Chapter 36
Chapter 36: Bring It On!
“If she wanted to cut it off, then fine—cut it off!” Li Ming De rolled up his sleeves, furious. “But why humiliate Brother like that?!”
“Exactly!” Jiang Guang Hai’s indignation burned hot. “Even if it’s the truth, couldn’t she say it with a little tact? How did her family ever grow a business with that kind of mouth?”
Gu Nan Xi shot him a complicated look. Like father, like son?
Su Xuan Ming climbed back into the carriage, looking as though the wind itself might knock him over. “Thank you, brothers. Let this end here. Don’t make trouble over it. Jing Niang and I… we were fated to meet, but not fated to stay.”
He bowed to them, then looked around the cramped carriage as if searching for somewhere—anywhere—to hide.
It was already tight. Gu Nan Xi sat at the far end; Su Yun Ting and Su Yun Yan shared the right side; Li Ming De, Jiang Guang Hai, and Chen Yi Xuan were squeezed together on the left.
There was no quiet corner. And his grief surged like a tide, threatening to drown him whole.
Gu Nan Xi softened. “If you never taste the wine of this world, how would you know its intoxication? If you never fall into love, how would you know its burden? Jing Niang was only one burden, nothing more.”
It would have been better if she said nothing. The moment she did, Su Xuan Ming’s restraint snapped.
He yanked off his outer robe, threw it over his head like a hood, and began to sob—pitiful, trembling, and loud.
Su Yun Ting calmly pulled a handful of earplugs from his pouch and passed them around. “Classic. Cover your ears and steal the bell. If he can’t see us, then we can’t see him.”
The carriage clattered through the lively streets, and Su Xuan Ming’s earnest crying drew eyes everywhere.
“Whose filial grandson is that? Crying like his life depends on it!”
“Should we ask if he takes mourning gigs? With that kind of effort, even five hundred wen a performance would be worth it.”
Su Yun Ting’s eyes lit up. He clapped his hands. “Brilliant! Brother, you and I should form a troupe and sell our art.”
“Get lost!” Su Xuan Ming barked through his sobs.
No matter how heartbroken he was, he refused to be sold by his brother for such a cheap price.
Su Yun Ting’s mouth twitched, but he pressed the smile down before Su Xuan Ming could lift his hood. “Fine. Don’t sell. Either way, Mother will have to feed us.”
Gu Nan Xi threw up her hands with theatrical horror. “I can’t afford you two! Go sell your art!”
Li Ming De and Chen Yi Xuan joined in, laughing. “Brother, bring us too! More people, more strength—at least we can earn an extra hundred wen!”
“You… you’re all impossible!” Su Xuan Ming’s eyes were red, his ears burning, but the edge of his despair finally loosened.
As their banter rolled on, the heavy grief in his chest thinned into a numb ache.
Then Gu Nan Xi remembered something and frowned. “Where did Old Nine go? Yi Xuan, didn’t you say you split into two groups? Where is Old Nine?”
Chen Yi Xuan blinked, blank for a heartbeat. Then he sprang up so fast he smashed his head against the carriage roof.
Bang!
He yelped. “Ow! Damn it—I forgot to tell Old Nine and the others it was all a misunderstanding!”
Gu Nan Xi stared. “So Old Nine took the soldiers to raid that courtyard on the capital outskirts?”
Chen Yi Xuan’s eyes flickered. His voice went thin. “Probably… Old Nine knows people at the yamen. The soldiers shouldn’t delay.”
Gu Nan Xi and Chen Yi Xuan looked at each other, both seeing the same looming mess.
“Godmother?” Chen Yi Xuan ventured.
“Mm?”
“Should we go stop them?”
Gu Nan Xi lifted the curtain and glanced at the sky. The moon had climbed high. If she didn’t go home now, she’d be facing another sleepless night.
She rubbed her cheek. Smooth as jade, yes—but even the prettiest face couldn’t survive endless late nights.
She leaned back against the cushion and said, perfectly righteous, “Why stop them? Jing Niang’s household registration is still under the Li family, yet she’s appearing in the Yan family with no name and no status. A kind citizen reported it, and the soldiers are simply doing their duty by the law. What’s wrong with that?”
Everyone shook their heads in unison.
But inside Gu Nan Xi’s mind, the kind mother system threw itself on the floor and howled, “Gu Nan Xi! You can choose not to love, but don’t hurt! Look what you’ve done to the heroine! Can’t you just let the male lead go? He just entered the Imperial Academy—now you’re sending him straight to jail!”
Gu Nan Xi replied coldly in her thoughts, “Did the male lead and female lead meet? Did they end up together? Did the cannon fodder Su Xuan Ming break his heart? Count from one to ten or jump from one to ten—the end is still ten. The process isn’t important.”
The kind mother system cursed too viciously and got muted by the review mechanism.
Gu Nan Xi reached for her fan out of habit—only to realize she didn’t have it. She sighed and let her hand drop.
Night air cooled against her skin. She pulled her cloak tighter and let her thoughts drift.
What timing. The first branch’s child in the Su family had just been expelled, and in the blink of an eye Jing Niang had been lured away by the male lead, Yan Fu Song.
In the original novel, Yan Fu Song’s biological father was only a newly transferred sub-eighth rank doctor of the Imperial Academy. Yan Fu Song grew up in Jiang Nan, followed his father to the capital, and tested into the Imperial Academy.
From there, he played on easy mode—exam candidate, licentiate, provincial graduate, top scholar.
After meeting the heroine, Li Ning Jing, he used silver to clear the road, rose in rank and title, and dug pits for Su Xuan Ming along the way—dragging Marquis Yong Chang’s entire household down with him.
A perfect script: low start, soaring finish. And a sharp, mocking contrast to Marquis Yong Chang’s family.
Gu Nan Xi narrowed her eyes and peered through the thin slit of her lashes at the dozing young gentlemen around her.
They were Yan Fu Song’s stepping stones too—money, fame, influence, all delivered neatly to his feet.
“Mother,” a voice said suddenly, close—too close—“the person behind this won’t let it go.”
A deathly pale face, with eyes bright as stars, popped into Gu Nan Xi’s view.
Her heart nearly stopped.
She forced herself to breathe, then said weakly, “Yun Ting. Wipe the putty off your face.”
Su Yun Ting rubbed his cheeks hard with his sleeve, pouting. “This isn’t putty. It’s jasmine face powder—the most popular in Capital. Stop focusing on small details. We need to talk about the mastermind!”
Gu Nan Xi hummed. “The mastermind won’t take Mother’s life right away. But your ‘putty’ already scared half my life away.”
Mist gathered in Su Yun Ting’s eyes, full of accusation. “I knew it. My tears aren’t as many as Brother’s, so your heart leans all the way into your armpit. You only mock me, and you don’t even care about the danger hiding behind it.”
Gu Nan Xi’s fingers itched for a fan she didn’t have. Still, she sat straight, calm and unmoved. “If soldiers come, we’ll block them. If water rises, we’ll dam it. Let him bring it on.”
“Mother!” Su Yun Yan sprang up and applauded like her life depended on it. “You really are the Peerless Beauty—so bold!”
“Godmother!” Li Ming De’s eyes shone. “That’s heroic! Truly a model for us all!”
“Godmother!” Jiang Guang Hai nodded as if he’d just witnessed a master at work. “You plan from behind the scenes and win from a thousand miles away. I believe everything is under your control!”
“Mother!” Su Yun Ting’s eyes glittered, as if enlightenment had struck him. “Incredible. Using the unchanging to answer the changing!”