Peeping

What Gu Wanning wanted was a peaceful and undisturbed life.

"What am I afraid of?" Gu Wanning said with a smile. "I'm just keeping you company for a while; I can't really help you. No matter what happens, I hope you're alright, Marquis. You're not my ex-husband, but an indispensable hero of this world."

After a moment of silence Xu Weibei nodded and said, "Don't worry, I'm not feeling well, but I really won't kill myself."

To die on the battlefield was his glory.

Even in death, he wants to die with purpose.

"Don't be afraid to seek medical help, but don't rush into anything. Hasn't Physician Bian returned yet? Let's treat him slowly; if it can't be cured, the sky isn't falling. In this life, one doesn't necessarily need romantic love or offspring to continue the family line. Your name will be remembered in history, and the world will not forget you."

In that sense, she was the one who suffered more; no one burned paper money for her after she died.

However, Gu Wanning didn't care.

She's lived a carefree life; she doesn't care if she'll be reborn as a slave in the next.

Enjoy every life you get to be born into.

"Jiaoniang is not my daughter either; she is the daughter of Xue Fengxian and his previous mistress," Xu Weibei suddenly said.

Gu Wanning paused for a moment, then nodded. "You're very good to your friends."

Xu Weibei is a reliable friend, someone you can't find fault with.

"Linglong is ungrateful and repays kindness with enmity. Through this incident, you've seen her for who she really is, and you don't need to be soft-hearted towards her anymore. However, I'm a little worried that with her lack of principles, she might betray you in the future. Does she have any leverage over you, Marquis?"

"I don't know. I thought there was nothing wrong with it before, but then this happened." Xu Weibei's eyes were mocking.

He was mocking himself for being a fool.

Even though Linglong could see it, he had never thought of it that way.

He couldn't help but think, if it had been discovered and treated earlier, would things be different now?

"Then think about it carefully, don't let this affect your future."

"You may leave," Xu Weibei said.

Gu Wanning: "Hmm?"

The two of them were having a perfectly good conversation just now, so why the sudden invitation to leave?

"Grandma is here."

Gu Wanning followed his gaze and realized that the Grand Princess had been standing at the door for some time.

She and the Grand Princess didn't get along, so she stood up, curtsied, and said politely but distantly, "Take care, Your Marquis. I'll take my leave now."

The Grand Princess looked at her with a deep gaze.

Gu Wanning thought to herself, "Nonsense."

It's as if she came here to take advantage of others.

She didn't know what the Grand Princess and Xu Weibei said after she left.

She heard from her elder brother, Gu Anqi, that the Emperor had not pursued the matter of Xu Weibei's cover-up, had issued a gag order, and had given Xu Weibei many rewards to appease him.

Gag order?

Gu Wanning found it funny.

Who can silence the voices of the people?

The Emperor did this simply to make Xu Weibei remember his favor—look how much I'm protecting you.

But the effect was basically negligible.

Xu Weibei has been forever nailed to the pillar of shame.

Even if he recovers in the future, marries, and has children, some people will still say that he's trying to cover up the truth...

Gu Wanning really wanted to help Xu Weibei, but she was too slow to come up with any good ideas.

She couldn't help.

"Where are Linglong and her daughter? What did the Emperor say?"

"The Marquis testified on Linglong's behalf that she had indeed given birth to Xue Fengxian's daughter, and the Emperor ordered Linglong to move into the Xue Residence with her daughter."

"What about Jiaoniang?"

"Jiaoniang?" Gu Anqi was taken aback for a moment, then said knowingly, "Jiaoniang is also a daughter of the Xue family?"

"Um..."

"The Marquis didn't mention it, so I suppose he wants to raise them himself, or he has other plans."

Gu Wanning seemed to be deep in thought.

Even though Linglong betrayed him like that, Xu Weibei still let her have her way.

He was probably doing it out of respect for Xue Fengxian.

But the question is, can Linglong, with her personality, raise a child well?

The kind of obsessive desire to destroy everything if she can't have it, the indiscriminate and frenzied attacks that go on regardless of friend or foe, is truly frightening.

"You don't want to get back together with him, do you?" Gu Anqi asked warily.

Gu Wanning: "..."

Brother, which eye of yours saw that I wanted to be with Xu Weibei?

"Don't let pity lead you to such absurd thoughts," Gu Anqi said. "You'll marry a good man someday."

It has to be a man, at the very least.

Sexual pleasure between men and women is a common yet indispensable pursuit.

Gu Wanning: "... Understood, I will no longer concern myself with the Marquis's affairs."

She shouldn't interfere anymore; Xu Weibei would think she was just pitying him.

Making a man feel pitied is not a pleasant feeling for him.

Gu Anqi was probably worried, so he asked He Shi to persuade her not to have any thoughts of returning to the Marquis's Residence's mansion.

Gu Wanning could only nod repeatedly to indicate that she understood.

"... It's not that our family is materialistic. If you were still husband and wife, no matter what happened in the Marquis's Residence's mansion, we wouldn't stand idly by, nor would we advise you to leave the Marquis. But now that we've distanced ourselves, and the Marquis is in the eye of the storm, you mustn't drag yourself into it."

The He Shi was so earnest in advising her was because there were too many rumors circulating about Xu Weibei.

Because the topic itself carries an ambiguous connotation of male-female relationships, Gu Wanning has already been implicated even if she wanted to stay out of it.

For example--

Many people outside are asking, why is Gu Wanning insisting on a divorce?

Why would a woman want a divorce when everything is fine?

Isn't it because Xu Weibei is incompetent?

This matter seems to be directly connected to the previous divorce...

Chapter 219 Peeping

After He Shi left, Gu Wanning became somewhat depressed.

"Miss, what's wrong?" Er Ya asked, puzzled, while eating the sweet apricots that He Shi had just brought. "Aren't the things the Madam said exactly what you've been thinking? Why are you still unhappy?"