Chapter 2: After Drinking…

Her hand resting on the table trembled slightly. Her brain was running at high speed, yet she couldn’t grasp any key points. The room fell silent for a moment, as if time had stopped flowing, the wind ceased, and the air stilled.

The one who finally broke the silence and stillness was Lanfan. She put her hands on her hips, glared with her round, bulging eyes, and shouted, “Why are you motionless when you see the master?”

Zhu Wansheng coughed lightly, looking at the swaying Lanfan, “Lanfan, don’t… don’t move.”

Lanfan scratched the back of her head in confusion, she clearly wasn’t moving.

“Also, don’t be so fierce, you… you startled me.”

Lanfan felt a bit wronged now, muttering softly: “Master, wasn’t it you who told Lanfan to be fierce? Are you drunk?”

Zhu Wansheng shook her head with a smile, “No… not drunk.”

Gu Yingqing still hadn’t made a sound. He sat down opposite her, pouring himself a cup of wine, but not drinking it.

Lanfan filled Zhu Wansheng’s cup with wine, then silently left the dining hall, closing the door for the two of them.

Silence stretched between them. The world before Zhu Wansheng’s eyes seemed to be floating. She gently patted her head, casually grabbed the wine cup and downed half of it.

What did the original owner want to discuss with him? What should she do?

A layer of oil began to congeal on the surface of the red meat on the table. She had a flash of inspiration and suddenly smiled, “Want a drink?”

Gu Yingqing glanced at her with an indiscernible expression, uttering two icy cold words, “Not drinking.”

She was completely at a loss, drinking by herself. Gu Yingqing asked again, “What do you want to talk about?”

She had no idea what to talk about, so she asked back, “Why don’t you say… say what you think… how do you want to solve it?” Her words were unclear, but since they were discussing matters, it must be about strategies. It seemed there was nothing wrong with her question.

Hearing this, Gu Yingqing appeared thoughtful, turning the wine cup in his hand. With his movements, the wine inside was about to spill but didn’t. Under the flickering candlelight, the wine along the rim of the cup gleamed, and Zhu Wansheng’s gaze kept following that light.

After a while, Gu Yingqing spoke, “Then will you agree to whatever request I make?”

Zhu Wansheng hid her smile and patted her chest, “I can do it… I’ll try my best…”

Gu Yingqing nodded, “Divorce?”

Zhu Wansheng smiled, leaning back in her chair, ignoring him.

Gu Yingqing urged, “What do you think?”

Zhu Wansheng pondered, the Gu Yingqing before her eyes had already become a double image. She rubbed her eyes, “I think… it’s not…” She paused slightly at this point, finishing the half cup of wine left earlier.

Gu Yingqing pressed, “It’s not what?”

“It’s… not… it’s… not… not possible!”

She propped her chin with her hand. The swaying Gu Yingqing before her made her dizzy, so she simply closed her eyes, not listening, not looking, not caring.

A thought flashed through Gu Yingqing’s mind. He leaned forward slightly, moving closer to Zhu Wansheng, “Since you agree with my proposal, let’s write a document and put your stamp on it. Tomorrow we can go to Elder Zhu together to execute it, alright?”

She nodded her chin against her palm, slightly lifting her eyelids. In the blur, he quickly left the dining hall, and after a moment, walked back in. A white shadow flashed before her eyes, leaving behind the scent of ink.

“I’ve written the document, press your handprint.”

Looking down, there was a white paper spread on the table, with two lines of small characters, but not a single word entered her eyes. She smiled sweetly at Gu Yingqing, “What are you doing?”

He lightly dipped his thumb in the red ink pad and then pressed his fingertip on the white paper, leaving an oval-shaped red mark. However, that red mark appeared as a double image in her eyes, like two plump worms crawling back and forth.

Gu Yingqing’s tone became somewhat urgent, “It’s your turn.”

Zhu Wansheng’s alertness suddenly rose. She shook her head, hiding her hands behind her back, and said seriously, “No… no! After drinking… you can’t… sign contracts recklessly. What are you trying to do… tomorrow, come back tomorrow!”

After saying this, she put her face back on her palm and looked at him with a silly, innocent smile.

Gu Yingqing felt a headache coming on and rubbed his temples. She looked so foolish when drunk, he thought she would be easy to deceive, but he didn’t expect her alertness to be so strong…

He couldn’t force her to press her handprint either. It was really troublesome.

He folded the white paper into a square and placed it in her hand, “Then I hope the master remembers today’s promise when she sobers up. I’ll go back and wait for good news.”

Leaving the dining hall, a cool breeze blew. Gu Yingqing walked slowly in the faint moonlight. Though the matter wasn’t settled, he felt relieved. It had been three months, and this could be considered as taking the first step.

His attendant Mangxiao followed closely behind. After much consideration, he still opened his mouth to ask, “Young master, do you really want to divorce Madam Zhu? Being divorced within three months of marriage would not be good for your reputation.”

Gu Yingqing let out a cold laugh, “Is my reputation good now?”

Mangxiao was taken aback and dared not ask further. He could only console in a low voice, “Those rumors will pass. Young master, you have both looks and skills. As long as you learn to be submissive, serve and please Madam Zhu well, she will come around.”

Gu Yingqing’s face darkened, “Impossible.”

Mangxiao sighed, “But this marriage was arranged by the grandmothers of both families. Although Elder Zhu is easy to talk to, she values family status the most. Young Master Ji Shubai… doesn’t have a good background. If you divorce, the madam will surely marry Young Master Ji. Considering this, Elder Zhu won’t agree.”

Gu Yingqing gave a “hmm” in response.

Mangxiao silently slapped himself. How foolish and thoughtless to mention Young Master Ji in front of his young master, isn’t this just poking at a sore spot…

***

When Lanfan returned to the dining hall, Zhu Wansheng was lying on the table with her head on her arms, smiling. In her hand, she held a strange transparent tube, sucking up the wine from the cup and dripping it onto a paper ball, playing with it over and over again.

“Master, you’re drunk again. That male wife of yours didn’t even take care of you before leaving, he doesn’t know how to cherish people at all. Master must teach him a good lesson, teach him what male virtues are! How to serve the master!”

Zhu Wansheng burst into laughter, “I’m not… not drunk. No need… for him to take care. I’ve never… never relied on men.”

Lanfan didn’t understand. She shook her head, tidied Zhu Wansheng’s hair, and pulled the paper ball from her hand, tossing it aside. “Every time the master gets drunk, she says some nonsense that this servant doesn’t understand. Let me carry you back to rest.”

Lanfan bent down halfway, carrying Zhu Wansheng on her back. The latter smiled sweetly, “Thank you, Lanfan.”

Lanfan’s heart skipped a beat, her expression complex.

Usually, she carried the master often, and the master was never well-behaved on her back, either throwing tantrums or crying and wailing, or even shouting loudly.

Today, she was exceptionally quiet and gentle, making Lanfan feel a bit unaccustomed.

***

The next day, the sky was still dim, and the morning mist shrouded the Zhu family’s buildings. Unknown birds were cawing and circling outside the main house.

Zhu Wansheng woke up from a nightmare, her hand automatically reaching for her phone by the bed, only to grasp empty air.

She changed her sleeping position, lying on her side, tucking the blanket between her legs, one hand pillowing her head, watching the dim light fall on the dark wooden floor, her heart filled with desolation, helplessness, and cold.

The original owner was different from her. She was a small struggling grass in the scientific research field, desperately seeking graduation, with a simple life revolving around three points. The original owner was a pampered young lady with a hundred-year family business and lots of property, who had been extravagant since childhood and grew up to marry a few beautiful men.

She couldn’t act that out.

The birds outside had flown away, leaving a silence so profound that one could hear a pin drop. Yet she felt somewhat irritated. She kicked her feet in the air a few times, then suddenly realized – the original owner’s body didn’t seem to be in good condition!

Without further ado, Zhu Wansheng suddenly got up, stretched her arms, lifted her legs, and did some chest-expanding exercises.

After warming up sufficiently, she tightened the tie of her nightgown, casually coiled her hair at the back of her head, and began the big project: doing yoga!

Simple movements were fine, but once the difficulty increased, her legs shook like a sieve, her eyes saw stars, her ears buzzed, and fine beads of sweat rolled down her forehead, over her face, and into her clothes.

Zhu Wansheng gritted her teeth: I can do this! This small amount of exercise, what’s it to me!!!

But with a “thud”, she embraced the floor face-down, the pain making all her internal organs tremble.

So weak… is this the body of someone who lives for pleasure?

As her consciousness was fading, she heard hurried footsteps outside the room, probably Lanfan rushing over after hearing the noise. Then came the sound of the wooden door being pushed open heavily, letting out a miserable “creak”.

A nervous voice followed closely, “Master, why did you faint, master, don’t scare me.”

“…..”

When Zhu Wansheng opened her eyes again, she took a sharp breath – Lanfan must have placed her on the purple sandalwood couch to rest. Now the couch was surrounded by people, with the person closest to her tightly grasping her hand.

Zhu Wansheng matched these faces one by one: the one holding her hand was the original owner’s mother, Zhu Chidi, extremely beautiful, with a voluptuous and alluring beauty, her eyes slightly rippling, as if they could enchant people.

To the right was Gu Yingqing, his expression indiscernible, clearly forced to come here, his whole body writing two big words: displeased.

He was standing, she was lying down, this angle made her feel somewhat oppressed, losing a bit in presence, so she averted her gaze.

Finally, there was a smiling man, with a nose like a suspended gall bladder, thick eyebrows and big eyes, especially the brown mole under his eye which was particularly eye-catching. This was Lin Cangai – the man who fed fruit to the original owner with his mouth.

Having to face so many of the original owner’s family members at once, she began to regret opening her eyes.