"Is this... true?"
Mu Xia frowned. She didn't quite believe Gu Jiangyue's words. How could someone agree to marry Xie Chengrui on her behalf without asking for anything in return?
"Of course it's not that simple."
Gu Jiangyue poured herself a cup of tea and drank it on her own. She was also aware that this sounded too good to be true. After a brief pause, she spoke up.
"You have to agree to two conditions of mine."
Gu Jiangyue sounded so sincere that it immediately intimidated the anxious Mu Xia. Mu Xia couldn't help but ask hurriedly.
"What conditions?"
Gu Jiangyue stopped beating around the bush and replied.
"First, after you marry Xie Chengrui, when I need silver, you have to give it to me. Second, you have to promise me one thing."
Compared with the second condition, the first one seemed insignificant.
"What thing?"
Mu Xia widened her eyes, staring at Gu Jiangyue curiously and cautiously.
Gu Jiangyue thought for a while, then a smile curved her lips.
"I haven't thought it through yet. I'll tell you when the time comes."
Gu Jiangyue wasn't lying to Mu Xia this time. She really hadn't decided yet.
After hearing Gu Jiangyue's conditions, Mu Xia obviously hesitated. She tugged at her sleeves and stammered, not knowing whether she should agree or not.
"As long as you agree to me, I can tell you more about what will happen in the future. Xie Chengrui will definitely trust and love you more."
Gu Jiangyue seized the opportunity and continued to list the benefits for Mu Xia, attempting to completely break down her defenses.
Mu Xia lowered her head as if in deep thought. After a while, Gu Jiangyue pretended to stand up and deliberately said,
"If Miss Mu Xia finds it difficult and doesn't want to agree, that's okay. I won't bother you anymore."
Saying so, Gu Jiangyue was about to leave. Seeing this, Mu Xia finally couldn't hold back and stopped her.
"Wait a minute. I agree. I'll agree to all your conditions."
Seeing that her plan had succeeded, Gu Jiangyue finally put on a satisfied smile and sat back down.
"Don't worry. I won't ask you to do anything excessive. Letting you marry Xie Chengrui is beneficial to both of us. Why not do it?"
Gu Jiangyue even reached out and patted Mu Xia on the shoulder.
Actually, Mu Xia would have agreed whether Gu Jiangyue left or not. No matter how much she relied on others, she was just a woman from a brothel in the end. She must become the princess consort of the prince so that she could change her fate.
"Has Xie Chengrui been probing you about other things indirectly recently?"
Gu Jiangyue squinted her eyes and asked. This time, Mu Xia didn't play any tricks on Gu Jiangyue. She nodded and said,
"Yes, he did probe, but I managed to fend him off."
Gu Jiangyue laughed twice, pretending to be very familiar with Xie Chengrui and saying,
"He's just a very suspicious person. It's inevitable for him to act like this. But Miss Mu Xia must be careful, or you might end up losing more than you gain."
Gu Jiangyue deliberately emphasized the last few words, which made Mu Xia tremble. Mu Xia forced herself to say,
"Then please, sir, tell me more about what will happen in the future."
On the way here, Gu Jiangyue had already thought through all the things that would happen recently. Now she was just reciting them to Mu Xia. Mu Xia was determined to marry Xie Chengrui, so she listened extremely attentively and even wrote them down, for fear of forgetting.
"Is there anything else?"
Gu Jiangyue had already said quite a lot, but Mu Xia seemed not satisfied enough and continued to ask.
Gu Jiangyue pretended to think for a while, then smiled easily and said,
"As long as you tell him all these things, he will definitely trust you very much. Once you gain his trust, whether you want to answer his questions or not will be entirely up to you, Miss Mu Xia."
Since the incident in Jingzhou last time, Mu Xia really believed in Gu Jiangyue's ability of divination. Otherwise, how could she have been so accurate? So Mu Xia also believed all the words Gu Jiangyue said.
"This is my address. If you have anything, you can write to me. I'll tell you how to solve it."
Gu Jiangyue left an address of a deserted village on the outskirts for Mu Xia. Looking at all this, Mu Xia's eyes were full of confidence. She was already fully confident about marrying Xie Chengrui.
"I still have something to do, so I'll leave first."
Gu Jiangyue had almost finished her business. She stood up and was about to leave.
"Thank you, sir, for your help."
Mu Xia was now full of gratitude towards Gu Jiangyue. For Mu Xia, who had spent half her life in a brothel, as long as she married Xie Chengrui, she would have nothing to worry about for the rest of her life.
But the reality was not so. If she married Xie Chengrui, she would only fall into a deeper quagmire.
Gu Jiangyue stayed in the Gu Mansion for a few more days. During these days, Gu Yi's health improved a lot, but Gu Jiangyue still hadn't seen the figures of Xie Jiuan and Ji Yunsheng.
"Sister, why hasn't Brother Yunsheng come yet? He said he would teach me how to ride a horse."
Gu Yi rested his chin on the table and swayed his head as he asked Gu Jiangyue.
Gu Jiangyue didn't know what Ji Yunsheng was up to, but it must be something very important.
"He'll come to find you when he's done with his business."
Gu Jiangyue reached out and stroked Gu Yi's head, then fed him a preserved fruit.
"Okay."
With Gu Jiangyue's comfort, Gu Yi's mood wasn't so low anymore.
Gu Jiangyue accompanied Gu Yi for a while longer, then returned to her courtyard. As soon as she entered the courtyard, Gu Jiangyue saw a familiar figure.
Xie Jiuan was sitting there gracefully in a white robe, looking as elegant as jade.
"What's wrong? What happened?"
Gu Jiangyue put the food box with preserved fruits aside and turned to look at Xie Jiuan.
There was a complex look on Xie Jiuan's face. It seemed that he didn't know how to tell Gu Jiangyue. After hesitating for a while, Xie Jiuan said,
"Your father is coming back. He's coming back earlier than originally planned. He also has a lot of military merits. This time, the emperor should establish a general's mansion for him. But..."
Gu Jiangyue didn't need Xie Jiuan to finish the rest of the sentence to know what it was. As long as Gu Yanwu came back, the others in the Gu Mansion would cling to him tightly.
They would surely scrape a lot of benefits from Gu Yanwu, both openly and secretly.
"How should we handle this?"
Xie Jiuan was also in a difficult situation. He looked at Gu Jiangyue helplessly, but Gu Jiangyue's eyes were surprisingly clear.
"Is this news reliable?"
At this moment, both in her past life and now, Gu Jiangyue had imagined this scene countless times. Her father was coming back.
In just an instant, a solution had popped up in Gu Jiangyue's mind. But this solution required Xie Jiuan's help.
"Reliable."
Xie Jiuan nodded firmly at Gu Jiangyue. Xie Jiuan was not a useless playboy. On the contrary, he had placed many people in the military camp. This news was definitely reliable.
"Since everyone in the Gu Mansion is a weather - vane, then we'll let them be outsmarted by their own cleverness."