Chapter 1183 - Chapter 1183 Gu Xishu’s Weakness
Chapter 1183 Gu Xishu’s Weakness
The night was getting darker and darker. There was no moon tonight. Two figures quietly walked toward the link between the Mansion of the Prime Minister and Marquis Xing’s Mansion without carrying lanterns.
This used to be the place where the two mansions were connected, but later it was blocked.
But now there was a small hole here, and there was even a faint light on the opposite side, which diluted the darkness on this side so that people could see the road here more clearly.
Gu Xishu was in a panic, and her beautiful face was pale in the night. She almost fell while walking. Fortunately, her servant girl protected her tightly and pulled her from time to time.
She was very familiar with this place when she was a child. Back then, people often took this road to go to Duke Xing’s Mansion or the Mansion of the Prime Minister.
But after so many years, she had almost never been here again.
On the one hand, this place was remote, and basically, no one would come here. On the other hand, she didn’t want to think of some past events. It was better to forget them, and it would be best if no one knew them.
Shao Yanru was the only one who knew about this matter. If it weren’t for Shao Yanru, Gu Xishu would definitely have wanted to kill the insider. She would find a way to make her fall into the river and drown.
But the insider was Shao Yanru, whom she couldn’t deal with.
Gu Xishu was very clear about this. After suffering a few losses and being trampled by Shao Yanru, Gu Xishu clearly realized that she was inferior and never dared to hurt Shao Yanru again.
This matter had also become a secret between her and Shao Yanru. In order to block this secret, she helped Shao Yanru several times.
She had no choice. She couldn’t defeat Shao Yanru, so she could only listen to her. When the news of Shao Yanru’s death came, Gu Xishu happily strolled in the yard for a day and smiled at everyone she saw. From then on, no one would know about this matter and no one would threaten her with it.
This was her weakness.
But after a few happy days, she received a message from Marquis Xing’s Mansion, asking her to come here for a meeting. The message mentioned what had happened that year. How could Gu Xishu not come? The more she walked, the more flustered she became. “Isn’t Shao Yanru already dead? Who else knows about this thing? Could it be possible that Shao Yanru’s ghost is coming at me?”
Thinking of this, Gu Xishu only felt that there were faint ghost shadows along the way. She was so scared that her face turned pale and her legs went weak.
It took her a lot of effort to get here. When she saw the light coming from the opposite courtyard, she gasped hard and wiped the sweat on her forehead with a handkerchief.
This area had been blocked before. At that time, some bricks had been simply built here and had been slightly flattened. Now a few bricks had been pulled out, and the light on the opposite side could be seen.
“Who… who are you to… Miss Shao?” Gu Xishu asked in a low voice, trembling.
As soon as she finished speaking, she felt gusts of cold wind blowing around her.
At first, only a few bricks were pulled out, but now the bricks were pulled out faster, and soon a hole of half a person’s height was revealed.
A man’s voice came from the other side. “Come here!”
Gu Xishu swallowed her saliva, and her legs went so weak she almost couldn’t stand still. “Why is it a man? How could it be a man?
“But if it’s a woman, should I be more flustered and turn around to run?”
“Come here!” The man’s voice was majestic. He didn’t sound like a wretched servant. Gritting her teeth, Gu Xishu lowered her head and went over.
When she saw that Shao Hua’an was standing opposite her, she breathed a sigh of relief. They knew each other.
“First Young Master!” Gu Xishu wiped the cold sweat on her forehead.
Shao Hua’an glanced at her, turned around, and went into the house on the side. Gu Xishu followed him, leaving the servant girl at the door.
In the room, Shao Hua’an sat down. His legs were much better, but he couldn’t stand for a long time. He still often sat and rested.
Gu Xishu came in and asked uneasily, “First Young Master, why did you… ask me to come here?”
There was no one else in the room. If others saw their current situation, they would think that they had an affair. If that happened, she could only be Shao Hua’an’s concubine.
Of course, Gu Xishu was unwilling to do that. She admired her Third Cousin, not the First Young Master in front of her.
Shao Hua’an glanced at Gu Xishu and said with a smile, “Have you read the letter?” If his sister hadn’t mentioned it, he wouldn’t have known that the cousin Miss of the Mansion of the Prime Minister in front of him was so cruel that she dared to hurt her cousin at such a young age just because her cousin was Prime Minister Wen’s biological daughter and was more favored than her.
Sure enough, the more delicate a woman looked, the more vicious she was.
“First Young Master, what do you mean?” Gu Xishu asked with her face darkening.
“Miss Gu, don’t you understand? Do you want me to explain what happened at that time? Prime Minister Wen only has one daughter. If he knows that his young daughter died in your hands, you’ll have no chance to marry his son, and you’ll even get killed. Your family will also be implicated.”
Shao Hua’an said that rudely, tapping his fingers on the table with disdain in his eyes. He would not come to see such a vicious woman unless he had no other choice.
Gu Xishu, who pretended to be calm, immediately trembled. She pulled her sleeves tightly and asked in a panic, “What… what do you want?”
“What do I want?” Shao Hua’an twitched the corner of his mouth and waved to her.
Gu Xishu walked over in fear and approached him.
“What if someone sees us?” Shao Hua’an stretched out his hand and looked around.
What if someone saw them? She could only be his concubine.
If it were in the past, Shao Hua’an might have been the heir to Duke Xing’s Mansion with some power. But now, how could Gu Xishu fall in love with him?
Not to mention being his concubine, she was even unwilling to marry him.
Gu Xishu gritted her teeth and asked, “Tell me, what do you want?”
Shao Hua’an pointed to a small piece of paper on the table and said, “Go out of the mansion tomorrow and have a good relationship with this woman.”
Gu Xishu reached out to take the paper. She saw a woman’s name on it, followed by some details about her life.
“E’niang? Who is she?” she asked subconsciously.
“You don’t need to ask who she is. When you go out of the mansion tomorrow, her carriage will accidentally bump into you, and then you will have a good relationship with her. She is the daughter of an imperial censor. It’s just that she can’t find her relatives now!” Shao Hua’an ordered.
“What does she want?” Gu Xishu became uneasy. “Such a woman will bump into me silently. Does she want to do harm to the Mansion of the Prime Minister?”
“Don’t worry. She is not going to your Mansion of the Prime Minister but to our mansion. You just need to make friends with her. She is not young anymore and is of your mother’s age. She won’t take away the person you like,” Shao Hua’an said with a disdainful smile. Gu Xishu liked Wen Xichi, which was not a secret. He had known it before.
Although Wen Xichi treated Gu Xishu well, he only regarded her as his younger sister. His younger sister had died young, so he also treated Gu Xishu as his biological younger sister.
Shao Hua’an didn’t know it before, and he only thought that Gu Xishu was lucky. Now it seemed that she was so vicious at such a young age, which was really disgusting. Wen Xichi had always been smart, but he didn’t expect that his little sister would be killed by this vicious woman.
However, it just so happened that Shao Hua’an was worried that he could not find anyone to take E’niang out in front of others. Although Rui’an Great Elder Princess was kind to her, it was impossible for her to take her out. To Rui’an Great Elder princess, E’niang was just an insignificant servant girl. The reason why E’niang was promoted was that for the sake that Infanta Qinghua was dead, Rui’an Great Elder Princess wanted to use her to deal with her mother.
As for Princess Chen, she was not easy to get close to at all, let alone show up in front of everyone with E’niang to clear her name.
...
At present, Gu Xishu was the most suitable candidate.
“I heard that there will be a banquet in the Mansion of the Prime Minister in a few days. You can introduce E’niang to some people whom you have a good relationship with,” Shao Hua’an said.
Third Young Master Wen, Wen Xichi, was not young anymore, but he had never gotten married. Madam Wen was in a hurry, so she called this banquet a lotus appreciation banquet. In fact, it was a disguised blind date, and she wanted to set up her son with a Miss from an aristocratic family.
As soon as this matter was mentioned, Gu Xishu gritted her teeth in anger. She expressed her affection for her Third Cousin both openly and secretly, but her aunt, who had always doted on her, pretended not to understand it. Now he was going to have a blind date. It was obvious that she didn’t consider her feelings. How could she be willing to accept it?
Gu Xishu wanted to marry her Third Cousin, not her Second Cousin.
“Okay. I’ll do it!” Gu Xishu said with a trace of annoyance across her eyes. Since she couldn’t make her aunt agree, she would destroy this lotus appreciation banquet so that her aunt wouldn’t appreciate any Miss. As for the woman sent by Marquis Xing’s Mansion, it was not a big deal compared with this matter.
“She’s just an older middle-aged woman who’s not a threat to me. If I can make use of her, there might be unexpected benefits.”
When Gu Xishu thought of this, the expression on her face relaxed.
“Don’t set your eyes on E’niang. She will show up in front of everyone with you. If you ruin it, you won’t be able to keep what happened in the past a secret.” Shao Hua’an saw through her intention at a glance and warned her with a sneer.
“If something happens to her, should I be blamed?” Gu Xishu retorted unconvincedly.
“Of course!” Shao Hua’an took it for granted.
...
Gu Xishu gritted her teeth in anger and couldn’t help saying, “Even if you tell others what happened that year now, few people will believe it. There is no evidence.”
“Even if there is no evidence, will the people of the Mansion of the Prime Minister treat you like before?” Seeing that she was still struggling, Shao Hua’an reminded her in a cold voice, “The Third Young Master has always been extremely intelligent. If he has such speculation, he will find out the truth even if it has been so long. When he finds out, you will get a more severe punishment than death. If you don’t believe me, you can try.”
Gu Xishu didn’t dare to give it a try. She had to suppress her anger and lower her head to admit it.
Seeing that she agreed, Shao Hua’an waved his hand, indicating that she could leave.
Gu Xishu was relieved and didn’t dare to stay any longer, for fear of being discovered. She went back to the Mansion of the Prime Minister with her servant girl, and then the bricks were piled up one by one. At first glance, they looked the same as before. The night was dark, and no one noticed that the lights on their side had already attracted someone’s attention.
After the people of the two mansions left, a black shadow flashed across a tree and disappeared.