Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 29 Qilin'er

Wang Qinghe's carriage was very luxurious, with a spacious compartment, soft seats, and a light fragrance.

There was actually a beautiful maid kneeling among them, holding a teapot, frequently adding tea and pouring water, only pouring a little at a time to avoid spilling the water.

"You and I are one family."

Wang Qinghe took the teacups with both hands, handed one to Gu Jingnian, and clinked the cups with him gently, his movements smooth and flowing.

Without waiting for Gu Jingnian to express his opinion, he went straight to the point.

"The case can basically be closed. The imperial physician Liu Heng, the commander of the imperial left army Cui Hao, and perhaps the Minister of Works Chao Juzhi are all important enough to bear the crime of treason. But anyone with a discerning eye knows that Prime Minister Zheng Kuangfu cannot be unaware of it. Not to mention that Huang Juzhi is his disciple. How could so much labor and money be transported to Wanchun Palace without the approval of the East Pavilion? In the end, something unexpected happened. Zheng Kuangfu turned around and pushed the crime onto General Gu, trying to seize military power. We will never agree to it."

"you?"

"You are the pro-war faction, right? You just need to know that we want to protect General Gu."

Gu Jingnian was not interested in these and said, "Thank you very much, but you don't need to tell me about Wang Ji's affairs. The Gu family..."

"The Gu family has too many burdens."

Wang Qinghe interrupted Gu Jingnian before he finished speaking and added, "We come forward to help, spend favors and energy, not for it to be in vain. Apart from other things, the Zong family is even thinking of marrying Gu Jiye to the Marquis' Mansion."

This is ridiculous.

When Wang Qinghe received the news, he didn't believe that anyone would make such a stupid move. He was quite curious about Gu Jingnian's reaction, but after observing for a while, he didn't get any feedback from his expression.

He had no choice but to continue, "On the contrary, you have done an excellent job in Wanchun Palace. If the Gu family can save themselves, and we give them a push, we will have a chance to defeat Zheng Kuangfu."

"so?"

"This is your chance." Wang Qinghe said, "With your background, there aren't many opportunities like this to stand out. You should seize it."

"Oh."

Gu Jingnian was not interested in any of this.

But he did not say much to Wang Qinghe, neither refusing nor explaining, because the Gu family would let Wang Qinghe understand how wishful this idea was.

The carriage became quiet, with only the sound of the wheels. Gu Jingnian closed his eyes, while Wang Qinghe took out a book and started reading.

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Above the inner hall of the Gu family hangs a plaque with the words "The Door Lintel is Bright and Colorful". It was written by the late Empress Dowager herself when Gu Beiming remarried to Zong.

The person sitting under the plaque at this time was Mrs. Zong, named Zong Huan.

Her father, Zong Yi, was a great scholar of the time. He served as a tutor and a historian, and worked in the Zhaowen Academy. He retired as the Minister of Rites and was appointed as the Prince's Tutor. His family was also a large clan, with relatives, old friends, and students all over the world.

Gu Beiming came from a poor family and was a widower, so he was not originally worthy of Zong Huan. However, Zong Huan was notoriously bad-tempered in Beijing at the time, and as he grew older his standards had risen, so in the end he chose him.

Zong Huan believed that the Gu family's later prominence was due not only to Gu Beiming's outstanding military achievements, but also to the help of her mother's family.

Including this time when the Gu family encountered a crisis, Zong Huan first asked the clansmen who were officials in the court to help speak for them. Yesterday, she, who had never believed in ghosts and gods, personally went to the Chanjue Mountain outside the city to burn incense and offer sacrifices. She traveled all the way and only came back today.

As soon as she sat down in the inner hall, the housekeeper came forward and said, "Madam, you have worked hard. With such sincerity, you will surely survive the disaster safely."

"It's said that Chanjue Temple is efficacious, so I'm sure this trip won't be in vain." Zong Huan took a sip of tea, and the first thing he asked was, "Is my son back?"

She gave birth to four children for Gu Beiming, but she only loved her son, Gu Jiye.

"The young master is about to go to the outer hall to entertain guests..."

"mother!"

As they were talking, Gu Jiye had arrived.

"I was about to go meet a guest, but when I heard that you were back, I came to greet you first."

"My son is filial. Did you go to the Marquis' Mansion yesterday?" Zong Huan asked, "How is the matter that mother asked you to do?"

If one wants to marry into the Marquis's family, it is impossible to just let the younger generation come to propose marriage directly. Zong Huan had asked a respected elder to leak the information in advance, and sent Gu Jiye to the Marquis's family to apologize, just to let Marquis Wu Ding see with her own eyes how outstanding her son's character is.

Unexpectedly, Gu Jiye showed a bit of embarrassment on his face, and said: "I guess Marquis Wu Ding is still angry and didn't treat the child well."

The fact that he could say this clearly showed that Shen Jichi's attitude was extremely bad.

Zong Huan was very surprised and said, "It's because I didn't think it through. I think it's because the Gu family is in trouble now, and the illegitimate child was too rude before."

"However." Gu Jiye changed the subject and said, "Miss Shen must be interested in the child."

"is it?"

"When I left the Marquis's Mansion, a maid came to ask me if I was here to propose marriage. I asked around and found out that she was Miss Shen's maid."

"I must have secretly seen you and was satisfied with your appearance." Zong Huan turned his worry into joy and asked with a smile, "How did you answer?"

"The child denied it of course, and replied that he thought the Gu family had lost the gentlemanly demeanor and felt truly ashamed of the Marquis' Mansion."

"Not bad, very decent." Zong Huan said, "You only need to do this, and leave the rest to me."

At this moment, a servant came hurriedly.

"Madam, the guest in the hall couldn't wait any longer and left, leaving a message. It's good news, 'The Gu family is lucky to have Qilin'er running around for his father, and he is now safe.' He also said that his family will investigate the case later and he will come with the Eleventh Young Master to congratulate." "Really?!" Zong Huan couldn't help but be surprised.

"He was sent by Wang Jishi from the Kaiping Division."

Zong Huan immediately turned to Gu Jiye and asked, "Is it the friend you approached to ask for help?"

"Yes." Gu Jiye said, "Wang Qinghe is a descendant of the Wang family of Haichuan. His ancestors have been high-ranking officials for three generations. He is a good friend of mine who I met at the literary conference. He holds a high position in the Kaiping Division. Last time, I went to ask for mercy, and he promised me that he would definitely protect my father."

"Good good."

Zong Huan was deeply moved. He patted his chest with one hand and stroked Gu Jiye's head with the other, sighing.

"My son Qilin has grown up. Your brothers fought in the battlefield and died on horseback. Unfortunately, martial arts alone are not enough to support such a huge family business. You are both wise and brave, and you have lived up to the expectations of your father and mother!"

"Mom, don't cry. This is what a child should do."

Seeing the mother and son like this, the servant outside the door also wiped his tears, but in his heart he was thinking, was the Qilin'er that the visitor just mentioned the Tenth Young Master or the Eleventh Young Master? He must have heard it wrong, there was no way he could be the Eleventh Young Master, where could he run to.

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The carriage stopped at the slope.

Wang Qinghe heard someone outside the carriage curtain calling out "Investigation" and lifted the curtain to ask, "Why are you reporting now?"

"The Gu family is really strange. At this critical moment, they said they had something urgent to tell me, but they didn't come to see me. They just sent a servant to send me away. I waited for half an hour and had to leave a message. I guess they think I'm just a low-ranking errand boy, and they don't despise the investigation."

"understood."

Wang Qinghe looked at Gu Jingnian and said, "I have handed in a visiting card, but if the Gu family refuses to receive me, I will have no choice but to take out the Kaipingsi token."

Since this matter did not involve Gu Caiwei, Gu Jingnian didn't care.

As they were talking, a servant of the Gu family came hurriedly, apologized in front of Wang Qinghe's carriage, and invited him to enter through the main gate and treated him as a distinguished guest.

Zong Huan has been the housekeeper for many years and has always been courteous and considerate. Although he occasionally makes mistakes, he quickly makes up for them.

Wang Qinghe was a respectable man and considered himself a junior. He did not go through the front door, but got off the carriage and entered through the side door.

Gu Jiye walked out quickly and said with a smile, "Brother Wang, I am sorry for not coming to meet you from afar. I will never forget your kindness and friendship."

Wang Qinghe was quite reserved. He nodded with a smile, walked into the hall and sat down. Turning around, he saw that no one in the Gu family paid any attention to Gu Jingnian, and let him walk towards the inverted house on the west side of the front yard.

"Where is Master Gu Shiyi going?"

Gu Jiye found this address a little funny and said, "Brother Wang and I are not strangers, so we should not be too cautious when talking. You know that in order to get him to marry into the Marquis's Mansion, we told the public that he was a bastard, but in fact he was an illegitimate child. How could he know the etiquette?"

As soon as Wang Qinghe heard it, he realized that the words he sent to convey did not reach Gu Jiye's ears. He thought that his arrogance and prejudice were deeply rooted.

As an outsider, he could not interfere in the affairs of the Gu family, but he still had a modest smile on his face and said, "General Gu was able to clear his name this time, all thanks to the efforts of Master Gu Shiyi. I dare not take credit for it."

Gu Jiye was stunned and didn't believe it at all. He asked, "What can he do?"

Wang Qinghe had originally sent someone to explain these matters, but no one in the Gu family listened, and he was impatient to explain in detail, so he called that person over again.

"Explain this to Master Gu Shi."

"Yes."

The man was already dissatisfied with Gu Jiye's neglect, and he even deliberately praised Gu Jingnian when he recounted what happened.

Gu Jiye used to be very graceful, but this time his face turned pale, his emotions were completely revealed. After hearing this, he still did not ask Gu Jingnian to come, but just said: "It's all the credit of my brother and my brother-in-law, what does that bastard have to do with it?"

When Wang Qinghe heard the vulgar word "bastard", he didn't want to say anything more and stood up to say goodbye.

He had originally wanted to see a lively scene where an illegitimate child was proud of himself in order to satisfy the regret in his heart, but this time he was unable to do so.

But it doesn’t matter. With a son like Gu Jiye in the Gu family, there will definitely be a lot of fun to watch in the future.

Over there, Gu Jiye returned to the inner hall.

Zong Huan was still instructing the servants to prepare wine and food to entertain Wang Qinghe. She was surprised to see her son looking unhappy.

"Why did you come back so soon? Where is Wang Jishi?"

"He still has official business. It turns out that he and his brother-in-law caught the man behind the scenes in Wanchun Palace and proved my father's innocence..."

Gu Jiye narrated what happened according to his understanding, and naturally ignored Gu Jingnian's role in it.

Zong Huan was still relieved after hearing this, and said, "After all, it was you who asked Wang Ji for help that led to this result. Why shouldn't you be happy?"

"That bastard is following his brother-in-law to make merit!"

Gu Jiye blurted out without caring that there were servants present.

After cursing, he still wasn't satisfied, so he continued to complain to his mother.

"He has been a coward since he was young. How capable is he? After thinking about it, I can only think of one possibility. He must have had an affair with the girl surnamed Pei and let her take him to the limelight. Otherwise, why would he take the initiative to go to the Marquis' Mansion to cancel the engagement?"

The speaker may not have meant it, but the listener took it seriously. One of the servants paused for a moment and wrote down the testimony of Master Gu Shi.

(End of this chapter)