Chapter 613: Returning (3)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
After playing for nearly an hour, Eunuch He suddenly came in a hurry and walked straight to Chu Yi and Gu Yanfei.
Everyone looked at the sky. They originally thought that Eunuch He was here to remind everyone to take their seats. Unexpectedly, they heard Eunuch He report with a smile,
“Your Highness, Eldest Prince, Second Lady Gu, the Emperor just gave an order to clear Third Lady Gu’s name.”
Upon hearing this, the people who were originally pitching the pot put down the bamboo arrow. The people who spoke also fell silent. Everyone’s gazes landed on Eunuch He.
Chu Yi replied with an “Oh”.
Upon receiving the Eldest Prince’s encouraging gaze, Eunuch He said energetically, “The Emperor has already investigated. Because Second Lady Gu is fated with the Dao Sect, she was adopted and raised by Spiritual Master Lingxiao since she was young. Back then, the Old Madam of the Gu family missed her eldest son and chose a girl from her son to give to the Marquis of Dingyuan. She named her Yunrong. Last year, Second Lady Gu left the sect and returned to the residence. Gu Yunrong was adopted into the second branch.”
“The Emperor said that in the future, Third Miss Gu will be removed from the Gu family register and return to the surname Li. If Li Yunrong isn’t Gu Jian’s daughter, she won’t be implicated in Gu Jian’s case. Since the Empress Dowager has already arranged a marriage for her and Kang Wang, then choose a time to marry Kang Wang as soon as possible.”
Originally, Kang Wang and Li Yunrong should have gotten married on the 23rd of February. Because Li Yunrong was locked in the imperial prison, even the marriage date was delayed.
In the end, Eunuch He added, “The Emperor has already ordered the Embroidered Uniform Guards to release her.”
The lakeside that was silent for a moment was instantly in an uproar.
The Emperor’s decree was equivalent to confirming everyone’s guess just now. They were all stunned.
It wasn’t that they looked down on commoners. Back when Emperor Taizu advocated equality between men and women, there were also a few commoners who opened shops and traded to earn a living. They did their business well and spread their branches to the capital. For example, there were still several branches in the capital now.
Emperor Taizu had also said that birth didn’t determine anything.
The princess consort of Emperor Taizu’s third son, Prince Yu, was a commoner’s daughter. Emperor Taizu also personally gave his son a marriage as Prince Yu requested.
If Kang Wang wanted to marry a commoner girl as a princess consort, it wouldn’t be a shocking rare thing. The problem was the true identity of the future princess consort, Li Yunrong.
From the meaning of Eunuch He’s words just now, Li Yunrong was the daughter of a slave. If the Li family sold themselves as slaves, they wouldn’t be commoners, but rather among the lowest class of society.
Moreover, it was too strange for Old Madam Gu to choose a servant to be her stepson’s daughter. Where did she place the status of master and servant?
Ridiculous, this was too ridiculous!
The whispers around him became more and more noisy, and the voices became louder and louder, forming a buzzing sound…
Thinking about what they had heard about the Gu family previously, many people came to a realization, and the discussion became even more noisy.
“Eunuch He just said that Second Lady Gu is fated with the Dao Sect and has been a disciple of Spiritual Master Lingxiao since she was young… I think something’s wrong. Could it be that Old Madam Gu secretly sent Second Lady Gu to the Daoist temple and deliberately carried a son for Gu Ce to be her daughter?”
“I think that’s the case. When Gu Ce was alive, he probably didn’t know that Li Yunrong was a daughter of a slave.”
“Last year, when Second Lady Gu returned, Gu Yuan only knew the truth. Therefore, Gu… No, Li Yunrong changed from the eldest daughter of the Gu family to the second daughter!”
“This Old Madam Gu is too evil. She let Gu Ce raise a daughter of a slave like a treasure.”
“Her heart is simply punishable by death!”
“Yes, yes. Old Madam Gu has always kept this Li Yunrong who occupied the nest. Isn’t this giving Second Lady Gu trouble?”
II II
The more the young masters and ladies spoke, the more lively they became. They looked at Gu Yanfei sympathetically.
Some people even lamented that although Gu Yanfei had encountered a malicious step-grandmother like Old Madam Gu, she was indeed fated with the Dao Sect. To be adopted by a strange person like Spiritual Master Lingxiao and learn a transcendent Xuan Sect skill, this was also a kind of fate.
Gu Yanfei looked at Eunuch He steadily, her eyes as dark as the night.
Li Yunrong, Old Madam Gu, Li Zhaodi, Fang Mingfeng… These people flashed in her mind in confusion, as if something had exploded in her mind.
After experiencing 200 years in the Bright Spirit Realm, she actually didn’t care about the Li family anymore.
However, she cared in her previous life.
The past 10 years in Huaibei had been a nightmare that she couldn’t get rid of.
At that time, she lived very lowly. She was worried that her unbearable days in Huaibei would be exposed one day, but she was also afraid that others would say that she was inferior to Gu Yunrong in everything, afraid that she would embarrass her biological parents.
In her previous life, up to her death, she and Gu Yunrong were “twins”.
No one questioned Gu Yunrong’s identity, but her background was speculated and criticized.
Many people outside said that her surname wasn’t Gu at all. It was because she looked like her biological mother, Madam Xie, that Gu Yuan recognized her as his sister. It was Old Madam Gu who tolerated her eldest grandson’s nonsense.
She was clearly the biological daughter of Gu Ce and Madam Xie, and Li Yunrong was clearly the one occupying the nest, but no matter how she explained, it was useless. No one believed her.
She was plagued by inner demons and couldn’t let go even until her death. When she died, she died with endless regret and unwillingness.
After being reborn, what she wanted was for her and Gu Yunrong to go their separate ways.
Gu Yunrong was the daughter of luck and was protected by Heaven’s Will.
Her identity was a blessing from Heaven’s Will to Gu Yunrong. She couldn’t fight head-on and could only take advantage of the situation.
First, she urged Fang Mingfeng to bring the Li family to the capital and split from the second branch. Then, she let Kang Wang take the initiative to acknowledge this relative for Gu Yunrong.
After avoiding the laws of Heaven’s Will and scheming step by step, she finally reached the point where her identity was revealed.
From today onwards, she had nothing to do with the Li family anymore.
How nice.
The corners of Gu Yanfei’s lips curled up, and her eyes turned sour.
Boom!
Waves of rumbling thunder seemed to enter her ears one after another. It was heavy and muffled, and the thunder seemed to be getting closer and closer, getting heavier and heavier.
Her heart seemed to have been struck by lightning as it twitched rapidly.
She lowered her head slightly, her eyelashes trembling, and her vision was blurry.
All kinds of chaotic and noisy voices surrounded her ears.
She seemed to be able to hear it, but she also seemed to be unable to hear any sound. Her mind buzzed. Many images from her previous life flashed back one by one. She was whipped, trampled, mocked, humiliated, assassinated…
There were some things she thought she had long forgotten, but it turned out that she had never forgotten them. They were just buried in the depths of her memories…
Suddenly, she felt a warmth in her palm. Someone was holding her hand.
The man’s palm had a lively roughness to it. It was hot and scorching. The heat stuck to her soft palm, as if it could warm her heart along the blood, causing ripples in her heart.
She felt her heart relax, as if countless chains wrapped around her heart had loosened with a click.
She was finally free from the cage that had trapped her for two lifetimes…
Gu Yanfei slowly turned around and looked up at Chu Yi beside him with a smile.
Chu Yi smiled slightly, as if spring had returned to the ground.
The gentleness in his eyes overflowed.
Gu Yanfei looked at him quietly with clear eyes. At this moment, her heart was unbelievably soft.
Whether she returned to this life not only because of her inner demon, but also because she had encountered him..