The Sister with the Female Lead's Halo

Gu Wanning tucked another box of saffron into her hands. "Take it. The Grand Princess gave it to me, so it's all good stuff."

Third Concubine went out carrying the gifts.

The sunlight was so bright that it brought tears to her eyes.

She heard Gu Wanning call after her, "Oh, right, the Princess's Residence is holding a flower-viewing banquet on the twenty-sixth. Get ready and dress in something bright for it. We'll go together."

"Yes, Madam." Third Concubine raised a hand to shield her eyes from the sun, a smile appearing on her lips.

If things could stay like this, life would be very, very good...

"Madam, perhaps I shouldn't go." Fourth Concubine began to have second thoughts when she heard about it. "I heard everyone has to compete in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. I can't do any of them."

"Then go up there and show them how you can eat three bowls of rice in one go." Gu Wanning laughed as she teased her.

Fourth Concubine muttered, "You don't have to make fun of me. You can't do much either, and you can't even eat three bowls of rice."

Gu Wanning said, "...Who told you to go blurting out the truth? Rongrong, pinch her mouth for me."

Second Concubine laughed and joined in the horseplay with Fourth Concubine.

First Concubine seemed not to have recovered from the earlier blow and was always in a daze.

"Jinxiu," Gu Wanning called her by name, "I wanted you to help me decide what to wear that day."

"Oh, yes." First Concubine came back to herself and hurriedly agreed.

Gu Wanning sighed inwardly, but there was nothing she could do.

Fourth Concubine was still fretting over what talent to perform when First Concubine said, "We're all the Marquis's concubines now. We only have to follow behind Madam."

They were all ornaments.

No one would ask ornaments to perform.

They weren't worthy.

Fourth Concubine breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good, that's good. Madam, what about you?"

Gu Wanning said, "Serve me cold!"

Why the hell would she perform? She wasn't looking for a mate.

Wasn't performing like a peacock spreading its tail to attract a mate?

She already had Xu Weibei, her "husband from the days of bran and chaff," so she had dodged that ordeal.

"Besides, the princess asked me to receive guests, so I'll be busy," Gu Wanning said proudly. "I can hold my liquor very well."

"I'm just afraid we'll run into someone difficult," Fourth Concubine said. "I'm not good with words. I can't argue with them."

"If you can use your fists, don't use your mouth. When the time comes, take your cue from me and knock them out with one punch each. Wouldn't that feel great?"

Everyone laughed again.

When everyone else withdrew, Gu Wanning asked First Concubine to stay.

"Madam, did you want to ask me to help you make new clothes?"

"No need. I have clothes to wear."

She wasn't trying to steal the spotlight, so she didn't need splendid silks and finery. As long as she didn't look too shabby and carried herself with poise, that was enough.

"I wanted to say that if you're feeling down and think a crowd would be too noisy, you don't have to go," Gu Wanning said. "I know only you understand how painful this is, but I still want to tell you to try to let it go. Some people can only accompany you for part of the journey. You and he simply weren't fated to be together. You're two years older than me, twenty this year... You're still young. You may yet meet someone better suited to you. The Marquis is willing to let you go too, so don't worry yourself too much."

They were all ordinary people, so there weren't that many people they couldn't live without.

The rest of her life was long. How could she fail to meet a good man? Why insist on hanging herself from a single tree?

"Madam, I understand." First Concubine clasped her hand tightly. "Are you... still planning to leave the Marquis's Residence?"

Chapter 37: The Sister with the Female Lead's Halo

"Hm?" Gu Wanning was taken aback. "Why wouldn't I leave?"

She had told them before that she would leave one day.

Perhaps the allergy incident had given them the wrong idea about her and Xu Weibei, and that was why First Concubine thought she would change her mind?

"Even though it won't be easy, I'll still leave."

The road was blocked and long, but she would seek a way high and low.

"I saw that you and the Marquis got along well, Madam, so I thought..."

"We do get along quite well. The Marquis is a good friend."

He was loyal and willing to help, but only if she didn't look at him from a wife's point of view.

From a wife's point of view, what an exasperating piece of work Xu Weibei was!

Immature, impulsive, lustful, impatient... In short, he might be a good person, but he wasn't a good man.

"I think the Marquis also seems to have changed his opinion of you, Madam..."

"Maybe he thinks I'm simple-minded," Gu Wanning said with a smile. "But he has a reason that makes it necessary for me to leave—he doesn't want to stand with my father and brothers."

Those things mattered more than affection and love. This was Xu Weibei's political bottom line, one that could not be trampled.

Men were practical.

"If the Marquis has a hard time in the future, you'll be sad, won't you, Madam?"

"A little, perhaps?" Gu Wanning answered honestly. "He did help me, after all, and I don't want him to have a hard time. But I'm not you. I couldn't give him everything I have. I'd probably do what I could; I could still send charcoal in the snow."

Gu Wanning laughed as she spoke. "Jinxiu, why are you acting so strangely today, saying all this to me?"

"It's nothing." A flicker of panic crossed First Concubine's eyes, and she quickly lowered her head. "Madam, I'll go with you."

"All right."

That exasperating cousin of hers wasn't of high status, so he probably wouldn't have a chance to appear at the flower-viewing banquet. Out of sight, out of mind.

Ah, First Concubine and Third Concubine were the ones in the residence who gave her the most cause for concern. All the bitterness they had endured came from love.

Look at Second Concubine, busy every day balancing accounts and making money. How could she have so many troubles?

Fourth Concubine was silly and cheerful, happier than anyone.

Cherish life; stay away from men.

In the blink of an eye, the day of the flower-viewing banquet arrived. At the first hint of dawn, Gu Wanning took the four concubines by carriage to the Princess's Residence.

The Grand Princess took Gu Wanning's hand and said with a smile, "Child, how are you so considerate? There are people to take care of everything. You should have slept a little longer."

Gu Wanning smiled. "It's not early anymore. You always dote on me."

Though she wasn't a thousand-year-old fox, she had Gu Anqi as her cheat, so she now knew the Grand Princess's purpose perfectly well. She could handle her more calmly without having to guess blindly at her intentions.