Gu Jinli looked at Gu Chengli, who was beaten until he was covered in blood, and still felt unsatisfied. She took out two packets of pills and handed them to Daqing: "Take the red-wrapped ones to Gu Chengli to eat, and the yellow-wrapped ones to Gu Youfu."
These two types of poison are different, and the symptoms they cause are also different, but they have one thing in common: they donāt cause immediate death. Instead, they harm the body, torturing their victims until they die.
"Yes." Daqing obediently took the poison to Gu Youfu and Gu Chengli, father and son, to consume.
Nearby, You An glanced at Qin San Lang... worried, wondering what would happen if one day their master was poisoned. Why does the Young Master have so much poison? Does she spend all her time making poisons to store away, besides making money?
Qin San Lang noticed You Anās gaze and cast a sharp glance in his direction. You An quickly lowered his head, shouting in his heart: I was wrong, donāt train me! If you train me, Iāll die!
The master often threw them into deep mountains or the Huai River for training, with such intensity that even people like them from the Water Bandit Village couldnāt withstand it. The training methods and punishments were numerous, and every session felt worse than death.
Afraid of being punished, You An immediately led people to arrange the scene, setting up the house to look like the work of bandits.
After a short while, Daqing returned and said to Gu Jinli, "Master, the poison has already been given to them."
Gu Jinli nodded and continued to wait. Qin San Lang, however, said, "Leave the rest to You An and the others. Letās go back; itās late, and you should sleep."
"Okay." Gu Jinli didnāt stay longer and went back with Qin San Lang. Before leaving, she instructed Daqing and the others: "Be careful, donāt let anyone discover you. Once everything is done, go back to the house on Wutong Street to rest; no need to report back here."
Daqing, who was someone Qin San Lang had given her, hadnāt gone through the usual channels, so he didnāt live at her house but stayed in a house Qin San Lang bought.
Qin San Lang had bought several houses in Prefecture City, in addition to Wutong Street, he had houses in West City, East City, South City, and North City for his subordinates to operate conveniently.
Although Daqing liked to keep a cold face, he was sincerely grateful for Gu Jinliās kindness and responded, "Yes, Young Master, rest assured and go home. Weāll leave once everything is settled."
After they finished talking, Qin San Lang took Gu Jinli by the hand and left, taking a shortcut through alleys to avoid patrols and returned to the house.
The two of them didnāt knock on the door and directly climbed over the wall to enter the house.
Gu Jinliās courtyard was already locked, so she could only jump through the window to get back to her room. Qin San Lang followed her inside, making Gu Jinli frown: "Why are you coming inside? Go back to sleep."
He hadnāt slept much these past few days, constantly helping to deal with the Old Gu Family and the Lai Family, and even went to the prefecture garrison to see General Guo and Deputy General Lan.
"Seeing that youāre not very happy, I canāt help but worry." Qin San Lang felt her hands were a bit cold, so he poured her a cup of hot water and asked, "Are you hungry? Iāll go find you something to eat."
Gu Jinli shook her head, "No need, Iām not hungry. Iāll go to sleep later; eating now isnāt good."
Seeing that he was worried about her, she laughed and said, "Donāt worry about me. I just canāt understand why Old Man Gu could treat my father this way. My dad was always devoted to him, enduring his enslavement, yet he never got a kind word. Clearly, heās his biological son, so how could he treat his own son like this."
In her previous life, she had seen plenty of terrible parents, but none were as bad as Elder Gu. Old Man Guās treatment of Gu Dashan was truly worse than animals.
Qin San Lang, during his time in the Capital, had seen some fathers similar to Elder Gu, and he said, "It seems unreasonable, but itās actually quite simple. Itās about saving face, not wanting to bow down to their sons. In Great Chu, a sonās possessions belong to his father. If a father canāt control his son and have him obey completely, then he is seen as incompetent."
"What?" Gu Jinli was confused: "Such a thing is said in the Capital?"
Qin San Lang nodded, "Yes, my father said that at the beginning of the establishment of Great Chu, the new nobles who rose through their contributions treated their children like this. The obedient ones lived well, while the disobedient ones were not cared for, especially those born of the first wife of the family, who were treated even more cruelly."
"They harmed children born from the first wife?" Gu Jinli was shocked: "Are these their real fathers? They are like beasts, even wanting to harm their own sons!"
Qin San Lang nodded and told her about the emerging nobles when Great Chu was established. It was quite straightforward: once they became prosperous, they looked down on the wives who had shared their hardships and were captivated by the noble young ladies from the former dynasty, one after another starting to change wives impulsively.
"The new wives were all teenage noble young ladies with powerful families, young and beautiful, knowledgeable and cultured, and even brought beautiful maids for their husband. They, having come from humble beginnings, barely literate, couldnāt help but like such wives. Naturally, they were obedient to their new wives and ignored the wives who had come from their hometown, even resenting them."
"Some listened to gossip, believing their wives had ruined reputations in the countryside, and for the sake of face, started allowing the new wives to deal with their first wives, resulting in the deaths of many first wives. Believing that the first wives had lost their reputation, they neglected the children left behind by their first wives, tormenting them to the point of being unrecognizable."
Actually, thereās another reasonāthey knew abandoning their first wives was wrong and wanted to kill the children of their first wives to erase their own mistakes completely.
And they wouldnāt feel any compassion for these children, having been away fighting for years and lacking attachment to these offspring, while the new wives were young and beautiful, with maids available, they could have as many sons as they wanted.
"My dad said that in the first twenty years after Great Chuās establishment, many children of first wives lived in misery. It was only twenty years later, when a son of a first wife succeeded and after the incident with Duke Shangās family, that Great Chu enacted the law that if a man marries a second wife, a separate household registration is required, distinct from the household registration of the first wifeās children."
When Gu Jinliās family severed ties with relatives, it benefited from this law, allowing them to obtain their own household registration paper.
After hearing all this, Gu Jinli was trembling with anger... What had she just heard? It was like listening to a history of a group of men turning vile!
Damn, she wanted to dig up those scumbagsā graves and whip their corpses (āÆāµā”ā²)āÆļøµā»āā»
She couldnāt help but curse: "How could these stallions be like this? Believing a few rumors to assassinate wives and torment their own sons, donāt they know if theyāre their own flesh and blood?"
She was furious, absolutely furious. Men indeed become bad when they have money!
Qin San Lang saw her anger and regretted mentioning these things, holding her and saying, "Donāt be angry, that was the early days of the dynasty. Such things donāt happen now."
Gu Jinli sneered, "The second wifeās sons already run the household and have obtained titles, so naturally, such things donāt happen now."
She pushed him away and said, "Donāt touch me, Iām angry and donāt want to see any man."
Hearing this, Qin San Lang felt terribly wronged, and tried to comfort her, "Iām not like them. Iāve never thought about marrying another woman, I only want you. I will always trust you and wonāt believe in othersā slander. As long as theyāre your children, Iāll cherish them with my life."