Rebirth of the Excellent Daughter of the Marquis Household (REDMH) - Chapter 17

Gu Yu Qi sat in the horse carriage belonging to the Marquis’ residence, warm and sleepy. Although it was winter, the carriage was filled with thick cushions and a heater which blocked the biting cold wind outside.

Sitting next to Gu Yu Qi, Liang-shi kept chatting with Gu Yu Qi about who they were seeing today and what they would say when they saw them. She was afraid that her daughter would make the slightest mistake. Gu Yu Qi felt that her mother was somewhat more nervous than her.

In fact, Liang-shi was indeed a little nervous. Not only was this Gu Yu Qi’s first time, it was also the first time she would appear in front of the nobles at the capital as the Ding Yuan Marquis’ wife. It really made her calf twitch a little.

Seeing Liang-shi’s nervousness, Gu Yu Qi could not help holding Liang Huai Yu’s slightly chilled fingertips, “Mother, you’re even more nervous than I am. Mother, we need not be afraid, just treat those people as Chinese cabbages.”

Gu Yu Qi’s words made Liang-shi unable to help spitting at her, “Alright, talking nonsense again. Those are the wives and daughters of noble and imperial families, how could they be Chinese cabbages?! If others heard of this, you wouldn’t even know how to retreat from this joke!”

However, after being disturbed by Gu Yu Qi like this, her nervous heart calmed down a lot. Her daughter was right, their status was considered high enough. She was the Marquis’ wife and was a highly-ranked person. Going higher would only be the princess consorts and princesses who would be able to suppress her. They were able to see many people as Chinese cabbages and ignore them. As long as they were not rude, they did not need to think too much. If they kept being overcautious and indecisive, they would instead look jittery and petty.

The carriage travelled quite far, leaving the capital through the east gate, and driving along the main road all the way to the suburbs of the capital.

The invitation was from Princess Ping Hu. She had a villa in the suburbs of the capital called Leng Xiang villa which was filled with all kinds of plum blossoms. In her previous life, Gu Yu Qi had been there several times and was quite familiar with the inside. For Princess Ping Hu, Gu Yu Qi had only used a term to describe her in the previous life: fated to be a widow.

In this life, she was still fated to be a widow.

Princess Ping Hu was the elder sister of the current emperor and was also quite old. She had married three times when she was younger and without any doubt, all of her husbands had passed away within five years of marriage. In addition to being sad, Princess Ping Hu also became indifferent with matters concerning love. She had been a widow for years and after getting older, she became more lively and often organised gatherings for noble ladies from the capital.

Liang-shi was afraid of being rude, so she rushed to be early. When they arrived at the Leng Xiang villa, there were a few carriages from other residences parked sparsely at the gate.

After being served by the maids and getting out of the carriage, the servants at the gate read Liang-shi’s invitation and then led them in.

In her previous life, Gu Yu Qi had wished that flowers would rain from the sky every time she appeared to attract everyone’s attention. In this life, she wished to be invisible and chanted to herself, you can’t see me, you can’t see me, as she entered.

Fortunately, they had arrived early and there were not many people in the warm pavilion. The servant girl at the door reported their name inside and only then did the noble women inside the pavilion who had arrived early know who the mother and daughter coming through the curtain were.

Liang-shi’s first appearance naturally garnered a lot of attention. The noble women in the warm pavilion all looked at her with that kind of gaze. Chen Han Lin and the nanny teacher had spared no efforts in advertising them, and Gu Yu Qi, the young miss of the Marquis’ residence raised deep in the house, was very famous in the capital. As such, Liang Huai Yu and Gu Yu Qi attracted everyone’s attention as soon as they appeared.

Everyone looked carefully at the mother and daughter from head to toe, especially at Gu Yu Qi who was following Liang-shi. They were really as beautiful as the rumours said, so beautiful that people could not look away. When these noble women looked at Gu Yu Qi, they could not help but feel a little sour. Their own daughters all looked beautiful, but when compared to the little girl in front of them, why did they seem to be missing something?

Gu Yu Qi only felt goosebumps from being looked at and she unconsciously shrank behind her mother. This should not be the case, she had hidden herself very well so why did she still attract the attention of so many people? Gu Yu Qi was a little puzzled.

Sensing her daughter’s withdrawal, Liang Huai Yu straightened her back.

Liang-shi began feeling a little nervous, but as soon as she thought of her daughter’s words about Chinese cabbages and how her daughter was depending on her, she calmed down in an instant. She had a slight smile in her eyes when she was pulled over by the wife of a high-ranked minister who warmly greeted her. Then she met with a few other ladies, spoke a few words, then went inside. Gu Yu Qi naturally recognised the wife of the high-ranked minister. She was the wife of the Minister of Industry, Wang-shi, and was a very enthusiastic person with a good reputation among the noble ladies, so Gu Yu Qi was not worried about her mother chatting with her. The ladies were naturally full of praise for Gu Yu Qi who had appeared for the first time. They kept praising Gu Yu Qi for being intelligent and sensible. This time, not only did Gu Yu Qi feel that this was strange, but even Liang Huai Yu felt that something was not quite right.

At first, she smiled and socialised with numerous noble ladies, then she found some topics to divert the noble ladies’ attention away from Gu Yu Qi.

It was not that Liang-shi did not want others to praise her daughter, but they had only met her for the first time and they were all praising her daughter one by one in an exaggerated and elaborate manner. No matter how she listened, it did not sound right, not to mention that there were other young misses of noble and imperial families present. In a while, a princess or two would also come and if Gu Yu Qi stole the limelight from those princesses during her first appearance, then it would be really bad. She racked her brains for something about Jiangnan to talk about.

These noble ladies have lived in the capital for a long time and at most, they would have gone to the temple in the suburbs of the capital to burn incense. When they heard Liang-shi talk about Jiangnan, they were gradually attracted to it and surrounded Liang Huai Yu, asking all about Jiangnan.

Liang-shi was born in a family of military commanders. Although she had been restrained by her mother, etiquette in Jiangnan was not as important so she was good at martial arts and was active. When she was a girl, she really travelled a lot. She was experienced and knowledgeable which coupled with her soft Jiangnan accent, made her pleasant to listen to and with a few words, all the ladies gathered around her.

Gu Yu Qi watched as those noble ladies finally turned their attention away and let out a sigh of relief in her heart. This was not right! Something was definitely wrong! As for what was wrong, she could not figure it out for a while. If she had received such attention in her previous life, she would have been happy. Yet, in this life, she wanted more than anything else to be an invisible person and the excessive attention gave her goosebumps all over.

She looked at the decorations inside the warm pavilion. They were really the same as in her previous life. She felt a little sad at the bottom of her heart.

“Madam Chen from the Minister’s residence is here with the eldest young miss!” The maid at the door shouted and drew the curtain.

Gu Yu Qi’s heartbeat seemed chaotic for a few beats and her somewhat blank gaze moved over.

She saw a lady in purple and a girl in a white cloak walk in. Under the cloak, a face like a green lotus appeared, beautiful like a stream of water with eyes like ink and lips like pale cherry blossoms.

Sure enough, it was her, always wearing that spotless white dress wherever she went, her eternally unchanging purity like snow, eternally unchanging gentleness like water, eternally unchanging beautiful smile, eternally unchanging…

The moment that Gu Yu Qi saw Zhang Wan Yi, a faint sneer formed at the corner of her mouth.

It was this face, this person, who had secretly framed her countless times. She just had to keep following behind her, sweetly calling her elder sister. She really did not know how she could even call her elder sister!

She had been stupid, thinking that because she was a girl favored by the heavens, she could hold other people in the palm of her hand after crossing over. She thought that she could be a role model for everyone and be an object of admiration for others. Yet, everyone had known that she was the one who had been controlled by others.

What seemed like a snow sculpture before her eyes, the person made from water, was indeed ruthless.

Ten years in the cold palace!

Gu Yu Qi looked down slightly and there was a bit of coldness in her eyes.

“Ah Nan, come and greet Madam Chen and Young Miss Wan Yi,” her mother’s voice sounded next to her ears. Gu Yu Qi slowly raised her eyes. There was already a faint smile in them, but it did not reach her eyes.

“Hello Madam Chen, hello Young Miss Wan Yi.” Gu Yu Qi curtseyed sweetly. Before she could stand back up, Madam Chen took her hand, “So this is the young miss of the Marquis’ residence. It really is better to see you once than to hear about you a hundred times. You’re indeed a beautiful person.” Holding Gu Yu Qi’s hand, she smiled familiarly.

There was a shy smile on Gu Yu Qi’s lips, “Madam is overpraising.”

Her smile was just perfect when Zhang Wan Yi came over to greet Liang-shi, then she also took Gu Yu Qi’s hand and smiled, “This little sister, I liked as soon as I saw. She’s really pretty.”

Gu Yu Qi was a little stunned. Then she laughed a little and just lowered her eyes, looking at the pair of perfect jade-like hands covering the back of her own hands. It had been these hands which had brought her a bowl of medicine to make her infertile, it had been these hands that had poisoned her personally, and it had been these hands that had sent her to the cold palace.

Looking at Zhang Wan Yi’s magnanimous appearance, she did not have the slightest trace of humility from when she had followed her in the previous life, calling her elder sister over and over. Even less present was the hatred and disgust everytime she had seen her after she had fallen down.

Gu Yu Qi was a little dazed. She should hate Zhang Wan Yi.

Yet at this moment, she suddenly felt that in her previous life, perhaps Zhang Wan Yi had hated her more. She hated her publicity, her beauty, her daring to love and hate, her talent. Zhang Wan Yi should have hated everything about her deeply to her bone marrow. That was why she would follow her humbly like a handmaid, deliberately beguiling her and getting close to her, tearing down her vigilance and waiting for an opportunity.

Gu Yu Qi slowly pulled out her hands. She raised her eyes, smiled slightly, and said with a light voice “How can I compare to you, elder sister.”

In her previous life, she called her elder sister but in this life, it was the other way around.

Seeing Gu Yu Qi’s indifference, Zhang Wan Yi did not say anything more and sat down with her mother.

Gu Yu Qi sighed slightly. This was the kind of person she was like, always having a sense of propriety and knowing when to advance or retreat. It was no wonder that Yun Ke constantly thought about her, feeling that she was the only one worthy of being by his side and being the motherly model for the nation.

“Ah Nan, are you feeling unwell?” Liang-shi asked in a low voice, noticing her daughter acting strange.

Gu Yu Qi returned to her senses. She quietly took her mother’s arm and smiled sweetly at her mother. “No,” she said comfortingly.

Forget it. Everything from her previous life had already disappeared. Now that she had been reborn, she naturally would live for herself and for Liang-shi. She would stay far away from that person and not get entangled with Zhang Wan Yi.

It was not that she had not thought about revenge, but what about after revenge? There was a cycle of cause and effect and unpleasant retribution. It would be better to seek peace and happiness in this life. Now that she had been reborn, she only needed to protect the person she wanted to protect!

Thinking of this, Gu Yu Qi’s eyes were calm.