Chapter 64

Gu Nianxue's coffin was exposed in the pit of the grave, but the Soul-Suppressing Nails inside had been removed, and the bloodstains inside had been cleaned. Although it didn't look as gruesome as it did during the day, it was still somewhat terrifying.

Gu Huai only kept two capable guards by his side, while the others stood a little further away, so as not to hear things they shouldn't.

"Deputy Envoy Lin, can you say it now? What on earth is going on with all this?"

Lin Qingyue said: "For this matter, it's better to let the person involved tell it—Miss Gu, you can come out!"

As the words fell, the nether umbrella suddenly spun, and the runes on the umbrella surface radiated golden light, the flowing colors seeming to come alive.

The Yin wind rolled with rotten leaves toward Gu Nian'an, making him instinctively close his eyes.

When the wind stopped, the blood-red oil-paper umbrella surface was still trembling slightly.

Beneath Lin Qingyue's umbrella, a female phantom had condensed at some point, the moon-white gauze skirt layers falling down.

The woman's face was as it had been, her pupil-less eyes revealing confusion and longing.

Seeming to have sensed Gu Nian'an's gaze, she slowly turned her head, her paper-pale face still vaguely showing traces of blood-tears, congealing the regrets of her life.

"Sister... Sister!" Gu Nian'an rushed over, wanting to throw himself into his eldest sister's arms as he had in the past. But his body passed straight through that phantom.

The sister he respected and loved most had already become a ghost, and could no longer be touched.

The story of the Gu family must start from when Gu Huai was young.

Gu Huai was originally surnamed Sun, called Sun Huai.

Sun Huai was born into a poor family, lost both parents when he was young, and was bullied by his uncles in the family, who not only seized his property but also drove him out of the house to fend for himself.

With nowhere else to turn, Sun Huai sought refuge at his aunt's house in the capital.

His aunt's husband's surname was Gu, a branch of a large aristocratic family; although not a top-tier wealthy family, they were still a prominent household.

At the Gu house, Sun Huai was arranged by his uncle to work in the family's business, learning some management methods.

Unexpectedly, a few years later, the grown-up Sun Huai and his cousin Gu Xiu fell in love. The two secretly pledged their lives to each other and even had the reality of husband and wife.

When his aunt found out, she was so angry she almost beat Sun Huai to death.

The Gu family was an aristocratic family, and the daughter was a legitimate daughter; how could she match Sun Huai, who had no status or position?

Later, it was Gu Huai who took the initiative to propose that he was willing to marry into the Qin family, and only then did his aunt and uncle nod in agreement.

After marrying into the family, Sun Huai became Gu Huai. But at that time, he could only be considered to have barely squeezed into the noble circle, still unable to erase his low status.

Outside, he could not get the recognition and respect of high society.

Inside, to please his father-in-law and mother-in-law, he could only treat his wife extremely well.

After his wife gave birth to their eldest daughter, Gu Nianxue, he took care of the child personally, gradually gaining his father-in-law's recognition. He gave him many resources and even helped him obtain the management rights for tea leaves.

Gu Huai was a genius at business, and within a few short years, he made the business flourish, accumulating a huge family fortune.

It just so happened that that year, the Qi Guo suffered a great disaster, with starving people everywhere. Gu Huai was a shrewd person, and during the disaster year, he had long ago hoarded a large amount of grain, thinking of making a big profit.

His wife advised: "Earning this kind of money damages one's virtue, and we aren't short of money; why drink the blood and flesh of disaster victims? It would be better to take the money and grain you've hoarded to provide disaster relief. Consider it accumulating virtue for our two daughters."

A single sentence instantly awakened him. He was no longer short of money, only lacking a stepping stone to rise, and this was just the right opportunity!

Thus, he followed his wife's advice, and when Emperor Qi Zhaodi had just ascended the throne, the national treasury was empty, and he was worrying about the disaster victims, he stood up to donate money and goods.

And Emperor Qi Zhaodi just happened to need an example to order other wealthy and noble families to help.

Thus, Emperor Qi Zhaodi broke the rules and conferred upon Gu Huai the title of "Wen Shang Hou," and commended him extensively.

Although "Wen Shang Hou" was only an honorary title, without duties or power, this conferment allowed him to successfully gain a firm foothold among the aristocrats.

It was also with this status that he was able to become an imperial merchant, his business growing larger and larger, eventually becoming the richest man in the Qi Guo!

But a man's heart is always insatiable.

After having power, fame, and fortune, he began to crave beauty, keeping one mistress after another.

When his father-in-law and mother-in-law passed away one after another, he simply stopped hiding it and brought women home directly.

His wife cried and asked him: "Back then you promised my father and mother that you would never take a concubine in your life; has it only been a few years and you've forgotten your vows?"

The man who used to be gentle and considerate now looked at his wife with full impatience:

"Among men in the world, who among those with some money doesn't have one wife and many concubines? You don't even look at how old you are, still getting jealous with those teenage girls; you don't have the demeanor of a mistress of the house at all!"

His wife was so angry she fell ill and never recovered; he didn't care at all, and even used the excuse that his wife was physically weak and could no longer manage the household to take a secondary wife into the mansion.

It was also on the day he took the secondary wife that his wife passed away, leaving behind a pair of pitiful children: Gu Nianxue and Gu Nian'an.

At that time, Gu Nianxue was already over ten years old. She had been nurtured by her father since she was a child, had seen the way her parents loved each other, and had enjoyed the most kind fatherly love.

Therefore, she also found it hard to accept her father's later heartlessness, but as a young lady in the boudoir, she was helpless.

All she could do was try her best to escape this home that had become strange.

When her mother was alive, she had once arranged a marriage for her, with a distant relative from her mother's side, and his character was quite good. Most importantly, the two had feelings for each other.

But Gu Huai, in order to win over high officials around the Emperor, actually betrayed the marriage contract and betrothed his daughter to the then-Minister of the Secretariat as a fill-in wife, using this to exchange for benefits.

Gu Nianxue originally would rather die than comply, so Gu Huai brought up her younger brother Gu Nian'an:

"Nianxue, if you don't think for yourself, you should think more about your brother's future. He is the eldest legitimate son, and in the future, everything in the Gu family will be his. But if you, as the eldest sister, don't strive, and only care about your own romantic affairs, what will happen if Nian'an follows your example in the future? How can Father feel at ease handing over the family business to him?"

These words were said tactfully, but Gu Nianxue heard that her father was using her brother's future to force her.

The current Gu Huai had many women and didn't worry about heirs.

But she only had that one younger brother!

The siblings were ten years apart, and before her mother died, she held Gu Nianxue's hand and exhorted: "Your father can no longer be relied upon; Nianxue, your brother can only be entrusted to you."

For many years afterward, she took on the responsibilities of a mother in the capacity of an eldest sister, urging her brother to study and teaching him how to be a good person.

Her brother Nian'an also loved his sister very much; when their stepmother bullied his sister, he would stand in front of his sister like a little wolf cub.

Learning that his sister was being forced to marry an old man, her younger brother, who was small at the time, rushed in front of Gu Huai and questioned viciously: "Do you deserve to be our father? What kind of father would treat his own flesh and blood like this?"

He said this and cried: "You have already failed Mother; why do you still want to bully us?"