Seeking Happiness

Chapter 149 Ironclad evidence

This matter completely deviated from what Gu Xuan had believed in the past ten years. She didn’t want to believe it, but old madam’s words were very convincing and reasonable. She couldn’t even find a loophole in her speech at all, making her unable to not believe it. After hearing that, she could only be stunned. She didn’t know what to say or what she could say.

It turned out that her mother committed the first mistake? It was her mother who reaped what she sowed! Moreover, the father who she had hated for so many years, who was so callous, heartless and fickle, actually had his reasons!

Gu Xuan was completely confused. After the initial shock, she discovered that if the truth was like that, then what she did, the person she had killed….

No, no, no!

She couldn’t accept it!

When she started killing, she had always felt in the right and self-confident. She always thought that she was enforcing justice on behalf of heaven and avenging her mother! Therefore, there was hate, resentments and bitterness in her heart but there was no guilt or compunction!

In the right and self-confident: bold and confident with justice on one’s side.

She had always thought that she was right! But now old madam was telling her that she was wrong! Everything she did was wrong! How could she accept that?

The change of the state of mind made Gu Xuan suddenly fretful. She desperately wanted to recall what old madam had just said, trying to find a loophole from it to prove that all this was a lie. A lie that wanted to crush her and to slander her mother!

In the middle of this frenzied confusion, she couldn’t hear what others said. She just painfully hugged her head until she finally looked up inadvertently and saw Gu Da’s back standing outside the pavilion. Then, that sentence jumped into her mind: These many children, every one of them is my flesh and blood, but it happened that you are a bastard!

“No! Liar! You’re lying to me!” Gu Xuan finally shouted angrily at old madam. “If this is really the case, what makes master say that I’m a bastard? The words of both of you don’t even coordinate with each other! All of you are liars! You all are lying to me! I don’t believe any of you!”

Old madam frowned, she was about to explain but saw that Gu Da has returned.

Compared with his previous irritation, Gu Da was obviously much calmer at the moment, but the gaze he looked at Gu Xuan with was still with disdain and hatred. He coldly said, “This kind of thing, you can ask your mother in the future. She’s the true liar!”

“You….” Gu Xuan couldn’t stand people insulting her mother the most. She immediately wanted to get up from the ground, but because she was beaten too hard previously, there was pain in her leg when she stood up. As a result, she fell down again.

“All right!” Old madam glanced disgruntled at Gu Da. “Are you behaving more immature as you ages? Things are already like this. You still say these mean things regardless of your identity!”

Even if he had lived to this age, Gu Da still dared not be presumptuous in front of old madam. He just leaned on the cane and listened to the lecturing of old madam, but there was still resentment in his heart. In the end, he still explained himself. “This son is telling the truth. If Jingxiang hadn’t deceived me first then, now….”

“You still mention that!” Old madam immediately became angry. “If you were willing to listen to me then and didn’t take her in, will today’s matter still happen?”

Gu Da was refuted to the point where he couldn’t say anything about it. He sighed dejectedly and sat on the stone bench.

Old madam hated iron for not becoming steel and looked at him. This son had always made her worry. After so many years, it was still so! But now it was no longer helpful to pursue these things, so she just looked at Gu Xuan. After being silent for a while, she said, “I originally didn’t want to mention these old matters to you. I tell you this all now is because I want you to understand that your mother is different from what you think. Even if she met with a tragic death at the end, she had only herself to blame and it wasn’t someone who deliberately wanted to harm her. Because of this, you have hold grudges for so many years, which has caused harm to your eldest big brother and eldest sister-in-law, and even harmed their unborn child. You were wrong beyond redemption!”

To hate iron for not becoming steel: to feel resentful towards somebody for failing to meet expectations and impatient to see improvement.

To have only oneself to blame: to bring trouble through one’s own actions.

Gu Xuan stubbornly tightened her lips and didn’t say anything. She just waited for her (OM) to go on speaking.

Old madam thought for a moment and ordered Gu Xihe. “Go to my room. There’s a floor tile under the bonsai shelf by the window that can be moved. Lift it up and fetch the gold black box that lies in it.”

Gu Xihe hesitated for a moment. He didn’t want to go, afraid to miss out the hearing. But, in the end, old madam ordered him. “Go quickly. We’ll wait for you to continue.”

Only then did he run away. In only a moment, he ran back with the box in his arms and asked as he panted, “Is this the box?”

Old madam nodded and let him open it.

Inside the box was a pair of half-finished man’s shoes. There was also a pair of small wishful love locks locked together. It had a sterling silver texture. It looked like it was from a long-time age. The color had already turned black.

Old madam motioned for Gu Xuan to take a closer look.

Gu Xuan didn’t care about the shoes. She first turned over the love locks, but saw that on the back of the pair of silver locks was engraved with the word ‘Jing’ and the other with ‘Hai’. These two words were like a flame that burned her hands and eyes, and made her hurriedly throw the locks away and turned her head.

“These things were all retrieved from your mother’s room then,” old madam said faintly. “Your mother is called Jingxiang, and that man’s name is Haisheng. I don’t need to explain the meaning of the love locks, you should already know it. As for the pair of shoes, we have already compared it with master’s shoes, the size is not the same. You can imagine for whom it was made.”

Gu Xuan’s mother was good at embroidery and had left a lot of needlework behind. She (GX) had seen it from a young age and naturally recognized it. That pair of shoes, in fact, she had recognized the tactic of needle thread from just a glance. It was indeed made by her mother!

If words weren’t credible, then in the face of these two kinds of ironclad evidence, she would have to believe it!

Old madam also said, “You’re probably wondering. Our family has always been strict. Not to mention a strange man from the outside, even a grown-up male servant can’t easily enter the second gate leading to the main courtyard, then who is this Haisheng?”

Gu Xuan hesitantly nodded. She was just about to ask this.

Old madam twisted her brows and said, “He was your mother’s brother!”

“Ah…”

As soon as these words came out, not to mention Gu Xuan was very shocked, even Shu Huan and the others were surprised.

Gu Da snorted, “What brother? He’s just a pretense!”

Old madam nodded and said, “To say he was your mother’s brother, he was actually your mother’s former lover. She was afraid that after she was taken into the family, she wouldn’t be able to see him anymore, so she coaxed master, saying he was her brother. Master didn’t doubt him at that time, so he believed her. Master thought that since he (HS) was her relative, it was no problem to occasionally visit each other. There was no reason to stop them. I don’t know how she behaved before she was taken into the house. I only know that after she came to the house, when she was very favored, this brother didn’t come often. He came once every three to five months. But after your mother fell out of favor, he came more diligently. In one month, he would come two to three times!”

After old madam had spoken till here, she became silent again. Then, she showed an angry look. “At that time, the maid had reported it to me. I just thought that she had lost favor and wasn’t happy about it. Having a brother over to talk about it, it would also lessen some depression. So, I ordered the maid to not pay any attention to it, but must watch closely when he came in and out of the room, and don’t allow that person to go elsewhere! I thought the security was already tight but who would have thought…. This brother was a fake! It was only after your mother’s ugly scandal was exposed that the truth came out!”

Gu Xuan was completely speechless after hearing these. She lowered her head and trembled slightly. No one knew what she was thinking.

Old madam glanced at her once and said, “The two of them were already close to each other before your mother had met your father. When your mother got pregnant at that time, we really couldn’t tell who’s the baby was! It happened that you looked like your mother. Not to mention that master couldn’t tell, even your mother may not be able to differentiate!”

The last sentence was like a heavy hammer that slammed into Gu Xuan’s heart. She only felt that her heart beat faster and her mind became heavy. She couldn’t support herself anymore. When her vision became black, she fell to the ground.