Chapter 247: Lady Liu’s Character

Prince Changxing sat in the front hall, with Lady Liu attending to him. She brought him a cup of hot tea.

“Your Highness, Master Mingjue has been treating Zhen’er’s illness all along, and now there are signs of improvement. Why change the doctor now?”

Lady Liu looked at the imposing and bold man before her. She could hardly conceal her feelings of admiration and affection, trying to find something to say to engage him: “All these years, the doctors and imperial doctors of Xiliang have treated Zhen’er’s illness, but none of them have made any progress.”

Prince Changxing remained silent.

Lady Liu spoke softly, “Your Highness, have you found another doctor?”

“Go check on Zhen’er,” Prince Changxing dismissed Lady Liu.

The smile on Lady Liu’s lips faded. She pursed her crimson lips and looked at Prince Changxing with a touch of grievance. “Is Your Highness annoyed by my chatter? Or are you still holding a grudge against me, unwilling to forgive?”

Prince Changxing grew increasingly impatient. “What do you want to hear? If I say I won’t forgive, you’ll only make yourself miserable. If I say I’ve never held it against you, would you believe me?”

Lady Liu’s face turned pale, and she tightly clutched the handkerchief in her hands.

Her mother was originally from Xihe Town in Guangling Prefecture of the Great Zhou. Before Lady Liu was married, she would only occasionally visit relatives in Xihe Town. After marrying, her husband died within less than a year. She never remarried but instead kept a guard she found pleasing to the eye by her side to alleviate her loneliness.

During her maternal grandmother’s sixtieth birthday celebration, Lady Liu stayed in Xihe Town for an extended period. It was then that she encountered Gu Qingsong, who had come to her grandmother’s home to sell mountain delicacies and wild game. She felt as if her heart had come alive.

After inquiring about Gu Qingsong’s background, she learned that he had a wife and a son, as she had expected. After all, a man nearing forty with such charm was unlikely to be a bachelor.

Perhaps it was the allure of the unattainable that made her desire him even more. Lady Liu issued orders to her servants, instructing them to inform Gu Qingsong to deliver mountain delicacies and wild game every day, as much as he could supply.

Seeing him every day yet unable to have him only made Lady Liu think of him more. She told herself that even a fleeting affair would suffice.

She calculated the day Gu Qingsong would come and deliberately fell into the river, crying for help.

Gu Qingsong was an upright man and would never ignore someone in distress.

As she anticipated, he grabbed a wooden pole, jumped into the river, and tied her hand to the pole, dragging her to shore. From start to finish, he touched nothing but her hand.

Lady Liu’s competitive spirit was ignited, and she genuinely wanted to “pluck” Gu Qingsong and have a taste of him.

She began showering him with kindness, but Gu Qingsong remained indifferent toward her. Frustrated and angry, Lady Liu hired some thugs to ambush and beat Gu Qingsong, robbing him of his money under the guise of a highway robbery to vent her irritation.

However, Gu Qingsong was skilled in martial arts. Not only did the thugs fail to gain the upper hand, but one of them ended up with a broken leg after being beaten by Gu Qingsong.

Her lover, whom she had been neglecting, offered her a suggestion upon seeing her frustration: “Madam, if you truly want to have him, it’s simple. He goes to the mountains to hunt every day. Arrange for someone to ambush him there, severely injure him, and leave him barely alive before taking him to Xiliang. Then tell Gu Qingsong that the thug with the broken leg sought revenge by hiring others to wipe out his entire family.”

Lady Liu was tempted. Gu Qingsong was a formidable man, and ordinary people couldn’t easily deal with him. She entrusted the matter to her lover, who hired desperate outlaws to ambush Gu Qingsong.

Her lover, however, harbored murderous intent. He instructed his men to silence Gu Qingsong permanently. Gu Qingsong, gravely injured, fell off a cliff. Lady Liu eventually found him and had her people scatter his blood-stained clothes and shoes on the mountain to create the illusion that he had been devoured by wild beasts. Not daring to linger, she immediately hired a doctor with money and took him back to Xiliang.

Fearing her lover might ruin things, she secretly had him killed.

Gu Qingsong’s injuries were severe; he remained unconscious for more than half a year before waking up. His legs were paralyzed. During his recovery, Lady Liu told him that his family had been killed in an act of revenge, leaving her no choice but to take him to Xiliang for refuge.

Gu Qingsong was grateful to her but remained determined to return to the Great Zhou.

Lady Liu, knowing she had lied, naturally couldn’t allow him to go back alone. Using his inability to walk as an excuse, she suggested accompanying him under the pretense of visiting her grandmother’s family, claiming it would make it easier to care for him along the way. Moreover, she knew where the graves of his family members were, which convinced Gu Qingsong not to refuse.

On the day of their journey, it rained heavily. They remained inside the carriage as they arrived at the old Gu family residence. They didn’t step out of the carriage. Instead, the village chief’s family exited the house. Gu Qingsong’s expression changed drastically at that moment.

Someone returned to the village and passed by the carriage. Through the curtain of rain, their fragmented voice could be heard intermittently: “The Gu family’s tragedy… couldn’t save them.”

Lady Liu’s heart pounded like a drum. She almost thought her secret was about to be exposed and regretted not hiring someone to kill his wife and children.

Fortunately, the incomplete words fit perfectly into her narrative. She had been keeping an eye on the Gu family’s situation and knew that his wife had sold the old family home and moved into a dilapidated thatched house. She had also given birth to a second child, one of whom was in poor health. Today, they had likely gone to seek medical treatment, and it seemed this child hadn’t survived.

“Don’t be sad. Once you have power and influence, you can come back to avenge them,” Lady Liu said, not daring to stay any longer. She feared that if Gu Qingsong entered the village, her lies would be exposed. “The enemies are still out there. If they know you’re alive, they will definitely strike again. You’re not in a condition to defend yourself and might even drag me into it. Let me take you to see their graves, and then we can plan further.”

The graves were part of a ruse Lady Liu had prepared long ago when she first set her trap for Gu Qingsong. As such, they didn’t arouse his suspicion.

The man stayed in front of the graves, standing in the rain for an entire day and night. When he finally returned to the carriage, he fell ill with a persistent high fever.

Lady Liu brought him back to Xiliang. She redeemed several pieces of silver jewelry that the woman had pawned to pay for the child’s medical treatment and gave them to Gu Qingsong as mementos.

The moment Gu Qingsong saw those keepsakes, he believed Lady Liu’s story.

He no longer thought about returning to the Great Zhou. Once he regained mobility, he refused the arrangements made by her father and instead joined the military.

Lady Liu knew that Gu Qingsong was inquiring about the results of the provincial examination in Guangling Prefecture. His eldest son was an exceptional scholar; by the time Gu Qingsong’s accident occurred, his son had already attained the title of xiucai.

Given his talent, passing the provincial examination should have been easy. However, his name was absent from the list. Gu Qingsong refused to give up and waited another three years, yet once again, Gu Huaizhi’s name was missing from the results.

By then, Gu Qingsong had already been granted a noble title and could not easily return to the Great Zhou. Instead, he sent his most trusted confidant to investigate the matter.

Unfortunately, that trusted confidant was won over by Lady Liu and fed Gu Qingsong a fabricated story, claiming the fugitives had already been brought to justice.

Lady Liu continued to be gentle and considerate, taking care of Gu Qingsong with meticulous attention, but she still couldn’t warm his heart. Later, during a night of drinking, she deliberately orchestrated a situation that made it appear as if they had consummated their relationship. Even then, Gu Qingsong didn’t mention marrying her until Lady Liu claimed she was pregnant. Only then did he give her a formal status, but nothing more.

When the child was born, they were frail and sickly due to congenital deficiencies. This, however, won the child Gu Qingsong’s affection.

Over the years, Gu Qingsong’s days spent in the capital could be counted on one hand, and he didn’t even bother to exchange a few extra words with her.

Lady Liu knew that Gu Qingsong resented her for taking advantage of his drunkenness to climb into his bed, leaving her with no shred of dignity.

Thinking of these past events, Lady Liu felt deeply wronged. She couldn’t understand what was so special about that woman—crude, wild, and less beautiful than herself—yet she lingered in his thoughts, unforgettable.

“Qingsong, if I say it wasn’t intentional, would you believe me?”

Lady Liu bit her lip. “You know how strong you are… I… I couldn’t possibly push you away.”

Gu Qingsong’s lips curled into a mocking smile, full of disdain.

Lady Liu took a deep breath, trying to change the subject. Just then, a servant hurried in. “Your Highness, Your Grace, Divine Doctor Su has arrived.”