Translator: Iris
Fifth Old Master wanted to say something, but finally closed his mouth helplessly. Gu Tingyu took a deep breath and said, “Fifth Uncle, my aunts, do you think Tingye is still who he used to be? You think you can force him to do things you have asked by threatening or coaxing him?” Gu Tingyu glanced at everyone in the hall, and at last fixed his eyes on Gu Tingye.
Gu Tingye unclenched his fist with a smile and held up the tea cup slowly in a graceful manner. After he took a sip of the tea, he still didn’t say anything but only put his hands on his knees and waited for what was about to happen.
Gu Tingyu gave a wry smile secretly, thinking, ‘How can you still keep your composure? You really are not that innocent young man anymore.’
Then, Gu Tingyu looked away and said to everyone in the hall, “If we want the person whom we have bullied to help us, we have to be straightforward! No one can muddle through with this. We should confess everything we’ve done to give Tingye an explanation!”
Minglan looked at Gu Tingyu with a confused look. According to the principle, the most important figure always appeared at the last moment. She supposed that Gu Tingyu wouldn’t just make a confession or cry bitterly. Although she didn’t know what that was, she believed that Gu Tingyu must have a trump card.
Gu Tingyu seemed to want to take out something from his sleeves with his thin and slender fingers. However, his wrist trembled too fiercely. Madam Shao tried her best to hold back her tears and helped him take out three envelopes on which the seals had already been opened. The white papers inside the envelopes could be seen vaguely.
Perhaps Gu Tingyu had expended too much energy on speaking all those words. Now he had to sit down in gasps and asked his wife to hand those letters to Gu Tingye. Madam Shao took a few steps forward and handed Gu Tingye the letters at once.
Seeing that, the elders in the hall were all panic-stricken. Fifth Old Madm cried out, “Those letters? Why haven’t you...” Then she knew that she shouldn’t have said that and closed her mouth right away.
Gu Tingye glanced at Fifth Old Madam slowly and then bowed to Madam Shao. After that, he took out the letters and started to read immediately. Minglan couldn’t see what was on the paper from the place where she sat, but she could see that the look on Gu Tingye’s face changed abruptly and his fingers also started to shiver lightly. After he finished reading a letter, he took out the other two letters in a hurry as if the contents of the letter really had shocked him.
Minglan was extremely curious and then turned around to look at Madam Xuan, finding the latter also looked quite confused.
Seeing that, Gu Tingyu said in a hoarse voice, “The three letters of which the contents are exactly the same were written by my father. He has sent the letters to Jin Ling as well as three cousins of him who live in his hometown. My father never told anyone about the letters. He hid it from all of us.”
After he paused to take a breath, he continued, “On the letters, my father wrote that when Bai shi, Tingye’s biological mother married into the Gu’s family, she has brought lots of dowry with her, including nine hundred and thirty mu (unit of area, equal to 0.0667 hectares) of fine paddy fields on the south, five stores in Yuhang District and fifty-three thousand ounces of silvers which were stored in the money shop. He specified that after he died, no matter whether the Gu’s family property would be divided or not, those silvers, fields and stores must be given to Gu Tingye. He also mentioned that he wanted his cousins to read his letters in front of everyone of our family in his mourning hall.”
Zhu shi and Madam Xuan who had never heard those words got stupefied instantly. However, Second Madam Bing who seemed to know about this stepped aside quietly. Minglan was also speechless in shock. Then she turned her head to look at Gu Tingye at once, only to find the latter sitting there silently as if he had gone frozen. Still, his fingers couldn’t help but shiver .
The hall was deadly quiet all of a sudden.
Fourth Old Madam and Old Madam Qin looked ashamed while Fifth Old Master turned his head away to avoid others’ eyes.
“Then, what happened afterwards?” After a long while, Gu Tingye asked that in a voice which was as loud as the echoes in the mountains.
Gu Tingyu snorted and said, “Before father passed away, his eldest cousin happened to broke his legs when going out. Since this uncle of ours couldn’t attend father’s funeral because his legs were not able to recover so soon, he then sent his two sons here. The two young men leaked something which were written on the letters once after they were drunk, and then we made them tell everything they knew. Only then did we know about the three letters. That night, we adopted the carrot-and-stick approach to get the three letters. So at last, we pretended that my father never wrote those letters.”
His voice sounded very calm, and no one knew whether he was sneering at others or himself.
Old Madam Qin started to sob, saying, “I told you guys we shouldn’t have done that at that time. After all, how can we act against Old Master’s dying wish? You guys never listened to me... Alas...”
Fifth Old Madam glowered at Old Madam Qin while Fourth Old Madam sighed gently.
Gu Tingye lowered his head in a trance while staring at the carved shelves. Under the layers of carving patterns and jade decorations were a row of small milk-white marble beasts which looked very stately. It was almost dusk, and the dim sunlight filtered into the hall through the thin bamboo curtains. All the tables, chairs and shelves were enveloped in golden light.
Lots of stone beasts were distributed in nearly all the rooms and halls in Marquis Ningyuan’s mansion. Gu Tingye remembered when he was four or five years old, he wanted to go outside every day. His father scolded him in anger several times but still couldn’t get him to behave. At last, Old Master Gu had to coax him, “As long as you can tell me how many stone beasts there are in the mansion, you can play outside.” Then, little Gu Tingye really squatted down and started to count.
Day by day, he still couldn’t count all the stone beasts. However, he still refused to give up and was determined to finish the task. His uncles and aunts all laughed at him for being stupid and stubborn. However, Old Madam Gu only stared at Gu Tingye and sighed slightly without saying anything while stroking Gu Tingye’s head gently. As the Old Master’s callused hands rubbed Gu Tingye’s skin, the latter dodged the touch right away and slipped.
Gu Tingye’s memory suddenly turned vague. He only remembered that the look in his father’s eyes seemed to be happy but also a bit sad.
“This...” Madam Shao never knew about this, and the only thing she cared about now was her husband’s condition. Now Gu Tingyu was giving a smile which looked even uglier than crying and kept coughing. Then Madam Shao tried to ease the tension, “Second Brother, don’t get us wrong. Perhaps, the elders in our family were afraid that you would squander the money and only wanted to keep the property for you for a while...”
Gu Tingye suddenly came back to his sense from his memory and the look in his eyes was chilling. Then Madam Shao couldn’t continue anymore.
“Then I’ll have to thank my uncles, my aunts and everyone else here.”
He laughed loudly and said that in an arrogant tone. Even Madam Shao could sense how ironic his words were.
All the people in the hall were in panic. The women looked at each other at a loss. Fifth Old Master didn’t say anything with a sullen look. Gu Tingyang glared at Gu Tingyu in anger, thinking, ‘You sick loser, why did you tell him everything? Do you think the situation is not bad enough?’
Now Gu Tingye wouldn’t help them, and he might even help make their penalties even harsher.
Minglan who also felt extremely angry stopped retaining a friendly attitude and only sat there with a long face, thinking, ‘These sons of bitches. Oh, no, if they are sons of bitches, my husband, their brother, would be too.”
“Eldest brother, have you finished?” Gu Tingye, simmering with rage, didn’t even want to look at these people anymore. He ignored Second Madam Bing and Old Madam Qin and stood up right away, saying with no expression on his face, “If you finish, I’ll leave then.”
“Wait.”
Gu Tingyu said loudly in gasps with his face turning even paler. Seeing him struggling to stand up, his wife came over to help him at once.
“I haven’t finished. Now, I need you to come to a place with me. After you go to that place, you can do whatever you like.”
Translator: Iris
Fifth Old Master wanted to say something, but finally closed his mouth helplessly. Gu Tingyu took a deep breath and said, “Fifth Uncle, my aunts, do you think Tingye is still who he used to be? You think you can force him to do things you have asked by threatening or coaxing him?” Gu Tingyu glanced at everyone in the hall, and at last fixed his eyes on Gu Tingye.
Gu Tingye unclenched his fist with a smile and held up the tea cup slowly in a graceful manner. After he took a sip of the tea, he still didn’t say anything but only put his hands on his knees and waited for what was about to happen.
Gu Tingyu gave a wry smile secretly, thinking, ‘How can you still keep your composure? You really are not that innocent young man anymore.’
Then, Gu Tingyu looked away and said to everyone in the hall, “If we want the person whom we have bullied to help us, we have to be straightforward! No one can muddle through with this. We should confess everything we’ve done to give Tingye an explanation!”
Minglan looked at Gu Tingyu with a confused look. According to the principle, the most important figure always appeared at the last moment. She supposed that Gu Tingyu wouldn’t just make a confession or cry bitterly. Although she didn’t know what that was, she believed that Gu Tingyu must have a trump card.
Gu Tingyu seemed to want to take out something from his sleeves with his thin and slender fingers. However, his wrist trembled too fiercely. Madam Shao tried her best to hold back her tears and helped him take out three envelopes on which the seals had already been opened. The white papers inside the envelopes could be seen vaguely.
Perhaps Gu Tingyu had expended too much energy on speaking all those words. Now he had to sit down in gasps and asked his wife to hand those letters to Gu Tingye. Madam Shao took a few steps forward and handed Gu Tingye the letters at once.
Seeing that, the elders in the hall were all panic-stricken. Fifth Old Madm cried out, “Those letters? Why haven’t you...” Then she knew that she shouldn’t have said that and closed her mouth right away.
Gu Tingye glanced at Fifth Old Madam slowly and then bowed to Madam Shao. After that, he took out the letters and started to read immediately. Minglan couldn’t see what was on the paper from the place where she sat, but she could see that the look on Gu Tingye’s face changed abruptly and his fingers also started to shiver lightly. After he finished reading a letter, he took out the other two letters in a hurry as if the contents of the letter really had shocked him.
Minglan was extremely curious and then turned around to look at Madam Xuan, finding the latter also looked quite confused.
Seeing that, Gu Tingyu said in a hoarse voice, “The three letters of which the contents are exactly the same were written by my father. He has sent the letters to Jin Ling as well as three cousins of him who live in his hometown. My father never told anyone about the letters. He hid it from all of us.”
After he paused to take a breath, he continued, “On the letters, my father wrote that when Bai shi, Tingye’s biological mother married into the Gu’s family, she has brought lots of dowry with her, including nine hundred and thirty mu (unit of area, equal to 0.0667 hectares) of fine paddy fields on the south, five stores in Yuhang District and fifty-three thousand ounces of silvers which were stored in the money shop. He specified that after he died, no matter whether the Gu’s family property would be divided or not, those silvers, fields and stores must be given to Gu Tingye. He also mentioned that he wanted his cousins to read his letters in front of everyone of our family in his mourning hall.”
Zhu shi and Madam Xuan who had never heard those words got stupefied instantly. However, Second Madam Bing who seemed to know about this stepped aside quietly. Minglan was also speechless in shock. Then she turned her head to look at Gu Tingye at once, only to find the latter sitting there silently as if he had gone frozen. Still, his fingers couldn’t help but shiver .
The hall was deadly quiet all of a sudden.
Fourth Old Madam and Old Madam Qin looked ashamed while Fifth Old Master turned his head away to avoid others’ eyes.
“Then, what happened afterwards?” After a long while, Gu Tingye asked that in a voice which was as loud as the echoes in the mountains.
Gu Tingyu snorted and said, “Before father passed away, his eldest cousin happened to broke his legs when going out. Since this uncle of ours couldn’t attend father’s funeral because his legs were not able to recover so soon, he then sent his two sons here. The two young men leaked something which were written on the letters once after they were drunk, and then we made them tell everything they knew. Only then did we know about the three letters. That night, we adopted the carrot-and-stick approach to get the three letters. So at last, we pretended that my father never wrote those letters.”
His voice sounded very calm, and no one knew whether he was sneering at others or himself.
Old Madam Qin started to sob, saying, “I told you guys we shouldn’t have done that at that time. After all, how can we act against Old Master’s dying wish? You guys never listened to me... Alas...”
Fifth Old Madam glowered at Old Madam Qin while Fourth Old Madam sighed gently.
Gu Tingye lowered his head in a trance while staring at the carved shelves. Under the layers of carving patterns and jade decorations were a row of small milk-white marble beasts which looked very stately. It was almost dusk, and the dim sunlight filtered into the hall through the thin bamboo curtains. All the tables, chairs and shelves were enveloped in golden light.
Lots of stone beasts were distributed in nearly all the rooms and halls in Marquis Ningyuan’s mansion. Gu Tingye remembered when he was four or five years old, he wanted to go outside every day. His father scolded him in anger several times but still couldn’t get him to behave. At last, Old Master Gu had to coax him, “As long as you can tell me how many stone beasts there are in the mansion, you can play outside.” Then, little Gu Tingye really squatted down and started to count.
Day by day, he still couldn’t count all the stone beasts. However, he still refused to give up and was determined to finish the task. His uncles and aunts all laughed at him for being stupid and stubborn. However, Old Madam Gu only stared at Gu Tingye and sighed slightly without saying anything while stroking Gu Tingye’s head gently. As the Old Master’s callused hands rubbed Gu Tingye’s skin, the latter dodged the touch right away and slipped.
Gu Tingye’s memory suddenly turned vague. He only remembered that the look in his father’s eyes seemed to be happy but also a bit sad.
“This...” Madam Shao never knew about this, and the only thing she cared about now was her husband’s condition. Now Gu Tingyu was giving a smile which looked even uglier than crying and kept coughing. Then Madam Shao tried to ease the tension, “Second Brother, don’t get us wrong. Perhaps, the elders in our family were afraid that you would squander the money and only wanted to keep the property for you for a while...”
Gu Tingye suddenly came back to his sense from his memory and the look in his eyes was chilling. Then Madam Shao couldn’t continue anymore.
“Then I’ll have to thank my uncles, my aunts and everyone else here.”
He laughed loudly and said that in an arrogant tone. Even Madam Shao could sense how ironic his words were.
All the people in the hall were in panic. The women looked at each other at a loss. Fifth Old Master didn’t say anything with a sullen look. Gu Tingyang glared at Gu Tingyu in anger, thinking, ‘You sick loser, why did you tell him everything? Do you think the situation is not bad enough?’
Now Gu Tingye wouldn’t help them, and he might even help make their penalties even harsher.
Minglan who also felt extremely angry stopped retaining a friendly attitude and only sat there with a long face, thinking, ‘These sons of bitches. Oh, no, if they are sons of bitches, my husband, their brother, would be too.”
“Eldest brother, have you finished?” Gu Tingye, simmering with rage, didn’t even want to look at these people anymore. He ignored Second Madam Bing and Old Madam Qin and stood up right away, saying with no expression on his face, “If you finish, I’ll leave then.”
“Wait.”
Gu Tingyu said loudly in gasps with his face turning even paler. Seeing him struggling to stand up, his wife came over to help him at once.
“I haven’t finished. Now, I need you to come to a place with me. After you go to that place, you can do whatever you like.”
