The husband who forced her to marry her couldn't keep her warm, and she didn't want him to

In the Duke of Gu'an Ding's Mansion, it was getting late and the dew was heavy. The sheep-horn lanterns hanging on the eaves emitted a dim light.

On a midsummer night, the breeze blows away the heat of the day, and the summer insects become energetic.

Jiang Fei walked over from the twilight wearing a broken waist robe, and the guards on both sides of the stone steps greeted him with a bow.

The main hall door opened, and a man dressed as a scholar walked out, "The Duke has gone to the back house to rest."

Jiang Fei bowed and whispered, "The Fifth Master brought back a Japanese slave, who is now in Shaoxiu Hall. Let me tell the Duke, and Mr. Wei can help pass on the message!"

Mr. Wei nodded, turned around, closed the door and went in.

In the main hall, the Duke of Zhong was sitting on the armchair, and next to him was the Duke's wife, Chang.

The Duke had a long beard with graying temples, and was wearing a very ordinary summer shirt. He was tall and had an imposing manner without even getting angry.

He put down the teacup in his hand and turned to look at Chang, "Why? Madam Shao Xiu Tang is going with us?"

Upon hearing this, Mr. Wei quietly retreated from the main room and stood outside the open door.

Chang spoke after a while, "I don't care what happens outside. I only have this one son. I just know that he has been unhappy these years."

The Duke frowned and said, "Nonsense! There are not so many things in this world that can be done as one pleases. Why are you talking about such nonsense?"

He spoke harshly, but his eyes were looking away.

Chang became unhappy when she heard this. "Jiang Honghui, when you coaxed me to give birth to your fifth child, why didn't you think about how much my son would suffer and how much he would have to give up for you?"

Thinking of how cheerful and cute her son was when he was a child, she got so angry that she grabbed the Duke's beard.

"Hiss, do you want Dean Chang to come and see how domineering his legitimate daughter is..." The Duke bent his old waist and gritted his teeth in pain.

Chang snorted before letting go, "Looking for my father? I'm afraid you'll lose face if you see him!"

Her father was the president of the Hanlin Academy in the previous dynasty. When her father and husband met, they usually had nothing to say to each other. They often glared at each other and could not appreciate each other.

The Duke smoothed his beard with his hand, stiffened his neck, stood up and was about to leave, "Girls are hard to raise!"

"Humph!"

The tall figure of the Duke stood in the middle of the main hall, with his hands behind his back.

Chang saw him stop there, sat in the chair and said, "If Xiaowu wants to do anything, I won't let you detain him anymore."

"He's already twenty-three, how long do he have to wait to get married?"

The Duke turned around, and every strand of his beard seemed to be laughing, "Xiao Wu has someone he likes?"

In total, he has seven children, and only Xiaowu is the most like him in temperament. He can't wait to hold his grandson.

When Chang saw him turn around, she turned her head away and didn't look at him.

The Duke walked back a few steps, stood in front of her with a smile, and coaxed her in a loud voice, "Speak!"

Mr. Wei outside the door was trying to hold back his laughter. For so many years, whenever the master made his mistress angry, he would use such clumsy tactics to appease her. He was used to it.

"What? If his identity affects my son's marriage..."

"What status? What does this have to do with whether he gets married or not?" The Duke's eyes stood up again as he spoke, and turned around the hall twice:

"What's wrong with me, Xiaowu? Didn't you and your father look down on me at the beginning?"

"Who dares to disobey an imperial decree granting marriage?"

Chang threw the nearest pen holder at him and said with red eyes:

"Do you think everyone is as thief-like as you? If a good marriage fails, I will... I will take Xiaowu back to Tianfu to find my father. Anyway, the Jiang family has no relatives of our mother and me..."

Jiang Nansheng from Shaoxiu Hall didn't know yet that his father and mother had a big argument.

When the Duke arrived, the Japanese slave on the stool was already dead.

He did not look at the bloody corpse on the ground. He listened to the confession of the Fuso people and was silent for a moment before saying, "We won a great victory at Sanjiang Suocheng. A batch of food and grass will be sent with the reward from the emperor soon."

"Based on my understanding of Emperor Jianyuan, whichever prince goes there will be the future crown prince."

Jiang Nansheng lowered his eyes, "Father wants to say... Zheng Wenyang?"

Zheng Wenyang was born into the Zheng family of Baodi. Although the family was a wealthy local family, they had no roots in the court and climbed up step by step from being a small soldier.

No matter which prince goes there and tries to win over Zheng Wenyang, the situation in Shengjing will be out of reach.

The Zheng family is Gu Jinchu’s maternal grandparents’ home, and Zheng Wenyang is her third uncle.

When they met for the first time, she was leaving the city to see her uncle off to Sanjiang Fortress.

In eight years, Zheng Wenyang has grown from a soldier to the current general of national defense. His ability should not be underestimated.

The Duke asked, "Have you ever seen Qin Lang?"

Jiang Nansheng nodded, "We had a brief contact at Huitong Hall today. He is now the deputy captain of the Northern Pacification Division of the Jinyiwei."

Although it was an official position of the fifth rank, he was in charge of the emperor's ceremonial guards and escorts, and was directly authorized by the emperor.

"This Qin Lang is the illegitimate son of Marquis Xuanping who was stranded outside. However, he doesn't know yet that this new favorite in front of the emperor is his flesh and blood who was killed by the Marquis' wife a few years ago."

Jiang Nansheng laughed when he heard this, "The people behind this are playing a big game, with twists and turns, and they are not afraid that if there is a problem in any link, there will be no recovery."

"Those who can climb to that position must have climbed up through mountains of corpses and seas of blood."

The Duke said, looking at him, "Your elder brother is too cowardly, but you are the opposite. You have both strategy and courage..."

But I was thinking too much and was overthinking. I had anticipated many different outcomes before I even took a step.

Often like this, it is easy to miss a lot.

It was his wife's words just now that made him realize that his youngest son, although still young, had endured too much in places that he had not seen.

He is not the only male in the Duke's Mansion, and he will not be the heir to the Duke's throne in the future. Many of the pressures are not suitable for him to bear.

He patted his youngest son on the shoulder and said, "The Jiang family must not get involved in the battle for the crown prince. You can make the decision on everything else!"

...

It was midsummer and the sun rose early. Gu Jinchu got up and looked at the account book in the study.

Although he said he was looking at the account book, his mind was actually on what he had said to Jiang Nansheng yesterday.

"You really don't remember?"

He held her face in his hands, and the two of them were under the veil, so she couldn't see the expression on his face.

She had never seen Jiang Nansheng like this in her previous life.

Strong, domineering...

Finally, she left a word and fled.

She didn't want to marry into the Jiang family again and be confined in the backyard.

Grandfather, grandmother, mother...

She has too many concerns in her heart, and she doesn't want to have any regrets about what she missed in her last life.

"Miss, look, I found a kitten in the yard."

Baizhi walked in holding a small brown-black creature with fishbone patterns on its body in her arms.

When Gu Jinchu saw the bandages wrapped around its front limbs, he had no idea what was there.

It was Jiang Nansheng who brought this tabby cat.

Bai Zhi placed a small paper roll on the desk and whispered, "Miss, the carrier pigeon is here again."

"The little thing is too noisy, you should take care of it."

After reading it, Gu Jinchu flattened the paper scroll and placed it in a black lacquer box on the Duobao Pavilion.

I couldn't help but think of what Gu Wen said not long ago.