My Dearest Sister-In-Law, I've Been Waiting For You To Get A Divorce For A Long Time - Chapter 20

Chapter 20

◎ “Punishing you.” ◎

Gu Wenyao turned her head, her gaze falling on Mo Shuqing’s fingertips. She followed the lines of her fair and slender fingers upwards, her eyes finally settling on Mo Shuqing’s face.

The other person looked blank and stunned, as if surprised by her own somewhat ambiguous and tender gesture.

The atmosphere was frozen in a stalemate.

Gu Wenyao blinked, and slowly held Mo Shuqing’s hand to her own face. She tentatively asked, “Is my sister-in-law worried that my face is cold from being outside in the wind, and wants to warm me up?”

Because of the light rain that stopped at dusk, the night was a little cooler than usual.

Mo Shuqing came to her senses. Her finger followed through and gently patted Gu Wenyao’s forehead. She nodded seriously. “It is a bit cold. Let’s go back.”

Mo Shuqing pulled her hand back, her fingertips curling and hiding under her sleeve. She took the lead and walked down the steps towards the courtyard gate, her footsteps unable to cover the thumping of her heart.

Perhaps, Gu Shufeng’s words just now had agitated her, and she felt too bad for Ayao?

Gu Wenyao’s eyes lingered on Mo Shuqing’s back. She walked at a leisurely pace, almost side-by-side with her.

The sky, washed clean by the rain, looked even clearer and more transparent at night.

When Mo Shuqing looked up, she noticed that the lanterns in the courtyard had been changed to the shape of lotus flowers.

She took the initiative to start a conversation, to shift the subtle tension between them. “My aunt really is a woman of action. She just decided to hold a banquet this afternoon, and the lanterns are already hung tonight.”

Should she praise Aunt Gu for being a good housekeeper and acting quickly, or should she say that Aunt Gu was desperately using the excuse of the banquet to withdraw money?

Gu Wenyao spoke, confirming Mo Shuqing’s guess. “My aunt had someone take five hundred taels of silver from the accounts this afternoon.”

“Five hundred taels?” Mo Shuqing looked at the lanterns again. “Are the lanterns at the Marquis Gu manor made of gold?”

Gu Wenyao could hear the amusement in her voice. She lifted the corner of her eye to look at her and asked back, “What do you mean ‘at the Marquis Gu manor’? Isn’t my sister-in-law a member of this family?”

That question stumped Mo Shuqing.

She, the new bride, had not yet consummated her marriage with her husband. She was a wife in name only. She was not recognized by her husband, nor was she liked by her mother-in-law. To be honest, she really wasn’t a member of this family.

Mo Shuqing thought to herself, If she can’t be a respectful and loving couple with Gu Shufeng, and can’t convince the Marquis to put in a good word for her brother, then she would have to think of other ways.

Seeing her fall silent, Gu Wenyao glanced at the courtyard behind them. “Is my sister-in-law thinking about my brother?”

She frowned. “My brother is so unromantic and like a pig. Why does my sister-in-law have to worry about him? You were the one I married, and you were the one I bowed to. Why don’t you move into the Azalea Courtyard and live with me?”

Live with her?

Mo Shuqing stopped and looked at Gu Wenyao.

Meeting her gaze, Gu Wenyao’s breathing was light, and her smile slowly stiffened. The corners of her mouth slowly flattened. Just as she was about to take a deep breath to speak, she saw Mo Shuqing raise her hand, her index finger touching her forehead.

In one movement, she had stopped the words that were about to come out of Gu Wenyao’s mouth.

Gu Wenyao was confused.

Mo Shuqing understood. “Ayao, you’re determined to be an old maid in this manor, so you’re already trying to rely on me.”

“Alright. If you don’t marry in the future,” Mo Shuqing said with a smile, her voice indulgent. “I’ll take care of you.”

Gu Wenyao was speechless.

These words made Gu Wenyao feel both annoyed and warm.

Just now, she thought Mo Shuqing had understood her feelings and that’s why she had touched the corner of her mouth. She even gave Mo Shuqing an excuse, since Gu Shufeng’s courtyard was not a good place to talk. But it turned out that Mo Shuqing’s touch was just a casual gesture.

With one careless brush of her finger, Gu Wenyao almost took out her heart to show her.

She knew she shouldn’t blame Mo Shuqing, yet she still felt annoyed. She couldn’t help but pull Mo Shuqing’s arm and lower her head, pretending to bite her hand. She said angrily, “If my sister-in-law teases me like that again, I’ll really bite you.”

Her lips brushed against the back of her hand, but she didn’t actually bite.

Mo Shuqing’s heart trembled, as if she had been bitten.

The Azalea Courtyard was closer than the Other Gentleman Courtyard.

Mo Shuqing remembered the books. “Do you want to get your stories now? I can bring them back with me.”

“Don’t rush, sister-in-law,” Gu Wenyao glanced at her, her voice weak. “Let me carefully choose a few first. I’ll send them to you later.”

She would choose an introductory one and take it step by step. That way, the content wouldn’t be too explicit and wouldn’t make Mo Shuqing throw the book away like she did the “fire prevention pictures.”

The choosing took Gu Wenyao several days.

During this time, the head of the accounts came to see Mo Shuqing several times, telling her how much money Aunt Gu had withdrawn for the banquet.

The total amount added up to almost five thousand taels of silver.

“The cooks are from the Gu manor. We have all the flowers and decorations in the manor. The invitations and paper don’t cost much,” Mo Shuqing said, her fingers on the abacus, clattering away as she calculated the cost of the banquet. “There’s no way it costs that much.”

Mo Shuqing said, “Mama said that Aunt Gu’s servant has been going to the bank a lot these past few days. They’re probably not withdrawing money, so they must be depositing it.”

Was Aunt Gu taking the money to lend it out? What else would she do with that much money?

Aunt Gu said she wanted her to help with the banquet so she could meet the nobles of the capital. But instead, Aunt Gu took care of everything herself and only gave her the task of writing the invitations.

“My sister-in-law’s calligraphy is so good. It’s a shame to waste it on invitations,” Gu Wenyao said, standing opposite Mo Shuqing, holding the invitations she had written. She pursed her lips and looked at them carefully. A hint of jealousy was in her eyes.

Mo Shuqing patted the envelopes next to her. She said softly to comfort her, “I didn’t just write these. I also wrote one for you.”

“…That’s not what I meant,” Gu Wenyao’s voice was muffled as she put down the invitations.

She had come today to bring Mo Shuqing some books and had also arranged for a tailor to come and measure Mo Shuqing for her new clothes. The measuring tools, like the soft measuring tape, had been brought over first. The tailor would arrive later.

Seeing Mo Shuqing so focused on the accounts, Gu Wenyao had to sit next to her, propping her chin on her hand and waiting. She reminded her softly, “My sister-in-law probably forgot. My aunt also has a son who isn’t married yet. But when she divorced, the Earl’s manor didn’t want to let him go, so she only brought her daughter back.”

“If you calculate it, my cousin is also of a marriageable age,” Gu Wenyao said with a smile. “What mother would be so heartless as to not care about their child?”

Especially since the Earl’s family was getting worse with each generation and couldn’t compare to the Gu family.

The world was still relatively peaceful now, but all these Marquis’s sons were of the same quality as Gu Shufeng. How could they carry on the legacy of their ancestors? It would be good enough if they could maintain the facade of their predecessors. As for bringing glory to the family, that was out of the question.

The Gu family still looked decent now. First, because the Marquis had military achievements when he was young. Second, because his concubine, Madam Ming, was from the wealthiest family in Jiangnan. With power and money, they raised a useless son like Gu Shufeng.

If Gu Wenyao died, the Ming family would have no one to carry on their legacy, and the Gu family would be even more glorious, a glory built on gold and silver. At that time, the lanterns hanging outside might really be made of gold paper.

As Gu Wenyao said all this, she propped her chin on her hands, her eyes filled with a look of having everything planned out.

She had clearly prepared everything and was just waiting for a catalyst to set it all on fire.

Mo Shuqing placed her fingers on the abacus beads and squinted at Gu Wenyao. “Is this what you meant when you said you’d ‘use me’?”

Using her as the catalyst to start this fire with Aunt Gu, so the Marquis wouldn’t be suspicious? Otherwise, the Marquis would think that Gu Wenyao was being jealous and hateful, and was trying to kick Aunt Gu out because of what happened when she was a child.

And in the incident eight years ago when Gu Wenyao fell into the water, Aunt Gu wasn’t the only one who was guilty.

“It was wrong of me not to tell my sister-in-law about this beforehand,” Gu Wenyao pulled her hands back. After thinking for a moment, she apologized sincerely. “Why don’t you punish me by having me copy the guest list for the invitations?”

Mo Shuqing had already finished writing most of the guest list. Besides, Gu Wenyao’s fingers were soft and boneless. They were good for operating an abacus and other delicate tasks, but it would be too hard on her to write the guest list.

Mo Shuqing didn’t want Gu Wenyao to be tired, but she also didn’t want to let the matter go so lightly. So she said, “I’m not afraid of you using me, but I hope you can let me know in advance next time.”

She got up and picked up the soft measuring tape from the table. She chose a method that was both annoying and painless. “I’ll punish you by having you measure yourself first, to see if the numbers on this tape are accurate.”

Gu Wenyao froze. She looked at Mo Shuqing in surprise, her breathing light and her fingers slightly clenched. She asked calmly, “Will my sister-in-law measure me herself?”