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

Chapter 205 Outsiders

Gu An froze, speechless.

"My aunt has worked so hard for the Duke's mansion, but has my uncle ever truly treated her like his own wife?"

Ye Wanshu, abandoning her usual docile demeanor in front of him, rebuked him emphatically: "If she obeys you, you give her a kind look, but if she does anything that displeases you, you treat her coldly. You even disregard the servants in the manor. Is this the dignity that the mistress of the Rongguo Duke's manor should have?"

"Stop talking," Gu An said, clenching his fists in frustration.

"Although she was my uncle's second wife, how could she have ever mistreated my two cousins ​​in the slightest during all these years in the household?"

Thinking of her aunt's fate before her death, Ye Wanshu laughed self-deprecatingly: "I'm afraid no one would believe it if word got out. For a marriage that was already on the rocks, my uncle actually threatened his niece with the lives of his wife and children. Did my uncle ever think about how heartbroken my aunt, Qingmian, and Tingji must have been at that time?"

“Madam,” Gu An cried out, kneeling before the memorial tablet, “I have failed you, failed Qingmian and Tingji.”

"Now that things have come to this, what's the use of Uncle's hypocritical repentance?" Ye Wanshu stood up angrily, glaring at him. "If you had restrained Second Cousin even a little bit back then, how could Aunt have died? How could Eldest Cousin have died?"

Gu An had already realized this; from the day he changed the heir apparent, he knew he was wrong.

Tingzhou is honest and straightforward, and although he is easily deceived, he is not a bad person at heart.

If he were to inherit the Duke's mansion, at least he wouldn't commit acts like killing his brother and mother, nor would he be so unreasonable as to create chaos in the court.

With a trembling throat, Gu An took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "You acknowledge all the uncles you mentioned, but Tingchen is right about one thing: you have completely changed your mind now. You probably came here today for the sake of your fiancé's future in Yuezhou, right?"

"Isn't his future the aspiration of the entire Da Ye Dynasty?" Ye Wanshu said, "With the Empress Dowager and my second cousin in charge of the government these past few days, my uncle should know the state of the world better than I do. This is what my uncle wants to see."

Thinking of his aunt and that rebellious son's willful actions that had brought the Great Ye Dynasty to its current state, Gu An closed his eyes in utter despair.

“My uncle is more knowledgeable about court affairs than I am. If this turmoil cannot be quelled as soon as possible, no one will be spared once the northern cavalry invades the south.”

Raising an eyebrow, Ye Wanshu finally advised, "My second cousin has already fled south with the Empress Dowager. His Majesty and Prince Yongning are not ruthless. If they didn't care about the lives of the people, it would be easy for them to completely wipe out the Gu family's power. However, His Majesty has always been kind and does not want to kill his own family again. When I came, His Majesty gave me an imperial edict that as long as my uncle can quell this conflict, the Gu family will not be implicated."

Upon hearing this, Gu An was immediately moved.

Indeed, as my niece said, now that Prince Yongning has recovered military power in the north for the emperor and joined forces with the Yuezhou army, if they have the same desperate idea as my aunt, it would be no difficult for them to wipe out the Gu family's power.

Yet the emperor was willing to forgive the Gu family; such magnanimity and breadth of mind are beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Just as Ye Wanshu was about to step out of the mourning hall, Gu An suddenly called her back, tears streaming down his face.

“Wanwan, don’t hate your uncle.” Gu An’s eyes were filled with tears. “I watched you grow up. Like your aunt, I have always treated you as my own daughter. But in my position, there are many things I have to do. I have to consider the whole Gu family.”

Ye Wanshu silently closed her eyes, but the words that were on the tip of her tongue remained unspoken.

To be his biological child is the worst luck imaginable.

If she doesn't return from Yuezhou this time, Qingmian and Tingji will likely face certain death.

Gu An hesitated all night. Although he was unwilling for the Gu family to fall, he could not stand by and watch his rebellious son continue to wreak havoc on the world. It was time for a resolution.

"Wanwan, your uncle has one last request for you," Gu An said earnestly. "Please don't tell Qingmian and Tingji how their mother died. From now on, please take good care of them for your aunt."

Ye Wanshu nodded emphatically, and then left the Duke's mansion with Chunhong, Xingtao and the others.

Although she hated Gu Tingchen, she didn't want Qingmian and Tingji to live with hatred for the rest of their lives. She didn't want the two siblings to live as unfortunately as she had.

Watching his niece disappear from sight, Gu An slowly turned around, lit two more incense sticks, and solemnly instructed the servant beside him, "Prepare the horses, and come with me to Huizhou immediately."

As he walked out, he took out two letters from his pocket and handed them to another servant. He then whispered to him, "Go to the palace and meet His Majesty. Ask His Majesty to grant permission for the two young masters of the Marquis of Wuping's mansion to take these two letters and travel to Yezhou and Qinzhou overnight to order them to take over the garrisons in the two places."

The servant glanced at the letter and immediately understood.

With Marquis Wuping now escorted to the capital, his two sons have no choice but to surrender to the court. As long as the 200,000 troops in Yezhou and Qinzhou are stabilized, this turmoil can be contained to the greatest extent possible.

When Ye Wanshu returned to the Ji family, it was already broad daylight.

The atmosphere in the entire mansion was gloomy. As soon as she entered the courtyard with Tao Anran, Zhu Wencai and others, Aunt Zheng and her daughter Ji Ningxuan came out to greet them with the rest of the household.

Qin Chulin rushed to Ye Wanshu first, grabbed her wrist, and cried out with tears in his eyes, "Big sister, you're finally back! I've been begging Master to bring you back every day, but he refused. I thought I would never see you again."

“How could that be? He has his own difficulties. You can’t blame him.” Ye Wanshu sighed inwardly, not wanting to tell the little guy about her and her father’s previous plans.

After not seeing him for a while, Ye Wanshu noticed that the little guy had grown much plumper, and she knew that her father had indeed taken good care of him.

Seeing the two of them being so intimate, Aunt Zheng felt extremely displeased.

When Aunt Qin was alive, the master never seemed to care much about this little bastard. Now, not only the master, but even the eldest daughter treats him like her precious darling.

If things continue like this, I'm afraid the young ladies in the manor will be less important than Aunt Qin's nephew.

"Young lady, you've come to the wrong house," Aunt Zheng said, wiping away tears from her eyes. "When Master was alive, you never thought of the manor. Now that Master has just passed away, you're rushing back. Could it be that you're planning to seize the manor's inheritance?"

"Young lady, don't talk nonsense," Ji Ningxuan said, feeling that her young lady was being too presumptuous.

Although the eldest sister has not yet been officially recognized by her ancestors, her father cares about her so much now, and with the Emperor and Prince Yongning looking after her, even if her father were gone, it wouldn't be up to the two of them to make the decisions in this family.

"Big sister, my mother was just overwhelmed with grief and talked nonsense. Please don't take it to heart."

Ji Ningxuan hurriedly stepped forward: "I heard from Second Sister that Father's body has been taken back to the palace, but I don't know when it will be sent back to the mansion."

"Why do you need to ask her, an outsider, about these things?" Aunt Zheng glared and said, "Your father died for the country, and his funeral will be grand and dignified. We can go to the palace ourselves and ask His Majesty for it."

After saying that, Aunt Zheng subtly tugged at Aunt Sun's skirt and said, "Sister, you'd better think this through. The family fortune that Master has worked so hard to build must not be allowed to fall into the hands of an outsider."

Just as Aunt Sun was about to speak, she suddenly saw Tingfeng leading a group of people to escort the coffin, walking in with heavy steps.