Xie Licheng had originally thought this matter would blow up into something huge. After all, a living, breathing person had suddenly disappeared, and Concubine Xu even knew that the man had been the last to see Gu Changyuan. There was no way this could be settled so easily.
But Xie Licheng soon discovered that the nobles and officials of ancient times wielded tremendous power. In the end, this matter concluded in a way he never expected.
…
When Concubine Xu had schemed against Gu Changyuan, she had used the pretext of thieves breaking into the Gu residence to summon people.
The situation that day had been extremely urgent, so Xie Licheng had simply played along and pretended to be the thief himself, luring away the people who had come to catch him.
Then Concubine Xu, who belatedly realized something was wrong, discovered that her nephew had gone missing.
She felt certain this had something to do with Gu Changyuan—that the so-called thief was probably one of Gu Changyuan's people. Naturally, she would do everything in her power to catch that thief.
But after the Gu family spent several days searching for the thief without finding a single trace, Concubine Xu concluded that Gu Changyuan was deliberately shielding him. So she secretly sent someone to report the matter to the authorities.
Once the authorities were involved, the nature of the matter changed entirely.
The incident quickly reached the ears of the Gu family's eldest master, who was away visiting friends.
Before he even returned, he already knew the full story from beginning to end.
The beginning was that Concubine Xu, with ill intentions, had attempted to collude with an outsider to scheme against the young miss of the Gu family.
Gu Changyuan, protective of his sister, had nearly been bullied by that male guest.
But unexpectedly, that male guest turned out to be useless. He was the one who had plotted against others, yet in the end, he was the one who fell to his death.
Gu Changyuan had been raised too well by the eldest master, too upright. Having encountered such a situation for the first time and been discovered by a male servant, he had felt guilty and agreed to let the servant dispose of the body.
Then came Concubine Xu, who, under the pretext of catching thieves, had led a group of people to try to catch Gu Changyuan in a compromising position, hoping to force the Gu family to marry Gu Changyuan to her nephew.
Upon hearing this, the eldest master laughed in anger.
"Utterly delusional! If on the Gu family's own turf, I, Gu Zhenghan, would allow my young master and daughter to be trampled upon by a lowly concubine, then I would be unworthy of being the head of the Gu family."
The eldest master let out a cold snort and said to the steward beside him, "Go. Do as I say."
The steward quickly leaned in to listen, then returned to the Gu residence ahead of the others.
Within half an hour of the steward's return to the Gu residence, the yamen runners from the authorities also arrived.
When Concubine Xu received the news, she wanted to lead the runners to the place where her nephew had disappeared.
She had always felt that if something had happened to her nephew, the location would surely be the rockery.
But before she could even meet the runners, the steward led them to the guest rooms in the outer courtyard.
Concubine Xu's nephew had been staying in the outer courtyard guest rooms. The steward said that a few days ago, the Gu residence had been hit by thieves, and while catching them, they had discovered that quite a few valuables had gone missing.
Coincidentally, around that same time, a male guest in the outer courtyard had gone missing. They felt the two matters might be connected, so they wanted to lead the runners to investigate first.
Unexpectedly, the moment they entered the male guest's room, they discovered two of the Gu family's stolen valuables inside.
Combined with the earlier theft at the Gu residence and the male guest's current disappearance, it was obvious that he had been moved by greed. After stealing a large amount of valuables from the Gu family, he had fled to avoid being caught and brought before the authorities.
Of course, this could only be considered the Gu family's side of the story. In the past, even the most unreliable runners wouldn't have been so easily fooled by a few words.
But recently, there were signs of unrest in Lingzhou. The prefect was overwhelmed with matters and had no time to deal with such trivial cases.
Moreover, the government of ancient times was different from the modern era. As the saying goes, "All government offices face south; without money or reason, don't come through the door."
The prefect of Lingzhou was hardly an enlightened or upright man. Unless something major occurred—like a murder case—he wouldn't bother investigating seriously.
When the fish goes bad, it rots from the head down. This meant the runners below were all cut from the same cloth.
As for today's matter at the Gu residence, Concubine Xu had reported it as a theft, so naturally, they treated it as a theft.
The steward had also deliberately avoided prying eyes and slipped them a considerable amount of silver.
After that, whatever the steward said, they naturally believed.
And so, the thief that had been making such a fuss over the past few days was pinned on Concubine Xu's nephew.
Since Concubine Xu had been crying "thief" left and right, insisting that the Gu residence had been robbed, she had finally gotten her wish.
When she heard that the authorities had reached their final verdict—not only failing to find the thief who had caused her nephew's disappearance, but even turning her missing nephew into a thief himself—
It was said that after the officials returned, they had even hired a sketch artist to draw her nephew's portrait, claiming they would search the entire city for this thief.
Her nephew was a scholar. Scholars care deeply about their reputation.
Now he was missing, possibly dead, and had been branded with such a disgraceful name.
She couldn't even bear to imagine how her natal family would hate her once they learned of this.
Concubine Xu grew more frightened the more she thought about it, feeling that staying any longer would only lead to a bad end. She packed her valuables and planned to escape from the Gu household under cover of night.
But what she didn't expect was that before she could even finish packing, the steward arrived at her door with people in tow.
Without listening to a word she said, they declared: "How dare you, Xu, meet with an outsider man at night, violating womanly virtue and shameless beyond measure! Men, seize her and give her ten strokes of the cane. Tomorrow, send her to the farm in the countryside outside the city."
Concubine Xu shrieked at the top of her lungs, "You're lying! You're lying! I want to see the Master! I want to see the Master! I'm innocent, I didn't do anything, I didn't! Master, you can't treat me like this! Xue'er can't be without her mother! I am—I am Miss Xue's mother! You can't—you can't do this to me…"
No one listened to a word she said. When she had planned to do such things to Gu Yangxue, she hadn't thought about the fact that she was the girl's own mother.
The Master hadn't actually arranged for an outsider man to do anything to her—he had merely used that pretext to cast her out of the Gu household.
But she had wanted to find an outsider man to defile her own daughter, to defile the Gu family's eldest young master.
To use the most terrifying things—chastity and reputation—to force them into marrying someone who had humiliated them.
Compared to what she had done, the Master felt he had been quite lenient.
Of course, he held no old affection for her either.
Whatever so-called affection existed was purely for Gu Yangxue's sake.
If not for that daughter, given everything she had done, given that she was the lowest-ranked Criminal Slave in the Gu household, they could have beaten her to death outright.
…
After handling all the mess, the Master summoned Gu Changyuan to the study.
Looking at his eldest young master, who had grown into a graceful and beautiful figure, the Master was very fond of him and cherished him deeply.
He was his first child, and though he was only a young master, he had always been especially favored.
One could almost say he had been raised on gold, silver, and jewels.
The Master looked at Gu Changyuan and said, "Do you know where you went wrong this time?"
Gu Changyuan bowed slightly, his demeanor respectful and obedient.
"Changyuan knows. Changyuan's nature is still too timid and weak."
The Master shook his head and gestured for him to sit beside him.
"You are not timid or weak—you are too soft-hearted. Fortunately, that man was a coward, or else you would have been in real danger that time. You should not have risked yourself alone for your sister's sake, nor should you have been frightened just because the man died."
Gu Changyuan sat down beside him and said in a slightly aggrieved, quiet voice, "I… I was afraid that my actions might damage the Gu family's reputation."
The Master said coldly, "That still doesn't justify trusting the words of a lowly slave and handing such an important leverage over to him."
Gu Changyuan lowered his eyes and said, "Changyuan knows he was wrong."
"What about that slave? You gave him so much silver—why didn't you send him far away?"
Gu Changyuan did not answer immediately. Instead, he first composed himself, then replied calmly, "Changyuan initially wanted to send him away, but later thought of keeping him for personal use. Changyuan only has maidservants and young attendants around him—the guards all belong to the Gu household. I had no male servant of my own to use, so I thought I might try to cultivate one myself."
Hearing this, the Master stared at him with a heavy gaze for a long while.
"I heard from the steward that he is quite handsome—he was brought out of the slave camp by one of the Second Branch's boys. He is a descendant of a former dynasty military general, raised in the slave camp since childhood, without even a proper name. Yuan'er is no longer young. Most young masters your age would have long since married and had children. If you fancy his looks, then keep him. But you must heed your father's words—you cannot have children with such a Criminal Slave, nor can you…"
Before he could finish, Gu Changyuan stood up, his face flushed crimson.
He said with a red face, "There is no such thing! Father, how could you think that of me? I would never take a fancy to a Criminal Slave. Father, please don't say such things in the future."
Seeing that he was unwilling to hear more, the Master fell silent. Such matters were not really for a father to discuss anyway.
If not for the fact that his second son was in poor health and his wife had to accompany him year-round in seeking medical treatment elsewhere,
the task of instructing the eldest young master should have fallen to his mother.
The Master said, "You are of age now. Be prudent in how you employ people—before you are certain of someone's character, never let them get too close to you. I will be taking your grandfather to the capital soon. If you are ever uncertain about something while alone at home, go consult your Second Uncle or the steward. And as for that child Ting'er—discipline him properly when needed. Don't always let him have his way."
Gu Changyuan quickly replied, "Changyuan understands. Changyuan will certainly discipline his younger brother well."
After Gu Changyuan left the study, the steward, who had been hiding behind the study's folding screen, emerged with a worried expression.
The steward asked in a low voice, "That horse slave, do we really not need to send him away? This old servant feels that he is not simple at all, and doesn't seem like an ordinary criminal slave at all."
The master of the house smiled and glanced at him. "It's fine, aren't you keeping an eye on him? If he means harm to the Gu family, or tries to bully Yuan'er, you may deal with him directly on my behalf."
Seeing that the master had entrusted the matter entirely to him, meaning he did not need to seek the eldest young master's opinion, the steward no longer felt as uneasy and anxious as before.
The eldest young master was too young and too soft-hearted.
If many matters had to go through his approval, the steward would find himself hesitant and constrained in handling them.