The Young Marquis Regrets Too Late - Chapter 10

The birthday banquet was almost over by now. Marquis Gu had returned to the marquis’ residence, while Madame Gu along with her two sons, Gu Huaisheng and Gu Huailang, stayed behind at the Jiang family’s residence.

Madame Gu was the youngest of the three siblings and the only daughter. It was only natural that she would have a deeper relationship with her mother, Old Madame Jiang. 

She spent the evening chatting intimately with her and lost track of time until it was late. Since she had no pressing reason to leave, she decided to stay the night. Unexpectedly, Gu Huaisheng also stayed. When asked, he simply said that it was too late to return and travelling back would be troublesome, so he opted to stay with her.

Madame Gu thought nothing of it.

Having him stay wasn’t a bad thing; seeing how successful he had become would surely bring comfort to the old madame as well.

As Gu Huaisheng remained at the Jiang residence, many of the household servants began discussing him.

“I heard the young marquis is staying overnight?” a maid with a high-bun hairstyle asked another maid next to her.

She was holding a tray of dishes that had just been cleared from the banquet tables as the two of them walked towards the kitchen.

The other maid replied to her, “He is! I overheard the young marquis and Madame Gu mention it while I was cleaning the tables. I even heard the head maid instruct Cuiping and Cuitan to serve at the young marquis’s temporary courtyard. They’re so lucky; they get to be near him!”

Her tone was filled with envy, as though she wished she were one of those two maids.

Hearing this, the high-bun maid responded, “That is strange, though. Since the young marquis is here, why isn’t the eldest young miss here?”

“Right? Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen her at all since this afternoon.”

Fortunately, the two maids found it odd but didn’t dwell on it, and instead turned their focus back to their work.

The night deepened. Inside the main hall of Rongde Hall, the members of the first and second branches of the Jiang family, along with Madame Gu and her sons, were gathered.

After the banquet ended earlier, the guests had dispersed. The bustling residence had gone quiet by now.

Jiang Nan, who was the head of the Jiang family, led some of the younger members to stay back to offer more well-wishes to the matriarch.

After a day filled with socialising, the old madame’s face showed unmistakable signs of fatigue. However, she forced herself to remain spirited and smiled as she received their blessings. 

“It’s been a long day for all of you,” she said.

The banquet had indeed been exhausting—not just for her but for the younger members of the family as well. Though the old madame was known to be stern, she was not unreasonable.

Jiang Nan hurriedly said, “This is our duty as your descendants. There’s no hardship in it.”

Jiang Cheng echoed his words. “Exactly. For years, Mother refused to host a birthday banquet. Now that we’ve finally had one, what’s there for us to complain about?”

Old Madame Jiang didn’t say much in reply to their words. She just smiled and said, “That will be all for today. I’m tired, and you should all rest as well.”

With that, everyone rose to take their leave.

Just then, Gu Huailang tugged at Madame Gu’s sleeve and quietly asked, “Where’s Cousin? Why haven’t I seen her?”

Normally, whenever his elder brother was present, Jiang Jingchun would always be around. However, she was strangely nowhere to be seen tonight.

Children spoke their minds freely. Although his voice wasn’t loud, Jiang Nan overheard him.

Only then did Jiang Nan realise that Jiang Jingchun, indeed, hadn’t made an appearance in a while. His face darkened, but before he could speak, Lady Li interjected by saying, “Oh, the child must have eaten something that upset her stomach. Huayun mentioned it to me earlier. She’s likely resting in her bedchamber now.”

Jiang Nan’s expression didn’t improve upon hearing this. On such an important day, she hadn’t made an effort to show her filial respect to the matriarch. Everyone else was present, and she was the only one absent.

Suddenly, Jiang Jingfang said, “That’s not true. Cousin isn’t in her quarters. I returned to my quarters earlier in the evening and thought I’d check on her since I heard she wasn’t feeling well. But when I entered her bedchamber, I only saw a maid who usually served her; she wasn’t there.”

Jiang Jingfang hadn’t seen Jiang Jingchun all evening. Even the two maids closest to her were also nowhere to be found. Jiang Jingfang guessed that she must have snuck out again. Since the two lived close to each other in Rongde Hall, she went to check. Sure enough, her cousin was not in her bedchamber.

Her tone sounded casual, but she had intentionally revealed that Jiang Jingchun was not in her bedchamber.

Jiang Jingfang had always been at odds with Jiang Jingchun, so it was likely she had spoken up on purpose.

If Jiang Jingchun wasn’t in her bedchamber, then where was she?

Jiang Nan quickly guessed that she must have taken advantage of the large crowd today to sneak out and have fun. With Miss Chen and Young Master Song present, Jiang Jingchun was bound to find an excuse to cause trouble. He had thought that her recent time spent under the old madame’s strict guidance had taught her some discipline, but it seemed she was back to her old ways. She really couldn’t go long without stirring up trouble.

Jiang Nan’s face turned ashen, and the atmosphere froze for a moment. No one dared to speak.

Lady Li shot a glare at Jiang Jingfang, who quickly shrank behind her mother with an innocent look on her face.

Jiang Nan couldn’t contain his anger anymore. He completely disregarded the occasion and said, “That troublemaker! Even on a day like this, she still refuses to behave. On Mother’s sixtieth birthday, no less, she insists on running off! I’ll have someone bring her back right now. This time, she won’t go unpunished.”

Lady Li was displeased by this and retorted, “She just wants to have some fun. What’s wrong with letting her relax? She’s been cooped up for so long—what harm is there in letting her enjoy herself a little?”

From Lady Li’s tone, it was clear she had known about this all along. Her earlier claim that Jiang Jingchun was unwell and resting was clearly a lie.

Jiang Nan wasn’t usually hot-tempered, but he had little patience when it came to Jiang Jingchun. Just as he was about to continue his outburst, the old madame interrupted.

“Enough. So what if she isn’t here today? She’s been more attentive to me than anyone else on other days. That’s already enough. Better that than making a show of filial piety for appearance’s sake.”

With that, the old madame rose and headed towards her inner chambers while supported by her maidservant.

After the old madame left, the atmosphere turned even more awkward. Finally, after a moment of silence, Jiang Cheng took his wife, Lady Lin, along with his concubines and children, and left the hall. Though he wasn’t particularly clever, he was good at reading the room. He knew his brother’s anger would not subside quickly and didn’t want to risk being caught in the crossfire.

The second branch family members left the main hall of Rongde Hall after that.

However, even after the old madame’s words, Jiang Nan wasn’t willing to let the matter slide, though this was only to be expected. With a cold expression, he ordered someone to go and find Jiang Jingchun.

After sitting for a while, Madame Gu hesitated and began to wonder if she should also leave for now. 

She glanced at Gu Huaisheng, who was quietly sipping his tea and seemed indifferent to what was unfolding over there. 

She deliberated how to broach the subject when commotion from the doorway caught everyone’s attention.

The group looked up and saw the guards who had just left returning. With them was Jiang Jingchun, whom they had apprehended and dragged back. 

Surprisingly, Song Xuan’an was there as well.

It had been quite the turn of events. After escorting Chen Muqing home, Song Xuan’an decided to accompany Jiang Jingchun back to her residence. However, just as Jiang Jingchun was halfway through sneaking back into the Jiang household through a dog hole, she looked up and found a group of guards waiting for her.

She was caught in no time and brought back into the residence.

Song Xuan’an showed his loyalty and refused to let Jiang Jingchun face her consequences alone. He insisted on following her in.

The atmosphere in the hall fell silent. Jiang Jingchun glanced at her father’s darkened expression and felt a wave of dread wash over her.

She was in serious trouble this time.

She had planned to return early. She knew that staying out late would increase the chances of being caught. However, youthful exuberance had gotten the better of her. One activity led to another, and by the time she realised it was dark, she decided to abandon all caution. 

She had been torn between fear and reckless joy but chose the latter, as she thought she might as well enjoy herself despite her fear by then.

But now, her fears had materialised. Worse, she had been caught in the most humiliating way—while she was crawling through a dog hole.

Song Xuan’an and Jiang Jingchun had spent the day having fun, and they had both crawled through the dog hole earlier. They both looked rather dishevelled. Jiang Jingchun, who had a stray stalk of dogtail grass stuck in her hair, looked even more so. 

Despite her sorry state, though, Jiang Jingchun still dared to steal a glance at Gu Huaisheng. She didn’t even know where that courage had come from.

He sat there calmly and sipped his tea. When their eyes met, he merely cast a fleeting, indifferent glance in her direction before looking away again, as if all this had nothing to do with him and he didn’t care.

A thought dawned on her, then. Why hadn’t he returned to the Gu family residence at this hour?

This small, seemingly insignificant moment lit a fire under Jiang Nan’s simmering anger. He was unable to hold back any longer and bellowed, “You impetuous disgrace! You still have the audacity to look at someone else!?”

Though he kept his voice slightly restrained to avoid disturbing the old madame, his tone was menacing enough to make Jiang Jingchun shrink like a frightened quail. She quickly lowered her head and no longer dared to make eye contact with anyone.

Jiang Nan was afraid of disturbing the old madame, who had already gone to rest. As such, he dragged Jiang Jingchun outside the hall to scold her there.

Upon seeing this, Lady Li immediately stood up. She wanted to follow them out but was stopped by Jiang Runchu, who was sitting next to her. He said, “Mother, this time she went too far. If we keep indulging her, she’ll never learn.”

His reasoning was sound. A few years ago, her nighttime escapades could be excused as childish ignorance. But now, she was sixteen and had recently come of age, so she should have understood propriety. However, she still behaved inappropriately and mingled freely with a young man—Song Xuan’an.

She kept saying that she liked Gu Huaisheng and yet was often very close with Song Xuan’an.

What would other people think about her? They’d probably say she was a fickle and disloyal woman.

From her perspective, she thought they were just friends, and it didn’t matter how late they hung out. However, if other people heard about it, who knew what kind of stories they might spin about her?

After hearing Jiang Runchu’s words, Lady Li thought for a moment and, indeed, refrained from taking any action. However, her gaze kept drifting outside. Her attention was fully taken by the two people outside the hall.

After Jiang Nan took Jiang Jingchun outside, he lost all restraints. With a dark expression on his face, he interrogated her. “Your grandmother dotes on you and treasures you. But what about you? Tell me, what were you thinking? How could you sneak out of the house on her birthday? Do you have no sense of decency?”

The young girl’s eyes drooped, and the joy on her face had completely disappeared. She bit her lip anxiously—so hard that bl00d began to seep from her lips and made them even redder than they already were. 

Jiang Nan’s words were harsh and cutting.

Decency?

He accused her of lacking decency.

She couldn’t understand why he would say such an awful thing about her. Why would he place such a label on his own daughter?

However, the saddest part was that, when she heard his accusations, she didn’t even know how to defend herself.

Her eyes began to redden from the scolding.

Jiang Nan looked at her, then towards where Song Xuan’an was sitting inside the hall. His anger only grew.

However, he couldn’t direct this fury towards someone from the Song family.

Song Xuan’an was the grandson of Secretariat Elder Song, who had served for a long time in the imperial court and had the emperor’s trust and favour. Years ago, when Jiang Nan was a scholar who had just passed the imperial examination and was working at the Hanlin Academy, it was Secretariat Elder Song who had helped him raise. Now that Jiang Nan was the minister of personnel, he couldn’t afford to appear ungrateful towards Secretariat Elder Song.

Even though he knew Song Xuan’an was also at fault for leading his daughter to run off like this, he couldn’t reprimand him the way he could his own daughter.

Jiang Nan turned back to Jiang Jingchun and coldly said, “When you went out to play with other people and stayed out all night in the past, I let it go because you were young and didn’t know better. But you’re sixteen now, and you’ve come of age. How can you still behave so thoughtlessly? If I hadn’t sent people to search for you, would you have come back at all?”

Jiang Jingchun had been scolded by her father many times before. Perhaps because this time it was in front of so many people, or perhaps because his words were particularly cutting, though, her lashes could no longer hold back the tears welling up in her eyes. The cold tears spilt over, and they fell onto the back of her hands. Her pale face was now streaked with tears.

“No… I didn’t… It wasn’t like that…”

Lady Li couldn’t bear watching any longer. She walked to Jiang Nan, pulled him away, and said, “That’s enough. You only needed to scold her and leave it at that. What’s the point of frightening her like this?”

However, Jiang Nan ignored her. He said, “This happens because you’ve spoiled her! Today, I must punish her, or she’ll never learn her lesson.”

With that, he ordered someone to bring a rod.

Seeing this, Song Xuan’an wanted to step forward and intervene. He wanted to admit that it was his idea to take Jiang Jingchun out and that it wasn’t her fault.

However, just as he took a step, Gu Huaisheng’s voice called out from behind him.

“I think it’s best if you don’t go, Young Master Song.”

Even if Song Xuan’an went to plead on Jiang Jingchun’s behalf or explain the situation to Jiang Nan, what good would it do? It would only make Jiang Nan angrier.

When Song Xuan’an heard Gu Huaisheng’s words, he paused and turned around to look at him.

Gu Huaisheng was still seated. He had just set down his cup.

He was looking at him, too.