Gu Jinghuai walked back with a dark expression. He thought Yun Shuyao had no reason to be jealous.
In this life, he would never marry Yuyan.
Su Yuyan came to meet him, her face full of concern.
“Cousin, did Sister Shuyao misunderstand something?”
“It’s nothing.”
Gu Jinghuai said only that, then drifted off again.
Seeing the jade bracelet in his hand, Su Yuyan reached out and took it.
“What a beautiful bracelet!”
As she spoke, she slipped it onto her wrist.
The bracelet jingled as it moved, the clear sound exceptionally sweet.
“Thank you, Cousin. I love it.”
“It’s not for you!”
Gu Jinghuai panicked. He grabbed Su Yuyan’s wrist and forcibly pulled the bracelet off.
“Ah!”
Su Yuyan’s wrist was thicker than Yun Shuyao’s, and even putting the bracelet on had been a struggle.
Now her skin was scraped red.
After taking the bracelet back, Gu Jinghuai even wiped it with his sleeve before carefully putting it back in its brocade box.
Only after he had done all that did he notice Su Yuyan’s tearful expression.
“This is the betrothal token I gave my fiancée. Cousin, taking it without asking was extremely rude!”
So he wasn’t worried for her—he was blaming her?
All because she had worn Yun Shuyao’s bracelet?
Since when had Cousin cared so much about Yun Shuyao?
“Cousin is right to reprimand me.”
Su Yuyan was skilled at reading people. In an instant, she changed her expression, once again becoming the delicate, gentle flower who knew how to comfort others.
“I won’t be so rash again.”
“Good.”
Gu Jinghuai was pleased with Su Yuyan’s attitude. If only Yun Shuyao were half as sensible as she was.
Without pursuing the subject, Su Yuyan immediately brightened and said,
“If you’re not busy, Cousin, come in with me for a moment. Let’s take your measurements.”
“All right.”
Gu Jinghuai went straight to Su Yuyan’s bedroom without hesitation.
Once the door was shut, Su Yuyan reached to undo the buttons on his outer robe.
Gu Jinghuai naturally spread his arms, letting her attend to him.
Su Yuyan had been looking shy and coy, but when she saw how utterly devoid of affection Gu Jinghuai seemed, her face immediately paled.
She might not be a peerless beauty, but she was the delicate, demure sort of woman all the men of Great Xia admired.
Cousin shouldn’t have been indifferent to her.
In fact, Su Yuyan had read him correctly: Gu Jinghuai really had lost all interest in her.
After all, who could still feel passion for a woman he had lived with for fifty or sixty years?
Once the measurements were taken, Gu Jinghuai had no intention of staying. He turned to her and said perfunctorily,
“Cousin, get some rest. I have things to attend to, so I’ll be going.”
Su Yuyan didn’t try to stop him.
“Go on, Cousin. Once I’ve finished sewing the wedding clothes, I’ll bring them over for you to try on.”
Remembering how much Yun Shuyao cared, Gu Jinghuai had also begun to observe the proprieties between men and women.
“Let the servants handle such trivial things. You needn’t do it yourself, Cousin.”
Gu Jinghuai was clearly keeping his distance, which immediately made Su Yuyan feel threatened.
She gave a wan smile and said as if it were an afterthought,
“Actually, I haven’t been feeling well lately. I think an old ailment may be acting up.”
After saying this, Su Yuyan smiled again as though it didn’t matter.
“But it’s nothing serious. It certainly won’t delay the wedding clothes.”
Gu Jinghuai frowned at her.
“If you truly can’t finish in time, I’ll buy two ready-made sets. We mustn’t let it hold up the wedding.”
Su Yuyan felt a lump in her chest. Cousin couldn’t even spare her a single word of concern.
“Ready-made clothes won’t fit properly. Don’t worry about it, Cousin. I’ll push through and get them done.”
Gu Jinghuai nodded and left.
But as he passed the mansion’s gate, he stopped.
He felt that Yun Shuyao had seemed strangely out of sorts today—somehow… not simply throwing a tantrum.
Then he shook his head and put the thought aside.
Yun Shuyao had always been easy to deal with. Even if she was in a bad mood, all he had to do was leave her alone for a while, and she would be fine.
After returning from Fengyun Tower, Yun Shuyao felt pain in both her lower abdomen and her head.
The headache was probably because she had caught a chill in the ancestral hall; the abdominal pain was because her period had started.
Suffering both at once, she had no choice but to stay in bed and rest.
Yun Shuyao slept fitfully until the next day, when her maid Chuntao suddenly burst in, indignant.
“Miss! Something terrible has happened!
Everyone in Kyoto is talking about Heir Gu and his cousin. They’re saying he’s settled his cousin in a separate residence and plans to keep her hidden away as his mistress!”
Seeing her mistress so distracted, Chuntao couldn’t help warning her,
“Miss, men can’t resist temptation. You have to keep a close eye on the heir. Whatever you do, don’t let anything scandalous happen before the wedding!”
A scandal?
Yun Shuyao sneered.
She was the one who had spread the news. It had cost her a thousand taels.
Wasn’t Gu Jinghuai afraid his cousin’s reputation would be ruined? Then she would make sure everyone knew.
Once Su Yuyan’s name was so tarnished that no one else would marry her, she would certainly hope Gu Jinghuai wouldn’t abandon her. That would make breaking off the engagement easier.
When Chuntao saw her mistress wasn’t responding, she couldn’t figure out what she meant.
Just then, a servant’s announcement came from outside the courtyard.
“Heir Gu has arrived.”
Since the two of them were about to marry, Gu Jinghuai barged straight into Yun Shuyao’s bedchamber, and the servant didn’t really try to stop him.
Yun Shuyao could guess why he had come. She braced herself against the headboard and sat up, but the abdominal pain kept her from straightening her back.
Gu Jinghuai strode to the bedside, dismissed Chuntao with a cold wave of his hand, and demanded harshly,
“Was this your doing?”
Yun Shuyao wasn’t afraid of a falling-out. She shot back,
“If you don’t want people to find out, don’t do it in the first place!”
She was already feeling unwell, so she was in a foul mood.
And because it was Gu Jinghuai, she had even less reason to be civil.
Gu Jinghuai pressed his lips together and said nothing. After a long moment, he finally let out a deep breath.
“Quite a few people are talking about Yuyan staying at the country estate. Many are calling her shameless.”
Yun Shuyao looked at the anger between Gu Jinghuai’s brows and sneered.
“If she had the nerve to do it, why should she be afraid of people knowing?”
“Yun Shuyao, you’ve gone too far!”
Gu Jinghuai couldn’t understand how Shuyao, who had always been gentle and virtuous, could have become so unreasonable.
“If you’re so worried about her, hurry up and marry her, then!
Get out! Get out! Stop standing there and irritating me!”
Yun Shuyao was deliberately trying to make him miserable.
He wouldn’t agree to break off the engagement? Then she’d make sure he didn’t enjoy a single peaceful day!
At that moment, a sudden cramping pain seized her lower abdomen. Yun Shuyao’s face went pale, and she clutched her stomach, doubling over.
Gu Jinghuai noticed.
In his previous life, he had known that Yun Shuyao suffered from uterine cold. For once, he reached out to steady her.
“Does it hurt?”
His concern was genuine. In this life, he truly wanted to build a good life with Yun Shuyao.
But Yun Shuyao slapped his hand away.
“I told you to get out! Don’t you understand plain speech?”
The disgust in her almond-shaped eyes could not have been clearer.
Gu Jinghuai didn’t know what had gotten into him. He simply sat down on the edge of the bed and reached out again, insisting on rubbing her lower abdomen for her.
Just as his hand was about to touch Yun Shuyao, a servant from the gate suddenly came to report,
“Heir Gu, someone from your residence has come. They say Young Miss Su tried to kill herself. Please hurry back and see her!”
Gu Jinghuai rose almost instinctively, as if it were a habit formed over many years.
He paid Yun Shuyao no further attention and turned to leave.
But just as he was about to step out, he stopped, as if remembering something. His tone was full of warning.
“I will treat you well, and I will marry you.
But I expect you to find a way to clear up the rumors.
If Yuyan’s reputation is truly ruined, then I’ll have no choice but to take her into my household.”
Gu Jinghuai looked at Yun Shuyao’s pale face, his heart aching a little, but he couldn’t let Yuyan’s reputation be ruined because of him.
“I’ll come see you later. Rest for now.”
Watching Gu Jinghuai leave, Yun Shuyao slowly curled her lips into a smile.
She only hoped they’d be bound together so tightly they couldn’t wriggle free.
Her gaze swept over the red dress draped across the screen. Yun Shuyao suddenly remembered that fiery evening glow and that proud, defiant face.
She forced herself out of bed, changed into that “compensation,” and left the residence again.
This time, her target was the Marchioness’s most precious asset.
Chunzhi had organized the accounts quickly. It was time to take back those nine shops!