Chapter 636: Chapter 636: Zhan Family Uncle and Nephews
"What will Sister Le do in the future?" Qi Panzi asked somewhat angrily; he still hoped that his daughter could marry into the Yuan Family and did not want her to lead a lonely life.
Qi Kangming said: "She will live with me, and I will take care of her. When I get married and have children, my children will care for her in her old age."
Qi Panzi: "Living with her brother, without her own children, she will face hardships in her old age."
Who knows whether the wife that Brother Ming will marry will be good or not? If she isn’t, what if she makes trouble for Sister Le?
Qi Kangming said, "Father, even if living with her brother and suffering a little, it’s still better than being married off and ending up drowned after something happens. And I won’t let her suffer."
Qi Kangming has always been domineering, and now many decisions at home are made by him. Although Qi Panzi feels sorry for his daughter, since Sister Le has already spoken about the matter, he had to give up after hearing Qi Kangming’s words.
The three of them had this discussion in Qi Kangming’s room. Qi Kangping had gone to Gu Jinli’s house to pick up Mo Qinzi and did not come back until after dinner at the Gu’s house, so Mo Qinzi did not know about this.
That night, Qi Kangle slept in Gu Jinli’s room.
Gu Jinli and Gu Jinxiu live in the same courtyard, but the two sisters have their own rooms and do not live together, giving Qi Kangle the freedom to talk to Gu Jinli as she pleased.
Gu Jinli asked her, "Do you regret it, Cousin?"
Qi Kangle shook her head: "No regrets, I just feel sorry for him, for delaying his life for several years."
She was referring to Chang Errui.
Qi Kangle also liked Chang Errui, but never expressed it due to the incident involving the brothel.
Gu Jinli did not ask further, only offering a place for Qi Kangle to properly heal.
Early the next day, Brother Cheng ran to knock on Gu Jinli’s room door: "Second Sister, are you up?"
He had been looking forward to his Second Sister’s return, but a crisis had occurred in his aunt’s house yesterday, leaving the family quite upset. His Second Sister also had to accompany Cousin Le and hadn’t had a proper chat with him.
"I’m up," Gu Jinli responded, opening the door and looking at the young lad in front of her.
Brother Cheng was nearly eight years old now and had grown quite a bit taller since three years ago; he had long arms and legs and bore some resemblance to Gu Jin’an—a handsome young man.
"Good morning, Second Sister," Brother Cheng greeted her with a smile, his eyes curving like Gu Jinli’s when she smiles.
Gu Jinli pinched his nose: "Good morning. You’ll need to help with gathering hay today, try to come home early after school."
Gu Jin’an wasn’t home; he had gone with soy sauce to Jinling Prefecture to attend a literary meeting and would only be back after some time.
Brother Cheng thumped his chest, speaking like a little adult, "Don’t worry, Second Sister, I’m just as good as Big Brother, I will do a great job with the hay gathering."
At that moment, the door across creaked open; Gu Jinxiu came out and said with a laugh: "Didn’t you say Good Brother An is the best, the number one in the world? Then if you’re not inferior to Good Brother An, which rank are you in the world now?"
Three years had passed, and Gu Jinxiu had grown even more stunningly beautiful, truly the flower of the ten miles and eight villages. However, as she seldom went outside, many people hadn’t seen her, and no particularly eye-catching beautification spread.
Brother Cheng said, "Big Sister, you’ve been corrupted by Second Sister; you weren’t like this before."
Running over, he asked, "Is the new book bag ready? Recently, there’s a lot of homework, and the old book bag can’t hold it all."
Gu Jinxiu replied, "It’s ready, I’ll get it for you."
Stepping back inside, she brought out the new book bag.
"Take a look, is it big enough?"
Brother Cheng took it and smiled, "It’s very big; it’s enough. Thank you, Big Sister, you’re the best."
Gu Jinli raised his eyebrows: "You’ve been saying this for years, we don’t believe it anymore."
Brother Cheng, unbothered by the teasing, presented an invitation card to Gu Jinxiu: "Big sister, this is from Master and Lady Xia for you. Are you going this time?"
Lady Xia often sent invitations to Gu Jinxiu, but she generally did not attend.
She took the invitation and replied: "Ask Second Sister, if she agrees, big sister will go; if not, then I won’t."
Brother Cheng said: "Big sister, you are the eldest, why do you always listen to Second Sister?"
Not at all acting like the eldest, as the eldest should be imposing.
Gu Jinxiu said with a smile: "Because big sister is silly, I don’t understand many things. Second sister is smart; it’s right to listen to her."
Gu Jinli was very pleased, chin lifted proudly as he looked at Brother Cheng: "Hah, see? As long as you are smart enough, the second child can live the life of the eldest."
Brother Cheng snorted: "Second Sister just bullies big sister."
But since the invitation was delivered, whether big sister attended or not, Lady Xia couldn’t blame him.
And big brother had spoken to Second Sister; they were family, and as for others’ requests, he would just listen and forget.
Gu Jinli came over, rubbing his face with her cold hands, mischievously said: "Not only does Second Sister bully big sister, but she also bullies you, is it cold?"
Brother Cheng hurriedly dodged, exclaiming indignantly: "Second Sister, if you keep bullying me, I will..."
Gu Jinli interrupted him: "You will what? Big brother is not home, who will you rely on? Da Tuan and Xiao Tuan also listen to me since I bought them."
Da Tuan and Xiao Tuan were two brothers; Da Tuan was skilled in kung fu, Xiao Tuan was clever, both from the same escort agency as Qiu Lang. She and Gu Jin’an gave Da Tuan and Xiao Tuan to Brother Cheng, letting them accompany him daily to Master Xia’s house.
If Brother Cheng encountered any issues at Master Xia’s house, they would help on time and could also report the Xia Family’s matters back to them.
Brother Cheng took another defeat, yet was not discouraged, instead proclaiming: "Second Sister, wait and see, one day I will be more formidable than you."
Gu Jinli said: "Alright, I’ll wait. I guess by the time I’m buried, you still won’t have become formidable, given how silly Gu Jincheng is."
Hearing this, Brother Cheng seriously said: "Second Sister, you’ve said it many times, don’t keep talking about death, Second Sister will live a long life."
The little fellow still remembered the incident when she was almost killed by a blow to the head from the Niu Family brothers; he couldn’t bear hearing Gu Jinli talking about being buried.
Gu Jinli was moved once again: "Alright, Second Sister won’t talk about it anymore."
Then she asked him: "Has any stranger been to the Xia’s recently?"
Lady Xia, seeing Gu Jinxiu growing older, couldn’t contain herself anymore and wanted to arrange a marriage for Gu Jinxiu. Now that Lady Xia had sent the invitation to Gu Jinxiu, Gu Jinli was worried that Xia’s family had invited some scholarly madman, intending to secretly arrange a match.
Brother Cheng shook his head: "No, there haven’t been any visitors at the teacher’s house recently."
However, he was quickly contradicted.
As soon as Brother Cheng reached the Xia’s house with Da Tuan and Xiao Tuan, he heard the sound of a zhu being played.
The zhu, an ancient musical instrument, was highly favored by scholarly madmen; whenever there was a gathering of literati, playing the zhu, konghou, and blowing sheng were essential.
As expected, before long, the sounds of the konghou and sheng intermingled in a chaotic symphony.
Brother Cheng frowned, asking Xia family’s servant, "Has the teacher’s family had any guests?"
The servant replied: "Indeed, Master, there have been guests, they arrived in the middle of last night, and have been drinking and discussing poetry with the Old Master till now."
Brother Cheng asked: "How many people came? Sounds like there are quite a few?"
The servant answered: "Three visitors came; an uncle with two nephews, all surnamed Zhan."