Translator: Iris
Minglan disagreed with Second Madam Bing’s words. Since Gu Tingwei had been handling family affairs for his eldest brother, he must have socialized with lot of people outside. So, perhaps it were not the men of the Fifth family that had reported Gu Tingwei’s wrongdoing but the people he had made contact with.
Fifth Old Master was not as spirited as before and remained dejected the whole time. Hearing that, he only blew his sparse beard and couldn’t utter a single word. However, Fifth Old Madam scolded fiercely, “Don’t talk nonsense! How dare you talk to your seniors like this?!”
“My seniors? Huh, you guys only protected yourself during the crisis!” Second Madam Bing, eyes turning red in anger, cursed even more fiercely while crying, “My husband only ran a few errands for the guilty prince a long time ago. How could the others know which man of the Gu’s family has done those things? You guys must have been afraid of bringing troubles to yourselves and told the officials everything, you bloody cowards! Although my husband is the one who handled those affairs, you guys also attended the banquet in the guilty prince’s mansion!”
“You bitch! You are lying!” Gu Tingyang thumped on the table and finally retorted her.
Ever since he had come into the hall, he kept raising his head at the angle of 45 degrees. Now that he turned around, Minglan then saw that there were three obvious blood stains on one side of his face.
“The Fourth Prince... The guilty prince never cared about your husband at that time, but your husband still wanted to curry favor with the guilty prince and scrambled to ran errands for him! What does it have to do with us now that the evidence of his wrongdoing has been found?”
Second Madam Bing flew into a rage and said with her face turning red, “You dare to say that you have nothing to do with those errands? That’s how you have got the two bitches whom you sleep with now, isn’t it? Huh! If anything bad happens to my husband, I’ll go the the Dali temple by myself to report you guys! I don’t care if I have to perish with you! No one in this family has a clean history!”
Minglan pinched her dress with her head lowered, thinking, ‘Although the Gu’s brothers are from the same family, but they have quite different status. Gu Tingyang and Gu Tingdi are all sons of the first wife, so they could attend the banquets in the prince’s mansion. Gu Tingbing is the son of the concubine, so the Fourth Prince actually looked down upon him. However, Gu Tingbing was too passionate at that time and has done a lot of secret errands for the Prince in order to show his loyalty.’
As a result, the men of the Fifth family who had always socialized with the Fourth Prince were brought to the Dali temple first. However, at last, the men of the Fourth family who only did things for the Fourth Prince secretly were the ones who got detained.
Second Madam Bing who was from a normal well-off family knew that if she lost her husband, she and her child would definitely live a difficult life with no one to rely on. Then she cried even harder while stamping on the ground and thumping on her chest, shouting, “Alas, I don’t want to live anymore.”
As she made a fuss, the hall was in chaos right away. Someone tried to persuade her, someone criticized her and someone held her up. The situation lasted for a long while.
“That’s enough!”
Old Madam Qin finally lost her temper and scolded in a louder voice, “I didn’t bring you here to make a stir! We are all families and everything can be discussed. Now, all of you, sit down!”
Gu Tingxuan whose father and brother had both been taken away was the only man left in the Fourth family. He said anxiously, “Eldest Aunt, you are right. We should all talk about this! Sister-in-law, please sit down for the moment!”
After a long while, the hall finally fell into silence. Fifth Old Master, face turning red in anger, said in a heavy voice, “Eldest Nephew, you are the one who called us over here today. What’s it for? Just tell us now, then we’ll go back! We didn’t come here to be bullied!”
His words sounded quite rude. Madam Shao looked at her husband who was thin and weak, feeling very indignant, and then glared at Fifth Old Master. Gu Tingyu calmed his breath with difficulty and finally spoke, “That’s right, I do have something to say.”
After saying that, he looked to Gu Tingye directly with his eyes filled with red blood streaks.
“Eldest Brother, please.” Gu Tingye turned around to Gu Tingyu and said that with a very reverent attitude.
Gu Tingyu who was a bag of bones stared at Gu Tingye straightly with his pale lips shivering, saying, “I only ask you one thing. Since you are so powerful, are you able to save all the members of the Gu’s family if you want to?”
Minglan sighed secretly, thinking, ‘Well-done! Finally someone asked a critical question! He and Gu Tingye are half-blooded after all, so he must not be a stupid person.’
Gu Tingye gazed at his eldest brother and said nothing. After a long while, Gu Tingyu chuckled, seeming a bit depressed. Then he still looked into Gu Tingye’s eyes and said, “You can. Maybe it is difficult, maybe you have to meet lots of people, use your social connections or even beg His Majesty... But you can, right?”
Gu Tingye raised his eyebrows and still remained silent.
Seeing that, Old Madam Qin and Fifth Old Master wanted to say something right away, but Gu Tingyu stopped them by waving his hand. Then he stared at Gu Tingye and continued, “But why should you ask help from your colleagues and His Majesty for your brothers and your uncles who have mistreated and bullied you and even kicked you out of our family?”
After he had said that, Fifth Old Master showed an awkward smile and said, “My nephew, what are you talking about? We are all families...”
Gu Tingyu interrupted him impatiently and gave an ironic laugh, saying, “Fifth Uncle, please have a clear mind! You think we can pretend those things never happened as long as we don’t mention them? Why did Tingye’s first wife quarrel with him after she was married for only three days? That’s because someone has spoken ill of Tingye. Why did the couple fight each other more and more frequently after that? Someone has backed her up!”
Some of the women lowered their heads with guilty looks in their eyes.
Gu Tingyu gave a wry smile to his uncle and brothers, saying, “After that, why Tingye couldn’t even stay in the capital? Why did he have to wander at the places far away from home and never come back for lots of years? Also, when my father passed away, who stopped Tingye from entering the mourning hall to worship my father?”
The look on Gu Tingye’s face remained the same, but his hands were gradually clenched into fists on the arm of the chair.
Fifth Old Master turned around and stopped talking, feeling very embarrassed. Gu Tingxuan showed an ashamed look on his face. Gu Tingdi looked at Gu Tingye anxiously. Gu Tingyang said loudly with his teeth gritted, “Don’t talk like that as if you were never involved in those things! It’s not like you haven’t done anything! You...”
“That’s right!” Gu Tingyu snorted, looking very scary with his prominent cheekbones on his skinny face, and said, “I am involved! I am truly involved! I never want to declare myself innocent!”’
Seeing that the atmosphere had got even tenser, Old Madam Qin said right away, “Alas... Tingyu, why did you say that? Even our tongues fight our teeth sometimes. We are families after all...”
“Sister-in-law, you are right.” Fourth Old Madam also tried to ease the tension, “Let bygones be bygones. Families will always be families.”
“Fourth Aunt, you really think all those things can be forgotten about by chatting and laughing?” Gu Tingyu said that while staring at Fifth Old Master with a sarcastic look in his eyes.
Fourth Old Madam felt guilty already and stopped talking right away.
Translator: Iris
Minglan disagreed with Second Madam Bing’s words. Since Gu Tingwei had been handling family affairs for his eldest brother, he must have socialized with lot of people outside. So, perhaps it were not the men of the Fifth family that had reported Gu Tingwei’s wrongdoing but the people he had made contact with.
Fifth Old Master was not as spirited as before and remained dejected the whole time. Hearing that, he only blew his sparse beard and couldn’t utter a single word. However, Fifth Old Madam scolded fiercely, “Don’t talk nonsense! How dare you talk to your seniors like this?!”
“My seniors? Huh, you guys only protected yourself during the crisis!” Second Madam Bing, eyes turning red in anger, cursed even more fiercely while crying, “My husband only ran a few errands for the guilty prince a long time ago. How could the others know which man of the Gu’s family has done those things? You guys must have been afraid of bringing troubles to yourselves and told the officials everything, you bloody cowards! Although my husband is the one who handled those affairs, you guys also attended the banquet in the guilty prince’s mansion!”
“You bitch! You are lying!” Gu Tingyang thumped on the table and finally retorted her.
Ever since he had come into the hall, he kept raising his head at the angle of 45 degrees. Now that he turned around, Minglan then saw that there were three obvious blood stains on one side of his face.
“The Fourth Prince... The guilty prince never cared about your husband at that time, but your husband still wanted to curry favor with the guilty prince and scrambled to ran errands for him! What does it have to do with us now that the evidence of his wrongdoing has been found?”
Second Madam Bing flew into a rage and said with her face turning red, “You dare to say that you have nothing to do with those errands? That’s how you have got the two bitches whom you sleep with now, isn’t it? Huh! If anything bad happens to my husband, I’ll go the the Dali temple by myself to report you guys! I don’t care if I have to perish with you! No one in this family has a clean history!”
Minglan pinched her dress with her head lowered, thinking, ‘Although the Gu’s brothers are from the same family, but they have quite different status. Gu Tingyang and Gu Tingdi are all sons of the first wife, so they could attend the banquets in the prince’s mansion. Gu Tingbing is the son of the concubine, so the Fourth Prince actually looked down upon him. However, Gu Tingbing was too passionate at that time and has done a lot of secret errands for the Prince in order to show his loyalty.’
As a result, the men of the Fifth family who had always socialized with the Fourth Prince were brought to the Dali temple first. However, at last, the men of the Fourth family who only did things for the Fourth Prince secretly were the ones who got detained.
Second Madam Bing who was from a normal well-off family knew that if she lost her husband, she and her child would definitely live a difficult life with no one to rely on. Then she cried even harder while stamping on the ground and thumping on her chest, shouting, “Alas, I don’t want to live anymore.”
As she made a fuss, the hall was in chaos right away. Someone tried to persuade her, someone criticized her and someone held her up. The situation lasted for a long while.
“That’s enough!”
Old Madam Qin finally lost her temper and scolded in a louder voice, “I didn’t bring you here to make a stir! We are all families and everything can be discussed. Now, all of you, sit down!”
Gu Tingxuan whose father and brother had both been taken away was the only man left in the Fourth family. He said anxiously, “Eldest Aunt, you are right. We should all talk about this! Sister-in-law, please sit down for the moment!”
After a long while, the hall finally fell into silence. Fifth Old Master, face turning red in anger, said in a heavy voice, “Eldest Nephew, you are the one who called us over here today. What’s it for? Just tell us now, then we’ll go back! We didn’t come here to be bullied!”
His words sounded quite rude. Madam Shao looked at her husband who was thin and weak, feeling very indignant, and then glared at Fifth Old Master. Gu Tingyu calmed his breath with difficulty and finally spoke, “That’s right, I do have something to say.”
After saying that, he looked to Gu Tingye directly with his eyes filled with red blood streaks.
“Eldest Brother, please.” Gu Tingye turned around to Gu Tingyu and said that with a very reverent attitude.
Gu Tingyu who was a bag of bones stared at Gu Tingye straightly with his pale lips shivering, saying, “I only ask you one thing. Since you are so powerful, are you able to save all the members of the Gu’s family if you want to?”
Minglan sighed secretly, thinking, ‘Well-done! Finally someone asked a critical question! He and Gu Tingye are half-blooded after all, so he must not be a stupid person.’
Gu Tingye gazed at his eldest brother and said nothing. After a long while, Gu Tingyu chuckled, seeming a bit depressed. Then he still looked into Gu Tingye’s eyes and said, “You can. Maybe it is difficult, maybe you have to meet lots of people, use your social connections or even beg His Majesty... But you can, right?”
Gu Tingye raised his eyebrows and still remained silent.
Seeing that, Old Madam Qin and Fifth Old Master wanted to say something right away, but Gu Tingyu stopped them by waving his hand. Then he stared at Gu Tingye and continued, “But why should you ask help from your colleagues and His Majesty for your brothers and your uncles who have mistreated and bullied you and even kicked you out of our family?”
After he had said that, Fifth Old Master showed an awkward smile and said, “My nephew, what are you talking about? We are all families...”
Gu Tingyu interrupted him impatiently and gave an ironic laugh, saying, “Fifth Uncle, please have a clear mind! You think we can pretend those things never happened as long as we don’t mention them? Why did Tingye’s first wife quarrel with him after she was married for only three days? That’s because someone has spoken ill of Tingye. Why did the couple fight each other more and more frequently after that? Someone has backed her up!”
Some of the women lowered their heads with guilty looks in their eyes.
Gu Tingyu gave a wry smile to his uncle and brothers, saying, “After that, why Tingye couldn’t even stay in the capital? Why did he have to wander at the places far away from home and never come back for lots of years? Also, when my father passed away, who stopped Tingye from entering the mourning hall to worship my father?”
The look on Gu Tingye’s face remained the same, but his hands were gradually clenched into fists on the arm of the chair.
Fifth Old Master turned around and stopped talking, feeling very embarrassed. Gu Tingxuan showed an ashamed look on his face. Gu Tingdi looked at Gu Tingye anxiously. Gu Tingyang said loudly with his teeth gritted, “Don’t talk like that as if you were never involved in those things! It’s not like you haven’t done anything! You...”
“That’s right!” Gu Tingyu snorted, looking very scary with his prominent cheekbones on his skinny face, and said, “I am involved! I am truly involved! I never want to declare myself innocent!”’
Seeing that the atmosphere had got even tenser, Old Madam Qin said right away, “Alas... Tingyu, why did you say that? Even our tongues fight our teeth sometimes. We are families after all...”
“Sister-in-law, you are right.” Fourth Old Madam also tried to ease the tension, “Let bygones be bygones. Families will always be families.”
“Fourth Aunt, you really think all those things can be forgotten about by chatting and laughing?” Gu Tingyu said that while staring at Fifth Old Master with a sarcastic look in his eyes.
Fourth Old Madam felt guilty already and stopped talking right away.
