Chapter 139 Please enter the urn
Gu Tingye left the study and returned to the military camp. After reporting and arranging things in the camp, he changed into casual clothes and left the East Palace.
He and Shitou rode their horses slowly back to Ningyuan Marquis Mansion.
After returning home, Gu Tingye went back to his room. After a while, a maid came to report that Xiao Qinshi had arrived.
After hearing the news, Gu Tingye sneered in his heart and walked out with an expressionless face.
"Erlang, why did you come back so early today? Have you had lunch?" When Xiao Qin saw Gu Tingye coming out, she stood up and asked with a smile.
"Mother." Gu Tingye bowed and said, "I have already eaten."
Gu Tingye behaved as usual, but when he bowed his head, his eyes were slightly cold.
When Xiao Qin saw that look, she was stunned and looked at Gu Tingye's expression seriously.
However, when Gu Tingye raised his head, his expression was the same as usual, without any abnormality.
Xiao Qin even suspected that it was just her illusion.
"Mother, what's wrong with you?" Gu Tingye pretended to be confused.
"No...it's okay."
Xiao Qin came back to her senses and said with a smile: "Sit down first. I came here this time to tell you something."
"Yes." Gu Tingye sat down and said, "I wonder what mother wants to tell her?"
"You are not young anymore, and it's time to get married. I have a niece in my mother's family. She is dignified and virtuous. She has reached the age of marriage but is not married yet. If you agree, I will talk to your father and choose a day to ask someone to come to your house to propose marriage." Xiao Qin said.
"Mother, I'm a little curious. Two years ago, father said he wanted to arrange a marriage for me, but mother kept making excuses. Could it be that she wants to wait for your niece to reach the age of 15?" Gu Tingye glanced at her and said calmly.
Xiao Qin's face froze, and she stood up in an instant, exclaiming, "Why do you think so?"
As soon as she said this, she realized that she was a little too excited. She quickly pretended to be aggrieved and said, "I'm not trying to shirk my responsibility. I just want to choose a good girl for you. I've checked out the ones your father mentioned. Although they have a good reputation, they are not that good in reality. After all, I'm not your biological mother. If I marry you someone who is not what she seems, not only will you blame me, but others will also scold me."
As she spoke, Xiao Qin's eyes turned slightly red, and she looked like she was having a hard time being a stepmother and felt extremely aggrieved.
"Look at you, mother. Why are you taking it so seriously? I was just joking. Marriage is such an important matter and has always been decided by parents and matchmakers. You and father can just make the decision." Gu Tingye said with a smile.
"Erlang is grown up now, and even I joke that I have loved you in vain all these years." Xiao Qin glared at Gu Tingye in reproach and said, "Since you have no objection, I will talk to your father and see what he thinks."
After that, Xiao Qin chatted with Gu Tingye for a few words and then left.
Gu Tingye smiled as he sent her to the door, then watched her leaving with cold eyes.
"correct!"
At this moment, Xiao Qin suddenly turned around.
"Mother, is there anything else?" Gu Tingye quickly put on a smile.
"I asked the kitchen to make soup for you. It will be brought to you when it's ready. Don't forget to drink it." Xiao Qin said.
"Thank you, mother." Gu Tingye thanked.
Xiao Qin nodded, turned and left.
Xiao Qin went all the way back to his yard and sat down in the room. He sent all the servants out and left only Xiang's mother.
Xiao Qinshi pondered for a while and said, "Do you think he knows something?"
Gu Tingye was very abnormal just now. He said he was joking, but Gu Tingye had always respected her and had never made that kind of joke before.
If the coldness in Gu Tingye's eyes when he bowed his head was her illusion, then how should she explain the fact that she just turned around and saw Gu Tingye looking at her coldly?
Although Gu Tingye quickly smiled, Xiao Qin was convinced that she was not mistaken.
"No way?" Xiang said to her mother, "It's been so many years since the incident happened, and everything has been cleared up. How could the second young master know about this?"
"Don't forget that the old immortal from the Bai family was brought to Bian Jing by him a few years ago. The old immortal always believed that the Bai family was murdered by someone." Xiao Qin said.
"But didn't the second young master blame the master for this incident? He even had several arguments with the master at that time." He said to his mother.
Old Master Bai has been in Bian Jing for several years, and Gu Tingye often goes to visit him, so naturally he cannot hide it from the Gu family.
Gu Tingye did not hide it and even had several arguments with Gu Yan about it.
Xiao Qinshi felt relieved because of this, and because Gu Tingye's attitude towards her was still the same as before.
"That was then, and this is now. He may have been investigating this matter for years, and he may have found something now." Xiao Qin said. "Don't worry, Madam, even if the Second Young Master has found something, there is no evidence." Xiang comforted her mother.
Xiao Qin frowned and thought for a while, then said, "We don't know what he has found out, nor do we know how much he knows. It's too passive. You should arrange some people to keep an eye on him."
She wanted to know how much Gu Tingye knew, which would also determine how she would treat Gu Tingye next.
If Gu Tingye didn't know much and was just suspicious, there would still be a chance to turn things around.
"Yes!" Xiang's mother responded.
……
The next day, not long after Gu Tingye left the house, Shitou reminded him quietly, "Sir, someone is following us."
"Don't look back, just pretend you didn't notice." Gu Tingye said.
Shitou nodded when he heard that.
Today is the day when the newly-appointed Jinshi scholars are paraded through the streets on horseback, and the city of Bianjing is even more lively than usual.
Gu Tingye also had to deliberately slow down his pace so as not to be lost by the people who were following him.
Half an hour later, Gu Tingye arrived at the door of a house in the west of the outer city and stopped.
Gu Tingye looked around first, then asked Shitou to go and knock on the door.
After a while, the gate was opened by a middle-aged woman.
After the gate was closed, the person who was following came out from a corner, asked someone nearby, and left in a hurry.
……
"What did you say?"
After hearing what Xiang's mother said, Xiao Qinshi said with an unpleasant expression, "Has he found the servant he sold off before?"
Generally speaking, in a wealthy family, if a servant knew about the family scandal, he would definitely not survive.
But those servants who knew little were sold to human traffickers.
This selling does not mean selling people to human traffickers, but giving money to human traffickers to let them sell the servants to those remote places.
"No wonder his attitude was so strange yesterday!" Xiao Qin murmured.
"Madam, with the Second Young Master's temperament, if he was really sure, he would not be like he was yesterday. And those servants couldn't possibly know anything. They are just guessing. There is no actual evidence." He comforted his mother.
The servants who could be sold were basically unaware of the inside story.
The reason for selling it is to prevent them from talking about it behind their backs.
"Many times, it doesn't matter whether there is evidence or not." Xiao Qin shook her head slightly.
Even if there is no evidence, as long as Gu Tingye believes it, he will be on guard against her in the future.
It would be difficult for her to deal with Gu Tingye.
And she thought of Gu Tingye’s impulsive temperament.
Gu Tingye did not explode at this time, probably because he wanted to find evidence.
But what if Gu Tingye can’t find the evidence?
Will he go directly to Kaifeng Prefecture to sue her?
Although slaves cannot sue their masters, those who have been sold are no longer slaves of the Gu family.
Xiao Qin was not afraid, because those people didn't know much and had no evidence anyway.
She was afraid that if the incident became public, her reputation would be ruined.
No, those people can't let them live.
(End of this chapter)