Chapter 134 The Real Culprit (First Update)
Gu Chengfeng wanted to explain for his younger brother, but his older brother's aura turned completely cold, and he was so frightened that he became incoherent.
He was really blaming Yao Shi right now. How could her usual submissive demeanor suddenly disappear like that? With her making such a fuss, nothing could be contained anymore, and what was gone had become something again.
"Big brother..." Gu Chengfeng began.
"Shut up!" Gu Changqing coldly snapped, then turned to Gu Chenglin, "Go kneel in the ancestral hall! Don't get up without my permission!"
"Big Brother!" Gu Chenglin's expression changed drastically.
Just now they only made him kneel in the study, but now they've made him go to the ancestral hall?
The ancestral hall enshrines the tablets of ancestors, and people are usually only forced to kneel there as punishment for committing unforgivable mistakes.
Gu Chenglin objected: "I'm not going to the ancestral hall!"
"You have to go, whether you like it or not!" As soon as Gu Changqing finished speaking, he grabbed Gu Chenglin by the collar.
Gu Chenglin had already been badly beaten by Gu Jiao, and when his older brother pulled him like that, he felt like his neck was about to fall off!
Gu Changqing threw the man into the ancestral hall of the Marquis's mansion and left two guards to watch over him: "Don't give him any food or water."
Gu Chengfeng grabbed his elder brother's arm: "Brother, our third brother is badly injured. Aren't you afraid he'll feel disheartened by punishing him like this?"
Gu Changqing said coldly, "Just because he's heartbroken doesn't mean others aren't?"
Gu Chengfeng retorted, "That boy is an outsider after all. Are you going to punish your own brother for an outsider? Have you forgotten that Mother entrusted you with taking care of me and my third brother before she died? You swore by Mother's bedside that you would not allow anyone to bully us! But look at what you did!"
Gu Changqing gave him a deep look: "You go kneel down too."
Gu Chengfeng was taken aback.
After locking his two younger brothers in the ancestral hall, Gu Changqing turned and went back to the courtyard.
During this time, Gu Chengfeng and Gu Chenglin's servants came to bring them food, but they were all stopped by the guards at the door.
The servants had no choice but to beg at Songhe Courtyard.
"What did you say? Lin'er and Feng'er have been locked up in the ancestral hall by them?" Old Madam Gu had just had her headband removed and was about to rest when she heard this news and hurriedly asked the maid to comb her hair back up.
Gu Chenglin's personal servant said with a mournful face, "Yes, Madam, both young masters have been locked up! The third young master is still injured, and if he's locked up all night without food or water, he might die—"
Madam Gu was furious and hurriedly ordered her maid, Granny Cai, to go to the ancestral hall and bring the person out.
A moment later, Granny Cai came to report: "Madam, those two guards said they cannot release the person without the young master's order!"
"This is outrageous!" Old Madam Gu slammed her hand on the table and said to Granny Cai, "Where is the young master? Bring him here!"
"The young master just went out and isn't in the manor," said Granny Cai.
Thinking of her beloved grandson, Madam Gu felt both pain and anger. Of her three grandsons, the old Marquis valued his eldest grandson the most, while Madam Gu doted on her youngest grandson the most. Gu Chenglin's unreliable nature was mostly due to Madam Gu's indulgence.
"I'll go there myself!"
The Marquis's residence covers a large area, and it takes a quarter of an hour to walk from Songhe Courtyard to the ancestral hall. Old Madam Gu couldn't wait to walk there slowly, so she directly asked the servants to prepare a sedan chair.
When she arrived at the entrance of the ancestral hall, the two guards on duty bowed to her and said, "Madam."
Old Madam Gu held onto Granny Cai's arm with one hand and pointed her finger at the two men's noses with the other: "Do you still recognize me? I thought you were in charge of the Marquis's mansion! Release the second and third young masters right now!"
The two guards did not move.
Madam Gu's eyes blazed: "What? Are my words no longer valid?"
One of the guards said, "This is the Crown Prince's order, and we dare not disobey it."
"I am his grandmother!" Old Madam Gu was furious and asked the servant beside her, "Where is the Marquis?"
The servant said, "The Marquis is not in the manor either."
Lord Gu has been away from the court for so long that his official duties have piled up, and he has been busy dealing with them these past few days.
Old Madam Gu felt so angry her liver ached: "Then can I go in and see them?"
The crown prince only instructed that no one was allowed to bring him food or drink, but he did not say that no one was allowed to visit him.
The two men made way for Madam Gu.
Madam Gu rushed into the ancestral hall.
Gu Chengfeng was kneeling obediently on the mat at this moment, while Gu Chenglin was too badly injured to kneel up and was lying half-lying on the ground, looking as miserable as could be.
Old Madam Gu felt a sharp pain in her chest. She rushed over, knelt on the cushion, and hugged her beloved grandson tightly: "Lin'er, what happened to you? Who hurt you like this?"
Upon seeing Madam Gu, Gu Chenglin burst into tears: "Grandmother—you must do me justice—"
Gu Chenglin told his grandmother about his painful experience. He knew that his grandmother favored him and believed whatever he said, so he was just talking nonsense without considering any logic.
“I didn’t touch him, I didn’t even touch him. He recognized me as his third brother and held a grudge against me for bullying him when we were kids, so he called his sister to beat me up!”
"That girl grew up in the countryside, raising pigs and farming a lot. She's got a lot of strength, and she doesn't know her own strength when she hits someone!"
"I couldn't fight her because she's my sister... Waaah... Grandmother..."
"And then my older brother punished me..."
"My older brother doesn't believe me..."
"Grandmother...ah—"
Gu Chenglin cried his heart out, tears streaming down his face.
Old Madam Gu's heart was broken!
She said to the guards outside, "If you don't let me take them both out today, I'll die here!"
The guards were also in a dilemma.
They couldn't disobey the young master's orders, but they also couldn't let Old Madam Gu cause any trouble here.
Fortunately, Gu Changqing was only dealing with a minor matter and returned to the manor soon.
Upon hearing the news, he went to the ancestral hall.
Madam Gu actually valued her eldest grandson very much. However, relationships between people sometimes need to be maintained. Gu Changqing trained with the old Marquis for many years and was not often by Madam Gu's side.
Unlike his two younger brothers, he was not good at acting spoiled, so his relationship with the old lady was not as close as that of his two younger brothers.
When Madam Gu thought about how he, as the eldest brother, could treat his own younger brother so cruelly, she was so angry that she wanted to punish him with family discipline: "Open your eyes and see what you have done to your brother!"
Gu Changqing said solemnly, "Grandmother, the ancestral hall is cold and damp. You should go back to Songhe Courtyard and be careful not to catch a cold."
Madam Gu gritted her teeth and said, "You know the ancestral hall is cold! Aren't you afraid your brother will catch a cold? Look at how badly he's injured! Instead of avenging him, you punish him? What kind of elder brother are you?"
Gu Changqing gave Gu Chenglin a cold glance.
Gu Chenglin lowered his head guiltily, not daring to meet his elder brother's sharp gaze.
Old Madam Gu said coldly, "Why are you glaring at him? If you've got the guts, come at me!"
Gu Changqing said calmly, "He committed a crime, and he knows it in his heart."
Old Madam Gu asked angrily, "What did he do wrong?"
With the old lady backing him up, Gu Chenglin became much bolder: "Yes, brother, I've already said I didn't do anything, why won't you believe me?"
Gu Changqing's gaze was cold: "Gu Yan almost lost his life."
Madam Gu was displeased: "Yao said her son almost died, but did he really almost die? You don't believe your brother, but you believe an outsider?"
I rescued him, I fed him the medicine, and I watched him die right in front of me... He was just a hair's breadth away from dying.
Gu Changqing didn't say these words.
Even if they did speak up, they would still think, "Is Gu Chenglin the only one who did Gu Yan get injured? You, as the older brother, saw Gu Chenglin tie up Gu Yan with your own eyes?"
Who knows who he offended outside, yet he pettily blamed Gu Chenglin for it!
Gu Changqing wasn't favoring Gu Yan. In fact, whether the other party was Gu Yan or not had little to do with the whole matter. What mattered was Gu Chenglin's character.
If Gu Changqing hadn't seen it with his own eyes, how could he have believed that his younger brother had grown up so badly?
Gu Changqing refused to release the person no matter what, which angered Old Madam Gu so much that she invoked family law and made him kneel before the ancestral tablets to be punished.
As the ruler struck him repeatedly, Gu Changqing didn't utter a sound.
"Will you let your brother out or not?"
"I won't let go!"
Madam Gu was so angry that her hand trembled and she struck Gu Changqing's face with a ruler.
Madam Gu was completely stunned.
"Grandmother! Stop hitting her!" Gu Chengfeng grabbed the old lady's arm.
At this moment, Aunt Ling also arrived.
She persuaded Madam Gu to go back.
"Alright, I won't let anyone bring food to Lin'er, but the royal physician should treat his injuries so that he can kneel properly."
Aunt Ling was a very clever woman; she could always find a way to get both sides to compromise.
Gu Changqing didn't say anything and returned to his own courtyard.
"Go and fetch the family physician," Aunt Ling ordered.
"Yes," the maid replied.
The maid went to fetch the family physician, while Aunt Ling went to Gu Changqing's courtyard: "I saw that your face was injured, so I brought you some wound medicine."
As soon as she finished speaking, she saw Gu Changqing's servant already applying medicine to him.
She smiled, walked over, and said, "Huh? This doesn't look like the wound medicine from our household. Is it a new medicine from the military camp?"
Gu Changqing paused: "No, it was given to me by the doctor outside."
"How can we use medicine from outside? Let's use the medicine from our manor instead." Aunt Ling handed over the wound medicine she was holding.
Gu Changqing said calmly, "No need, this is fine."
Aunt Ling was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and took back the wound medicine: "Alright, I'll listen to you."
She paused for a moment, then continued, “Changqing, this is a matter between you brothers. Logically speaking, as a concubine, I shouldn’t interfere. However, Chenglin is your own brother after all. No matter how many faults he has, you shouldn’t condemn him based solely on Madam’s word. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but doing so will make Chenglin think that you’re biased towards Madam and no longer care for him.”
Gu Changqing said, "If being fair once is considered favoring someone, then what about my previous indulgence of him?"
Aunt Ling was speechless for a long time before finally saying, "But he's your younger brother, it's only right that you favor your brother..."
Gu Changqing did not continue the topic, but changed the subject: "Aunt, was my mother really killed by Yao?"
Aunt Ling looked at him strangely: "Why are you suddenly asking this?"
Gu Changqing said thoughtfully, "There have always been rumors in the manor that Yao killed my mother."
Aunt Ling smiled faintly: "There's no evidence for any of this. Just listen to it and don't take it to heart."
Gu Changqing replied, "I have evidence, and that's why I've believed it for so many years."
"What evidence?" Aunt Ling asked.
Gu Changqing said, "During my mother's illness, someone wrote a letter to my father, which was basically expressing her feelings to him and asking when he would marry her. That letter ended up in my mother's hands, and her condition worsened as a result."
Aunt Ling looked shocked: "I never imagined that my sister had been through something like this."
Gu Changqing recalled: "Yao was my mother's good friend. During that time, she frequently visited the Marquis's mansion. Someone saw Yao secretly put this letter into my father's study. A few days later, my mother called Yao over and openly asked her if she wanted to be my father's second wife. I was standing outside the door eavesdropping at the time. If she had just said yes, I wouldn't have resented her for so many years."
Aunt Ling's eyes widened: "She rejected my sister? Then why did she write the letter..."
Gu Changqing said, "She pretends to be high and mighty in front of my mother, but behind her back she's already been having an affair with my father. Don't you think my mother was driven to her death by her?"
Aunt Ling gave a dry laugh and said, "Since you have so much evidence, why did you just ask if Yao was the murderer who killed your mother?"
Gu Changqing said solemnly, "Because she said today that she has never done anything to wrong us."
Aunt Ling smiled faintly and said, "You believed her just because she said so?"
Gu Changqing squeezed the dagger he had taken from Yao Shi: "She came here today with the determination to die. She's going to die anyway, so what's the point of lying?"
Aunt Ling said, "Perhaps it's for her child?"
Gu Changqing said, "Gu Yan has his sister and doesn't care about the Marquis's estate."
Aunt Ling smiled faintly: "Did she say that too?"
Gu Changqing shook his head. Yao had indeed said that, but he sensed it more from Gu Jiao and Gu Yan.
Gu Changqing looked at Aunt Ling: "Aunt, tell me, who is the one who really killed my mother?"
Aunt Ling shook her hand.
(End of this chapter)
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