Madam Gu's smile froze at the corner of her lips.
"..." Gu Xiao's expression was even uglier than Mrs. Gu's, and his lips were stubbornly pursed into a straight line. What does big brother mean by this? !
"Gu Yuan!" Madam Gu raised her voice and called him by his name.
However, Gu Yuan did not stop and walked out as if he had not heard anything.
The servants guarding outside the hall did not dare to stop Gu Yuan at all. After all, everyone in the mansion now knew that the eldest young master was able to pull a five-stone bow.
Madam Gu gritted her teeth, gave the guests an apologetic smile, and said, "Excuse me."
Then, he resolutely stood up and chased after him, shouting, "Brother Yuan!"
Madam Gu trotted forward and caught up with Gu Yuan under a sycamore tree in the courtyard outside the hall. She asked angrily, "What do you want?"
She tried to lower her voice, but she felt like a thorn in her back. Even if she didn't look, she could feel the curious eyes in the hall being cast on them.
Gu Yuan finally stopped, turned half of his face, and looked down at Madam Gu, who was half a head shorter than him. The golden sunlight shone through the sparse branches and leaves above, outlining the lines of his elegant profile.
"Grandma, I think you want me to help my second brother." Gu Yuan said incisively.
After being exposed by Gu Yuan, Madam Gu did not deny it. She smiled and said lightly: "Brother Yuan, you are cousins. It is only natural for you to support and help each other."
"It should be?" Gu Yuan also smiled.
This is how a family should be. Madam Gu raised her chin in an imposing manner, as if it was a matter of course.
"Someone wants to ruin my future and expects me to repay evil with kindness. Grandma, do I look that stupid?" Gu Yuan's tone became colder and sharper.
What is Gu Yuan hinting at?! Madam Gu looked at Gu Yuan in doubt.
Without waiting for Madam Gu to speak, Gu Yuan changed the subject and said, "I heard that the eldest prince likes all kinds of weapons. I plan to take the rhino horn bow for his prince to enjoy."
Gu Yuan was putting the threat directly on the table.
“…” Madam Gu’s eyes widened and her face turned pale instantly.
Madam Gu initially did not know that Gu Jian had tampered with the bowstring of the rhino horn bow, but later Gu Jian accidentally let it slip, and Madam Gu found out about it after further questioning.
Madam Gu couldn't admit it, so she said, "Brother Yuan, I sent someone to tell your second sister this morning that you can keep the bow for a few days. When you've had enough fun with it, you can return it."
Gu Yuan stared at Madam Gu steadily, his dark eyes were so sharp that they seemed to see through her heart.
When the last glimmer of expectation was shattered, his mind became surprisingly clear and calm, like a traveler who had been trekking for a long time and finally walked out of the fog.
"Brother Yuan, what do you want?!" Madam Gu tried to hold Gu Yuan's hand, but Gu Yuan quickly took half a step back, turned sideways, and easily avoided her, his sleeve brushing past her fingertips less than half an inch.
The eyes of the grandfather and grandson met in mid-air, as if they were engaged in a bloodless battle.
Gu Yuan stated his intention frankly: "I want that rhino horn bow."
This rhinoceros horn bow symbolizes the glory of Dingyuan Marquis Mansion. Now that the bow is in his hands, he will never hand it over.
“……” Madam Gu’s pupils twitched slightly, and her right hand clenched the Buddhist beads in her wide sleeves, as if she didn’t recognize the boy in front of her, no, the young man.
Gu Yuan's heart is as clear as a mirror and as still as a mountain.
Just now in the hall, he seemed to have been enlightened and suddenly understood a lot of things from the attitudes of those uncles.
For many people, his job as the Imperial Guard meant a meteoric rise to the top. From inside the palace to outside, people would come to curry favor with him and attach themselves to him.
He is no longer the dispensable eldest son of the Gu family, he is the Imperial Guard Pacifier close to the emperor.
To him, it was like a weapon.
He can use this weapon to achieve what he wants.
Last night, his sister took the bow for him. This first step has been taken, so he should speak up and face what comes next himself.
He is the older brother and he can't always rely on his sister to do everything for him.
My sister is right. This rhino horn bow should belong to him.
At the beginning, my father was able to pull the rhinoceros horn bow at the age of sixteen, and my grandfather gave it to him.
He is a descendant of the Gu family. Since he can pull the bow today, the bow must be his.
Gu Yuan slowly said to Madam Gu: "Emperor Taizu once said that it is a pity for a good bow to be buried in the dust and for one's talent to be unappreciated; a good bow should be given to a hero and the capable should take possession of it."
Back then, when Emperor Taizu gave the bow to my great-grandfather Gu Yao, he said these words, meaning that this good bow should be given to someone who can use it, rather than gathering dust in a box.
"My second uncle hid the good bow and let it gather dust. He is not a capable person."
Every word Gu Yuan spoke was so sharp that it was like a sword stabbing Madam Gu in the heart.
After saying this, he turned away without any reluctance.
“……” Madam Gu’s face turned red and she was speechless.
She stared blankly at Gu Yuan's back, which was as tall as a green bamboo. Her eyes were dazed for a moment. There seemed to be an undercurrent in those old eyes that was about to burst. There was a hint of anger, a hint of suspicion, a hint of uneasiness, a hint of powerlessness... and more of fatigue.
Her body swayed and she took two slow steps, her steps shaky and unsteady.
"Madam, be careful." Nanny Li on the side quickly supported Madam Gu.
The sunny day after the snow was even colder, and the wind was biting.
The whistling sound of the cold wind was like a wild beast roaring in protest, and it could not be shaken off.
"He..." Suddenly, Madam Gu asked in a hoarse voice, "Could it be that he knows?"
She found out that her father, Gu Ce, was not her son.
The branches of the sycamore tree with yellow leaves above the head swayed in the cold wind. A few rays of sunlight filtered through the gaps between the branches and cast mottled shadows on Madam Gu's face, making her expression look a little gloomy, a little obscure, and a little irritable.
The rustling sound echoed in the courtyard.
Nanny Li looked around alertly, and after making sure that no one was around, she whispered, "Madam, please don't think too much."
Even the late Lord Gu Ce himself didn't know about this matter, so how could Gu Yuan know about it!
"..." Madam Gu looked straight at the direction where Gu Yuan left, without blinking. Her cloudy and red eyes seemed to want to engrave his figure in her mind.
Nanny Li gently stroked Madam Gu's arm and continued to persuade her, "Besides, there is no tablet for 'her' even in the Gu family's ancestral hall. It is impossible for the eldest young master to know."
As she spoke, Nanny Li's voice became even lower, and only the master and servant could hear it amid the howling cold wind.
Madam Gu seemed to be mumbling to herself, "I personally raised Ah Ce, treated him like my own son, and brought him up carefully. I also watched him get married and have children... I even let him inherit the title of Marquis. I only want Ah Jian to be a rich and idle person."
"I believe that I have done nothing wrong to Ah Ce... and certainly not to my elder sister. I have no regrets."
Madam Gu's eyes slowly moved upwards, looking up at the blue sky, as if these words were spoken to some old friends.
"Madam, you are right." Nanny Li nodded in agreement. "Madam, you have had a really hard time these years."
She spoke these words from the heart.
After a pause, Nanny Li continued, "Besides, so many years have passed, the old people in Xizhou are no longer around, and no one has mentioned 'that matter' any more."
"Madam, please be at ease. There is absolutely no way that the young master would know."
Another gust of biting cold wind blew, penetrating into Li Ma's collar like a knife, making her shrink her neck unconsciously due to the cold.
"Besides, even if the eldest young master knew about it, what right would he have to blame you, Madam? You were the one who raised the late Marquis with your own hands. The grace of raising a child is greater than the grace of giving birth to him."
Madam Gu still stood motionless under the tree, her chest heaving, and there seemed to be two forces fighting and colliding in her eyes.
After a moment's silence, she continued, "But I always feel that Brother Yuan is not treating me the same as before..." It was as if he was on guard against her, as if he had... resentment towards her.
Thinking of this, Madam Gu tightly clenched the Buddhist beads in her hand, almost crushing them.
In the past, Gu Yuan was not like this.
Nanny Li hesitated for a moment, but still reminded her, "Madam, the matter of the memorial yesterday... the eldest young master should have known about it. Could it be that you are also angry because of this matter?"
Madam Gu's face froze, she stroked her sleeves lightly, and said calmly, "I'm doing this for his own good."
"This child has been stubborn since he was young. He won't listen to the advice of his elders. I asked him to learn literature and took the trouble to find him the best academy in the capital, but he insisted on abandoning literature and joining the army with the reputation of being the son of a traitor."
"As long as he is in the army, people will always talk about his father's surrender to the enemy, and this matter will never be forgotten."
Madam Li hurriedly comforted her, "Young Master is young, and he has eaten less rice than you have eaten salt, so he doesn't understand your painstaking efforts, Madam."
Listening to Nanny Li's soft words, Madam Gu felt helped and her expression eased a little.
She seemed to have just remembered the guests in the hall. She glanced at them and said, "Forget it. Let's not talk about the past."
"He has now joined the Imperial Guard, which is a good job. He doesn't have to go to the battlefield, but can still be in front of the emperor."
Even if the job in front of the emperor is not of high rank, it will still be looked upon with special regard.
Gu Yuan’s future will be bright from now on.
Madam Gu sighed again and whispered, "Brother Yuan has a promising future. Even if I die in the afterlife, I will have done my duty to the old marquis."
She looked up at the western sky again, her eyes deep, and her heart, after experiencing many ups and downs, was as solid as a rock again.
That’s right, the Marquis’ Mansion doesn’t owe Gu Yuan anything.
She didn't owe Gu Yuan anything either.
She is worthy of her elder sister and Gu Ce and his son.
(End of this chapter)
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