Chapter 916: Face-Slapping
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Gu Jinyu’s voice trembled as she said, “When the Little Marquis fell on hard times in the countryside, it was you who saved him and took him as your husband. Now that he has regained his identity… although I feel for you, elder sister, knowing the truth only today…”
Ah. So this young woman had once saved the Little Marquis and forced him, in gratitude, to marry her?
And all the while, she had been ignorant of his true identity?
If the Little Marquis hadn’t even been willing to tell her his background, then clearly he had never truly wanted to marry her from the start.
He must have been coerced.
Gu Jiao looked at Gu Jinyu with a calm, indifferent expression. “Are you finished?”
Gu Jinyu shook her head beseechingly. “Elder sister… I beg you… please don’t do anything rash… If you go to the Marquis Estate now and admit your fault, Grandfather and our brothers will surely still be willing to acknowledge you back into the family…”
The crowd was even more astonished. So this eldest young miss had never been acknowledged by the Marquis Estate at all?
A shop assistant muttered under his breath, “Ah, I think I’ve heard of it… the eldest young miss grew up in the countryside… and can’t be brought out to meet guests…”
Gu Jiao gave Gu Jinyu a speechless sidelong glance, pulled her hand free, and with a single thrust of her dagger stabbed at the base of the crate.
“Elder sister——” Gu Jinyu’s face paled in horror.
Before anyone could stop her, Gu Jiao had already pried the crate loose, allowing the coachman to free his badly pinched fingers. He let out a deep sigh of relief.
Had it been a moment later, that finger might have been ruined for good.
Outside the carriage, one of the shop assistants looked at the crate Gu Jiao had just brought down and exclaimed in shock, “Oh no! The crate is broken! This is a top-quality redwood chest! Inside it’s all this year’s fashionable jewelry! Could they have been damaged too?”
If it was damaged during transport, and they were held responsible, the loss would be so great these shop assistants couldn’t repay it even with their lives!
Gu Jinyu spoke in a tone filled with pained reproach, her words almost trembling with a sense of wounded righteousness as she said, “Elder sister, I have already told you not to be like this… no matter how unhappy or upset you feel in your heart… you cannot vent your anger on these things——”
Her voice had barely fallen when a ripple of commotion stirred through the crowd, followed quickly by the voice of the coachman whose hand Gu Jiao had just saved, exclaiming, “Oh no, the steward from the Duke Estate is here!”
Gu Jinyu glanced at Gu Jiao, the corners of her lips curling into a faint, disdainful smirk as she said, “Elder sister, you must not act on impulse later. The one who is coming is the chief steward of the Duke Estate, and if you offend him, then you will…”
But before she could finish, the steward arrived with a forceful, stormy air, marching right up to Gu Jiao and fixing her with a fierce glare as he barked, “Who gave you permission to move the crate!”
Gu Jinyu immediately lowered her voice in an attempt at mediation, saying, “This good steward, please do not be angry with my elder sister. My elder sister——”
“Doesn’t your hand hurt now?” Steward Zheng cut in, hands planted firmly on his hips.
Gu Jinyu froze, utterly thrown off.
The other coachmen and shop assistants were equally startled.
Steward Zheng was speaking in the language of the State of Zhao, which meant that every person present could hear and understand him with perfect clarity.
Had he just… asked whether her hand hurt?
Blinking in confusion, Gu Jinyu stepped forward until she stood beside Gu Jiao, addressing Steward Zheng directly as she said, “I am terribly sorry, my elder sister broke your crate, but please rest assured that our Marquis Ding’an Estate will definitely compensate you for the loss, so I beg you not to hold it against my elder sister; she was simply too sad… too angry…”
Steward Zheng swung his gaze toward Gu Jinyu and snapped with open impatience, “And who are you? I am speaking to my young miss here; why are you butting in?”
Gu Jinyu was once again struck dumb.
She almost thought she had misheard him. “…Your… young miss?”
“That’s right!” Steward Zheng said without hesitation. “She is my young miss!”
A collective gasp swept through the onlookers.
Gu Jinyu’s eyes went wide, her mind going utterly blank with a buzzing sound in her ears.
For a man as sharp as Steward Zheng, everything was so obvious at a glance. This woman had been calling his young miss “elder sister” over and over, yet every word she spoke had been nothing but veiled insults and accusations against her.
Just because his young miss preferred to keep a low profile and not flaunt her identity, did this woman think she could seize on some perceived misstep and gain the upper hand?
Ha!
The Duke Estate had no tradition of taking concubines, and its inner courtyards were as peaceful as still water; his talents had nowhere to be used. But here, in the State of Zhao, he had finally encountered a perfect opportunity!
Rolling up his sleeves, Steward Zheng strode two steps toward Gu Jinyu, gesturing imperiously as he declared, “My young miss is the apple of Lord Duke’s eye. Everything here belongs to her! Whatever my young miss wants to break, she can break! If she feels like burning it all for fun, then she can burn it! What business is it of yours?”
“I…” Gu Jinyu found herself completely at a loss for words under the crushing weight of his rebuke.
Steward Zheng pressed forward with every step, forcing Gu Jinyu to retreat step by step.
With a cold chuckle, he added, “And stop calling her ‘elder sister.’ Are you trying to climb into my young miss’s circle? Do you really think you’re worthy?”
Gu Jinyu’s mind was in chaos. What in the world was going on? Hadn’t she been divorced by the Little Marquis? How had she suddenly become the Duke An Estate’s cherished daughter? Wasn’t she just some girl who had grown up in the countryside?
Whether from shock or from an overpowering wave of jealousy, her whole body began to tremble faintly, her fingernails digging so hard into her palms that she nearly drew blood.
She looked at Gu Jiao with eyes full of disbelief. “You… didn’t you go to Youzhou? How could you possibly——”
Just then, another carriage approached from the opposite direction.
It was Old Marquis and Gu Changqing, returning from court.
Perhaps noticing the commotion in front of the Duke Estate, the two alighted from their carriage and walked straight over.
“What has happened here?” Gu Changqing asked, his brows knitting.
The moment Gu Jinyu saw her grandfather and eldest brother, she was startled for an instant, then a sudden gleam of inspiration flashed in her mind; as though she had just grasped a life-saving straw, she let tears well up in her eyes and cried, “Grandfather! Eldest brother! Elder sister did not go to Youzhou at all! She secretly went to the State of Yan! And she became the Duke An Estate’s daughter!”
Her grandfather had always been the strictest about propriety; he would never permit his granddaughter to become the daughter of another household.
All the more so when that household was in another country. Surely this could already be considered an act of treason.
Her grandfather was a general; there was no way he would tolerate such a thing!
Gu Jinyu looked at Old Marquis with eager anticipation, but he merely furrowed his brows and said, “How many times have I told you, you are not my granddaughter. Do not call me grandfather.”
The color drained from Gu Jinyu’s face in an instant.
In the past, even if her grandfather disliked her, he had never gone so far as to make it plain in front of others; yet now he had openly humiliated her in front of so many servants!
Why?
Gu Changqing, for his part, did not even glance at Gu Jinyu; instead, he walked to Gu Jiao’s side, and the icy expression on his face softened. “Under such a blazing sun, why have you come outside?”
“I came to see my adoptive father.” Gu Jiao replied.
Old Marquis clasped his hands behind his back, his expression lofty and cold as he tilted his head upward and cleared his throat with deliberate weight.
Somewhere deep in Gu Jinyu’s heart, a strange and unsettling feeling arose. Is grandfather… jealous? Is he upset that that girl was only looking at her adoptive father and not at him?
Raz P.'s Thoughts
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Description:
In the suspenseful supernatural novel “Records of Mortals,” Jiang Baiyan, once a solitary and impoverished youth, finds refuge in the Shi family of Chang’an due to his extraordinary bloodline. With his clear and captivating peach blossom eyes, this seemingly innocent young man conceals a fanatical and malevolent lunatic within. Destined to succumb to darkness amidst hardship and degradation, he becomes a harbinger of chaos.
When Shi Dai suddenly transmigrates, she takes on the role of the Shi family’s young lady, the one who subjects him to countless trials, eventually leading to her demise.
The twist? She never got to finish reading the novel.
From what she knew of the plot, Jiang Baiyan was just a silent, timid, and often bullied pitiable character.
***
Jiang Baiyan had never encountered someone like Shi Dai.
After he had slaughtered all the evil creatures in the garden, the blood-stained young man, exuding a murderous aura, approached her step by step, his lips curling into a malicious smile, "Scared?"
Shi Dai responded, “You’re really amazing! I applaud you until I spin like a spiral and fly around the moon three hundred times! And also——you have dimples when you smile!"
Jiang Baiyan: ...?
—
After seeing her at a lantern festival with another man, Jiang Baiyan lowered his eyes, his fingers twirling her hair. He said in a mocking and sinister tone, "The mansion in the western suburbs...if I hide you there, no one will find you, right?"
Shi Dai replied, "Does it come with meals and lodging? Can I sleep in everyday? Oh, and your cooking is the best!"
Jiang Baiyan: ...?
—
Jiang Baiyan was supposed to dislike her, even hate her, but as their separation drew near, his eyes turned red and he grabbed her sleeve, pleading, "Don't abandon me, alri—”
Shi Dai responded, "Alright, alright, I’ll only have you. Mwah."
Jiang Baiyan: ...?
He hasn't finished his lines yet though…