Chapter 17
Dragon Boat Festival
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“Little Yu Fu, are you saying bad things about us behind our backs again?”
The sound of Gu Xiang and Gu Yi’s voices suddenly came from outside the room. Yu Fu was given a start, and she quickly looked toward Gu ShuBai in shock.
The latter revealed a smile. His handsome smile curved to form an arc resembling that of a new moon.
“Eldest brother is mean! You already knew that fifth and sixth brother had come and deliberately told me to guess!”
Gu ShuBai knew very well that, given how Yu Fu, Gu Xiang, and Gu Yi fooled around, some inflammatory remark would definitely be said.
Who knew that it would be as hilarious as what she actually said.
Gu Xiang pinched Yu Fu’s cheeks but did so very carefully for fear of causing her any pain.
“If it wasn’t for you thinking such a thing, eldest brother would not have let you say it. It’s clear that you’re looking down on us!”
Though Gu Xiang was saying some sullen stuff, he was smiling quite radiantly.
Yu Fu’s little face was very springy and soft. It could be said to be perfectly described as very fragile…*
“Ouch, ouch, ouch!”
Yu Fu grimaced, and her large dark eyes fluttered. Tears seemed to be on the verge of spilling out.
Gu Xiang hastily let go. Sure enough, a red print had been left on Yu Fu’s little pink face.
Gu ShuBai and Gu Yi cast murderous glances in his direction.
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“I, I didn’t put in any strength! It’s little Yu Fu’s skin that was too tender!”
Gu Xiang had a look of having been wrongly accused. He wanted to help Yu Fu rub her face, but the little girl had already been pulled away by Gu ShuBai.
“Don’t move. I’ll rub it for you.”
Yu Fu obediently stayed in his embrace, and her red face slowly began to recover.
Seeing Gu ShuBai gently rub her face with his finger, Gu Yi could not be any more envious.
He also really wanted to help rub Yu Fu’s face…
The servants stood to the side and watched the siblings fool around. They could not stop themselves from smiling.
Qi Ting was the only one to feel very displeased from seeing Yu Fu be shown so much favor.
She was on her way with the fans when she saw Gu Xiang and Gu Yi walking over. In her heart, she had rejoiced that she would be able to be with all three young men at the same time.
But the three were only willing to look at Yu Fu…
…
“Father, there have been quite a few rumors regarding Yu Fu in the capital recently. Has father heard anything?”
In the study in the outer yard, Gu ShuBai reported some of the happenings in the military to Gu HuaiJiang and also brought up Yu Fu.
Gu HuaiJiang muttered to himself for a moment.
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He knew that the slightest sign of anything from the Marquis Gu’s Manor would become a topic of discussion for the people in the capital.
That was even without someone like Yu Fu.
“A large tree will deal with more wind. Our Marquis Gu’s Manor is very wealthy and must act a little more subtly. I have not yet reported the matter of Gu’er being shot by a poisoned arrow by someone from Xi Kun. The matter of Yu Fu… there’s no need for anyone else to know too much.”
Gu ShuBai understood what he intended, but he had a different point of view when it came to Yu Fu’s matter.
“Son figured that there would be more and more speculation on the outside if Yu Fu’s identity was not made public. Since outsiders already know about Yu Fu, why not let her make another public appearance? Leave them with nothing to speculate about. It will also allow Yu Fu to go out in the future without needing to worry about being troubled by others.”
What he had said was reasonable.
An adorable and spirited young girl like Yu Fu would definitely attract attention. They might as well announce her identity to the public and use the Marquis Gu’s Manor’s name to awe the people.
Gu HuaiJiang looked up and him and said: “Then what do you feel would be a good opportunity to have Yu Fu make an appearance?”
“The dragon boat festival is almost upon us. Based on our capital’s customs, most of the noble families will need to host a banquet. Our Marquis Gu’s Manor has never participated in this before; however, we can go along with the custom this year and host one to allow Yu Fu to officially make an appearance.”
“This is good. Then you will be the one to handle hosting this banquet. I will go and spread word of this in court. Thinking about it, there will be quite a few who will want to come to this banquet.”
Gu HuaiJiang spoke very earnestly, but this caused Gu ShuBai to laugh in secret.
If people found out that the Marquis Gu’s Manor was hosting a banquet, it was likely that there would be more than enough people to completely flatten their doorsill. Could it even be described as not a small number?
In the blink of an eye, the dragon boat festival had arrived. On the day before first day, Yu Fu learned about the customs of the festival from Aunt Li.
“In Eastern Ling, the dragon boat festival is a very important day. It’s a day that will drive away bad luck. Not only do we need to hang wormwood and calamus on our doors, but we also need to eat zongzi and realgar wine, and wear perfume pouches…”**
“Zongzi!”
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Yu Fu had clearly eaten zongzi before. When this was brought up, she could not stop herself from swallowing some saliva.
Aunt Li burst into laughter from seeing her gluttonous appearance, “That’s right, does young miss like eating zongzi? The manor will be hosting a banquet tomorrow and will be taking care of many guests. Lord Marquis specifically arranged for young miss to be brought to the front hall to see the guests. Will young miss be nervous?”
“Nervous?”
Yu Fu had not yet returned from daydreaming about zongzi, yet Aunt Li had already brought up some serious matters.
She subconsciously shook her head.
“Aren’t they all high-ranking officials? To be able to come to the Marquis’ manor as a guest, even if they are not the great general’s friends, they will be part of the same faction in court. I’m not nervous.”
Although she had grown up in the Immortal’s Valley, it was not as though she had never seen any officials. She had even… seen many more magnificent things before.
Aunt Li rejoiced upon hearing this. In her mind, she considered that tomorrow would be Yu Fu’s public debut. She would definitely need to dress her up very beautifully.
Qi Ting stood to the side and coldly sneered to herself.
The Lord Marquis was actually treating a wild girl of unknown background like a proper young miss and was hosting a banquet specifically to introduce her?
Bah, was she worthy?
She had come up with an idea much earlier. She would make it so that Yu Fu would be unable to see anyone tomorrow…
The next morning, Gu Xiang and Gu Yi woke up and ran over to the Western Wing quite early. They said that they wanted to personally hang the herbs on Yu Fu’s door.
Aunt Li, however, stopped them outside of Yu Fu’s bedchamber, stopping them from going inside with a smile.
“Fifth young sir, sixth young sir, the young miss is currently putting on makeup. Do not enter for now. Please have a cup of tea and wait for a while!”
The two could only sit outside, as Lian Bi came forward to pour them some tea. Gu Xiang and Gu Yi then stared at the table.
“Hah, why are there so many perfume pouches?”
There on the table were two platters. On those platters were five perfume pouches that exuded a faint scent of wormwood.
Lian Bi laughed and said: “These were sent by the Lord Marquis and the other four young sirs, thus there are five.”
Gu Xiang and Gu Yi exchanged a look. They then looked at the freshly picked wormwood in their hands and suddenly felt as that, by contrast, they looked like beggars.
“Hah, why did we not think of it. How beautiful would it have been if we had sent perfume pouches!”
Gu Yi tossed the wormwood in his hand away in disdain then patted his hands to remove the dust.
“We wasted our energy. Going out to retrieve wormwood in the morning, this will end with us being laughed at by Yu Fu!”
“I can’t even begin to express how much I like the wormwood picked by fifth and sixth brother. How could I laugh at you?”
Yu Fu’s voice came from the inner room, as a small figure came around the screen and slowly walked over to the two.
When Gu Xiang and Gu Yi clearly saw Yu Fu before them, they could not help but let out a sound of approval.
“Wow-”
*TN: The term used is 吹弹得破, which could be directly translated as capable of being broken by just the sound of music.
**TN: These are all customs that exist for the dragon boat festival https://www.travelchinaguide.com/essential/holidays/dragon-boat/traditions.htm