Chapter 581: The Past Incident, Yao Yao’s Mother (2)
Mo Beihan pulled Gu Qingyao into his arms.
This new year approached very quickly, and Gu Qingyao had been rather busy at home every day. Zhou Bingsheng seemed to feel that she would have very little time for herself after marriage as she would give birth to children, need to work hard to sustain the family and take care of the group of kids from the Mo family. Thus, he took this opportunity to cultivate her with all his might.
How he wished he could turn her into a famous painter within a few days!
Gu Qingyao was a little helpless. “Teacher, you don’t need to be so worried. I promise I will persist in painting in the future and will not waste my time away.”
Zhou Bingsheng glared at her. “You are getting married after the new year, right? That fellow from the Mo family has his eyes on you the whole day. Don’t think I can’t tell!”
Gu Qingyao: “…”
“I still can paint after I get married! There won’t be many changes to my current lifestyle. Teacher, you must believe me!”
With her interspace, no matter how busy she was, there was still enough time in her interspace. Thus, she had so much time to learn so many things and persist in learning every skill.
Zhou Bingsheng was not convinced. “Child! After marriage, a girl would not be as free as when she was single. Especially you. The Mo family has so many kids. I’m already worried just by that!
“It’s not that you shouldn’t raise those children, but… raising kids requires a lot of time, effort and money. It’s not that easy. You are very talented and you must not waste it.”
Ke Min was a woman and had more sentiments about a woman’s life after marriage!
“Your teacher is right. There will be many things after marriage. Putting those kids from the Mo family aside, you still need to do some housework after you get married, right? Your mother-in-law’s health is poor, and she has so many children to look after. No matter how obedient they are and how much the Mo family dotes on you, it’s definitely impossible for your mother-in-law to do everything while you do nothing.”
The corner of Gu Qingyao’s lips twitched. “It’s not like I don’t do anything when I’m home!”
Zhou Bingsheng shot a glare at her again. “You help out in your family because you’re obedient. When you have no time to help out, your aunt will do it, and no one will force you. But what will happen once you go to the Mo family? Those are your responsibilities, and you must do them. Are these the same?”
Gu Qingyao: “…”
Ke Min grinned. “Ah, Zhou! It’s really rare for you, a great scholar, to be so grounded! You can even analyze a woman’s life after marriage so logically!”
Zhou Bingsheng: …
He only had this little student. Could he not be concerned?
Gu Qingyao chuckled. “Teacher, don’t worry. I won’t put off my painting skills. I promise to not waste my talent, all right?”
Zhou Bingsheng was still quite worried, but since his student had already said so, it was not kind for him to give her a blow with any more unpleasant words.
Eighteen years old was the age for the first awakening of love. Mo Beihan was indeed outstanding enough and treated her very well. It was normal for her to long for love. Her wedding was coming soon, and he hoped that his little disciple would have a happy marriage life, so he must not say anything unpleasant to affect her enthusiasm towards her marriage.
This time, the new year seemed to pass very quickly to Gu Qingyao. Every day, she was busy learning from her teacher while also cooking all sorts of delicious food for everyone at home.
This year, the Gu family did not come home to celebrate the new year. Everyone knew that Gu Qingyao would be getting married after the new year and would definitely need to take a long leave, so everyone remained in other cities to work so that it would be more convenient to apply for leave then.
Chapter 582: The Past Incident, Yao Yao’s Mother (3)
Although there were not a lot of people in the Gu family for this new year, it did not seem bleak. It was still as lively as before as the kids ran about the place. Little Six and Little Nine were already used to life in their hometown. They had long known how to read and frequently wrote to their parents. Being taught by their grandparents at home and the group of grandpas and grandmas from the cowshed, they improved very quickly.
On a particular day, Gu Qingyao, Gu Yunshuang and Gu Fangting made a table of food. Gu Qingyao had been away for some time and a long time since the table was filled with such a spread of delicacies, hence the sight brought much joy to everyone.
Gu Qingyao was going to get married after the new year, and everyone was filled with many sentiments, so there were many topics to chat about then.
Everyone stayed up together to celebrate the arrival of the new year, and the kids were excited.
After the New Year’s Eve dinner, everyone was gathered together except for Gu Yunshen, who went to his room quietly and did not come out.
This New Year was a special one for him.
After this, her daughter would be an adult and would even be marrying someone already!
Eighteen years ago was too special to him!
There was something in his hands which he could not keep his eyes away. Due to the passing of time, it had already turned yellow, but it was still like a treasure to him.
This was an item that the whole Gu family did not know about, including Gu Chonghua and Wen Ruyu.
Only he knew about it.
Back in that year, he was picking herbs on the mountain. He was very young then and would occasionally go deep into the mountains to look for rare herbs. It was during that trip to the mountains where he met her.
He saved her, and she said she would devote her life to him. He could tell there was something off about her then, but she was insistent on marrying him. As he disagreed, she suddenly used a rope to tie his hands to a tree branch before lunging at him.
The girl had a very nice smell, and he could tell that it was her first time. Her alluring looks indeed made him fall for her.
The Gu family was once a wealthy and powerful family, but they had been staying in the countryside after the head of the family fell in dire times. Although he had been living in the countryside and did much work that the countryside men would do, deep down he was still the young master of the Gu family
With his family’s foundation, regardless of judgment, knowledge or upbringing, he was different from the people around him.
None of the ladies in their hometown could catch his eyes.
He was also aware that given his identity, it was impossible to meet a lady from better family background, and even if he did, she would not marry a village man like him.
Thus, he was very clear at that time that he might not meet a like-minded lady to spend the rest of his life with.
Unless the times changed, and the Gu family regained its status.
Yet, unexpectedly, he met her!
Even though they only interacted for a day, he could tell that the lady before him had an extremely good upbringing and knowledge and this was definitely not cultivated by an ordinary family.
It was not that he cared about the person’s family or background, but he was truly very excited to meet a like-minded person.
Thus, when the lady lunged at him, he did not resist.
While he was tied by a rope, given his abilities, he would be able to resist if he really wanted to!
Until when the lady had no more energy left, he released the rope and hugged her, giving her more of what she wanted.
He only let go of her when the drug’s effect wore off.
Only then did he realize that there was a very rare love poison on this lady. A rare, murderous and extremely despicable poison!
Chapter 583: The Past Incident, Yao Yao’s Real Mother (4)
When there was no antidote to the poison, the onset of the poison would be frequent.
It was the most malicious way to torture a girl.
She was injured. Though she was conscious, her leg was fractured. She needed a long time to recover. He placed her in the cave and walked around everywhere to find herbs to neutralise the poison.
He could tell that the girl knew about medicine but only at the beginner level. She was not skilled at medicine.
To neutralise the poison by herself was impossible.
He must help her.
He was not very skilled back then, though he was better than his father, Gu Chonghua. He was still specialised in neutralising such a poison.
But he loved studying weird subjects when he was young and remembered seeing such poison in an ancient book. He was still wondering whether such poison existed in the world when he was reading the book.
He then studied it for a while.
But it was lucky that he did some study and knew where to start when he met the girl.
He tried many different ways to come up with the antidote. It took him three months to neutralise the poison.
When he succeeded, he did not know whether he should be happy or sad.
He fell in love with her after spending three months with her.
He would go to the mountain almost every day to take care of her and satisfy all her needs. He tried his best to make her life better.
Of course, he hid his real intention. He hoped that she would accept him. He would be responsible for her and was willing to do anything for her.
In order to find the herbs to make the antidote, he ran around everywhere in the mountains. He almost fell to death multiple times, but he did not give up.
Girls would really be touched by a man’s true love and care. After more than half a month, she was softer on him. And she started to accept him after one month.
He was delighted and determined to get the girl. After spending such a long time together, he really fell in love with her.
It was rare to meet someone who shared the same interests and values as him. They could chat about the same things. How could he not fall in love?
Love came fast. Soon they fell in love with each other. They looked forward to meeting each other all the time. After some time, there was only love and sweetness.
Those were the best three months in his life.
Her leg was recovering, and she wanted to leave for some time to look for her family. He wanted to go with her, but she did not agree. She said it was not the right time yet. He should wait for her to return.
She was pregnant for more than a month back then.
He brought her somewhere before she left.
Staring at the marriage certificate from more than ten years ago, Gu Yunshen felt it was ridiculous, especially with the things that happened when he was young.
But soon he smiled with sadness.
‘Our daughter has grown up, and she has reached the age of getting married. Do you still remember us?’
Chapter 585: The Past Incident, Yao Yao’s Mother (6)
He had no time to think. He had a flash of inspiration and ran back just as the middle-aged couple left. He rushed into the room, grabbed Yao Yao, and placed her next to Zhang Xiaohui’s remaining child. That child was Gu Ruoqing.
He left when he was done. Later, he saw Zhang Xiaohui enter the room and followed her closely and talked about their children.
Zhang Xiaohui was very shocked to see that there were still two children on her bed. But he was present, and since she had twins, she could not explain why one was missing. She had no choice but to silently accept it!
After he settled his daughter, he went back only to discover that the room was empty. When he asked around, he found out that Yao Yao’s mother had been taken away by her parents. She was still unconscious. Her parents had simply carried her into the car and left.
He chased after them but did not manage to catch up. He was worried that Zhang Xiaohui would hurt the child if he left, so he hurried back.
He never saw Yao Yao’s mother again.
They had only been together for three months, and he knew nothing about her. All he knew was that her name was Qiao Yuying and that she lived in the capital!
Gu Yunshen sighed deeply as he looked at the yellowed wedding certificate in his hand!
Before Yuying left, he had brought her to get this marriage certificate. They had gotten the certificate in secret!
Qiao Yuying left, never to return.
Because he was married to Zhang Xiaohui, and she had given birth to twin daughters, it was perfectly justifiable for Yao Yao to become part of the Gu family and his daughter!
In that way, Yao Yao had gradually grown up in the Gu family. Later on, the external environment declined, and the Gu family’s circumstances deteriorated. The status of Zhang Xiaohui and others like the Zhang family grew. The men of the Gu family who left the village did well, and they often sent things back as an act of filial piety.
The Zhang family grasped this, and that made them all the more eager to remain in the Gu family.
He did not mind. He did not want to endanger the Gu family or cause Yao Yao to become motherless at a young age.
Although Zhang Xiaohui never showed her any love, at least with him to keep Zhang Xiaohui in check, she did not dare to go overboard in dealing with Yao Yao. Yao Yao was still young then, so even if he explained it to her, she would not understand.
Zhang Xiaohui was not very bright, and he had a hold on her. Allowing her to stay just meant wasting some food. To the Gu family, with its deep coffers, it did not matter much.
In that way, eighteen years passed in the blink of an eye. Yao Yao had grown up, but her mother had never reappeared.
Gu Yunshen’s heart ached when he heard the boisterous new year celebrations outside!
When would he ever be reunited with his wife and child?
Was there any hope of that happening in his lifetime?
“Father! Father…”
Gu Yunshen was deep in thought when he suddenly heard Gu Qingyao’s clear, sweet voice outside. Gu Qingyao pushed open the door and entered with a smile.
Gu Yunshen hurriedly thrust the wedding certificate into his shirt and stood up. “Yao Yao!”
“Father, why aren’t you out there…” Gu Qingyao hesitated before she finished speaking. She saw that her father’s eyes seemed a little red.
“Father, what’s the matter?”
Gu Yunshen smiled and patted Gu Qingyao’s little head. “I’m fine!”
“If you’re fine, then why are your eyes red?”
Gu Yunshen’s large, warm hands stroked her head. “I can’t bear the thought of you getting married after the new year!”
Gu Qingyao smiled and clutched Gu Yunshen’s arm. She blushed slightly and said coyly, “I’m still your daughter even if I’m married! Besides, the Mo house isn’t far!”