97. One After Another

Gu Fei's face burned with righteous indignation as she fixed her gaze on Gu Min, like a wildcat poised to strike—at the slightest movement, she would bare her claws and lunge. "A-Fei knows full well that my return is unwelcome, but I never imagined that Eldest Brother would be so vicious as to strike at his own flesh and blood. If A-Fei were as ruthless as Eldest Brother, I fear that when you returned from Southern Qi, all you would see before you would be a hall full of funeral tablets."

For a long moment, Gu Min was cowed by Gu Fei's fierce aura, unable to utter a single word, even as his chest churned like a flooded river.

"Hmph. As for this so-called antidote of yours, you might as well keep it for yourself—your little sister has no use for it!" Gu Fei said with utter contempt.

Hearing this, Gu Min's eyes brightened. "Fifth Sister has found the Strange Doctor Ninth Master?"

Gu Fei cast a meaningful glance at You Hu, and seeing him absorbed in the chessboard as if he hadn't heard a word, she turned her head back to Gu Min. On that handsome, jade-like face of his were several bloody, gnawed bite wounds—one could well imagine how Dugula had tormented him the night before.

Her expression turned cold. "Whether I've found him or not, what business is it of Eldest Brother's?"

Gu Min pocketed the so-called antidote, this time choosing not to take offense at Gu Fei's rudeness. He found a chair for himself and sat down. "Fifth Sister doesn't know this, but back in Southern Qi, I too suffered the agony of the Blue Enchantress's poison. I originally agreed to bring Dugula to Great Yin because she swore to me she wouldn't lay a finger on the Gu family. But who could have expected that she would accidentally catch sight of—" He paused, glancing at You Hu, then shook his head with a sigh. "It's not that I want to criticize you, Fifth Sister, but as for your servants, it's better if their looks aren't too striking. Dugula is a barbarian, and perhaps you don't know this, but barbarian women are most fond of beauty. Once she saw your people, there was no way she'd let the matter rest. I never expected her to dare break her promise and strike at you with poison."

"If I had known this would happen, I would rather have fought her to the bitter end in Southern Qi than brought her back to Great Yin." Gu Min spoke with lofty righteousness, as if he were utterly blameless in the matter of Gu Fei being poisoned with the Blue Enchantress's venom.

"So Eldest Brother is also afflicted with a deadly poison..." Gu Fei let out a low laugh. Light and shadow fell along the edge of her face, rendering her features hazy and indistinct. "Then is Eldest Brother thinking that once your little sister finds the Strange Doctor Ninth Master, you'll also beg him to cure you along the way?"

"Would Fifth Sister truly be willing?" Gu Min's eyes suddenly lit up—it was clear the Blue Enchantress's poison had tormented him terribly.

Gu Fei said neither yes nor no, her brows arched with a smile that made Gu Min's heart grow uneasy. "If Fifth Sister can help Eldest Brother cure this poison, I am willing to give you half of the Gu family's estate."

He spoke these words with considerable difficulty, clearly the result of much deliberation.

Who would have thought Gu Fei would respond with a derisive snort? She swept her hand across the chessboard, scattering the pieces, and picked up only the white stones to toss into the bowl, saying with indifference, "Half? Eldest Brother would do better to worry about Xiao Mo's family's hidden ambitions, lest you wake up one day and find this pitiful estate of yours has changed to another surname."

"You—!" Gu Min slammed his hand on the table and shot to his feet, his face livid. "You refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a penalty. Once I find the Strange Doctor Ninth Master, don't you doubt that I have plenty of ways to deal with you?"

With the masks torn off, Gu Fei couldn't be bothered to waste more words. She reset the pieces and began a new game with You Hu, pointedly ignoring Gu Min entirely.

Gu Min was so furious he swept his sleeves and stormed off. But no one saw that the moment he stepped out of Qingmo Court, the corners of his mouth curled into a sinister smile, his gaze flickering back toward Gu Fei with eyes full of venomous hatred as thick as ink.

"Tsk. So he plans to find this humble one first, then use me to coerce you." You Hu laughed with teasing amusement, swiftly placing a stone to cut off Gu Fei's retreat.

Gu Fei pinched a white stone between her fingers, surveying the entire board without moving for a long time. "Coerce or not, the poison on his body can forget about being cured."

The more You Hu looked at Gu Fei—who had not a shred of mercy in her—the more agreeable she seemed. He didn't urge her to make her move. "Gu Min is but a small fish. The lady's next move should be dealing with Mo Geyi, who is coming to Yi Province soon, yes?"

This was the second time today that Mo Geyi had been mentioned in her presence. Gu Fei paused for a moment, then gave an honest answer. "I've thought about it, but I haven't figured out where to start against him. This isn't the capital—there are too few weaknesses I can strike to truly wound him."

You Hu frowned slightly. He studied Gu Fei for a while, then spoke with a hint of probing, "If that's the case, why not leave this matter to me for now?"

"Oh?" Gu Fei drew out the syllable, a question in her voice. "And how would you go about it?"

But You Hu chose to keep his mystery, smiling lightly without revealing a single detail to Gu Fei. "If I explained it all now, there'd be no fun in it. So the lady should simply watch and see."

At this point, Gu Fei knew she wouldn't get anything more out of him, so she set the matter aside and focused on the game before her.

A few days after Gu Min stormed out of Qingmo Court, word spread through the streets that the Xiao Mo family and the Gu family had jointly launched a line of scented ink sticks in various fragrances. The auction the two families held together caused a sensation in Yi Province, and all the other ink-making workshops and families could only step aside from the limelight. In the span of a single night, the Gu family—formerly a second-rate clan—had climbed, by hitching itself to the Xiao Mo family, to become the second-greatest family in Yi Province, right beneath the Xiao Mo's banner.

When Feng Lizhi saw the scented ink, he rushed to Qingmo Court without a second thought, believing that Gu Fei had been forced to write out the formulas against her will. He even imagined she was living in hardship.

But to his surprise, Gu Fei was idler than anyone, feeding koi fish when she wasn't playing chess with You Hu. She lived more at ease than anyone else.

When she saw Feng Lizhi, Gu Fei mentioned offhandedly that she wanted to open an ink-pellet shop. Before she could even invite Feng Lizhi to take a share, he waved his hand grandly, pulled out a five-hundred-tael banknote from his robes, and tossed it to Mother Ku, declaring with great generosity that he would go into business with Gu Fei.

Gu Fei was caught between laughter and tears. She shook her head repeatedly, unsure whether Feng Lizhi simply didn't mind losing money or had that much faith in her to believe the shop would turn a profit.

After Feng Lizhi left, Qingmo Court settled back into quiet, as if forgotten once more. Aside from Gu Fei and her people, no one came by at all.

Just as the poison in Gu Fei's body was completely purged, Mo Yuhua arrived, quite unexpectedly. He came to Qingmo Court alone, without even his personal attendant, and stood at the entrance for a long time, watching Gu Fei as she went about things as usual—neither well nor poorly.

Gu Fei had just finished a game of chess with You Hu when she happened to turn her head and saw Mo Yuhua looking at her with an unreadable expression. She was briefly startled, then had Ye Ying invite him in, while Bai Lu brewed some cold tea to receive their guest.

You Hu, of course, had seen Mo Yuhua arrive long ago, but for reasons known only to himself, he hadn't said a single word of warning to Gu Fei.

Gu Fei gathered up the chess pieces, picked up her teacup for a sip, and then pinched a white stone, ready to begin another game with You Hu.

Mo Yuhua's gaze rested on the chessboard, his star-bright eyes flickering with shifting depths, like falling petals drifting among the leaves. "A-Fei, there is no longer a place for you in the Gu family. Are you still unwilling to return to the Xiao Mo family?"

Gu Fei seemed not at all surprised by Mo Yuhua's words. She set down her piece with unhurried composure and replied, "Young Master Mo, what are you saying? No place for me? Isn't my Qingmo Court a place to stand?"

"I refuse to believe you don't understand this is only a temporary situation. The marriage alliance between the Xiao Mo and Gu families is now all but inevitable, and the business of the two houses will eventually merge. When that happens, once Gu Min has his hands free, how could you possibly be a match for him?" Mo Yuhua knitted his brows tightly, exasperated by Gu Fei's stubborn refusal to see reason.

Gu Fei finally turned to look at him. Her clear, serene face was veiled in a thin layer of light, with dappled shadows falling through the gaps of the leaves onto her features, carving out shifting lines of light and dark that made her seem all the softer.

"What happens later, we'll speak of later. For now, there's no need for Young Master Mo to trouble himself." She coldly rejected his good intentions, without a hint of hesitation.

Mo Yuhua's face went slightly pale. He stared intently into Gu Fei's eyes—those pitch-black pupils deep as an abyss, vast as a sea—yet he could not find his own reflection in them. It was as if all his care could not stir even a ripple in her gaze.

A chill settled over his heart, and he suddenly felt that the woman before him had become profoundly unfamiliar, with none of the sweetness and closeness of ten years ago. All of this made Mo Yuhua secretly doubt himself. He even wondered if he had been mistaken—that this A-Fei was not the same A-Fei, that the two were simply entirely different people.

If not, the A-Fei of old would never have refused him.

As if she hadn't yet trampled enough on his weak spot, Gu Fei continued, "Sooner or later, I will come for the Xiao Mo family. I will demand of your father, Mo Yanxun, the truth of my parents' deaths!"

Mo Yuhua was horrified. The hand half-hidden in his sleeve trembled uncontrollably. "A-Fei..." He forced the words out with difficulty. "My father would never do anything to harm his own brothers. He wouldn't!"

Gu Fei let out a cold snort, averted her gaze, and turned her attention back to the chessboard, saying not another word.

Mo Yuhua sat for a while longer. Seeing that Gu Fei could not be reasoned with and refused to accept his goodwill, he understood that some things, after ten years of change, could never return. And Gu Fei still harbored deep resentment toward the Xiao Mo family. In the future, whether in business or in any other regard, they would surely be enemies.

And yet, he simply could not bear to leave her alone in the Gu family. The pity in his heart rose again and again, filling him with guilt—guilt that the Xiao Mo family had wronged her. He wanted to make amends, but Gu Fei would not accept them.

Every time he saw Gu Fei, this feeling surged anew.

Seeing that nothing could be done, Mo Yuhua came with hope and left in disappointment.

After he was gone, You Hu—who should have placed his stone—suddenly withdrew his black piece instead. He fixed an ambiguous stare on Gu Fei and said after a long pause, "Since you too carry a lingering attachment in your heart, why not give him a chance to set his mind at ease?"

Gu Fei glanced at him and, breaking the rules herself, placed another stone without a word.

You Hu paid it no mind and continued, "If he finds peace of mind, you need not keep thinking of him. And when the day comes that you meet on the battlefield, you'll be able to strike without hesitation."

"Slap." Gu Fei tossed a handful of pieces onto the board. The glossy white stones clattered and rolled about in the sunlight before finally settling into stillness. Then came Gu Fei's voice, cold as ice: "My affairs are none of your business."

You Hu didn't take offense. He calmly picked up the stones that had fallen to the floor one by one before saying, "I'm not trying to govern you, my lady. I'm telling you how to become strong enough to know no fear."

Gu Fei turned her wheelchair and retreated a few steps, her pupils pitch-black as a starless, heavy night. "And should I thank you for that?"

The moment the words left her lips, Gu Fei swept her sleeve and wheeled herself away. She hated the way You Hu presumed to point out her path with such grand authority. She vented all her inexplicable fury, yet could not find the source of such anger.

PS:
Well... yesterday there was only one chapter. Barring any surprises, today I'll make up for it with three.