EBE Chapter 439 The Playboy's Divorced Woman 35
Chapter 439 The Playboy's Divorced Woman 35
"My wife is dead." These were the only words Gu Shenbai left behind before he departed.
Cai Kun felt as if his blood had stopped flowing.
Having spent so much time with Gu Shenbai, how could he not understand the meaning behind his words? Xie Qingyu is dead, and someone has to be buried with her.
When he sent the message, he never imagined that Xie Qingyu would find out about it, and that it would become the last thing she encountered before she died.
At the time, he only thought about using this favor to finalize the matter before Gu Shenbai woke up, so that Gu Shenbai would have no way to refuse later.
Who knew Xie Qingyu would die, making this matter unsolvable.
Lord Gu actually found out about the Cai family as well.
It seemed too late for him to regret it now. He had only given the bandits a few dozen taels of silver; how did things turn out this way?
Gu Shenbai did not visit Cai Yue before leaving, but he passed by Cai Yue's prison on his way back.
Cai Yue saw Gu Shenbai as if he had grasped at the last straw.
She genuinely didn't know what Cai Kun had done, and even now, after being interrogated, she only has a vague understanding of the matter.
However, she did not realize what this meant, and even held a sliver of hope for Gu Shenbai.
"Brother Gu, please think of something! My brother didn't do it on purpose, he wasn't targeting you!" Cai Yue cried out.
As Gu Shenbai walked further and further away, her voice grew louder, only to be roughly stopped by the soldiers.
“He knows what he did. He wouldn’t have died if he hadn’t whispered.” Gu Shenbai turned around and said fiercely.
If that last arrow hadn't been fired, they wouldn't have fallen off the cliff, and Xie Qingyu wouldn't have tried to catch him...
Gu Shenbai could no longer recall the scene at that time.
He had already reached his physical limit by walking these distances, and after returning to the Gu family, he felt as if he had lost all his strength, lying on the bed, completely dejected.
When Gu Shenbai's appearance was seen by those with ulterior motives, other rumors gradually spread in the capital, and new musical pieces were performed on the stage.
Xie Qingyu's image gradually improved, while Gu Shenbai's haggard appearance due to the loss of his wife was seen by them as a touch of color in this love story.
Gu Shenbai knew nothing of any of this.
Cai Kun was beheaded, and all members of the Cai family were exiled.
After this matter was over, Gu Shenbai finally breathed a sigh of relief. He was barely alive and had to be fed herbal medicine for a long time to keep him afloat.
The First Madam was the first to recover, and seeing Gu Shenbai like this, she couldn't help but want to motivate him to get better.
The First Madam tried many methods, whether it was to ask his former friends to visit him or to have the Emperor summon him for a meeting, but Gu Shenbai remained in this half-dead state.
It wasn't until the First Madam discovered that the only thing he cared about now was the divorce agreement hidden in his chest that she realized it might be better to use Xie Qingyu to provoke him.
So one day, when Gu Shenbai was sitting there absentmindedly, the First Madam stepped forward and ordered someone to clean up Xie Qingyu's things in her courtyard.
Upon hearing Xie Qingyu's name, Gu Shenbai, who was sitting there, finally reacted.
His voice, hoarse from not speaking for so long, was terribly hoarse. "Why did you put it away?"
Gu Shenbai now stays in Gu Shenbai's courtyard every night and has hardly ever left the courtyard. Upon hearing the First Madam's arrangements, he immediately asked.
“Qingyu is gone, and she didn’t leave behind any children. Her dowry should naturally be returned,” the First Madam said.
Their family would never covet Xie Qingyu's dowry; she died just three months after the wedding, and the dowry would have to be returned anyway.
The Xie family has not sent anyone to collect it, which is already a great concession, as they don't want to damage the relationship.
“No.” Gu Shenbai looked around and suddenly realized, “We can’t send it back.”
"Those who can't stay, have her maid tidy up the courtyard. Just have the old woman keep an eye on the small storeroom. You can help tidy up too. If Qingyu were still alive, she definitely wouldn't want to see you like this. She went through a lot of trouble to save you. Are you just going to let yourself go like this?"
The First Lady tried to emphasize her words.
Gu Shenbai didn't speak for a while before standing up. "How much are the things in this yard worth? I'll buy them."
"Even if you're going to stay, you should consider how much you're worth." The First Madam wanted to find something for Gu Shenbai to do.
Gu Shenbai indeed stood up and went back into the house.
He's stepped into this courtyard more often these past few days than he did when Xie Qingyu was alive.
But now, looking at everything in this room, he felt a sense of familiarity.
The bed Xie Qingyu was sleeping in hadn't had its blankets changed yet.
The pale yellow bed curtains were still the same as before, and the items on the dressing table were neatly arranged. He could almost see Xie Qingyu sitting here at night removing her makeup, with her hair accessories that she often wore next to her.
If he took one step forward, he could almost see Xie Qingyu smiling at him as she told him to go and wash up.
Or you could tell him to remember to blow out the candle after he finishes reading the storybook.
Tao Hong and Qi Li followed Gu Shenbai in.
The two maids have become extremely thin these days; they should have gone back to the Xie family since Xie Qingyu wasn't around.
Seeing that the two maids were about to start packing, Gu Shenbai directly instructed, "Just take stock of what we have; don't pack anything else."
Gu Shenbai gave very serious instructions. The two maids were stunned for a moment, then went to get paper and pen to record them.
The two of them were very familiar with everything in the room; they could even tell what was in what place without looking.
At this moment, however, it is necessary to take it out and check the registration.
Gu Shenbai followed the two women, watching them take out one item after another to register.
There were two comic books in a box by the bedside. Gu Shenbai knew what they were at a glance.
I don't know if it was given to her by Xie Qingyu's grandmother or her stepmother.
Gu Shenbai felt a sharp pain in his heart when he saw it.
There were also two sachets in the box, which Xie Qingyu often wore. They had lost their fragrance, but they were still there.
Gu Shenbai reached out and took out a white floral pendant. This was the one Xie Qingyu had brought when she made him sign the divorce papers. She stood in front of him and waved it around.
It was as if the fog had cleared, and Gu Shenbai's mind became much clearer.
I was clearly aware of the attraction I felt at that moment, but I couldn't understand why I did what I did afterwards.
He staggered to the couch and sat down.
Thinking about the details of her time with Xie Qingyu these past few days, she still couldn't understand her own behavior at the time.
While Gu Shenbai was puzzled, the First Madam acted swiftly, not only using the nanny Xie Qingyu brought to pack things, but also inviting people from the Xie family to look after the dowry list.
At this point, Gu Shenbai proposed that Xie Qingyu keep everything in her room, and he would convert it into silver.
The person from the Xie family was Xie Qingyu's aunt, and upon hearing this, she immediately refused.
There was no reason to ask them to pay any more money; they simply left all of Xie Qingyu's belongings in her room without taking inventory.
Xie Qingyu returned her dowry, but kept the betrothal gifts within it.
Since she was marrying into the Gu family, Xie Qingyu had a lot of dowry. It took them two days to count it all before sending it back.
As these dowries were sent back, each family saw them and began to have new ideas.
For example, Gu Shenbai's marriage.
After this incident, many people noticed the Emperor's high regard for Gu Shenbai, which made many people have some designs on him.
Sending a daughter over is a sure-fire deal, so the Gu family has recently had more visitors.
The First Madam will at least not discuss the marriage with Gu Shenbai at this time, but Gu Shenbai will inevitably overhear some of it.
The matter only temporarily subsided when Gu Shenbai directly declared that he would protect Xie Qingyu for three years.
But the one who started the commotion was the old lady.
The old lady was the one most dissatisfied with Xie Qingyu. Although Xie Qingyu's passing saddened her, she could not tolerate Gu Shenbai remaining unmarried for three years because of Xie Qingyu.
However, the old lady's fuss had no effect.
Gu Shenbai didn't listen to her at all.
Moreover, Gu Shenbai was rarely home before, but now he stays in the yard every day and doesn't go out.
Until the news of Cai Yue's death came.
The Cai family was exiled, and the journey there was not easy. Cai Yue did not make it to their destination and died.
When the news came back, Gu Shenbai was momentarily dazed.
It feels like it's been a long time since I last heard that name.
So long that he lost track of what day it was.
This time, he went to that restaurant and sat in the seat that Xie Qingyu used to sit in. From this position, he could clearly see the arena where the martial arts contest for marriage was being held.
Gu Shenbai still remembered the scene when Granny Lai came to inform him. Now that he thought about it, Xie Qingyu must have seen everything, but she never revealed it.
Gu Shenbai ordered several jugs of wine and got completely drunk.
Although less than a month has passed, those memories of Xie Qingyu seem like they happened a long time ago.
When he got home that night, he was so laughed at that he had to be carried back.
Without being told, he was sent back to Xie Qingyu's courtyard.
After drinking the hangover soup, Gu Shenbai became somewhat sober. He got out of bed, took a quilt, spread it on the couch, and lay down.
He stared blankly at the roof for a long time, then reached out and pulled out a few storybooks from the side.
He only read the first one and hasn't seen the ending yet.
Now, holding this book, he randomly flipped through each page, all of which Xie Qingyu had read.
But he was suddenly stunned when he saw one of the books.
There are words in the storybook, and annotations.
Given Gu Shenbai's familiarity with divorce papers, he immediately recognized that these annotations were written by Xie Qingyu.
He sat up and leaned under the lamp to look at the annotations.
The second page reads, 'Don't go out and annoy people; focus on doing your own job well first.'
The annotations are in the scene of the story, probably around the time when the two were married by imperial decree.
The annotation on the next page, however, is a question: 'Why does he dislike me?'