Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Xie Licheng had expected this matter to cause quite a stir. After all, a living person had suddenly disappeared, and Concubine Xu knew that the last person to see him was Gu Zhangyuan. There was no way this could be settled easily.

But soon Xie Licheng discovered that the ancient nobility and government officials wielded great power, and this matter ultimately concluded in a way he had not anticipated.

...

When Concubine Xu was scheming against Gu Zhangyuan, she had used the pretext of thieves breaking into the Gu residence to summon people.

The situation that day was extremely urgent, so Xie Licheng simply turned the tables by playing along and pretending to be the thief himself, luring away those who had come to catch the culprit.

It was only then that Concubine Xu realized something was off—her nephew had gone missing.

She was convinced this had something to do with Gu Zhangyuan, and that so-called thief might well be one of Gu Zhangyuan's men. Naturally, she would do everything in her power to catch that thief.

So when she saw that the Gu family had been searching for the thief for days without finding any trace of him, Concubine Xu believed Gu Zhangyuan was deliberately shielding the culprit. She went ahead and secretly had someone report the matter to the authorities.

Once the authorities got involved, the whole nature of the matter changed.

This quickly reached the ears of the Eldest Master of the Gu family, who was away visiting friends.

Even before he set foot back home, the Master already knew the whole story from start to finish.

The root of it all was Concubine Xu's wicked intentions—she had tried to team up with an outsider to set up the young miss of the Gu family.

Gu Zhangyuan, desperate to protect his younger sister, nearly got taken advantage of by that male guest himself.

But who would've thought—that male guest was nothing but a useless piece of trash. He was the one doing the scheming, and in the end, he wound up falling to his own death.

Gu Zhangyuan had been raised too well—too upright and honest—by the Eldest Master. It was his first time dealing with something like this, and since a male slave had caught him, he got spooked and agreed to let the slave get rid of the body.

Then Concubine Xu, using "catching thieves" as an excuse, brought a bunch of people to catch Gu Zhangyuan in the act, trying to force the Gu family to marry Gu Zhangyuan off to her nephew.

Hearing all this, the Eldest Master laughed in sheer anger.

"What a delusional fantasy! If, on Gu family turf, my son and daughter could be pushed around by a lowly concubine, then I, Gu Zhenghan, don't deserve to be the head of this family."

The Eldest Master let out a cold snort and said to the steward beside him, "Go. Do exactly as I've instructed."

The steward quickly leaned in, cupping his ear, then hurried back to the Gu residence ahead of the Master.

No more than half an hour after the steward got back to the Gu residence, the yamen runners showed up too.

When Concubine Xu got word, she wanted to take the runners to where her nephew had gone missing.

She was convinced that if something had happened to her nephew, it had to have happened at the rockery.

But before she could even get to the runners, the steward had already led them to the guest quarters in the outer courtyard.

Concubine Xu's nephew had been staying in the outer courtyard guest rooms. The steward explained that a few days ago, the Gu residence had been hit by thieves, and while hunting for the culprit, they'd realized a good amount of valuables were missing.

And as luck would have it, around that same time, a male guest in the outer courtyard had gone missing. They figured it might be connected, so they wanted to take the runners over to check it out first.

But wouldn't you know it—the moment they stepped into that male guest's room, they found two of the Gu family's stolen valuables right there.

Putting that together with the earlier burglary and the missing guest, it was obvious he'd been tempted by the loot—stolen a bunch of valuables, then bolted before he could get caught and hauled before the authorities.

Of course, that was just the Gu family's version of events. In normal times, even the most incompetent runners wouldn't have been bought off with a few smooth words.

But lately, there were faint rumblings of trouble brewing in Lingzhou. The prefect was up to his ears in work and had no time to bother with such petty matters.

Moreover, the ancient government was different from modern times. As the saying goes, "The yamen gates face south; if you've got no money, don't bother coming in even if you're in the right."

The prefect of Lingzhou was hardly an upright or fair-minded man. Unless something big happened—like a murder case—he wouldn't bother investigating seriously.

If the top beam is crooked, the lower beam is sure to be crooked too. Which meant the runners under him were cut from the same cloth.

As for today's business at the Gu residence—Concubine Xu had reported it as a burglary, so naturally they treated it as a burglary.

The steward had also made sure to avoid prying eyes and slipped them a hefty wad of silver.

After that, whatever the steward said, they took as gospel.

And so, the thief that had everyone in an uproar for days ended up being pinned on Concubine Xu's nephew.

Since Concubine Xu had been screaming "thief" this and "thief" that, insisting the Gu residence had been robbed—well, now she'd really gotten her wish.

When she heard the authorities had closed the case with that verdict—not only was there no trace of the thief who'd made her nephew vanish, her missing nephew himself had been branded a thief.

Word had it that after the officials went back, they even hired a sketch artist to draw her nephew's portrait, saying they'd search the whole city for this thief.

Her nephew was a scholar, and scholars are all about saving face.

Now he was missing, fate unknown, and on top of that, he'd been slapped with a reputation like that.

She couldn't even stand to think about how much her own family would despise her once they found out.

The more Concubine Xu thought about it, the more terrified she got. She was sure that if she stayed, she'd come to a bad end. So she packed up her valuables and planned to slip out of the Gu residence under the cover of night.

But what she hadn't counted on was that before she could even finish packing, the steward showed up at her door with a group of people.

He didn't even let her get a word in, and just announced, "How dare you, Xu! Meeting an outsider man in the dead of night—no virtue, no shame! Men, seize her! Give her ten strokes of the cane first, then tomorrow, send her off to the farm out in the countryside."

Concubine Xu let out a shrill scream. "You're making this up! You're making this up! I want to see the Eldest Master! I want to see the Eldest Master! I've been wronged! I didn't do it! I swear I didn't! Eldest Master, you can't do this to me! Xue'er can't be without her mother! I'm—I'm Miss Xue's mother! You—you can't do this to me..."

No one paid her any mind. When she'd schemed to do those things to Gu Yangxue, she sure hadn't stopped to think that she was the girl's own mother.

The Eldest Master hadn't actually gotten some outsider man to do anything to her—he was just using that as an excuse to kick her out of the Gu residence.

But she'd wanted to find an outsider man to defile her own daughter and to defile the Gu family's eldest young master.

Using the most terrifying weapons—their chastity and their reputation—to force them into marrying someone who'd already humiliated them.

Compared to what she'd done, the Eldest Master figured he was already being more than merciful.

Of course, it wasn't like he had any real fondness for her to begin with.

Any so-called "old affection" was only for Gu Yangxue's sake.

If it weren't for that daughter, given everything she'd done, given that she was the lowest of the low servants in the Gu household, the family could've just beaten her to death outright.

...

After cleaning up all the mess, the Eldest Master called Gu Zhangyuan to his study.

Looking at his eldest, who had grown into a slender, elegant beauty with a face like a flower, the Eldest Master truly adored him and doted on him.

He was his first child. Even though he was only a "Ge'er"—a son raised as a daughter—he had always been especially indulged.

You could almost say he was raised on gold, silver, and jewels.

The Grand Master looked at Gu Zhangyuan and said, "Do you know where you went wrong this time?"

Gu Zhangyuan bowed slightly, his manner respectful and obedient.

"Zhangyuan knows—his temperament is still too timid and cowardly."

The Grand Master shook his head, gesturing for him to sit down beside him to speak.

"You're not timid or weak—you're just too soft-hearted. That man happened to be a coward; otherwise, you'd have been in real danger that time. You shouldn't have risked yourself alone for your sister, and you shouldn't have been scared just because he died."

Gu Zhangyuan sat down beside him, speaking in a low, slightly aggrieved voice: "I... I was afraid my actions might damage the Gu family's reputation."

The Grand Master said coldly, "Even so, you shouldn't have trusted the words of a low servant and handed over such an important piece of leverage to him."

Gu Zhangyuan lowered his eyes and said, "Zhangyuan knows he was wrong."

"What's the story with that low servant? You gave him so much silver—why didn't you send him far away?"

Gu Zhangyuan did not answer immediately but first composed his emotions, then replied calmly and unhurriedly: "Zhangyuan initially wanted to send him away, but later thought of keeping him to use for himself. Zhangyuan only has maidservants, young attendants, and guards from the Gu family around him—no male slave he can rely on—so he thought he'd try to cultivate one himself."

Hearing this, the Grand Master stared at him, his gaze heavy, for a long while.

"I heard from the steward that he is quite handsome, brought out of the slave camp by a lad from the second branch. He's a descendant of a military general from the previous dynasty, raised in the slave camp since childhood, without even a proper name. Yuan'er is no longer young; ordinary boys your age would have married and had children long ago. If you fancy his looks, you can keep him. But you must heed your father's words—you can't have children with such a criminal slave, nor can you..."

Before he could finish, Gu Zhangyuan stood up, his face flushed.

He said, his face still red, "There's nothing of the sort! Father, how could you think that of me? I could never fancy a criminal slave. Father, don't speak of such things again."

Seeing he was unwilling to hear more, the Grand Master fell silent. Such matters were not really for a father to discuss.

If not for the second son's poor health, requiring his wife to accompany him year-round as he sought medical treatment elsewhere,

the task of instructing the eldest young master should have fallen to his mother personally.

The Grand Master said, "You are of age now. When you employ people, you need to exercise some discretion. Before you're sure of someone's character, don't let them get too close to you. I'll be taking your grandfather to the capital soon. If you're home alone and can't make a decision, go ask your second uncle or the steward. As for Ting'er, that child—discipline him properly when needed, and don't always indulge his whims."

Gu Zhangyuan quickly replied, "Zhangyuan understands. Zhangyuan will definitely discipline his younger brother well."

After Gu Zhangyuan left the study, the steward, who'd been hiding behind the screen, came out looking worried.

The steward asked quietly, "That horse slave—are you really not going to send him away? This old servant feels he's not simple at all—not at all like an ordinary criminal slave."

The Grand Master smiled and glanced at him. "It's fine—aren't you keeping an eye on him? If he acts against the Gu family or tries to bully Yuan'er, you can deal with him directly on my behalf."

Seeing that the Grand Master had entrusted everything to him—meaning he didn't need to seek the Eldest Young Master's opinion—the steward felt less uneasy and anxious than before.

The Eldest Young Master was too young and too softhearted.

If many matters had to go through his approval, the steward would find himself hesitant and hamstrung in handling them.