“Fuguang, Mother knows you are sensible and reasonable. Your eldest brother has fallen in battle, and it is truly not easy for your sister-in-law to raise two children alone. We have already decided to let Chuan’er enter a dual-household marriage.”
“Chuan’er now has military achievements to his name and a boundless future ahead of him. It is impossible for you to be the only woman by his side. As they say, one should keep the fertile water within one’s own fields; let your sister-in-law serve Chuan’er alongside you. She is gentle and virtuous, and in the future, she can take care of Chuan’er for you at the border. You can then focus on managing the household, which will also lighten your burden.”
On the main seat, Madam Gu prattled on about letting Gu Chuan enter a dual-household marriage, just as she had in her previous life.
Xiao Fuguang felt a splitting headache. Her hand gripping the teacup had turned white, and the tea inside was trembling slightly.
After a hundred years of effort, she had finally returned.
In her previous life, when she married Gu Chuan and Madam Gu proposed the dual-household marriage, she had sympathized with the hardships of her widowed sister-in-law. Gu Chuan had also claimed he only wanted to care for his elder brother’s widow for the sake of family harmony, so she had agreed to the proposal.
Only later did she learn that Gu Chuan and the widowed Zhuang Linan had already been entangled at the border. Their return to the capital was partly to receive rewards, and partly to dump the children on her so she could raise them while they continued their blissful life at the border.
She had cared for his parents and his nephew and niece in the capital, guarding the Gu family for years. In exchange, once Gu Chuan achieved fame and success, he and Zhuang Linan conspired to have her maiden family’s entire household executed.
By the time she received the news and rushed back to the Xiao family, the estate was a river of blood. Even her five-year-old nephew had died cruelly under the blade.
In the end, she took out her personal dagger and killed Gu Chuan and Zhuang Linan. Facing the surrounding soldiers, she chose to take her own life.
The hatred from her family’s extermination was irreconcilable. Her resentment prevented her from entering Samsara after death. She drifted around the Gu family attempting revenge, but her power was too weak.
Later, she was taken in by a Taoist priest. It was only after following him and accumulating enough spiritual merit that she earned the chance to live another life.
Heh! Over a hundred members of the Xiao family… Now that she had finally returned, the entire Gu family would have to die to be worthy of the rebirth she had traded a century of spiritual merit for.
Seeing Xiao Fuguang staring blankly without speaking, the displeasure in Madam Gu’s eyes deepened. She glanced at Xiao Fuguang with disdain, then looked helplessly at the man with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes sitting opposite her.
“Chuan’er, Mother can no longer manage this wife of yours. As an elder, I consider her interests time and again, yet she completely ignores me. It seems I’ve grown old and useless, only to be mistreated by my own daughter-in-law.”
Seeing his mother wiping the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief, Gu Chuan looked at Xiao Fuguang with rage.
“Xiao Fuguang, Mother is speaking to you. By remaining silent like this, do you truly think you can act as willfully as you please in the Gu household?”
Xiao Fuguang looked up and gave Gu Chuan a cold stare.
“You want a dual-household marriage?”
At that moment, Zhuang Linan, sensing the atmosphere, let her eyes redden. She held a handkerchief and spoke with a sob in her voice.
“Sister-in-law, I know it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have been so cursed as to lose my husband and be left helpless with two children. But Mother is an elder, after all. Even if you have resentment in your heart, you cannot turn a blind eye to what she says.”
Xiao Fuguang flicked a cold glance at Zhuang Linan. It was that same aggrieved expression again—clearly the one gaining all the benefits, yet her eyes were filled with tears as if she were the one being bullied.
As expected, seeing this, Gu Chuan hurriedly comforted Zhuang Linan.
“Sister-in-law, do not be upset. This is just Xiao Fuguang being senseless. Do not lower yourself to her level. I will have Mother teach her a proper lesson later.”
He then turned his gaze toward Xiao Fuguang. “If you were even half as sensible as your sister-in-law, Mother wouldn’t have to worry so much.”
Xiao Fuguang suddenly let out a cold laugh, the mockery at the corners of her mouth unmistakable.
“Heh…”
“So, you find your own wife senseless and prefer this gentle ‘white lotus’ of a sister-in-law? You’ve been coveting her, wanting to fly wing to wing with her, while your own brother’s bones aren’t even cold yet?”
Gu Chuan’s face instantly turned livid. “Xiao Fuguang, what nonsense are you spouting?”
Though Gu Chuan was shouting, there was a hint of concealment in his voice, a clear lack of confidence.
Zhuang Linan was stunned for a moment, a flash of panic crossing her eyes, but she quickly regained her pitiful appearance.
“Sister-in-law, please don’t be angry. I am truly at my wit’s end. We are just a lonely widow and orphans; we really didn’t know how else to survive. That is why I agreed to let Chuan’er enter a dual-household marriage. I only want to live a peaceful life; I have no intention of fighting you for anything.”
As she spoke, she stood up, looking at Xiao Fuguang with eyes full of humiliation.
“If it will vent your anger, I will kneel before you today. You can hit me or scold me, and I won’t say a single word of protest. I only beg you not to make things difficult for Mother and Chuan’er anymore.”
Seeing Zhuang Linan about to kneel, a sardonic smile spread across Xiao Fuguang’s face. “I’m afraid you won’t be able to stay down.”
Sure enough, Gu Chuan had already stood up to steady Zhuang Linan.
“Xiao Fuguang, can you show some sense? Sister-in-law has just lost her husband and is in a state of grief. How can you make things difficult for her time and again?”
Xiao Fuguang spoke coldly, “If she were truly grieving, she wouldn’t be tangling herself up with her brother-in-law while her husband’s bones are still warm. Eldest Brother’s coffin is still on the way, isn’t it? She’s so eager to climb into your bed—how is she any different from a brothel prostitute?”
Zhuang Linan’s face turned deathly pale in an instant. Her lips trembled as tears fell one by one; this time, she was truly crying from rage.
“Sister… Sister-in-law, how can you speak of me like that? If you say such things, how can I continue to live?”
“Since you cannot tolerate me so, I might as well go and join your eldest brother!” As she spoke, she made a move to throw herself against a nearby pillar.
Gu Chuan panicked and hurried to catch Zhuang Linan, holding her half-embraced in his arms.
“Sister-in-law, what are you doing?”
Madam Gu also stood up in a hurry.
“Linan, don’t be foolish! You still have two children waiting for you to care for them. Xiao Fuguang has no upbringing; if her words angered you, Mother will punish her on your behalf.”
Gu Chuan also comforted her anxiously.
“Sister-in-law, you are the eldest sister-in-law, and the eldest sister-in-law is like a mother. Since she lacks a proper upbringing, you should feel free to discipline her. There is no need to upset yourself to this point.”
Then, he looked at Xiao Fuguang with an authoritative gaze.
“This is the Gu household, and it is not your place to say no. The matter is decided. From now on, I will have a dual-household marriage. Starting today, you must treat your sister-in-law with the utmost respect and must not neglect her in the slightest. In my, Gu Chuan’s house, I will not allow any voices of discord.”
Truly, even having lived another life, Xiao Fuguang was amused by these two. She couldn’t stand it any longer and couldn’t help but speak up.
“Mhm, right. The eldest sister-in-law is like a mother. So why are you pulling and tugging at your ‘mother’ like this? Is this… incest?”
Hearing this, Zhuang Linan wailed loudly.
“Wooo… Mother, Chuan’er, I really can’t go on living. Sure enough, without Gu Shan, anyone can trample all over me.”
Gu Chuan had not expected Xiao Fuguang to seem like a different person today, no longer as easy to manipulate as before. He marched toward Xiao Fuguang in a rage. “Kneel and apologize to your sister-in-law immediately!”
As he spoke, he raised his hand to strike Xiao Fuguang’s face.
Xiao Fuguang, however, beat him to it. She picked up the teapot from the table and smashed it against Gu Chuan’s head.
With a loud thud, the teapot shattered. Tea mingled with blood flowed down from Gu Chuan’s scalp.
Xiao Fuguang’s cold voice rang out in the room.
“Are you satisfied with my apology?”