Ever since he had been able to sleep well, Fu Yan’s routine was very regular.
No matter when Gu Fu left, he would return to his room to sleep at the start of Hai hour (9â11 PM) and wake up at the start of Mao hour (5â7 AM) the next day.
Today was no different. After ensuring that Gu Fu wouldn’t go to the Wu family in the middle of the night, Fu Yan looked at the time and got up to prepare for bed.
In the past, Gu Fu would leave immediately. After all, this was someone else’s place, filled with many documents sent by the Secret Cabinet. She had to avoid suspicion.
But today was different. As Fu Yan reached the staircase, he heard Gu Fu ask him, “Can I stay here for the night?”
Even someone as composed as Fu Yan almost slipped down the stairs. He grabbed the handrail, turned his head, and looked at Gu Fu. “You want to stay here, for the night?”
Gu Fu immediately reassured him, “Don’t worry. I won’t go downstairs. I’ll just stay here and won’t touch anything.”
Shouldn’t the one feeling concerned be him?
For a moment, Fu Yan felt confused. Gu Fu was a woman, and he was a man. If Gu Fu stayed over at his place in the middle of the night, shouldn’t it be Gu Fu who felt uneasy?
But thinking back to when Gu Fu first came here and pinned him against the wall, he felt that what Gu Fu said made sense.
Unable to figure it out, Fu Yan finally said, “Suit yourself.”
Fu Yan went downstairs to his room. Shortly after, a young servant came up with clean bedding and pillows and asked Gu Fu where she wanted to sleep.
Gu Fu looked around and finally pointed to a spot near the table. “There.”
It wasn’t directly facing the window, so there was no cold draft, and she could still see the stars outside. It seemed like a perfect spot for sleeping.
The young servant laid out the bedding, bowed, and left.
Gu Fu wasnât feeling sleepy initially and even thought she might stay awake all night. However, whether it was the comfortable night breeze or the soothing atmosphere of Qitian Tower, Gu Fu began to feel drowsy. She took off two layers of her outer clothing, leaving on just her chest wrap, long skirt, and a short, close-fitting jacket tucked into her skirt, and fell asleep.
The night passed slowly and gently like flowing water.
The next morning, the early-rising Fu Yan went up to the seventh floor and saw Gu Fu sleeping in a particularly unrestrained manner by the table.
Fu Yan turned his head to look away and saw that two of Gu Fu’s outer garments were hanging on the rack where he usually hung his fur cloak.
Although it was just their clothes hanging together, he felt a burning sensation in his face and quickly turned his head in another direction. Midway, his gaze swept over Gu Fu and he realized she was awake, lying on her back and looking at him.
Fu Yan: “…”
Gu Fu slowly rolled over, propping herself up on one elbow with her other hand supporting her head as if it weighed eight hundred pounds and would fall off without support.
“Up so early?” Gu Fuâs voice was a bit hoarse from just waking up.
The quilt was draped over her shoulders, and from Fu Yanâs angle, he could see her slender neck, fair and beautiful collarbones, and…
âItâs not early.â Fu Yan turned and went downstairs, leaving Gu Fu puzzled.
Not early?
Gu Fu sat up and looked out the window. At this hour, the sky was just beginning to lighten. How was this not early?
Before Gu Fu could figure it out, the diligent young servant came in with hot water for her to wash up.
Gu Fu got up, put on her outer clothes, and then washed her face and rinsed her mouth.
The young servant tidied up Gu Fu’s bedding and pillows from the previous night. After the servant took the bedding and pillows downstairs, Fu Yan came back up.
The two of them had breakfast together, and the brilliant light of the rising sun slowly emerged from the east, dispelling the cold left by the night.
After breakfast, Gu Fu asked Fu Yan, âCan I borrow the secret report on the Wu family?â
Fu Yan specifically picked the one that detailed Wu Huaijin’s discussions with his parents after returning home from the Li residence and handed it to Gu Fu.
After reading it, Gu Fu felt her recently eaten breakfast churning in her stomach, leaving her feeling extremely nauseous.
She closed the secret report with a snap and told Fu Yan, “Actually, if you just put this on my father’s desk, he won’t let yesterday’s engagement banquet proceed as planned.”
A look of confusion flashed in Fu Yan’s eyes.
How could Gu Qizheng, who went so far as to keep the engagement banquet a secret from his own mother and children, allow everything to fall apart just because of the truth behind it?
“How should I explain this to you?” Gu Fu thought for a moment and then said, “My father still misses my mother to this day. He would rather trouble my aunt to manage the household than remarry. Aunt Yang only came into the picture after my mother passed away, and it was my grandmother who insisted he needed someone to take care of him. To placate my grandmother, he brought Aunt Yang back from a music house. My grandmother couldn’t do anything about him, so she often nagged him, saying that if he didn’t care about himself, he should at least think of me. She would say that without a proper mother to guide me, my marriage prospects would suffer.
“But he thought that even if I didn’t have a proper mother, I still had my grandmother to guide me, so he didn’t take her words to heart. Later, when I went to the Northern Territory, it was my own decision. However, he seemed to think it was his fault because he stubbornly refused to remarry, leaving me without a proper mother’s guidance, which made me different from other girls.
“He feared I would ruin myself by joining the army at the Northern Border, so he was eager to make me like other girls, to marry into a good family, as if the past five years had never happened.
“You might think I’m biased towards him, but I always felt that it wasn’t entirely his fault. More of the blame lies with the society.”
“A society where women can only manage households and teach children, where taking one step beyond is seen as wrong.”
âŚ
Gu Fu staying overnight at Qitian Tower and not returning home meant that Gu Qizheng spent the night in his study.
When the maid from Gu Fuâs courtyard came to report in the morning that Gu Fu had returned, Gu Qizheng left his study quickly and headed towards Feique Pavilion.
Because Gu Fu didnât come home the night before the engagement day, the maids at Feique Pavilion had already been reprimanded by both Nanny Lin and Gu Qizheng, with Secret Cabinetâs secret spy, Lu Zhu, monitoring in secret. Hence, Gu Fuâs escape on the night of the engagement wasnât widely known.
When they saw Gu Qizheng arriving, they didnât dare stop him and watched as he met Gu Fu in the courtyard.
Gu Fu had just returned from Qitian Tower and was practicing swordsmanship in the courtyard. Her moves werenât particularly elegant, but they were powerful, precise, and executed at tricky angles, each strike carrying a chilling intensity.
Gu Qizheng walked in on this scene and, for a moment, fused Gu Fuâs image with the person he had always kept in his heart. The anger that had built up over the night dissipated suddenly, leaving only a dry pain in his throat as if he had swallowed a mouthful of sharp ceramic shards.
After finishing her routine, Gu Fu saw Gu Qizheng standing not far away.
Despite having spoken well of Gu Qizheng at Fu Yanâs place, when facing him in person, Gu Fu greeted him sharply: âGood morning, Lord Gu.â
Gu Qizheng snapped out of his daze, pointed at Gu Fu, and scolded, âYou wretched child! You still know how to come back!!â
âAs if I wanted to come back.â Gu Fu took out the secret report borrowed from the national advisor and threw it to Gu Qizheng. âI came back to deliver something to you.â
Gu Fuâs aim was accurate, but Gu Qizheng still fumbled to catch it, lacking his usual elegance.
As he read the report, his face grew increasingly grim, and his chest heaved with anger.
He probably hadnât expected that the fiancĂŠ he painstakingly arranged for Gu Fu would turn out to be such a scoundrel.
Gu Qizheng abruptly closed the report and turned to leave.
Gu Fu chased after him and grabbed his arm. âWhere are you going?â
Gu Qizheng had to stop in his tracks. “Annul the engagement!”
“Just finalized yesterday, and today you want to annul it? Don’t you find that embarrassing?” Gu Fu kept fanning the flames.
“If they have the audacity to be so shameless, what do I have to fear?” Gu Qizheng retorted angrily.
Gu Fu reminded him, “But this report is something I got from the Secret Cabinet.. If you take it over there, how will you explain it when they ask?”
Gu Qizheng froze, finally realizing the issue. Yes, to have such detailed records of another family’s affairs, who else but the Secret Cabinet could have provided it? If he used this report to annul the engagement and the Wu family became enraged and publicized it, how would the Gu family explain the Secret Cabinetâs covert operations?
What would the emperor think if this reached him?
Gu Qizheng shivered, his anger cooling down significantly, but he remained resolute. “Even so, we must annul the engagement! Theyâve planned to deceive us even before the wedding, arranging for concubines and secondary wives. After you marry, what kind of mistreatment will you face?”
Gu Fu observed Gu Qizhengâs reaction and felt her anger towards him diminish somewhat. “It’s not urgent.”
Gu Qizheng retorted, “Not urgent? Do you know what could happen next? If something goes wrong and we can’t annul the engagement, won’t you be anxious then??”
Gu Fu’s head throbbed from the shouting. “It’s really not urgent. After the Shangsi Festival, the timing will be just right, and no one will gossip.”
Gu Qizheng didn’t understand what Gu Fu meant, but seeing her confidence and remembering that his stubbornness had caused the current situation, he reluctantly decided to follow her advice.
…
March 3, Shangsi Festival.
It’s considered quite embarrassing not to go on an outing on this day.
Moreover, on this day every year, the emperor held a gathering with the officials and their families at Lingshui Garden.
Lingshui Garden is situated on an island on the outskirts of the city to the south, serving as a royal retreat. It is usually not open to the public, but on this one day, many people are allowed to visit.
The emperor arrived on the island a day earlier, while the officials had to rise before dawn to leave the city, having their identities verified one by one before they could board boats to the island.
Although referred to as âall officials,â only those of third rank and above were eligible to enter.
Gu Qizheng, as the Vice Minister of Revenue, held a rank of Lower Third Grade and was naturally included in the gathering.
On the other hand, Gu Qirong and his wife had planned to go kite flying with their children and the old lady, so they did not join Gu Qizheng at Lingshui Garden. Thus, the ones accompanying Gu Qizheng were only Gu Chen, Gu Fu, Mu Qingyao, and Gu Shishi.
For this occasion, Second Madam Li had specially ordered new clothes for them. Gu Shishi, worried that her new clothes might not be as splendid as Gu Fu’s, frequently visited Madam Li’s courtyard, pleading for the most stunning and glamorous outfit. But Madam Li was not foolish; she would never allow Gu Shishiâs new clothes to outshine Gu Fu’s. So, while she chose the best materials and designs for Gu Shishi, she picked even better ones for Gu Fu.
As a result, Gu Fu ended up with a dress she had no desire to wear on the day before the Shangsi Festival.
Pinching her nose, Gu Fu said, “I recall having several unworn new dresses in my wardrobe. Perhaps…”
Nanny Lin interrupted her, “General, what a foolish thing to say. If the second madam finds out you wore something else, she would certainly overthink. Just for the effort the second madam put in, you should wear this dress to Lingshui Garden.”
Gu Fu replied, “…”
Could you perhaps hide the gleeful look on your face when you say that?
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