sister.
The eldest sister forced a smile, while the fourth sister seemed distracted.
Madam Rong also noticed something was wrong and asked, "Did something happen outside?"
The question was directed at Gu Zhishou.
Gu Zhishou looked up in alarm, his eyes darted around, and his lips moved several times, but he couldn't utter a word.
"Nothing much, it's just that my older sister got lost at Huguo Temple and unfortunately ran into a snake, which gave her a bit of a fright."
Shanlai said this.
Madam Rong nodded. "I see. No wonder your eldest sister is like this; she's terrified of worms." She then turned to her eldest granddaughter and asked, "Are you badly frightened? Should the doctor prescribe some calming medicine for you?"
Gu Zhishou forced a smile, "Why would it be like this?"
Madam Rong frowned. "I think it's necessary. Look at your face, it's still so pale." As she spoke, her eyes swept over her granddaughters' faces one by one. "Alright, you've just come back from outside, you must be tired. I won't keep you any longer, go back and rest."
Upon hearing this, the group stood up to thank their grandmother for her consideration, then bowed and took their leave.
The sisters walked under the eaves. Shanlai looked up and glanced at her eldest sister, Zhishou. After considering the matter, she decided to hold back for now.
"I'm feeling sleepy again, so I'll go back to sleep first."
Shanlai still wanted to stay at Liujinzhuiyu, but Gu Fang didn't want her to stay anywhere else.
When Gu Fang saw her return, he asked her how her trip had been.
Shanlai stared at her father for a while, nodded, and said it was very good. Then she showed the beaded string that Hongche had given her to Gu Fang without saying anything else.
Seeing that it was almost dark outside, Shanlai put on his cloak and went to find Gu Songnian.
Gu Songnian was happily looking at his dowry list under the lamp when he saw Shan coming over. He quickly put it down and asked, "Why are you here at this hour?" His tone was a little reproachful. "Why are you running around at night? You're pregnant now, you can't afford to be hurt."
Shan Lai was the one she feared the most, but she couldn't rest easy until she got to the bottom of things.
"I slept too much during the day and I'm not sleepy at all, so I came to talk to my third sister. What are you looking at, third sister?"
Gu Songnian laughed and said, "You've come at the right time. My father just gave it to me." As he spoke, he held the item out to Shan Lai, "Let me show you too."
Ayun has left the Duke of Jingguo's mansion to take up a post in the Imperial Guard.
After hearing Shan Lai's words, Gu Songnian ran to Gu Zheng, apologized first, and then clung to Gu Zheng, acting cute and coaxing him.
How could Gu Zheng possibly bear it?
He did look down on A-Yun's background, but he couldn't resist his daughter's affection! He already doted on his daughter, and with his wife's persuasion, he simply couldn't resist.
Thinking about it carefully, the power of the Duke of Jingguo's mansion has reached its peak. Apart from the royal family, it would be considered a marriage down for their daughter no matter which family she marries into. So it's better to just let their daughter have her way. After all, they are not incompetent and have brothers to rely on. How could they not support a son-in-law? Moreover, their fourth niece also got involved.
This niece has quite a bit of influence, and she's quite capable.
Therefore, there's nothing to be dissatisfied about.
"My second uncle is really generous."
Gu Songnian said smugly, "If it's less, why would I agree?"
It was also good luck that they started with marriage, which didn't seem out of place at all.
"Speaking of which, I am curious why the family would be willing to let my eldest sister marry so far away? Why not find a job for my brother-in-law in Xingdu? That would make it easier for them to travel back and forth. The current situation is really too hard on my eldest sister. I really don't understand this. Even if my uncle is upright and impartial, what about my aunt? She loves my eldest sister so much, how could she agree to this?"
Gu Songnian remained silent.
"Why isn't Third Sister saying anything? Is there some inside story that I can't know?"
Gu Songnian pursed his lips.
"Third sister, if you don't tell me, I'm going to get angry."
There's really nothing to hide. It's common knowledge. Even if you can't find out from her, you can find out from other places. Why offend anyone?
"...It's like this, back then...eldest sister...she originally...oh dear! Everyone thought eldest sister was going to marry into the Eastern Palace and become the Crown Prince's wife, but when the time came, the palace issued an edict that the Crown Prince, your cousin, was to marry someone other than eldest sister! You don't know, the house was in such an uproar then, everyone was asking questions, everyone was trying to find out what happened, but...nobody really knew what happened! And no one dared to actually go to the palace to ask, so it remained unclear...then eldest sister hurriedly got married and left Xingdu, and if you hadn't come back, I'm afraid she still wouldn't have returned..."
Even though many years have passed and the die is cast, Gu Songnian is still indignant about this matter.
"I don't believe my elder sister has done anything wrong, but things have turned out this way, and the palace hasn't said a word. This is outrageous! Even if she's going to die, she should at least understand why she died! What kind of situation is this?"
Even though he knew that Gu Songnian's anger was not directed at him, Shan Lai still lowered his head guiltily.
Yeah! What's going on here?!
That's incredibly humiliating.
Unable to sleep at all that night, I got up early the next morning and went to the palace.
The Empress was somewhat puzzled, "Why are you here so soon?"
Shanlai didn't beat around the bush; he told everyone to leave and asked directly about what happened back then.
Why did they do such a thing?
What exactly happened?
Even if they weren't related by marriage, the young lady of the Duke of Jingguo's mansion couldn't be more of a high-born woman, and with such impeccable character, she was certainly worthy of the Empress's position. Moreover, they were related by marriage, and even more so, they were related by marriage through thick and thin. It was only right that the good things should not go to outsiders.
But it was this shared hardship that made us stand together.
What should have been a happy occasion for everyone suddenly turned into a source of resentment for the Empress.
On what grounds?
My sister is dead, and my niece is missing—we don't even know if she's alive or dead. Why are you all so happy? They're both family members too. Why weren't you the ones who died? Not only are you alive, but you're living a life of luxury, even benefiting from their good fortune…
On what grounds?
So what was supposed to be a done deal turned into a decision when the Empress changed her mind at the last minute.
Anyone can become the Crown Princess, except for the daughter of the Gu family.
She hates the Gu family.
The queen felt she was in the right.
Shanlai was so angry he laughed.
"Auntie really knows how to insult people... If it were me, even if we were relatives, even if you were the Empress, I would turn against you... What kind of thing is this!" As she spoke, she couldn't help but think of what happened yesterday, and asked, "Where's my cousin? Didn't he say anything? Didn't he come out to stop it?"
No one dared to mention this matter before, and even the Empress had almost forgotten about it. Now that it was brought up again, the Empress felt that she had been unfair back then, and her expression turned rather unpleasant.
"He didn't say anything..."
"Really? Or has Aunt forgotten? Is my cousin heartless towards my older sister?"
If you were truly heartless, why would you have done such a thing yesterday? But if you were compassionate, why didn't you stop it in the first place?
"He really didn't say anything. When I talked to him about it, he said he'd leave everything to me and that I was in charge..."
"Where was Uncle? Didn't he stop Aunt either?"
The answer is revealed as soon as the words are spoken.
The Wei and Gu families are related by marriage, and these two families control almost all the military forces in the country.
Since the empress was willing to take the lead, the emperor was naturally happy to oblige.
Some things are foreshadowed, but some people are kept in the dark and completely unaware...
The empress's face looked even worse; she was pale and seemed about to collapse.
"...He did offer me some advice, but..."
However, he didn't say much to her, easily complied with her wishes, and promptly issued the decree.
If they were truly of one mind, why wouldn't they stop her and let her offend people...?
It turns out that things weren't as she thought.
The queen felt herself floating, drifting in the void, unable to find solid ground.
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