Of course, he wants to live a beautiful widowhood!
Yu Yuan couldn’t explain his reasons, so he could only lower his head and continue trembling. It was impossible for him not to tremble; the two were too close, and he could clearly feel every breath of Gu Shaocheng’s warm, moist air. He had never been this close to his closest adoptive mother, and it even reminded him of the experience of being forced into a rice paddy to be fed leeches when he was in elementary school…
Gu Shaocheng pinched his chin and forcibly lifted him up.
Yu Yuan has a small, smooth face with red lips, white teeth, snow-white skin, and black hair. His almond-shaped eyes, which have been hidden for many years, magnify his innocent and pitiful appearance to the extreme. He carries a unique sense of vulnerability regardless of his emotions.
Gu Shaocheng’s eyes widened for a moment, and a throbbing pain began to shoot through his temples. Instantly, he lost all interest in continuing to intimidate him and released the person listlessly.
Yu Yuan suddenly shrank back, and before he could react, the man spoke again: “It’s not too late to leave now.”
Gu Shaocheng paused slightly, then said meaningfully, “This body of mine can’t give you anything…”
Yu Yuan paused. Was this a signal to send him away?
Even though the uncontrollable fear and anxiety made him feel uncomfortable and speechless, Yu Yuan still resolutely defended his dream. He shook his head like a rattle drum and said, “What?!”
The tension and fear were almost stressful, and the effects of the medication hadn’t completely worn off. A violent shaking made him lose his balance quickly. As the world spun around, a sour feeling rose in his throat, and in the next instant, Yu Yuan fell into the man’s arms.
Gu Shaocheng lowered his eyes to look at the slender white nape of his neck that was offered to him, his eyes surging with malice. Did he think he was a sickly man who couldn’t perform sexually, which was why he was so unscrupulous?
”Rip—” The collar of the diagonal placket was torn open, revealing his straight collarbone and shoulder angles, and his fair and delicate skin shimmered with a faint pearlescent light under the lamp.
The moment the dream was torn open, Yu Yuan was completely shocked, even ignoring the obvious nausea in his stomach. His mind was filled with doubt about the dream. How could the sickly dying man was behaving like Popeye after eating spinach? Does this make sense?
Gu Shaocheng silently admired the astonishment of the person in his arms. His dark eyes deliberately moved from the soft red lips to the faint blush on his chest. He hoped that the other party would back down. The best punishment for someone who wanted to gain something from him was to drive them away and leave them with nothing.
As his thoughts raced, a glistening drop of water suddenly appeared on the back of Gu Shaocheng’s pale hand.
Are they tears?
The warm, moist touch startled Gu Shaocheng slightly.
The next instant, the person in his arms suddenly struggled. Gu Shaocheng’s eyes were filled with deep gloom as he tightened his grip on Yu Yuan, who was trying to escape.
“yue——”
The wine that had been churning in Yu Yuan’s stomach for a while finally came out.
Gu Shaocheng: “…”
The next moment, Yu Yuan, who had been shaking himself so hard he was vomiting, started vomiting again, unable to stop himself from vomiting.
Before Gu Shaocheng could react, Yu Yuan placed his hands on his shoulders and resolved the remaining ailment in his stomach.
It’s not uncommon for psychiatric medications to have such side effects, especially given his excessive fear… But Yu Yuan never expected that he would spray out like champagne after shaking it a few times. He felt much better after vomiting, but when he realized where he had vomited, Yu Yuan froze…
The bedroom was deathly silent. Yu Yuan thought of the nanny who had been paralyzed by Gu Shaocheng, and suddenly felt that his life was about to end. His fear doubled and he trembled like a leaf.
Only after Gu Shaocheng told him to get out did Yu Yuan, as if granted a pardon, scurry into the bathroom.
*
As soon as he enters a solitary environment, Yu Yuan’s condition immediately improves.
Seeing that the bathroom was fully equipped, he rinsed his mouth and took off his wedding robe to take a hot shower. After all, he didn’t want to face Gu Shaocheng and the nannies in the room, and he wanted to stay in the bathroom as long as possible.
Yu Yuan’s wedding robe was similar to the dragon and phoenix gown commonly seen in Chinese weddings, both being straight-cut upper garments and skirts. However, the crimson silk did not feature the traditional three-dimensional dragon and phoenix embroidery technique.
Therefore, this plain wedding robe is neither a specific type of wedding dress nor can it be distinguished as a men’s or women’s style. However, like the straight-cut dragon and phoenix gown, it has extremely high requirements for a person’s body proportions.
Perhaps due to various forms of mistreatment during her childhood, resulting in malnutrition, Yu Yuan, at eighteen years old, was only 174 cm tall. Fortunately, her slender and thin frame had excellent proportions, and the straight-cut wedding robe she wore seemed to be stretched out by a tall, white jade bamboo frame…
Yu Yuan slowly unbuttoned the delicate Chinese knot buttons, looking at the torn collar and pondering Popeye, who didn’t match the original text.
Every detail of the conversation with the Wang couple after waking up perfectly matched the plot of the dream, but Gu Shaocheng’s strength in tearing clothes like paper didn’t seem like that of a sickly person who didn’t have many days left to live…
However, Yu Yuan, as a substitute bride, only had those two scenes in the early stages because of the main characters. The subsequent process of the marriage to ward off bad luck and the related situation after marrying into the Gu family were naturally completely omitted. He speculated that Gu Shaocheng was probably on his deathbed shortly after the marriage.
Thinking of this, Yu Yuan went over the main plot again. Speaking of which, the male lead’s true identity is quite melodramatic. He is actually Gu Shaocheng’s half-brother, which proves the old saying that a woman’s reproductive advantage can confirm that a child is her own.
The beloved son whom the father Wang cherished to the bone was actually the fruit of the love between the mother Wang and the father Gu.
However, Gu Shaocheng and the male lead share a father who is also a son-in-law. Now, the entire Gu family is controlled by the old master Gu. On the surface, he has always been an incompetent son-in-law who keeps his tail between his legs, but in reality, he has endured half his life just waiting for his son and father-in-law to die.
He was shrewd and planned to use the opportunity of killing Gu Shaocheng to help him eliminate the Wang family by taking advantage of Old Master Gu’s anger. That’s why he conspired with Wang’s mother to create this scheme within a scheme.
Once Gu’s father obtains the Gu family, the male protagonist naturally becomes the sole heir, and then embarks on a series of incredible adventures and triumphs.
So, if Gu Shaocheng, this background character, doesn’t die, the plot simply can’t move forward. But the book doesn’t mention what kind of illness Gu Shaocheng has. Perhaps it’s some acute illness caused by his congenital weakness?
Yu Yuan had an inexplicable trust in the events of his dream. He recalled the brief time they spent together, how Gu Shaocheng was irritable, easily angered, had a fever, and was losing weight…
It’s possible they’re hiding some kind of acute illness. After all, unless it’s a life-threatening disease, a top-tier wealthy family wouldn’t go so far as to find a man to bring them good luck through marriage.
There was a sudden knock on the bathroom door, which startled Yu Yuan so much that he almost slipped and fell. His nerves were really too fragile to withstand repeated frights.
Then came a solemn, aged female voice: “Please wash yourself clean and return to your husband’s room as soon as possible. The master instructed that you and your husband must be in the same room tonight.”
The villa’s master bedroom features a currently popular double master bedroom design for couples, with the two bedrooms separated by a glass door in the middle. A woman’s words shattered Yu Yuan’s dream of hiding in the master bedroom.
As a tool for bringing good luck in marriage, Yu Yuan had no choice but to agree. However, the person outside the door did not leave after he agreed. The feeling of being watched was like taking a bath in public, so Yu Yuan had to speed up his work.
*
A few minutes later, with his hair still half-dry, Yu Yuan came out, tightly tying his bathrobe around his neck.
When he came out and was confronted by three living people, he almost couldn’t catch his breath.
Besides the old woman who had just spoken, there were two slightly younger middle-aged nannies standing at the door. Even though it was the middle of the night, the three of them were still wearing similar dark uniforms. The old woman in the lead had her half-white hair combed very smoothly and neatly, and she wore an elegant pearl necklace around her neck. She looked like the housekeeper of Gu Shaocheng’s private residence.
Yu Yuan’s pupils dilated with nervousness. In his daze, he didn’t even bother to lower his head and shrink back. His delicate and exquisite face was thus exposed to everyone’s gaze without any concealment.
His delicate nose, red lips, and milky-white skin were softened by the hot water, and his clear eyebrows and bright eyes revealed his three-dimensional and exquisite features, yet he still possessed a heroic air.
The two nannies following behind the housekeeper were stunned for a moment. Neither of them expected that this male bride, who was supposed to be married off to bring good luck, would change so much after removing the black-rimmed glasses that covered half of his face.
Yu Yuan quickly lowered his head again, took a step back towards the bathroom door, and his thin shoulders curled slightly as he resisted the stranger.
The old woman in the lead scoffed inwardly. This timid, vulgar, and lowly appearance was a waste, no matter how good-looking he was, especially since he was a man.
With a stern face, she urged him in a harsh voice, “Please return to the master’s room immediately.”
Without her saying anything, Yu Yuan turned and headed towards the master’s room. Facing the three of them at close range was simply beyond his capacity to bear. Between two evils, he chose the lesser one; he might as well go back and face Gu Shaocheng.
Although Gu Shaocheng is quite scary, he[1]I jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1301224_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1301224_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); survives to the end in the book. So what if he gets a couple of pieces of clothing torn on his way to realizing his dream?
Yu Yuan encouraged himself like this, but he was still uneasy when he pushed open the glass door.
Unexpectedly, by the time he reached the bedside, Gu Shaocheng had already fallen into a deep sleep. The bedside table was filled with bottles and jars, all of which were potent pain relievers and sedatives.
*
When Yu Yuan was woken up at six o’clock, Gu Shaocheng’s side was already empty.
When Yu Yuan looked up and saw a room full of servants, he nearly died on the spot. He huddled under the covers, his face turning pale. Wasn’t this supposed to be Gu Shaocheng’s private residence? Did they really need so many servants to take care of Gu Shaocheng?!
The elderly housekeeper still had a stern face: “Madam, it’s time for you to offer incense. Please change your clothes as soon as possible.”
Although Yu Yuan understood, he couldn’t comprehend why he was being woken up at six o’clock to offer incense in the dead of winter, when the sun hadn’t even fully risen yet.
Yu Yuan felt numb from being stared at by more than a dozen pairs of eyes, and turned his head away: “Go, go out and wait for me.”
It wasn’t until he followed the housekeeper into the Gu family ancestral hall that he belatedly realized that the obstacles and difficulties on his path to realizing his dream were far greater than he had imagined.
He first respectfully offered incense to the ancestors of the Gu family. As he was about to stand up, the housekeeper’s cane jerked, and he spoke sternly: “As the twenty-seventh generation descendant of the Gu family, there are some things I need to tell you first…”
Then, the housekeeper began to recount the great achievements of the Gu family ancestors with a blank expression, and how the Gu family had been passed down to this day through the family motto, “The blessings of a virtuous man last only five generations.”
After listening, Yu Yuan could only shout: Workers of the world, unite!
As a prominent family with a history of over five hundred years, the Gu family’s foundation and heritage are truly beyond the imagination of ordinary people. However, Yu Yuan thought about it again and realized that the Gu family’s accumulated wealth was ultimately swallowed up by Gu’s father, who married into the family… This is the kind of plot that allows melodramatic stories to exist.
The housekeeper, Zhang Ma, gave a brief introduction to the Gu family. Gu Shaocheng’s branch is the direct line of the large Gu family. Old Master Gu only had one daughter, and Gu Shaocheng is his only grandson. However, because Gu’s father married into the Gu family, Gu Shaocheng is a legitimate direct grandson.
Zhang Ma was Gu’s wet nurse back then, and now she is in charge of all the affairs of Gu Shaocheng’s private residence. Zhang Ma said all this to let Yu Yuan know that she is not only the housekeeper of the Gu family, but also half an elder of Gu Shaocheng, and that he, as the male wife who was brought in to bring good luck, must obediently listen to her.
Yu Yuan remained silent on the prayer mat until Zhang Ma brought up his “disrespect” towards Gu Shaocheng the previous night: “As punishment, you need to kneel here for twelve hours.”
Yu Yuan: ? ? ?
Are you crazy? He was forced to kneel for twelve hours just because he vomited on Gu Shaocheng?
Is Gu Shaocheng the emperor? Didn’t the Qing Dynasty fall hundreds of years ago? Although Yu Yuan is sincere in his intention to remain a widow after marrying into the family, it doesn’t mean he has to unconditionally accept the feudal dregs of the Gu family.
However, as an elderly woman who cared for the family, Zhang Ma looked down on even a small family like the Wang family, let alone Yu Yuan, a wild child who had just been taken back after wandering the streets. Naturally, she had to keep him in check from the beginning to prevent him from becoming arrogant and taking advantage of his position as the proper master, which would hinder her important business in the future.
After giving her instructions, Zhang Ma called in the three maids at the door, who then surrounded Yu Yuan on the left, right, and back to supervise him throughout the process. Zhang Ma herself then gracefully sat down in the wooden chair by the window and took a sip of her ten-year-old silver needle tea.
The number of strangers in the space suddenly surged to four and they were extremely close together. Yu Yuan immediately abandoned all delaying tactics, fearing that he could not withstand such a situation.
Despite suffering from social anxiety disorder for so many years and still not being able to overcome it, he still has some ways to deal with emergencies.
Just as Yu Yuan was about to have an outburst, the door to the ancestral hall was opened again, and the sound of a wheelchair rolling across the solid wood floor grew louder as it approached.
Upon hearing the sound, the servants guarding Yu Yuan stepped aside and, as was customary, stood respectfully against the wall with their heads bowed.
Yu Yuan, who had been sweating profusely from the cold, instantly felt much better. Without his glasses, he could only squint and force himself to focus, and when he saw that the person sitting in the wheelchair was the thin and pale Gu Shaocheng, he was immediately moved—this man finally looked like a patient!
Gu Shaocheng glanced indifferently at Yu Yuan, who was covered in cold sweat. The young man’s almond-shaped eyes were lowered, making him look particularly pitiful. But as soon as he saw that it was him, his eyes immediately lit up with a bright light, clear and sparkling like gemstones that suddenly flashed with fire.
Gu Shaocheng paused for a moment before lowering his dark eyes.
Seeing Gu Shaocheng suddenly appear, Zhang Ma remained calm and slowly put down her teacup.
When Old Madam Gu died in childbirth, she raised Miss Gu single-handedly. Even when Gu Shaocheng was at his most insane, he still recognized her.
As for the male bride who was supposed to be marrying for good luck, she could easily find some excuse to send him away if she wanted, since she had already taken complete control of the mansion.
If Gu Shaocheng’s condition were to suffer two unexpected setbacks, the male bride who was supposed to bring him good luck would have to leave. She kept Yu Yuan around only because his background made him easy to control, and she was too lazy to find anyone else to cause further trouble.
As Gu Shaocheng drove his wheelchair closer, Zhang Ma stood up with a smile, her gaze falling on the back of the man’s hand. She noticed there were no signs of drug injection and raised her eyebrows slightly.
The surprise in her eyes vanished in an instant. As if Yu Yuan didn’t exist, she asked Gu Shaocheng about his condition with concern: “Is the young master feeling better now? The kitchen has prepared your favorite sweet soup. It was started in the middle of the night, so the timing is perfect. Shall I take you there?”
Gu Shaocheng’s face was sickly pale, and his condition was much worse than the night before. Hearing this, he didn’t even lift his eyelids and said slowly and expressionlessly, “Since when have you been able to make decisions for me?”
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