Chapter 496: You Go to Accompany

Gu Nanxiang was stunned by Cao Maolin's slap, hurriedly covered her face, stepped back a few paces, and then knelt before Cao Maolin.

"Young master, why are you so angry?"

Gu Nanxiang felt angry as well; this stupid pig had been restrained by Xiao Yin and Gu Jiu Ling to this extent, yet had no solution, and was now acting wildly in front of her.

Cao Maolin sat on the grandmaster chair, slapped the tea cups on the table onto the floor, and shouted, "Aren't you the second miss of the Gu Xiang Residence? Moreover, I heard you have a good relationship with Gu Kang; how come you can't even win over your own younger brother?"

"Useless waste! I thought keeping you had some use, but you're just a stray dog no one wants!"

Gu Nanxiang lowered her head, unable to speak, and furrowed her brows sharply.

She hadn't expected Gu Kang and Gu Jiu Ling to be so close, but after all, Gu Kang had spent nearly a decade being raised by her in the back courtyard.

Logically, Gu Kang's bond with her should far exceed that with Gu Jiu Ling; when did this boy become so cold and heartless?

"Young master, the pressing matter is how to resolve the current predicament?"

Gu Nanxiang covered her lips with a handkerchief and began to cry: "I also feel so useless, I haven't helped you, Young master, calm your anger; we should still think about what to do about this matter."

Cao Maolin let out a cold snort, about to speak, when hurried footsteps came from outside, and his trusted footboy appeared at the doorway.

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"Young master! Bad news! Jia San this time was captured at Jiangning Ferry by Gu's men."

"What did you say?" Cao Maolin could no longer sit still and stood up.

Jia San was the one who previously helped him contact jianghu figures, the key person in the Zheng family's extermination.

Logically, this person should have been silenced by him; how is he still alive?

Originally, he agreed to spend money to avert disaster, and Jia San helped him find people.

After the Zheng family extermination was settled, he gave Jia 300,000 taels of silver and then sent him out of Yangzhou.

However, when Jia San left, he sent people to silence him; those people returned carrying blood‑splattered heads, and the matter was brushed aside. How is Jia San still alive now?

It's one thing that he's alive, but the crucial point is that Gu Kang's men captured him.

If Jia San were to reveal all this, his life would not be safe.

After all, although he is a local tyrant in Yangzhou, Yangzhou is also Southern Qi's territory, and his actions have already violated state law.

"Fetch those secret guards, I want to ask whose head they brought in back then?"

The footboy turned to fetch those secret guards; those men were his covert selections, yet unexpectedly caused such a huge blunder.

Who could have thought that as soon as he went to fetch them, the news had already leaked out here.

The secret guards he had previously selected for his lord fled overnight; he was stunned, and thinking of his lord's cruel methods, his heart suddenly panicked.

He immediately returned to his own courtyard, gathered his belongings, and bolted away.

Here, Cao Maolin waited left and right to no avail, hurriedly ordered the steward to search, only to find the place already empty.

He suddenly kicked the chair aside, Gu Nanxiang's complexion turned pale, and she slowly moved her body away.

He looked at the raging Cao Maolin, furrowed his brows, and a plan formed in his mind.

Now that the tree has fallen, the foxes scatter; seeing Cao Maolin like a grasshopper after autumn, he won't be able to hop for many days.

She, however, should consider herself.

Cao Maolin thrashed wildly, finally could not move, and collapsed onto a soft couch on one side.

He didn't expect Xiao Yin to be so troublesome; Gu Kang seemed calm, but when he acted, he immediately clutched his throat.

No! I can't stay passive any longer!

If this continues, he will surely be killed alive by these people; these people must die.

"Attendants! Go summon Lord Wang, the magistrate of Yangzhou, to convene at Wangjiang Tower!"

A flash of malice crossed Cao Maolin's brows and eyes, his gaze landing on Gu Nanxiang kneeling before him.

Then his facial expression revealed a strangely contemptuous smile.

"Nanxiang! The graceful dance you performed before the magistrate earlier was greatly admired by him."

"Go tidy up, and tonight come with me to Wangjiang Tower; remember to accompany the magistrate well, you must make him happy!"

Gu Nanxiang suddenly lifted her head, looking at the dark, uncertain expression of Cao Maolin before her, unable to believe her ears.

That Yangzhou magistrate was already on the brink of death; previously, during a banquet, Cao Maolin had her dance before Lord Wang.

Unexpectedly, Lord Wang became infatuated, even attempting several times to take her away from Cao Maolin's grasp.

Gu Nanxiang would never agree with such an old pervert, except that she revealed herself as a concubine daughter of the Gu Xiang Residence and, through gentle tactics, won Cao Maolin's favor, which prevented him from sending her away.

Cao Maolin kept many concubines in the back courtyard, contacting high officials; whenever someone was interested, he would lavishly give money and concubines, doing everything to win them over.

Because of this, the Cao family's business in Yangzhou grew larger, and now they are almost the local emperor of Yangzhou.

This time, Cao Maolin also realized that Gu family's second miss meant nothing to the Gu family; she had become a discarded pawn.

Thus, in Cao Maolin's eyes, her value was merely to be sent to Lord Wang's bed to please that old immortal.

Gu Nanxiang's hand pressed against the cold ground, her fingers tightly gripping the edge of the bluestone floor, her heart almost hating to the point of bleeding.

She still restrained the tremor within, slowly crawling on the ground: "I act only on the young master's command."

Cao Maolin impatiently waved at Gu Nanxiang: "Enough, go prepare!"

Gu Nanxiang slowly left Cao Maolin's warm chamber and returned to her own west wing room.

She just entered the west wing, her complexion unusually gloomy; the two serving maids bowed their heads and dared not speak.

"Get out!" Gu Nanxiang whispered sharply.

The two maids hurriedly stepped out and shut the warm chamber's door behind them.

Gu Nanxiang personally changed into a pink gauze dress, her seductive figure rendered semi‑transparent, exuding great allure.

After finishing her makeup, she opened a hidden compartment under the bed and retrieved a palm‑sized porcelain bottle.

She quickly slipped the porcelain bottle into her sleeve, inhaled deeply, and forced an extremely charming smile onto her face, though the smile was a bit cold.

In the main courtyard, Gu Jiu Ling was dining on a hotpot with Xiao Yin in the warm chamber when Yun Duo entered, bowed, and reported: "Your Highness, the Princess Consort, I have already sent the young madam out of the residence, and dispatched someone to impersonate her and place them in the west wing."

"You've worked hard, come eat together!" Gu Jiu Ling smiled and waved her hand. Yun Duo wouldn't dare sit and eat with the Princess Consort and the Prince; she knew her place.

She hastily stepped back and refused Gu Jiu Ling; Gu Jiu Ling didn't insist, and instead prepared another table of food, letting Yun Duo and a few errand runners go eat next door.

Gu Jiu Ling picked up a chopstick of vermicelli and placed it in Xiao Yin's bowl, then looked up at him: "Prince, how's the deployment over there? These past few days, Cao Maolin has been so angry at the two of us that he's practically choking; I fear he'll make a big move in the next day or two."

Xiao Yin handed the warmed tea to Gu Jiu Ling, smiling softly: "Don't worry, that brat is like an ant on a hot pot—he'll have to come out sooner or later. Just sit back and wait for your husband to knock his dog head off."

Xiao Yin's eyes narrowed slowly: "When that brat poisoned us, he should have considered that this day would come."