Chapter 16: Systematic exercise

Having received her mistress’ words, Xia He recounted what she had seen and heard to Liang-shi word for word without missing anything.

Liu-shi was familiar with the man and Gu Yu Qi had guessed this.
Liu-shi’s identity was only a concubine, but she had long regarded herself as the real madam of the Marquis’ residence.
Gu Yu Qi already knew this in her previous life, let alone this life.
So if it was not for anything important, Liu-shi would not have a private meeting with a strange man.
This was such a shameful thing.
Liu-shi must have weighed it in her mind over and over again before doing it.

That man was Liu-shi’s cousin.
Gu Yu Qi had not expected this.
She had clearly remembered from her previous life that Liu-shi was an orphan, so where did she find a cousin? Why did her cousin have to be so sneaky and not come openly? However, in her previous life, she had not even cared about her own mother, let alone Concubine Liu’s cousin.

The two of them had just chatted and Xia He had only heard this.
The man did not stay for long before he left and was snuck out of the Marquis’ residence behind the backs of others by the maid.
Xia He had been gone for so long because she had followed the man carefully and found out where he was living before she came back to tell the madam.

Not only did Gu Yu Qi feel that there was a problem, Liang-shi also felt that there was a problem.
After she came to the capital, she had been sad and disheartened so she had not really checked the details of Liu-shi’s background.
Gu Huai Zhong was also secretive about Liu-shi’s affairs, so she really did not know much about Liu-shi.

“Tell Zhao Wu to pay attention to that person.” Liang-shi pondered for a moment and then said to Chun Xing, “Investigate everything related to Concubine Liu’s past.
Although I don’t want to be too meddlesome, I can’t let this residence dirtied by filthy people.”

Gu Yu Qi covered her mouth and was secretly joyful.
Her mother was already speaking very seriously.

Zhao Wu was the commander of the guards brought from Jiangnan by Liang-shi.
When Chun Xing and Xia He heard this, their faces became a little more cheerful.

When they were in Jiangnan, they had followed the eldest miss freely and what a happy life they had lived.
As soon as they came to the capital, they met Master Gu who had married another woman into the house but had concealed the matter.
Their young miss had instantly become depressed and sick for a long time, not even paying any mind to them.
They had long been displeased by that Concubine Liu.
Their young miss was born non-confrontational, and when that Concubine Liu made flowery and cunning statements, their young miss had not attacked back.
Since their young miss had not spoken, they as servants could not say anything so they had to let it be.
Now that their young miss had spoken, they were all gearing up for it and wished they could throw that woman out of the house!

After Chun Xing left, Liang-shi also ordered the remaining two maids to leave the room.
Then she took Gu Yu Qi’s hand and looked at her daughter carefully.

Her daughter was really beautiful, with curved eyebrows like mountains in the distance, surrounded by misty clouds.
She had been born with a pair of peach blossom eyes, the corners of her eyes pointed upwards slightly, bending in a charming arc like a pair of bewitching fox eyes.
However, her eyes were clear like a stream with a little bit of starlight.
Her skin was unblemished and flawless, and her lips were like water chestnuts, not to mention her long black hair.
She already looked like this at ten years old, who knew how stunning she would look in a few years?

Gu Yu Qi had slight goosebumps from the way her mother was staring at her, and she softly called out, “Mother.”

“Ah Nan is still young, but you’ll have to choose a husband in a few years,” Liang-shi could not help but let out a long sigh.
No matter how good her daughter was, she would have to marry in the future.
She could only hope that she would not think that she had found a good husband who unexpectedly turned out to be an ungrateful white-eyed wolf.

“What is mother doing thinking about this?” As soon as Gu Yu Qi heard this, she knew Liang-shi was thinking of things she should not think about, and she comforted her.
“If I marry someone bad, then I might as well stay with my mother.
Either way, this Marquis’ residence won’t prevent me from having three meals a day.”

What her daughter said was true.
If she really married someone bad, then it would be better not to marry at all.
It was not like this Marquis’ residence could not afford to raise a daughter.
If Gu Huai Zhong would not raise her, then she would raise her herself.

Liang-shi’s heart suddenly came up with such an idea.
Even she herself was shocked and she quickly dismissed the idea.
After all, her daughter would marry.
She would have to keep an eye out now and carefully select the sons and princes of the noble and imperial families in the capital one by one.
She had to find a few honest and reliable candidates so that in the future, they would not make any hasty decisions.

Liang-shi did not know that her daughter already had this goal in mind.
On the contrary, she praised herself for having this good idea and in addition to being excited, she also had a bit of fighting spirit.

Although the Ding Yuan Marquis’ residence was a new noble in this dynasty, and they were nothing in the eyes of those notable aristocratic families, Gu Yu Qi was still the eldest daughter of the Marquis’ residence regardless.
Those aristocratic families may have their eyes on the top of their heads, but they would still have to take a look at Gu Yu Qi.
Her background was good and she was the only direct daughter of the former General Zhen Guo which made Gu Yu Qi’s worth a little higher.
However, for Liu-shi, the status of her two children was too low.

“Nonsense!” Liang-shi scolded her daughter but she took her daughter into her arms and hugged her tighter.
She just wished she could give her daughter the best in the world.

She pondered.
Her daughter was now ten-years-old and it would be better to take her to socialise in the circles of noble ladies in the capital first.
It would be good to have her see the world.
In Jiangnan before, she had less restraint and developed a carefree boyish character.
Naturally, Liang-shi did not dare to bring that out in case she scared others.
When she came to the capital and had a bucket of water dumped over her, her temperament had quietened and she had become extraordinarily sensible.
She brought out everything in her that was highly educated and steeped in propriety.

There were many such gatherings among noble ladies at the capital and she received invitations every now and then.
Before, she had been mentally depressed and physically unwell, so she had rejected all these invitations on pretext.
Now she had to think about which ones she could go to with her daughter.

She knew that although her husband was granted the Marquis title, as an upstart, they were still incomparable to aristocratic families.
In the eyes of those clans with family histories spanning hundreds of years, they were nothing more than an upstart.
Her background was high, but her daughter’s surname was Gu, so she would naturally be classified as a ground beetle.

This was also one of the reasons why Gu Yu Qi worked so hard in her last life.
She understood clearly the difference between a clan and an upstart.
So, she had doubled her efforts to make sure she amazed everyone in one shot in order to compare with the ladies of the so-called clans.
As proud as she was, she wanted to smack the faces of the ladies of those so-called century-old noble families and tell them not to belittle her.

Speaking of which, although Liang-shi was born in a wealthy family, she had always lived in Jiangnan and had never attended a party at the capital.
She knew the customs in the capital were much more serious than the customs in Jiangnan, so even she herself had to be careful.
Thinking of this, she called Chun Xing to come in and bring her daughter back, then she called Xia He and gave her orders personally.

The next day, Gu Yu Qi found herself busy.

Her mother had found a list of titles and connections between the nobles in the capital from who knew where, and made her commit them to memory.
Gu Yu Qi had also done such a thing in her previous life, but it was just that it had not been arranged by her mother at that time.
She had secretly asked people to collect it.
What her mother collected in this life was more detailed than what she had collected in her previous life.
With the foundations of her previous life, this time, Gu Yu Qi sorted out the relationships without much effort.

Her mother also specially invited a teacher from the palace to teach her etiquette, and even had someone tailor her clothes and make her jewellery.

Gu Yu Qi understood that her mother was going to launch her first public appearance.

In her previous life, she had done all of these things by herself.
Her mother had always been unhappy but in this life, she did not care for herself.
Her mother seemed like she was injected with chicken blood, sending people to her every now and then, fixing a time for her to go and greet her mother and practise martial arts everyday.
Her mother nagged incessantly by her ear.
This made Gu Yu Qi feel dumbfounded.

However, if her mother thought it was good, then she would do it.
She had been a scoundrel of a daughter in her previous life so she had to make up for it in this life.
If she wanted to take her to a party among the nobles, then she would go.
She would just not be in the limelight like her previous life and be sure to stay safe.

Liu-shi had many eyes in the residence and she naturally saw Liang-shi’s and Gu Yu Qi’s actions.
She understood what Liang-shi was intending.
She had just given Gu Huai Zhong a bit of pillow talk and naturally, Gu Huai Zhong called Gu Si Yu to learn etiquette with Gu Yu Qi.

According to Liu-shi, what the hell was Gu Yu Qi?! She was just occupying the position of the eldest young miss of the Marquis’ residence for the past few years by relying on her mother.
Anyway, whatever Gu Yu Qi had, her daughter must not miss out on it.
In a few years, see who would be the most impressive in this residence.

Gu Si Yu was one year younger than Gu Yu Qi.
The little girl had been playing when she was forced to come over and learn etiquette, so she was very unwilling to do so.
The teacher from the palace was strict and between walking and sitting, if there was a slight mistake, a small bamboo board would come smacking down.
In her words, not to mention the young misses of the Marquis’ residence, she would even hit the ladies who entered the palace if they did not do well.
Those ladies were future madams.

However, Gu Yu Qi was reborn and she was already thoroughly familiar with everything, like a plug-in.
She had also entered the palace in her previous life, so in terms of etiquette, she did not need to be taught.
In comparison, her younger sister was unbearably clumsy and could not even walk well, so was smacked from time to time by the teaching nanny with the board.

After all… How could a nine-year-old child compare to an old monster who had been around for several lifetimes?

Gu Yu Qi watched her younger sister born from a concubine be humiliated.
She looked bitter and hateful all day long, however, she could not explain why she relished it.
This little sister had not provoked her yet and her appearance from being trained right now was also very pitiful.
Yet, why did she feel so unspeakably happy?

Gu Yu Qi was caught up in her thoughts for a while and then came to an answer.
Perhaps after crossing over, and being ***, then reborn, she had been forced into a state of change by Yun Ke.

Gu Yu Qi’s childhood was spent watching the little loli being punished miserably.
She tried hard to practice martial arts andtime passed quietly with Chen Han Lin’s teachings.

Gu Yu Qi stayed home in the Marquis’ residence, but her reputation outside was making more and more noise.
This time, not only Chen Han Lin mentioned Gu Yu Qi to his colleagues, but even the nanny teacher from the palace was full of praise for Gu Yu Qi, greatly exaggerating her praise.
It was one thing for Gu Yu Qi to have done a good job; on the other hand, they benefited from red envelopes from the Marquis who constantly gave orders personally to the teachers.
Speaking of which, Gu Huai Zhong had worked hard to get Gu Yu Qi married into an imperial family in this life and had invested a lot of money.

Of course, this was all done behind Gu Yu Qi’s back.
Gu Yu Qi was still in the dark about it and even Liang-shi did not know that Gu Huai Zhong had the idea of marrying Gu Yu Qi into the imperial family.

About a month later, Gu Yu Qi was dressed up by her mother and was stuffed into a carriage.
The journey of showing her face in front of everyone for the first time in this life began.