GTB Chapter 53

Chapter 53: Which Young Lady Did You Choose?

Chapter 53: Which Young Lady Did You Choose?

Seventh Prince’s Residence

Inside the study, Shí Yuánchén leaned back on the chaise lounge, eating the last of his loquat, tossing the pit out the window. He then turned his head to look at Shí Yǎn, who was sitting at his desk, reviewing documents.

“Seventh Brother, the Hundred Flowers Banquet is in six days. Aren’t you worried? Are you really going to let Father Emperor bestow a marriage upon us?”

Shí Yǎn raised his eyes and glanced at Shí Yuánchén, saying casually, “Forgot to tell you, I randomly chose a princess consort. Father Emperor won’t have a chance to make decisions for me.”

“What?” Shí Yuánchén, hearing this, immediately jumped up from the chaise lounge and quickly walked to Shí Yǎn’s desk, sitting down.

“What did you say? You chose a princess consort? When did this happen? How come I didn’t know? Who did you choose?”

A shocked Shí Yuánchén fired off a series of questions, his face full of disbelief.

How could his Seventh Brother suddenly become so obedient and docile? Why wasn’t he opposing it? How could he be the only one left out in the end?

“Ten days ago, the Empress Dowager had me choose from portraits. Why don’t you go to the Empress Dowager and choose one too?” Shí Yǎn suggested, seeing Shí Yuánchén looking abandoned.

However, Shí Yuánchén didn’t seem interested. The palace held one or two banquets every year, and the young ladies from families with ranks above four were basically all there. If he had taken a fancy to someone, he would have noticed them already. Why would he need to choose now?

However, he was very curious. Which family’s daughter did his Seventh Brother choose?

“Seventh Brother, which family’s daughter did you choose?”

“The Jiang family,” Shí Yǎn said, looking back down at the book in his hands.

“The Jiang family?” Shí Yuánchén searched his memory. Besides theprincess’s husband being surnamed Jiang, he couldn’t think of any other Jiang family.

“Which Jiang family?”

“How many Jiang families are there in Kyoto?” Shí Yǎn said, looking at him, “You should go back! Don’t stay here with me; I have something to do out of the city later.”

“The Jiang family that Qingya married into?” Shí Yuánchén ignored Shí Yǎn’s words, thinking it could only be that Jiang family. But he hadn’t heard of any other young ladies in the Jiang family.

But then he thought, the Jiang family had only been in Kyoto for a year, so it was normal that the Jiang daughter hadn’t attended any palace banquets.

“Seventh Brother, have you met the Jiang family’s daughter?” He thought Shí Yǎn must have met the Jiang family’s daughter; otherwise, why would he have chosen a daughter from the Jiang family?

“I haven’t,” Shí Yǎn said truthfully.

Shí Yuánchén was very surprised, “You haven’t met her? Then you just looked at the portrait and chose her?”

“Is there a problem?”

Shí Yǎn’s words made Shí Yuánchén confused. Was his Seventh Brother so casual about marriage?

“No, Seventh Brother, is the Jiang family’s daughter very beautiful?”

Shí Yǎn put down the book in his hand and poured himself a cup of tea, “She’s alright! Anyway, I had to choose someone.”

“Sigh!” Shí Yuánchén sighed, “I haven’t had enough fun yet! I really don’t want to be given a princess consort by Father Emperor so quickly and have her stuck in the residence. It’ll just delay my search for true love.”

Shí Yǎn almost choked on his tea. When his Eighth Brother was surrounded by beauties and drinking in brothels, he didn’t seem so innocent.

He put down the teacup, leaned back in his chair, and looked at Shí Yuánchén, “Don’t tell me your true love is that girl who was dressed as a man the first time you met, and then tricked you into helping her escape the second time.”

“Seventh Brother, you don’t understand. I admit you’re better than me in everything else, but in this aspect, ah! The road is long and winding!”

Shí Yuánchén felt that someone like his Seventh Brother, who refused to open his heart, would probably find it difficult to understand the feeling of being filled with joy.

Sigh! He understood, but it was just wishful thinking, unrequited love…

“Don’t worry too much; Father Emperor might just be saying it casually.” Shí Yǎn felt that his Father Emperor probably just wanted him to get married; after all, his Eighth Brother was only seventeen, so there was no rush.

Yu Yuan Pawnshop, inside the Hidden Trace Building’s conference hall, after Sòng Fúgē finished arranging related matters, Leng Er stepped forward to report:

“Master, we received news that the Wind Cutter Four Bandits have recently appeared a hundred li outside the city. Does Master want to go with us?”

Leng Er asked this because their master always personally eliminated bandits like these.

Sòng Fúgē heard this and calculated the time, thinking that he could return by tomorrow afternoon at the latest, so he agreed to go along.

But what he didn’t know was that this trip would be the most regretful decision of his life.

The night wind was blowing, dark clouds covered the moonlight, and everything was unclear.

The group followed the tracks to an unremarkable farm estate, but as soon as they entered the courtyard, the trees began to shake, followed by a rustling of falling powder.

By the time Sòng Fúgē and the others reacted, their limbs were weak, and they all fell to the ground.

Then, a woman’s laughter echoed in the night sky, “Hehehehe…”

“Who are you?”

Sòng Fúgē stared at the two people who had fallen from the tree. One was a woman nearing fifty years old, and beside her stood a red-clothed girl of about eighteen.

The woman didn’t answer Sòng Fúgē’s question immediately but instead asked, “Are you the Shadow Gate’s Sect Leader?”

“I am the Hidden Trace Building’s Master,” Sòng Fúgē said deliberately, worried that they were people seeking revenge.

The old woman chuckled, seemingly not caring whether it was the Shadow Gate or the Hidden Trace Building. She took a lantern from the girl beside her and brought it closer to Sòng Fúgē’s face, then asked:

“Are you Kui Xi’s son?”

The old woman’s eyes, as if poisoned, stared at Sòng Fúgē’s face, wanting to find similarities between him and Kui Xi.

She didn’t understand; that ungrateful man had clearly been given a drug that would make him infertile, so why did he still have descendants?

“No, I was just adopted by him,” Sòng Fúgē quickly denied truthfully, seeing the hatred in the old woman’s eyes.

And continued, “He has no children.”

The woman smiled, “He really hid well all these years. I couldn’t find him until he died. Since you’re just an adopted son, I’ll spare your life, but you’re still related to him, so you can avoid the death penalty, but you can’t escape punishment.”

She said to the girl beside her, “Xiao Yue, take him back to the valley.”

Then, she scattered a handful of powder on the seven or eight subordinates on the ground, giving them a little strength to walk.

“Two choices: either follow obediently, or die.”

The girl called Xiao Yue looked at Sòng Fúgē with a hint of excitement in her eyes, as if it was the first time she had seen such a good-looking man. She immediately stepped forward and carried him on her shoulders, incredibly strong.

Sòng Fúgē became anxious and quickly tried to negotiate, “Let me go. I was forced to be adopted, against my will. Your grudges have nothing to do with me. I can give you gold and silver, or we can discuss other matters.”

The old woman smiled, “Gold and silver are not as interesting as a living person. My valley is just short of odd-job workers; we don’t lack anything else.”

She had finally found this place; how could she return empty-handed? That wasn’t her style.

Jiang Jiuchu had changed her usual behavior these past two days, accompanying Madam Ye in embroidery, playing the qin for the little nephew in Shí Qingya’s belly, and even going to the front hall for meals with her family.

Although everyone was surprised by the change in her attitude, they didn’t think too much about it.

On the night of the Lantern Festival, Jiang Jiuchu put the two letters she had written in advance under her pillow, one was her farewell letter, and the other was a plan for escaping.

She believed that as long as her parents read the letters, they would definitely do as she said.

After doing everything, she changed into a set of men’s clothing, waiting for Ji Shutíng to come and find her to go to the Lantern Festival.

She and Shuting had agreed to it when she returned to the residence a few days ago. Plus, with her performance these past two days, her parents and brother shouldn’t stop her from leaving the residence.