Lin Yeran walked briskly. Before long, he followed the pageboy to the garden. Although Gu Jiangyue's courtyard was a bit out - of - the - way, the environment was nice as it was near the garden. Halfway there, Lin Yeran suddenly saw a maid walking towards him. The maid had her head down and was also walking quickly. Lin Yeran didn't pay much attention to her and continued walking straight ahead. He thought the maid would notice him and step aside in time.
However, the maid seemed blind to him. She showed no sign of looking up or giving way and just bumped right into him.
The maid let out a startled cry and plopped down on the ground. The scroll in her hand slipped out and fell onto the ground beside her, unfurled.
"Can't you watch where you're going? How dare you bump into this young master!"
Lin Yeran staggered but, being tall and sturdy, he wasn't hurt. He roared loudly, his eyebrows knitted tightly in anger.
The maid was clearly frightened by his menacing look and quickly apologized.
"Sorry, sorry. It's this servant's fault."
If Lin Yeran had paid a bit more attention, he would have recognized that the maid in front of him was Zhi Yuan, Gu Jiangyue's personal maid.
But Lin Yeran was more interested in teasing the young ladies from noble families. Naturally, he didn't pay attention to maids and thus didn't recognize Zhi Yuan.
Lin Yeran reached out to smooth his clothes. Hearing Zhi Yuan's continuous apologies, he let out a cold snort.
He was on his way to see Gu Jiangyue and had no time to deal with such people.
"This young master is going to see Jiangyue now. I don't have time for you."
Just as Lin Yeran was about to bypass Zhi Yuan and leave, he caught a glimpse of the painting on the ground from the corner of his eye.
In the painting, a young woman with an elaborate hairstyle was smiling on her small oval face. She stood quietly in the flower bushes, looking lively and charming. Lin Yeran's eyes lit up for a moment. Having seen so many coquettish women, he was intrigued by this fresh and elegant beauty in the painting. He couldn't help but call out to Zhi Yuan who was about to leave.
"Wait. Who is the person in the painting?"
Zhi Yuan was glad that her mistress's prediction was right. Lin Yeran had indeed taken the bait. She quickly stifled the smile on her lips and bowed slightly to Lin Yeran.
"Replying to the young master, this is Miss Gu Zhuying, the eldest daughter of the third branch born to a concubine."
Lin Yeran stared at the painting on the ground. He rubbed his chin with one hand and murmured Gu Zhuying's name softly.
He seemed to be trying to recall if he knew such a person. After thinking for a while, since he couldn't remember, he simply gave up. After all, she was a concubine - born daughter. It was normal that he hadn't heard of her.
When Lin Yeran heard that Gu Zhuying was good - looking but a concubine - born daughter, his interest waned a bit. But when he saw Zhi Yuan quickly put away the painting, he still felt a twinge of reluctance.
"I'll take this painting. Send it to this young master's mansion. If it's delivered in time, I'll forgive you for today's incident."
Hearing this, Zhi Yuan couldn't help but feel a bit happy inside. She sighed at her mistress's amazing foresight for knowing that Lin Yeran was a scumbag. But on the surface, she put on a reluctant look. Finally, pretending to make a tough decision, she agreed.
"Yes. Thank you, Young Master Lin, for sparing this servant's life."
After getting the answer he wanted, Lin Yeran let Zhi Yuan go. He still wanted to see Gu Jiangyue, but somehow, the thought popped into his mind that after marrying Gu Jiangyue, he could take Gu Zhuying as a concubine.
When Lin Yeran arrived at the entrance of Gu Jiangyue's courtyard, he saw Gu Jiangyue watering the flowers at a glance. Gu Jiangyue's figure was slender. With her white dress, she still looked cold and tenacious. But when Lin Yeran got a clear look at her, he immediately noticed that Gu Jiangyue was wearing a veil today.
Under the veil, one could still see her bright and unfathomable eyes. But different from the past, there were red marks all around those familiar eyes.
Lin Yeran was quite shocked. He quickened his steps, walked up to Gu Jiangyue, and directly reached out to grab her arm.
"Gu Jiangyue, what happened to your face?"
Gu Jiangyue wasn't surprised to see Lin Yeran. After all, Zhi Yuan had taken a shortcut back to her courtyard and told her what had just happened, including the betrothal gifts brought by the Lin family.
Gu Jiangyue pinched herself hard where Lin Yeran couldn't see. Tears welled up in her eyes immediately. Then she looked straight at the anxious - looking Lin Yeran with her misty eyes.
Her voice seemed to choke with sobs. She pitifully reached out and took off the veil on her face.
Since Lin Yeran was curious, she would take off the veil and let him have a good look, let him see the big gift she had prepared for him.
When the veil was removed, a face full of red marks was revealed in front of Lin Yeran. The red marks were slightly swollen, and there were many small blisters clustered together, looking extremely scary.
Lin Yeran clearly didn't expect Gu Jiangyue to look like this under the veil. He was startled and couldn't accept that the cold and beautiful face had now become so disgusting and terrifying. He subconsciously let go of Gu Jiangyue's arm and took a few steps back before he managed to steady himself.
"You, how did you become like this? Will you ever return to your original appearance?"
Lin Yeran's voice stammered a bit. He didn't know what to say when facing this face. Most of his previous enthusiasm had vanished.
"Jiangyue doesn't know why this happened either. The doctor said... the doctor said it might not get better."
Gu Jiangyue's voice choked with sobs. A tear happened to slide down from her eye. Normally, a beautiful woman shedding tears would be a lovely sight, but now on such a face, Lin Yeran just felt uncomfortable all over.
"Master Lin, you'll still marry me, right?"
Gu Jiangyue gently wiped the tears from her face. She quickly pressed on and asked the question she was really curious about.
"We can discuss this later. Put the veil on first. Everyone is waiting for you in the front hall. We'll talk about it there."
Lin Yeran didn't know what to do either. At first, he had sworn that he must marry Gu Jiangyue, but if he had known that she would turn into this ghost - like appearance, he would never have come to propose marriage even if he were beaten to death.
But now that he was here and the betrothal gifts had been sent, he couldn't just have them carried back. That would be too embarrassing.
Lin Yeran didn't know what to do. He didn't want to marry such an ugly woman as his wife, but his mother didn't know about Gu Jiangyue's disfigurement yet. He had to quickly take Gu Jiangyue there. His mother must have a good solution.