The elders at the table started chatting animatedly.
Mrs. Liu talked with Lady Zhang about many amusing anecdotes from when Gu Ying was little, and said that although she had little formal education, she was very sensible and would surely be a capable mistress of the inner quarters in the future.
What's more, her maternal grandparents were the Ye Family.
Upon hearing of the Ye Family, Lady Zhang gasped, "Oh my, I didn't expect that the second young lady is actually the granddaughter of the esteemed Elder Ye!"
Mrs. Liu smiled and said, "That's right."
Then she turned her head with a kindly expression towards Gu Ying and said, "Ying'er, why don't you smile a little? Today is a good day. In just over a month, it will be New Year's. In a few days, I'll have your eldest sister take you and your sisters, as well as your male cousin, to the temple to burn incense."
Gu Ying forced a smile and said, "Auntie, I have a frail constitution and am still recovering from illness. The weather is bitterly cold, so I'd rather not go out. Eldest Sister and Third and Fourth sisters can go. I'll skip the hubbub."
Having her face slapped in front of outsiders,
Mrs. Liu's expression noticeably darkened, though only for a moment, before she quickly resumed her benign smile. "This child is like this, always aloof from the crowd."
Lady Zhang didn't pay any mind to Mrs. Liu's veiled verbal attack on Gu Ying.
One look at Gu Ying's appearance and her bearing was enough to delight Lady Zhang. She spoke to Gu Ying gently, seeming quite satisfied. Although uneducated, her looks alone were pleasing to the eye.
Besides, a woman's lack of talent is itself a virtue.
If her son could marry the daughter of Elder Ye as his wife, who in their hometown would dare look down on them as a merchant family in the future?
The hot dishes were quickly brought out.
The elders chatted animatedly, leaving no opening for the children to interrupt, so each attended to their own meal.
The adults talked on and on, doing nothing but trying to settle Gu Ying and Liu Jianren's marriage on that very day.
Gu Ying sat at the table, listening quietly to their discussion, suppressing her feelings as her patience wore thinner and thinner.
Liu Jianren picked up a piece of hibiscus cake and put it in Gu Ying's plate, eyes smiling into slits. "Sister Gu Ying, eat up. I'll feed you."
Meeting his nauseating smile and vulgar manners, clearly picked up from some brothel, Gu Ying's small face was cold as she silently rejected his enthusiasm with her attitude.
"No need, I don't care for hibiscus cake." She then picked up the cup of hot tea at her hand and took a sip to quench her irritation.
Liu Jianren wasn't angry either. He found this woman even more arousing the colder she was. Her chill was like the snow lilies on the Tianshan Mountains, provoking his will to conquer.
He recalled his aunt's earlier words to him.
"This time, you must obtain Gu Ying no matter what. Once she becomes your woman, won't she be at your disposal in the future?"
To make her his woman, wasn't that implication clear?
Liu Jianren's gaze was layered with meaning as it fell on the teacup in Gu Ying's hand. Fortunately he had come prepared. Heeding Master Jiang's advice, he had slipped something into the water beforehand.
Just look at that fair and delicate little beauty. Even her fingernails were a pale pink. She was truly too alluring.
He ogled Gu Ying's exquisite little face lasciviously, becoming more and more lustful at the thought. He was determined to seize this chance to get a taste of her.
...
After lunch,
Gu Ying couldn't sit still any longer. She really disliked the atmosphere at Yongshou Hall.
It was nothing for Gu Wan and Gu Jia to make snide remarks to her from time to time.
But Mrs. Liu deliberately invited a troupe of performers into the residence and said they would watch a play this afternoon in Huichun Pavilion to accompany Grandmother and have the young ladies and gentlemen keep her company.
This was clearly meant to prevent Gu Ying from leaving and deliberately create an opportunity for her and Liu Jianren to be alone together.
But Gu Ying not only felt no affection for Liu Jianren, being close to him even made her recoil in disgust. She truly, truly loathed Mrs. Liu and Liu Jianren.
Besides, what proper aristocratic house would go so far as to personally play matchmaker for an unmarried man and woman?
Gu Ying laughed mockingly. To her right was Gu Shuang, and to her left was Liu Jianren.
Mrs. Liu's intentions were obvious to all.
Gu Shuang watched her worriedly the whole time. Seizing the rare chance to whisper to her, she said, "Sister, you mustn't marry that Liu fellow."
Gu Ying laughed. "Do I look like I want to marry him?"
Gu Shuang shook her head, increasingly concerned. "Seeing Mrs. Liu's manner, she's determined to match you with Liu Jianren. That Master Liu always looks at you so oddly. Even I find it frightening..."
She was still young and didn't understand that look was a man's lechery towards a woman.
Gu Ying could feel Liu Jianren's constant gaze on her face, staring at her till she felt dirty...
What was most worrying was that despite the icy weather, with heavy snowfall that evening and biting winds, as the young ladies sat in the open pavilion, it was very drafty, yet she felt strangely hot.
That heat gradually suffused her body from deep inside, soon making her cheeks flush and limbs weak.
She didn't know what was happening to her. She sensed a burning gaze on her back.
Glancing back discreetly, she glimpsed Jiang Yin's deep, murky eyes and swiftly realized something was wrong. She hurriedly grabbed Gu Shuang's little hand, heartbeat quickening anxiously. "Fourth Sister..."
"Sister, what's wrong?"
Yin Lan also came over, bending down to clasp her hand and asking quietly, "Miss, what's the matter? Did you eat something bad?"
Gu Ying closed her eyes uncomfortably. Her hands and feet were weak and barely listened to her commands. That inexplicable heat rushed straight to her core. She endured it, but the image of Jiang Yin's lingering smile rose in her thoughts as they started to scatter.
"I...don't know. I just feel a little hot and weak all over." Her mouth was dry, cheeks flushing.
She realized she might have been drugged.
But how could it happen in the Marquis's estate?
Could it be Mrs. Liu was already so audacious?
Or was it Jiang Yin?
But how could he have had the chance?
Was it the tea?
She clenched her teeth, hands balling into fists, knuckles white with force.
She had seen this trick before. She couldn't let herself fall prey too!
But to avoid Liu Jianren taking advantage of her state, she also couldn't keep staying in front of everyone. After all, once the drug entered her body, the only antidotes were to couple with someone, or...take an antidote.
If she stayed just to avoid giving anyone a chance, she was afraid she would end up doing something irreversible in front of all these people in the end.
She urgently pulled Yin Lan and whispered, "Yin Lan, take me away..."
As an experienced woman, Yin Lan immediately guessed seven or eight tenths of the situation upon seeing her young miss's flushed face. She promptly went before Grandmother and said, "Grandmother, my young miss's illness has not fully recovered. She has caught a chill again. Please permit this servant to take the young miss back to rest."
