CH 6

Yinhong soon brought Yunyun to Liu Yuru. By then Liu Yuru was done with crying. 

She washed her face before Yinhong arrived and wore a calm expression. There were no signs that she had cried, save for some tell-tale redness and moisture on her face. 

The girl was slender and looked elegant and gentle. Standing there, she gave off the impression of a frail willow swaying in the wind—a look at her was enough to make anyone’s heart ache. Liu Yuru glanced her over and said, “Yunyun, is your mother feeling better?”

Yunyun’s reply came swiftly: “Yes, Miss. Thanks to you, my mother has been feeling much better of late.”  

“Yunyun,” said Liu Yuru. She sighed. “I called you over today to ask you a question. I’ll be married soon. Would you be willing to assist by my mother’s side?”  

Yunyun lapsed into silence. Liu Yuru hastily added, “I was simply inquiring. Stay only if you’re willing. It’s more than fine if you’re not. It’s not my wish that you force yourself.”

Yunyun understood the implications behind Liu Yuru’s words and smiled. “What are you saying, Miss? My family is poor. No ordinary family would accept me because of my looks; If a family of means were to take me on, my choices would be between a dancer or a bed-mate. It would be my good fortune to serve as a concubine beside First Madam. Why wouldn’t I be willing?”

“I was afraid you’d find it unfair,” Liu Yuru said hesitantly. “You’re still young, after all…”

“Miss,” said Yunyun, sighing. “I’ve thought it through. I don’t see what’s so unfair about living a cushy life. Besides, you’ve been so kind to me that I’ve been feeling ashamed and guilty. I’ll be happy to help take care of First Madam in your stead.”  

Liu Yuru felt relieved at her words. She patted Yunyun’s hand and gave her some instructions. Then she sent someone to wash and dress Yunyun before directing her to Su Wan’s room.

Su Wan was sound asleep in the room. She had a sickly constitution and felt poorly and tired most of the time. As a result, she often took naps during the day. Not daring to interrupt, Liu Yuru waited quietly. When Su Wan woke up some time later, Liu Yuru quickly went up to help Su Wan get up. Su Wan rinsed her mouth with tea, walked over to the table with Yuru’s support, and said softly, “It sounded rather lively outside today. I suppose the Ye family’s betrothal gifts have arrived?”

Everyone else froze. Still none the wiser, Su Wan picked up her chopsticks and continued, “A good part of this affair will be taken care of once the Gu family are done with the delivery of their betrothal gifts. I’ve inquired about this Young Master Ye. He’s a fine young man. It’d be a load off my mind to see you settled in marriage.”

“Mother…” began Liu Yuru tentatively. Su Wan looked at Liu Yuru quizzically. “Yes?”  

“The gifts aren’t from the Ye family,” Liu Yuru said at length. Su Wang paused. Confusion in her eyes.

Liu Yuru took a deep breath, raised her head to look at Su Wan, and said seriously, “They’re from the Gu family, not the Ye family.”

Shock coloured Su Wan’s features. Clutching her chopsticks, she pressed, “Which Gu family are you referring to?”

“Gu Jiusi’s,” Liu Yuru practically bit out his name. Su Wan went completely still.

“Gu Jiusi…” Then it hit her. “Do you mean the lackadaisical ne’er-do-well who spends his days gambling or brawling, the one who gallivants about indulging in diabolical mischief because his family can afford to get away with it? That Gu Jiusi?”

Silence from all present. Liu Yuru cast her eyes downward. Su Wan’s breaths came quick and shallow. Liu Yuru hastened to support Su Wan, only to see her spit out a mouthful of blood upon contact. 

Yinhong yelped in surprise. Liu Yuru hurriedly sent for a physician and helped Su Wan to her bed. She tried to get her to lie down, but Su Wan struggled to get up. Anger clouded her usually gentle looking face. “I shall see your father about this…I’ll see him right this instant! Has he not a shred of shame… This match cannot go through. It must not!”

“Mother!” Liu Yuru restrained Su Wan and shouted, “It’s pointless!” 

Su Wan froze. Liu Yuru’s eyes reddened as she said quietly, “The gifts have been sent. No decent family would allow their son to marry a girl who has backed out of a match. Mother,” Liu Yuru rasped. “I don’t have a choice.” 

Su Wan stared lifelessly at the top of the bed, despair seeping out of her entire body. 

“Yuru…” At length, she said hoarsely, “It’s my fault for being useless.” 

Unable to bear a son, she lived in constant fear of divorce. Divorce would have brought such shame upon the Su family, it could only be expunged via a white silk on a beam. 

She had lived so cautiously to eke out a better path for Liu Yuru, only for things to come to this.  

She was aware of the efforts Liu Yuru had put in to marry into the Ye family. And now those years of effort lay dead and buried, courtesy of Liu Yuru’s father. All for the Gu family’s shiny silver.

Oh how she hated. 

Su Wan clenched her fists. A terrible desire to drag Liu Xuan, Zhang Yue’er, and everyone in the Liu family to their deaths welled up inside her, but she reined it in. She could not—not when her daughter’s good name was at stake. Even if Gu Jiusi did not end up marrying Liu Yuru, her daughter had an entire life left to live.

Su Wan was mired in despair. Seeing this, Liu Yuru clutched her hands tightly, brushed away a handful of tears and said quickly, “Mother, you’re letting your imagination run wild. I want this.”   

Su Wan slowly turned to regard her, a knowing look in her eyes.

“You want this, you say?,” she said in a raspy voice. “I have noticed this tendency of yours over the years—you only tell me about the good things, never the bad; you always claim to be doing well. But how can I not know how you really are doing, where your true feelings lie? Even so, there was little I could do. All I could do was watch on while you swallowed your grievances and contrived to get into Zhang Yue’er’s good graces. I had hoped she would treat you better on account of how readily we fell in line.”

“But look at where that got us today,” Su Wan’s tears fell. “She sold you.”  

“Mother, that’s not true,” Liu Yuru smiled and wiped away her tears. “I want to marry him, I do. Gu Jiusi’s wonderful. We know each other. He helped me in the past. I found him to be very good and he felt the same way about me. That’s why the Gus came to propose a union.”

Liu Yuru hurriedly spun a tale of how they met, taking care to embellish the frivolous young master in a most favourable light—and so a story of love at first sight where Gu Jiusi was an earnest and pure-hearted albeit troublemaking young man was born.

“The rouge I got for you was a present from him. He saw that I could not bear to buy it, yet feared sullying my reputation if he were to buy it just for me. So he bought out the rouges from the store and gifted them to every lady present. He did that for me.” 

“He treats me well. Truly. I know I won’t have to suffer after I’ve married him.”

Liu Yuru’s account, a mixed bag of truths and lies, was sufficiently convincing enough that Su Wan was unable to discern truth from lies. So with her tears still flowing, Su Wan clasped her daughter’s hands and blamed herself for powerlessness.

The physician arrived and determined that anger had attacked her heart, causing qi and blood to flow in the opposite direction. After prescribing a couple of prescriptions and using acupuncture on her, the physician left.  Seeing that Su Wan had calmed down, Liu Yuru hesitated a moment, held Su Wan’s hand, and said quietly, “Put it out of your mind, Mother; my marriage with Gu Jiusi is set in stone. We’ve a far more pressing matter ahead of us.” 

Su Wan turned her head around and saw Liu Yuru’s state calmly, “The Gu family’s betrothal gifts are undoubtedly worth a small fortune. It has to be so for Father to endorse the union and risk offending the Ye family. It would be in line with Zhang Yue’er’s character to stinge on my dowry. A mockery, I’d be, unable to hold my head up high in the Gu family.”  

Su Wen grew solemn. “Right, you’ve reminded me,” she returned. “I must fight for your dowry…” 

“Mother, let’s leave that aside for now.” Liu Yuru said calmly. “The Gu family’s betrothal gifts have just been delivered. There’s still some time till the wedding. Your relationship with Father has been cool at best. Zhang Yue’er’s the favourite. You don’t stand a chance against her as you are now.”  

“What is to be done?”

“Yunyun,” Liu Yuru called out. Yunyun walked out from behind Yinhong. She curtsied before Su Wan and Liu Yuru and murmured softly, “Greetings, Lady Su.” 

“Mother,” Liu Yuru held Su Wan’s hand and said gravely, “Yunyun will take care of you in my stead after I’m married.”

Su Wan looked at the approaching girl. She looked to be eighteen or nineteen and was a beauty. As per Liu Yuru’s orders, make-up had been applied on her. She looked every inch an affluent man’s daughter.

Su Wan stared at Yunyun in stunned silence—Yunyun’s face reminded Su Wan of that painting in Liu Xuan’s study. 

Once upon a time, Liu Xuan loved a girl sincerely. But the girl was said to have died early, shortly after coming of age, as a result of a terrible illness. Liu Xuan grieved her passing for the rest of his life. 

Both she and Zhang Yue’er looked a lot like the girl in the painting, but Yunyun’s resemblance to that girl bordered on the uncanny.

Su Wan immediately understood Liu Yuru’s plan. 

“Mother, I sent Yunyun to the outer courtyard for two reasons. Firstly, I didn’t want to make an enemy out of Zhang Yue’er. I had hoped to maintain the peace that we’ve established over the past years. Secondly, I was afraid of upsetting you. But times have changed. I worry about leaving you alone in this place.”

“I understand,” Su Wan returned. Her feelings might have been hurt had this occurred in the past, but now, looking at her daughter’s face, she reached out a hand, closed it around Liu Yuru’s, and said, “I understand it all. Leave her here by my side. I will lure your father over by feigning illness on the morrow.”  

The three of them discussed the matter for a spell. It was late night by the time Liu Yuru left the room. She walked to the courtyard and thought for a little before remarking at last, “Yinhong. I’d like you to find out the full list of betrothal gifts we’ve received today.”

A family like the Gus would have sent a servant to read out the list of betrothal gifts that they have sent. Anyone within earshot in the courtyard would have been able to hear it. Yinhong murmured assent and went about completing her assigned task. Night had deepened by the time she returned to report to Liu Yuru on her findings. After hearing what Yinhong had to say, Liu Yuru buttoned her lips and said immediately, “Yinhong, send some servants—reliable ones, mind—to the gambling house at once. They are to track down Gu Jiusi and pass on a letter from me. I’ll write a request for him to transfer ownership of the title-deeds in the list over to me.“   

A red seal was required to render the transfer in title-deed ownership official. Gu Jiusi’s family had sent the betrothal gifts on such short notice, they would not have been able to obtain the red seal in time. They must have simply written the stores’ names on the betrothal gift list. The title-deeds, highly valuable as they were, were the only items on the list that had yet to be sent to the Liu family. If she wanted to prevent the Gu family from naming Liu Xuan as owner to the title-deeds, she would need to act fast.

Yinhong began rather apprehensively, “Miss, won’t the Gu family look down on you for this?”  

“Do you really think the Gus would be unaware of the rumours about our family? Is there a soul left in Yangzhou who hasn’t yet heard of them? Has Old Madam Ye or Lady Gu ever asked me about my mother? See, they must have known that in the Liu family, a concubine held sway over a main wife; Mother’s opinions don’t matter.” Liu Yuru smiled bitterly. “I am a laughing stock. I have long been one. So why should I be afraid of losing face?” 

“Miss…” 

“Don’t worry,” Liu Yuru sighed. “Gu Jiusi’s nature isn’t bad. That I’m certain of. I wouldn’t have asked you to pass on my words otherwise.” 

While he was certainly rather flashy and imperious, his gift of rouges evidenced his good heart. Perhaps he was the protective sort whose heart was untethered to common rules of propriety. He had his parents ask for her hand. That meant that he harboured some measure of affection for her, at least. Even if her request were to reach his ears, it would be, at most, fuel for some future jape made at her expense.  

Yinhong pondered over Liu Yuru’s words and thought it made sense. So once Liu Yuru had finished writing her letter, she sent a few dependable servants out to find Gu Jiusi. It was early morning by the time a servant had located him.

Gu Jiusi had spent a full day and night gambling in the gambling house and lost all his money. Yawning as he strolled under the morning sun, he had barely begun his journey home when a stranger caught hold of him and stopped him in his tracks.

Bemused, Gu Jiusi cast the servant an appraising glance, yawned and said, “If you can’t cough up a good reason for getting in my way, don’t blame me for hitting you.” 

“Young Master Gu,” The servant handed a letter to Gu Jiusi and repeated Yinhong’s words seriously, “A message from milady—since you have expressed a desire to be man and wife, backing her up a little would be nice.”

It all sounded very ludicrous to Gu Jiusi. He opened the letter, frowning, and said, “What are you babbling on about? You must have mistaken me for someone else. Look, yours truly here is Gu Jiusi, so spare me this ‘man and wife’ rubb—”

A frightful sense of foreboding gripped Gu Jiusi before he could finish his words. He scanned through the letter’s contents. The thought of his father’s modus operandi swam up before him. He jerked his head up and demanded, “Tell me, who is your lady?” 

“The Liu family’s eldest daughter…”

“Liu Yuru?!” Gu Jiusi gasped in a louder pitch. The servant studied Gu Jiusi’s expressions, trying to make sense of his reaction. Gu Jiusi drew in a deep breath as understanding dawned upon him. He clenched his teeth. “Wonderful…absolutely wonderful.”

He made to leave—only to be grabbed by the servant. “Young Master Gu,” the servant pleaded. “The title-deed…” 

“Give me a break! Consenting to such a proposal — Your Lady must be sick in the head!”

Gu Jiusi yanked him off. “Hands off, or I’ll break your doggone legs!” 

The servant acquiesced at once. Gu Jiusi fumed as he stormed back home: “Rotten old man— Playing deaf I see—”

Unable to comprehend Gu Jiusi’s reaction, the servant could only head back to the Liu manor. Yinhong called out to him by the manor’s entrance as soon as she caught sight of him. “How is it? What did Young Master Gu say?” 

The servant flushed but said nothing. Yinhong anxiously implored, “Well? You’ve got to say something, at least!” 

“Young Master Gu… Young Master Gu said— ” The servant hemmed and hawed. Finally, he said a little awkwardly, “—He said our lady is sick in the head…”

Yinhong gave Liu Yuru a verbatim report of what the servant said. 

Liu Yuru’s hands vibrated with fury as she drank her tea.

Yinhong dismissed the rest of the servants, looked at Liu Yuru and said a little frantically, “Miss, it does your body no good to get yourself all worked up. Why don’t you think of another solution? Young Master Gu seems awfully unreliable. What are you going to do if Lady Su fails to secure your dowry before you marry into the Gu family?  

“They’re sick…” Liu Yuru’s hands shook as she gritted out. Yinhong was rather flummoxed. “Pardon, Miss?”

Liu Yuru lost her temper — along with her usual composure and poise. She smashed her tea cup onto the floor and snapped, “Gu Jiusi’s family! They’re all sick in the head!”

She understood now. 

The Gu family sent their betrothal gifts before getting a clear picture of the situation. 

Gu Junior irresponsibly ran his mouth off and got them into this mess; gambling being the only thing on his mind, he was blissfully ignorant about this match. 

It was evident from their flippant treatment of her marriage that neither the younger nor the older members of the Gu family could be relied upon.   

They’re sick, alright—every last one of them!