The bright red surcoat printed with golden floral patterns, white undergarment inside, paired with a yellow pleated skirt below, walked in elegantly.
The woman who suddenly barged in was none other than Gu Yixuan's legitimate wife, Mrs. Kong, Kong Tianru, with her round face collected, full red lips slightly upturned at the corners, and a pair of phoenix eyes with a gleam as they looked at people. At this moment, she was smiling broadly at Lin Youning who was sitting by the waterside pavilion.
The Brother Xuan Kong just mentioned was the Marquis Mansion's illegitimate son, Gu Chaoxuan.
Lin Youning looked at Mrs. Kong, feeling something rising in her chest, suppressing it forcefully, maintaining a calm surface, "So even Madam and Second Lord knew back then that I was falsely accused?"
The bland voice had no waves, as if discussing someone else's matter.
"Indeed." Mrs. Kong admitted candidly.
At the same time, Gu Yixuan shouted out, attempting to interrupt her, "Tianru."
But he was ultimately a step too late; Mrs. Kong had already admitted it.
Lin Youning's gaze fell on Gu Yixuan, and the things she had tried hard to forget all came back vividly. Her eyes fixed on Gu Yixuan, yet somehow conveyed that she was seeing through him to something else.
Mrs. Kong had long been enraged by Lin Youning's rejection of marriage; coming here today was like burning bridges, determined to say it regardless of whether Gu Yixuan would stop her, making Lin Youning aware that even though everyone knew the truth back then, nobody stood by her side.
For a long time, Lin Youning made no sound until her laughter was heard, starting low and rising high, eventually turning into a hearty laugh. Mrs. Kong's expression shifted slightly, stepping back timidly, while Gu Yixuan frowned deeply, his eyes towards Lin Youning showing guilt.
"Gu Yixuan, you boast of being a gentleman, yet engage in such petty behavior, leaving me, Lin Youning, unable to hold my head high in front of others forever." The person who had been laughing now turned fierce suddenly, glaring at Gu Yixuan, as if ready to leap and bite him to death the next moment.
"If you must blame, blame your unfavorable fate, not others. Had you not been the child bride of the elder house, nor competed with me for a husband, you wouldn't have ended up like this." Mrs. Kong still didn't feel the hatred was relieved.
"Tianru." Gu Yixuan shouted sternly at her.
The gentle and elegant demeanor vanished, replaced by a cold hardness, finally making Mrs. Kong not dare to act recklessly.
The fervor Lin Youning had been suppressing in her chest could no longer be contained, rising up with a taste of iron mixed in her mouth, and with a cough, a mouthful of blood spurted out.
The white sheer veil hanging by the waterside pavilion became incredibly striking with the blood splashed on it.
Gu Yixuan stared at the glaring red, his entire body stiffening, as if something was forcibly torn away from his body.
Lin Youning, however, felt a relief in her chest that had been suffocating for years after spitting out that mouthful of blood, her mind going blank, body light, slowly sliding down, finally falling into a warm embrace. She couldn't hear any sounds around, only knowing sharp cries arose, turning into cries of pain, finally the angry shouts of Brother Zong.
Lin Youning moved her lips, smiling.
Brother Zong was clearly a scholar of literary excellence, supposed to have the demeanor of a scholar, yet his appearance was cold, and his temperament even colder. She had never seen her cousin (her aunt's son who died on the battlefield), but had heard the servants mentioning it, saying Madam cried when she saw Brother Zong, saying he resembled Hao.
Hao was precisely Lin Youning's cousin Gu Yihao, who died at the border saving Gu Yifeng, the eldest grandson of the Gu Family's elder house.
Lin Youning slowly closed her eyes, hearing Mrs. Kong's cries of pain and pleas for mercy in the distance, mixed with Brother Zong's angry shouts. Lin Youning wanted to laugh, she must have heard wrong. How could the prideful Duke Mansion's legitimate miss Kong Tianru beg for mercy?
"Sister Ning, second brother is sorry for you. Mother wasn't disgusted with you; it was because of me, the unfilial son, she had no face to see you, and never forgave herself even in death. It's all second brother's fault."
Her body grew lighter, Lin Youning heard Gu Yixuan's voice sound beside her ear, the guilt mixed with unobscurable gentleness, light enough for the wind to blow away, as everything submerged into darkness before her eyes.