Three Wives and Four Concubines in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Page 105

"Who is it this time? ...This Kong family shouldn't be like this."

It's not that he's condescending, but it would be normal for someone from the palace to attend the coming-of-age ceremony of the eldest daughter of the Duke of Yansheng. However, this Uncle Kong simply doesn't have that kind of face...

That's not the main issue right now. The most important thing is that the palace's grand spectacle has sealed off the courtyard. How is he supposed to escape? If he's delayed for too long and the opera troupe leaves, he'll be trapped with no way to escape. Is he supposed to hide here forever?

"That son of a bitch Li Wensong—! Damn it!"

……

Chapter Thirty-Four: You think I'm easy to fool?

Fortunately, not long after, silvery laughter gradually came from outside. Then the door was pushed open, and one, two,... five footsteps of varying weight stepped in. Gu Yu tried her best to hold her breath and minimize her movements, but she almost lost her composure the next moment.

"You all go out, I'll sit and chat with Sister Wenjuan for a while."

A soft, gentle voice came from inside the room. The two palace maids who had followed her in responded and withdrew, but...

"What's Mengzhi doing here?!"

Gu Yu felt as if she had been struck by a giant hammer. Her vision blurred, and she was filled with a mixture of joy and cold sweat. Now that she was dressed as a woman and hiding in a woman's boudoir, what if she were discovered...?

Just imagining the scene where he could practically dig out a Qin Emperor's tomb with his toes to bury him, Gu Yu couldn't help but shudder. No matter how much he missed the little girl, he could only force himself to remain motionless.

"Lord Kong is far away in Youzhou, loyal to the emperor and devoted to the country, but he couldn't make it to Sister Wenjuan's coming-of-age ceremony, which is a real pity. Father Emperor specially sent me to visit him, so Sister, please don't feel regretful."

"Your Highness is too kind! How could I possibly be worthy of being called 'elder sister' by Your Highness? Please be careful with your words."

Mengzhi blinked gently and pursed her lips shyly. She knew that Brother Yu had two close friends who would become family in the future, so it was perfectly reasonable for him to call her "sister."

However, she couldn't explain right now, so she nodded to indicate that she understood, and turned to look at the furnishings in the room, as if searching for something:

"Sister Wenjuan is truly beautiful inside and out. With so many books, she's even more diligent and studious than the candidates for the imperial examinations..."

Wenjuan couldn't figure out why this unfamiliar princess had come to see her. When she saw Mengzhi's gaze sweeping over the room's furnishings, she felt a pang of anxiety and quickly and nervously got up, trying to lure Mengzhi outside to talk.

But before she could speak, Mengzhi, unable to contain herself, stammered out:

"I wonder if anyone has visited Sister Wenjuan today?"

"It happened!"

Wenjuan was startled and stood there with her hands and feet ice cold, thinking that Gu Yu had been discovered. Unexpectedly, Mengzhi looked around and then looked up at her questioningly. Only then did she break out in a cold sweat and barely relax.

“I went to prepare for the gift-giving ceremony early this morning. No one has come to visit yet. It will be at least afternoon before a few friends come to visit.”

If she had more than a few close friends, perhaps one of the guests would have come to visit her today. Now, her friends are sure to arrive in the afternoon. What should she do if the princess delays any longer?

Mengzhi pouted quietly, inwardly blaming the bad guy who had coaxed her here, but still couldn't give up and looked around the small room again.

"Is it really true, Sister Wenjuan? Or..."

Mengzhi suddenly bent down and looked under the bed, which was obviously not a place to hide anyone. Then she straightened up, which scared Wenjuan half to death, who thought that Gu Yu's whereabouts had been exposed.

"Princess, there's no ice being delivered to the room right now. How about we go for a walk in the garden?"

"I'm a bit tired from the journey, so I should rest more."

With a nonchalant wave of her hand, Mengzhi bit her lip and searched little by little, occasionally running to the window to glance at the courtyard before turning back in frustration.

Watching her actions, Wenjuan couldn't help but ask with some confusion:

"Princess, what's wrong...?"

Mengzhi blushed slightly and twisted her hands, hesitating whether to tell her future sister-in-law some details. Suddenly, her eyes caught sight of the half-screen of embroidered women in the corner, and she was moved. She walked towards it involuntarily.

Wenjuan raised her hand, but no sound came out of her throat. She never expected that she would collapse in the darkness before dawn after she had managed to keep it a secret. She could only watch helplessly as Mengzhi quietly walked forward and cautiously peeked inside.

Gu Yu was listening intently to the sounds inside the room with a pained expression when, for some reason, the room suddenly became quiet. She immediately had a bad feeling and couldn't help but put her ear even closer to listen carefully.

"It seems... someone is coming?"

The faint sound of footsteps reached Gu Yu's ears. Before he could think much about it, a small head suddenly peeked in from the edge of the screen. The bright blue eyes were filled with surprise and joy, and the head instantly saw through his disguise.

"Brother Yu~"

"..."

Gu Yu's mind went blank, completely devoid of worldly emotions of gain and loss. Her mind was frantically recalling the few remaining Taoist temples and Buddhist monasteries that were still unknown to most people, wondering what posture she should adopt to become a disciple so that she could forget the scene before her.

"Brother Yu?"

Wenjuan behind her almost collapsed to the ground with her legs weak. She couldn't believe that if the princess shouted out, attracting the attention of the palace maids outside, and finally revealing that a man had been hidden in her room during her coming-of-age ceremony, bringing shame to the family, she would be the sinner of the entire Kong family!

Unexpectedly, the person hiding inside seemed to be quite familiar with the princess. Wenjuan felt her heart finally jump back into her stomach, let out a long breath, and raised her hand to wipe the cold sweat from her forehead.

"...Mengzhi, what a coincidence..."

Gu Yu tried to laugh awkwardly to ease the embarrassment of being exposed in women's clothing at such close range, but she could only manage two chuckles before her throat felt blocked and she couldn't make a sound. In the end, she couldn't bear being stared at like this any longer, so she could only silently lower her head, move the screen aside again, and walk out.

Mengzhi, who was excited, did not notice the despair in Gu Yu's eyes. She couldn't help but grab his sleeve. At least she didn't hug him directly, but even so, Wenjuan covered her mouth in surprise.

Judging from the princess's tone, she knows that this Brother Gu is a man, so how can she still be so close to him?

Mengzhi looked up at Gu Yu, whom she hadn't seen for some time, with a blissful smile. Gu Yu barely managed to resist the urge to dig a hole and bury himself on the spot, and tenderly patted the girl's head.

"Zhi'er, what are you doing here?"

"Brother Yu is so handsome..."

Mengzhi made a sudden, seemingly random remark, and the two remaining servants, who hadn't dared to speak, silently agreed in their hearts. Just before Gu Yu's blood pressure spiked, Mengzhi, now fully awake, hurriedly tugged at Gu Yu's sleeve and gestured to the other two not to eavesdrop.

Seeing that Wenjuan and the others had turned their backs and walked a few steps away, Mengzhi tilted her head up and whispered into Gu Yu's ear. Her soft breath warmed his earlobe, offering some comfort to his exhausted soul after a long morning.

"It was Mother who said we could see Brother Yu here, she said..."

Gu Yu's heart skipped a beat. Did Empress Zhou know he was here?! For some reason, he suddenly recalled Li Wensong's words about the Duke Yansheng at Yingke Pavilion that day, and a bad feeling immediately arose in his heart.

"Impossible! This was clearly a plan that Wen Song and I came up with ourselves. How did they know about it? Could it be that Wen Song leaked the information?"

Upon hearing the rest, Gu Yu couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, looking down at the well-behaved and adorable Meng Zhi, her heart filled with strange thoughts.

Why send the imperial princess here in such a grand manner, just to tell me that you're helping us take our daughter to escape the summer heat?

Chapter Thirty-Five: Definition of Social Death

"Mother said that Brother Yu can come to pick me up in five days..."

Mengzhi's pretty face was filled with a happy smile. She snuggled closer to Gu Yu, but quickly realized what was happening. She secretly glanced at the backs of the two people pretending to be offline, and reluctantly rubbed against them before taking a half step back.

Gu Yu quickly composed himself, affectionately patted Meng Zhi's head, but sighed inwardly.

In just a short while, he had already thought of three or four possibilities, but he knew nothing about the news in the court and really couldn't figure out Jiang Ming's intentions.

However, in any case, it is probably the common wish of all those who care about Mengzhi to make her happy for a while.

"Okay, okay, I'll bring Zhi'er over then, and she'll play with you a lot~"

Lowering her voice, Gu Yu accepted Meng Zhi's arrangements without hesitation. She was already planning who would be assigned to tidy up the large manor in Xishan after returning home—what could be more suitable for escaping the summer heat than this manor near the capital?

During the previous dynasty, there were four manors scattered throughout the Western Hills, but by this dynasty, only two remain. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to call the other one a royal garden. In some ways, the Gu family's manor could be considered an overreach, especially after Gu Yu acquired some strange and unusual items.

"We can let a few of the farming families inside come out to stand guard, and leave a few farm women behind... Or should we bring Daiyu and the others along? But what excuse can we use..."

Watching her beloved Yu-gege frowning and deep in thought, Mengzhi stared at his "stunningly handsome face" with great interest for a moment before suddenly remembering something. She quickly took an envelope from her sleeve and handed it to him.

"Brother Yu, this is what Father Emperor instructed me to give to you."

Gu Yu snapped out of her daze, took the envelope, but didn't open it on the spot. She then whispered something to Meng Zhi for a while before stopping.

Looking at the rising sun outside the window, Gu Yu rubbed his temples with a headache. Although he was very reluctant to let Meng Zhi leave, how could he run away if she didn't leave?

He knew that telling Mengzhi to leave quickly might hurt her feelings, but he couldn't bring himself to say what he was worried about. He opened his mouth several times but couldn't get the words out. "Because your brother Yu is currently dressed as a woman and hiding in someone else's room, if he gets discovered, he'll be in serious trouble. So please take everyone away so I can run away."

Is this something a human being could say?!

Wenjuan, who was standing nearby, keenly noticed the hesitation on Gu Yu's face. Although she was shocked by the seemingly excessively close relationship between the two, she couldn't help but speak up and offer advice:

"Your Highness, you should head back soon. Young Master Gu will be arriving later..."

Mengzhi looked up at Gu Yu with a puzzled expression, her face full of confusion:

"But, Mother Empress instructed that if we run into Brother Yu, we can go out together, right? The female official sent by Mother Empress will make the arrangements."

The sheer volume of information behind those words caused Gu Yu's brain to freeze on the spot. She slumped forward, almost embracing Meng Zhi completely. Wen Juan blushed and quickly pulled her maid to the outer room.

Mengzhi, both shy and delighted, snuggled closer to Gu Yu. In the vast palace, even her father and mother couldn't visit her every day. So, when she had nothing to do, she would often sit by the old lake, reminiscing about their first meeting over and over again, with a hint of longing in her heart.

"Brother Yu..."

Listening to the little girl's contented murmurs and rubbing against him, Gu Yu took a long, deep breath before barely giving up the urge to become a nun. Even so, his feet were still unconsciously digging into the ground.

Although it was just a short sentence, it ruthlessly shattered the wall he had painstakingly built to deceive himself. Although only a minority of people knew about this in a macro sense, if most of his relatives and friends knew about it, what difference would that be from cutting himself off from the world?

The more Gu Yu thought about it, the more he wanted to rush out the door. So he simply sat down on the stool next to him and kissed the girl's cheek in his arms with a bit of catharsis: as for the girl's precious first kiss, which was of great significance, he naturally couldn't be so hasty.

Mengzhi blushed and obediently wrapped her arms around Gu Yu's neck, letting his kisses rain down on her eyes, nose, and cheeks. Although her education in the palace had been enough for her to understand what kind of behavior this was, she didn't want to resist—or rather, she didn't want to see the disappointment in the eyes of the person in front of her.

But this was not a place to linger. Their intimacy did not last long before Gu Yu wanted to leave this place of heartbreak completely. He could no longer bear the clothes he was wearing that did not belong to him, especially the origin of this familiar style, which made him feel as if he had swallowed a fly.

Mengzhi reluctantly got off Gu Yu's lap, and after Gu Yu promised to come pick her up as soon as possible, she pushed open the door and went out to call a middle-aged palace maid.

Before long, the palace maids in the courtyard withdrew in an orderly manner. Mengzhi pulled Wenjuan and walked towards the front hall with smiles on their faces, leaving only five or six palace maids and Gu Yu who came out to face them in silence.

"Please, sir."

……

Inside the Gu residence, Qin Keqing was resting on the couch with her eyes closed when she was suddenly picked up by a slightly strong body. The familiar scent and warmth made her realize what was happening even before she opened her eyes, and she quickly blushed and tried to get down to serve him.

"Why did you come at this time, sir?"

"Tear--"

The next moment, the gorgeous dress that had only been made a few days ago was roughly torn to shreds. Before she could even cry out, Gu Yu forcefully covered her mouth and stripped her naked in a few quick movements.

"Don't wear this style at home anymore."

"Hmm~"

"... "

The anticipated battle did not occur. Holding Ke Qing's soft, boneless body exposed to the air, Gu Yu's large hands slowly explored her beautiful parts. After thinking for a long time, he finally spoke:

"In a few days we'll go to a manor outside the city to escape the summer heat. You can get to know it better then..."

Qin Keqing suddenly looked up, both surprised and delighted, staring at Gu Yu with eyes full of emotion, but still shook her head and said:

"Since I am currently unable to see the light of day, how can I go to see the young ladies of the Jia family? You may go by yourself, Your Excellency. I am already satisfied with Your Excellency's kindness. Why not bring the You sisters along? That way, Your Excellency will not be too angry and harm your health."

Gu Yu felt even more guilty upon hearing this. For the sake of the Jia family's beauties, he had inevitably neglected Ke Qing, who stayed at home, for the past two years. But now even the You sisters could go out and have fun while she couldn't. How could he bear it?

"...Don't worry, I'll have my reasons. We'll all be family from now on, just treat them like sisters. Forget about aunts, they'll all be in my bed by then!"

"Oh, grandpa!"

……

"...Where is Yu Meiren?!"

As the guests gradually left the Kong family's main gate, Li Wensong hurriedly went to guard the side gate. After a long time, he heard some noise and searched for a familiar figure, even forgetting to eat a bite of his meal. But he didn't see anyone until the opera troupe left and the side gate was closed. Li Wensong broke out in a cold sweat.

"Ruined!"

Chapter Thirty-Six: A Dog Relying on Its Master's Power

After having dinner at the mansion, Gu Yu specially invited the You sisters to eat together. After teasing them a bit during the meal, Gu Yu felt much more relaxed seeing the two sisters' completely different reactions.

The two women blushed from his teasing. Sister You Er almost buried her head in her chest, clearly showing her gentle and submissive nature. But Sister You San still dared to retort with a huff of embarrassment and anger, which was truly amusing.

Gu Yu chuckled and deliberately hinted that he should get closer to them this month, finally managing to tame the little kitten and force her to lower her proud head.

Keqing smiled and watched the commotion from the sidelines, her eyes shining like starlight, revealing their brilliance to the young man before her.

This is one of the reasons why she was willing to give everything. Gu Yu did not ignore them because of their status as concubines. On the contrary, he elevated their status in a slightly novel way to show his affection for them, such as having them sit at the table together for a meal now.

If someone had told her a year or two ago that men would treat their concubines kindly and tolerantly, she probably would have just scoffed.

Do you really think that the beauty of these vixens can bring you temporary happiness? Besides, even so, they still have to grovel and scheme against each other to compete for the rare favor they deserve.

Thinking about all the concubines she had met, perhaps only Concubine Zhao from the Rongguo Mansion could be considered somewhat decent—even though even the old lady's maids were more respectable than her.

For the first time, Gu Yu felt that the connection between them was based on feelings rather than power and wealth. Although she didn't have much affection for the You sisters in front of her, she had no doubt about Gu Yu's ability. If she said she would win them over this month, then she would definitely be able to win them over obediently.