Rebirth of the Excellent Daughter of the Marquis Household (REDMH) - Chapter 74

Run Ying’s skillful hands quickly combed a beautiful hairstyle for Gu Yu Qi. Her long, glossy black hair was formed into double loops by her hands, different to that of other girls’. Run Ying pushed the two loops back a little so it looked playful yet dignified. When they left the Marquis’ residence, they basically brought all their jewellery. So she easily found a pair of plain silver orchid hairpins inlaid with pearls in Gu Yu Qi’s jewellery box and she pinned one on each side.

Although these hairpins were not expensive, the shape was very delicate and elegant. The pearls were round and lovely, contrasting against Gu Yu Qi’s skin like fine white jade. She put on another pair of white pearl earrings for Gu Yu Qi which matched the hairpins on her head in a fun way.

She chose a light green dress to put on Gu Yu Qi and a dark green silk sash around her waist. On the silk sash was the sachet that Gu Yu Qi wore on her body all year round.

“Young Miss, this sachet is almost worn out. Let Yan Zhi make another one,” Run Ying helped Gu Yu Qi hang the sachet as she spoke.

“Understood,” Gu Yu Qi smiled and touched Run Ying’s forehead with her finger, “Why didn’t you say you’ll make one yourself? Lazy bones.”

Run Ying laughed, “Doesn’t this servant have other things to do?”

“You slippery thing,” Gu Yu Qi smiled and spat at her. “Alright, hurry up and do what you need to. Right, it’s too dangerous outside. If you want to go to the dock tomorrow, tell Zhao Wu to send two guards to accompany you. And be careful.”

“Mhmm. Don’t worry Young Miss, this servant has been to the dock several times. Wasn’t everything fine?’ Run Ying said with a smile, “Seriously, Young Miss, there are really a lot of good things piling up at the dock. You have such good foresight.”

Recently, Run Ying had followed Gu Yu Qi’s instructions and often went to the dock to find bargains and buy them.

Those merchants trapped by the heavy rain were distraught. It was raining endlessly and seeing that they were about to lose all their money, plus with food prices starting to rise, many people began to sell their goods at low prices in order to maintain their livelihood and reduce losses. For the past two days, Run Ying took guards to accompany her to the dock everyday. She bought some cheap things that would sell very well and brought them back. Yesterday, Run Ying collected a lot of high quality spices. The price was less than half of the usual price and Run Ying was so happy that she smiled in her dreams at night. Those spices need only wait until the disaster was over to be transported to the capital, then the price would immediately quadruple. The imperial family members and aristocrats in the capital had nothing other than a lot of money and stupidity. As long as they were flattered, no matter the price, someone would take advantage of it and spend money to buy it.

Gu Yu Qi was afraid that Run Ying would become addicted to buying cheap things and forget about her own safety. That would be bad, so she had to remind her a little. Seeing that Run Ying agreed, Gu Yu Qi felt that it was necessary to tell Zhao Wu. This girl Run Ying belonged to the group of people who wanted money over life. If she really got carried away and was targeted, it would be troublesome.

She waited until everything was tidied up, then Gu Yu Qi ran to the kitchen again. Dai Mei had brought a few village women to cook. His Highness Prince An was living here so his food naturally had to be very exquisite, so Dai Mei would do it herself. The other guards also needed to eat and it was up to those village women to solve that issue. Fortunately, these village women had lived in the courtyard for a while and following Liang Huai Yu and Gu Yu Qi, they had gained quite a lot of experience. In addition, they used to be dexterous back home, so what they made could be considered tasty.

His Highness Prince An’s fever had not completely dissipated, so his food should be light. Dai Mei cooked some lean meat porridge and added fresh shellfish to taste which gave it a strong aroma. Before sending it to Prince An, Gu Yu Qi ate a big bowl first.She still licked the corners of her mouth involuntarily. If not because Dai Mei had not made much, she really would have wanted to eat another bowl.

After drinking soup, Gu Yu Qi really felt that she had been resurrected.

She pulled Dai Mei to make another cake. It was only until Prince An sent someone to inquire about dinner that Gu Yu Qi dawdled with a tray towards the courtyard where His Highness Prince An lived.

Gu Yu Qi had not forgotten to ask Dai Mei to bring some other snacks and go with her.

This time, the cake was even better than last time. Gu Yu Qi took Dai Mei to His Highness Prince An’s door with brisk steps.

Sure enough, in the dark at the door, Du Xia stood upright dressed as a guard.

“You’ve worked hard, guards.” Gu Yu Qi walked over with a smile and spoke to the guards standing in front of the door. “Here are some snacks for you.” After she finished speaking, she motioned to Dai Mei to come over. Dai Mei brought the pre-divided snacks to the guards at the door one by one. Finally, when she gave some to Du Xia, she secretly stuffed another greased paper bag to him.

Du Xia was startled at first, then immediately afterwards, he tucked the greased paper bag into his clothes. His heart beat like a drum. The greased paper bag was still warm and it pressed against his heart. It must be the cake that Gu Yu Qi had promised earlier.

Du Xia instantly felt like time was passing too slowly. It would be nice if it went faster so he could change shifts and then find an empty corner to open the greased paper bag. He felt like his heart was about to fly. Gu Yu Qi was very thoughtful. If she had given Du Xia something alone, it would inevitably make the other guards talk, but like this, it was not noticeable.

Gu Yu Qi saw that Dai Mei had finished what she told her to do, so she walked in with the tray.

“This civilian girl, Gu Yu Qi, greets His Highness Prince An. This civilian girl has brought dinner and invites His Highness Prince An to have a meal.” She went in and raised the tray high above her head as she curtseyed.

“Come over,” Yun Ke replied lightly.

“Yes.” Gu Yu Qi stood up and put the tray down on the table. She separated the food boxes from the tray one by one, taking out the hot porridge, side dishes, and two snacks. Dai Mei’s cooking was really getting better and better. Gu Yu Qi put them aside while secretly admiring them. What a waste to feed them to this guy.

“Come help this prince up.” Yun Ke saw that Gu Yu Qi stood to the side like a wooden stake after she set things up. He frowned slightly as he spoke slowly.

“Yes, Your Highness.” Gu Yu Qi lowered her head in response but her lips twitched. She walked over, helped Yun Ke up, and then helped him to the table.

His palm was still hot but it was better than before. Under the candlelight, his complexion was still bad but the abnormal flush had already faded and all that was left was whiteness. His lips had lost their colour, but his clothes had already been changed into something refreshing. Even his hair had been meticulously combed behind his head and pinned with a white jade hairpin.

Gu Yu Qi could not help but look at him more. There was really something wrong. He was still sick, but he actually dressed up. For who?!

Seeing that Gu Yu Qi looked at him more, Yun Ke secretly breathed a sigh of relief but his heart was still a little stuffy. If he had really misunderstood everything in the previous life, how would he face Gu Yu Qi from now on?

He knew that Gu Yu Qi had woken up early so he had especially sent secret guards to monitor Gu Yu Qi. Not for anything else, it was just to know her movements. He also knew that Gu Yu Qi had deliberately dawdled until now. Ever since the secret guard sent back news that Gu Yu Qi had left her room, he had started washing and tidying himself up. He had not understood why Gu Yu Qi was so important to him all of a sudden, but he really did not want Gu Yu Qi to see his sloppiest appearance.

Perhaps it was because he had seduced Gu Yu Qi with this body in the previous life, so maybe he could still retain Gu Yu Qi’s gaze.

He glanced at the food on the table and could not help frowning slightly. Was something missing?

Seeing that His Highness Prince An did not move his chopsticks for a long time, Gu Yu Qi just thought he was assuming airs and contemptuously stuck up her middle finger in her heart. She asked, “Is something not to Your Highness’ liking? If so, this civilian girl will take it away and ask someone to remake it. Perhaps Your Highness wants to eat something in particular. Please tell this civilian girl, this civilian girl will see if it can be made for Your Highness.”

What should he do? Should he mention it or not? If he said it, Gu Yu Qi was so smart that she must have known he sent someone to monitor her. If he did not say it, then… Nevermind, if it was not here then it was not here. Perhaps the cake that Gu Yu Qi had busily made in the kitchen mentioned by the secret guard had not been made for him at all.

He had long wanted to send someone to urge Gu Yu Qi, but he heard from the secret guard that Gu Yu Qi was making a snack in the kitchen called a cake, so he suppressed that thought and waited patiently. However, after waiting and waiting, where was the cake? The snacks on the tray were very exquisite, but it was just the usual mung bean cake and maple syrup cake. If he did not know these two snacks, then his two lifetimes would have been in vain.

“In such unusual times, there is no need to bother,” Yun Ke replied lightly, picking up the bowl and chopsticks.

Gu Yu Qi stepped back and grimaced at Yun Ke’s back. Who told you to pretend?!

Yun Ke still ate as quietly as in the previous life, but he ate quickly as if someone was urging him behind his back. Seeing Yun Ke had finished eating, Gu Yu Qi stepped forward to pack things up but Yun Ke stopped her.

‘Leave it alone.” He glanced at Gu Yu Qi who could not wait to leave the room. His mind was full of thoughts but he spoke without any expression on his face.

“Yes.” Gu Yu Qi heard this and dropped her hands back to her sides again.

***

Yun Ke felt awkward for a while. Could she not take the initiative to talk to him? Just like in his previous life.

In the previous life, as long as he went to Gu Yu Qi, Gu Yu Qi would be so excited that she would pull on him and talk about things, saying how much she missed him, how much she longed for him to come and how happy she was that he came. In this life, he spoke one line then she spoke one line. There was not even the slightest bit of small talk.

This kind of Gu Yu Qi made Yun Ke very uncomfortable.

When he saw her for the first time, she had obviously been terrified of him. The second time he saw her, she had hurriedly wanted to avoid him. Sigh, Yun Ke sighed in his heart. If he had really misunderstood her in the previous life, then he really had hurt her too deeply.

The room was silent for a long time and the strange atmosphere made even Gu Yu Qi feel suffocated. What was going on with Yun Ke now? Surely he was not thinking of more tricks to deal with her again? Yet it did not look like it. Now that she was allied with him, although he was a jerk, he would still be more courteous to those who were useful to him. He was good at attracting and utilising people, otherwise, he would not be able to ascend the throne successfully. After a period of time, he would rescue two very scholars in dire straits in Jiangxia City. These two people would become his most loyal staff and in the future, they would become the Qi dynasty’s great scholar and the Minister of Rites. So, Yun Ke was very kind to those who helped him.

With the status of an alliance, Yun Ke should not make things too hard for her.

Gu Yu Qi was thinking all over the place, and so was Yun Ke.

He was always quiet and would not warm up to others. Even to Zhang Wan Yi who he had fallen in love with in the previous life, he had been indifference and unenthusiastic. Now, he had no words to say to Gu Yu Qi.

“That prescription…” Yun Ke thought for a while, then he still opened his mouth to break the silence in the room.

“What prescription is Your Highness talking about?” Gu Yu Qi asked knowingly.

“A prescription that can cure the plague.” Yun Ke was not annoyed. Seeing that Gu Yu Qi opened her mouth, he seemed relieved and continued to ask, “Did you really find it in the previous life?” He could not help but ask. The facts that he confirmed in his previous life had become less certain in this life. He really wanted to get another confirmation from Gu Yu Qi.

“Does it matter?” Gu Yu Qi’s heart sank suddenly. Thinking of her stupidity in her previous life, she could not help but be sarcastic, “Either way, it had already been concluded in Your Highness’ heart.”

It mattered. Yun Ke frowned and his heart followed. He turned around slowly and looked at the disdainful smile on the corner of Gu Yu Qi’s mouth. His heart also sank. Anger and disdain flashed in her eyes.

Right, she already could not be bothered to explain anything.

“This prince wants to know,” his voice was still cool, but if Gu Yu Qi paid more attention, she would notice there was a bit of trembling in his tone. Yun Ke said slowly, “Tell this prince the story of how you got the prescription again.”

“Didn’t Your Highness’ good cousin find the prescription? Your Highness can ask her.” When Gu Yu Qi mentioned these things, she could not help but get angry. She had tried to suppress it but her tone was still not good.

“This prince is asking you now,” Yun Ke’s frown deepened. Why had she been so gentle in front of him in the previous life, but so violent in this life? She was like a firecracker, exploding at any moment.

“You really want to know?” Gu Yu Qi tilted her head slightly and looked at Yun Ke suspiciously. In her previous life, he would yell back if she just explained, viciously assaulting her verbally to her face and grounding her for a month. Was he crazy in this life?

“Speak, this prince will listen,” Yun Ke spoke with a rare patience.

“Fine. In the previous life, I heard that you were trapped in Jiangxia City and infected with the plague, so I started asking doctors and pharmacists in practically all the big and small medical clinics in the capital. They came up with many prescriptions, however, they could not treat this disease effectively. So I started digging through books myself and rummaged through all the bookstores in the capital, small and big. Then I finally found a hand-copied ancient book with only half the pages left in a bookstore in the east of the city. It recorded that such a plague once occurred in the previous dynasty. The illness described in it was almost exactly the same as the epidemic that occurred then. So I copied the prescription down and asked Zhang Wan Yi to confirm whether the prescription was accurate. I also asked her to find a few people who were infected with the disease to testify. At that time, all the people in the capital who had the disease were quarantined in the south of the city and I could not get close, but Zhang Wan Yi was the prime minister’s daughter so there was still a way. However, I had not expected that a few days later, there would be news that Zhang Wan Yi found the prescription to treat the disease.” Gu Yu Qi finished speaking quickly then shrugged, “You know what happened after, I don’t need to go into the details.”

The more Gu Yu Qi spoke, the colder Yun Ke’s heart grew.

What Gu Yu Qi said was fully substantiated. If Gu Yu Qi had not found the prescription, then could she name the bookstore and tell him the title of the ancient book?

Yun Ke’s heart was very confused now and he waved his hand feebly, “You leave first. This prince needs to rest,” he spoke coldly.

“Yes.” Gu Yu Qi did not ask much and curtseyed directly. Then she put away the dishes on the table and took them out.

Yun Ke watched Gu Yu Qi’s back as she left the room. The moment the door closed, he felt as if he had done something extremely stupid. If she had spoken in such detail in her previous life, how good would it have been?

With this thought in Yun Ke’s mind, he felt a cloud of sadness envelop his heart. He almost lost his breath. In his last life, he had never given her a chance to explain… After listening to just the beginning, he had interrupted her words roughly and had also grounded her. The most ridiculous thing was that he had threatened her back then that if she brought up disputes about Zhang Wan Yi again, he would send her out of the palace.

He had blamed her for being jealous of Zhang Wan Yi.

In his previous life, after learning that Zhang Wan Yi found a prescription to save him, he stubbornly believed that Zhang Wan Yi was the one who sincerely treated him well and was his lifelong companion. How could he know that the one who treated him really well was already by his side…

There was almost no need to ask for proof. Yun Ke already knew that Gu Yu Qi was not lying… This was because Yun Ke had asked Zhang Wan Yi where the prescription came from in the previous life and she had faltered with her words, unlike how detailed Gu Yu Qi had spoken.

“Someone come,” he summoned the secret guard hiding in the dark, “Go and find out if there is such a bookstore in the east part of the capital and if there is an ancient book in the bookstore.” Hiding in the dark, the secret guard had already heard their conversation so as soon as Yun Ke mentioned it, he immediately understood.

After the secret guard slipped away, Yun Ke sat alone for a long time. After a long while, there were bursts of pain in his lower back and various scenes where he and Gu Yu Qi had been together flashed before his eyes one by one. The more Yun Ke recalled, the more he shuddered with apprehension.

He finally closed his eyes slowly and let out a long sigh. When he was in his previous life, he felt that looking at Gu Yu Qi was unpleasant. With such a fortunate life, she did not know how to cherish happiness. Yet, now when he out of it and looking back, it turned out that he had wrongly blamed her.

Maybe he really was wrong in the previous life… Were the heavens letting him live again to correct his mistake?

Except, Gu Yu Qi in his previous life had her eyes and heart filled with him, but the Gu Yu Qi in this life did not even want to look at him anymore. Even if he sincerely tried to redeem himself, could things be turned around? He had neglected her heart for too long, ignored her for too long. She might not give him a chance, otherwise how could she cry out such a vicious oath for them to never see each other ever again before she died?

“Someone come.” He thought for a long time, then called a guard over again. “Go and find out the truth about Gu Yu Qi’s departure from the Marquis’ residence. What this prince wants is the truth, rather than echoing what others say. Find out what exactly happened in the Marquis’ residence the night Gu Yu Qi left.”

“Yes.” The secret guard took the order and left.

The heavy rain stopped suddenly the next day. Like how it had came suddenly, it stopped without warning. Jiangxia City had been tortured by the heavy rain for days and although refugees entered the city, most of them had left home penniless and there was nowhere for them to live in Jiangxia City. They could only gather under the eaves of broken temples in the streets.

Run Ying was walking on the way to the dock. Today, Zhao Wu had sent two more people to protect her according to Gu Yu Qi’s orders, but Run Ying felt that it was completely unnecessary. She went to the dock almost everyday but nothing had happened. However, Gu Yu Qi’s and Zhao Wu’s attitudes were very firm so Run Ying did not refuse.

Yet coincidentally, a few days ago, a medicine dealer had taken the initiative to find Run Ying. he had a large amount of medicinal materials on hand but due to improper storage, most of it had been drenched by the rain. He found out that Run Ying had been collecting things at the dock since it started raining, so he wanted to try his luck. Perhaps this little girl was stupid. So he collected his soaking wet medicinal materials. However, Run Ying was so shrewd, how could she be fooled like this?

The medicinal material dealer saw that Run Ying was young and carrying a large sum of money so he thought she was some daughter of a wealthy merchant in Jiangxia City. Momentarily, he had an evil thought and wanted to kidnap Run Ying for a ransom of silver taels from her family. He gathered a few local ruffians to ambush Run Ying on the road she was about to pass.

Unexpectedly, the conversation between the few ruffians he found was overheard by a refugee scholar who ran up ahead of the ruffians.

He waited anxiously according to the descriptions of those ruffians and finally, there was a little girl who looked like the person they were talking about. It need not be mentioned that this scholar was really smart and the person he stopped was none other than Run Ying.

He hurriedly rushed to Run Ying and stopped her, telling her what he had seen and heard. When Run Ying heard, she immediately flew into a rage and the guards from home also became angry. Now everyone followed the scholar’s prompt and went after the easy prey. They solidly beat up the local ruffians who were ambushing on the street corner. When it was over, they were still angry so they dragged the ruffians to the evil-hearted medicine dealer, then stripped them and dropped them in front of the dock to serve as a warning to others.

Run Ying naturally hid with the scholar, smiling as brilliantly as spring flowers. There was also a secret fear in her heart. She admired Gu Yu Qi even more. Her Young Miss really had the ability to predict the future!

Yet, when she finished smiling and looked back, the scholar who had been standing beside her just now had already fainted beside her, having not eaten for several days.

Run Ying was grateful for his kindness, so she decided to take him back to the house.

After Run Ying went back, she could not wait to tell Gu Yu Qi everything. Gu Yu Qi was also curious and went to see the scholar. She was so startled that her eyes almost fell off. She knew this person!

Gu Yu Qi immediately laughed so hard she cried. Run Ying had casually gone out and picked up the future Minister of Rites of the Qi dynasty and brought him back. This little girl, sure enough, was messing with her. She had a promising future!