Chapter 134.2

Chapter 134.2

Old Madame Gu gritted her teeth and rebuked, "You also know the ancestral hall is cold! Aren't you afraid your younger brother will catch a cold then? Look at all his injuries. Instead of avenging him, you went and punished him? How can you still call yourself a big brother?"
Gu Changqing looked coldly at Gu Chenglin.
Gu Chenglin bowed his head guiltily and dared not meet the sharp eyes of his eldest brother.
Old Madame Gu said with an icy voice, "What are you staring at him for? Come at me if you have the ability!"
Gu Changqing spoke lightly, "He has committed a wrongdoing and he knows it in his heart."
Indignant, Old Madame Gu questioned, "What did he do?"
With the Old Madame backing him up, Gu Chenglin got a lot of courage, saying, "That’s right, eldest brother, I told you I didn't do anything, why don't you believe me?"
Gu Changqing's eyes were frosty as he replied, "Gu Yan almost died."
Old Madame Gu was not happy at all with his answer, she said, "Is it true that her son almost died just because Yao shi said so? You don't believe your own younger brother, but believe an outsider instead?"
Gu Changqing: I saved the person, I fed him the medicine, and in front of me, I watched as he... nearly die.
Gu Changqing didn't say these words however.
Because even if he did, the other party would also stubbornly refuse that Gu Chenglin was responsible for Gu Yan's attack. Why must Gu Chenglin be the one to have done it? Did he see Gu Chenglin tie up Gu Yan with his own eyes?
Who knew if he had offended somebody else outside, and then pushed all the blame onto Gu Chenglin!
Gu Changqing was not being partial to Gu Yan whatsoever. This whole matter really had less to do with whether the other party was Gu Yan or not. What this was all about was Gu Chenglin's character.
If he didn't see it with his own eyes, how could Gu Changqing believe that his own younger brother had grown so crooked like this?
Gu Changqing refused to let people go, making Old Madame Gu so furious that she had people get the punishment rod and made him kneel in front of the ancestral tablets to be punished.
Gu Changqing received repeated blows from the rod but never once did he let out a groan of pain.
"Are you letting your younger brothers out?"
"No!"
Old Madame Gu’s hands trembled with anger and wielded the punishment rod onto Gu Changqing's face.
Old Madame Gu was momentarily stunned by her own action.
"Grandma! Stop hitting eldest brother already!" Gu Chengfeng hugged Old Madame Gu's arm.
At this time, Concubine Ling also arrived.
She persuaded Old Madame Gu to go back.
"Alright now, no one will be allowed to bring food to Lin’er just as you instructed, but we must still ask the estate physician to treat his wounds so that he can kneel properly."
Concubine Ling was a very smart woman. She could always find a way to make both sides compromise.
Gu Changqing said nothing more and went back to his own courtyard.
“Go and call the estate physician." Concubine Ling ordered people.
"Yes." Complied a servant girl .
The servant girl went to get the physician while Concubine Ling headed to Gu Changqing’s courtyard to see him, saying, "Seeing that your face is hurt, I brought you some jinchuang medicine."
As soon as her voice fell, she saw Gu Changqing's servant boy already applying some medicine on him.
Smiling, she walked over and said, "Hm? It doesn’t seem to be the jinchuang medicine in our estate. Is it a new medicine from the military camp?"
Gu Changqing paused for a moment before responding, "No, it was given by a physician outside."
"How can medicine from outside be used casually? It’s better to use the one from the estate." Concubine Ling handed over the jinchuang medicine in her hand.
Gu Changqing said flatly, "No, this is fine."
Concubine Ling was stupefied for a moment, then she smiled and took back the jinchuang medicine in her hand, saying, "Alright, I'll listen to you."
After a pause, she added, "Changqing, this is a matter between you brothers. By rights, as an aunt, I shouldn't interfere. However, Chenglin is your own younger brother and no matter how wrong he is, you shouldn't convict him just by the Madame’s words. I'm not saying that you made a mistake, but doing so will make Chenglin think that you are partial to Madame and that you don’t love him any more."
Gu Changqing said, "If he sees my impartiality this once as being biased towards others, then what about my indulgence on him all these years?"
Concubine Ling was speechless. It took her a long time to say, "But he is your own younger brother, and you are supposed to be partial to your own younger brother..."
Gu Changqing, however, didn't continue this topic. Shifting the subject, he asked, "Aunt, is it really Yao shi who killed my mother?"
Concubine Ling looked at him strangely, asking back, "Why do you suddenly ask?"
Gu Changqing mused, "There have always been rumors in the estate that it was Yao shi who killed my mother."
Concubine Ling smiled faintly and said, "There is no evidence for this. It’s fine to listen to it, but don't take it to heart."
Gu Changqing told her, "I have evidence, and it is because there is evidence that I have believed it for so many years."
"What evidence?" Concubine Ling asked.
Gu Changqing replied, "During the period my mother was recuperating from her illness, someone wrote a letter to father, which roughly expressed the writer’s feelings towards father and asking father when he would marry her. The letter landed into my mother's hands, and her illness worsened. "
Concubine Ling looked shocked and said, "I didn't expect such a thing to happen to my sister."
Gu Changqing recalled, "Yao shi is my mother's good friend. During that time, she frequented the Marquis Estate. Someone saw Yao shi secretly putting this letter into my father's study. A few days later, my mother called Yao shi over and asked her directly if she wanted to be my father's second wife. At that time, I stood outside the door and listened secretly. I wouldn't have resented her for so many years if she had frankly said yes."
Concubine Ling's eyes widened, asking, "Did she refuse my sister? Then why write a letter..."
Gu Changqing said, "Pretending to be noble and virtuous in front of my mother, while already having a relationship with my father behind her back. Why wouldn’t my mother be angered to death by her?"
Concubine Ling forced a smile as she said, "Since there is so much evidence, why still ask me just now if Yao shi is the murderer of your mother?"
"Because she said today that she didn't do anything wrong to us." Replied Gu Changqing grimly.
Concubine Ling smiled faintly, "She said that and you believed it?"
Gu Changqing pinched the dagger he had taken from Yao shi. He said, "She came here today with the determination to die. Since she’s going to die, why lie?"
Concubine Ling said, "Perhaps it's for her children?"
Gu Changqing responded, "Gu Yan already has his sister and doesn't want the property of the Marquis Estate."
The faint smile remained on concubine Ling’s face as she asked, "Is that what she said?"
Gu Changqing shook his head. Yao shi did say that, however it was more from his own personal observation of Gu Jiao and Gu Yan.
Gu Changqing looked at Concubine Ling and questioned, "Aunt, who really killed my mother?"
Concubine Ling’s empty hand clenched into a fist.