Chapter 40
True Name
Empress Dowager Yuan pursed her lips into a hard line. The bamboo canopy above her cast a faint shadow on her graceful face.
“Don’t talk nonsense.” Empress Dowager Yuan suppressed the surging emotions in her heart and forced a smile. “Miss Gu is already engaged!”
Empress Dowager Yuan stared steadily at Kang Wang, her right hand gripping the armrest tighter.
She had come to Prince Jing’s mansion today to choose a consort for her son and also to see Gu Yunrong. She planned to take a step back and let this girl be his secondary consort so as to fulfill her son’s wish.
But now, Empress Dowager Yuan had changed her mind and disliked Gu Yunrong even more.
Her son had great talent and was someone who would rule the world in the future. As a king, he could not be fascinated by a woman.
Daji, the favorite consort of King Zhou, brought chaos to the Shang Dynasty, and King You of Zhou lit the warning beacons and fooled his nobles just to win the smile of a beauty… As a monarch, being greedy for a beauty was a calamity to the country!
“Mother, you’re mistaken. That’s Second Miss Gu’s marriage,” Kang Wang looked straight into Empress Dowager Yuan’s sharp eyes and said seriously.
“…” Empress Dowager Yuan was stunned. Her first reaction was, wasn’t Gu Yunrong Second Miss Gu?
Most of the others around him were also confused.
Kang Wang summoned his personal attendant and pointed in the direction of the water pavilion. “Second Miss Gu is in the water pavilion. Go and call her over.”
In the water pavilion, Gu Yanfei and Gu Yunzhen heard everything clearly. Gu Yunzhen frowned as she recalled the chaos at the Moon Pavilion and Fang Mingfeng’s bloody face.
After a while, a green-robed eunuch quickly entered the water pavilion and cupped his hands politely at Gu Yanfei. “Second Miss Gu, the Empress Dowager and His Highness Kang Wang have invited you over to talk.”
Gu Yanfei put down the teacup and stood up leisurely. She held down Gu Yunzhen, who wanted to go with her, and smiled. “Big Sister, I’ll be back soon.”
Everyone else in the water pavilion turned in her direction with varying expressions.
“Second Miss Gu, please.” The green-robed eunuch extended his hand.
Li Zhulang looked at Gu Yanfei’s graceful back in a daze and lowered his shoulders in frustration. A thought kept echoing in his mind, ‘Is this beauty actually engaged?!’
A fair lady was a gentleman’s dream.
If the beauty was engaged, wouldn’t he have lost completely before he even got intimate with her!?
Li Zhulang stood rooted to the ground in a daze with the urge to cry. The young man patted his cousin’s shoulder comfortingly.
The autumn wind blew and the journey from the water pavilion to the polo field was extremely quiet. The rustling of leaves became clearer, and the water vapor by the lake was brought a hint of coolness by the wind.
Under everyone’s gaze, Gu Yanfei walked to the other side of Gu Yunrong and bowed to Empress Dowager Yuan. Her movements were standard and casual.
Kang Wang was not in the mood to pay attention to Gu Yanfei at all. Or rather, he did not even look at her directly. He said coldly, “Tell the Empress Dowager, are you betrothed to the British Crown Prince?”
“No,” Gu Yanfei said with a smile.
On her beautiful face, a smile bloomed like the sunrise and like half-blooming crabapple flowers filling the branches.
As Gu Yanfei finished speaking, the surrounding crowd gradually became restless and whispered to each other.
Many people noticed Gu Yanfei’s unfamiliar face today. In particular, her face was really beautiful and pleasing to the eye. Both men and women could not help but take a few more glances.
However, most of them did not know her identity. They only heard that her surname was Gu and thought that she was a girl from the Gu family.
Now, it seemed that this unfamiliar Miss Gu had an extraordinary background!
Kang Wang frowned and glanced at Gu Yanfei from the corner of his eye. The little girl stood there obediently with a faint smile, making it impossible to tell if she was deliberately going against him or if she did not know about this engagement at all…
Suppressing his thoughts, Kang Wang stood with his hands behind his back, emitting a cold and stern aura. His expression was arrogant and unyielding as he continued, “14 years ago, when your grandfather was still alive, he arranged a marriage with the Old Duke of the British Monarchy for Gu Ce’s eldest daughter to marry Fang Mingfeng…”
“Your Highness Kang Wang is right.” Gu Yanfei cleverly continued the other party’s words and smiled calmly. “The one who is engaged to Crown Prince Fang is the eldest daughter of the first wife of the Dingyuan Marquis Household.”
The ribbon on her hair fluttered in the wind, and her flowing skirt fluttered, looking as bright as the cold moon. The girl seemed to be surrounded by a floating aura, which was a sharp contrast to the cold Kang Wang.
“The letter of appointment between the two families is clearly written.” As she spoke, Gu Yanfei turned her gaze to Gu Yunrong and continued, “As everyone knows, the eldest daughter of the Marquis Household is Gu Yunrong.”
Gu Yanfei tilted her head and asked Gu Yunrong, who was only half a foot away from her, “Yes or no?”
Gu Yunrong’s pupils constricted and her eyebrows twitched.
Kang Wang narrowed his eyes and stared at Gu Yanfei with a gloomy expression. Only at this moment did he look at Gu Yanfei.
Facing this pair of lovers, Gu Yanfei’s smile deepened, but it did not reach her eyes.
In her previous life, after Gu Yanfei returned to the Dingyuan Marquis Household, she and Gu Yunrong were registered as twins under the names of her father, Gu Ce, and her mother, Madam Xie. However, the Gu family never explicitly introduced her to the public. Whenever they mentioned her, they would always be vague.
At that time, she had been beaten and scolded since she was young. Later, after being belittled, suppressed, and humiliated by Granny Xu, she became weaker and weaker. She was trapped in the Marquis Mansion all day and did not dare to interact with others, nor did she have the chance to argue for herself.
As a result, almost no one in the capital knew that she was the legitimate daughter of the Marquis Household. They only treated her as a distant orphan and an adopted daughter.
She was clearly the real descendant of the Gu family, but she had become an unspeakable existence and was treated as a fish eye passing off as a pearl.
Until she died, her identity was unclear…
This was her mental demon that had once depressed her when she was young.
This lifetime was like this again and old things had repeated themselves. Even though Gu Yunrong had been transferred to the second branch, the Gu family had no intention of clearing their name.
Not in her past life, not now, and certainly not in the future.
Gu Yanfei tilted her head slightly and looked at Gu Yunrong, who was inches away. She asked again, “Yes or no?”
A few strands of black hair slid down her cheek as she moved. The small pearl earrings swayed gently under her earlobe, and there seemed to be a beautiful light flowing in her eyes.
“…” Gu Yunrong’s face paled and she pursed her cherry lips.
Gu Yanfei had forced her into a dilemma with just a few words.
Now, no matter how she answered, it wasn’t right.
If she answered yes, it would be equivalent to publicly admitting that Gu Yanfei was the only daughter of the eldest branch.
If she answered no, then the person engaged to the British Crown Prince was her, Gu Yunrong.