After taking a bath and re-bandaging her wound, Gu Ying changed into clean, warm clothes and walked out.
Only Qin was left in the tent.
She went over without saying anything, hugged Qin's neck like a child.
Qin's heart ached and softened as the young girl hugged her, but when she recalled the harsh, hurtful words Gu Ying had said to her in the past, she was still fearful and hesitantly asked, “Ying, were the things you said to me...were they real or fake? You weren’t tricking your auntie, were you?”
Her voice was soft. She was afraid this was all a dream.
After being reborn, Gu Ying rarely showed some girlish coquettishness. She leaned against Qin's chest pitifully and rubbed her delicate face against Qin’s full bosom. After lying there a while, she slowly reached out her little hand and traced Qin’s fair complexion, along her jaw, cheeks, and nose, as her eyes slowly grew wet.
What did this beautiful and heroic aunt look like when she was reduced to a living hell by Jiang Yin?
Back then, she had lost her beloved husband and closest son. As strong as she was, when she could not live or die, when she was in utter despair, what was that like?
Gu Ying couldn't bear to imagine it. She closed her eyes, her heart full of bitterness, and forced the tears to come.
"Auntie..." Her voice trembled, delicate with crying, "I was wrong and spoke hurtful words when I was young and ignorant. Will Auntie give me another chance to make up for it?"
Qin was confused.
Why was the girl crying?
What was she talking about making up for?
She had only said some harsh words. It was normal for a child to be ignorant. There was no need to make up for anything.
"Not just one chance. Even ten, a hundred, a thousand chances, Auntie is willing to give you." Qin's heart softened. She gently stroked Gu Ying's back and tentatively asked, "But what do you want to make up to Auntie for? As long as you don't say those harsh words about cutting ties again, Auntie will agree to anything."
After a short time in the palace, why did this girl seem to have changed into a different person?
Could it be like Elder Ye said, that the girl was possessed?
Gu Ying stifled a laugh. The discomfort in her heart gradually dissipated. "I've decided that from now on I will treat Auntie like my own mother."
Qin was surprised and overjoyed. "Ying, are you telling the truth?"
Gu Ying nodded seriously. "Yes, why would I trick you? After Mother passed away, only Uncle and Auntie were left for me in Bianjing. If I don't treat Uncle and Auntie well, who can I treat well?"
Qin pinched her own thigh, delighted until her eyes reddened. "Ow, that hurts! I'm not dreaming! This is real! Ying is willing to love me now! Zhong, can you see this? Ying no longer keeps her distance!"
Seeing Qin's flustered expression, Gu Ying finally understood that after her mother passed away, it was the Ye family who had treated her the best.
"Auntie, there's a favor I'd like to ask you, if that's okay?"
Right now, Qin would have been happy if Gu Ying asked her for a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand favors, just so the girl could feel Qin's deep love for her!
"Go ahead and ask! No need to stand on ceremony with your auntie! Silly girl! With so many sons in the Ye family, you're our only girl. If we don't dote on you, who will?"
Gu Ying's heart warmed. Seeing Qin's delighted expression, she also smiled. "I believe Auntie also saw at the winter hunt that I chose Fu Xunzhi as my partner. It wasn't a whim or because there was no one else to choose. Auntie, I've decided. I want to call off my engagement to the Su family."
Qin's mind was unfocused, but upon hearing this, her smile faded slightly and she wrinkled her brow, squeezing Gu Ying's hand. "But your engagement to the Su family was arranged by your own mother before you were even born. Do your father, grandmother and mean eldest aunt know?"
"Grandmother definitely won't agree to me calling off the engagement." Gu Ying sighed. "Father is far away on the border. He can't manage family affairs. He won't interfere in my marriage arrangements. That will surely be left to Grandmother, but she's not the type of person to care about my marriage."
The more Qin thought about it, the angrier she felt. "That vexing old witch in your family—"
"Ahem." Mid-sentence, she glanced cautiously at Gu Ying. "Your auntie didn't mean to curse your grandmother."
Gu Ying smiled slightly, her little hand still soft in Qin's palm. She scratched Qin's hand and said, "Go ahead and speak, Auntie. I understand in my heart."
Only then did Qin's mouth relax into a smile. She laughed loudly, "Ying, your auntie has kept some words bottled up for too long. That old witch in your family pretends to be vegetarian and recite sutras every day, but she's the most troublesome one of all..."
She didn't know how to explain some matters to a half-grown girl like Gu Ying. After all, Ye's death after marrying into the Gu family had been too suspicious...
But Gu Ying was still young, and lived with a crippled boy emperor in the Gu residence. How could Qin let her speculate about her own grandmother?
Qin silently scolded herself for being tactless. With a smile, she changed the subject, "You want to break off the engagement because you want to marry that Fuyang boy?"
Gu Ying didn't miss the complicated, conflicted look on Qin's face. She tilted her head and said solemnly, "Yes. For marriage, I don't ask about background, only that he truly treats me well."
"Ha, that's music to your auntie's ears." Qin was open-minded and had long looked down on the so-called importance of background in Bianjing. Hearing this, she was immediately full of righteousness. "Us women should marry someone who treats us well. When I married your uncle, so many people mocked him, but now, many respectable ladies envy how well I'm doing. So Ying, if you want to marry Fu Xunzhi, your auntie will help you however she can!"
Gu Ying smiled slightly. "Then I'll have to fully rely on Auntie for this."
Back then, her engagement to Su Huanfeng was witnessed by Qin, Madam Ye, Mrs. Lin, and Su Huanfeng's mother, Mrs. Li.
If the Ye family stepped in to persuade Grandmother, it would be easy to call off the engagement. Mrs. Liu wouldn't dare make a peep.
"Leave it to your auntie!" Qin assured with a chuckle.
...
After sending off Qin, Gu Ying sat in the tent, turning the dagger Zhao Changdu had given her over and over in her hands... After looking at it for a while, she carefully hid the dagger under her pillow and called in all of her servant girls.
Yin Lan and Yin Zhu were sent by Auntie, Qingfeng and Ming Yue were sent by Mrs. Liu, and Yanzhi had grown up with her since she was little.
Now Yanzhi could only stand in the corner for having made a mistake.
The servant girls greeted her respectfully.
Gu Ying had them rise and said with a smile, "From today on, you will all serve me. I won't mistreat you, but I'll say this outright: if any of you harbor ulterior motives, I won't show mercy."
They all carefully acknowledged this.
