Drunk

At noon, Second Concubine treated everyone to a meal at her family's restaurant.

Fourth Concubine couldn't hold her liquor, but though she was bad at drinking, she loved it. After three cups of fruit wine, she couldn't even hold up her head. Leaning against First Concubine's shoulder, she mumbled at Second Concubine.

"Second Sister, you miser. You cry poor every day, but it turns out your family has mountains of gold and silver."

"Nonsense. It's all just an impressive facade," Second Concubine said. "Look how many people we have to support. Money flows out like water. It's an ancestral business our parents left us, and we can't bear to part with it. Otherwise, we would have transferred it long ago. It makes no money at all."

Gu Wanning couldn't help laughing.

Second Concubine really was a miser, and very good at calculating.

But when it mattered, she didn't hesitate to spend.

For instance, she had thrown money around by the handful to buy Xu Weibei's "first night" after his return to the residence.

Of course, all that money had gone down the drain.

Third Concubine sat by the window, holding a cup of tea and gazing outside in a daze.

"What are you looking at?" Gu Wanning poured her a cup of wine. "Come back, come back and drink. Today we won't stop until we're drunk!"

The other woman in this body was completely gone.

Miss, I drink to you. May you walk a path of flowers from now on.

Chapter 24: Drunk

Gu Wanning poured two pots of wine down her own throat. In the end, First Concubine couldn't bear to watch anymore and forbade the waiter from bringing more wine. Only then did Gu Wanning settle down, slumped over the table, crying one moment and laughing the next.

After she had carried on for a long time, Fourth Concubine sobered up. Rubbing her eyes, she said, "What upset Madam so much today? Could Eldest Master have scolded her too harshly?"

First Concubine shook her head at her, stopping her from saying any more.

Fourth Concubine grabbed a handful of fried peanuts to keep her mouth shut.

Gu Wanning wasn't actually drunk.

She had wanted to drown her melancholy in alcohol, but the melancholy had learned to swim.

The more she drank, the more clearheaded she became, and her heart felt heavy and miserable.

Because the girl who had been demonized wasn't a stranger, but the original owner of this body.

This matter had bound the two of them together in an inexplicable way.

When one hurt, so did the other.

But perhaps this would be the one time she felt it most deeply.

Gu Wanning's mouth was parched, so she drank half a cup of cold tea.

She had meant to finish it, but Third Concubine wouldn't let her, saying it was bad for her health.

"Er Ya," Gu Wanning said, standing up. She raised her sleeve and sniffed the smell of wine on her clothes, looking somewhat disgusted at once. "Go buy some incense, candles, and paper money. We're going back to the residence."

When the others heard she was going back, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

It was nearly dark. If they didn't return soon, they would probably all be in trouble and punished.

Madam punished them by making them kneel. They had never experienced the Marquis's punishments, and they didn't want to, either.

After returning to the residence, Gu Wanning told everyone to go rest, while she took Er Ya to the garden.

Even Er Ya felt a little uneasy. "Madam, the Marquis is in the residence. Shouldn't we let him know we're back?"

"No need for you to bother. What's Gao Lan there for? Go find a brazier and a fire starter."

"Yes, Madam."

Gu Wanning picked a tender young cucumber herself. Without washing it, she simply rubbed it on her handkerchief, then sat on the swing, eating the fresh cucumber as she swung back and forth.

The evening breeze swept away the heat of the day, leaving her feeling quite comfortable.

Gu Wanning watched the corn seedlings sway in the wind, and her mood finally improved a little.

Sure enough, she needed something to work on.

When she had nothing else, she would still have something to turn to.

Er Ya brought the brazier. Gu Wanning had finished her cucumber, so she got off the swing, clapped her hands, and burned the paper money with Er Ya.

She didn't cry, but Er Ya did.

"Madam, you were wronged today, so you thought of your late grandmother, didn't you?"

The grandmother Er Ya spoke of was the grandmother she had had at the country estate, her adoptive father's mother.

Her adoptive mother had treated her with extreme harshness, but her grandmother had been very good to her.

Sadly, her grandmother had died too early, before she was able to repay her.

That was also the only warmth her predecessor remembered receiving from family.

Gu Wanning didn't deny it.

Er Ya said, "I really didn't realize before how much bitterness you carried in your heart."

She was slow to react.

For instance, when Gu Wanning had spoken earlier, she had only felt shocked. But now that they were back at the residence, she had turned it over and over in her mind like an old ox chewing its cud, and felt that Gu Wanning had truly suffered too much.

Gu Wanning said, "Why cry? We didn't do anything wrong. Of course, they think they didn't do anything wrong either. We're just speaking up for our own feelings from our own positions."

There wasn't even a way to judge who was right or wrong in this matter.

She had simply poured it all out today, and felt much lighter for it.

Er Ya didn't understand those words.

Only a few sparks remained in the brazier, and Gu Wanning crushed them out one by one with a stick.

"Madam, are you going back to your room?"

"No. I don't want to see Xu Weibei's cold face."

Usually, she could pretend not to see it, but she was in a bad mood today and feared she might explode.

Gu Wanning picked another small cucumber.

Before she could bring it to her mouth this time, she saw that cold face. He had appeared at the garden gate at some point.

Xu Weibei's expression was ample proof that he must have heard Gu Wanning's last remark.

But Gu Wanning smiled faintly at him and held out the cucumber in her hand. "Marquis, would you like a cucumber?"

After hearing Gao Lan's report, Xu Weibei had suddenly felt an urge to see Gu Wanning, though he didn't know why.

Perhaps he wanted to see what this woman, whose skin was impervious to blades and spears, looked like when she lost her composure?

Perhaps.

But he didn't get his wish.

Gu Wanning was very composed.

Yet she was different from before. A sorrow seemed to hang over her like a thin mist, impossible to grasp yet impossible to dispel.

She was nothing like he had imagined.

Sharing a room with her, Xu Weibei had no choice but to see her, however much he tried to look the other way.

Gu Wanning barely paid him any attention. She could even be said to keep her distance from him.