Capítulo 1926: Chapter 957: Big Brother’s Doting
The past grudges have all been resolved, and the misunderstandings that needed to be cleared have been cleared.
The Yao Family is not a malicious stepmother, and Gu Changqing is also a good elder brother.
For Gu Yan, for Gu Jiao, he risked his life several times. In Yao Family’s heart, there was no longer any resentment towards him, only deep emotion and gratitude.
But having no inner barrier is one thing, creating a visible estrangement is another.
She said she had no expectations, but when this moment actually arrived, she realized she had been waiting for this word ‘mother’ all along.
“Look at you, why are you crying?” Seeing the Yao Family shed tears while holding a tea cup, the Duke hurriedly pulled out a handkerchief to wipe her tears, “Isn’t it just a form of address?”
Although he grumbled like this, he understood in his heart that Yao Family had been waiting for this ‘mom’ for too long.
When the sons were young, he tried countless ways, both soft and hard, to force them to show filial respect to Yao Family, to call her ‘mother’, but the three brothers were so stubborn that they would rather be beaten to death than comply.
The old madam felt sorry for her grandsons and wouldn’t allow him to force the three children any longer. Since then, the matter of addressing her was delayed.
Now that the eldest son took the initiative to speak, honestly, he was quite surprised.
But thinking about how they had gotten along these years, it seemed expected.
Yuan Baolin looked at Yao Family, then at Gu Changqing, who seemed calm on the surface but must have been stirred inside, and took a tea cup from a servant, presenting it to Yao Family with both hands: “Mother, please have tea.”
“Good, good!” Yao Family tearfully smiled as she received this daughter-in-law tea.
Yao Family also gave Yuan Baolin a box of jewelry, which she and Gu Jiao had chosen together at the shop. The designs were novel, simple, and elegant, matching well with Yuan Baolin’s temperament.
Seeing this gift, Yuan Baolin knew that a lot of thought had been put into it, and she smiled and thanked her: “Thank you, mother.”
The young couple had lunch at Yao Family’s courtyard.
After leaving the courtyard, they walked back together. When they passed a small garden, Gu Changqing suddenly stopped and said to Yuan Baolin: “I have to go to the Military Camp later, I might not return tonight, settle down early yourself.”
Before Yuan Baolin could speak, the old duke came over briskly with his hands behind his back.
“Grandfather.” They both saluted him.
The old duke nodded: “I have to go out, you two go back to the courtyard.”
Gu Changqing said, “Is grandfather heading to the Military Camp? I will accompany you.”
The old duke gave him a strange look: “What are you accompanying me for? You’ve been given leave; you don’t need to go to the Military Camp this month, stay well at the residence with Baolin.”
Gu Changqing choked: “I…”
Yuan Baolin’s lips curled up slightly.
“I’m leaving.” The old duke left with a calm expression.
Yuan Baolin smiled slightly: “Grandfather, take care.”
“Hmm.” The old duke, having already walked two steps, responded solemnly.
Yuan Baolin looked at Gu Changqing with a face full of regret: “What shall we do? Grandfather won’t let you go to the Military Camp.”
Gu Changqing was at a loss. Trained in martial arts since childhood, he followed his grandfather to the battlefield at fifteen, spending every day either training soldiers or licking blood from the knife’s edge. Suddenly having free time was truly uncomfortable for him.
He sighed: “I’ll go to the Back Mountain to practice swordsmanship for a while.”
Yuan Baolin made an ‘ah’ sound, speaking softly: “You… still have the energy to practice swordsmanship?”
Gu Changqing momentarily didn’t comprehend: “Of course I have…”
As he spoke, he realized what Yuan Baolin meant.
It had only been two days, and the awkwardness hadn’t faded. He cleared his throat and said seriously: “I’ll take you back to the courtyard first.”
Gu Changqing escorted Yuan Baolin back to the new chamber before heading to the Back Mountain to practice swordsmanship.
He practiced until evening.
Sweating profusely, he returned to the courtyard to find Yuan Baolin sitting in the room waiting for him. On the table were several delicate and delicious dishes, but they seemed to have been left out too long and lost their warmth.
“You’re back?” Yuan Baolin greeted him.
He nodded slightly and asked her: “Were you… waiting for me?”
“Yes.” After answering him, Yuan Baolin instructed the maidservant, “Yue’e, take these dishes to the Kitchen to be reheated.”
“Yes, miss.” Yue’e took the dishes away.
Yuan Baolin handed him a handkerchief, he paused, accepted it, and then said: “If I come back late in the future, just eat by yourself, you don’t need to wait for me.”
Yuan Baolin said: “It would be strange if I ate by myself, easy for people to tell that we’re pretending to be married.”
Gu Changqing thought it over and realized that made sense.
He said: “Then I’ll… try to come back earlier.”
After the two finished eating and washed up, they prepared to sleep separately.
From head to toe, Gu Changqing was dressed meticulously, even buttoning his collar to the top. Despite being handsome, he exuded an icy, abstinent aura.
Yuan Baolin was not as formally dressed, but her clothes were also complete.
Yuan Baolin drew open the curtain and got into bed, while Gu Changqing, after closing the room door, as usual, went to fetch the bedding to make the floor bed, only to find the quilts missing from the cabinet.
He frowned.
Yuan Baolin poked her head out from the canopy: “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
Gu Changqing frowned and said: “The bedding is gone.”
Yuan Baolin asked: “How could that be?”
Gu Changqing’s brows remained knitted: “Maybe the servants saw it was dirty and took it to wash. I’ll go and ask them to bring some new ones.”
“Hey! Gu Changqing!” Yuan Baolin stopped him, “If they took it because they saw it was dirty, then after you sleep on the floor again tonight, wouldn’t they find it dirty again tomorrow morning? It’s fine once or twice, but if it happens often, your sleeping on the floor will be exposed sooner or later.”
In stories, when a man avoids sleeping with his wife by making a bed on the floor, it seems like a perfect strategy, but reality reveals its flaws upon trial.
Are the servants blind?
How could they not know that the bedding has been laid on the floor?
Gu Changqing initially didn’t consider all this, mostly because he didn’t expect his grandfather wouldn’t let him go to the Military Camp. If the bottom of the bedding was dirty for a whole month, it would inevitably arouse suspicion.
“Come up and sleep,” Yuan Baolin said, “the bed is big anyway.”
Gu Changqing looked at the bolted door.
Yuan Baolin glanced in the direction of his gaze and said, “They’re outside keeping watch. If you go sleep in the Study Room, tomorrow the whole residence will hear news of our new marriage being incompatible.”
Gu Changqing looked at the several long benches in the room and said: “I can sleep on the bench.”
Yuan Baolin: “Oh.”
Gu Changqing arranged the bench, but as soon as he lay down, it broke.
Gu Changqing, who was dazed from the fall: “…”
In the end, Gu Changqing could only lie in the red canopy bed.
The bed was large, Yuan Baolin slept on the innermost side, and he on the edge, with enough space in between for another person to lie down.
Yuan Baolin, unperturbed, closed her eyes and soon fell asleep.
Gu Changqing lay flat, his hands folded over his abdomen, staring quietly at the top of the red canopy, her even breathing echoing in his ears, her gentle fragrance lingering around his nose.
The red canopy completely gathered her fragrance in this narrow world, the night amplifying everything endlessly.
With his vision limited, his other senses were heightened; her voice and breath, the soft bed beneath him, the silky quilt over him, all incessantly stimulating his instincts as a man.
Scenes from their wedding night involuntarily flashed in his mind — she under him, teary-eyed, her soft body trembling slightly…
He slightly clenched his fists, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and forcibly dispelled the distractions from his mind.
…
On the day Gu Changqing accompanied Yuan Baolin to visit her family, there happened to be a Lantern Festival on Chang’an Avenue.
Yuan Baolin wanted to see the lanterns, so Gu Changqing accompanied her.
“I want to go! I want to go too!” Yuan Tong held her sister’s hand and said.
Madam Yuan glared at her younger daughter fiercely, signaling her lack of awareness. “Your sister and brother-in-law are going to the Lantern Festival, what are you making a fuss for?”
Yet, Yuan Tong didn’t catch her mother’s sharp look, she’d been eagerly missing her sister these days, and now that her sister was finally back, she couldn’t bear to part so quickly!
“Can my sister come with us?” Yuan Baolin asked Gu Changqing for his opinion.
“Of course she can,” Gu Changqing readily agreed and said to Father Yuan and Madam Yuan, “Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, rest assured, I’ll bring them back after the Lantern Festival.”
Yuan Tong smiled happily: “Brother-in-law is so nice!”
Faced with this, Madam Yuan couldn’t stop Yuan Tong and had to let her go along.
On the way, Gu Changqing and Yuan Baolin had been sharing a carriage, but with Yuan Tong joining, to avoid gossip, Gu Changqing rode a horse ahead.
Inside the carriage, the two sisters talked privately, Yuan Tong holding her sister’s hand quietly asked: “Sister, tell me the truth, is brother-in-law good to you?”
Yuan Baolin said: “Pretty good.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Yuan Tong nodded: “Then I’m relieved.”
Gu Changqing didn’t intend to eavesdrop, but his hearing was sharp. It seemed Yuan Baolin hadn’t told even her closest sister about their sham marriage.
Chang’an Avenue was congested; when the carriage reached the side, it could no longer proceed, so they had to abandon the carriage and walk.
Yuan Baolin and her sister walked arm in arm in front, while Gu Changqing silently followed behind.
As night fell, the shops lining the avenue were brightly lit, and the stalls on either side of the road were adorned with dazzling lanterns, creating a spectacle of candlelight, like a meandering dragon in the night.
Yuan Baolin occasionally turned her head, and upon seeing him, would give him a slight smile before continuing to browse the lanterns with her sister.
After they had walked a while, someone suddenly leaned halfway out of a second-story window of a Restaurant and exclaimed excitedly to Gu Changqing: “Big brother?”
Gu Changqing stopped in his tracks and looked up.
The sisters, Yuan Baolin and Yuan Tong, also glanced at the person.
When Yuan Tong recognized who it was, she instantly showed a look of disdain: “It’s you?”
Gu Chengfeng’s face turned dark: “Why are you here too?”