CH 29

Chapter 29: Decision

“The villain is… my… enemy?” Gu Ningxi repeated with difficulty, feeling as if his temples were heavily hammered, and he was confused.

He lived a simple and closed life. If you ask him how many ancient books he had, he could easily tell them, he was like hiding a book pavilion. But when it comes to people he knew, there are only a few, of which, who can have an enmity with him?   

Mo Qiqi thought Gu Ningran was cautious last night. He didn’t reveal his name at all, she only knew it was him because she had a dream about the past by chance.

Her innocence had been ruined by Gu Ningran for two lifetimes, so she held back the fatalistic sadness that welled up in her heart and made up her mind that she would not cause any trouble until she had successfully entered the new Gu Mansion and become Brother Xi’s concubine. She only said “Enemy” and kept the words “Your first cousin” to herself. Gu Ningxi’s expressions were full of worry and concern.

Shishu dragged Liu Guang away, while Shihua followed behind. They quietly slipped out through the crack of the door, and only Qingfang waited with bated breath. She stood by the master’s side, ignoring Mo Qi who was unconscious, and never letting Gu Ningxi and Mo Qiqi be alone, even if She knew very well that the two of them would not have any physical contact.

Gu Ningxi still wanted to struggle for a while, looked back at the other party, and looked at Mo Qiqi’s expression, “Qiniang, are you sure?”

Mo Qiqi habitually stomped her feet, but it caused severe pain all over her body, pouting into a bitter complaint, “Brother Xi, I have come to such a situation. Why would I lie to you? Do you think that I’m dirty and my words can’t be trusted?”

She sat directly softly on the cold ground, a step away from Gu Ningxi, not caring about the wet muddy footprints left behind by the others. She “hissed”, huffed and flexed her legs, with both hands hugging her knees around herself. The left side of her face was resting on her knees. Tilted over to look up at Gu Ningxi, thinking this person was even more serious. He was like the moon high and pure, unreachable, and she was disheartened for a while.

Gu Ningxi naturally drooped his eyes, looking at the righteous sister at his feet. She was like a small animal suffering from a ton of grievances, shrunk into a thin ball, the braids that had been pulled up temporarily fell apart, and the hair fell down to her knees, like a veil, vaguely revealing the right half of her wounded appearance. Her eyes that were narrowed into slits were still clearly reflecting him.

His heart is like a thunderstorm, jumping rapidly, but his eyes just can not turn away, it was fixed on Mo Qiqi’s face.

Thinking back to when he first met her a year ago, this girl was laughing and smiling, naive and clever. He was so happy to have a clear-faced righteous sister, so he coaxed his wife to agree to meet them as guests today, and he thought she could become their family friend in the future.

Who knows that in just a few days, the righteous brother is about to die, and the famous doctor was tied up, and his righteous sister had suffered a tragic accident. She suffered both physical and mental trauma. This change was too sudden.

Gu Ningxi was shocked and blamed himself for Mo Qiqi’s tragedy, knowing that she was still implicated by him.

He did not dare to doubt anymore, although he was clueless about the villain’s identity, he still need to focus on what needs to be done first, “Qiniang quickly get up, the ground is cold. Well… you come to sit on the chair.” Gu Ningxi swept his eyes, and once again recognized Mo Qiqi very clearly. Their family was in dire straits. In addition to the bed in the main room, they only had one chair behind him to sit on.

He paced to get out of the way, taking the opportunity to seize back his sight, hanging his head to stare at the corner of the green robe with the buddha head embroidery. He inexplicably remembered that his wife turned out early in the morning, to let him wear these new clothes to treat the guests well today, but now it is on full display in front of their expected guests, not in their own residence, but in the tight Mo family courtyard.

He doesn’t know if his wife had already returned from the Jichang Bo Mansion. If only she was present, things would be much easier to talk about.

Gu Ningxi’s heart was in a mess, and he responded in a low voice without thinking, “Qiniang, don’t worry this brother believes in you, don’t belittle yourself. How you want to compensate for the loss, this brother will listen to you.”

To Mo Qiqi’s ears, it was like a heavenly promise. She grabbed Qingfang’s arm who was standing by her side, and confirmed in a high voice, “You heard that too, right? Brother Xi promised me!”

“What do you want?” Gu Ningxi continued as if accepting her fate.

Qingfang hesitated, gently pushed away Mo Qiqi’s hand, looked at the master worriedly, vaguely felt that Gu Ningxi was not in the right state of mind at the moment, but did not dare to intervene, she was feeling extremely anxious.

“Brother Xi, marry me!” Mo Qiqi stood up with a “bang”, she pulled her wound and fell back on the chair. The pain woke her up. Facing Gu Ningxi’s unbelievable gaze, she quickly changed her words, “I was wrong, I am willing to be a concubine. Brother Xi, if you don’t want me, I’m already ruined, I can’t find anyone else, and I will die.”

Gu Ningxi’s Adam’s apple kept rolling, showing that he was extremely emotional at the moment.

He closed his eyelids, his wife’s words and smiles flashed in his mind, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Mo Qiqi’s longing face.

Mo Qi told him before, “If you don’t want her, she won’t think about it, she will die.” It was strangely merged with what Mo Qiqi said just now, and Gu Ningxi repeatedly echoed it in his mind, “If you don’t want her, she will die.”

After waiting for a while for an answer, Mo Qiqi got up in a hurry, leaned over to Gu Ningxi, and cried, “I just ask for a place of shelter. Huh…Brother Xi…I will respect you like my father and your wife as my mother, I will never make trouble for you… Please, accept me.”

She glanced at her elder brother who was breathing less, and felt that her future was hopeless, so she couldn’t help but speak even more humbly, “Whaaa… Brother Xi… If you don’t want me to become a concubine, you can also take me as an outer room… I just want you to help me live in another place, I’m scared here~”

Qingfang pinched her right hand, bit her lips to death, and dared not move. She felt unbearable pity for Mo Qiqi, and loathed her at the same time.

There’s actually someone who wants to rush in to recognize her parents?

Such a big daughter, who dares to agree?

Mo Qiqi speaks without thinking, is she belittling or exalting herself?

Is it really what she had been striving for, from being downgraded from the status of a righteous sister to an unwanted concubine, or even a woman from the outer room?

More importantly, how does the master think about it? If he had to make a decision at this moment, would he take the lady’s feelings into consideration?

What made Qingfang despair was that Gu Ningxi finally couldn’t hold back, and in a very small voice, uttered four words, “Okay.”

Qingfang couldn’t help but shouted as a reminder, “Master!”

Gu Ningxi looked over, His eyes were in a dazed and out of focus, and his expression was out of his mind. However, as if he was shaken back to his sanity by Qingfang’s shout, his next sentence was much clearer and firmer, “Qiniang, live well, I will accept you as a Concubine, I will also find the villain who harmed you last night, don’t worry.”

Gu Ningxi murmured another sentence: “My wife… she should be considerate. I will tell her about it.”

However, his voice was too low, and Mo Qiqi’s cheerful and sharp “Ah” echoed, so that no one in the room could hear His sentence.

At this moment, the servants of Gu’s mansion dared to file in from the door and brought out pickled vegetables and white porridge, which meant lunch, and Liu Guang added apologetically, “There are not enough materials in the kitchen, so I can’t make seven types of soup.”

Gu Ningxi moved mechanically. Holding the chopsticks, he felt that his limbs and joints, including his neck bones, are like parts of a small puppet that he saw by chance and was dismantled in his father-in-law’s study.

He could only feel his heart beating and restless all over his body, driving his chest to vibrate, as if crazily reminding him that he had made a decision that he will regret for his entire life..

“You take good care of Brother Mo and Miss Mo.” Gu Ningxi suddenly put down the half-empty porridge bowl, shook off the hot bamboo chopsticks, and left a sentence of instructions, and the crowd rushed out of the door.

In the first few steps, he seemed to have an iron ball weighing a thousand cats tied to his leg, and he was struggling to move. He heard Mo Qiqi behind him call out to him, “Brother Xi?”.

Gu Ningxi walked faster and faster, wishing he could run back to the mansion in one step, confess his mistake to his wife, and beg her for forgiveness, and ask her for advice.

Shishu is considered clever, but after chasing after him, he encountered a torrential rain in the afternoon just a moment after he went out, covering his head and face, and thousands of pearls forming a curtain, which further affected his sight.

He walked and searched along the street under the eaves of the shops, and after a while, he found that in the middle of the road ahead, unlike the scattered passers-by holding umbrellas, A man who did not take shelter from the rain at all and was walking straight in a daze—— was his master Gu Ningxi.

In the cool rain and fog, Shishu looked at the back of his master swinging his arms and legs stiffly against the wind and rain. He felt a rare emotion, and wanted to cry inexplicably.

❖

On the seventh day of the lunar month, the night is dark and everything is quiet.

Tao Xinhe was lying flat on her old bed in the boudoir of the Tao Manor. She had used the same quilt when she went back to the mansion a few days ago, but tonight she felt cold and stiff, and she couldn’t sleep no matter what.

After she and Gu Ningxi got married, they never slept separately. Even though she was secretly angry because of Mo Qiqi a while ago, they still shared the same bed. There was no maid in the room on duty at night, and the couple could hear their breathing.

Tonight, she deliberately asked Qingfang to accompany her, sleeping on the Luohan couch not far away, somewhat conspicuously, so that the room would not be so lonely that it would make one’s heart chill.

When Qingfang came back from the Gu residence, she was always hesitant to speak. When Tao Xinhe laid down and was about to go to bed, she watched her put the golden hook on the bed curtain, and couldn’t help asking, “Qingfang, you are thinking about me wanting to separate, right?”

Qingfang was startled, her hands trembled. The bed curtain, which is thick and warm, fell down, isolating the sight of both master and servant.

Tao Xinhe maintained a side-lying position, staring blankly at the golden-red curtain in front of her eyes, acquiescing to the pattern with the word “卍” ending on it. After waiting for a long time, she finally heard the servant girl murmuring, “Miss Mo, is a very unfortunate person.”

As the curtain fell, Qingfang’s voice became more faint and ethereal, but Tao Xinhe was aroused, her plain hands tightly clutching the corner of the quilt, and she retorted crisply, “Is he, Gu Ningxi, a philanthropist? Qingfang, I know that you are tired of running around today, just this one time, don’t say such things again, I will be sad.”

Qingfang responded softly, ” Miss, don’t be angry, this servant will remember.”

Listening to her personal maid gently walking away, rustling onto the couch, and then her breathing calming down. Tao Xinhe boredly counted how often Qingfang would snore lightly and was filled with indignation.

What? Mo Qiqi is an unfortunate person, Gu Ningxi is a kind person, is she, Tao Xinhe the villain in between them?

According to Qingfang, Gu Ningxi should understand her decision after seeing the letter of separation. But he still asked Qingfang to pass on a message, and he went to the small courtyard of Mo’s family instead as if nothing happened, so he couldn’t leave Mo Qiqi for a moment?

Heh, it’s the right time for her to abdicate to the virtuous.

Although at the moment of staying and leaving the letter, Tao Xinhe had clearly figured out that she was unwilling to pamper, let, or tolerate this man, but when she learned that he did not catch up to her, she still felt a strong sense of loss, and felt even more that the time they spent in the past were like the time spent feeding a dog.

Gu Ningxi must be forgotten, and this failed marriage must be forgotten. Tao Xinhe, look forward to moving forward.

She repeated it to herself, which inadvertently helped her calm down, and finally fell asleep in the middle of the night.

As for the next morning, when the pillow was wet and cold, she didn’t mention it, and Qingfang didn’t mention it. Both master and servant tacitly agreed that she cried in her dream, which became a past event that seemed to have happened and didn’t seem to exist in retrospect.

The author has something to say:

This little author scratched his head for a long time, thinking about what to write in this chapter.

Talk to everyone about the “卍” pattern? The symbol “卍”, pronounced as “Ten Thousand”, means to gather all the auspicious merits and virtues in the world, and then there is a series of interpretations of the Buddhist system, which this author will not say, like windows, embroidery patterns on quilts, etc. (Reported from Sogou Encyclopedia)

Borrowing flowers to present to Buddha, this author wishes all readers, angel babies, to have a good luck~ good life~ for Prosperity and longevity~