==Chapter Twenty-Three==
But Feng Wenyu knew very well that these feelings should have ended when they called off their engagement.
She disliked inappropriate behavior, and the same went for emotions.
Their gazes met briefly before parting. Feng Wenyu slightly bowed in a junior’s greeting: “Uncle.”
Zhou Yuangui waved her over: “A-Yu, come sit. This is the Imperial Envoy.”
Deep down, Zhou Yuangui felt somewhat embarrassed—after all, he was using his niece’s connection to seek leniency from the Imperial Envoy, especially given the current awkwardness between them.
But Feng Wenyu hadn’t refused to come, which eased his mind slightly.
Still, Zhou Yuangui felt some regret and frustration.
His unfilial son was ultimately unfit for important matters—even a young woman understood propriety better than he did.
Feng Wenyu paid no mind to her uncle’s thoughts. The Zhou family’s crisis meant the Feng family’s interests would suffer—she couldn’t stand idly by while the Zhou family faced trouble.
Feng Wenyu then looked at Gu Yushi, feeling a hint of indescribable embarrassment. After all, Zhou Yu was trying to use her to manipulate Gu Yushi, making her feel somewhat inadequate in his presence.
She addressed him: “Lord Gu.”
Gu Yushi frowned slightly at this jarring form of address—Mu Fan’s words from last night had left a mark on him.
He discreetly observed her, noting her calm expression showed no signs of resentment, before lowering his gaze and addressing her:
“Feng Guniang.”
It felt very unnatural.
He’d rather call her Feng Wenyu.
Feng Wenyu took her seat. Zhou Yuangui continued explaining the origins of the salt license, but the other two were somewhat distracted.
Especially Gu Yushi, who knew the complete backstory of the salt license matter—his visit to the Zhou Residence today was merely a formality.
After Zhou Yuangui finished speaking, Gu Yushi finally looked up as if nothing were amiss:
“This matter—I am already aware of it.”
His tone remained normal. Just as Zhou Yuangui was about to sigh in relief, he heard the Imperial Envoy ask calmly: “Regarding your son’s involvement in bribery, how does Lord Zhou intend to handle it?”
Zhou Yuangui’s heart tightened. Any matter involving bribery couldn’t be treated lightly.
Was it worth letting a concubine-born son drag down the entire Zhou family?
Hardening his heart, Zhou Yuangui stated directly: “Handle it as it should be handled. Your Lordship may proceed impartially—this official will not utter a single word of complaint.”
Feng Wenyu also subtly tightened her grip on her teacup.
Gu Yushi seemed to pause briefly before responding calmly: “This matter is of great importance. To avoid alerting the enemy, Lord Zhou should keep your son under close supervision during this period. Once this matter is concluded, I will naturally memorialize the Emperor and await His Majesty’s judgment.”
A flicker passed through Zhou Yuangui’s eyes—he detected a hidden meaning in Gu Yushi’s words: Gu Yushi had no intention of remaining neutral in this corruption case.
Memorialize the Emperor.
Zhou Yuangui silently swallowed. It seemed their Emperor was determined to thoroughly address the salt merchants’ corruption this time.
Realizing this, Zhou Yuangui had completely given up on Zhou Chiyu.
After conveying his message, Gu Yushi didn’t linger at the Zhou Residence. As he stood to leave, Zhou Yuangui also rose, glancing hesitantly at Feng Wenyu. Before he could speak, Feng Wenyu offered:
“Lord Gu and I are old acquaintances. Let me see Lord Gu out on Uncle’s behalf.”
Zhou Yuangui nodded: “Thank you for your trouble, A-Yu.”
Feng Wenyu smiled without speaking. The main reason she had taken the initiative to offer to see Gu Yushi out was that she had something to say to him.
She deliberately fell a step behind, following Gu Yushi as they left the reception hall together. But by the time they reached the covered corridor, they had somehow ended up walking side by side.
As they approached the mansion gate, both unconsciously slowed their pace.
Feng Wenyu blinked, not wanting irrelevant emotions to distract her. She said, “Regarding the salt license matter, I apologize to you on behalf of Zhou Chiyu.”
Gu Yushi’s expression darkened, his tone turning displeased:
“It’s not your fault. You don’t need to take responsibility.”
Yet Feng Wenyu felt she couldn’t escape blame: “If it weren’t for relying on his connection with me, he might not have dared to accept the salt license.”
Gu Yushi disliked hearing her self-reflections, his words turning sharp:
“You underestimate him too much. Since he developed greed, the outcome would have been the same whether you were involved or not.”
In their previous life, even without his role as Imperial Envoy, Zhou Chiyu had still become entangled in the salt merchants’ corruption case.
Rotten people remain rotten—external factors only have minor influences on them, ultimately unable to prevent their corruption.
Feng Wenyu was rendered speechless, but had to admit that Gu Yushi’s words made her feel somewhat better.
Still, she couldn’t help glancing at him and voicing her long-standing confusion: “What provoked you to become so caustic?”
The Gu Yushi of the past hadn’t been like this. Though burdened with the responsibility of the entire Gu family, he had occasionally shown traces of youthful innocence.
Gu Yushi fell silent again.
Feng Wenyu suppressed a sigh, secretly rolling her eyes. With such a tight-lipped person, it was fortunate their engagement had been called off—otherwise, wouldn’t she have been utterly stifled in marriage?
“Fine, keep your secrets! Who wants to hear them anyway!”
Gu Yushi pretended not to hear her complaint. He said, “The corruption case will soon reach its conclusion. Yangzhou City will become turbulent recently—stay safely within the Zhou Residence.”
Feng Wenyu was thoroughly annoyed with him now:
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
Gu Yushi paused. Starting over, her temper seemed to have grown considerably.
He said no more, worried about provoking her defiance. Noticing her cold expression from the corner of his eye, he remained silent for a moment before revealing some information:
“The chief examiner for this year’s Yangzhou Provincial Examination is Fang Zhiming.”
Feng Wenyu’s irritation vanished instantly. Fang Zhiming?
To prevent favoritism in the imperial examinations, those appointed as chief examiners in Yangzhou would have no connections with current candidates. Fang Zhiming certainly couldn’t be a member of the Feng Faction.
The current Emperor was aging, and his sons were gradually maturing, leading to numerous factions forming.
Her grandfather served as Junior Grand Secretary, unable to match the decades-long rapport between Grand Secretary Gao and the Emperor. Consequently, half the court officials belonged to the Gao Faction.
Grand Secretary Gao had placed his bets on the Second Prince, the son of the Noble Consort. With the Noble Consort enjoying undiminished favor for ten years, the Second Prince had consistently received the Emperor’s regard.
The current Salt Commissioner was Grand Secretary Gao’s own son.
With officials shielding each other and interests intertwined, no one believed Gu Yushi would dare risk offending Grand Secretary Gao by interfering in salt merchant affairs.
Feng Wenyu had heard from her father that before Gu Yushi departed for Jiangnan, an imperial decree had already recalled Commissioner Gao to Jingcheng. Though Gao Qianming’s new position remained undetermined, the Emperor clearly had no intention of allowing him to leave the capital again.
This was the opportunity the Emperor had given Gu Yushi.
He must be sharp enough to cut through all shadows and obstacles to truly catch the Emperor’s eye and enter the center of power.
As for Fang Zhiming, he belonged neither to the Gao Faction nor the Feng Faction.
Feng Wenyu vaguely recalled that this Lord Fang had studied under Grand Secretary Qiu, who had previously maintained a subtle rapport with Grand Secretary Gao. Or rather, few in the court dared to offend the Gao Faction.
At this thought, Feng Wenyu couldn’t help but frown. For her, this was not good news.
Factional struggles were fierce—a single misstep could lead to utter ruin. With Fang Zhiming involved, her second brother would definitely not emerge victorious in this Provincial Examination.
Seeing her expression grow increasingly troubled, Gu Yushi had no choice but to reveal more information:
“At the end of May, Fang Zhiming’s uncle failed to secure a promotion, and the vacancy was forcibly held back by the Gao Faction…”
Feng Wenyu continued: “To reserve a position for Gao Qianming?”
Gao Qianming would certainly have to resign from his post as Commandant. Now that he was idle at home, the Gao Faction would undoubtedly scheme on his behalf. In their eyes, Gao Qianming was destined to succeed Grand Secretary Gao.
Gu Yushi had always known she was perceptive and wasn’t surprised she could guess. He nodded immediately.
Feng Wenyu’s eyes lit up.
Although Grand Secretary Qiu might have previously maintained subtle ties with Grand Secretary Gao, after this incident, the two factions were bound to become adversaries!
While Fang Zhiming wouldn’t openly pave the way for Feng Wenzhou in the Provincial Examination, at least he would no longer pose any difficulties for him.
Feng Wenyu recalled another matter: although Fang Zhiming was the chief examiner, the local prefect and education commissioner each had their own authority in determining rankings. Given Madam Pei’s evident attitude toward her, she worried there might be unforeseen complications.
Feng Wenyu glanced at Gu Yushi and subtly inquired:
“Is Prefect Pei also involved in this case? I noticed Madam Pei seemed rather avoidant toward me recently.”
After much contemplation, Feng Wenyu could only attribute Madam Pei’s attitude to her past relationship with Gu Yushi.
Knowing Feng Wenyu well, Gu Yushi understood exactly what she was asking from her words. He frowned at the latter part of her sentence and said bluntly:
“Pay him no mind. He doesn’t have the nerve.”
Feng Wenyu pursed her lips, hesitating to speak further.
He had only been in office for half a year—how could he act as if he had complete grasp of the court?
Moreover, he was merely taking advantage of his position as Imperial Envoy. Otherwise, his official rank was even lower than Lord Pei’s. How dare he speak of Prefect Pei with such disrespect?
Feng Wenyu muttered inwardly, but since she had gained useful information, she swallowed her criticisms:
“Thank you, Lord Gu. We’ve reached the gate, so I’ll take my leave here.”
With that, she turned and walked away without looking back, eager to relay this news to Feng Wenzhou.
Gu Yushi watched her retreating figure and fell into deep thought—
Had he just been cast aside after serving his purpose?
Once they left the Zhou Residence, Mu Fan, having witnessed the entire interaction between his lord and Feng Guniang, could no longer hold back:
“My lord, don’t you think you treat Feng Guniang rather differently?”
Do you remember that the two of you are already no longer engaged?
What’s with eagerly delivering information to her?
If you couldn’t bear to part with her, why break off the engagement in the first place? Mu Fan was already worrying about how his lord could possibly rekindle his relationship with Feng Guniang.
Gu Yushi stiffened. After a long pause, he said stiffly:
“I was merely acting out of past affection.”
Mu Fan secretly rolled his eyes. Fine, you’re the master. Whatever you say goes—just don’t regret it later.
Just as Mu Fan was about to speak again, he heard his lord interrupt him, the voice unnervingly calm yet carrying an inexplicable sharpness:
“Tell Qin Li it’s time to close the net.”
Mu Fan’s heart tightened. His expression turned more serious as he lowered his voice: “But the Second Prince—”
Gu Yushi didn’t even lift his eyelids, his tone dripping with sarcasm:
“He hasn’t ascended to that position yet, but his reach is already overextended.”
Mu Fan held his breath. He glanced back toward the Zhou Residence, thinking of Feng Guniang far away in Yangzhou, who likely remained unaware of the news from Jingcheng.
“My lord, do you think Feng Guniang would agree?”
The carriage fell abruptly silent. After a long pause, Gu Yushi finally replied:
“Is he even worthy?”