Chapter 84: Settling Accounts with Su Mixue

Su Wan felt it was expected.

Su Mixue regarded her as a thorn in her eye, how could she watch her life getting better and better?

After the humiliation of kneeling before, Su Mixue was sure to retaliate.

A sharp light flashed in Su Wan’s eyes, Su Mixue could come at her if she had something, but she should never, ever touch the Gu family.

“Your virtue is profound and radiant, your character is upright and firm, and you have not succumbed to power, which makes me admire you.”

Su Wan flattered Dean Lin, adding tea for him, her smile was less distant, and more sincere: “You are Huaizhi’s senior brother, so I won’t be polite with you, please have a meal with us.”

Mother Gu was secretly shocked, Dean Lin was actually Huaizhi’s senior brother?

Her seniority suddenly rose.

Mother Gu’s hands stopped shaking, her legs stopped feeling weak, and her heart stopped panicking. She looked at Dean Lin, who was several years older than her, with a look of kindness on her face as she looked towards a junior.

“Yes, yes, yes, we are family, stay and finish the meal before leaving.”

Mother Gu hurriedly went to the kitchen to prepare a clean set of chopsticks and bowls for Dean Lin.

Dean Lin’s face was kind, looking at a few home-cooked dishes, full of color, fragrance, and taste, he laughed heartily: “My junior brother said that you are a great cook, in charge of the kitchen at Zuixiang Pavilion, I have long wanted to taste your cooking. Today, I specially came to deliver Jingyun’s admission post, to fulfill my wish.”

Su Wan knew this was a polite remark, Dean Lin mainly told her that Su Mixue was making moves behind her back, warning her to be careful of Su Mixue.

“I’ll go call Huaizhi to come back and have dinner with you.” Su Wan walked out of the hall, and saw Gu Huaizhi coming back with a basket, inside the basket was a bunch of fresh and tender shepherd’s purse: “Oh, this shepherd’s purse is very tender, where did you pick it?”

Gu Huaizhi: “By the river.”

“Oh my, you picked it now.” Mother Gu came out of the house, seeing the shepherd’s purse, she couldn’t close her mouth from laughing, and said to Su Wan: “I mentioned yesterday that you wanted to eat shepherd’s purse dumplings.”

Picked especially for her?

Su Wan turned her head to look at Gu Huaizhi, the man’s expression was calm, not uncomfortable at all.

She pursed her lips, and took the basket from Gu Huaizhi’s hand: “Your senior brother is coming home for dinner, I won’t make dumplings today, I’ll make a cold dish.”

Su Wan went to the kitchen, quickly cleaned the shepherd’s purse, blanched it in water, wrung out the water and cut it into sections, crushed the garlic, added sesame oil, soy sauce, salt, red chili pepper and other seasonings and mixed well.

The green shepherd’s purse adorned with white garlic paste and a touch of red chili, the color is very attractive.

Su Wan served it on the table, “Shepherd’s purse has the effect of harmonizing the spleen and stomach, and brightening the eyes, you all have a taste.”

Dean Lin looked at a plate of simple wild vegetables, which became particularly tempting after Su Wan’s hand. He took a bite of shepherd’s purse with his chopsticks, it was fresh and refreshing. After swallowing, a faint fragrance of the mountains lingered between his lips and teeth. A little bit of spiciness served to adjust the taste and opened up his appetite.

“Your cooking skills are really good, I used to not like wild vegetables, but I can eat all of this dish you made.” Dean Lin is a sincere person, he ate half of this plate of shepherd’s purse.

“Don’t just eat this one dish, try some other dishes.” Su Wan pushed a bowl of Mapo Tofu in front of Dean Lin: “This is also one of my specialties.”

Dean Lin glanced at it, in the porcelain white bowl was tender tofu, surrounded by red oil, with green garlic segments embedded in it, it looked very appetizing.

He scooped a piece into his bowl and took a bite, the tofu was soft and smooth, the pork dices were fragrant and crispy, the numbness was not too strong, the spiciness was not dry, and the flavor of the bean paste was very prominent.

Unconsciously, several pieces of tofu went down, and the numbing and spicy flavor still lingered in his mouth.

Dean Lin’s eyes suddenly lit up.

This time without Su Wan’s recommendation, he tasted the boiled fish slices, chicken stewed with mushrooms, all in one go, making people wish they could grow two stomachs, so they could stuff all the dishes on the table into their stomachs.

After having enough food and drink, Dean Lin put down his chopsticks.

His mood became particularly good, “If you need any help, just ask your senior brother, don’t be polite.” After glancing at the sky, Dean Lin stood up and said: “There are still some things to deal with in the academy, I’ll go first.”

Gu Huaizhi and Su Wan sent Dean Lin out together.

Dean Lin said to Gu Huaizhi: “You stay, I have something to say to my sister-in-law.”

Gu Huaizhi frowned, but didn’t send him off any further, helping to clean up the bowls and chopsticks.

Su Wan walked out of the courtyard with Dean Lin.

“Sister-in-law, my junior brother is stubborn, he has unresolved conflicts with the old man. The old man misses him in his heart, but can’t face him. I see that my junior brother cares about you a lot, you should advise him more when you have time.” Dean Lin felt that he was worrying too much.

Back then, when he discovered Gu Huaizhi, this good seedling, he invited him to Xihe Academy. Coincidentally, the old man came to Xihe Academy from the capital city and directly took Gu Huaizhi as his closed-door disciple.

Although Gu Huaizhi is talented and stunning, he is very arrogant and decisive in his actions. He is not only ruthless and tough on others, but also on himself.

The old man was worried that he would go astray, and his demands on Gu Huaizhi were particularly strict. He was also very respectful and obedient, but his political views were contrary to the old man’s, and later he was expelled from the master’s door for some unknown reason.

During the New Year, festivals, and birthdays, Gu Huaizhi would still send gifts, but he no longer visited.

The old man said that out of sight, out of mind, but whenever they gathered, there would always be an empty chair left by his side.

“Sister-in-law, in a few days it will be the old man’s birthday, you must take my junior brother to attend.” Dean Lin entrusted her with a heavy responsibility.

Su Wan felt that Dean Lin thought too highly of her.

Gu Huaizhi had only recently started to show her a good face, Dean Lin couldn’t persuade him, how could she possibly persuade him?

Based on the relationship of the two people sleeping in the same bed?

“I’ll try.” Su Wan didn’t refuse outright, but she did say the ugly words first, “Don’t hold out hope, he won’t listen to me.”

Dean Lin gave her a meaningful look, “You just try.”

It’s useless, it’s a waste of all the years I’ve spent studying.

Su Wan was made nervous by the last look Dean Lin gave her, she watched Dean Lin leave, and went back to the kitchen to find Gu Huaizhi, who was washing dishes.

Su Wan directly rolled up her sleeves and stood side by side with him, the two of them washing dishes together.

She brewed for a while, coughed lightly: “Gu Huaizhi, the old man is not in good health, in a few days I will go to give him a follow-up examination, will you accompany me?”

Gu Huaizhi looked down at the two people’s hands occasionally touching, his thoughts were a bit scattered.

In a few days, it would be the old man’s birthday, without thinking too much, he knew what his senior brother and Su Wan had said.

The emperor is still alive, the old man has always disagreed with the regent’s rule. For this reason, he withdrew from the cabinet and resigned as the first assistant.

But he unexpectedly became the adopted son of the regent, and joined the regent’s party, for which the old man expelled him from the master’s door.

Gu Huaizhi looked out the window, Gu Baozhu was squatting on the ground, Gu Jingyun’s eyebrows were tightly furrowed, and he was making a bitter face to tie her hair. He failed several times and was so anxious that he was scratching his head.

Gu Baozhu pulled Gu Jingyun’s sleeve, and  the two of them squatted together. With their heads touching, she grabbed a handful of hair, and taught Gu Jingyun how to tie a hair tie hand by hand.

Gu Jingyun tried again with a focused expression, successfully tied the hair tie, and a good pigtail turned into a skyward braid. He was stunned for a moment, then broke into a grin.

Gu Huaizhi looked at the two faces that were more radiant than the morning sun, and only wished that they would be carefree for the rest of their lives.

Seeing that Gu Huaizhi had not spoken all the time, Su Wan thought he would not agree.

Gu Huaizhi said in a low voice: “I’ll take you there.”

“Gu Huaizhi, you’re so nice!” Su Wan gave him a radiant smile.

Gu Huaizhi stared at her smiling face, her bright eyes seemed to be filled with a galaxy of stars, dazzlingly bright. His calm eyes darkened a bit, he turned his face away and continued washing dishes.

Having settled one matter, Su Wan felt a weight lifted from her heart. She directly rushed to the town to find Su Mixue, to settle the score.