usatvline What questions did you ask in Chapter 231?
What questions did you ask in Chapter 231?
"Was an autopsy performed?"
The storyteller nodded: "Of course it was examined, and because of the special status of the Prince of Dingxi, even the Emperor personally sent people to examine the body."
"Who was in charge of the final burial?"
"After the autopsy, the burial was handled by the Gu family." The storyteller glanced at Ye Qing'an with some surprise, wondering why Ye Qing'an kept asking about the death of the Prince of Dingxi.
"At that time, the head of the Gu family was Gu Hai. Gu Hai had always disliked Gu Duo, who was the son of an illegitimate wife. Furthermore, Gu Duo had previously seized the position of family head that should have belonged to him long ago. In addition, Gu Duo was a traitorous general. Therefore, the funeral arrangements were handled very hastily."
"I heard that a straw mat and a thin coffin were all that was needed to settle the affairs of the Prince of Dingxi after his death. Moreover, Gu Duo was not even allowed to be buried in the Gu family's ancestral cemetery. He was only buried on one of the Gu family's estates."
Ye Qing'an tapped her fingers on the table. Although she didn't know how Ye Qinghao had managed to deceive the coroner sent by the Emperor, there were simply too many ways to tamper with the subsequent burial.
Ye Qing'an nodded: "Understood."
Ye Qing'an kept a close eye on the storyteller's expression, and after finishing, she sighed softly, "Gu Duo was a famous general back then, the dream lover of countless women. It's such a pity that he died like this."
The storyteller couldn't help but laugh when he heard Ye Qing'an say this: "What you say, Miss, is quite true. But speaking of the dream lover of the women of Wangjing, twenty years ago, it might have been Gu Duo, but after Gu Duo passed away, it quickly became Prince Duan..."
The storyteller only mentioned it casually, not noticing that Ye Qing'an suddenly stiffened, and then sighed, "It's a pity that Prince Duan is now..."
"It seems that over the years, most of the men who have become the dream lovers of countless women have not had a good ending."
Ye Qing'an pursed her lips. Was Yi Moxu's fate not so good? She didn't think so at all.
"Let's talk about the Gu family. Ever since Gu Duo's accident, the Gu family has been in decline. In fact, the current head of the Gu family has been trying to turn the tide, but perhaps his vision and ability are limited. The only methods he can think of are things like marriage alliances."
"In the past ten years, he has connected with almost every prominent family and important official family in Wangjing. He has intervened and arranged everything, from taking concubines, marrying off his daughters, marrying off his sons, to even the marriages of his younger brothers and sisters and the eligible young members of the collateral branches of the Gu family."
"However, while marriage alliances may bring some benefits in the short term, they are not a long-term solution and will gradually lose their effectiveness."
Ye Qing'an tapped her fingers lightly on the table: "Has the Gu family formed a marriage alliance with the Ye family?"
"Yes," the storyteller said with a smile. "The wife of Prime Minister Ye's younger brother is a woman from the Gu family. Gu Hai's third son's wife is surnamed Ye and is a woman from a collateral branch of the Ye family."
Ye Qing'an silently memorized it before nodding gently.
"Besides the marriage alliance, Gu Hai also felt that Gu Duo was able to become the Prince of Dingxi because Gu Duo was able to lead troops to victory. Therefore, he sent his sons to the army."
"But it's probably because his sons have no talent in this area at all. To this day, none of them have made it, and one of his sons even died on the battlefield because of it."
The storyteller laughed: "Although Gu Hai resorted to any means necessary and tried every possible scheme, the Gu family still became increasingly desolate and defeated under his rule..."
After listening to storytelling for a while, Ye Qing'an left the teahouse, found a dark alley, tore off her skirt, and hurriedly ran towards the Ye residence.
Before they even reached the Ye residence, they were about to encounter the Ye family's servants.
Upon seeing Ye Qing'an, the servants of the Ye household immediately shouted, "Found her! Found her! We've found the young lady..."
Ye Qing'an looked utterly exhausted, and her legs went weak the moment she saw the people from the Ye family.
The servants rushed forward and helped Ye Qing'an up.
After bringing Ye Qing'an back to the Ye residence, the steward rushed over: "Young Miss, how are you? Quickly, take Young Miss back to her courtyard..."
Ye Qing'an was taken back to the courtyard, where a doctor was already waiting. Yunshang waved her hand and said, "I'm fine. I'm not injured. I'm just a little tired from running all the way back."
A short while later, Ye Qinghao arrived.
Ye Qing'an was drinking water when she saw Ye Qinghao. She quickly put down her teacup and was about to get up.
"Sit down." Ye Qinghao's gaze fell on Ye Qing'an's face. "I heard from your maid that you were kidnapped. What exactly happened? Who kidnapped you? And how did you escape?"
Ye Qing'an quickly said, "I don't know who kidnapped me. I was taking a nap in the carriage. When I woke up, I felt that it was very quiet around me, and I could only hear the sound of the carriage wheels. I felt that something was wrong..."
“I walk this distance from the academy to my residence almost every day, so I know it very well. That route is almost entirely on the main street, so it couldn’t have been that quiet. I sensed something was wrong, so I sent my maid down to report it.”
"The maid had just left, and I was about to run away when the carriage stopped, and then they took me into a courtyard..."
Ye Qing'an frowned, as if recalling some unpleasant memory: "Those people were all masked, so I couldn't see their faces clearly. They didn't attack me either; they just kept asking me questions."
"Asked you questions?" Ye Qinghao frowned slightly. "What questions did they ask you?"
"Ask me if we have a private jail in our manor; ask me where Father has imprisoned Gu Duo..."
Ye Qing'an looked completely bewildered: "I had no idea. I only learned about Gu Duo when I left the manor a while ago, when the storyteller talked about the situation of the four major families."
"But...didn't the storyteller say that Gu Duo is already dead?"
"I said I didn't know, and they said I was lying. Then they asked me if there was a madman in the mansion?"
"I've been back at the manor for several months, but I haven't heard of any madmen in our household," Ye Qing'an said, looking puzzled. After a long pause, she continued, "I've told them I don't know, but they don't believe me at all. They locked me up and said that if I insisted on not telling the truth, they would have to find some men..."
Ye Qing'an pursed her lips, a hint of hatred flashing in her eyes: "Then they locked me in a dark room without windows. However, they probably didn't know that I was cultivating the Xuanling Technique. They thought I was a useless piece of trash who couldn't do anything, so they didn't guard me very closely. That's how I managed to escape..."