C216
"How can you not scare people, Gu Xuanchen!"
If not for her fear of losing face, she would have gotten up after squatting on the floor and crying out her soul. She might not have felt her legs go weak, but she could still hear the sound of her heartbeat from two miles away.
"I thought you weren't afraid." Gu Yun hugged her from behind, and reached out to cover her beating heart, "It's not okay if I'm wrong, I shouldn't be so shocked. Don't be afraid of losing face, you can just squat on the ground, or even cry on my body if you want to."
"Where are you touching?!" Xie Jingxi snappily hit his mischievous hands away, making him giggle.
"Why do you have to turn hostile? That wasn't what you said last night. I remembered it all." Gu Yun once again put his hand back, "If it wasn't for the place I'm at now, I really want to do something."
"I'm taking it back, Gu Xuanchen. How is your skin so thick that you get addicted to it? You must be used to it, right?"
"Hmm, of course, my wife is fond of me, do you have any objections?" Gu Yun bit on her neck, "Take it back, you can forget about it. If you like me, then you have to face it bravely, you can't go back on your words."
The more they talked, the more lost they became. Xie Jingxi was too lazy to argue with them, "What did you just say?
"Don't change the topic, come and face one."
"Are you done yet!?" Xie Jingxi forcefully placed the small oil lamp in his hand. "Hold it steady and don't shake it."
Just as she placed the light bulb in his hand, the light bulb suddenly went off. The place they were standing at turned back into the darkness, as if it was causing a ghost.
Compared to those chaotic and secret, he was actually more concerned about the days he spent with her. These small, especially interesting days, bickering and flirting.
Xie Jingxi came back to reality and laughed, "I say, Gu Xuanchen, you are getting more and more childish. I am laughing at you, looking down on you, really looking down on you."
"It's no use laughing, my hands are shaking. My wife isn't used to me and isn't happy."
Xie Jingxi tapped his lips, and took a light bite, "You're much more viscous than Gu Sansi. Your image in my heart, is currently moving from Xie Bakuai to Gu Sansi.
Gu Yun dragged her retreating head, and deeply kissed his hair and ears, the temperature in the dark and cold environment suddenly rose, "I'm counting." After a long while, he finally let go of the blushing person, "Even if I became like Ming Yu, you would still like me."
Gu Yun lit up the lamp once again, and it shone upon Xie Jingxi's bright red cheeks. He laughed, "From now on, when you are cold, I will have to do something, the effect is very good."
"Hurry up and go out. I already have no way of directly facing your face. What's wrong with someone called Ming Yu?
"Let's get down to business." Master Gu's face instantly turned serious, as if he was the one who was playing the rogue. He raised the light in his hand and said, "It's this book."
Xie Jingxi looked at the booklet he was pointing at, and she realized that the reason why Gu Yun was making fun of her was probably because of nervousness. He had seen this booklet before in the Marquis Mansion, and it was very likely that it was a notebook that the Lady Ji had used to record before. Furthermore, it was very likely that he had not shown it to Gu Yun even though he had not seen it before.
Xie Jingxi took down the small booklet and spoke in a conversational tone, "Looks like Grandfather came here later on, so I guess Mother's things in Marquis Mansion must be kept here as well. So Grandfather is very concerned about Mother."
"Can you see it clearly? Are you stupid? Can't you go out and see?"
Oh yeah, Xie Jingxi pretended not to care, but in reality she was even more nervous than him. She even forgot to look around outside to see what was going on, and laughed, "We were both stupid to stay at a place where we could be poisoned just by sniffing for so long."
He even did such a small thing that couldn't be seen by others. He was so dumb that it felt like he was in the beginning of a relationship.
There was a table and chair outside, and Gu Yun sat on his lap as he opened the small notebook. The two of them read it together, but in reality, it was nothing much, more like a essay from day to day, but what was rare was that there was something written almost every single day. Sometimes, it was extremely detailed, and sometimes it could even be said in a few sentences, but it was as if a person's entire life was watching over this book.
Xie Jingxi looked very carefully, and Gu Yun did not disturb her either. Xie Jingxi did not know whether he looked carefully, but she accompanied her until the sky started to dim, and then Xie Jingxi closed the book, "This chair didn't make us collapse, it's really strong."
"Yes, it is much stronger than my leg."
Xie Jingxi stood up and rubbed his leg, "Are you stupid? If you're stupid, just shout at me, do not be anxious, just wait until you've recovered before doing it again.
Gu Yun laughed, he grabbed her waist and buried his face into her body, "I love to see your heartbroken and anxious look, so what if I have arms and legs?
"Alright, alright, alright. I'll support you. Let's try it out slowly." Xie Jingxi held her arm and pulled him up, causing Gu Yun to use the force of the impact to place all of the weight on her body on top of her body. Xie Jingxi stood by his side for a while, consoling his back.
She knew that he must have read the notes carefully, and that he must have understood. He was not three years old, so she naturally understood the meaning of the words. He had to slowly digest them.
"Let's go. It's already dark. I'm a bit hungry." Gu Yun straightened his body and pulled her down the stairs. As he was walking out of the small building, Gu Yun turned around and took a look, "She is really as silly as I thought she was."
Lady Ji committed suicide.
Xie Jingxi held his hand tightly, "Let's go, how about I make you some noodles? It's warm."
Gu Yun laughed, "Yes, it's so warm."
The Lady Ji was not a woman who consented to anything. This was a little different from what Xie Jingxi or the others had initially thought, they had all imagined her to be a helpless, pitiful, and even weak girl that had sunk deep into the courtyard of a high school. Just like the other girls who had been engulfed before, her withering would cause others to sigh, but this was not the case.
She felt that her love and marriage should not continue to exist in an irreconcilable place like Marquis Mansion, and even didn't wish for Gu Yun to face it. Her husband inevitably had to face power and struggles, and these struggles surpassed her imagination, and exceeded the weight that their emotions could bear.
It was impossible for the Marquis to give up on him for her sake, and she did not want to leave or compromise with him as if he had nothing at all. Furthermore, she did not leave himself a way out, cut off their relationship, and cut off the previous half of her life.
Xie Jingxi could understand her choice, because she had made the same choice back then, but she did not commit suicide. She and Gu Heng did not have the burden of Marquis and herself, either.
When she decided to commit suicide, she was very calm. There were no complaints nor hesitation in her words, she just wanted to end things that she had set up for herself. She did not plan to leave behind anything related to her to the Marquis, including Gu Yun. However, at the last juncture, Lady Ji still left Gu Yun with half a chance of survival. She was probably betting on fate, because if Gu Yun was able to survive, he would be able to survive in the Marquis Mansion.
However, Xie Jingxi understood hshe very well. If she and Gu Heng had a child of sher own, she wouldn't have left him in a place like Marquis Mansion. It was later proved that Gu Yun was not able to blend in with the life in Marquis Mansion, and he was not affected by the pain in his body nor the estrangement in his heart. He was too similar to the Lady Ji, he was born with a place like that which didn't belong to him.
Gu Yun had probably thought about all these over the past twenty years and rejected it himself as well. However, without exception, he had added all that he had endured as well as what the Lady Ji had endured onto the Marquis s and Marquis Mansion, there was a supporting point for all of this, whether he hated it or not, and it was this point that had allowed him to reach his current state. However, now that point of support had suddenly collapsed, he was unable to bear it.
Fortunately, he now had another belief that could support him, one that could support him with one bowl of soup after another.
"It seems a little smaller than the one I had in the morning. Why don't you praise me?" Xie Jingxi drank a mouthful of soup, "The taste is also better now."
Gu Yun used his chopsticks to pick at the noodles in the bowl, "Three pieces becomes four pieces, it's really small, Xi keep up the effort."
"Be touched, don't cry. If tears fall into the bowl, the soup will turn salty."
"I was so touched that I wanted to jump into a bowl." What was even more rare was that the dough was cooked, "Xi, it's so good that you can be by my side."
"Don't stir things up, it'll affect your appetite." Xie Jingxi held onto his cheek as she watched him eat, "Actually, I don't feel anything, it's not that I don't feel any pain while I'm standing, it's that we can't interject at all. The final verdict we had in the past wasn't anything much to think about, but I'm still very surprised about one thing, Wuhen was actually a poison personally concocted by my mother, I had always thought it was grandfather's work, after all, he was the best at detoxifying poisons."
She wasn't the only one who didn't think that a girl in a pavilion could develop such a crazy poison. The reason so many people died was because of her masterpiece, which was from the small attic.
This was what she had prepared for him before she had decided to enter the capital.