Gu Yuan looked down at Gu Jian, taking in every subtle change in his expression.
Even if he didn't understand it at first, he understands it now.
A light as sharp as a sword's edge flashed in Gu Yuan's deep black phoenix eyes, cold and deep.
"Here it comes, the stretcher is here!" Someone shouted, and then two guards from the marquis' mansion came hurriedly carrying an empty stretcher.
They didn't even bother to pay respect to their masters and carefully lifted Gu Jian from the ground onto the stretcher. Gu Jian groaned softly and his hair was almost soaked with cold sweat from the pain, like a fish that had been pulled out of the water.
The servants kept chattering:
"Be careful."
"Don't run into the Marquis."
"My Lord, please be patient for a while. The doctor will be here soon."
“…”
Amid the noisy sound, Gu Jian was carried away. A group of servants gathered around the stretcher, and even the rhino horn bow with a broken string was picked up from the ground by a servant.
Brother and sister Gu Yuan and Gu Yanfei also followed, walking slowly at the end.
"Has the bowstring been tampered with?" Gu Yuan asked Gu Yanfei softly, his voice so low that only the two siblings could hear it.
Gu Yanfei gently stroked his sleeves, nodded imperceptibly, and raised the corners of his lips slightly.
Gu Yuan pointed at himself, then at Gu Yanfei, and then at Gu Jian. He said nothing, but it seemed like he had asked everything and guessed everything.
Gu Yanfei gently pressed her index finger on her cherry lips, made a "hush" gesture, and a faint smile appeared at the corner of her lips.
Gu Yuan understood what he meant and made the same "hush" gesture, feeling a warm feeling flowing through his heart.
Just like they had a little secret together, the brother and sister smiled at each other, their eyes slightly curved.
The sun set a little lower, and the cold wind of the twelfth lunar month became even colder, blowing their robes, hairbands and broken bowstrings into fluttering sounds.
Gu Yanfei looked at the rhino horn bow in the hands of the blue-clothed servant, touched the bowstring of her own ox horn bow, and plucked it lightly. The bowstring made a soft buzzing sound like a guitar string.
When the servant brought the rhino horn bow to her, she noticed a faint black aura lingering on the bow, but in this small world, the means she could use were limited.
Fortunately, the jade pendant she got last time gave her some spiritual power. She used the spiritual power to draw a talisman on Gu Yuan's forehead to protect him.
At the critical moment, the amulet sensed the danger and protected the bowstring.
However, her spiritual power is limited after all, and the bowstring will break eventually... She just needs to grasp the right moment.
The result was very satisfactory! Gu Yanfei smiled slightly and walked casually.
Gu Jian was carried all the way to Mingyi Courtyard, the main courtyard of the Marquis' Mansion. The Marquis's wife, Wang, had already asked people to prepare soft couches, hot water, new clothes, etc.
Just as Gu Jian and his companions arrived, Madam Gu also arrived.
There was chaos in the main courtyard.
When she saw Gu Jian's painful expression and his weirdly twisted right arm, Mrs. Gu took a breath, her legs went weak, and she staggered a little.
"Madam!" Maids such as Bai Lu quickly supported Madam Gu and helped her sit on the chair next to the couch.
"Ajian, what do you think...?" Madam Gu looked at Gu Jian, her voice trembling.
The child is hurt, and the mother is heartbroken.
She couldn't help but think of how Gu Jiancai broke his leg when he was startled by a horse a few days ago. He had just recovered from the injury when he broke his arm again. How could the second son be so unlucky? !
"..." Gu Jian's lips turned pale. The cold sweat from before had long been dried by the cold wind, but now more drops of sweat continued to seep out. He was in so much pain that he couldn't even utter a polite word. His body was trembling slightly due to the pain.
Mrs. Gu felt so distressed when she saw her son like this, and her red eyes were filled with tears.
She wiped her tears with a handkerchief and comforted him, "Ah Jian, bear with it a little longer. Mother knows you are in pain."
"It's okay, it's okay. Wait until the doctor comes and fixes your broken bones, and you'll be fine."
"If you really feel pain, just hold on to your mother's hand..."
Gu Yanfei watched coldly as if it had nothing to do with him, put another candy in his mouth, and gave one to Gu Yuan as well.
In her previous life, she knew that the lady was obviously better to her second son Gu Jian than to her father Gu Ce, whom she had never met.
So good that I can open my heart.
"Doctor Li, this way."
The female voice coming from outside cheered up everyone in the room.
An old maid anxiously led a gray-haired old doctor into the gauze cabinet.
After a brief greeting, Doctor Li sent all irrelevant people out of the green gauze cabinet, saying that he had to set the marquis's bones. Only the marquis's wife, Mrs. Wang, stayed inside.
Madam Gu and the siblings Gu Yuan and Gu Yanfei were all waiting in the left side room outside the green gauze cabinet.
The chilling sound of bones being set and Gu Jian's shrill screams rang out at the same time.
This was just the beginning. Afterwards, screams came one after another, as if they were going to blow the roof off, and like millions of needles piercing Madam Gu's heart.
Madam Gu was heartbroken. She stretched her neck worriedly and looked at the green gauze cabinet several times. She quickly sent Nanny Li in to see how Gu Jian was doing, with a loving mother's heart.
She was almost fidgeting. When her eyes swept past Gu Yuan who was a few steps away, her worried eyes were filled with anger. She asked unhappily, "Brother Yuan, what on earth is going on?"
"Didn't your second uncle go to the martial arts arena to test your martial arts? How did he get hurt?!"
She was almost asking directly, did Gu Yuan hurt Gu Jian by mistake? ! "..." Gu Yuan felt as if a bucket of cold water was poured on him, his heart felt a little cold and heavy.
Some scenes from the past flashed before his eyes like a kaleidoscope.
He is the eldest grandson and his grandmother has loved him very much since he was a child.
After his mother passed away, he lived in the capital for several years, and it was his grandmother who personally taught him.
In the following years, he and Gu Yunmeng traveled between the capital and Yangzhou, living in the capital for three or four months every year. Their grandmother always treated them warmly.
But everything changed after my father passed away eight years ago.
Suddenly, his grandmother became much colder towards him and was always polite to him, as if there was a layer of distance between them and she seemed to be on guard against him.
Five years ago, he wanted to join the army, but his grandmother was furious and scolded him, asking him to follow his father instead of just taking the imperial examination to enter the official career!
He also knew that his grandmother blamed his father for causing the Marquisate to almost lose its title.
In a blink of an eye, eight years have passed.
Gu Yuan's eyes were turbulent, but then they became calm, indifferent, cold and deep.
"Madam, you can't say that." Gu Yanfei raised his hand and snapped his fingers lightly, looking relaxed and at ease. "I told you last time that the Marquis had a disaster recently."
Madam Gu frowned slightly, and Gu Yanfei's words from last month rang in her ears again: "You have committed indiscriminate killings, and it seems that retribution will come to your descendants."
Thinking about her son being injured twice in less than a month, Madam Gu's heart skipped a beat. She was in a state of panic and asked, "But didn't you resolve it last time?"
Facing Madam Gu's frightened eyes, Gu Yanfei smiled and asked, "Madam, think carefully, how many murders have you committed?"
"As the saying goes, one thing is one thing, and the retribution will be paid one by one slowly."
Gu Yanfei had a constant smile on her little face, and she was joking and making fun of him, leaving Madam Gu speechless.
Madam Gu pinched the Buddhist beads nervously, but she couldn't be sure whether Gu Yanfei was pretending to be a ghost to scare her.
This girl is so wild! "Ah!"
Another heart-wrenching scream rang out from within the green gauze cabinet.
Madam Gu's face turned paler. She felt as if her soul had been struck hard. She was so frightened that she almost jumped up. She was panicked, terrified, and uneasy. It seemed that there were invisible eyes staring at her in the dark corner, wanting her to pay with her life.
Seeing that Madam Gu looked unhappy, Bai Lu hurriedly offered her tea, but she waved it away impatiently. Bai Lu's hand trembled, and the scalding hot tea overflowed from the cup and splashed on the back of her hand, and her face turned pale.
But Madam Gu was completely unaware of this.
"As the saying goes, the emperor loves his eldest son and the people love their youngest son. There is some truth to these sayings, don't you think so, Madam?" Gu Yanfei's faint voice resounded in the room again, and it seemed even colder against the backdrop of the screams in the green gauze cabinet.
Madam Gu's heart skipped a beat and she looked at Gu Yanfei expressionlessly, with a hint of embarrassment and anger in her eyes.
What is this girl hinting at?! Is she accusing me of favoring my second son over my eldest son?! Facing the other's sharp and turbid old eyes, Gu Yanfei remained unmoved and said slowly: "The Marquis just broke his hand, and the Madam cried so hard that she almost fainted. Eight years ago, my father died in the battle in Yangzhou, and his head was hung high by the enemy. Is the Madam the same?
Madam Gu's pale face darkened a little and turned slightly blue.
Gu Yanfei didn't need her to answer at all, and continued to speak: "I heard that the Madam didn't shed a single tear, is that true or not?"
Gu Yuan's lips were pressed into a straight line, his fists were clenched, and his whole body was as cold as frost.
"..." Madam Gu was as if she had been slapped by Gu Yanfei, her anger boiling, her air chilling. How dare this girl say that, a junior dares to accuse an elder of being partial? !
Gu Yanfei chuckled, tilted his head, and sighed slowly: "If someone who doesn't know this, they would think that the Madam has only one son?"
Gu Yuan's body shook slightly.
Gu Yanfei's words kept ringing in his ears: "If someone didn't know this, they would think that the Madam had only one son."
This was also the question he once asked his grandmother in his dreams at midnight, and he never told it to anyone else.
His body was as tense as a fully drawn bow.
Gu Yanfei noticed Gu Yuan's strange behavior, quietly reached out his hand, pinched his sleeve, and shook it gently.
Gu Yanfei knew that this had always been a knot hidden deep in his elder brother's heart.
(End of this chapter)
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