Chapter 5: A Small Punishment Upon Returning Home
After Gu Jie grew up, he became the kind of person Xue Yueying liked.
He was tall and smiled brightly, but he disliked Xue Sui’s smile, disliked her looking at him while smiling.
Perhaps because her mother was a Hu Ji, Xue Liu’s eyes were too dark and deep, her nose bridge was delicate and straight, possessing a unique aura. Though her fate was as insignificant as grass, she was exceptionally clean and beautiful. She was like this at eight years old, and still like this at eighteen, which made him agitated, wishing he could break her.
“You still have the nerve to ask me about my mother? If it weren’t for your meddling, how could my mother and son have become estranged? How could Ying’er have endured years of hardship? Do you know how much grievance Ying’er suffered, how much ridicule she endured? Xue Liu, it’s all your fault!”
Xue Sui retorted, “Did she suffer as much as I did?”
Gu Jie’s face stiffened, and he looked away.
“What are your superficial wounds? They’re just childish roughhousing.”
Superficial wounds?
Xue Sui looked at the gloomy sky, recalling the child who trembled and struggled, tormented by pain, yet had her mouth gagged and couldn’t utter a sound. She touched her lower back and sneered.
“What about your wounds? Young Master Gu’s wounds have healed, have you forgotten my life-saving grace?”
Gu Jie’s hair stood on end as if his tail had been stepped on, his eyes becoming exceptionally fierce.
“I am their confidant, their close friend, we play together. Who asked you to meddle?”
As if to convince himself, he used his stiff hand to adjust the shawl on Xue Yueying’s shoulders. “The heartache, the suffering, the slander Ying’er has endured over the years is a thousand times, ten thousand times more than yours, Xue Liu…”
Xue Sui smiled, “Then Young Master Gu, you should remember well. If it’s not a thousand times, ten thousand times, you will personally deliver the final blow in the future!”
“Xue Liu!” Gu Jie’s face changed to rage.
“Young Master Gu…” Xue Yueying shook her head at him. “Don’t blame my sister, she is very pitiful.”
Gu Jie looked at her, his expression softening.
“Ying’er, you are too kind. If there was a life-saving grace, it was you, not someone else.”
“Young Master Gu…”
“Alright, I won’t blame her. But I said I would never marry Xue Liu, not even in death. From now on, I will not let Ying’er suffer any more grievances… Gu Jie will cherish Ying’er’s goodness.”
Xue Yueying smiled brightly. “Then speak kindly to Sixth Sister… Although marrying into the Prince’s Mansion is a good thing, it is inevitable for a woman to be sad if she does not have the love of her heart…”
Gu Jie nodded helplessly.
He glanced sideways and found Xue Sui smiling.
He became even more agitated. “Ying’er, you are kind-hearted, but perhaps they don’t appreciate it. Some people are ultimately not presentable and not worth our kindness…”
Xue Yueying raised her hand to stop him and then asked Xue Sui.
“Sixth Sister, if you are unwilling to go to the Prince’s Mansion, why don’t you join me in asking Grandmother and First Madam to allow us sisters to share one husband and both be Young Master Gu’s concubines…”
“Ying’er!” Gu Jie was anxious.
“How can such an unworthy woman be your equal?”
Xue Sui almost burst out laughing. “Who said I was unwilling?”
She watched the horses gallop past on the roadside, a smile rising on her lips.
“In terms of talent, looks, and power, Young Master Gu is not even fit to carry Prince Duan’s shoes. Why would I abandon a phoenix to marry a pheasant?”
She then softly hissed, “Not everyone is as blind as Fourth Miss.”
Gu Jie’s face turned red with shame, but he dared not openly retort that Prince Duan was inferior to him.
Xue Yueying lost her composure. “Sixth Sister, don’t get what you want and then act like a victim. If Eldest Sister hadn’t been childless for many years after her marriage, such a good opportunity wouldn’t have fallen to you…”
Xue Sui smiled slightly. “I will tell Eldest Sister what Fourth Miss said later. Why is she so unfortunate? Unlike Fourth Miss, who is not yet married and can get pregnant whenever she wants.”
Xue Yueying’s heart tightened, and her face instantly turned pale.
Both families had kept the matter of pregnancy a secret. How could outsiders know?
Xue Yueying glanced at the two maids with their heads bowed, thinking of Gu Jie’s mother who wished she could bite off a piece of her flesh. She suddenly dared not look at the smile on Xue Sui’s face.
Would marrying into the Marquis’s Mansion truly bring a lifetime of glory?
—
Xue Yueying had prepared another carriage for Xue Sui.
She and Gu Jie were in the front, their laughter occasionally drifting over. Xue Sui and Xiao Zhao were in the back. Midway, the carriage’s wooden parts broke, and they had to stop and go, arriving back at the mansion a full day later than Xue Yueying.
Not long after the New Year, red lanterns for the solar terms still hung in front of the Xue Mansion. As night fell, the lights flickered, showcasing a scene of high status and prestige.
Xue Sui’s carriage waited outside the mansion for a good while before someone came to open the gate, allowing her to enter.
The gatekeeper, rubbing his hands and snorting with dissatisfaction, did not treat Xue Sui, who had returned to the capital in distress, with any respect, remaining as sharp-tongued as ever.
“It’s freezing cold, couldn’t Sixth Miss have hurried her journey? Must you wear us servants out, staying up all night waiting for you.”
“If it were any other young lady, returning to the mansion at night, she would at least send some silver money for the gatekeeper to have a drink…”
A hand extended from within the curtain.
On the snow-white palm were about twenty copper coins.
“Stingy!” The gatekeeper pouted and stepped forward to grab the money, but the small hand flicked, and the copper coins flew accurately into the air, scattering into the ornamental fish pond in front of the screen wall.
“Oops! I missed.”
The fish pond was full of water. In such freezing weather, to retrieve those copper coins would be a hardship…
The gatekeeper gritted his teeth with a cold expression, and only after the carriage drove past did he roll up his sleeves and reach into the water.
Xue Sui lifted a corner of the carriage curtain.
The night wind, carrying a chill, coolly seeped into her sleeve cuff, like a cold silk ribbon quietly coiling around her skin, making her tremble slightly.
The sight of that person hunched over, searching for copper coins in the winter water, was quite pathetic…
Just like how she was once held upside down by her feet and her head was forced into a watercylinder.
—
As Xue Qingzhi was escorting Prince Duan from the assembly hall, he saw Xue Sui throwing copper coins, his expression instantly freezing.
“Minister Xue.” Li Huan stood with his hands behind his back under the shade of a tree southeast of the screen wall, his face half-lit and half-shadowed, his voice carrying a leisurely and noble tone.
“The case of Grand Tutor You’s family needs your attention. Old Duke You cries to Imperial Father every day, and I am also in a difficult position.”
“It’s easily done, easily done.” Xue Qingzhi cupped his hands in a salute. “Your subordinate will certainly investigate thoroughly and handle it with care, ensuring the case is settled perfectly, so that Your Highness need not worry.”
Li Huan saw his deference, and his stern face softened.
The address also changed.
“Thank you, Father-in-law.”
Xue Qingzhi bowed slightly, smiling meaningfully. “As the Minister of Justice, investigating criminal cases is my duty. Moreover, Your Highness is currently overseeing the affairs of Jingzhao Prefecture, so I should assist with all my heart to repay Your Highness’s trust and favor…”
The Emperor intended to groom Prince Duan. Although he was not the nominal Prefect of Jingzhao, all major affairs in Shangjing City were managed by him.
Not only that, but the Emperor also exceptionally granted him command of the Right Imperial Guard, as well as the Imperial Guards, to control the direct personal troops of the Crown Prince’s Eastern Palace Six Guards.
The implication was self-evident.
The father was biased, and Li Huan did not disappoint.
Since he began overseeing Jingzhao, he had benefited officials, been lenient with the common people, and personally revised the penal code, reducing many of the harsh punishments since the founding of the dynasty.
This earned him much praise and a good reputation in the marketplaces and residential areas.
On the Lantern Festival, Grand Tutor You’s third son fell from a flying bridge. Initially, Jingzhao Prefecture ruled it as a drunken accident. However, after the Imperial Physician in the palace mended his bones, Third Master You miraculously woke up and insisted that someone had pushed him.
This matter caused a stir in Shangjing for several days, with many rumors circulating.
The common folk gloated, saying it would have been better if he had died from his reckless behavior.
Jingzhao Prefecture, in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice, searched all suspicious individuals at Qiong Tower that night but could not find the perpetrator.
Old Duke You, for the sake of this precious son, cried before the Emperor daily.
In the past, the Emperor would have offered a few words of comfort at most. But now that Prince Duan was overseeing Jingzhao and was determined to rectify social customs and eliminate malpractices, the emergence of this case, coupled with the inability to find the culprit, was like slapping Prince Duan’s face in public.
Xue Qingzhi understood the implication. After a few perfunctory words, Li Huan said no more, turned his face, and asked indifferently:
“Who was in the carriage that just entered the mansion?”
Xue Qingzhi felt a little guilty.
Back then, they had only told the outside world that the child was frail and had been sent to the ancestral home in the countryside to recuperate, and was later abducted.
Xue Qingzhi did not know how Xue Liu ended up in Old Mausoleum Swamp.
But if Li Huan were to find out that the woman who bullied the servants was Xue Liu, whom the Xue Mansion intended to marry into Prince Duan’s Mansion as a concubine, it would likely ruin things…
Fortunately, the corridor was dimly lit, and Li Huan might not have seen clearly.
Xue Qingzhi therefore said, “It was dark, and your subordinate did not see clearly which young lady from which household it was…”
Li Huan gave a soft hum, offering him a way out.
“I shouldn’t interfere in the affairs of your mansion, Father-in-law. However, the Crown Prince has been making frequent accusations lately, and Imperial Father places great importance on virtue in managing one’s household and on the discipline of one’s family. If you were to make a mistake, Father-in-law, and be found to be lax in household management, it would be a serious offense… It would be best not to make any more mistakes.”
Xue Qingzhi raised his sleeve and wiped his forehead. “Thank you for your guidance, Your Highness. Your subordinate understands.”
Li Huan nodded. “Farewell.”
Xue Qingzhi bowed. “Your subordinate respectfully sees Your Highness off.”
Li Huan slowly walked ahead with his hands behind his back.
Xue Qingzhi caught up in a few steps, glanced back in the direction the carriage had disappeared, and gritted his teeth.
Troublemaker!
She caused him trouble as soon as she returned. She was indeed a born disaster star.
How could she compare to his Eldest Sister and Fourth Sister? One was a reincarnation of a lucky star, the other possessed spiritual wisdom. One would marry Prince Duan as the main consort and become the mother of the world in the future. The other would marry the beloved son of the Marquis Jingyuan, who held significant military power, and would enjoy infinite honor and become a great asset to her father…
Li Zhao: Xue Ping’an, my role is a bit small.
Xue Sui: Li Thief the Great, aren’t you living in your brother’s mouth?
—
If nothing unexpected happens, updates will be at 12:00 PM every day~~
Xue Ping’an and Li Thief the Great say, the nicknames the readers gave us are very good!
