I have suffered enough in my previous life, my cousin will never marry me

Chapter 180 Gu An in Despair

With a cold gaze sweeping over the surrounding servants, Gu Tingchen pointed at his stepmother's corpse and ordered sternly, "Move this wretched woman's body to the cellar. She must not be buried or given a funeral."

Although some of the servants sympathized with the Duchess, they were all terrified at this point and dared only to follow orders.

After watching his stepmother's body being carried away with cold eyes, Gu Tingchen leisurely returned to his courtyard to burn incense, bathe, and change into clean clothes before going to Cuiweitang.

Looking at the flickering candlelight inside, he slowly walked in.

Upon seeing their master arrive, Caiju and Qiuli, who were guarding the door, knelt down, choking back tears, and pleaded sadly, "Your Highness, we beg you not to treat Miss Biao so cruelly."

Enraged, Gu Tingchen slapped Caiju hard across the face: "Even you think I'm torturing her?"

Caiju and Qiuli were terrified and quickly lowered their heads, not daring to look up at him again.

"Never mind, one day you will understand my good intentions, and you will know that I care about your cousin the most in this world."

Too lazy to punish the two maids any further, Gu Tingchen gathered his thoughts and quickly went into the inner room.

Seeing Chunhong and Xingtao sneaking around as if trying to unlock the shackles on their cousin's wrists, Gu Tingchen flew into a rage: "What are you two lowly maids doing?"

Chunhong and Xingtao turned pale with fright and hurriedly stepped in front of Ye Wanshu.

"Young Master, no, Your Highness Prince Dao'an, the young lady is in great inconvenience being shackled. Please, Your Highness, remove the shackles from her," Chunhong pleaded, forcing herself to speak.

"What, you want to help your girls escape?" Gu Tingchen stared at the two girls with a look full of suspicion.

Chunhong and Xingtao shook their heads hurriedly, looking flustered.

"Get out," Gu Tingchen sneered.

Chunhong and Xingtao looked at Ye Wanshu, at a loss.

Ye Wanshu shook her head slightly, signaling the two girls not to provoke this madman anymore.

Chunhong and Xingtao bowed tremblingly and quickly retreated.

Gu Tingchen slowly walked up behind Ye Wanshu, bent down and hugged her tightly from behind.

"Wanwan, your cousin wishes you could always be as obedient and well-behaved as you are now," Gu Tingchen said softly.

Ye Wanshu sat blankly in the chair, her face expressionless, completely ignoring him.

"Wanwan hasn't had dinner yet, has she? Cousin, I'll have someone bring the meal over right away." Gu Tingchen said to himself, then instructed Caiju and Qiuli to prepare dinner.

Before long, the maids had set out the dishes, and Gu Tingchen helped her to sit down at the table and personally fed her the food.

Ye Wanshu sat stiffly in the chair like a wooden doll, expressionless, showing no interest in eating.

This infuriated Gu Tingchen, and he patiently advised, "Even if not for yourself, you should think more about your mother, Qingmian, and Tingji. The three of them have always been the ones who care about you the most."

Thinking about the scene when she sent Qingmian and Tingji away from her aunt's courtyard, Ye Wanshu couldn't help but feel worried.

My cousins ​​have already left the city, so there shouldn't be any more problems. It's just that my aunt is so sensitive. If I don't go back to serve her medicine, she might guess that something has happened to me, and she'll be worried sick again.

Thinking of this, Ye Wanshu finally spoke: "How is Aunt's illness?"

Gu Tingchen's gaze lingered for a moment, then a faint smile appeared on his face: "Wanwan, don't worry about your mother. I've already arranged for someone to take good care of her. As long as you behave well, I will let you see your mother after we get married."

After a moment's thought, Ye Wanshu concluded that Gu Tingchen, if he wanted to force her to stay in the Duke's mansion, would certainly not harm her aunt.

Besides, his aunt was his mother, and she had always treated him and his brothers well. Even if this bastard was insane, he wouldn't go so far as to kill his mother.

Instead, she was worried about the situation outside the Duke's mansion.

The northern cavalry launched a massive southward offensive. Empress Dowager Gu clearly lacked the resolve to fight to the end, but her constant show of weakness and attempts at peace talks could not deter the northern invaders' wolfish ambitions.

In her past life, after Xie Zhan's defeat, she lost countless cities and territories. She had seen many displaced refugees in Lin'an City, and she could empathize with the pain of losing loved ones.

Gu Tingchen, that scoundrel, has the Empress Dowager under house arrest and probably has no intention of going to war. His only hope now is to help the Emperor restore order to the court as soon as possible, so that he can have the resolve to fight the Northern invaders to the bitter end. Looking at Gu Tingchen with a cold gaze, Ye Wanshu said calmly, "Gu Tingchen, you defied the Empress Dowager to stop the marriage alliance, but have you considered how to resolve the crisis in the north? Even if Princess Qi Ning sends her daughter to Lin'an, can Zhao Yingying, with her personality, really facilitate peace talks between the two countries?"

Her sudden mention of this matter greatly displeased Gu Tingchen: "Is Wanwan worried about me dealing with Fu Mingchi, or is she truly worried about the safety of the Northern Border?"

He stood up angrily and said coldly, "These things are not your concern. I have my own solutions. As for Fu Mingchi and Ji Yunze, I will tear them to pieces."

After uttering these harsh words, he walked out of Cuiweitang in great annoyance.

Watching Gu Tingchen leave, Ye Wanshu secretly clenched her fist.

"Miss, are you really willing to marry Prince Dao'an?" Xingtao asked with a melancholy expression. "His Highness has sent many secret guards to surround our Cuiweitang. I wonder if Master knows about your current situation, Miss."

Ye Wanshu closed her eyes and sighed softly, "Father will not let us down."

Gu Tingchen has placed the Empress Dowager and the Emperor under house arrest. Sooner or later, his father will realize that something is wrong, and he will definitely try to incite Prince Qi to rebel.

After having the two maids help her with a quick wash, she had no choice but to force herself to go back to bed and rest.

As soon as Gu Tingchen left Cuiweitang, he was summoned to the study by Gu An's trusted confidant.

In the dim light, Gu An frowned and asked in a deep voice, "Are you really going to be so heartless? No matter what, she was still your mother. She loved you and took care of you. Now that she's dead, you won't even let her rest in peace?"

Gu Tingchen said coldly, "If Father summoned his son here because of this matter, then we father and son have nothing to say to each other."

Seeing him turn to leave, Gu An hurriedly called out to him, "Aren't you afraid that Wanwan, Qingmian, and Tingji will resent you for the rest of their lives for doing this?"

“This is the price they should pay for betraying me,” Gu Tingchen said dismissively. “At this critical juncture, Lin’an City cannot withstand any more storms. Father has already made a mistake in front of Aunt, and I don’t want Father to make the same mistake again.”

Gu An flew into a rage and said, "Fine, even if you don't care about your own mother, what about the Northern Border? Do you want to just stand by and watch the Northern invaders' iron cavalry trample Lin'an City?"

“My son has his own plan,” Gu Tingchen said, summoning a trusted aide and immediately ordering, “You shall immediately take men to select ten thousand women in the city to accompany the delegation to the northern border for peace talks.”

"You bastard!" Gu An said, his face flushed with anger. "You're willing to sacrifice so many women's lives just for Wanwan?"

"Let alone ten thousand women, as long as we can keep Wanwan, we would send all the women in the world to the Northern Border."

Gu Tingchen looked at his father with a sharp gaze: "Father, don't forget the humiliation on the walls of Huizhou. We finally managed to get Uncle's army to retreat to the interior. If we fight against the northern invaders now, it will be like the snipe and the clam fighting each other. In the end, only Prince Yongning will benefit."

"At this critical juncture, are you still thinking about fighting amongst yourselves with Prince Yongning?"

Gu An was heartbroken and belatedly realized that she had misjudged this son.

He is now no different from a demon.

"If Father does not wish to see the people of the North suffer, he should personally go to the North to reach this peace agreement."

Gu Tingchen had long lost patience with his father's indecisiveness. He gave an order and left.

Gu An knelt on the ground in despair, then burst into self-deprecating laughter.

"My lady, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have forced you to keep Wanwan, and I shouldn't have passed the title of heir to this rebellious son."

However, he has now been rejected by his aunt and there is nothing he can do to change the situation. The only thing he can do is try to facilitate this peace talk.

Leading his trusted confidants to the cellar where Ye Huaisu's body was placed, Gu An looked at the cold corpse and stroked Ye Huaisu's pale face, then ordered in a deep voice, "Prepare two fine coffins and prepare a body for the lady's burial."

Inside the Ji family study, Ji Yuan sat at his desk, holding the blood-stained edict, and pondered for a long time before finally summoning Ting Feng in.

"Tingfeng, you must personally go to Yuezhou and deliver this imperial edict to the Prince of Yongning," Ji Yuan earnestly instructed.

Tingfeng was somewhat worried: "Master, Prince Qi has not rebelled yet. Isn't it a bit too early to send the imperial edict to Yuezhou at this time?"

"I can't worry about that anymore." Ji Yuan frowned deeply. "That bastard Gu Tingchen has the entire patrol battalion guarding the Duke's mansion. Not even a fly can get in. I don't know how Wanwan is doing now. I absolutely cannot put her in danger again."

After pondering silently for a moment, he sighed softly, "I believe that Prince Yongning will not disappoint me; he will make good use of this edict."

Tingfeng was also afraid that delay might cause complications, so he gladly accepted the order: "Don't worry, sir, I will deliver the edict to Prince Yongning even if it costs me my life."