Chapter 31: 115

Chapter 115 – Marriage Withdrawal

Gu Chang was the brother of Gu Xi.

The reason why the Li family tried their best to have Li Duan marry Gu Xi was because of Gu Chang.

He was talented and intelligent, achieving numerous merits in his youth. As his mother died young, he greatly doted upon his one and only younger sister. In her previous life, the Li family greatly benefited from his support.

Yu Tang saw him once from afar.

It was at a banquet to celebrate the birthday of Gu Xi’s first-born son.

It seemed that Gu Chang had gone to Huai’an for business and discreetly stopped by Lin’an to visit Gu Xi.

He was tall, handsome, with a refined smile, and looked kind and friendly, but his unsmiling eyes harboured a mixture of coldness and detachment, showing that he was not as approachable or as accommodating as he appeared to be.

It was rumoured that it was his first visit to Lin’an.

Unexpectedly, in this life, Gu Chang set foot in Lin’an City in advance.

But why did he come to see Pei Yan?

In her previous life, he often came and left in secret, and only stopped at the Li family for a couple of hours. Apart from exchanging a few words with the Li family, he spent the rest of the time chatting with Gu Xi and carrying her firstborn son.

Yu Tang glanced at Pei Yan.

Pei Yan was a very perceptive person.

He instructed Ah Ming, “Give me the letter.”

Ah Ming hurriedly handed the letter in his hand to Pei Yan.

As Pei Yan looked through it, he asked, “Go ahead, what do you wish to say?”

Yu Tang blinked, and only after a moment did she realise that Pei Yan was talking to her.

She looked over at her father and her eldest cousin.

Yu Wen was looking at her bemusedly, while Yu Yuan blinked his eyes.

Yu Tang’s thoughts were in a mess and she didn’t know how to reply Pei Yan.

Pei Yan did not rush her, but folded the letter closed and handed it to Ah Ming, saying, “Go and tell Ah Man to make the necessary preparations.”

Ah Ming answered and left.

Pei Yan’s gaze fell on Yu Tang.

Yu Tang smiled sheepishly and whispered rather uneasily, “You, you know Eldest Young Master Gu?”

“Eldest Young Master Gu?” Pei Yan’s eyes showed confusion.

Yu Tang was puzzled by his reaction.

Pei Yan explained, “Gu Chaoyang is the eldest son of the second branch, the sixth in line in terms of rank. However, he is seven or eight years younger than the eldest son of the eldest family. Since he has some repute in literary circles, the grand elder of the Gu family jokingly refers to him as the eldest young master of the Gu family, but for outsiders, people have to respectfully address him as the sixth master of the Gu family.” At the end of his sentence, he asked, “Gu Chang is called Chaoyang, you must have heard of him?”

She hadn’t.

In other words, the title of calling him as Eldest Young Master was unique to the Gu family.

Yu Tang was embarrassed and did not know how she should reply him.

Pei Yan snorted coldly in dissatisfaction.

Yu Yuan stood up instantly, as if he was on the chopping block, and Yu Tang knew immediately things were looking bad.

This older cousin of hers was sometimes too straightforward, and sometimes it was easy to suffer as a result of it.

She tugged on her elder cousin’s lapel and spoke up before Yu Yuan could say anything, “Third Master, this is my fault. I, I was angry with the Li family for being too ruthless in their actions and told the Gu family about what the Li family had done ……”

Pei Yan was speechless.

He couldn’t help but carefully examine Yu Tang.

A pair of large almond shaped eyes that were open, round and wide, and so clear that he could almost see his shadow, showing her utmost sincerity.

And yet, in private, she went and snitched!

Shouldn’t you feel remorseful or nervous after doing something like that?

But she was so open and upfront, unafraid to let the whole world know of her actions.

Then what was the point of confessing her ‘crime’?

Pei Yan couldn’t help but snort coldly and said, “Do you really think you were in the wrong?”

Yu Tang didn’t say anything in reply.

She felt that there was nothing wrong with what she had done.

Apologising was just a habit she had picked up in her previous life with the Li family. Whether right or wrong, she would apologise first, so that the other party would calm down a little, and then depending on the situation, she would see if she could just leave things as they were or argue further.

No one uttered a word, the atmosphere around them suddenly became quiet and heavy with tension.

Yu Wen looked at Pei Yan and then at Yu Tang, and was just about to speak up to rescue his daughter when he heard Yu Yuan say curtly, “Is their family afraid of others sharing what they’ve done? Besides, we did not exaggerate or create any rumours, we were just telling the truth.”

Pei Yan looked at Yu Yuan.

Truthfully speaking, he had seen many young people like Yu Yuan who only knew how to follow their father and elders around, and he did not take Yu Yuan seriously on the various occasions they’ve met. He didn’t expect Yu Yuan to speak up before Yu Wen, which showed that Yu Yuan, as an elder brother, was still very protective of Lady Yu, his younger sister.

At least he had the courage to refute him.

No wonder Lady Yu was so daring, it was because of her family’s protectiveness.

He asked Yu Tang once again, “So, you don’t think you’ve acted inappropriately?”

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Yu Tang could see that Pei Yan intended to make things difficult for her.

Who cares if she did the right thing or not, she had already apologised, so why is he still refusing to let it go?

Yu Tang answered, “I think my brother is right, if their family dared to do it, don’t be afraid of others commenting about it! I did nothing wrong!”

Pei Yan replied, “Then why are you apologising?”

Yu Tang wanted to roll her eyes, but didn’t dare to, for fear that her father would think that her mother didn’t teach her well.

“Wasn’t it because I’m afraid that you’ll get angry?” Luckily, she was quick-witted and she immediately thought of an excuse, “You helped me so much, I didn’t do much, but instead I went to find trouble with the Li family ……”

She usually coaxed her parents in this manner, and so, did not notice anything amiss with her words. Pei Yan, who usually had to engage in a battle of wits with everyone who spoke to him, so even if it was something said to dissuade him, it was said in a very polite, euphemistic manner, and so he too did not feel that there was anything wrong with her words.

He nodded in approval, thinking that Lady Yu still had a conscience and knew how to be grateful, so he didn’t treat her as a stranger and advised her, “Since you think that you’re right, you shouldn’t apologise so readily. You are not a servant in anyone’s house, so why are you apologising at every turn?”

HIs tone was surprisingly indignant.

Yu Tang was dumbfounded, but in her heart she couldn’t help but grumble at him. If you think that you are in the right and do not apologise, that also depends on your status. If it was someone like him, of course, it would be fine. But for her, it was not possible. In her previous life, she had suffered a lot as a result.

However, as soon as this thought passed through her mind, she was overcome with sadness that she could not speak for a while.

In her previous life, she was used to be wronged and humiliated in this way.

So much so that it even changed her character.

It caused her to become submissive, meek and servile.

Yu Tang’s eyes suddenly turn moist.

She lowered her head, not wanting others to see her weakness.

However, Yu Wen clapped his hands together and said to Yu Tang, “Daughter, Third Master is right. You should just be honest and say what you think.” After saying that, he said to Pei Yan with some sadness, “This daughter of mine is good in everything, but she is a little timid. She is fortunate to have known you, if anything happens to her in the future, it would be greatly appreciated if you could help her a little.”

Pei Yan was not averse to this request, but he did not make any kind of commitment either.

He explained the most likely reason for Gu Chang’s visit, saying “I met him several times in the capital, but I didn’t have much interaction with him, and he’s not the kind of person who travels around aimlessly. Furthermore, he is away from the capital on an official assignment, and his superiors are not in the same circles as him. He should be busy with handling his official duties, so for him to make an abrupt visit to Li’nan City…., thinking about it, it should have something to do with the Li family. Have you done anything else apart from telling the Gu family about the Li family’s actions?”

Yu Tang frantically shook her head no, looking almost like a rattling drum.

Pei Yan was a little sceptical.

This Lady Yu, was extremely devious. She wouldn’t admit anything until she was caught red-handed. No, perhaps she would even try to deny it even if she was caught.

Pei Yan remarked, “It shouldn’t be that he’s coming to ask me about Li Duan’s character, right?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the three members of the Yu family looked at each other and immediately went as quiet as they could.

There was really this possibility!

Pei Yan got exasperated. He stared fixedly at Yu Tang, and said lowly, “Lady Yu, since you care so much about the Li family, you would have heard something, right?”

Although Yu Tang felt that it was better not to have a fiancé like Li Duan, but it was generally considered a bad thing to break up someone else’s marriage.

If Gu Chang was indeed here to inquire about Li Duan’s character, she couldn’t just hide it from him and let him suffer.

Yu Tang cautiously glanced at Pei Yan and whispered, “When my elder brother got married, I heard from those ladies that the Gu family wanted to withdraw the marriage and Mrs Li personally went to the Gu family to plead for mercy. Later, I sent someone to inquire about the news, it seems like the Li family closed their doors and someone even said that Mrs Li was sick and had gone to Hangzhou City for medical treatment.”

Pei Yan got so angry that his chest hurt and it took him a while to calm himself down.

When Yu Wen heard this, it was quite a shock.

He laughed lowly and said somewhat conciliatorily, “Isn’t this something totally unexpected? How can the Gu family arbitrarily decide to withdraw from the marriage over such a minor issue?”

Pei Yan finally knew why Lady Yu dared to be so insolent.

Looking at Yu Yuan, half of his body acted as a shield in front of Yu Tang, as if he was afraid that she would suffer a loss.

Pei Yan smiled despite his anger and said, “If Gu Chang wanted to pursue this matter, what will you do?”

That shouldn’t happen, right?

She had graciously allowed the Gu family to discover Li Duan’s true colours in advance!

However, it was not certain.

Some people would do anything to preserve their dignity.

Yu Tang hesitantly replied, “Didn’t you say that Eldest Young Master Gu cared the most about this sibling of his?”

Was she using his words against him?

Pei Yan’s forehead bulged over with veins. “Lady Gu’s father is still alive.”

So what?

Yu Tang retorted, “If he’s not even capable of doing something like this, what makes him so confident in saying that he’ll protect Lady Gu?”

In her previous life, Gu Chang had shown his strength.

However, Pei Yan didn’t know that Yu Tang had her previous life’s experiences. He only felt that Lady Yu was an expert at getting herself into trouble, but had zero ability to fix the messes.

He looked at Yu Tang’s doe-eyed, slightly pouty and ignorant face, and felt that even if he lectured her now, about “Not getting into trouble if you’re not capable of cleaning up after yourself”, she probably wouldn’t listen, and her father and brother wouldn’t be bothered either, so what was the point of scolding her?

Pei Yan waved his hand tiredly and said, “Let’s wait until I see Gu Chaoyang tomorrow.”

Feeling awkward, Yu Wen immediately stood up when he saw this and said, “Then we will head back first. We will come to visit you tomorrow.”

Pei Yan wanted very much to tell them not to come, but he really couldn’t be sure what Gu Chang was doing here, so maybe he really had to ask Yu Tang for more information. He managed to hold back the irritation in his heart, and said feebly, “Let’s talk tomorrow”.

As soon as he heard him, Yu Wen dragged his daughter and nephew away in a hurry.

When they left the gates, he couldn’t help but grumble at his daughter, “You both, why didn’t you inform me in advance of such a thing?  I wasn’t unable to give a proper response in front of Third Master earlier!”

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