The husband I snatched halfway through his life is strange.

Chapter 321 In this game of chess, I am also a piece.

The wind rustled, and the faint sound of orchestral music could be heard.

Music was also part of the curriculum at Huaqing Academy, one of the Six Arts of a Gentleman.

Yu Tingwan's eyes trembled slightly, but she remained silent.

There might have been some impact, but not many. More than that, it felt like listening to someone else's story, and a sense of astonishment.

There were many people who were shocked and wanted the crown prince dead.

Perhaps if Gu Fuju had arrived in time when the Yu family was in trouble, said these words to her, and brought her back to the Gu family, things would have been different.

But she's eighteen now.

He has endured all the suffering he was meant to suffer.

When she was helpless, the Gu family was not there.

She cried and huddled in a corner, but the Gu family members were not there.

She was tortured by the Hu family to the point of being neither human nor ghost, living in constant fear and having to be subservient and obsequious, never to regain the bright and lively spirit of her childhood.

The only thing that has sustained her over the years is the sweet childhood memories that her parents gave her.

Yu Tingwan still loves all things sparkly. Wei Zhao gives her various gems and gold beads to hang on her waist every day. When she goes out, she is no longer the arrogant and smug girl she used to be.

She could no longer enjoy the carefree and sorrowless state of mind she had when her parents were still alive.

To be precise, Wei Zhao treated her like a precious flower, just like her parents had. She simply accepted the kindness men showed her.

Yu Tingwan looked calmly at the composed Gu Fuju across from her.

Rising from humble beginnings to the position of Grand Tutor is no ordinary feat, especially considering the precarious circumstances the He family faced back then.

Gu Fuju: "But I haven't done enough."

“Back then, your mother couldn’t sleep at night, and after waking up, she would cry and search for you all day long.”

Jiashan gave birth prematurely, and the baby's position was not stable. The doctors who were with her were separated from her by the abortions, making the delivery extremely difficult.

There was no hot water, no clean bedding, and the conditions were really bad. In order to give birth to the child, Jiashan had already damaged her health. She was taking medicine all day and could hardly get out of bed.

Gu Fuju still remembers it to this day.

That proud person, who had never cried in front of him, would wait for him to bring the child home every day with red, swollen eyes.

But he always returned empty-handed.

"It's all my fault. I didn't take good care of her. She was so well-behaved; she never cried when she was in my belly. I shouldn't have gone out, and I shouldn't have come looking for you."

"I'm not a good mother."

"Fu Ju, I've lost our child."

"I heard from the nanny that she's so tiny, and because she's premature, her breathing is very weak. What can we do? It's so chaotic outside, what will happen to her?"

Until one day, she cried and made a scene, insisting on going down to the ground to look for it.

She had just said she was looking for her child, but as soon as she got out of bed, she froze in one spot, staring at her flat belly.

"Fu Ju, I'm seven months pregnant, why isn't my baby showing yet?"

Gu Fuju said in a hoarse voice, "Your mother's mind has become confused, sometimes lucid and sometimes muddled."

On one side is his lost daughter, and on the other is his wife who is going crazy.

Gu Fuju had forgotten how helpless he felt at the time, and how much he regretted not colluding with those people when he was an imperial censor.

Why bother with the suffering people who have nowhere to seek justice?

Why insist on being self-righteous and trying to be an honest official?
"But the Duke of Zhou still wouldn't let me go."

“Your grandmother was far away at the old house in Dongchu. She learned about your situation through him and then fell seriously ill.”

Yu Tingwan said calmly, "You are overwhelmed and exhausted. In order to appease your mother and your wife, you picked up a child outside."

"That's part of the reason."

Gu Fuju: "Awu was indeed brought back from outside. During the famine, there were too many people outside exchanging children to eat." On his way to find Yu Tingwan, Gu Fuju had seen too many famine victims who ate human flesh. A large pot of water was boiled, and a child was killed with a hoe and thrown into it to be boiled.

"Perhaps her family still had some conscience; they didn't eat her but were unwilling to raise her, so they just threw her into the bushes and left her alone."

"I heard the child crying and thought it was you."

Not really.

The baby is quite large and was not premature.

"But I still brought her back."

“Your mother was in very bad condition at that time, so she wouldn’t recognize you. With A-Wu, although she often cried and fussed, she was willing to cooperate and take her medicine, and her condition improved.”

He also wrote a letter and had it sent to Dongchu to comfort his mother.

Gu Fuju's eyes held a deep emotion that Yu Tingwan couldn't decipher.

“I have never publicly stated that she is an adopted daughter, including your mother.”

Only he knew that the child had not yet been found.

Even the servants around Jia Shan were treated with extra caution by Gu Fuju. He used the excuse that Jia Shan needed to rest and that her child was premature and she was not in good health to prevent them from serving her closely.

From that time on, he played a game of chess that lasted for more than ten years.

He wanted to make Duke Zhou feel that his plan had failed.

“After returning to Shangjing from Dingdu to take up my post, I would secretly travel back and forth to Zexian every year without your mother’s knowledge. However, too many people in Shangjing were watching my movements, and I was afraid that others would discover my secret and interfere. Since I was far away in Shangjing, my influence was limited, and your safety became increasingly uncertain. Therefore, I kept everything a secret.”

"Some people mentioned the Gu family, only knowing that the Gu family's daughter had been lost but was found."

He paused, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

"But I didn't know that I was also a piece in this game of chess."

“Back then, your maternal grandfather sent me five secret guards to accompany me to the capital, but one of them had already been bribed by the Duke of Zhou.”

"Because your maternal grandfather had done him a favor, he accepted the Duke of Zhou's order to get rid of you, but he couldn't bear to do it himself, so he threw you into the mountains and forests, tore off a piece of your clothes, and made it look like you were dead."

"That mountain forest happened to be a place that Yu Jingcheng always passed through on his escort missions. Before he had gone far, Yu Jingcheng followed the sound of crying and found a dirty baby under a tree."

"He didn't intend to kill you, and let you be taken away."

"But I didn't know that at the time."

Afterwards, he continued searching for you with his household servants. But no one suspected he harbored malicious intent.

Even though he did bad things and looked unnatural, not many people paid attention to him.

Even if they noticed something was wrong with him, they wouldn't think much of it.

At that time, how many people had the right expression?
Chaos reigned outside, and order was lost. In the course of this ordeal, many of the servants who had gone out to search for help also met with misfortune and never returned.

"When I carried A-Wu back, he was unaware that there was a trap involved."

I thought Gu Fuju had really found the person and brought him back.

But as time went on, how could the secret guards not have some shady dealings? However, news of the Gu family finding their daughter and their failure to complete their mission had already reached the ears of the Duke of Zhou. With the truth and falsehoods mixed up, the secret guards were also confused. Fearing that Gu Fuju would see through their scheme, they simply did not investigate further.

Nine years passed just like that.

Duke Zhou realized there was more to the story than met the eye, and was furious. But he was no longer able to take action against Gu Fuju, who had risen through the ranks and become a threat.

He even made friendly gestures when they met.

The only option is to take action against the Yu family.

"That fire was caused by the man sent by the Duke of Zhou."

At this point, Gu Fuju's tone turned icy.

If it weren't for Yu Jingcheng, Yu Tingwan would have died long ago.

But the Yu couple perished in the fire.