In the main hall, after listening to Gu Yunji tell the whole story, Gu Kaizhen and Mrs. Wang both had gloomy faces and didn't say a word.

After a while, Gu Kaizhen didn't see Gu Yunxiao's figure, and asked, "What about Xiao'er?" ”

Gu Yunji said: "The eldest brother and the prince went out shopping. ”

Hearing that the outside guests were not there, the Gu family's face was finally saved, Gu Kaizhen's face finally improved, he glanced at Cui'er, who was kneeling on the ground, and Gu Yunlin, who was obviously holding his breath next to him, and slowly said:

"In any case, Cui'er is pregnant with my Gu family's species, and she can't ignore it. But now that Xiao'er's marriage is approaching, it is not good to let the second child take a concubine at this juncture, which is easy for people to see. When the eldest becomes a parent, let's choose an auspicious day and let the second child raise you as an aunt. Cui'er, what do you think? ”

Without waiting for Cui'er to react, Gu Yunlin shouted, "No! I haven't married yet, I took a concubine before marriage, and what good girl is willing to marry me in the future? ”

"You're embarrassed to say it! It's all your own sin! It's not good to take a concubine before marriage, is it good to let the concubine get pregnant before marriage! Gu Kaizhen was so angry that Gu Yunlin's chest hurt, and he pointed at his nose and scolded.

Seeing that his father was angry, Gu Yunlin immediately shut up, shrunk and didn't dare to look at him again.

Gu Yunlin's cowardly and fearful look, Gu Kaizhen became more and more angry, and scolded with hatred: "You have a pregnancy in your room, you don't want to deal with it, and you are still worried about marrying a wife in the future?" Look at you, do you look like a man? I can go down and beat my own flesh and blood ruthlessly, and I don't have any responsibility at all, coward! ”

Hearing his father say this, Gu Yunlin was still a little unconvinced, and pouted: "Do you want to blame me for pouring the avoidance soup herself?" What's more, I'm not the only man in the house, who said that the child must be mine? I don't know where the wild seeds came from. ”

At this time, Gu Yunlin was still shirking responsibility, and even tried to discredit the child's bloodline, Gu Kaizhen was going to be laughed at angrily: "Cui'er is your roommate, stay in your inner courtyard every day, and the servant can't enter at all." Your third brother is not at home, your eldest brother is busy with his marriage every day and has no time to rest, who else can the child be if it is not yours! ”

Gu Yunlin muttered in a low voice: "Isn't it ...... you who still have a father?"

"Evil obstacles! What did you say! Gu Kaizhen was suddenly so angry that the blood in his chest surged, his mind was a little dizzy, and he touched a teacup next to him and threw it at Gu Yunlin with his hand.

Gu Yunlin shrank his head and dodged, the teacup swept over his head and landed on the ground behind him, shattering with a bang. Seeing that he didn't hit, Gu Kaizhen walked over in three or two steps and kicked him to the ground, but he was still angry, and he raised his foot and wanted to kick again, but was stopped by Gu Yunji holding his waist.

"Father! Father's anger! For now, it's better to deal with the matter first, and let the eldest brother marry his sister-in-law smoothly! Now it's useless to cripple the second brother! ”

Hearing this, Gu Kaizhen stopped his movements, glanced at Gu Yunlin coldly, turned around and tried to suppress the anger in his heart. Then he let out a sigh of relief, returned to his chair and propped his head on his hands, and did not speak for a long time.

Gu Yunlin was so frightened that he was crying, trembling and shrinking to the ground, not daring to come out.

After a while, Mrs. Wang spoke: "It's just that Cui'er doesn't serve her master well as a roommate, but she dares to pour the avoidance soup and conceive a child without permission, and she wants to use this as a threat to ask for a name." If she really does what she wants, and the others still don't follow suit, are there still rules in the house? ”

"In my opinion, we should beat the child's poisonous voice and sell her out, so that everyone is clean! In this way, the matter can be covered to the death, which will not hinder Xiao'er's marriage, nor will it affect the second child's future marriage. ”

Mrs. Wang hated Gu Yunlin for poking a disaster at this juncture, affecting Gu Yunxiao's marriage. But after all, he is Gu Kaizhen's son, and he can't help her at any time, so he transferred his anger to Cui'er, and dealt with it mercilessly.

Hearing this, Cui'er raised her head sharply and looked at Mrs. Wang in disbelief: "Madam really wants to deal with me like this?" Acting so viciously, is this the behavior of your Gu family in Huating County! ”

She lowered her eyes, the grief and indignation on her face turned into resentment, and a touch of ruthlessness flashed in her eyes: "Since you don't leave me a way to live, then don't think about it!" Today, I'm going to die in this church! I'll see if your Gu family can cover a murder case with your hands and eyes! ”

With that, Cui'er got up and was about to hit the pillar next to her.

Gu Kaizhen was shocked and angry, stood up suddenly, and shouted, "Stop her!" The crowd immediately swarmed up, restrained Cui'er with all hands and feet, and pressed her to the ground unable to move.

Seeing this, Gu Kaizhen finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the successive changes exhausted his mind, and at this time, the blood in his chest was surging, making him feel dizzy, and he sat back on the chair.

In the early years of the dynasty, a decree was issued on the keeping of slaves, and there were strict regulations on the number of slaves that could be kept by people of different ranks, and slaves were not allowed in the homes of the common people. Now, more than 100 years have passed, and it has become a common practice for the people to keep slaves, not to mention officials, big and small, even ordinary wealthy businessmen can raise hundreds or thousands of slaves, and the decree has almost become an empty piece of paper.

If it is normal, the government will turn a blind eye and will not take the initiative to check whose number of slaves exceeds the regulations, but if there is a fatality, it is impossible to ignore it. There are hundreds of servants in the Gu family, where can they be checked?

Although the government is concerned about the power of the Songjiang Gu clan and will not impose any substantive punishments, in order to get by on the surface, it will be more or less pretentious, and it is inevitable to reprimand and fine. But Gu Yunxiao is about to get married, and no one wants to make trouble at this juncture.

Moreover, it is precisely because of the lax enforcement of the slave keeping regulations that the personal rights of slaves are not guaranteed, and it is common for the master to beat, scold, and sell at will. During the peaceful years, although the bullied slaves were unhappy in their hearts, they were forced to endure it because of their power. Whenever there is any natural or man-made disaster, and the situation is turbulent, we must prevent these slaves from taking advantage of the situation to gather a crowd to rebel and take revenge on the lord and seize the property.

Therefore, as long as it is a decent person, it will not be particularly harsh to its subordinates, not only for the sake of their reputation, but also for their personal safety in the future. If Cui'er dies in this hall today, the Gu family will be disgraced and reprimanded by the government, and it will also chill the other subordinates in the mansion.

Cui'er, a general room who serves her master closely, has ended up like this, what about herself? In order to punish the slaves, the Gu family can even ignore the children who are related by blood, so if they make mistakes in the future, can they still have a way to live?

Once the subordinates have such thoughts, everyone in the Gu family will not be able to sleep well in the future, and they will have to beware of the slave stabbing in the back all the time. Now it seems that it is no longer possible to use hard, but it still has to be soft, and it is the most important thing to appease Cui'er and calm things down quickly.

Gu Yunji was also taken aback, and it took a while to come back to his senses. He walked up to Cui'er and said, "Don't worry, my mother just said casually just now, she won't really do anything to you, let's sit down and discuss, okay?" ”

Seeing that she couldn't take her own life, Cui'er had no other way, she was desperate, and sneered: "Hmph, I'm just a little slave, how can I beat you?" Even if you have discussed with me today, you have turned around and regretted it, and found someone to beat me to death with a stick, what can I do? ”

Gu Yunji was not annoyed, and said softly: "You are not even afraid of death, what else do you have to worry about?" Anyway, you don't have any other way, so why don't you just tell us what you want, and what if we agree? As he spoke, let Cui'er go.

Hearing this, Cui'er stood up hesitantly, and hesitated for a long time: "Originally, I thought that as long as the eldest young master got married, let the second young master give me the title of an aunt." But just after listening to Madame's words, I don't want to wait any longer, I want the second young master to beat the gong and drum to carry me into the door tomorrow! ”

"Are you dreaming......" Mrs. Wang was about to have a seizure, but she saw Gu Yunji gently shaking her head at her, so she had to sit back again.

Gu Yunji didn't agree to Cui'er's request at the first time, but asked rhetorically: "Cui'er, tell me, do you really want to be my second brother's aunt and be with him for the rest of your life?" Or is it because he has already had sex and is pregnant, so he has no choice? ”

Cui'er bit her lip and didn't answer.

Gu Yunji was relieved and continued: "Before, you said that my second brother is lustful and likes the new and hates the old, and he can't be relied on in the future, so you want to have a child." But can having a child change him? What's more, if you make such a fuss today, he will definitely be even more disgusted with your mother and son, and what good will you get from him in the future? And your child, a concubine who is disliked by his father, has a hard time. ”

Cui'er's heart was shaken, but she was helpless: "But I have a body, what else can I do if I don't be his aunt?" ”

Gu Yunji knew that she had listened, so she slowed down her tone and said seductively: "I'll show you a clear way, we can get you off the lowly status, and then send you to Zhuangzi until the child is born, and when the time comes, you will be given a large sum of money, and the child will stay, where do you want to go, how about it?" ”

"I know you have a family, and you can move with your family immediately after you get the money, move to a place where no one knows you, and start your life again. The reason why I didn't keep you in the house was because I was afraid that you wouldn't trust us and that someone would harm you. There are few people in Zhuangzi, if you don't worry, we can change a new batch of servants, and you can go to Renyazi to pick them up in person. ”

If it weren't for the fact that there was no way out, Cui'er really didn't want to be Gu Yunlin's aunt, and she was very moved to listen to Gu Yunji's proposal at this time, but she doubted its authenticity: "What if you regret it halfway?" And the child, I'm gone, what are you going to do with the child? ”

"The child is naturally raised in the house, and when the second brother gets married in the future, it will be recorded in the name of the wife. A motherless concubine child is not a threat, and I believe that the future second sister-in-law will not treat him badly. For the second brother, this is much better than taking a concubine before marriage, and the reputation of the concubine room and pregnancy. ”

Saying that, Gu Yunji said again: "As for being afraid that we will regret it, do you have any other way to go now?" It's better than you crashing headfirst to death in the hall now, right? If you still don't believe me, we can give you a sum of money right now, and you can send it to your family right away, at least they will have a better life. ”

Seeing that Cui'er seemed to be shaken, Gu Kaizhen immediately said: "Come on, give her two hundred taels of silver tickets!" When you give birth to a child, I'll give you another two hundred taels, how about it? ”

Holding the silver ticket tightly in her hand, Cui'er finally made up her mind, knelt down and said, "I promise!" Thank you for your kindness, the third young master! ”

Seeing this, Gu Kaizhen's face finally relaxed, and immediately asked people to arrange for Cui'er to go to Zhuangzi, Gu Yunji also breathed a sigh of relief, and the big stone in his heart fell.

It wasn't until Cui'er walked away that the figure could no longer be seen, and Gu Kaizhen said with a cold face: "Second Young Master Gu Yunlin made a big mistake, which almost ruined my Gu family's reputation, and he was punished with a cane for twenty and grounded for one month. Xiao'er doesn't have to attend Xiao'er's wedding, give me a good introspection in the room, if anyone asks, they will say that he is sick and can't see anyone! ”

After that, no matter what Gu Yunlin begged for mercy, he raised his feet and walked out, without turning his head back. Gu Yunji and Mrs. Wang didn't bother to pay attention to him, and went back separately.

Soon, there was the sound of sticks hitting and Gu Yunlin's wail behind him, the sound was so terrible that people couldn't help but cover their ears.

In the evening, after Gu Yunxiao came back, after listening to the handling of the matter, he couldn't help but sigh at Gu Yunji: "It's still the third brother who does things properly, but if it's me, I'm afraid I won't be able to do it so well." ”

Gu Yunji remembered Gu Yunlin's screams during the day and asked, "How is the second brother?" ”

Gu Yunxiao sighed: "The injury is quite serious, the doctor said that he couldn't get out of bed for at least a month, and my father was angry this time, and he didn't show any mercy." Although the main reason for this incident this time is that Cui'er poured out the shunzi soup without permission, the bane is still on the second child.

"If he could have put away those hard and painstaking studies, not so much like the new and hate the old, or if he had taken on more responsibility after finding out that Cui'er was pregnant, and appeased others and gave her a name, would things have turned out like this? In order to block Cui'er's mouth, it had to cost so much, but it was finally solved. ”

As he spoke, he shook his head: "The second child is too, it's too unsuccessful." neglected to discipline him in the past, and almost made him poke out a big man. This taught him a good lesson, and I hope that he can grow in the future, otherwise he will not be able to get it. ”

Seeing that he was worried, Gu Yunji said with a smile: "The eldest brother will be the groom's official in two days, what are you doing with a bitter face?" When you are happy to pick up your relatives, your sister-in-law is worried and doesn't want to go with you! ”

Being teased by him like this, Gu Yunxiao's mood also relaxed, and a smile finally appeared on his face.