usatvline Chapter 702 Anonymous Letter Arrives, Turbulence Rises Again
Chapter 702 Anonymous Letter Arrives, Turbulence Rises Again
Gu Xuan looked at her coldly.
"Every position in the military is related to the transmission of military orders and carries great responsibility."
"The soldiers under my command are either those who have fought their way up on the battlefield or those with impeccable family backgrounds who have been screened through multiple layers of screening. No one with an unclear background is allowed to join."
"What do you mean by 'of dubious origin'? They're Lin Jiayou's friends!" Gu Qingchen's temper flared up as well. "You just look down on him and are deliberately targeting him!"
"I'm targeting him?" Gu Xuan laughed in anger. "Gu Qingchen, have you lost your mind? Can't you really see who he is?"
"You expect me to trust someone who tries to infiltrate the military by relying on connections with women?"
This was the first time Gu Xuan had spoken to her in such a harsh tone.
Gu Qingchen's eyes immediately reddened, not from grievance, but from anger.
"How dare you say that about him! You don't understand him at all! Your whole family is looking at him with prejudice; you're all just jealous of his talent!"
“Talent?” Gu Xuan stepped forward, staring intently at her. “If he were truly capable, he should have entered officialdom through the imperial examinations and stood upright in the court!”
"Instead of acting like an unweaned baby, hiding behind you and taking these crooked and unethical paths!"
"You've been bewitched by that man!"
"Okay...okay...I guess I misjudged you!"
She cried out these words, turned around and ran out of the tent, mounted her horse, and charged away without looking back.
The brother and sister parted on bad terms.
Gu Qingchen ran back to the Duke's mansion crying all the way and locked herself in her room.
Everyone misunderstood Lin Jiayou; he was the only one Lin Jiayou could rely on.
This feeling of isolation only fueled her obsessive protective instincts.
Lin Jiayou quickly received the news and rushed over to comfort him.
He didn't knock; he just stood outside the door.
"Qingchen, it's my fault. I shouldn't have put you in such a difficult position. I didn't think this through. Don't get upset."
Hearing his voice, Gu Qingchen felt even more aggrieved. She suddenly opened the door, threw herself into his arms, and burst into tears.
Lin Jiayou gently patted her back, his face showing just the right amount of heartache and self-reproach.
"Don't cry, it's all my fault. I'll go apologize to Brother Gu right now and ask him not to blame you."
After he finished speaking, he turned around and left to find Gu Xuan in Dongying.
Gu Xuan's face immediately darkened.
"What are you here for?"
Lin Jiayou bowed deeply to him.
“Brother Gu, I’ve come to apologize to you. Today’s events were my fault, causing Qingchen to have a rift with you.”
He did not apologize, but only offered his remorse.
Gu Xuan snorted coldly and walked past him to enter the house.
Lin Jiayou spoke slowly and deliberately, his voice not loud, but each word clear.
“I know that Brother Gu has always suspected that I have ulterior motives.”
He raised his head, his gaze meeting Gu Xuan's scrutinizing eyes with composure, and even took out the short knife that Gu Xuan had once used to warn him from his sleeve.
"I always carry this knife with me, to remind myself that I am already extremely fortunate to have Qingchen's favor, and I dare not have any more delusions."
"All I've done is try to make myself stronger, strong enough to protect her, instead of always having her standing in front of me."
"I did have a selfish reason for recommending my friend to join the army today. I think that if my people are in the army, they can protect Qingchen immediately should anything happen in the future."
These words distorted the truth, portraying his ambition as deep affection for Gu Qingchen.
Gu Xuan felt a tightness in his chest from anger, but he couldn't utter a single word in rebuttal.
Because he couldn't find any substantial evidence against Lin Jiayou.
Every word he uttered was ostensibly for the purpose of "protecting Qingchen," sounding grand and impeccable.
Lin Chia-yu successfully drove an even deeper wedge between the siblings.
Not long after he left, a maid from Gu Qingchen's courtyard came running in a panic.
This maid was someone Lin Jiayou had just bribed a few days ago with a large sum of money and by threatening the safety of his family.
"Miss! Something terrible has happened!"
"What's wrong?" Gu Qingchen asked, wiping his red and swollen eyes.
"I heard that Young Master Lin went to see the Eldest Young Master, and the Eldest Young Master threw a huge tantrum and even pulled out a knife to threaten him!"
"Young Master Lin has been apologizing, but the eldest young master is still relentless, saying... saying that he's a toad trying to eat swan meat, and that he'll never be allowed to enter our Duke's mansion!"
The maid's words were like a ladle of boiling oil, pouring into the already raging anger in Gu Qingchen's heart.
It turns out that when he went to apologize, he suffered such a humiliating disgrace!
Her misunderstanding and disappointment with her brother reached its peak at this moment.
She clenched her fists.
Okay, if her brother won't help, then she'll go find her father!
She refused to believe that in this vast Zhenguo Duke's mansion, there wasn't a place for Gu Qingchen to speak!
She wanted to pave the way for Lin Jiayou in her own way, so that all those who looked down on him would open their eyes and see clearly!
The next day, Gu Qingchen woke up early, feeling a tightness in his chest.
The indifference of his elder brother, the grievances suffered by Lin Jiayou...
She was determined to find her father today no matter what, and make him give Lin Jiayou justice.
She got up and walked to the dressing table, but then she froze.
On the table, a letter lay quietly.
The envelope was of an ordinary design, clean and unsigned.
She remembered clearly that the maid had tidied up last night, and there was nothing here.
She picked up the envelope and opened it.
The letter only briefly stated a few things.
The letter stated that when Lin Jiayou was in Chengdu, he was not as lonely and dependent as he claimed. He had close relationships with the daughter of a wealthy merchant and a widowed official, from whom he gained considerable wealth and connections.
Gu Qingchen's first reaction was that it was absurd.
Who's behind this? Is it someone from the Third Prince's faction, or is Wang Ruoyu, unwilling to accept defeat, resorting to some insidious tricks?
These people, in order to deal with her, actually fabricated such things out of thin air and smeared Lin Jiayou!
She clenched the letter tightly, and stormed out, intending to throw it in front of Lin Jiayou...
She stopped abruptly as she reached the courtyard gate.
At the end of the letter, a name and address were also attached.
Chengdu, Jinxiu Pavilion, Liu San Niang.
Liu Sanniang...
She remembered.
A few months ago, Lin Jiayou did mention this name in a letter he sent from Chengdu.
He said at the time that Liu San Niang was the mother of his deceased friend. She was a kind and generous person who often helped him when he was at his lowest point.
A kind-hearted mother of a deceased friend?
However, the anonymous letter referred to the widow of an official with whom he had an ambiguous relationship.
Two completely different identities point to the same person.
A gust of cold wind blew, and Gu Qingchen's anger subsided by more than half, replaced by a strange sense of panic.
She stood there, clutching the letter, caught in a dilemma.
Should we go find Lin Jiayou and ask him for clarification?
No.
An idea popped into my head as if by some strange twist of fate.
What if... what if what the letter says is true?
The thought sent a chill down her spine.
Why would she suspect Lin Jiayou?
She clutched the letter tightly, turned around and quickly walked back into the room, folded the letter, and hid it in the bottom compartment of a jewelry box.
She decided not to tell anyone about it.
An hour later, she found Qin Fang checking the accounts.
"Uncle Qin".
Qin Fang was an old man in the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, in charge of all the mansion's businesses and caravans, and was the person Chu Ruohan trusted most.
He looked up, saw it was Gu Qingchen, and smiled: "What brings you here today, Miss?"
"Uncle Qin, are any of our family's caravans planning to go to Chengdu recently?"
Qin Fang was somewhat surprised, but still replied, "A team is setting off at the beginning of next month, what's wrong?"
Gu Qingchen took out a letter he had just written from his sleeve and handed it over.
"Uncle Qin, could you please ask the caravan manager to do me a favor when he passes through Chengdu?"
"Please personally deliver this letter to Liu San Niang, the proprietress of Jinxiu Pavilion in the city."
She paused, looked into Qin Fang's eyes, and added, word by word.
"Ask her one more question for me."
"Then ask her if she knows a scholar named Lin Jiayou, and how they met."