Gu Jinghuai remembered how he had stood before Jishi Hall and said disdainfully, “Fine, I’ll pay it back.”
He remembered sneering, “Why would the Marquis’s Residence need your money?”
Those words now struck him in the face like a series of slaps.
He had always believed himself born to a noble family, the heir of the Marquis’s Residence.
Yun Shuyao’s mother, by contrast, had come from a merchant family and needed to marry him to raise her standing.
Only now did he realize that the fine clothes and rich food he had enjoyed for nearly five years, and the dignity the Marquis’s Residence had maintained, had all depended on the dowry of a woman descended from merchants.
And all the while, he had kept accusing her of “playing hard to get.”
Madam Su’s words pulled Gu Jinghuai back to the present. She clutched her son’s sleeve so tightly that her nails nearly dug into his flesh.
“Jinghuai, you must have a way, don’t you?
Go say something sweet to Yun Shuyao. Go coax her!
She’s devoted herself to you completely. Once she marries into our family, the matter with the shops will be settled!”
Gu Jinghuai looked at his mother’s flustered face and remembered the mocking look in Yun Shuyao’s eyes outside Jishi Hall.
Coax her? He didn’t want to, but what else could he do?
If his father found out about the hole of eight hundred thousand taels, he might strip his mother of her position as his principal wife.
And if the matter got out, Gu Jinghuai couldn’t even bear to imagine what would happen.
The Marquis’s Residence’s reputation would be ruined for good, and he would never be able to hold his head up again.
“…It’s the only way.”
Gu Jinghuai heard his own dry voice, as though his backbone had been broken.
Madam Su immediately let out a sigh of relief and patted the back of his hand, urging him on.
“Exactly! Women just need a little coaxing.
Once she marries into the family, she’ll be one of the women in your household. Then you can treat her however you like, and outsiders won’t even ask questions.
Just swallow your pride for now. Do you think you won’t get your chance to settle the score later?”
Gu Jinghuai said nothing. He couldn’t believe the Marquis’s Residence had fallen so far.
His mother must simply have been greedy and helped herself to Yun Shuyao’s dowry.
In his previous life, he had lived to the age of eighty, wealthy and carefree all his days. He had never once troubled himself over something as vulgar as money.
Thinking of that, Gu Jinghuai somehow felt a little more confident.
For now, they were just short on money and needed it urgently. Once they got through this difficult stretch, he would still be the exalted heir he had always been.
As Gu Jinghuai sat lost in thought, the steward beside them reminded him anxiously,
“Madam, Heir, when Miss Yun left Splendid Embroidery House, she said she intended to audit all the accounts from the past five years…”
“She isn’t trying to audit the accounts.”
Gu Jinghuai rose and went to the window, gazing toward Duke Zhenguo’s Residence with impatience in his eyes.
“She’s just trying to make me, the heir, bow my head.”
Gu Jinghuai’s eyes darkened. The more he thought about it, the more he felt his mother was right. Once they were married, he would make sure Yun Shuyao learned who was in charge.
“Have the carriage ready. We’re going to Duke Zhenguo’s Residence.”
Gu Jinghuai straightened his collar and strode out.
Cheng’en, his personal attendant, asked hesitantly,
“Heir, should we bring a gift? The jade hairpin you bought for Miss Su last time—Miss Yun would surely like it too…”
“No need.”
Gu Jinghuai frowned and refused.
He remembered Su Yuyan’s shy smile when she received the hairpin, and for a moment his eyes softened.
But when he thought of the disgust and scorn in Yun Shuyao’s eyes when she saw the jade bracelet, his expression quickly turned cold.
“How could she ever compare to Yuyan?
Give her an inch and she takes a mile. A woman like that doesn’t deserve to be treated well!”
Duke Zhenguo’s Residence
Gu Jinghuai had drunk three whole pots of tea in the garden pavilion before Yun Shuyao finally arrived.
She was stunningly beautiful. Dressed in a bright red gown, she approached with graceful steps, like an immortal from a painting, too lovely to belong to this world.
Gu Jinghuai stared, spellbound, and forgot to react.
Yun Shuyao carried an account book in her hand. Seeing him, she didn’t curtsey as she used to; she simply stood there, her expression cool.
“Shuyao.”
Looking at the girl’s lovely face, Gu Jinghuai suddenly softened his tone, doing his best to show her the same patience he showed Su Yuyan.
“My mother didn’t think things through when it came to the shops.
Take them back for now. We can slowly sort out the missing accounts later. How does that sound?”
Yun Shuyao raised her eyes, her gaze icy.
“Do you think I’m negotiating with you, Heir Gu?”
“That’s not what I mean.”
Gu Jinghuai’s patience wore thin, and his voice grew sharper.
“You’ve made enough of a fuss. Isn’t it time to stop?
We grew up together. Why make things so unpleasant between us?
Look at Yuyan. She would never—”
“If you like Su Yuyan, hurry up and marry her. Don’t compare me to that lowborn thing.”
Yun Shuyao cut him off, her finger stopping on a page in the account book.
“The five years of medicine expenses, plus the money stolen from the shops, comes to seven hundred and eighty thousand taels. If it isn’t repaid within three days, I’ll file a complaint with Shuntian Prefecture.”
Gu Jinghuai’s face darkened completely.
He hadn’t expected Yun Shuyao to be so utterly unyielding, much less that she would bring up marrying Yuyan.
Didn’t Yun Shuyao know that being allowed to marry into the Marquis’s Residence as its principal wife was already an enormous favor?
“Yun Shuyao, don’t push your luck!”
Gu Jinghuai couldn’t help hissing angrily.
“If you really drive the Marquis’s Residence into a corner, do you think you’ll get off lightly? The Duke of Zhenguo won’t let you ruin the good name of both our families!”
Yun Shuyao had no intention of wasting another word. She snapped the account book shut and turned to leave.
Her voice, bright and clear with a young woman’s lightness, drifted back to him.
“Then let’s see.”
Watching her walk away, Gu Jinghuai trembled with rage.
If it were Yuyan, she would have had tears in her eyes by now, saying, “Cousin, I was wrong.”
How could Yun Shuyao be so impossible to deal with—like a hedgehog with no soft spot?
Gu Jinghuai gritted his teeth and muttered,
“You think I even want you? You were just as unpleasant in your last life!”
The Marquis’s main residence.
The main room was unlit; only the gray light of day filtered through the window paper.
Madam Su hugged herself and paced back and forth, craning her neck to look outside every so often.
At the sound of footsteps, she spun around. The jeweled flower by her temple swung wildly, and her eyes were full of barely contained desperation.
“Did that little bitch give in?”
Gu Jinghuai swept his robe aside and sat down, gulping half a cup of cold tea. His tone was sharp.
“Give in? Not only did she refuse, she arrogantly demanded that we repay the money!
Mother, I’m not marrying her anymore. There are plenty of good women, and Cousin Yuyan is better than her in every way—”
“Enough!”
Madam Su’s voice suddenly rose to a shrill pitch. The piercing rebuke made Gu Jinghuai shudder.
“Yuyan’s father—your maternal uncle—is only a fifth-rank local official. How could he ever meet the Marquis’s standards?
Besides, this was arranged by the elders of both families. What gives you, a junior, the right to question it?
If your father knew you were thinking this way, he’d break your legs!”
She spoke rapidly and fiercely, her expression almost twisted.
Only when she met Gu Jinghuai’s searching gaze did she belatedly press her lips together. Avoiding his eyes, she pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the corner of her mouth.
Gu Jinghuai frowned.
“Wasn’t Yuyan always your favorite? And with Yun Shuyao’s temperament, marrying her would be nothing but trouble…”
“Trouble or not, you still have to marry her!”
Madam Su interrupted him again, her voice hard as stone.
“She’s the legitimate daughter of Duke Zhenguo’s household. We’re a match for each other in status, and the elders settled this long ago!
Do you think breaking off an engagement is a game? If you make the Marquis lose face in front of his old friend, your father won’t let you get away with it!
Don’t think your position as heir is secure. Those sons born to the concubines are all troublemakers.
Yun Shuyao is throwing a tantrum and making threats because she’s jealous of Yuyan. If this gets completely out of hand, the Marquis will surely drive Yuyan out of the residence.”
Gu Jinghuai’s face was dark as he listened to his mother’s seemingly reasonable words, yet something about her attitude felt wrong.
Of course he would marry Yun Shuyao. Just now, he had been angry and had said a few things in the heat of the moment.
But his mother’s reaction was clearly too strong.
She seemed to be trying to stop something major—not merely over a little money, and not simply for the sake of the Marquis’s Residence’s reputation.