The Rebirth of the Crown Princess's Treasure Husband 2

  As dusk approached, the sun cast a dim yellow glow through the gaps in the paulownia trees in the courtyard and into the room.

  Gu Man subconsciously covered his eyes with his hand to block out the glare, and when he came back to himself, he only then discovered that the sun which had just been shining brightly had already slipped into the clouds at some unknown time.

  It's okay, at least I won't have to see my ugly face in the mirror anymore.

  "Give me a comb." She tried not to look at the terrifying figure in the mirror, and said to Pei Yin behind her without turning around.

  Pei Yin wiped her hands on her apron several times before taking the comb from Gu Man, who had already lost his luscious black hair of his youth. His hair was now brittle and could be easily grasped in one's hand. Although he was only in his twenties, his cheeks were deeply sunken, revealing a somewhat frightening high cheekbone. She combed his hair together, trying to ignore the white hairs that had appeared.

  Gu Man didn't seem to care, and only after Pei Yin had helped her tie up her hair did she step out the door.

  She stood on the veranda looking at all the bird cages covered in black cloth, and a sense of desolation welled up from deep within her.

  However, in just three short months, she had become emaciated beyond recognition. The current her was no longer the elegant woman of years past, but a mere skeleton on the verge of death.

  Pei Yin stood in the corridor with her outer cloak, but couldn't help reddening at the corners of her eyes.

  "Miss, please don't worry. Since the young master is not as cold and distant to you as he was to the eleventh miss, maybe... maybe..." But she only got halfway through her sentence before she couldn't continue.

  Gu Man took the hairpin in her hand and began to tease the sparrows in the cage, saying in a low voice without turning her head: "Why deceive yourself and others? If he had any feelings for me, he wouldn't have sat idly by day after day watching his noble mother humiliate me. Besides, when you heard him come to my room, did he ever say a word that made sense? He just wanted to put on an appearance of tolerance in order to gain a good reputation."

  The two were talking when the courtyard gate suddenly creaked open.

  Qiu Cangwu wore a moon-white straight long gown, his hair was all combed up and braided into small pigtails hidden in his hat, with a white jade crown on his head, looking even more like a scholar than usual.

  Gu Man's mouth corners were almost imperceptibly raised, and he turned to instruct Pei Yin: "Pei Yin, today is a good day, you go to the second floor storage room for me and bring back the plum blossom wine that Princess Wang sent."

  Pei Yin looked at Qiu Cangwu who was about to arrive in front of her, hesitated for a moment, and finally bowed down.

  Although Qiu Cangwu had been watching Gu Man's daily decline, he couldn't help but be startled when he suddenly looked up and saw her current gaunt appearance.

  At first when she married Gu Man, she was still a stunning beauty, but in just these few short years, she has become like this.

  In the end, it was because Gu Man Tai didn't know how to adapt to changing circumstances and couldn't be flexible. If she wasn't of any help, why would she have to fawn all over Gu Cheng Yu?

  Thinking of this, Qiu Cangwu's heart had no more feelings or guilt towards Gu Man, and instead thought about how she would have to humble herself in front of the previously despised Gu Chengyu, accompanying him with a forced smile, and her heart began to harbor some resentment towards Gu Man.

  Looking at Gu Man, who was completely devoid of his former elegance, he couldn't help but feel a strong sense of disdain. Thinking about his current noble status and dignified appearance, he felt that he was no longer someone that the likes of Gu Man, with his broken family and ruined life, could aspire to. Unconsciously, he straightened his waist slightly, and without looking at Gu Man, he cleared his throat twice to dispel the awkwardness.

  "I've come to tell you that the other day, the Imperial Censor Wang Tongxuan submitted a memorial impeaching your uncle, King Weng, for dereliction of duty and missing the opportunity to attack. The Emperor was enraged and issued an edict to exterminate the entire Wang clan."

  He suppressed his fear and guilt to finish the sentence, then turned around wanting to leave. Although he had already transferred his affections elsewhere, after reading so many years of sacred books, his conscience was still not completely darkened.

  Wang Bohan was actually not incompetent, on the contrary, he guarded the border for thirteen years, did his best and never made any mistakes.

  However, the new emperor abolished the Grand Chancellor system and established his own cabinet. To establish his own power, he needed to eliminate some dissidents. Wang Bohan, who held a strong army but was forced out of court by the new emperor, was obviously a thorn in the side of the new emperor.

  Gu Chengyu came up with an idea and let his father Qiu Shi'an instruct Shi Tongzhou to impeach Wang Bojian, and he was also present at that time.

  Gu Man's hand holding the hairpin suddenly thrust forward, and the sparrow inside the cage only jumped a few times before falling to the bottom of the cage without making another sound.

  Qiu Cangwu didn't dare look at Gu Man's face and only wanted to leave this oppressive and somewhat terrifying place as soon as possible.

  But Gu Man did not get angry, instead he calmly stopped him: "After all, we are a couple, Second Master is so heartless, not even willing to have a drink with me?"

  Qiu Cangwu's footsteps still haven't opened up, not for the sake of maintaining the husband-and-wife relationship in Gu Man's mouth. Now that the Princess of Beian has passed away and Wang Bogui has already been imprisoned by imperial decree, it won't be long before the three clans are exterminated. It's time now, Gu Man staying in this world is just suffering, might as well send her on her way himself.

  He turned around, looked at Gu Man and sighed: "If you had been so calm before, would I have neglected you? In fact, I couldn't bear to see you suffer like that. Forget it, between husband and wife, where is there overnight resentment? I'll accompany you in a drunkenness to forget your worries!"

  Gu Man just smiled and didn't take his words seriously.

  Qiu Cangwu felt a bit awkward, but thinking of Gu Yan's slender and seductive figure, and then thinking of the new emperor's favorite, Gu Chengyu, he threw away all his awkwardness.

  As Gu Man entered the house, he sat down on the kang with ease, then looked at Gu Man: "Your temper has changed a lot." The room was missing the large pillows that were usually placed there, and he felt a bit uncomfortable sitting.

  "Eating a loss and gaining wisdom, if I still can't collect my temper after going through these things, wouldn't that be too ignorant of the times?" Gu Man didn't notice the underlying meaning in Qiu Cangwu's words at all, and looked at Pei Yin pouring wine for Qiu Cangwu before raising his cup to say: "This cup is to thank your father."

  She said something strange, Qiu Cangwu's face changed color, and he calmly took a sip of wine, probing: "Thank my father? This is indeed a strange thing to say."

  Gu Man lowered his head, pretending he hadn't seen the white powder that had fallen from his fingernails when he poured himself a drink.

  "It's impossible that he would collude with Gu Chengyu to frame my grandfather. I should thank him for being so careless and forgetting that my grandfather had a favorite disciple, Shen Qiao."

  Qiu Cangwu's heart moved, he naturally knew who Shen Qiao was. This Shen Qiao was the new commander of the Jin Yiwei, who had accompanied the new emperor to hurry back to the capital and ascend to the throne.

  But he soon relaxed, this Shen Qiao was a new emperor's person and had never stood up to speak for Wang Bohong before, his stance was already very clear.