Chapter 1: The Woman Who Blocked the Marriage

  Gu Zhāo Běi's mouth twitched slightly as he listened, and when he looked down at Shen Gui Yan, she was even more tense.

  "This voice is really scary." Gu Zhaobei muttered: "I don't know if she were her own daughter, would she still yell like this?"

  Shen Guiyan turned around and looked at him with a strange expression, then was about to enter the front hall. But just as she took one step forward, she was pulled back by Gu Zhaobei.

  "Are you stupid?" Gu Zhaobei rolled his eyes, grabbed both of her hands and took a deep breath, then dragged her to the front hall with an air of fury.

  "What are you doing..." Shen Guiyan was startled by him and stumbled after him, almost falling in the hall.

  Everyone's eyes were on them, Shen Guiyan wanted to struggle free from his hand because it was too painful due to his excessive strength. However, Gu Zhaobei refused to let go and smiled calmly while looking at the people in the hall, saying "Are you all here?"

  Mr. Shen went to the imperial court today and is not in the mansion, Mrs. Shen intended to handle this matter strictly. But with Gu Zhaobei bringing in Shen Guiyan who was struggling, how could she blame it on Shen Guiyan?

  It looks like this Fourth Master Gu is forcing her to leave.

  "Where did you go?" asked Mrs. Shen with a stern face.

  Shen Guiyan wanted to speak, but Gu Zhaobei pulled her behind him and faced Shen's wife: "Today the weather is fine, I'll take Yanyan to offer incense to Qinshi. Yanyan and my marriage has been settled, so I should naturally go pay respects to Qinshi."

  "Qin?" Madam Shen snorted, "What is that thing that can't even enter the hall doing here? Not to mention ruining the happy occasion with bad news, Fourth Master Gu, you coming to see Yan'er today is already a breach of etiquette."

  "Are rules not made by humans?" Gu Zhaobei snorted, "It's just that the madam has taught Yan'er to be too bound by convention. Taking her out is like taking one's life in one's hands. If I weren't so strong, I wouldn't have been able to bring her along."

  After finishing speaking, he turned his head to glance at Shen Guiyan and said with some resentment: "I'm almost your husband now, but you're still being so cautious about avoiding suspicion, isn't that a bit too rigid?"

  Shen Guiyan was taken aback, gazing into Gu Zhaobei's eyes with a dazed expression.

  This man is actually making excuses for her.

  The words were spoken eloquently, and Mrs. Shen was blocked, not knowing how to speak. Should she scold Shen Guiyan? She was still a victim, didn't do anything, and had always been trying her best to follow the rules. But should she blame Gu Zhaobei?

  The young master of the Grand Chancellor's estate was not someone she could afford to offend.

  "Madam Shen was silent for a while, then looked at Shen Guiyan and Guo Zhaobei: "Let's just forget about today's matter. Yan'er, you go back to the Swallow Pavilion first, and Fourth Master Guo, please leave too. After the wedding, there will be plenty of opportunities to meet again."

  "Alright." Gu Zhaobei released Shen Guiyan's hand.

  Shen Guiyan let out a sigh of relief, gently pulled up Bao Shan who was still kneeling on the ground, bowed to Madame Shen, and then left with Gu Zhaobei.

  "Miss..." Bao Shan had not cried until she saw Shen Guiyan return, and then her tears finally fell.

  Shen Guiyan looked at her swollen face with heartache: "I've wronged you."

  Bao Shan shook her head and glanced at Gu Zhaobei, saying: "It's good that the mistress didn't catch the opportunity to punish Miss, I'm used to being slapped by my servant, it's nothing."

  Gu Zhaobei chuckled twice, casually pulled out a bottle of medicine from his bosom: "This is for promoting blood circulation and removing stasis, I often use it, the effect is not bad, give it to you, consider it as an apology."

  Bao Shan stretched out her hand dully, and the white porcelain bottle fell into her palm.

  "...thank you, Fourth Master."

  With a wave of his hand, Gu Zhaobei looked at Shen Guiyan and said, "Next time we meet, it will be on our wedding night."

  Shen Guiyan's face turned red, she pursed her lips and nodded: "Mm."

  "In a few days, you'd better not have any problems." Gu Zhaobei collected his smile and said very seriously: "No matter who hangs on your window again, don't bother with them anymore."

  Shen Guiyan was taken aback, looking up at him: "You know?"

  Does he still hang around outside her window?

  Gu Zhao Bei hooked up the corner of his lips and leaned in closer to her, saying: "There's nothing I don't know."

  Bullshit! Shen Guiyan silently cursed the idiot in her heart, but still nodded obediently. She wouldn't bother with Gu Zhaodong again either, even if she couldn't let go for a while, that was her own problem to think about on her own, and when facing Gu Zhaodong, she would absolutely not be soft-hearted.

  "Marry me and you'll get what you want." Gu Zhaobei rubbed his nose bridge, saying in a low voice: "Although I look like I'm not reliable."

  Shen Guiyan nodded in agreement with her own evaluation.

  "So, goodbye." Gu Zhaobei stood up straight and revealed a very mischievous smile: "Wait for me to come marry you."

  Shen Guiyan: "......"

  Gu Zhaobei left, Shen Guiyan brought the treasure fan back to Yanzi Building, sat in the room, and suddenly became very curious: "What kind of person is Gu Fourth Master?"

  Bao Shan is someone who hears six roads and sees eight directions, knowing the most trivial matters of family affairs. Hearing Shen Guiyan ask this one sentence, he hastily came forward and said: "I heard that Mr. Gu Si is an inauspicious person."

  Shen Guiyan was taken aback.

  "He is the child brought back by Grand Councilor Gu from outside, said to be an illegitimate son. His mother passed away early on. Once he returned to the Grand Councilor's residence, the residence suffered theft multiple times and even a big fire, so the people in the residence didn't like him much. It was only because Grand Councilor Gu doted on him that he could survive until now."

  Bao Shan sighed: "He is considered one of the best-looking men in the capital, and many women's hearts are fond of him, even Princess Duan Wen has a crush on him. However, he is naturally flirtatious, lingering in the land of smoke and flowers, so few decent families want to marry their daughters to him."

  Nor does he know whether his own daughter is happy or worried after marrying into another family.

  Shen Guiyan leaned against her chin and thought for a while before smiling softly: "It seems quite interesting too."

  "What's interesting?" Bao Meng was puzzled.

  Shen Guiyan shook her head and returned to the bedside to continue embroidering two needles of wedding dress. Originally thought that Gu Zhaobei was just an ordinary silk son, but unexpectedly, after these two contacts, he seemed to be a numb pillow with embroidered brocade, which was very interesting.

  Finally have some expectations for this wedding.

  The second marriage between the Shen and Gu families was very hasty, and friends and relatives were not notified much. There was no time to send betrothal gifts, so they could only be sent along with the wedding procession.

  The news that Miss Shen was marrying the fourth young master of the Gu family also spread on the day of the grand wedding, causing the citizens of Beijing to rush around and inform each other, coming to watch the excitement.

  "What a good girl, how did she end up marrying such a person!"

  "What a pity! What a pity! Fresh flowers are inserted into cow dung."

  "I heard many people want to marry the third miss of Shen's family, how did it end up being that idle son of Gu?"

  Gu Zhaobei ignored the words of the people around him, wearing only a red festive robe, sitting elegantly on horseback, and heading straight to the Shen Mansion.

  Today is a great day, the dowry behind me has been packed into thirty boxes, not one less than what Gu Zhaodong, the eldest son of the Gu family, gave. I don't know what Mrs. Gu is thinking. But looking at it this way, the Gu family does seem to be taking this marriage very seriously.

  Shen Guiyan still got up early and dressed, but this time, it was not Qin Niang who helped her comb her hair, but rather Xiu Rong, a maid beside Madame Shen.

  "Having gone to the prime minister's mansion, it is natural that you should support Miss Five mutually. As a concubine's wife, you naturally have to follow Miss Five's intentions. If Madame finds out that you still hold grudges against past events and are unfavorable to Miss Five, there will certainly be no good outcome."

  Xiu Rong combed her hair while talking to Shen Guiyan, with an extremely arrogant expression.

  Shen Guiyan didn't even lift an eyebrow, just smiled lightly.

  Xiu Rong's hand paused: "What? Third Miss thinks I'm wrong?"

  "No." Shen Guiyan looked at her from the mirror, smiling warmly: "How can what you said be wrong?"

  Xiu Rong furrowed her brow, and this third miss had been acting strangely lately, making it increasingly difficult for people to deal with her. She used to be intimidated by threats, but since Qin Niang's death, she seemed to have no qualms about anything.

  It's also that person's fault for being too impulsive, directly striking a fatal blow. Fortunately, nothing went wrong with the Fifth Miss, and now they can suppress this Third Miss by a head, otherwise if it's exposed and revenge is sought, wouldn't that be self-destruction?

  After chanting two sentences of Amitabha Buddha, Xiurong also stopped talking and helped Shen Guiyan out after cleaning up.

  This time, the Shen family's preparation was really careless. Except for hanging red silk at the gate, other places were not decorated at all. Mr. Shen blamed Mrs. Shen, and she just made an excuse that there was no time.

  The procession of welcoming the bride arrived outside, Gu Chaobei brought the betrothal gifts into Shen's residence and said to Old Master Shen: "Your humble son-in-law pays his respects."

  If he wasn't satisfied with this Fourth Master Gu, now it was also necessary to marry his daughter off to him, and Old Master Shen could only smile and nod.

  "This is the list of betrothal gifts." The housekeeper handed over the gift list.

  Mrs. Shen smiled and handed over the dowry list as well. Both sides reviewed it, and that was considered a completion of the etiquette. The things written on the betrothal gift list were very generous, making Mrs. Shen's eyebrows curve with pleasure, thinking to herself that selling someone off like this wasn't a bad deal at all.

  "Wait a minute!" But just as Gu Zhaobei looked at the dowry list, he suddenly shouted.

  Everyone was stunned, but Gu Zhaobei took the gift list back from Madame Shen and tore off a part of it.

  The surroundings were dead silent, and Butler Gu's cold sweat had already come down: "Fourth Master..."

  "I think the dowry for Yan'er is a bit less." Gu Zhaobei returned the gift list to Mrs. Shen, tearing off a part of it that read "20 pieces of brocade and 200 taels of gold": "These will do, I'll take them back to supplement Yan'er's dowry."

  The faces of the Shen family members suddenly became very colorful, with red, white, black and green all present. Old Master Shen opened his mouth but didn't know what to say, and among the relatives standing outside, Mrs. Wu from the Gao Shilang's household even said: "This Fourth Young Master Gu is indeed someone who knows how to care for others, his mother-in-law has wronged her daughter, yet he still knows not to wrong his wife."

  Mrs. Shen's face turned iron-green, and she was so angry that she crumpled up the gift list: "Is Young Master Gu trying to slap my Shen family in the face? Are you not satisfied with the dowry for Yan'er?"