But the family’s son had always been in poor health. Otherwise, no matter how beautiful Mrs. Li was, given how poor the family was, they would never have agreed to this marriage.
Mrs. Li’s father was into drinking, carousing, and gambling, spending every bit of silver he got his hands on, leaving the family in dire poverty.
The other family paid a lot of silver, basically buying Mrs. Li, hoping to turn things around for the son, but who could have known that on the eve of the wedding, the son would die of illness.
Even though the other family’s son died, they insisted on marrying the girl to give the son a ghost marriage.
Old Li disagreed, he still had a younger son who wasn’t married! If he lost the silver, wouldn’t he have to sell his daughter again?
Since the other family’s son died naturally, it couldn’t be considered breaching the engagent.
The two families fell into discord; the other family knew a ghost marriage was unsavoury, so they changed their story, saying they wanted her to co and take care of the old couple.
They also said that in their old age, the family business would go to the daughter-in-law because they only had the one son.
Hearing this, Old Li gladly agreed, dreaming of the other family’s business becoming his own.
Unbeknownst to him, Mrs. Li felt sothing was off, so she went to gather information, and found out the family even prepared another coffin.
As soon as the bride arrived, they planned to nail her into the coffin to be buried alongside their son!
Naturally, Mrs. Li refused and reported back to Old Li. But Old Li, blinded by the promise of the general store, was intent on marrying off his daughter.
Later, amid all the squabbling, Mrs. Li sohow hooked up with Gu Chengyi, who paid both families a substantial amount to settle the matter.
Gu Chengyu didn’t bother verifying the incident since it wasn’t his own silver being spent.
One would think Mrs. Li wouldn’t have a strong attachnt to her parental ho, so why was she so eager to return?
Gu Chengyu wondered if Old Li’s habits of drinking, carousing, and gambling had influenced Gu Chengyi too.
If so, he needed to be more vigilant, who knows when his own interests might be targeted?
"I asked around, turns out he’s gotten involved with Mrs. Li’s cousin," Wang Yue said with contempt.
Mrs. Li always had a coquettish look about her; if she were proper, she wouldn’t have attracted Gu Chengyi.
The cousin wasn’t much better, knowing her sister was a concubine and yet mimicking her actions.
Sisters serving the sa husband, it’s truly disgraceful.
Gu Chengyu hadn’t anticipated this reason, he really didn’t see it coming! Could it be that Gu Chengyi was now lost in lust?
Previously, Gu Chengyi didn’t show such lecherous tendencies, even though He wasn’t particularly attractive, Gu Chengyi treated her rather well.
It appears the saying is true: one can’t judge a book by its cover!
However, didn’t Doctor Li advise that Gu Chengyi should go easy on such indulgences?
He seed to recall a suggestion to abstain from conjugal activities for three to five years, yet only three years have passed. Could he have recovered?
Even if he has recovered, indulging like this would likely have severe health repercussions.
Gu Chengyu shook his head, echoing the adage: ’To die under a peony is to beco a lascivious ghost!’
"If it’s Mrs. Li’s cousin, does she live with Mrs. Li’s family?"
Gu Chengyu didn’t question how Wang Yue knew, so long as he got the results.
"Mrs. Li’s cousin is also at the Li family ho; she went for a visit and has stayed several days. The Li family probably knows and might be waiting for an explanation," Wang Yue reminded.
Gu Chengyu nodded, thinking it would not matter if he took another concubine since he already had two.
"What has the second son been up to lately? Any outrageous behavior?"
Gu Chengyu rembered the second son who studied in the county, also a restless sort.
"Not much, just that soone saw him visiting a gambling den, and he had previously visited a brothel."
Wang Yue thought the second son showed so talent in studies but was conceited and drawn to dubious pursuits.
Her own son, Chang, wouldn’t be relying on the second son, so she wasn’t afraid of offending him.
"Gambling den? Who led him there?" Gu Chengyu frowned, not worried about the second son getting trapped into financial ruin.
But because the second son was devious, potentially more so than Gu Chengyi. Were he to lose all his silver, he’d surely sche again.
He figured he better investigate the second son’s activities properly; if it was bad news, he’d have to deal with him, he was a liability.
"I don’t know, maybe a classmate?" Wang Yue had spent so silver, asking a distant cousin in town to keep an eye out.
This cousin was a town thug, caring only for silver, not people. If more information was needed, she hadn’t given enough silver for that level of attention.
But Wang Yue’s silver was accumulated little by little, making her frugal. No surprise people wouldn’t watch over things just for her.
"I don’t have enough silver to spare, I haven’t paid much where I asked. No wonder they don’t care to keep watch; I’ve told you all I know," Wang Yue took the chance to ntion this; it was why she ca today.
"Oh! And a while back, the second son ntioned to the master that he wanted to marry his teacher’s youngest daughter, about two months ago."
Wang Yue suddenly rembered and hurriedly told Gu Chengyu.
Two months ago? Gu Chengyu was surprised, it’s been so long, why hadn’t he heard of it? Had the families already agreed?
Mrs. Lv heard and got interested, chiming in, "Are the families going through with it?"
Wang Yue shook her head, "It probably hasn’t worked out, I only heard them argue. The master said the betrothal gift was too high, the teacher’s family was obviously making things difficult. The master didn’t agree."
"The betrothal gift was too high?" Both Mrs. Lv and Gu Chengyu found that unexpected.
Gu Chengyi received quite a sum annually from the soap profits; how could he claim the betrothal price was too steep? Could it be thousands or tens of thousands of taels?
"That’s what was said, I didn’t catch the specifics," they discussed these matters behind her back, it wasn’t easy overhearing this much.
"I hear your Yang Guo is considering a marriage proposal?" Gu Chengyu shifted topics, suddenly asking about Yang Guo.
Wang Yue was taken aback, then filled with joy, her face ever so slightly showing excitent.
"Several families were discussed before, but they asked for high betrothal gifts. I know I made mistakes, causing trouble for Guoguo. It beca difficult finding a match for Guoguo. So I thought to add three more rooms to make matchmaking easier."
Gu Chengyu ignored Wang Yue’s hopeful gaze, pulling two silver notes from his pocket and placing them on the table.
Wang Yue’s eyes were glued, fixated on the two silver notes.
She recognized them as silver notes worth a hundred taels each.
Though she had seen much more where Gu Chengyi was concerned, those belonged to him, never within her grasp; monthly, she got three taels for her expenses.
Though the Jade Pendant he gave was valuable, it wasn’t as imdiate as silver notes.
Wang Yue involuntarily reached out, preparing to seize the two silver notes.
Just as she was about to reach them, Gu Chengyu whisked the notes away from the table.
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