Chapter 957 The Eldest Brother's Pampering
The past grievances are over, and the misunderstandings that needed to be cleared up have been cleared up.
Yao was not a wicked stepmother, and Gu Changqing was a good older brother.
For Gu Yan and Gu Jiao, he risked his life several times. Yao Shi no longer harbored any resentment towards him; all she felt was deep emotion and gratitude.
But it's one thing to have no grudges in one's heart, but quite another to actually create a rift in public.
She said she had no expectations, but when the moment actually arrived, she realized that she had been waiting for this word "mother" all along.
"Look at you, why are you crying?" Seeing Yao Shi holding a teacup and shedding tears, Lord Gu quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe them away for her. "It's just that you called for help."
Despite muttering these thoughts, he knew in his heart that Madam Yao had been waiting for this word "mother" for far too long.
When his sons were young, he tried countless methods, both soft and hard, to force them to be filial to Yao and call her "Mother." But the three brothers were very stubborn and would rather be beaten to death than do so.
The old lady doted on her grandson and forbade him from pressuring the three children any further, thus delaying the matter of calling for help.
To be honest, he was quite surprised when his eldest son spoke up first.
But thinking about how they've gotten along over the years, it all seems like a natural progression.
Yuan Baolin glanced at Madam Yao, then at Gu Changqing, who appeared calm on the surface but whose heart must have been in turmoil. She took the teacup from the servant and presented it to Madam Yao with both hands: "Mother, please have some tea."
"Okay, okay!" Yao accepted the cup of tea for her daughter-in-law with a smile through her tears.
Madam Yao also gave Yuan Baolin a box of jewelry, which she and Gu Jiao had picked out together at a shop. The jewelry was novel, simple and elegant, and complemented Yuan Baolin's temperament perfectly.
Yuan Baolin could tell at a glance that this gift had been carefully prepared, and she smiled and thanked her, saying, "Thank you, Mother."
The young couple had lunch in Yao's courtyard.
After leaving the courtyard, the two walked back together. When they passed the small garden, Gu Changqing suddenly stopped and said to Yuan Baolin, "I have to go to the military camp in a while. I may not be back tonight. You should make your own arrangements as soon as possible."
Before Yuan Baolin could speak, the old Marquis strode over with his hands behind his back.
"Grandfather," the two bowed to him.
The old marquis nodded: "I'm going out. You all go back to your courtyard."
Gu Changqing said, "Is Grandfather going to the military camp? I will go with Grandfather."
The old marquis gave him a strange look: "What are you doing traveling with me? I've given you leave. You don't need to go to the military camp this month. Stay at home and keep Baolin company."
Gu Changqing choked: "I..."
Yuan Baolin's lips curled up slightly.
"I'm leaving." The old Marquis departed with a calm expression.
Yuan Baolin smiled slightly: "Grandfather, please take care."
"Hmm." The old marquis, who had already taken two steps, responded solemnly.
Yuan Baolin looked at Gu Changqing with a regretful expression: "What should we do? Grandfather won't let you go to the military camp."
Gu Changqing was at a loss. He had practiced martial arts since childhood and went to war with his grandfather at the age of fifteen. He was either training soldiers or licking blood from the edge of a knife every day. He was really not used to being idle all the time.
He sighed, "I'm going to practice my swordsmanship on the back mountain for a while."
Yuan Baolin exclaimed, then whispered, "You...you still have the energy to practice swordsmanship?"
Gu Changqing didn't react for a moment: "Of course I have..."
Only then did he realize what Yuan Baolin meant by those words.
Only two days had passed, and the awkwardness had not subsided. He cleared his throat and said seriously, "I'll take you back to your courtyard first."
Gu Changqing took Yuan Baolin back to her new house before going to the back mountain to practice his sword.
They practiced until evening.
He returned to the courtyard, covered in sweat, and found Yuan Baolin sitting in the room waiting for him. There were several exquisite and delicious dishes on the table, but they seemed to have been left out for too long and had lost their heat.
"You're back?" Yuan Baolin greeted him.
He nodded slightly and asked her, "You...were waiting for me?"
“Yes.” After answering him, Yuan Baolin said to the maid beside her, “Yue’e, take these dishes to the kitchen to heat them up.”
"Yes, Miss." Yue'e took the food away.
Yuan Baolin handed him a handkerchief. He paused for a moment, took it, and then said, "If I come back late in the future, you can eat first and don't wait for me."
Yuan Baolin said, "It would be strange if I ate first, and it would give me away, making people realize that we are not a real couple."
Gu Changqing thought about it and realized that it made sense.
He said, "Then I'll... try to come back as soon as possible."
After they finished eating and washing up, they prepared to go to bed.
Gu Changqing was dressed completely covered from head to toe, with his collar pulled up to the highest point. In addition to his refined appearance, he exuded a cold and abstinent aura.
Yuan Baolin was not dressed as formally as him, but she was still fully clothed.
Yuan Baolin lifted the red silk curtain and got into bed. Gu Changqing closed the door and, as usual, went to fetch the bedding from the floor bed, only to find that the bedding in the closet was gone.
He frowned.
Yuan Baolin poked her head out from under the curtain: "What's wrong? What happened?"
Gu Changqing frowned and said, "There are no mattresses left."
Yuan Baolin asked, "How could this happen?"
Gu Changqing's brows remained furrowed: "The servants who clean the house probably saw that the mattresses were dirty and took them to wash. I'll go and ask them to bring some new ones."
"Hey! Gu Changqing!" Yuan Baolin called out to her, "If they took it because it was dirty, then you'll sleep on the floor tonight, and they'll find it dirty again tomorrow morning? Once or twice is fine, but if it happens too often, your sleeping on the floor will be exposed sooner or later."
In the storybooks, the man sleeps on the floor to avoid sleeping with his wife, which seems like a perfect plan. But if you try it out in real life, you'll see where the flaws are.
Are the servants blind?
How could one not know that this mattress had been laid on the floor?
Gu Changqing hadn't considered this much at first, mainly because he hadn't expected his grandfather to forbid him from going to the military camp. If the mattress under his blankets was really dirty for a whole month, it would be hard not to suspect something.
"Come up and sleep here," Yuan Baolin said. "The bed is big anyway."
Gu Changqing looked at the door, which was bolted shut.
Yuan Baolin followed his gaze and said, "They're guarding outside. If you go to sleep in the study, the whole mansion will be spreading rumors about our marital discord tomorrow."
Gu Changqing looked at the benches in the room and said, "I can sleep on the benches."
Yuan Baolin: "Oh."
Gu Changqing arranged the stool, but as soon as he lay down, the stool collapsed.
Gu Changqing, still dazed from the fall, was speechless.
In the end, Gu Changqing could only lie down in the red silk tent.
The bed was very big. Yuan Baolin slept on the innermost side, while he slept on the edge of the bed. There was so much room in the middle that it felt like there could be a whole row of people lying down.
Yuan Baolin was completely focused; she closed her eyes and soon drifted off to sleep.
Gu Changqing lay flat on his back, his hands folded on his abdomen, gazing faintly at the top of the red silk canopy. He could hear her even breathing and smell her soft, warm fragrance.
The red silk curtains completely enveloped her fragrance in this narrow space, and the night deepened everything.
Because of his limited eyesight, his other senses were amplified. In addition to her voice and breath, even the soft bed beneath him and the tactile sensation of the silk quilt on his body stimulated his instincts as a man in every way.
Images of their wedding night involuntarily flashed through his mind—her body beneath him, tears welling in her eyes, her soft body trembling gently…
He clenched his fist slightly, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and forcibly cleared his mind of all distractions.
...
On the day Gu Changqing accompanied Yuan Baolin back to her parents' home, there happened to be a lantern festival on Chang'an Avenue.
Yuan Baolin wanted to see the lantern festival, and Gu Changqing accompanied her.
“Me too! Me too!” Yuan Tong said, pulling her sister’s hand.
Madam Yuan glared at her youngest daughter. "You have no sense of propriety! Your sister and brother-in-law are going to the lantern festival, why are you going to join in the fun?"
Unfortunately, Yuan Tong didn't receive the glare from her mother. She had been missing her sister terribly these past few days. Her sister had finally come back, and she couldn't bear to be separated from her sister so soon!
"Can my sister come along?" Yuan Baolin asked Gu Changqing for his opinion.
"Of course," Gu Changqing readily agreed, and said to Mr. and Mrs. Yuan, "Father-in-law and mother-in-law, please rest assured, I will send him back after the lantern festival."
Yuan Tong smiled happily: "My brother-in-law is so nice!"
At this point, Madam Yuan could no longer stop Yuan Tong and had no choice but to let her go.
When they arrived, Gu Changqing and Yuan Baolin rode in the same carriage. Now, Yuan Tong was also there. To avoid suspicion, Gu Changqing rode ahead on horseback.
Inside the carriage, the two sisters had a private conversation. Yuan Tong held her older sister's hand and whispered, "Sister, tell me the truth, is your husband good to you?"
Yuan Baolin said, "It's fine."
"real?"
"real."
Yuan Tong nodded: "Then I'm relieved."
Gu Changqing had no intention of eavesdropping, but his hearing was sharp enough to tell him that Yuan Baolin hadn't even told her closest sister about their fake marriage.
Chang'an Avenue was so congested that the carriage could not move any further when it reached the side, so the group had to abandon the carriage and walk.
Yuan Baolin and her sister walked hand in hand in front, while Gu Changqing followed quietly behind.
As night falls, the shops lined up one after another are brightly lit, and the stalls on both sides of the road are adorned with dazzling lanterns. At a glance, the scene is filled with the glittering candlelight, like a long dragon winding through the night.
Yuan Baolin would occasionally turn her head, and if she saw him, she would give him a slight smile before continuing to stroll around the lantern displays with her sister.
The three walked for a while, and on the second floor of a restaurant, someone suddenly leaned halfway out of the window and exclaimed in surprise to Gu Changqing, "Big Brother?"
Gu Changqing stopped and looked up.
The Yuan Baolin sisters also looked at that person.
After recognizing the other person, Yuan Tong's expression instantly turned to disgust: "It's you?"
Gu Chengfeng's face darkened: "What are you doing here?"
(End of this chapter)
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