Chapter 9: Eldest Son

How did the songstress attract the attention of Gu ZhiMo? It was like a plot in a storybook. 

The story began with the songstress walking alone on the road with a lot of money. As she fears of being robbed, she dresses shabbily on purpose. She had decided to return to the Capital City and live in the commoner area as the security and state of living there was much better than the other cities, to the extent that even widowed women could live and work in peace. 

While outside the Capital City, she came across Gu ZhiMo who had just returned from a hamlet 

He was a handsome man who was valued by others for his power despite being both miser and a playboy who was capable of capturing the hearts of young maidens. Additionally, being a middle-aged man in his thirties, it is the best age group for men. He had spotted the songstress who had sprained her ankle whilst she was in a hurry and immediately fell in love with her beautiful and graceful figure hidden beneath.

Not only did he offer her ride, but was also especially attentive to her.

With the help of the miser master, the songstress settled down in the wealthier area with reliable servants and guards by her side.

In the beginning, she and Gu ZhiMo had nothing more to do with one another as she could not stand Gu ZhiMo’s lust.

The songstress knew that it was unrealistic to remain unmarried for the rest of her life. As she began to understand the nature of Gu ZhiMo personality and weaknesses, she inquired about the Gu’s Family situation. She realized that marrying into Gu’s family was not a loss. It does not matter if she had angered the Lady of the House or was unable to be promoted to a concubine or legitimate wife because she was born as a lowly commoner.

The songstress is very good in her calculation and planning. She wanted Gu Zhi Mo to abandon Yin Shi, yet she does not want Yin Shi to die or be reduced from her current position as Lady of the House. To put it simply, she wanted Yin Shi to remain as the Lady of the House, but only in name. Whereas, she will be the real Lady of the House. Behind Gu ZhiMo is only Yin Shi who is a bit tricky, the rest are simply quails retracting their neck (!), who are not worth her concern.

[!] (缩着脖子的鹌鹑) Quails retracting their neck – People who do not act/ timid

Even if Yin Shi has died, Gu Zhi Mo will definitely marry again to fill the position of the Lady of the house and she would have to deal with the new problem and thus, the loss outweighs the gain.

Once she had decided on her path, she quickly seduced Gu ZhiMo. As one was willing to be seduced, the other willing to seduce, the two were tangled up together soon.

Although the songstress had never experienced inner household fighting before, but it was not uncommon to have fights in the brothel, so she was not afraid of it. However, Yin Shi have plenty of schemes, so, after some consideration, the songstress decided to give birth to her son outside before allowing Gu ZhiMo to bring her back to pay respect to their ancestors.

The women in the brothel were the best at controlling a man’s heart and thus, Gu Zhi Mo has been bewitched by her. Whatever she said, he agreed to it. As a result, he allowed the songstress to remained outside and to worked for 2 years.

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No one had known about this before. If it was not for the songstress plan to suppress Yin Shi’s arrogance by spreading the rumour, Ren Zhu Xiang would not have acquired such comprehensive news.

“This is not easy to deal with.” Gu Lian picked up the cup and took a sip.

It was already hot in early summer, so Lan Xiang brought a plate of fruits that were soaked in the water beforehand and placed it in front of Gu Lian.

Unlike those haughty ladies, Gu Lian prefers to pick up the whole fruit and bite into it rather than cutting into bite-size pieces and nibbling on it, hence, losing its flavour.

Although life in Jianghu is trivial and not constrained by the little things, her action has led some servants feeling anxious for a couple of days.

Gu Lian has never looked at the servants in the household with contempt, after all, they are human beings. So she has given them the Wu Du Sect’s 1 of the 3 major poison, allowing them to ignore Gu Lian’s abnormality and served her loyally. To compensate them, Gu Lian taught the servants some medical knowledge

Although, the purpose of imparting knowledge is not pure.

“Another half-brother.” Gu Lian took a bite of the fruit, “ This is going to be interesting for the younger ones.”

2 days ago, the 1-year-old half-brother was accompanied by both Gu ZhiMo and the Songstress back to pay respect to the ancestors and at the same time to hold a large birthday ceremony. As there was no prior discussion with Yin Shi, she was feeling very frustrated.

The reason why she did not get any news beforehand, was because Gu ZhiMo had deliberately hidden the news about the birthday ceremony.

Gu ZhiMo is not stupid. He had underestimated Yin Shi before, but after being pointed out by the songstress, he finally understood the reason for not having more male descendent. Hence, he felt disgusted with Yin Shi.

[T/N note]: Male descendant is very important in the Chinese culture as they are the ones to carry on the Surname/family name and to bring glory to the family. Usually, all hopes and values are placed on the eldest son, only when there was some unfortunate event whereby the eldest is not capable of succeeding the father, the family will turn to the younger sons.

Although Gu ZhiMo cherished his eldest son, it does not mean he does not want more male descendants. He was the only one who has only 1 son whilst, his fellow colleagues have a few. To put it bluntly, if anything were to happened to his eldest son, he will not have anyone else to succeed him.

Despite Gu ZhiMo’s 2nd and 3rd brothers were all from concubines, they have more sons than him. If Gu ZhiMo really has no other sons, no one can guarantee that these two will not kill his eldest son. Without a son to carry on his wish, they can legitimately have their sons be adopted by Gu ZhiMo and inherit Gu ZhiMo’s family property.

The songstress speaks eloquently and in a few words. She only mentioned to Gu Zhi Mo that it was not wise to have so little male offspring and with this, Gu Zhi Mo thought up about the rest and even doubted his eldest son.

Gu ZhiMo was unable to obtain evidence regarding the culprit: Yin Shi and was not able to determine whether it was done by Yin Shi or his eldest son, so, he decided not to pursue the matter temporarily. He went to the Old Madam with regards to the concubine and younger son. The Old Madam has not cared about much for a long time, yet, she was once a prominent lady in the inner household. She withheld the truth from Yin Shi and added the younger son to the genealogical tree and arranged the birthday ceremony without any difficulties.

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Yin shi felt a shiver down her spine as her husband of many years was not only bewitched by the songstress but also distanced himself from her. Although Gu ZhiMo is still in his prime age, Yin Shi is no longer young. In this era, she is considered to be an old woman. A few years ago, she went through dystocia and fought desperately to give birth to a son. If it was not for her extreme luck, she would have gone and meet the king of the underworld with her son.

Thinking about all the hardship she had faced all those years ago, she was unable to suppress her hatred and broke down in tears while hugging her son.

Wasn’t she just a bitch from the brothel? She had even fought with the previous aunt. Not only did she killed the aunt but also the son she gave birth to. Today, comparing to the aunt’s son, it is much easier to deal with the songstress’s son, who is only 1 year old.

“Mother?” Gu ZiShu frowned slightly. The 12-year-old boy is no longer considered a child in this era. He is precocious and matured as he was taught by Gu ZhiMo himself, unlike his shrewd and calculative mother, he was also not tainted by his sister with her arrogance. Although his academic performance is mediocre and might fail his exams, it seems like he was blessed with Gu ZhiMo’s handsome features.

However, this young master has picked up his father’s bad traits and likes beauty.

At only 12years old, he already has servants of utmost beauty by his side, even the page boy is handsome. Those of average-looking ones were transferred away. Yin Shi looks at her son feeling satisfied overall. As she wiped her tears, her heart filled with hatred but pity was shown on her face. “Su ge-er, you have to study hard so that your father is able to see your ability. You are the son that your father is proudest of, you must not be beaten by that bitch’s bastard!”

Gu ZiShu wanted to say that his younger brother is only 1 year old, isn’t it making a mountain out of a molehill? However, facing his mother’s red eyes, he can only swallow back his words.

I don’t know if mother is jealous with resentment or her red eyes were due to the crying earlier on…..

Unable to understand his mother’s thinking, Gu ZhiShu nodded and turned around. Let him study hard? Forget it. Seeing books gives him a headache.

Gu ZiShu had a page boy to keep a lookout while he followed 2nd uncle’s son to jump over the wall to skip class and visit the ornately decorated boats.

[T/N note]: ornately decorated boats are brothels/restaurants

Although beauties can’t be touched, it’s ok to hug, kiss, and caress.

“Miss, Third young master and Second young master has skipped class again.” Upon hearing the news, Zhu Xiang frowned with disbelief as she entered the room and said it in a low volume. Ever since she knew that the 3rd young master has gone to the brothel at such a young age, her expression turns complicated.

Gu Lian’s servant was older than her by 1 to 2 years old and had already managed some major personnel affairs. It was logical to have her to be matchmade to someone long ago, however, it was more common for the servants to marry late. Prior before, Yin Shi had always been too lazy to care about household personnel. It was only after having interaction with the princess did she change her thought. With a face full of smiles, she said that the servant is getting old and should get married. In fact, her plan was to take away her limbs(1) and to plant her own people inside.

(1): referring to Gu Lian’s capable helpers

Gu Lian agreed readily, saying “according to mother’s command.” She turned around and left, leaving the servant to go to the Old Madam’s courtyard to beg. The servant cried on and on, not wanting to leave the eldest missy. Gu Lian was not expecting old Madam to agree, she simply wanted a reason so that she can plead with Gu Zhi Mo to allow the servant to stay with her. Surprisingly, the old madam actually intervened. She reckons that the old madam had already known about another grandson outside and was very upset with Yin Shi with regards to the male offsprings.

Actually, old Madam decided to used this incident to express her stance and as an excuse to suppress Yin Shi’s arrogance. As Yin Shi was used to smooth-sailing, she did not expect Gu Lian to have such a capable measure. Not only did she caught the attention of the princess, the old madam has also taken a liking to her. She had restrained herself when it comes to this matter, however, she was not expecting her thoughts to have gone the wrong direction.

The more Yin Shi thinks about it, the angrier she gets. With so many negative happenings, coupled with the cold shoulder at the princess mansion, she fall-ill and took a full month to recuperate. During this period, the old madam took the opportunity to arrange for the birthday ceremony and Gu ZhiMo used this chance to bring his true love into the house.

In order to fight against the wily fox: the songstress, she recovered her vitality.

“He went to the brothel again?” Gu Lian asked calmly.

She is not as thin-skinned as compared to the servants, so it was not surprising for her to mention it indifferently. However, she feels that it is a bit too early as Gu Zishu was only 12 years old

Gu Lian was equipped with medical knowledge. After some deliberation, she realized that Gu Zishu does not know the serious consequence of doing that kind of thing at such a young age. So even though none of them takes any action, Gu ZiShu will exhaust his life away and whether he could live to 30 is a question.

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