Gu Zhao wanted Zhu Qingyu to look at the Young Marquis, to see how brave he was for love.
Zhu Qingyu felt he might be trying to use this as a form of reverse psychology to spur her into action.
He suddenly thrust out his hand, raising it in front of her, and said:
"See this? This is Xie Ze’s courage."
Then, just like she had done that day, Gu Zhao clenched his fist, extended his pinky finger, and pointed at the very tip, saying:
"And this is your courage. Your courage is only this tiny bit. In ancient times, there was one who choked to death, and people wanted to ban all food. Now, you have a fickle heart, and you want to cut off all romantic ties in the world. Female Donor, you are truly misleading yourself."
Zhu Qingyu stared at the pinky finger Gu Zhao held up and simply didn’t want to respond to him.
He had so many examples he could have used, yet he insisted on borrowing hers, even matching the exact spot on the fingertip. It was so childish.
Meanwhile, from the direction of the Eldest Grand Princess’s carriage—the very man Gu Zhao had held up as an example—Xie Ze, who had boarded her carriage less than half an hour earlier, jumped down and started sprinting madly in their direction.
Behind him, Aunt Zhuyue charged out with a wooden club in hand, chasing after Xie Ze, looking ready to start a fight at the slightest provocation.
The riverbank was scattered with people holding bowls and eating; seeing the two of them in hot pursuit, some couldn’t dodge in time and screamed, nearly spilling their meals.
Xie Ze paused briefly, as if bowing in apology to the person who had almost lost their food.
But in that short pause, Aunt Zhuyue caught up and swung her club, striking him hard on the back.
Zhu Qingyu was stunned. Good heavens, just when she thought Aunt Zhuyue couldn’t get any more reckless, she managed to top herself. Raiding the Eldest Grand Princess’s jewelry box to pick a jade crown for her was one thing, but now she dared to beat up the Empress’s own brother!
Knowing he was in the wrong, Xie Ze didn’t dare fight back; he just ran faster. As he dashed past them, with the pursuer hot on his heels, he didn’t even have time to speak to Zhu Qingyu and the others—he simply zoomed by.
Aunt Zhuyue, having landed her blow, seemed satisfied with her work. She stopped chasing, picked up her club, and headed back to report her mission complete.
See? See? She was supposed to learn courage from him? One act of bravery earned him a beating. Shouldn’t she take that as a warning? Learn from that?
Zhu Qingyu turned to Gu Zhao and asked sarcastically:
"Vice Minister Gu, is this the courage you wanted me to learn?"
Seeing his freshly set example crumble on the spot, Gu Zhao actually managed to smile. He looked at her, his smile incredibly gentle, but he said nothing.
Zhu Qingyu already felt uneasy the moment she spoke, and when she saw him smile, she knew it was trouble.
Sure enough, the fist Gu Zhao had been holding was now completely open. He stretched both hands out toward her, his smile deepening:
"Oh? Is that it? So this is the real reason you rejected me, Zhu Qingyu? Admit it. What ‘a little bit’? You love me at least this much!"
Cornered by the truth, Zhu Qingyu stood up abruptly:
"Nonsense! It’s not that much at all!"
Gu Zhao also rose, not bothering to argue. Composed and unhurried, he replied:
"Fine, fine, not that much, all right? Take your time thinking up a way to fool me next time. I’ll go see how Xie Ze is doing."
Watching Gu Zhao walk away like that, Zhu Qingyu, left standing there alone, was absolutely furious. She shouted after him:
"There’s not even a little bit anymore!"
That scheming Vice Minister Gu! She’d fallen into his trap—he was tricking her!
And because she’d been worrying about him for so many days, she wasn’t in her right mind and had actually let him trick her into confessing.
Aaaargh! So infuriating! He was just too maddening!
Xie Ze had a strong constitution. After getting whacked with the club, he seemed perfectly fine, riding a little donkey in the afternoon and even ambling up to Zhu Qingyu’s carriage to chat with her.
Zhu Qingyu, still replaying and regretting Gu Zhao’s interrogation in her mind, heard Xie Ze’s voice and crawled up to ask him:
"How are you? Are you hurt anywhere? Does the Eldest Grand Princess disapprove? What are you going to do?"
Xie Ze seemed unfazed by the beating and was even smiling:
"It’s nothing. Aunt Zhuyue barely used any force. If the Eldest Grand Princess says no today, I’ll go talk to her again tomorrow. If she says no again, I’ll go the day after tomorrow. If she still says no, I’ll go the day after that. I want to marry her, so I’ve got to get past her mother somehow."
Although Gu Zhao had said all that earlier just to trick her into revealing her feelings, he was right about one thing: compared to Xie Ze, she really didn’t have that kind of courage.
Faced with the unwarranted scrutiny around Miss Wen, Xie Ze still dared to charge headfirst, knowing full well it would anger the Eldest Grand Princess.
But in the face of Gu Zhao’s passionate love for her, she couldn’t accept even a fraction of it for the sake of the future.
Maybe it was because, although she loved Gu Zhao more than a little—a lot, in fact—she still didn’t love him as much as she loved herself.
She understood and respected Xie Ze’s actions, but to each their own. She herself couldn’t gamble everything for Gu Zhao’s love. That just wasn’t who she was.
…
The Eldest Grand Princess’s carriage, heading back to the northern frontier, reached the city gates of Rao City well past midnight, long after the gates had been closed for the day.
For ordinary people, missing the deadline meant sleeping at a suburban inn if they had the means, or enduring the night outside the gates until they opened the next morning.
But for the Eldest Grand Princess, most rules of the world simply didn’t apply. No one would dare impose a rule that made her wait.
All along the journey through various cities, no matter when the Eldest Grand Princess arrived, the closed city gates would be reopened for her, with the local officials and magistrates waiting at the entrance to welcome her.
Because it was so late, Zhu Qingyu was half-asleep in her carriage, drowsily waiting to enter the city, when she suddenly heard someone calling out:
"Official Xiong! Official Xiong! Official Xiong!"
The voices sounded like Nanny Tian and Su Mu?
How could that be? Weren’t they still in Yangzhou?
Zhu Qingyu immediately snapped awake and heard them shout again:
"Official Xiong! We’re from the Zhu Family Medical Clinic! Can we go in with you all?"
Zhu Qingyu quickly opened the window and saw that outside the guards’ cordon, a large group of people who had missed the gate-closing time was being held back.
At the very front were Nanny Tian and Su Mu. Nanny Tian was shouting loudly in the direction of Xiong Kun behind her.
Zhu Qingyu ordered the driver to stop, jumped out of the carriage, and called out:
"Nanny Tian! Su Mu!"
Su Mu spotted her immediately and shouted joyfully:
"Doctor Zhu! Doctor Zhu!"
Behind them, Gu Zhao’s carriage had also stopped, and Gu Zhao even got out and walked over.
The guards, who had been blocking Su Mu and the others, recognized them and quickly asked:
"Two lords, who are these?"
Gu Zhao stepped forward:
"These are Lord Zhu’s servants, sent to accompany us to the northern frontier to treat the epidemic. Let them in; they’ll come with us."
With Gu Zhao vouching for them, the guards naturally stopped blocking them.
Su Mu rushed over and threw herself into Zhu Qingyu’s arms, sobbing loudly:
"Doctor Zhu, why have you been away so long? Boo-hoo-hoo!"
After not seeing each other for over half a year, Su Mu was so excited that she nearly toppled Zhu Qingyu when she flung herself at her. Zhu Qingyu caught her and asked:
"What are you all doing here?"
Su Mu clung to her, laughing and crying at the same time.
"My lord sent an urgent letter home, saying that you had been ordered by the emperor to go to the northern border to treat the epidemic. He asked us to pack the medical tools and supplies from your clinic. Special Imperial Guards even came to pick them up. We thought, with something as serious as this epidemic, how could you possibly manage all by yourself? Surely we could be of some help. So we simply locked up the clinic and came along with the Imperial Guards delivering the supplies."
