Chapter 504 – Could you understand a single man’s suffering? (1)
Guibai had been feeling sad for a while. Moreover, as the days passed by, his sorrow got worse. He was already in his twenties, and he had been working for the marquis for over a decade. He had been there when the marquis married madam, and even later, when the marquis’s children had been born. Miss Sangyu was already three years old, but he hadn’t even married yet!
Looking at his gradually aging face in the mirror, Guibai felt very depressed. He had been wanting to get married for a while now, and the marquis had been helping him look around. However, whenever a good wife candidate was found, the other party would either not be interested because he was too busy with work and wouldn’t have time to look after a family, or the woman would run off with her childhood sweetheart.
After several failed attempts, he was discouraged and decided to resign himself to his fate. If he ever happened to meet a suitable woman, he would marry her.
However, he followed after the marquis each day. It wasn’t a big deal that he hadn’t found a woman, really. No, the crucial point was that he had watched the marquis’s fortunate and blissful married life. Whenever the marquis had nothing to do, he would hug his wife or hold his daughter’s hand while they strolled around. So annoying and dislikable!
Not only that, but Chinese Valentine’s Day had come again. Guibai detested this holiday the most. After peace and prosperity had been reached, there was increasingly no limits to how well the marquis would treat madam. For example, when madam said she wanted to see flowers, the marquis ordered people to bring all sorts of blooming flowers in the capital over to Feiwan Courtyard. There had been over a thousand containers of flowers, ah. Even if his lord had the money, he shouldn’t waste it like this!
If one day, madam said she wanted to see the sea, would the marquis have the capital flooded so that madam could see it without going anywhere?
On the first Chinese Valentine’s Day after the fourth prince ascended the throne, the marquis took madam to go stroll around by a river. A river full of water lanterns were released for madam to see and enjoy. In order for that to happen, Guibai had led a group of people to place all of those water lanterns by hand into the river.
On the second year’s Chinese Valentine’s Day, the marquis said he wanted to give madam a surprise, so over five hundred sky lanterns were released. Once again, it was Guibai that had to lead a group of people to light up all of those lanterns.
On the third year’s Chinese Valentine’s Day, the marquis brought madam out of the capital to go sightseeing, which led to a group of important officials anxiously rushing over to the estate to look for the marquis. It had been Guibai that remained in the estate and handled those officials.
Who could understand the heart of a single person that had to attend to a married couple? He could only help his master with the chores related his master’s romantic gestures while he stayed a lonely man that was almost thirty years old!
Guibai glanced at himself in the mirror again. He didn’t know why, but after buying this mirror, he hadn’t been able to put it down. From time to time, he would feel self-pity.
Ji Man had just received some news. She rushed out and looked at him as she said, “Guibai, help me pick up someone. She came back from the borderlands today. She’s probably at the capital’s relay station. I just need you to bring her over here.”
Came back from the borderlands? Guibai could guess who this person was. It was the woman that used to help madam with her work, Miss Shui. This woman was quite clever, knew how to do business, and had once helped madam earn a large sum of money. Later on, Honored Concubine Ling had taken madam’s account books and lodge an accusation against madam and her. Implicated by Nie Clan’s bribery case, Miss Shui had been imprisoned.
(T/N: Just in case it was too long ago, Honored Concubine Ling is Qi Siling, the one that the marquis divorced.)
Miss Shui would have been executed, but marquis sent people over to plead leniency on her behalf, and her punishment was changed to exile. Now that the situation in the imperial court was stable, it would be okay to bring her back.
For a woman to be exiled, how could her fate possibly be good? She had probably experienced all sorts of life’s sufferings during this period of time.
Guibai was actually quite happy to go and pick her up. It meant that he could escape from the task that the marquis had given him!
Although, at the current moment, the marquis hadn’t given him a task yet.
After efficiently harnessing a horse and hitching it to a carriage, Guibai set out the relay station that was outside the capital. On the way over, he had already drawn conclusions. Miss Shui would probably come back to the capital with a nervous or a sensitive mental state. He would do his best to show her humanistic care and not scare her or make her feel discriminated.
However, she turned out to be a confident and poised woman. She was wearing a purplish pink dress, and her hair was neatly combed. Other than her somewhat dim gaze that kept drifting towards the ground, everything else about her seemed normal.
Guibai thought; the stronger a woman appeared on the outside, the more vulnerable her heart was. He definitely couldn’t hurt her.
“Madam sent this one to pick you up. Miss Shui, it must have been a hard journey here,” said Guibai respectfully.
Miss Shui lighty nodded and responded, “I’ll have to trouble you then.”
After that drastic upheaval back then, she had thought for sure she was going to be beheaded. She had gone from poor to rich because she had met a noble, that was also why her father had been able to peacefully live out his last days and why she had been able to punish their greedy relatives. If she had to pay for that good fortune with her life, she didn’t mind.
However, she was surprised that not only was she saved from death, she was also able to return to the capital, which meant she was able to burn incense in front of her father’s grave. All the bitterness she had suffered up to now, it wasn’t a big deal.
After boarding the carriage, Miss Shui’s gaze showed that she was still slightly absent-minded. As soon as she returned to the capital, she couldn’t help thinking about the past. How had the account books she had given madam ended up in another person’s hands? That was what caused the great disaster later.
Guibai couldn’t resist taking out the mirror to look at himself. This woman had suffered a lot of torment. And yet, she remained calm and easy-mannered. Shouldn’t he pull himself together and try to find a wife again?
The carriage entered the capital. Based on the sky, it wasn’t early anymore. There were crowds of people everywhere to look at the colored lanterns. Guibai guessed that there wouldn’t be many people left in the estate if he went over there now. He was sure that the marquis and madam had already gone out.
