His voice was calm and peaceful, like the autumn drizzle, with raindrops hitting the smooth stone floor drop by drop.
"Master, how did you know?" Juanbi's eyes widened in surprise. "After the second young master was taken to the Northern Pacification Office, he said that he had received a letter of denunciation not long ago. The writer told him that the Gu family was harboring the remnants of the Yu family and advised him to kill his relatives for the greater good. That's why he came to the mansion early in the morning to check and heard a baby crying in the garden, so he went to the Northern Pacification Office to report it."
"Commander He said that the second young master's surname is also Gu. Since he is not with the eldest master, he might be with the second master. So he took the Jinyiwei to search Luwei Hutong."
Gu Yanfei drank her scented tea slowly, without even moving her eyes or eyebrows, as if the matter had nothing to do with her. She only asked nonchalantly, "Did you find the person?"
"Found it!" Juanbi nodded solemnly again, his eyes shining, with a bit of gloating: The second master and the second young master deserved it!
Juanbi had no sympathy for the Second Master and his men at all, and she hoped that they would learn a lesson this time.
Gu Yuan looked at the relaxed Gu Yanfei, the corners of his lips curled up, and without asking any more questions, he just ordered: "Let Wutong go to Luwei Hutong to take a look."
"Okay." Juanbi left happily again, her round face as bright as the good weather today.
Today the sky is clear and the sun is shining, but the second branch of the Gu family is shrouded in a thick layer of dark clouds, as if a storm will come at any time.
All the masters were driven to the outer courtyard hall by the Jinyiwei.
There was commotion in the hall, and people were in panic.
No one expected that the Jinyiwei had just found a stranger they had never met in their home.
Everyone looked uneasily at Old Mrs. Gu, the backbone of the family, who sat at the head of the table.
Ever since Gu Jian was stripped of his title, Madam Gu was no longer the Madam of the Marquis's Mansion. After losing the imperial edict, she was just Old Madam Gu.
At this time, Mrs. Gu's face looked extremely bad, and she was as motionless as a stone sculpture.
There was silence in the hall.
"Are you Yu Si's concubine, Lei?" The man's majestic voice broke the silence, drawing everyone's attention to the beautiful woman in the center of the hall.
The beautiful woman was no more than twenty years old, with a gentle face and graceful temperament, but she looked a little haggard, with a dark shadow under her eyes, and her hair, which was combed into a bun, was a little messy, with a few strands of hair scattered on her cheeks, making her look both disheveled and weak.
She was holding a blue swaddling baby in her arms, with tears in her eyes. Her long eyelashes cast a faint shadow on her eyelids. She had a charming and lovely charm that made people feel pity for her.
"..." Lei didn't say anything, but just held the swaddling clothes tightly.
At this time, silence is equivalent to consent.
"Since the criminal is here," He Lie, who was standing by a window, slowly looked around at the people in the second branch of the Gu family, holding a letter in his hand and casually swung it, saying mockingly, "It seems that this letter of denunciation is correct."
His gaze finally fell on Gu Xiao. Gu Xiao's face was extremely pale, as if he had suffered a devastating blow and half of his soul had dispersed.
As soon as he saw the letter, Gu Xiao shrank back, his eyes wandering, filled with regret, annoyance, and anxiety.
He Lie's heart was as clear as a mirror, a trace of contempt flashed across his eyes, and he thought: He is just being clever, so stupid.
For the Jinyiwei, they have seen all kinds of stuff.
He Lie was no stranger to people like Gu Xiao who prepared evidence in advance to exonerate himself.
He had not originally planned to come, but General Ni Qi reminded him that since the eldest branch of the Gu family had investigated, the second branch should also be investigated.
He Lie thought about it and agreed. Although he was doing his job by bringing people to search the Gu Mansion today, he had caused trouble for the second Miss Gu after all, so he had to express his gratitude.
He brought people here this time just to show his goodwill to the second Miss Gu, and simply wanted to disgust the second branch of the Gu family.
But what He Lie didn't expect was that they actually found Yu Si's mistress.
"Commander He, we were framed!" Gu Jian defended himself with sweat all over his forehead.
"Framed?" He Lie sneered as if he had heard a joke, his tone indifferent.
Even though Mrs. Gu, Gu Jian, and Gu Xiao had not confessed yet, He Lie could see that they had clearly failed to frame Gu Yuan and ended up getting hurt instead.
Until now, they probably still don’t know how they got into trouble!
It's so sad.
He Lie had witnessed Gu Yanfei's methods with his own eyes. An unusually bright and sharp light flashed across his eyes, but it disappeared in an instant.
"Commander He, we are really wronged!" Gu Jian tightly grasped the armrest of the chair with one hand and raised his voice excitedly, "We don't know why this woman appeared in my house!"
In just a few words, Gu Jian's face changed several colors, and the colors changed wonderfully.
He had a lot of questions he wanted to ask Gu Xiao, but Gu Xiao seemed to have lost his soul.
He Lie glanced at Gu Jian coldly, too lazy to argue with him, and made a gesture to General Ni.
General Ni immediately understood what he meant. He stepped forward with his sword slung over his waist, looked directly at the beautiful woman standing in the hall, and asked sternly, "Lei, are you framing them?"
Lei bit her pale lower lip, held the swaddling clothes tightly with one hand, shook her head desperately, and said in a trembling voice: "I...I dare not!"
"It was the Gu family who took me in. How could I dare to trespass into someone's house..."
Lei's frail body kept shaking, as if she was about to faint at any moment.
"Nonsense!" Old Mrs. Gu retorted harshly and held the Buddhist beads in her hand even tighter. She really couldn't understand why the Lei family appeared here.
As soon as she said this, she realized she was too excited.
She suppressed her irritable and flustered emotions, looked at He Lie by the window, and tried to speak calmly: "Commander He, I have never had any dealings with the Yu family. I don't know why this woman wants to throw dirty water on our family, and I don't know why she is hiding in our house!"
"Commander He, someone really wants to frame me." Gu Jian stood up, bowed respectfully to He Lie, and lowered his posture.
He has neither title nor official position now, so if he confronts the Jinyiwei head-on, he will only suffer losses.
Fortunately, as soon as he heard that the Jinyiwei had arrived, he quickly sent someone out through the back door to look for Gu Yunmeng.
Gu Jian was extremely anxious, hoping that Gu Yunmeng would come back soon. Gu Yunmeng was now the only support for their family.
General Ni looked at Gu Jian, then at Old Madam Gu, and grinned, but there was no trace of smile in his cold eyes. He said slowly, "Does the old lady really have no dealings with the Yu family?"
"Madam, your maiden family's surname is Qi, and you and the Yu family should both be in Yingchuan, Yuzhou."
"You and the former queen of the fallen country were close friends, right?"
Mr. Ni's eyes were fixed on Mrs. Gu, like an eagle that had caught its prey.
"..." Mrs. Gu's well-maintained hands shook violently, and the Buddhist beads almost fell out of her hands.
No, she and that Empress Yu were not close friends at all! When Empress Yu got married, she was only three or four years old, and she just went to the Yu family with her parents to congratulate them.
She had only been to the Yu family once in her life.
The Yu family was the maternal family of the queen of the previous dynasty. If a girl in the family had not married into the Duke of Yingzhou's mansion and became the Duke of Yingzhou's wife, the Yu family would have been completely ruined long ago. Their Qi family was also able to survive because she married Gu Xuan.
At that time, Emperor Taizu intended to suppress the aristocratic families and promote the common people. During his reign, most of the aristocratic families gradually declined, and only managed to survive by marrying into the new rich.
Old Mrs. Gu naturally didn't want to and wasn't willing to have any dealings with the Yu family anymore. Over the past few decades, the relationship between the two families had always been a little distant.
If Gu Yanfei and Fang Mingfeng had not been engaged since childhood, and the Duke of Yingguo's wife's surname was Yu, their Gu family would have completely distanced themselves from the Yu family and never had any contact with them until they died.
This girl, Gu Yanfei, has been a disaster since she was born!
As Old Mrs. Gu thought about this angrily, her mind became more and more confused, as if it was a tangled mess.
Seeing her silence, General Ni smiled coldly and took a step closer to Old Lady Gu, saying sharply, "Qi, do you think that after a few decades, everything will be gone without a trace? There is nothing that we, the Jinyiwei, don't know!!"
"The Yu family was in trouble this time, so they asked Lei to bring the child to you to ask for shelter. You couldn't refuse, so you hid the child until now."
General Ni's expression was extremely determined and calm, as if he had seen it all with his own eyes.
"No!" Old Mrs. Gu denied with difficulty. Her complexion became more and more ugly. The wrinkles on her face seemed to have doubled in just a cup of tea. She looked extremely old.
Her body was shaking slightly uncontrollably and her eyes were panic-stricken.
Mr. Ni was only about 70% to 80% right.
On the night of the Lantern Festival, this Lei suddenly came to her house with the baby in her arms and threatened her: "Madam Gu, you don't want people outside to know about the 'substitute', do you?"
That night, Lei's nonchalant voice once again echoed in Mrs. Gu's ears, and beads of sweat the size of soybeans rolled down her forehead.
"Body replacement" is a concern for Mrs. Gu. Every time she thinks about it, she feels heartbroken.
She was threatened by Lei, so she could only hide him in the small garden of Gu's mansion... But how could Lei appear here? Wang was hesitant to speak, her eyes wandering, her thoughts also returned to the night of Lantern Festival, regretting it.
At that time, she persuaded the old lady that Lei Shi must not stay, but the old lady refused to listen and insisted on doing it, which brought great disaster to the family...
Old Madam Gu’s nails almost scratched the skin on her palms, and her eyes were bloodshot, but she still tried not to lose her composure.
"It was this Lei who deliberately slandered me! This letter of denunciation was also a frame-up!"
"I think this Lei is in cahoots with the person who wrote the informant letter!"
Old Mrs. Gu insisted and denied that she had harbored Lei.
Jinyiwei was here, and she knew she couldn't admit it no matter what. If she did, they would be doomed. The fate waiting for them would be that the whole family would be exiled three thousand miles away! "I didn't..." Lei's pretty face flushed red, her eyes were filled with crystal tears, her expression was sad, touching, innocent and pitiful.
Perhaps she held the swaddling clothes too tightly, the baby in her arms woke up and started crying loudly.
The mournful cries were loud and loud, and could not be shaken off.
The Gu family members in the hall all frowned deeply, and became even more agitated.
"Good baby." Lei went to coax the baby in the cradle with loving heart. She spoke softly and patted the cradle gently. A few strands of messy hair fell from the temples, trembling.
I don’t know if the child was hungry or frightened, he kept crying…
This orphan and his widow are weak and pitiful, with no one to rely on.
"Enough!" He Lie, who was standing by the window, shouted neither lightly nor heavily.
Lei was frightened and quickly covered the baby's mouth.
He Lie sneered and raised the letter of denunciation in his hand, "You have said all the good and bad things about me. Qi, your grandson came to the Northern Pacification Office to report Gu Yuan based on this letter of denunciation."
"Frame-up? Frame-up?... If you must say it's frame-up, then it's you who framed Gu Yuan!"
Just a few words left Madam Gu and Gu Jian speechless.
Gu Yunlan and the other girls became even more uneasy. Even though they were young and didn't know what was going on, they could at least see that their current situation was quite bad.
He Lie didn't want to listen to Mrs. Gu's stubborn nonsense anymore, so he immediately ordered: "Feng Mansion, bring Lei's mother and son back to the Northern Pacification Division!"
The words exploded like thunder.
Everyone in the Gu family seemed to be struck by lightning. They were speechless and the surroundings were so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
Gu Xiao's body shook violently, his face turned pale without a trace of blood, and he leaned weakly on the beam beside him.
"etc!"
A graceful female voice came from outside the hall, with a slight gasp for breath.
Everyone in the hall looked in the direction of the voice and saw Gu Yunyan, in a bright red dress, hurriedly coming out of the hall. Her cheeks, as red as rouge, were flushed from jogging for a while.
Gu Yun'er went to Wancaotang early in the morning. When he heard that the Jinyiwei had come to Gu's house to search, he hurried back.
"Sister Meng!" When Gu Jian saw Gu Yunmeng, his dark eyes suddenly brightened up.
Old Madam Gu, Wang, Gu Xiao, Gu Yunlan and others also looked at Gu Yunmeng, their eyes shining as if they had seen a savior.
The Gu family is now in a state of decline, and none of their in-laws or old friends can be relied upon. No one dares to offend the Jinyiwei. The only person in the world they can still hold a glimmer of hope for is Gu Yunmeng.
Gu Yunyan is going to marry Prince Kang soon. With her around, the Imperial Guards won’t dare to act too presumptuously and have to be cautious!
Gu Yun'er nodded slightly to Gu Jian and the others, then lifted her skirt and stepped over the threshold. The ruby beads on her temples made her eyes sparkle and shine.
She walked towards He Lie with a clear goal in mind, and said righteously: "Commander He, without any evidence, the Jinyiwei first searched the mansion and then wanted to seal it off. This is so lawless, it's too rampant!"
Compared to the tall and mighty He Lie, Gu Yunyan, who was only up to his shoulders, looked so petite and slender. But even so, she remained fearless and calm in the face of the notorious commander of the Jinyiwei.
Her expression was neither humble nor arrogant, her eyes were clear, and a pair of small dimples were faintly visible at the corners of her rosy lips. Her pleasing face made people feel no dislike for her.
Everyone in the Gu family subconsciously held their breath and kept quiet.
He Lie's cold expression did not soften or move at all, and his voice was as cold as ice, "Who do you think you are? How dare you question the work of the Jinyiwei?"
Gu Yunmeng: “…”
General Ni coughed twice and explained: "Commander, this Miss Gu San is the future Princess Kang."
"Oh?" He Lie uttered this strange syllable from his throat, as if it meant something, "So it's Miss Gu San."
He stared at Gu Yunyan for a long time with deep eyes, until she felt a little uncomfortable, and then he said coldly: "Miss Gu San, even if you are the Princess Kang today, you are not allowed to interrupt us in the work of the Jinyiwei!"
"Don't say that, you're not yet!"
The last sentence speaks volumes.
It was like having a bucket of ice water poured over their heads; the flame of hope that had just ignited in the Gu family's hearts was instantly extinguished.
Several female relatives slumped against the back of the chairs.
"..." Gu Yun'er pursed her cherry lips, and the dimples on her lips deepened a little.
She was clearly only discussing the matter at hand and had no intention of using Prince Kang to pressure others, but the Royal Guards deliberately distorted her views and she was just as arrogant and presumptuous as the rumors said.
He Lie strode past Gu Yunyan without even looking at her, as if she was not worth his attention at all.
"No one is allowed to leave. Wait for the emperor's decision! Otherwise, don't blame us, the Jinyiwei, for being rude!" General Ni warned everyone in the Gu family in an imperative tone. He did not give them any chance to speak and left with He Lie.
Their contemptuous eyes made it seem as if the Gu family members present were nothing more than ants, ants that could not make any waves.
As for Lei's mother and son, they were taken away by the Jinyiwei. The door of the hall was closed heavily, and several Jinyiwei with knives were left outside the hall to guard the door.
After a while, the footsteps outside faded away and the hall became quiet. An oppressive and suffocating atmosphere filled the air and everyone felt heavy in their hearts.
“…” Gu Yunyan gritted her teeth and slowly turned around. She looked at the closed door with a gaze as deep as water and felt like she was in prison.
The Jinyiwei are too bullying. The emperor has allowed the Jinyiwei to break into private homes and do whatever they want. He simply disregards the law. The current emperor is definitely not a wise ruler.
Gu Yun'er comforted herself in her heart and told herself to stay calm.
"Gu Xiao," Gu Jian strode towards Gu Xiao, frowning and questioning with a gloomy look, "What's going on?"
Gu Xiao held his head in his hands, unaware of what was happening. When Gu Jian called his name again, he suddenly exploded and shouted hysterically, "It's you! You've ruined me!"
Gu Xiao rushed towards Old Lady Gu in two steps, staring at her with bloodshot eyes and clenched fists tightly.
"Grandma, it's you who don't want to live in this small house. You want to kill us all and then move into Gu Yuan's big mansion, right?" Gu Xiao spoke crazily, looking at Old Lady Gu as if he was looking at his enemy.
After these words were spoken, the hall fell into silence.
"Xiao brother..." Old Mrs. Gu's body shook violently, as if she had been hit hard.
She could never have imagined that the grandson whom she loved so much since childhood would actually say such words to her. Her pale lips trembled like a sieve, her chest rose and fell rapidly, and her face became paler and paler.
She is already over fifty years old, and to put it bluntly, she doesn't have many years left to live.
If it weren't for her blood and the children in her family, how could she have fallen to this point! For so many years, everything she did was for them!
But now, her grandson actually accused her like this.
"You...you said...what?" Old Mrs. Gu said intermittently, tears welling up in her turbid eyes. She looked at Gu Xiao with heartache and shock.
"Second brother," Gu Yun'er's face darkened, his eyes were fierce, "How can you talk to grandma like this! You are hurting grandma so much."
Gu Jian also felt that what Gu Xiao said was inappropriate, but he was in a bad mood and had a lot on his mind, so he really had no intention of teaching his son a lesson.
"..." Gu Xiao wanted to say something but stopped himself, his face tense. Finally, he turned his face away awkwardly, feeling unconvinced.
Gu Yunyan walked quickly to the side of Old Madam Gu, gently stroked her back, and smiled softly and brightly, comforting her: "Grandma, don't be angry. This happened at home, and I think my second brother was just anxious for a moment, so he said something wrong."
"He is young and has not experienced anything..."
Then, she turned to Gu Xiao and said, "Xiao brother, why don't you come over and apologize to your grandmother!"
However, Gu Xiao turned his face away and did not move, not even looking at Old Lady Gu, with his brows deeply twisted into a knot.
Gu Yunyan sighed inwardly and didn't bother to argue with Gu Xiao anymore. She had to solve the current problem first. "Grandma, what's going on?"
"Why is that Lei hiding in our house?"
Old Madam Gu's eyes flickered, and she rubbed her fingers on the Buddhist beads for a while before she said helplessly, "I did take that person in!"
Gu Yunyan was startled when he heard this and slightly widened his eyes.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
