There is someone in the backyard after 2 pm

  At first, Yun Ke was extremely disdainful of her. In his previous life, even the ceremony of taking a concubine was done by sending Du Xia, who was still a guard at that time, to complete it on his behalf. It was also on the night when Gu Yuqiu married Yun Ke that she didn't even see Yun Ke's face.

  What a pity!

  So Gu Yuqie had a deep impression of Du Xia, although she was a substitute, but the person who had sworn to heaven and earth with Gu Yuqie in her previous life was indeed Du Xia. Moreover, there were several times when they encountered danger, and it was thanks to Du Xia's timely rescue that Gu Yuqie was able to survive.

  She admired Du Xia in her previous life, and it was just admiration. Du Xia also knew his identity and kept a distance from Gu Yuqiu that a guard should have.

  She had just met Du Xia in the market, who was still young and immature, and she suddenly thought that if she really wanted to marry someone in this life, it would be Du Xia.

  She can't avoid getting married, the Hou family may not lack money, but it's also impossible to raise a daughter for life. Since she has to get married, why not marry a good man who knows her well?

  Du Xia is indeed the legendary good man of extreme quality.

  He was not only born very handsome, but also became a high-ranking official at a young age. At the time of Gu Yuqie's death, he had only married one wife. Yun Ke, who had already ascended to the throne, gave him a palace maid as his wife. It is said that Du Xia treated this wife extremely well, and his backyard was as clean as white paper. These rumors were heard by Gu Yuqie in the Cold Palace from other small palace maids at the time. At that time, all the palace maids in the imperial palace were envying the person who married Du Xia, saying she was truly lucky.

  At her most desperate moment, even Gu Yuqie couldn't help but wonder if she had set her sights on Du Xia instead of Yun Ke back then, would her fate have been different?

  Gu Yuqie's bitter smile faded as she withdrew her thoughts.

  In her previous life, Du Xia's wife was a palace maid. Was she supposed to sneak into the palace and wait for Yun Ke to ascend to the throne before giving herself to him as a gift? The odds of that happening were smaller than winning the lottery!

  Not to mention the thousands of palace maids in the palace, just her identity as the eldest daughter of the Marquis Hou's manor, how could she be just a palace maid? Entering the palace would be like jumping into a net. She didn't want to have any entanglements with Yun Ke for this lifetime, and even saying one word felt superfluous, let alone asking her to enter the palace.

  Of course, she had also thought of a plan, just like in her previous life, to nominally marry Yun Ke and then knock out Du Xia, who came to replace Yun Ke at the wedding ceremony, and take him away. Thinking about it was quite tempting, but what about after taking him away? A royal concubine and a guard eloping together - not to mention that in the future, there would be no place for Gu Yuqiu and Du Xia to stand in Daqi. With Yun Ke being such a cold and ruthless person, he would definitely hunt them down to the ends of the earth. What about Liang Huaiyu and He Di at that time? And Du Xia's promising future would also be ruined by her.

  She cannot indulge in temporary pleasure and ruin others' future and put her own mother in danger.

  How can she get close to Du Xia without being discovered by Yun Ke, and also steal Du Xia's heart from under Yun Ke's nose?

  Gu Yuqiu remembered that Du Xia was only one year older than her, but due to long-term malnutrition, his height hadn't grown properly, making him look as thin and small as a child. Five years later, when she saw him again, he looked like a completely different person.

  The best thing is that when Du Xia was sent to the army for training, she had already married Du Xia and was exactly 15 years old at that time! This way, she avoided Yun Ke and would not delay Du Xia's career.

  It's just that she, a noble daughter of a marquis' manor, is marrying an unknown and obscure royal guard; no matter how you look at it, this is an ill-matched marriage.

  What a headache! Gu Yuqie held her head and sat back down again.

  The rouge waiting on the side didn't understand what was going on, only seeing her own young lady get up and sit back down again, with a face that was sometimes sunny and bright, and sometimes full of worried looks, so scared that she wanted to reach out and touch her young lady's forehead, afraid that she had caught some evil wind when she went out.

  Gu Yuqie was so exasperated by the rouge's actions that she couldn't help but laugh and cry, and could only make an excuse for herself, saying that she was feeling cooped up in the house and needed to go out for a walk.

  Yan Zhi took a cloak and handed it to Gu Yuqie to wear, following behind her as she left Danxia Courtyard.

  The winter garden was desolate, it was just early winter, the plum blossoms in the corner had not yet produced buds, there was nothing to see, but Gu Yuqin's mind was a jumble of thoughts, so she wandered aimlessly.

  Unconsciously, she walked with rouge to the back door and stopped in her tracks.

  Across the low wall of the garden, she caught a glimpse of a man in blue clothes being let in through the back door by a maid.

  That maid is a familiar face, she's from Madame Liu's Mingyue House, wearing the light blue uniform of a second-class maid.

  It was approaching dusk, and the light wasn't very good. The person wearing a green robe still had their head down, and Gu Yuqiu couldn't see what they looked like. Judging by their stature, it should be a young man who hadn't come of age yet. He was holding a bundle in his hand, seemingly having rushed over from a distant place, with an air of exhaustion about him.

  That little maid looked around quickly, Gu Yuqie hastily pulled the curtain, and the two of them shrank their heads and hid behind the low wall. Gu Yuqie's heart suddenly beat a few times faster. Just now that little maid suddenly turned her head, which actually startled her.

  Yan Zhi was obedient to Gu Yuqie's words, and Gu Yuqie had already given her a silencing gesture, so she didn't make a single sound.

  Gu Yuqiu hid for a while, then listened carefully with her ear to the side. She only heard faint footsteps and knew they had left. Then she and Zhu Er poked their heads out of the flower window again to take a look. Sure enough, that little maid hadn't noticed their presence and was leading the person towards the inner courtyard.

  Gu Yuqiu gazed thoughtfully at their departing figures, and stood by the low wall for a while before seeing two household servants hurrying back from behind the watchman.

  Gu Yuqiu raised an eyebrow, with a sly look, hiding from people and deliberately sending the servants at the back door away.

  A small servant girl is incapable of doing it, able to dismiss the servants from home and then let a stranger into the Hou Mansion, there are only a few people in this mansion who can do this.