Chapter 96: Took you to a good place.
As expected, within two days, Xing Zhi arrived at the Gu family’s gate with a carriage.
Since Gu Yu had already anticipated that his father-in-law would send someone to fetch them, he had his luggage and New Year’s gifts prepared. After Xing Zhi’s men loaded the items onto the carriage, they didn’t waste any more time and immediately drove the four of them away from Lian Town towards the capital.
Gu Yu had already informed Min Yan and his wife, as well as the village chief, in advance. Thus, there was no need to visit them again. He could safely sit in the carriage without having to worry about anything.
Gu Yu and the other three’s decisiveness even surprised Xing Zhi, who came to pick them up. He wondered if Gu Yu had the ability to divine the future, as he always seemed to anticipate everything beforehand.
It was truly miraculous!
In reality, Gu Yu did not possess any divinatory abilities. It was through the letters continuously sent by Gu Qing that he could accurately predict the outcome.
Especially as the letters became more frequent and contained complaints about being a “lonely old man with no one to care for,” Gu Yu felt a mix of amusement and helplessness.
However, he could understand. After all, Gu Qing was not young anymore and hadn’t seen Gu Mengyao and her brother in years. Even though he had a young son by his side, it didn’t mean he didn’t love Gu Mengyao and her brother.
The desire to reunite with his children made Gu Qing wish he could have his sons and daughters settle down in the capital and never return to Yang Family Village.
However, Gu Mengyao did not have a very good impression of the capital at the moment.
After just a few visits to the capital, so many things had happened. If they were to truly settle down in the capital, who knew what new troubles might arise!
It was better to stay in Yang Family Village, where life was free and unfettered, and there was no need to worry about trouble finding them.
Therefore, Gu Qing still needed to work harder!
He hoped to persuade his daughter soon to have Gu Mengyao and Gu Yu stay in the capital. Then, he could retire with peace of mind.
“Brother-in-law, how long will we be staying in the capital this time? I see we’ve brought so much luggage; we’ll probably be staying for a long period, right?”
“Mm, since we’ve decided to stay in the capital for the New Year, we won’t be leaving too soon. There aren’t many relatives to visit in Yang Family Village, but there are quite a few people to visit in the Gu Residence in the capital. You’ll be quite busy then!”
Gu Yu and Gu Qingheng were in the same carriage, while Gu Mengyao and Xia Tian were in another. As the carriages moved forward, Gu Qingheng, bored, asked Gu Yu about their future plans.
Upon hearing that they would be staying in the capital for a considerable period, Gu Qingheng’s eyes lit up. He began to secretly plan his future dates with Sister Xia Tian amidst the romantic snowy landscapes of the capital!
Although Yang Family Village was nice, living surrounded by mountains meant that even if he wanted to take Sister Xia Tian out, there wasn’t much to do in the snowy wilderness.
Therefore, spending the New Year in the capital was indeed a great idea!
However, upon hearing Gu Yu’s subsequent words, Gu Qingheng’s face immediately fell. He had no desire to visit the court officials with his father.
Gu Qingheng felt that he was still just a child of nine years old and that it was too early to enter the adult world!
Children his age should be playing and frolicking with their childhood sweethearts, living in an era of innocence!
Ideally, there would also be a slow-burning romance…
“Since we have to pay visits, brother-in-law, you can’t escape either!”
“I wasn’t planning to escape! Since deciding to celebrate the New Year in the capital, I’ve made my resolve! However, even if I go along, I’ll just be a supporting character. The most important person is you… Qingheng, I must tell you, don’t take this lightly. Making more connections now will be very beneficial for your future official career.”
“Brother-in-law, I’m only nine years old this year! You can’t possibly become an official at such a young age!”
“Hmph, doesn’t the book say, ‘Plan for a rainy day’? Consider it early practice to get used to this kind of life! Your brother-in-law is even preparing to latch onto you. Once you become a high-ranking official, I’ll follow you and enjoy all the privileges, swaggering through the streets without anyone daring to stop me!”
“…”
Upon hearing Gu Yu’s honest words, Gu Qingheng was speechless and didn’t know what to say!
How could his brother-in-law’s face become thicker and thicker, almost as thick as the corner of a city wall!
And swaggering through the streets… is brother-in-law planning to be a dissolute lord who bullies men and women? If that’s the case, be careful, his sister might just punch him…
However, just seeing his sister and brother-in-law flaunting their affection every day, there was no need to worry about such things happening!
“Once we arrive in the capital, there will surely be many tea parties, poetry gatherings, and banquets. When they invite my father, some people might be snobbish and make things difficult for me then!”
“Don’t worry, with your father here, no one will dare to make things difficult for you… As for me, it’s very possible I’ll be put in a difficult situation! After all, I’m just a son-in-law who married into the family. If there are people who disapprove of your father, they might use me to make trouble and embarrass your father.”
When Gu Yu mentioned the things they might encounter in the capital, Gu Qingheng felt depressed. He thought about how dealing with people wouldn’t be easy, and they would have to be careful not to fall into any traps set by others.
Upon hearing his brother-in-law’s complaint, Gu Yu couldn’t help but pat Gu Qingheng’s forehead, telling him not to overthink it. Gu Qing was there to lead the way!
If push comes to shove, he, his brother-in-law, was also there!
No need to worry.
“Brother-in-law, no! If anyone dares to bully you, watch out for my sister’s iron fists…”
“Go away, I haven’t become so useless that I need Mengyao to get revenge for me. If I have a grudge, I’ll settle it on the spot.”
When Gu Yu heard what his brother-in-law said, he immediately objected!
Even though his little wife was powerful, she was still a young girl. How could she be shouting about fighting and killing all the time!
His brother-in-law saying this now made Gu Yu recall the scene of Gu Mengyao punching a tiger to death back then.
Thus, after a long journey, Gu Yu and his party of four arrived in the capital and moved into Gu Qing’s mansion.
Afterward, Gu Qingheng used the excuse of travel fatigue to drag Xia Tian away.
This left Gu Yu and Gu Mengyao, the young couple, to accompany Gu Qing in conversation. After successfully pleasing his father-in-law, Gongsun Feifei called them over to chat and inquire about their recent lives and any difficulties they might have encountered.
Gongsun Feifei was different from the wicked stepmothers in storybooks. She treated Gu Mengyao and her brother equally and did not make things difficult for them. Gu Mengyao also respected Gongsun Feifei and felt comfortable interacting with her.
Therefore, after Gongsun Feifei called them over for a chat, it was already getting dark by the time they returned to their room.
When a maid came over to ask if they wanted dinner, Gu Yu quickly waved his hand, indicating that he did not want to eat and would rest for today.
If they went to have dinner and met Gu Qing and Gongsun Feifei again, Gu Yu felt that he and Gu Mengyao wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight; they would just end up chatting all night!
After all, his father-in-law was too enthusiastic, and he couldn’t quite handle it!
It was fortunate that his brother-in-law was clever and ran away as soon as he saw the situation. Gu Yu was now filled with envy and jealousy, thinking that next time he must drag Gu Qingheng down with him, perhaps to help divert some attention.
As they were tired from the journey and had been pulled into conversations for a long time, Gu Yu took out food from his space and ate some with Gu Mengyao. Afterward, he washed up and went to sleep completely.
He needed to be well-rested to deal with his father-in-law tomorrow.
The next day, due to sleeping early, Gu Yu did not slack in bed. Instead, he went to wake Gu Qingheng up, which greatly annoyed Gu Qingheng. In the end, he buried his head in the quilt and let Gu Yu make all sorts of noise beside him.
Seeing this, Gu Yu immediately chuckled, his eyes rolled, and he thought of a way to wake Gu Qingheng up!
He got a large porcelain bottle from outside. Because of the cold weather, Gu Yu found it cold just holding it in his hand, but this also made him very satisfied, thinking he could carry out his ‘evil plan.’
While Gu Qingheng was off guard, Gu Yu quickly lifted a corner of the quilt, swiftly stuffed the porcelain bottle inside, and then ran away.
“Ahhh!”
After running a good distance, Gu Yu listened to the shouts coming from Gu Qingheng’s room, and a brilliant smile spread across his lips.
Since his brother-in-law had always found ways to wake him up, he could finally get his revenge!
However… if he were to oversleep in the future, Gu Qingheng would likely retaliate with the same method.
After successfully waking his brother-in-law, Gu Yu turned and headed towards the main courtyard to have breakfast with his father-in-law.
During breakfast, Gu Yu chatted with his father-in-law about everything under the sun, and the breakfast meal stretched almost until the afternoon. Finally, Gongsun Feifei couldn’t stand it any longer and came up with a plan to take Gu Qing away, finally freeing Gu Yu.
Gu Qingheng, having heard about Gu Yu’s encounter yesterday from somewhere, did not get up for breakfast even though Gu Yu had stuffed him with the ice-cold porcelain bottle. He had thus escaped unharmed.
Fortunately, Gu Yu had no more obligations. After Gu Mengyao was called away by Gongsun Feifei for a chat, Gu Yu, to prevent Gu Qing from finding him, quickly instructed the servants attending him that he was going out to visit a friend.
Stepping out of the Gu Residence, Gu Yu felt instantly relieved. After thinking for a moment, he hired a carriage and headed towards Chengfeng Shan’s residence.
“Brother Gu, although I guessed you would come to the capital for the New Year, I didn’t expect it to be so early?”
“Can’t help it, my father-in-law was urgent. So we came a few days early to avoid any accidents along the way and delaying the New Year.”
When Gu Yu arrived at Chengfeng Shan’s residence, he saw that Chengfeng Shan was dressed particularly flamboyantly today. He was holding a purple-red sandalwood fan with gold trim, which he kept fanning from bottom to top, exuding the air of a suave young master.
Seeing this, Gu Yu couldn’t help but smile wryly, thinking that even though Chengfeng Shan had come to the capital, his penchant for showing off remained unchanged!
“It just so happens that Brother Tang will be coming today as well. Brother Gu, don’t leave just yet. I’ll take you to a good place later!”
“What good place?”
However, after Chengfeng Shan spoke mysteriously, Gu Yu began to feel curious.
