Gu Chengyu went downstairs, then looked back, but couldn’t see that group of people anymore; they must have entered the private room upstairs. Gu Chengyu felt that this group was sowhat unusual; he could even sll the scent of blood on them. They walked with a strong, rhythmic stride, but all had sullen expressions, especially the one leading them.
"Have you gentlen eaten your fill?" Shopkeeper Niu was downstairs attending to guests and imdiately approached when he saw Gu Chengyu and his companions coming over.
Gu Chengyu noticed Shopkeeper Niu was looking rosy-faced, appearing noticeably chubbier. It seed he hadn’t skimped on the restaurant’s dishes! He pulled Shopkeeper Niu aside, advising him to pay attention to the group who had just gone upstairs, to avoid any mishaps.
At this ti, Gu Chengyu was unaware that he had just brushed past an important figure.
Afterward, the group returned to the inn, and Gu Chengyu instructed Ming Mo to first escort He Shunian and the others back.
"Young master! The invitation from the prefect’s banquet has arrived." Ming Yan handed over the invitation.
Looking at the invitation, Gu Chengyu recalled his first visit to the governnt office’s backyard, where a woman had died, with almost no news leaking out, and even the seen candidates sealed their lips. Who would dare spread the personal affairs of Lord Prefect? Besides, it was just a maid who died, hardly worthy of concern.
"Did you handle that matter well?" rely tornting her physically, how could that make the Yu Family give up? Anyway, he had plenty of ti, and since it wasn’t the end of the world, he naturally needed to restrain himself—he couldn’t go around killing people everywhere, right? But regarding the Yu Family, he had his ways to make them suffer a fate worse than death.
"I found a fortune teller, who has been lingering outside the governnt office for the past few days and has already encountered Prefect Jiang. The progress is going well."
"Hmm! You were masked, right? You should let the fortune teller increase the pressure; the Yu Family is living quite leisurely!"
This ti, the thod wasn’t sophisticated—just having a fortune teller stroll outside the governnt office daily, eting Prefect Jiang and Mrs. Jiang, telling them that their household had accumulated too much bad karma. Yesterday was Mrs. Jiang’s monthly visit to the temple to burn incense, and the fortune teller was waiting at the door.
In recent years, Prefect Jiang did have concubines, but they either died or were plain-looking. Mrs. Jiang and Prefect Jiang had endured, but they couldn’t tolerate the fact that Prefect Jiang still didn’t have any offspring.
Back then, Mrs. Jiang gave Prefect Jiang a maid, forcing them together. Surprisingly, the maid was quite determined, getting pregnant on the first try. Of course, Mrs. Jiang kept a close watch, with the maid eating and living in Mrs. Jiang’s courtyard, under her watchful eye every day.
But when she was five months pregnant, she miscarried, and tragically, she herself followed. Mrs. Jiang was so furious she fell ill, taking half a year to recover. Since then, her loathing for the Yu Family intensified, and whenever she saw them, she wished she could eat their flesh. This is also why every ti before the Yu Family ate, they tested the food with a silver needle.
How did Gu Chengyu know this? Of course, by investigating! It wasn’t a secret; everyone in the Jiang Mansion knew, and a little silver could make them spill everything.
The person who hated the Yu Family the most had to be Mrs. Jiang. Prefect Jiang still had no offspring, wasn’t this all because of the Yu Family?
His plan was simple: Let the fortune teller tell Mrs. Jiang and Prefect Jiang that their family’s evil deeds were affecting their offspring, and if they didn’t atone, it would be impossible to have heirs in this lifeti.
The thod of atonent was simple: Make the wrongdoer spend their life in a temple, repenting before Buddha, using their lifeti to atone for their sins.
Hadn’t the Yu Family hard enough won before? So, saying she was sinful was scarcely an exaggeration. His mother was among the victims, and while he initially saw the Yu Family as a pitiable and detestable group, as long as they didn’t cause trouble, he wouldn’t bother them. But if they persistently clung tenaciously, he could only retaliate. Bla her obsession for insisting on annihilating his family.
In this era where mistresses were legal, right and wrong were hard to discern!
"Can that fortune teller be trusted? Make sure he doesn’t accept silver!" Gu Chengyu intended for the fortune teller not to accept money, only to say Prefect Jiang would perform deeds beneficial to the country and people and therefore couldn’t bear to see him without offspring, hence the warning. Accepting silver would greatly diminish the efficacy; Prefect Jiang might even suspect the fortune teller as a fraud.
"Rest assured, young master! I’ve hidden the fortune teller’s son; he wouldn’t dare disobey. After he completes the task, I’ll return the child!" Ming Yan was bolder than Ming Mo in handling matters; as long as it didn’t violate his conscience, he would take whichever shortcut, understanding flexibility and compromise better than Ming Mo, though less steady.
"Keep the child well-fed and cared for, and afterward give them two hundred taels of silver, allowing them to live elsewhere!" Fortune tellers generally set up stalls outside the sowhat decrepit City God Temple because there were many temples outside the city, where incense offerings weren’t abundant.
Temples wouldn’t allow him because it’s a Taoist practice, impacting his business, and he wasn’t well-known. With this silver, wherever he chose to live, he wouldn’t need to worry.
Ming Yan still felt this matter sowhat dubious, "Young Master! What if Prefect Jiang doesn’t believe it?"
"What does it matter if Prefect Jiang believes it? As long as Mrs. Jiang believes, that’s enough. Besides, Prefect Jiang might not entirely disbelieve, no?" Sotis, even knowing it’s false, one might accept it as true; it depends on what’s in their heart.
The sky quickly darkened. It was already 3:30 PM, and they still needed to go to the street to buy four-color gifts with Sun Xian. Gu Chengyu decided to set off early.
The night was hazy, a gentle breeze blowing, and mid-autumn nights were sowhat cool.
After using the latrine, Gu Chengyu once again passed by the small lake, seeing the blackened, still surface, and rembered the woman who jumped into the lake that day. Who knew how many lives the lake had swallowed.
The servant ahead of him walked briskly; there had been a drowning in the lake two months ago, making several deaths. At this mont, he only felt a chill, walking alongside the lake as if sothing cold was winding around his feet.
He occasionally glanced back at Gu Chengyu, not to see if he was keeping up, but because Gu Chengyu possessed inner strength, walking quietly; combined with Gu Chengyu’s silence, it made him sowhat fearful.
Gu Chengyu found it amusing, then kindly quickened his pace, heading towards the banquet hall.
The banquet’s guests were nurous today, so before reaching the banquet hall, the noise inside could already be heard. The servant wiped the sweat off his forehead upon hearing it—finally, they arrived!
Gu Chengyu and his group sat in a corner of the banquet. As a top student like him, he should not have had such leisure, but Gu Chengyu was young and couldn’t drink. Initially, everyone conversed with him, but later, seeing he was just a child, knowing only about studying and nothing of other interests, they left him be, clinking glasses with others instead.
It wasn’t that Gu Chengyu didn’t want to make connections, but he truly couldn’t drink. Besides, being young, he couldn’t converse with them about which brothel had prettier girls or which oiran excelled in poetry and songs.
Prefect Jiang left the banquet halfway through. As a fourth-rank court official, he didn’t need to stay with these scholars, and even Vice Magistrate Wang had just departed, leaving only subordinate officials with low ranks, so the candidates beca more carefree.
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