Chapter 1: The Woman Who Blocked the Marriage

  Gu Zhaodong was still standing outside the window, more embarrassed than Gu Zhaobei. Upon hearing this, everyone didn't pursue Gu Sizi first, but instead looked at Gu Dazhong together.

  The man who had just married Fifth Miss was supposed to be in his bridal chamber on their wedding night, so why would he appear outside Shen Guiyan's window?

  Madam Shen's face was stern, and she said with a look of displeasure: "Let Master Gu go in and talk first."

  Gu Chao Dong forced a slight smile and walked in through the window, dusting off his clothes: "Little nephew... just came to take a look."

  "What's so good to look at?" Gu Zhaobei chuckled and put his hand on Gu Zhaodong's shoulder: "Could it be that big brother thinks the bride isn't good-looking enough, so he came here to take a look at Yan'er?"

  Being caught like this, there's no way to talk your way out of it. Gu Zhaodong's body stiffened, and he glared at Gu ZhaoBei with hatred: "What is fourth brother doing here again?"

  Shen Guiyan on the bed just recovered from watching the excitement and continued to cover her face and cry.

  Gu Zhāo Běi raised an eyebrow, released his own brother, and sat down on Shen Gui Yan's bed: "Didn't you all see? The bloodstains on this bed, and the disheveled clothes of Yan'er, what else could she be doing here? I didn't want to see my brother get married alone, so I came to have a pre-wedding celebration with him, but I didn't expect my brother would run over here and be mistaken for a thief by me."

  This guy spoke without a hint of embarrassment, but the faces of the people in the room had already started to change color, with all sorts of shades: green, white, black, purple...

  Luckily, she was just pretending to cry, and burying her face in the quilt was enough. Otherwise, the red color on her face would have been impossible to hide. Shen Guiyan secretly cursed Gu Zhaobei for being shameless, but at this point, there was no way out, so she could only pretend that she had been taken advantage of, and still maintain some initiative. If it were said that she had a private meeting with someone in the middle of the night, that would be truly disastrous.

  But Gu Zhaobei is also quite cooperative, this rascal, sitting here without explanation is a flower thief.

  Mr. Shen took a few deep breaths and pointed at Gu Chaobei: "This move by Master Gu, is...is also too..."

  Covering his chest as if he was about to suffocate, Mrs. Shen hurriedly went up to support him: "Master, don't be too angry, take care of your body!"

  The aunt next door also rushed over to support him, but Mr. Shen seemed to be out of breath and fainted directly.

  "Someone come! Help Master back!" Madam Shen hastily shouted.

  This is a big deal now. The two brothers had Old Man Shen so enraged that he fainted, and this was not something that could be settled with just a couple of words.

  The sky was about to dawn, and Gu Chengxiang had arrived at the Shen Mansion early in the morning, bringing family law with him.

  Shen Guiya followed him with red eyes.

  Gu Zhaodong and Gu Zhaobei both knelt in the Shen family's main hall, knowing that things had gotten out of hand. Both of them knelt with extremely good attitudes for half a night, waiting for Gu Chengxiang to arrive.

  "Good-for-nothing!" Minister Gu wielded a four-foot-long family law and struck Gu Zhaobei's body heavily as soon as he entered the door.

  Gu Zhāo Běi winced and slightly shrunk back, but remained kneeling motionless, without making a sound.

  The Prime Minister Gu was still unsatisfied and gave another blow to Gu Zhaodong, then handed over the family law to the steward behind him: "Have these two unfilial sons beaten to death for me!"

  Shen Guiyan sat on one side, having just finished her breakfast when she saw this scene, and was so frightened that she hastily got up and said: "Lord Chengxiang, please calm down."

  The Prime Minister looked at her with a regretful expression: "Miss Shen San has been wronged, it's because I failed to teach my son properly."

  Shen Guiyan shook her head, in fact, Gu Zhaobei didn't do anything, but instead was stabbed by her.

  "Don't hit Chao Dong anymore." Shen Guiya, who was behind him, looked at Gu Chao Dong and saw that he had been beaten twice before rushing up, sobbing: "Chao Dong was forced to marry me, and not being able to let go of Third Sister is also understandable. He didn't do anything wrong, please, Father, be fair!"

  Gu Zhaodong's body shook slightly as he turned his head and looked at her: "Ya'er..."

  Shen Guiya stood in front of him with a calm expression, looking at the prime minister and saying: "I knew that Chao Dong came here this morning, I also asked him to greet my third sister for me. He won't do anything out of line, so please don't punish him, Your Excellency?"

  Chancellor Gu was also slightly surprised, he didn't expect that the fifth Miss Shen of the Shen family would still be such a devoted woman. Originally, he had many complaints in his heart, but this time he looked at her with much more favor.

  He couldn't bear to hit his eldest son, who had always been well-behaved and praised by others, but now he had done such foolish things.

  "Alas." His daughter-in-law gave him an excuse to step down, and he did: "Dong'er didn't do anything out of line, so let's just go back and punish him again. But what about Beier? You've done a good deed, dare you not tell your father about it?"

  Old Shen is still unconscious, and in this great hall, there are only Shen Guiyan and a few aunts, no one dares to interrupt.

  Gu Zhoubei was slapped five or six times on the back and gritted his teeth, saying: "What's there to be afraid of? Father, I want to marry Miss Shen San."

  "What nonsense!" Minister Gu was furious again: "You want to marry, you have to get my consent first. You didn't even go through the proper procedures of three matchmakers and six gifts, and now you've ruined someone's reputation. If this gets out, where will the face of the Gu family be?"

  "Is face important?" Gu Zhaobei smiled lightly: "Father is just too concerned about face."

  "You!" Lord Gu was so angry that he stood up and took the family law from the steward's hand to personally administer it: "You unfilial son!"

  "Crack!" The wide and hard bamboo stick hit his back, the sound making people shiver. Shen Guiyan stood beside him, looking at Gu Zhaobei's straight kneeling body, and couldn't help but take a step forward: "Prime Minister, Gu Si Gongzi... doesn't need to be disciplined so severely."

  As soon as she finished speaking, she regretted it. This wasn't something a victim like her should be saying. Why sympathize with this rascal for no reason?

  The Prime Minister stopped and Gu Zhaobei also looked up with a cold sweat, smiling lightly at her: "Look, the third miss actually quite likes me, doesn't she?"

  Gu Chao Dong was taken aback and also looked over this way. Shen Gui Yan's mouth twitched, and she retreated a step, saying: "It's better to beat him to death, I shouldn't have spoken too much."

  With this interruption, Lord Gu could no longer continue. Gu Zhaobei was still wearing Gu Zhaodong's cloak, which fortunately was black, so the blood seeping out couldn't be seen. The clothes inside were probably already stained red.

  "What about Lord Shen?" asked Grand Councilor Gu, setting aside family rules for the moment.

  "Father is still bedridden with illness."

  The Prime Minister sighed, looking at her and said: "I originally hoped you would be the daughter-in-law of my Gu family, but I didn't expect this marriage to have so many unexpected events. Now that it's come to this... I'll ask you one thing, are you willing to marry Bei'er as his wife?"

  Shen Guiyan lowered her eyes, she had thought about this problem yesterday, and there was no other choice, right? Marrying a real scumbag is better than marrying a fake gentleman.

  But speaking is an art, she can't simply agree in one mouth, and can only follow the rules and etiquette to say: "Yaner has failed to repay the kindness of the prime minister, now her reputation has been damaged, whether to marry or not is no longer something Yaner can have a say in. As long as father makes the decision, Yaner will naturally follow the arrangement."

  Gu Gongxiang let out a sigh of relief and said in a low voice, "You're actually quite sensible. If you weren't willing to listen, I'm afraid our friendship would have ended right here."

  Shen Guiyan lowered her head and didn't speak, death was impossible, so many bad people were living well, why did she have to die? If she had to die, she should take them with her, at least there would be someone to accompany her on the way.

  As for Gu Zhaobei, she turned her head to take a glance at him. His face still wore that fearless and mocking smile, but he was also wincing in pain. However, perhaps due to the rising sun outside, he looked slightly more handsome.

  She needed someone to help her out of trouble, and he happened to come, which is also fate. Since there's fate, why not give it a try? The pseudo-gentleman in her heart will eventually need someone to help her let go.

  The Prime Minister Gu went to the main hall to see Old Master Shen, and several young ladies and madams in the main hall also followed him. However, the two young masters of the Gu family were not given any instructions, so they had to remain kneeling on the spot.

  "Are you going to marry him?" Gu Zhaodong looked up at Shen Guiyan, his eyes full of anxiety: "Yan'er, how can you marry him!"

  Shen Guiyan continued to sit down on one side, smiling softly: "Gu Da Gongzi can remarry, why can't Yan'er marry another? Moreover, I and the Fourth Young Master have already had a close relationship, not marrying is also getting married?"

  Gu Zhāo Běi grunted and put his hand on the ground, his back burning with a fiery pain that made his face turn pale. However, seeing his older brother's face wasn't much better than his own, he couldn't help but feel happy again: "Big bro is eating from his bowl, yet still eyeing the pot? Big sis is right next to you, isn't she?"