Ye Qingchi asked Gu Ying, his eyes turning back and falling on Gu Shuang's flushed face. His ambiguous gaze went from top to bottom, looking at her lips dotted with rouge.
He gathered a meaningless smile. "I heard that the Fourth Young Lady has good news coming?"
The marriage between the Gu family and the Fu family had gone through bright prospects a few days ago, and the wedding date was officially set.
Right after the Xingqing Festival.
Gu Shuang did not know what was going on with herself. She did not dare to raise her head to look at the serious and handsome man in front of her. Her fingers were twirling the handkerchief in her sleeve. She swallowed her saliva and smiled, "Yes...the date is set...at the end of the month..."
Seeing the happy and satisfied smile on Gu Shuang’s face, Ye Qingchi’s eyes darkened. The corners of his mouth tightened slightly, and he felt inexplicably unhappy in his heart.
"The end of the month is still a good day. So let me congratulate the Fourth Young Lady first on finding a good marriage.”
Although they were words of congratulations, the man’s tone was not very good. It was cold and gloomy, and somewhat gloomy.
"Thank you, Lord Ye Qingchi..." Gu Shuang’s heartbeat quickened. She was extremely afraid of Ye Qingchi’s cold and stern face, did not dare to speak, lowered her head, and clasped her little hands tightly together.
She really did not know what she had offended him, or annoyed him.
Even seeing him smile made her feel creepy.
"Alright, older cousin, why are you bullying my Fourth Sister? What did she do wrong to offend you? Can't you be a little nicer in your tone?" Seeing Gu Shuang like a child who had done something wrong, Gu Ying felt compassion. She pulled Gu Shuang to her side, raised a shallow smile to break the tense atmosphere at the moment, "The Prince is still waiting for you, go meet the Prince first.”
Ye Qingchi knitted his brows expressionlessly and glanced at Gu Shuang. He also felt very strange about himself.
Gu Shuang's engagement, marriage, marrying someone, what does it have to do with him?
Why does he feel inexplicably angry every time he hears about her affairs, and even more so now, he can't even hear the name Fu Xunzhi. As soon as he hears it, his chest feels particularly depressed.
He was not an emotionally unstable person, but now he was becoming irritable and angry because of Gu Shuang, which was really incomprehensible.
"I didn't mean to scare her."
"We know, you go ahead."
Gu Ying pushed him with a smile and watched Ye Qingchi leave. Only then did she turn her head to look at Gu Shuang.
"My Fourth Sister seems to be very afraid of my cousin?"
Gu Shuang breathed a sigh of relief. An embarrassed blush appeared on her face. "Second sister, I don't know why either... Lord Ye Qingchi makes people feel quite scary, especially his eyes, a bit like a man-eating beast, and also like the old tutor who used to hit me with a plank when I was young... so I feel nervous when I see him..."
Gu Ying was puzzled. Ye Qingchi had always been gentle and refined. As a person from the Censorate, it was inevitable that he would have an aura of rigid austerity and cold aloofness. But weren't his eyes still kind and benevolent? How did they become a man-eating beast in her Fourth Sister's eyes?
Gu Shuang didn't want to mention the fierce "old tutor" anymore. Seeing Fu Xunzhi's sedan chair from afar, the corners of her mouth rose again. She chirped, "Second sister, do you see Xunzhi?"
Gu Ying thought there was no way she couldn't see him. Among all the distinguished families in Bianjing, only the Fu family’s carriage was the most simple, and also that docile old horse of his.
Fu Xunzhi got off his horse and kept looking over here. He wanted to come over and say hello, but was a little wary, showing his honest character.
"Second sister, can I go over and talk to Xunzhi for a few words?"
Gu Shuang hadn't seen Fu Xunzhi for a few days. Apart from the last time she saw him at the Fu family banquet when Fu Xunzhi was promoted, she had hardly spoken to him in private.
Their marriage had been delayed for too long. There were people laughing at her everywhere in Bianjing for being self-indulgent.
She had locked herself in the room and cried bitterly for several days. On those lost and desperate nights, she was lonely and hopeless by herself, and she did miss him quite a bit, hoping that he would comfort her, and personally tell her that he would come to marry her soon.
Gu Ying held her back. "It's indecent in front of everyone, it's better for my Fourth Sister to restrain herself."
Then she teased, "Anyway, you are going to get married soon. There will be plenty of time to be lovey-dovey later, why the hurry for this moment?"
Gu Shuang's face reddened with shame. She said awkwardly, "You’re right, then let's go to the palace first."
Gu Ying nodded slightly and glanced at everyone present, but did not see Ning Si. She was a bit worried.
"Strange, where is the Ning family?"
Gu Shuang also looked around. "Second sister, don't you know? Lord Ning is ill, so the Ning family is not attending the palace banquet this time."
Gu Ying frowned. Lord Ning fell ill? So ill that he couldn't even attend the palace banquet?
"Then where is Ning Si?"
Gu Shuang thought for a while and said, "Didn't Eldest Miss Ning get engaged to Prince Duan? It seems she has been living in Prince Duan’s Mansion for some time now. Today the Prince should bring Miss Ning to the palace to meet Empress Dowager."
"Oh yes, Second Sister, I heard that Prince Duan has been wanting Empress Dowager to set a wedding date, but judging from the palace’s attitude...it has to wait a little longer. We don’t know what exactly they are waiting for. I heard it from Mother and Father. It’s mainly Lord Zhou from the Ministry of War. He had been going to Prince Duan’s Mansion every day recently...I don't know what he was thinking, suddenly provoking Miss Ning like that... Offending Prince Duan, and people said that even someone as even-tempered as the Prince got angry and had Lord Zhou beaten up by the mansion’s servants. Lord Zhou came back with a bruised face carried by the servants. Oh dear, I heard he looked pitiful."
Gu Ying's heart tightened. It must have been that Ning Si's pregnancy was not kept from Prince Duan.
She remembered Prince Duan as an bullied good-for-nothing Prince who had a gentle, honest personality. Reasonably speaking, if Ning Si had been a little tougher, the marriage should have been called off long ago.
However, from Du's implicit words later on, Prince Duan was not a simple man. It was just that he had been plagued by illnesses for many years which worn down his spirit. Now that he had solved the chronic poisons in his body, some things began to get out of control.
Since he was making things difficult on his side, Gu Ying didn’t know if Ning Si could still withdraw from the marriage successfully.
Gu Ying pursed her lips and felt someone tugging at her sleeve.
"Second sister?"
She came back to her senses and saw Gu Shuang's puzzled little face. She smiled and said, "It's nothing, let's go into the palace first."
All the carriages stopped at the palace gate. They had to walk the rest of the way themselves from here.
Beside her were the eunuchs and palace maids walking in single file, and the noble ladies and madams were also orderly following the eunuchs into the palace.
Gu Ying took Madam Lin by the hand and led her in, bringing Gu Shuang all the way to the front.
...
After entering the palace, the women first went to the Empress Dowager’s Palace to meet Empress Dowager Su and Concubine Wan.
Compared to Empress Dowager Su’s low-key birthday celebration every year, Concubine Wan’s birthday was always grand. Concubine Wan was also lavishly dressed today, sitting beside Empress Dowager Su. She wore a big red palace costume, not showing any inferiority to the Empress’ phoenix robes at all. On her hair bun was a bejeweled phoenix hairpin, dazzlingly challenging Empress Dowager Su.
