The wedding between the two families had originally been set for a month ago, after Zhao Qian returned from Lin’an Prefecture upon passing the provincial examination.
But two months earlier, her parents had both accidentally fallen from a towering cliff while gathering medicinal herbs.
She had hired many mountain villagers to search beneath the cliff, but they had found no trace of their remains.
All they found were a few items that had fallen from her parents’ bodies. Some people said wild beasts might have eaten them. Others said there happened to be a swift river beneath the cliff, and that her parents might have fallen into it and been swept away. Half a mile farther downstream was a towering waterfall, leaving almost no possibility of survival.
Without seeing them alive or finding their bodies, Gu Nian refused to believe that her parents were dead. Even if she exhausted the family’s entire fortune, she would continue searching for them.
Because of this, the wedding between her and Zhao Qian could not take place.
Her family ran a medicine shop. Though her father did not possess a physician’s license from the government, he secretly treated people who could not afford medical care. Many people from the surrounding villages had received his kindness, and he enjoyed an excellent reputation.
The medicines were all made by the family themselves. They were high-quality and inexpensive, and even wealthy households were willing to buy them. The shop’s business was excellent, and the family lived in relative comfort.
During the two months after her parents’ disappearance, several groups of uncles and cousins from the clan had come by. Every one of them had been eyeing her family’s medicine shop covetously.
The Great Yong Code stated that when a household had no male heirs, its house went to the nearest relatives; if an elder brother died, his younger brother inherited, and if a younger brother died, his elder brother inherited.
If she wanted to keep the medicine shop, she had no choice but to marry or have children.
At first, she had thought she could rely on Zhao Qian. As the wife of a juren, she believed her uncles and cousins would not dare to pressure her.
Who could have known…
Men truly could not be relied upon. In the end, she still had to depend on herself.
Gu Nian gave a bitter smile and chose a gray-white cotton-lined jacket to wear with a skirt.
Her parents had yet to be found. She could not simply assume they were gone, but neither did she feel like wearing brightly colored clothes.
Crash!
“Gu Nian, you damned girl! Come out quickly! Don’t hide. Hiding won’t do you any good!”
The curses came with the tremendous crash of the courtyard gate being kicked open.
Gu Nian’s heart sank.
She leaned out to look.
It was her Eldest Uncle Gu and Third Uncle Gu with their wives, accompanied by several male servants.
Every one of them looked fierce and menacing. They had clearly come with hostile intent.
They must have come for the medicine shop.
Gu Nian had spent nearly every day on the mountain gathering medicinal herbs recently. The last several times they had come looking for her, they had found the place empty.
Just as Gu Nian was preparing to go downstairs, she heard a series of loud crashes as things were smashed.
As Third Uncle Gu smashed things, he shouted, “You little bastard, get out here!”
Eldest Uncle Gu yelled, “Smash it all! Let’s see if that little bastard still dares to hide!”
Her parents’ fate was still unknown, yet these people were actually forcing her like this.
Fury surging through her, Gu Nian shoved open the door and went to confront them.
The northern wind whipped fine snow through the air, and the cold pierced to the bone.
Neighbors who had risen early hunched their shoulders and tucked their hands into their sleeves as they gathered outside the low wall of Gu Er’s house, craning their necks to watch the spectacle.
The courtyard was strewn with smashed bottles and jars, as well as drying racks for medicinal herbs that had been knocked to the ground. It was a complete mess.
The veins on the back of Gu Nian’s clenched hand stood out as she pointed furiously at them. “Get out of my house!”
Eldest Uncle Gu sneered. “I’m your eldest uncle, yet you dare speak to me like that? Showing no respect for your elders is a grave offense! If I send you to the authorities, you’ll lose your life.”
Gu Nian’s almond-shaped eyes were red with fury. “My parents haven’t even returned, and you’ve already come to pressure me. Elders? Are there elders like you?”
Third Uncle Gu laughed. “Your parents are dead.”
Gu Nian trembled with rage and shouted, “They’re not dead!”
The onlookers began discussing it among themselves.
“The Gu family has gone too far. Gu Er and his wife have only been missing for two months, and they’re already trying to seize a male-heirless household’s estate. They have no humanity at all.”
“Exactly. Those two brothers are so vicious. If Miss Gu loses the medicine shop, won’t they devour her until not even dregs remain?”
“Miss Gu is going to be the wife of an official. How dare they treat her like this?”
Nearby, Madam Wang, who had been cracking melon seeds, spat out a shell.
She sneered. “A few days ago, I personally accompanied the juren’s mother to arrange the marriage with Assistant Prefect Zhou’s household in Lin’an Prefecture. That Gu girl is probably not going to become the juren’s wife after all.”
The news was explosive.
“What? Then no one can help her anymore. Poor Miss Gu!”
The onlookers sighed, and some even cursed the Zhao family for being a bunch of ungrateful ingrates.
Eldest Uncle Gu, Third Uncle Gu, and their wives had learned that Gu Nian’s marriage was about to fall through. That was why they had come to pressure her even more aggressively.
Still, they had to take the neighbors’ opinions and their own reputations into account.
Eldest Aunt Gu put on a false smile. “Nian’er, you’ve misunderstood. Your aunt is only taking pity on you for being without parents and wants to bring you home to live with us.”
“That’s right, that’s right,” Third Aunt Gu hurriedly added. “Be a good girl, Nian’er. We’re only here to help you pack your things.”
As they spoke, the two women each seized one of Gu Nian’s arms and began dragging her outside. The Gu brothers prepared to rush into the house and search for the deed to the property.
A woman pushed her way out of the crowd and ran over to pull at Eldest Aunt Gu, cursing furiously.
“You shameless wretches! So many adults bullying one young girl—you’re worse than pigs and dogs! Let go of her!”
Eldest Uncle Gu rushed over and kicked the woman in the waist.
The woman cried out in pain, flew to the ground, and rolled twice.
Gu Nian panicked. She struggled free, helped the woman up, and asked anxiously, “Aunt Wu, are you all right?”
Aunt Wu endured the pain in her stomach and spread her arms to shield Gu Nian behind her.
“How dare you hit my wife!”
Uncle Wu also hurried over. He grabbed a hoe and charged forward.
The neighbors could no longer stand by. One after another, they began condemning the Gu family.
Those who had received Gu Er’s help in the past could not hold themselves back either. They picked up sticks and bricks and rushed into the courtyard, surrounding the two Gu households so tightly that not even water could have passed through.
Eldest Uncle Gu shouted furiously, “This is a family matter of the Gu family! Don’t stick your noses into other people’s business!”
“Oh? What’s going on here?”
A laughing voice suddenly rang out.
Everyone turned their heads as one.
“Zhao Qian and his mother are here. At least they have some conscience.”
“Wonderful! Gu Nian’s support has arrived. The Gu family won’t dare to act recklessly now.”
Gu Nian’s fiancé, Zhao Qian, and his younger sister, Zhao Meili, entered the courtyard with Mother Zhao between them, each supporting one of her arms.
All three of them were dressed in brand-new silk brocade clothes. They no longer looked anything like the impoverished, down-and-out family they had once been.
The three of them had fled to this place as refugees and survived by begging along the streets. They had nearly died of illness in a street corner.
Zhao Qian had been eight that year, while his younger sister, Zhao Meili, had been only five.
Two years earlier, after Zhao Qian passed the county-level examination and became a xiucai, Mother Zhao had brought him to Gu Nian’s door to propose marriage.
Gu Nian’s mother had initially refused. She had said that once Zhao Qian entered official service, he would no longer be a simple, genuine person.
But her father felt that Zhao Qian was a sensible and ambitious young man. He studied well and had cultivated the bearing of a refined gentleman, so he should be a good match for their daughter.
Besides, Gu Nian and Zhao Qian had grown up together, and she liked him as well.
Her mother could not overcome the wishes of both father and daughter, so she had no choice but to agree.
At once, Mother Zhao shamelessly claimed that Zhao Qian needed money to cultivate relationships with officials at every level, and took a hundred taels of silver from Gu Nian’s father—the money he had set aside to purchase medicinal stock.
Zhao Qian used that money as the betrothal gift and placed himself under Assistant Prefect Zhou of Lin’an Prefecture.
Who could have known that after Zhao Qian passed the provincial examination, the attitudes of the three members of the Zhao family would become so subtly different?
At this moment, Mother Zhao held herself stiffly, with none of her former warmth on her face.
Even Zhao Meili had put on the airs of a wealthy young lady.
The two Gu households did not dare offend a newly qualified juren. They hurriedly saluted him.
Mother Zhao and her two children ignored them and walked straight toward Gu Nian.
Gu Nian was helping Aunt Wu sit on a stone bench and dusting off her clothes, acting as though she had not seen the Zhao family at all.
Mother Zhao was extremely displeased by Gu Nian’s attitude.
But for the sake of the house and the shop, she decided not to quibble with this uncultured country girl.
Putting on the bearing of an elder, she smiled without warmth. “Just look at yourself. Fighting with people in public, with your hair all disheveled—what kind of behavior is that? A young woman should be dignified and gentle, humble and courteous, so people won’t laugh at you for having no upbringing.”
Gu Nian could tolerate criticism of herself, but she would not allow anyone to mock her parents!
Gu Nian’s expression darkened.
“My parents taught me to be upright and honest. But they also taught me that if others do not wrong me, I will not wrong them. If someone wrongs me, I will reject them with courtesy, punish them according to the law, and repay them with a blade!”
Mother Zhao and Zhao Qian were stunned.
She actually dared to talk back?
All three of them stared fixedly at her. The young woman before their eyes seemed like a complete stranger.