An Idea

He introduced Shi Xin to Gu Wanning.

Shi Xin, petite and shy, obediently curtsied and said softly, "Sister Gu, what happened yesterday was truly embarrassing. I didn't handle it well."

She squatted down and couldn't get up.

Jin Huayu's eyes showed concern, and he reached out to pull her up.

Shi Xin shook her head at him, her watery eyes shimmering with a pitiful beauty.

Gu Wanning watched her performance with great interest.

"Among three people walking together, there must be one who can teach me." Master White Lotus's on-site teaching is a rare and precious opportunity.

She thinks she can do that too!

"I'm educated and know shame. I know I shouldn't associate with my aunt's relatives. But my aunt had a hard time giving birth to me, and now she's a concubine. She's filled with all sorts of bitterness. She's very careful in front of my parents, but her relatives all think she's become successful. Whenever they come to see her, she has nowhere to turn, yet she can't cut off ties with her family. She's often in a dilemma and cries."

As she spoke, two streams of tears flowed down her cheeks.

Gu Wanning: Brilliant!

Even when crying, the tears must fall silently.

Nothing is worth much when there's too much of anything, including overflowing tears.

Therefore, tears must be shed in moderation to truly show their preciousness.

Anyone can say polite things.

Gu Wanning said, "Get up quickly, they're all pitiful people. Yesterday was a good day, and we didn't originally intend to make a scene, but unfortunately, your aunt is really unreasonable. Don't associate with that kind of person anymore."

"I'm afraid it will put my aunt in a difficult position... She only gave birth to me, and if I don't think of her now, I'm afraid no one else will."

Gu Wanning: I understand, this lays the groundwork. We'll have to make Jin Huayu generate lots of gold coins in the future.

It's pointless to reason with this kind of person, especially since Jin Huayu is clearly obsessed with romance to the extreme.

From the moment he entered until now, Jin Huayu's eyes have shown pity for the Shi a dozen times.

The Shi is truly blessed to have found the landlord's foolish son.

"Sister," Jin Huayu couldn't help but speak up when he saw that his Second Concubine remained expressionless and silent. "Last night it was me, it was me, um, I drank too much. Xinxin has been taking care of me, so we were late for our family reunion today. She wanted to get up early, but I told her that you wouldn't mind, so she didn't get up. She was worried that you might overthink things, so she insisted that I bring him out to find you."

Tsk tsk, what is your sister thinking?

Okay, okay, it's all your sister's fault for overthinking. Your sister is a bad person.

"We're all family, no need to be so polite," the Second Concubine said calmly. "This is Sister Gu's house, it's inconvenient for a man like you to come here alone, you should go back first."

"Okay. Xinxin, come here—" Jin Huayu pulled Shi up, grinning like a fool, "I told you, your sister won't be angry, will she?"

Gu Wanning: Which eye of yours saw that your sister wasn't angry?

Your sister's anger is so intense it's about to set the roof on fire.

"Sister Gu is a very good person too."

Gu Wanning: You finally said something right.

Shi nodded, her voice tinged with shyness, "My worries were all unnecessary. It's truly my blessing to marry into the Jin family."

"You married down and didn't look down on me, that's my good fortune."

Gu Wanning: You dislike me?

What, you think your money's too hot to handle?

Whether male or female, this kind of infatuation is truly incurable.

After the two left, Gu Wanning looked at her Second Concubine and asked, "What do you think?"

Second Concubine gritted her teeth, "I'll fight her to the end. I won't let her manipulate Huayu like this."

Gu Wanning thought to herself, "This is the older sister's perspective."

Instead of trying to cure my younger brother's romantic obsession, I'm only thinking about how to get rid of others.

The most important thing now is to let Jin Huayu see the true colors of the Shi.

"What do you plan to do?" Gu Wanning asked. "Fight her to the bitter end, and then your brother, feeling she's been wronged, will stand up for her and turn around to attack you, who are also injured?"

The Second Concubine remained silent.

Because she knew that what Gu Wanning was talking about was something that was very likely to happen in the future.

Gu Wanning sighed, "Forget it, I think you've just lost your mind because of anger. You're usually so shrewd, but now you don't even have a single idea. Let me give you one."

Chapter 265 Giving Advice

When your best friend is in trouble, it's like you're in trouble yourself.

"Sister, what do you say?" the Second Concubine said expectantly. "How about we have the Marquis talk to Hua Yu? Wouldn't it be easier for men to talk to each other?"

Gu Wanning: "..."

That's impossible.

Xu Weibei wouldn't bother with other people's messy affairs.

"Even the Marquis is no use," Gu Wanning said. "What are you most worried about right now?"

After thinking for a moment, the Second Concubine said, "Hua Yu is a man after all. I'm not worried about him being seduced; he won't suffer a loss. I'm only worried about him being swindled out of his money. Judging from the current trend, that woman won't stop until she's completely drained the Jin family. Given time, the Jin family might very well be surnamed Yu."

At this point, she twisted her handkerchief and said bitterly, "How foolish she is! After she has children, won't everything in the Jin family belong to her children? Now she's siding with outsiders, Yu family will inherit the property. Does she even remember who she is?"

"Perhaps she never intended for a long-term relationship with your brother."

For many noblewomen, marrying a merchant was nothing short of a disgrace.

But poverty is a disease that can't be cured without paying a price.

Therefore, Gu Wanning felt that marrying Jin Huayu was definitely a step taken by the Shi to make money.

But she probably never thought about growing old together with him.

This dynasty was relatively tolerant of women remarrying.

One of her father's reforms was to encourage childbirth and remarriage, and he even went so far as to propose abolishing chastity.

Of course, Gu Wanning thought this was excellent and an important step in liberating women, even though the reforms actually targeted women's uteruses, which was also considered dross.

If Shi had brought a large dowry, she might have been able to marry someone of equal social standing in her second marriage.

After all, not all officials are children of officials; many first-generation officials are poor, so she has room to choose.