Gu Fu, who was in a great mood, didn’t have much time to comfort Gu Qizheng.
After changing her clothes, she went to Wanxiu Zhai with Mu Qingyao.
Wanxiu Zhai had been extremely busy recently. Due to sudden changes, they needed to redraw the list, re-verify identities, confirm that participants met the standards,
and re-approve portraits.
With the experience from last time, their efficiency was much higher than at the beginning. They also learned to reasonably delegate tasks to their subordinates, but the final work still needed to be done by themselves. In addition, they had to attend lessons in the palace, so their time was limited to the short period between leaving the
palace and the curfew.
Because they were so busy, no one had heard about Gu Fu being granted a marriage. It wasn’t until they returned home that they heard from others that Gu Fu, who had been working on the new list with them just a moment ago, had been granted marriage to the Imperial Preceptor by the emperor.
But so what?
The girls, who were so exhausted that they dreamed about attending lessons and reviewing lists every night, had a surprisingly consistent reaction: could this news let them skip two hours of lessons? Could it speed up the process of redrawing the list? Could it write their homework so they could immediately collapse into bed?
If not, move on to the next task.
Gu Fu and Mu Qingyao returned from Wanxiu Zhai, and because of the marriage grant, Old Madam specially called her to ask about it. Gu Fu hid her nightly outings and only mentioned that she had known the Imperial Preceptor for a long time. When the emperor was assassinated and she saved him, the Imperial Preceptor was also there. Recently, as she accompanied the emperor in the palace, the Imperial Preceptor was one of the teachers invited by the empress.
She only mentioned these two things, leaving the rest to the old madam’s imagination to piece together a reasonable backstory for the marriage grant and to dispel her concerns.
After leaving the Old Madam’s courtyard, Gu Fu encountered the Second Madam Li, who had hurried over.
Second Madam Li, like the Old Madam, felt as if she was dreaming since receiving the imperial decree. She walked unsteadily, taking a long time to regain her composure. But once she did, she felt even more pressure—now that the imperial decree had been issued, it seemed the whole capital was watching the Gu family. If anything went wrong, how could she face anyone in the capital again?
Second Madam Li expressed her worries to Gu Fu. Gu Fu comforted her, saying, “Aunt, don’t worry. If it really comes to it, I can enter the palace tomorrow and ask the Empress for a few palace maids to come and help us. There won’t be any mistakes.”
Only then did Second Madam Li feel relieved. She also increasingly felt that Gu Fu had a fortunate destiny, being able to casually borrow people from the palace.
After sending Second Madam Li off, Gu Fu returned to Feique Pavilion, changed her clothes, and headed straight for Qitian Tower. A light rain along the way couldn’t dampen her good mood.
Gu Fu was happy, but Fu Yan was not. Today, he had a rare chance to attend lessons at Qingshui Pavilion. When Gu Fu passed by his desk, she secretly tugged at his sleeve, the slight pull capturing all his attention.
But when he looked at Gu Fu, she was staring intently at her book, not sparing him a glance, very cold.
Gu Fu held Fu Yan’s hand and explained, “The Empress specially had palace maids and nurses oversee Qingshui Pavilion. Any teacher who behaves improperly towards students will be directly expelled from the palace. I was just worried that if we exchanged looks, someone might see.”
Fu Yan’s face remained cold. “Aren’t you afraid of being seen when you tug at my sleeve?”
Gu Fu seemed to really like Fu Yan’s hand. As if that wasn’t enough, she lightly bit the tip of his finger: “I am a student.”
A student teasing a teacher—could that really be a problem?
Fu Yan abruptly pulled his hand back. Gu Fu thought, ‘It’s over. I’ve really made him angry this time.’ She was just about to speak to appease him, but then she saw Fu Yan first lower his eyes to look at his hand, then slowly lower his head and lick the spot where she had bitten.
This action looked particularly ambiguous, yet his lowered eyes still carried the perennial frost, creating a stark contrast between his demeanor and his actions. The intense disparity struck Gu Fu’s heart like a heavy hammer.
As if that weren’t enough, at this moment, Fu Yan lifted his gaze and glanced at her coldly.
Gu Fu once thought that Fu Yan had a face that made people want to ruin it. But when she had the right to act recklessly, she became cautious, fearing that Fu Yan would feel uncomfortable with her proximity. So, in the past few days, Gu Fu had been extremely careful. Until yesterday, the most intimate thing she had done was to lightly peck Fu Yan’s cheek, planning to see if she could gently kiss his lips today without making him uncomfortable.
But that glance from Fu Yan shattered all of Gu Fu’s restraint. Before she realized it, she had already crossed the table between them and pinned Fu Yan to the ground.
Snow-white long hair scattered on the ground, Gu Fu pressed one hand on Fu Yan’s shoulder while placing the other behind his head to prevent him from hitting the back of his head.
However, this subtle care was overshadowed by Gu Fu’s almost domineering deep kiss. Teeth clashed, and Gu Fu followed her instincts to invade and plunder. Every slight sound that Fu Yan made excited her, making her deepen the kiss in hopes of hearing more.
Engrossed, Gu Fu didn’t notice that while she was having her way, Fu Yan raised his hand…
Caught off guard, she was flipped over, with Fu Yan now pressing her down to the ground. Before Gu Fu could react, Fu Yan lowered his head, perfectly imitating the fierceness she had just displayed, letting her experience what it felt like to be overpowered and plundered.
But Gu Fu was ecstatic. She hooked her arms around Fu Yan’s neck, seeking more, until both of them were breathless and finally had to stop.
Fu Yan’s long hair fell onto her face. She tugged at it, wanting to pull Fu Yan down for another round.
However, she was unsuccessful—Fu Yan covered her mouth with his hand.
Gu Fu raised an eyebrow in confusion. Fu Yan, however, sat up, supporting himself on the ground, and began to straighten the clothes that had been disheveled during their tussle.
Gu Fu, incredulous, asked, “What good does it do you to not let me?”
Fu Yan didn’t turn his head: “To vent my anger.”
Oh right, she had made Fu Yan angry.
Gu Fu finally remembered.
Feeling that she had brought this upon herself, Gu Fu pounded the ground twice with her hand.
Fu Yan didn’t engage in her antics and urged her to change out of her rain-soaked clothes.
Gu Fu lay on the ground, refusing to move. She was somewhat sleepy due to the recent busyness and the emotional upheaval of the past few moments: “You don’t have my clothes here.”
Fu Yan: “…Wear mine.”
Gu Fu immediately perked up, jumped up, and ran downstairs, diving into Fu Yan’s bedroom to grab his clothes to wear.
Fu Yan was a head taller than Gu Fu, so his clothes were naturally larger, making Gu Fu look even smaller when she put them on.
After changing, Gu Fu returned to the seventh floor and heard Fu Yan instructing a young attendant: “…make two sets of men’s clothing and two sets of skirts.”
Gu Fu: “Making clothes for me?”
The young attendant bowed and left. Fu Yan responded with a simple “Mm” and continued to look at the reports.
Gu Fu wandered over and sat opposite Fu Yan, leaning on the table with a smile: “It’s not like it rains every day. Why make so many clothes?”
Gu Fu just wanted to tease Fu Yan. Who would have thought that Fu Yan had improved—not only did he not let her tease him, but he also teased her back: “Who said you can only change clothes when you get caught in the rain?”
Gu Fu laughed uncontrollably, feeling a sense of achievement in finally leading Fu Yan astray.
It was the first time Fu Yan made such a suggestive remark, maintaining a calm exterior. When he saw that Gu Fu had laughed enough, he immediately changed the subject, saying to her: “Prince Ying is sick.”
Gu Fu responded casually, “How did he get sick?”
—He was scared sick by Fu Yan.
Fu Yan’s words that day seemed childish, as if he was just going to scare Prince Ying a little. In reality, only Prince Ying, who was in the middle of it all, knew how deeply Fu Yan’s words plunged him into despair.
Prince Ying felt utterly hopeless, which led to his severe illness, confining him to his bed until now.
Not wanting Gu Fu to know how ruthless he had been to his half-brother, Fu Yan replied, “Why do you care how he got sick?”
Gu Fu obligingly changed the question: “Did he die?”
If he had died, she could bring Lin Yuezhi back sooner.
Fu Yan shook his head: “He’s still alive. Miss Lin has tried to poison his medicine multiple times, but he managed to avoid it each time.”
Gu Fu was astonished: “Is he that lucky?”
“Not entirely luck,” Fu Yan said. “Someone is deliberately protecting him.”
Gu Fu asked, “Who?”
Fu Yan handed her a letter. Gu Fu opened it and was shocked by its contents. The letter stated that the person protecting Prince Ying was none other than the seventh daughter of Earl Lin’an, Tang Mumu, who was supposed to be dead.
Gu Fu’s eyes widened as she continued reading. The letter did not explain how Tang Mumu had come back to life; it only stated that Tang Mumu was now an unrecognized concubine in Prince Ying’s household. If Lin Yuezhi hadn’t noticed her while trying to poison Prince Ying, the Secret Cabinet would not have discovered that she was Tang Mumu.
After Prince Ying fell ill, Princess Ying tried every means to send messages outside the mansion, and her visits to Prince Ying became less frequent. The only person staying by Prince Ying’s sickbed was Tang Mumu.
Lin Yuezhi managed to get close to Tang Mumu, pretending to care for her under the guise of a maid and advising her to consider her own well-being. However, Tang Mumu scolded her for being short-sighted, insisting that Prince Ying would recover. Tang Mumu believed that not seizing this opportunity to leave a loyal impression on Prince Ying would be a waste.
Lin Yuezhi inquired with the Secret Cabinet and confirmed that Prince Ying’s illness was not life-threatening. She realized that if she couldn’t kill him during this period, it would become increasingly difficult to do so in the future.
Thus, Lin Yuezhi resorted to more direct methods. She simultaneously tried to assassinate Prince Ying, bypassing Tang Mumu, and took care of the severely ill Prince Ying alongside Tang Mumu.
Each time, Lin Yuezhi put on a show of caring deeply for Tang Mumu, competing with her for the dirtiest and most exhausting tasks. She would let Tang Mumu rest and only put on an act when Prince Ying was awake.
At first, Tang Mumu was, of course, unwilling to let Lin Yuezhi take over. But the saying goes, “There are no filial sons by the sickbed”, and Tang Mumu was only after the wealth and status of Prince Ying’s household. Over time, she tacitly approved of Lin Yuezhi’s actions, driving her away whenever Prince Ying was awake. However, she was unaware that in his semi-conscious state, Prince Ying had already remembered Lin Yuezhi’s appearance and had developed a deep impression of her, who he could only see when he was not fully conscious.
Lin Yuezhi was exceptionally patient, so she didn’t mind slowly stealing the affection that should have belonged to Tang Mumu. She bided her time, lurking by Prince Ying’s side, waiting for the next perfect opportunity to strike a fatal blow.
If you enjoy my translations, feel free to consider supporting me on ko-fi! Thank you!
Release schedule: Every Monday.
Unlock chapters to read ahead!
