An Ye asked carefully, but Shen Qianshan shook his head and replied with an insightful look, “The medicine is real.”
Shen Qianshan did not have high hopes when he asked Gu Huaian to search for this herb. It was a pleasant surprise to obtain this herb successfully. However, he felt that there was something strange about the Young Lady of Gu Family.
“Reply a letter for me,” Shen Qianshan suddenly instructed.
Gu Huaian was a person who could be of good use. Since he was planning to trust him with important tasks, he had to put some effort into that.
With this thought, Shen Qianshan closed the jade box with a thud and continued his instruction with his usual calm demeanour. “Just write that I will attend the Spring feast of Gu Family on the day after tomorrow.”
Later at night, Gu Quang sat alone at the study table beside her bed and stared at the blank pages of the book while pondering in silence.
It began with her having a dream, followed by a series of unexpected events, leaving her in stupefaction and unable to reflect.
Now that she had the time to contemplate every detail, she realized there were many points that seemed absurd yet reasonable.
For instance, the writings on the book. She did not realize it at first, but now that she recalled it, it was actually her handwriting.
Therefore, she speculated that she had travelled to the future by chance and saw her ending after she fell into the water.
And she even brought her diary back to the present unexpectedly.
Through the diary, she read about the death of her elder brother and the Ninth Prince.
If that was the case, was there any predestined reason or explanation for that?
Or was it just a mere coincidence that she saw the ending of her elder brother and the Ninth Prince?
Why did the universe let her witness her ending?
Was it a warning, or an advice to resign to her fate?
She was lost in a myriad of thoughts and entangled in a plethora of ideas. After pondering for a long time, Gu Qiang ground the ink personally and started writing in the book.
7th of March, 47th year of Chongwenwu, a letter to the future self (1)…
On a late night in the 7th year of Jianyuan, the moon was bright and stars were scarce.
The Empress, Gu Qiang, who was now almost thirty stood alone in the study. Her face was ghastly pale and drops of sweat rolled down from her ashen face.
With trembling hands, she felt for her heart but where it was supposed to have a deep wound was perfectly fine without any pain or wounds.
How could it be possible? Wasn’t she dead?
She was supposed to be dead due to Shen Zhongbai’s cruelty and thousands of heart-piercing arrows.
But, how could she stand here now in a perfect condition?
And her mind even received some memories which did not belong to her.
In that memory, it was in the 47th year of Chongwenwu. She had a dream after she drowned and that dream was about the memory of Shen Zhongbai killing her, and the memory of her punishing her half-younger-sister.
After that dream, she was cautious toward her half-younger-sister for all her life and she was trying hard to save her elder brother.
Unfortunately, she lost her memory a month later.
When she regained her memory, she had become the wife of Shen Zhongbai. Sadly, her elder brother was dead, so she had to be submissive to Shen Zhongbai.
It was also because of that memory that she started to put her guard up against Shen Zhongbai and cultivated her own power. Therefore, Gu Family was now vigorously ingratiating her. On the other hand, Shen Zhongbai did not control her much, but he schemed to kill his own son and got rid of Shen Qiangwei right after that, preventing her from finding out the truth.
Of course, Shen Zhongbai was aware that she was shunning him.
They were now a couple who respected each other just to put on a show, while scheming to get rid of each other behind their backs.
Gu Qiang sank into silence. Which was the reality? Now, or the time when she was killed by thousands of arrows piercing through her heart? Or was it just her confused memory?
Perhaps, Shen Zhongbai poisoned her and made her hallucinate?
Physician!
Just when Gu Qiang was about to call for a physician, she spotted the book on the table. It was the book which she saw in her memory!
She quickly opened the book, only to find blank pages.
Why?
She remembered that she wrote a lot in the past.
Suddenly, her handwriting appeared word by word out of nowhere on the blank page.
7th of March, 47th year of Chongwenwu, a letter to the future self (1)…
I don’t know if that dream is true or false. But if that will be my ending, and since heaven sympathized me and allowed me to know my future, I will rewrite my own future and change it.
I hope that one day when I reread this diary, I did not fail myself.
It was magical yet creepy.
The words appeared one by one, and it was her own handwriting.
And the most unbelievable thing was, every image of her writing these sentences appeared gradually in her mind with every appearing word.
Witnessing this supernatural scene, Gu Qiang finally believed that this was real.
At once, tears dribbled down her cheeks and soaked the pages.
It seemed that she really had the chance to change the ending in the past.
But everything went down in flames when she lost her memories.
In deep sorrow, Gu Qiang grabbed the writing brush from the side and wrote, You’ve tried hard.
Meanwhile, on the 7th of March, 47th year of Chongwenwu, the fifteen-year-old Gu Qiang widened her eyes and stared in disbelief at the book in her hand.
She had finished writing in her diary and was about to sleep when a sentence appeared at the bottom of the page.
You’ve tried hard. Despite her astonishment, she quickly sat down and wrote below that sentence, Who are you? At a different time in the 7th year of Jianyuan, the thirty-year-old Gu Qiang was also shocked.Followed by that was a burst of tears with joy. She could communicate with her fifteen-year-old self! Then, everything could be changed. She just needed to prevent herself from losing her memory that would happen unexpectedly a month later. Then, all the tragedies would not happen. Thinking of that, she quickly wrote to reply, I am you, you from fifteen years later. The fifteen-year-old Gu Qiang was also overjoyed. She then continued to inquire, If you are me, do you know how Brother dies? In the book, the thirty-year-old Gu Qiang replied, I don’t know. All I know is Brother went out to run some errands for the Ninth Prince and met with an accident. But ther
Madam Yao stopped mid-sentence without saying further. But Ye was not taken aback by her words. Instead, she patted dearly on Madam Yao’s arm and said, “Princess Changning is a kind and gentle person.” Madam Yao understood her underlying meaning immediately. So she smiled and echoed, “You’re absolutely right. Princess Changning is the kindest.” Ye smiled faintly, while Madam Yao sensibly brought her daughter away to find a seat. When most of the attendees had arrived, Ye glanced at the empty main seat which was reserved for the Princess and then rested her hand on Aunt Zhang’s hand while speaking in an airy tone, “Alright, let’s go. It’s time to call the two girls out to meet the guests.” “Yes, Madam.” Aunt Zhang heeded the command at once and sent people to inform the Young Ladies. Both of the Young Ladies stayed a stone’s throw away from the banquet hall, so it did not take long for Gu Qiang and Gu Zhihua to come into everyon
Gu Zhihua was dumbfounded, so she answered intuitively with her muddled mind. As soon as she answered, Changning’s senior maid, Granny Chen, slapped her mercilessly and reproached, “How dare you stand while answering the Princess’s question?” “I…” Gu Zhihua was stunned and stumbled to the floor after receiving that blow. After a moment of shock, panic overwhelmed her. She wanted to explain herself, but Gu Qiang took a step forward and forestalled her with a polite bow and replied, “Your Highness, she is my younger sister.” “Younger sister?” Although Changning seldom met people, she recognized the eldest daughter of the Prime Minister. She then frowned and asked in displeasure, “I remember that your mother passed away not long after you were born.” “Yes, Your Highness.” Gu Qiang’s voice was light yet polite as she added reverently, “Zhihua is my stepmother’s daughter.” Ye, who was sta
She made sure that Aunt Zhang sent that garment to Gu Qiang.Why did it end up being worn by Gu Zhihua? Recalling Princess Changning’s words, Ye got even infuriated at Gu Qiang and was dying to rip her apart. “Yes. Didn’t you know that, Madam?” Gu Qiang smirked, eyes filled with amusement. “Normally, the Princess would only be unhappy when someone violated her peacock taboo. Do you know why she was extremely enraged today?” She leaned closer to Ye’s ear before continuing her sentence in a whisper, “Because yesterday, the Princess heard someone mentioning that servant from her memory. Thus, she became raving mad when she saw a peacock today.” “You! you!” Ye’s eyes were filled with disbelief and resentment. However, she could not vent her anger as the Princess’s maid was still waiting aside. She could only swallow all her displeasure and threatened, “We’ll see who will have the last laug
Young Lady Gu, didn’t you realize that you have poured the wrong tea? The tea you served for my master is Red Dates Jade Flower Tea which is prepared for the women! Master can’t have sweet food. The tea he drinks is the West Lake Dragon Well Tea which is beside the women’s tea! As expected, Shen Qianshan’s hand stopped mid-air while reaching for the cup when he noticed the floating Jade Flower in the tea. Naturally, Gu Qiang who was staring attentively at him saw his action. When she saw that Shen Qianshan was not reaching for the cup, she tucked her lips nervously and asked, “Is there something wrong, You Highness? You don’t like this tea?”Of course he doesn’t like it! Young Lady Gu, please quickly replace the tea for His Highness before he splashes the tea! An Ye shouted in his thoughts. After all, not only His Highness doesn't like sweet food, he actually can’t have it! However, no outsiders knew
Especially Jiang Min, the eldest daughter of Jiang Family, refused to marry into Gu Family before and finally married a duke’s son after careful selection. Unexpectedly, he died young of illness. Her title as the wife of a duke’s son was gone, while her half-sister born of a concubine became a mistress. Jiang Min was extremely indignant and often pulled a face before. Afterwards, Jiang Rou died of illness. Unexpectedly, she got on well with Ye, the second wife of Jiang Rou’s husband, and had more contact with her than with her own sister.While Jiang Rou was at her last gasp, none of Jiang Family members came to visit her.When Gu Huaian was thrown out of Gu Family, none of Jiang Family members came, either.However, Jiang Min came with her family for a spring feast held by Ye. Gu Qiang sneered and her eyes were full of derision.Changning returned after changing her clothes. She was used to her brother’s French leave. Seeing Gu Qi
Changning was surprised. If it were true, the imperial household couldn’t destroy Gu Qiang’s arranged marriage even if they had an eye on her.Changning glanced at Song Yu. She was standing behind Jiang Min and pretended to be shy, though male visitors couldn’t enter to salute and all stayed outside. Together with Jiang Min’s arrogant manner, it made Changning think such a family couldn’t have a great son. She shook her head and looked at Gu Qiang with sympathy.“Well, if so, I won’t disturb you. Gu Qiang, go ahead.”The princess’s remark meant the imperial household was going to remove Gu Qiang from the candidate list.Others didn’t know, while Ye was clear about that, so she saluted with a bigger smile immediately, “Then please allow me to take my daughter…”“Madam, what are you talking about?”Suddenly, Gu Qiang broke her silence with a cold smile. She stared straight at Ye and kept still.
While speaking, Ye nudged nearby Jiang Min secretly. Then Jiang Min said drily, “Yes, I will continue doting on you.”But Gu Qiang just shook her head and stared at Ye compellingly, “Mother, what does my father think about it?”Before Ye answered, she kneeled down before Changning and bowed heavily, “Princess, my father hasn’t returned. It’s unfilial to prepare for marriage without the permission of both my parents. Besides, my elder brother hasn’t married. If I marry before him, I will be thought disrespectful for him. Princess, please help me out. Though I’m a girl, I don’t want to be a person unfilial to my parents and disrespectful for my siblings!”What she said was powerful, but Changning looked at Gu Qiang with complicated eyes. Gu Qiang’s remark seemed to bring her back to the past. Back then, though she was a princess, her Mother only loved her brother and hardly cared for her. Later, her Father ordered her to marry. She