Lord Zhao glanced at the three blocks of gold, pure and rich in luster, nodded with satisfaction, and relented toward Gu Jianshen, saying, “Lord Gu, this woman belongs to you.”
The second rule was equal exchange: one could offer their own price, or others could bid on their behalf.
The fat man tossing the gold bricks before Jiang Ning signified that he was exchanging gold for Jiang Ning, which also served as Jiang Yuan’s ransom money. As long as Gu Jianshen gave up Jiang Ning, he could take Jiang Yuan away.
Jiang Ning’s eyes remained fixed on the gold bricks on the table, a stormy sea churning in her heart. A single block of gold was enough for an ordinary household to live on for several years, or even over a decade. Yet someone had effortlessly thrown out three blocks, casually deciding the fate of a living, breathing human being. Was a life precious? Or was it cheap?
These scum didn’t treat women like human beings at all!
Jiang Ning’s gaze slowly shifted, falling upon Gu Jianshen. How would he choose?
With an indifferent expression, Gu Jianshen wrapped one arm around Jiang Yuan’s waist while extending his other hand toward Jiang Ning, saying, “Come here.”
Jiang Ning didn’t hesitate for a second; she immediately stood up and walked over to Gu Jianshen’s side.
The fat man grew displeased and stood up on the spot, saying, “Lord Gu, what is the meaning of this…”
The moment the words “Lord Gu” left his mouth, Gu Jianshen’s icy gaze swept over. The fat man took a step back in fright, but after catching an encouraging look from Lord Zhao, his spine straightened right back up.
This was the Minister’s mansion, Lord Zhao’s domain. A powerful dragon could not crush a local snake, so he refused to believe Gu Jianshen would dare to act so brazenly here.
The fat man continued, “I paid the price for you. This woman is already mine. Don’t be so ungrateful.”
Before Gu Jianshen could even speak, Wen Qizheng chimed in merrily from the side, “Isn’t the meaning obvious enough? These two chicks, he wants them both.”
The crowd erupted into an uproar.
For Gu Jianshen to disregard the rules like this—wasn’t he slapping Lord Zhao right in the face?
Gu Jianshen said in a deep voice, “I only abide by the laws of our nation. As for the rules of the Minister’s mansion, I am not a member of this household, so why should I follow them?”
“Ever since I returned to the capital, I have felt a breath of frustration stifling my chest. I fought with all my might to defend our country so that all of you ministers could enjoy the wind, flowers, snow, and moon here. Yet I wonder which court officials, seeking their own death, submitted memorials to impeach me. Now that I have been forced back to the capital, I happen to have plenty of time to catch up with those people.”
He raised an eyebrow and looked around at everyone present. Those met by his gaze shrank back in terror without exception.
His eyes finally landed on Lord Zhao, whose face had turned unsightly in the main seat. Gu Jianshen let out a soft snort. “Now that I am taking these people with me, who dares stop me?”
Gu Jianshen’s voice wasn’t loud, but it burst like thunder, shaking the onlookers into silence.
Standing beside Gu Jianshen, Jiang Ning felt her heart rate quicken. Was Gu Jianshen really this impressive?
Protected in Gu Jianshen’s arms, Jiang Yuan raised her head to look at him in shock, her eyes gradually turning fervent. If only such a magnificent man belonged to her alone.
“Ah!” Jiang Yuan let out a miserable cry, her hands clutching at Gu Jianshen’s shoulders, her face pale and filled with pain.
Surprised, Gu Jianshen looked down. The outer robe on Jiang Yuan’s shoulder slipped down, and his eyes happened to land on that cinnabar mole, causing his heart to tighten once more.
Jiang Ning also leaned in closer out of concern, asking hurriedly, “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Yuan’s lips trembled as she said, “Lord Zhao… he drugged me.”
Gu Jianshen’s face darkened. He hooked his arm beneath Jiang Yuan’s legs, lifting her in a horizontal princess carry, turned his head to look at Jiang Ning, and said, “Keep up. We are going out.”
Jiang Ning nodded and ran right behind Gu Jianshen toward the exit.
Seeing Jiang Yuan in so much agony, they indeed needed to leave this wolf’s den first.
At this moment, Lord Zhao slammed his hand on the table and stood up as if he had reached his absolute limit, shouting loudly, “Where are the stick-wielding servants? Stop them!”
A dozen or so servants wielding heavy wooden staffs closed in from all sides. Every one of them was tall, burly, and fierce-looking.
Gu Jianshen immediately shifted to holding Jiang Yuan with a single arm and said to Jiang Ning, “Climb onto my back.”
Jiang Ning didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Are you using me as armor?”
Even as she complained, Jiang Ning scrambled onto Gu Jianshen’s back with extreme agility.
Carrying one in his arm and another on his back, Gu Jianshen snatched a staff and kicked one of the servants flying the moment they closed in. Watching in all directions and listening in every realm, he held the long staff and didn’t let a single servant get close for even a second, fighting while moving toward the main gate at a surprisingly fast speed.
By the time the officials ran out of the hall to watch the commotion, quite a few servants had already fallen and were rolling on the ground in pain. Though six or seven servants were still in pursuit, they failed to gain the upper hand, and the figures were about to disappear from sight.
And this was Gu Jianshen fighting single-handedly while carrying two people on his body.
Wen Qizheng shook his head while lamenting, “I said, why did you have to provoke him? The man is a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield; how could a mere mansion stop him?”
The others didn’t dare to speak, and the fat man’s face turned green with suppressed anger.
Suddenly, the fat man’s eyes lit up, and he exclaimed, “Falling off!”
Looking closer, everyone saw that the person hanging onto Gu Jianshen’s back—had fallen off!
“Jiang Ning!”
Gu Jianshen wanted to turn back, but Jiang Yuan coughed up blood, tightly wrapping her arms around Gu Jianshen’s neck, crying mournfully, “My Lord, I am in so much pain~”
Jiang Ning slammed onto the ground. Her hips felt so numb they almost lost all sense of pain before gradually regaining feeling, while the piercing agony on the back of her hand made her entire face distort. Her eyes were still filled with utter disbelief.
The moment she hit the ground, Jiang Ning was pinned down by the servants; climbing back onto Gu Jianshen’s back was no longer an option.
“Wait for me, I will come back to save you.”
Gu Jianshen left those words behind and ran off into the distance, holding the agonizing Jiang Yuan in his arms.
Jiang Ning stared blankly as Gu Jianshen’s figure vanished in the distance, then lowered her head blankly to look at the bloody hole on the back of her hand that was still gushing blood. She trembled uncontrollably from the pain.
Tears fell from the corners of her eyes as she whispered softly, “It hurts so much. Why does it hurt so much?”
She had almost forgotten.
That cousin of hers had never been a kind or decent person.
Jiang Yuan was an abandoned daughter. Her biological father, Jiang the Third, had abandoned her to chase after wealth and ran off with a traveling widowed merchant.
Jiang Yuan’s biological mother fled the village shortly after giving birth to her, and word had it she had already remarried.
Taking pity on Jiang Yuan, Jiang the Fourth brought her into his home, treating her as his own daughter—no, even better than a biological daughter.
Although Jiang Ning had transmigrated into this body only three years ago, those memories were deeply etched in the depths of her mind.
Back then, the family was poor. Jiang the Fourth had to go into the mountains to hunt, while her mother, Lady Liu, had to go do laundry for others, leaving the younger ones at home. Since Jiang Yuan was older, she became the eldest in charge.
When it came to food and drink, Jiang Yuan always catered to herself first, only giving out a tiny bit of food after she had eaten her fill and burped. She didn’t do any work herself, only driving Jiang Ning and her little brother, Little Stone, to do all the chores, while they, naive and fearful, didn’t dare resist.
By the time Jiang the Fourth and Lady Liu returned, the two siblings were starving and exhausted. Yet Jiang Yuan would start taking all the credit, claiming how much she had helped out at home while accusing them of doing nothing and eating up all the food.
Jiang the Fourth praised Jiang Yuan and gave her candy to eat, while the siblings received nothing but a scolding and were punished by being forbidden to eat dinner.