Chapter 56#

The Cross-dressing Wife#

The mourning hall.

Since Lin Xiaodong was still an outsider in name and Old Master Gu had no other relatives in town, his funeral arrangements were entirely handled by the housekeeper.

The gates of the Gu mansion were wide open, and families in town who were on good terms with Old Master Gu came one after another to offer their condolences. However, even while conversing, everyone’s gaze couldn’t help but drift toward the plain-colored figure kneeling at the front of the mourning hall.

Lin Xiaodong was dressed in snow-white mourning clothes, kneeling on a prayer mat.

He sat with his eyes quietly closed, as if all the clamor of the outside world had nothing to do with him.

But as the saying goes, “if you want to look pretty, wear mourning clothes.” Although he hadn’t put on any makeup today and had simply tied his long hair behind his head with a wooden hairpin, just that thin and slender back was enough to make the guests present let their imaginations run wild.

In such a strange atmosphere, a man wearing a black gown strode in.

“Hey, where’s your invitation?” The gatekeeper hurried after him from behind, shouting loudly, “This is the place of sacrifice for my master; how can you trespass!?”

“Who dares to be so bold?”

The housekeeper, busy socializing with the guests to build connections, turned back in dissatisfaction, only to have his eyes widen the moment he saw the visitor:

“Young… Young Master???”

He blurted it out subconsciously but regretted it almost the next second.

This shout of “Young Master” immediately caused a stir inside and outside the mourning hall.

Everyone turned their heads to look. They saw the visitor wearing a black cloud-patterned gown, with the collar buttoned strictly to the last button. His back was straight, he was tall and handsome, and his pitch-black eyes carried a few hints of the gloominess that precedes a mountain storm.

One look and you knew he wasn’t someone to be trifled with.

“Young Master Gu is back?” After confirming his identity, the people who had originally gathered around the housekeeper immediately dispersed, lining up to exchange pleasantries with the man. “Oh my, truly a talented young man! A pity Old Master Gu couldn’t see you one last time.”

Watching this scene, the housekeeper’s regretful expression gradually turned somber.

The man was unmoved by all this. He just walked in silence to the prayer mat beside Lin Xiaodong, knelt down with a “thud,” and gave a deep kowtow toward Old Master Gu’s coffin, saying in a raspy voice, “Unfilial son Gu Xingzhai pays respects to Father!”

A few seconds later, he straightened up, his gaze surreptitiously sweeping over the “woman” beside him.

Although it was just a scrutinizing glance, Lin Xiaodong’s helpless appearance—head bowed, dressed in plain white with a vacant expression—had already been deeply etched into his pupils.

Looking at Lin Xiaodong’s cheeks and neck, which were so white they were almost transparent, he didn’t know why a trace of strange emotion slowly welled up in his heart.

After receiving his father’s letter, he had traveled for a full day and night, yet ultimately arrived one step too late.

Previously, unable to hold out any longer, he had stopped for a rest at a tavern. In just the time it took to drink a cup of tea, he had already heard countless rumors from people’s mouths about “Mrs. Gu” and his father’s possibly suspicious death.

To be honest, toward his father’s rumored “wife,” Gu Xingzhai’s attitude was very cold.

On one hand, this came from the natural rejection felt by the eldest son of the original wife; on the other hand, it came from Lin Xiaodong himself.

He was a disciple of the Celestial Master lineage. Although he didn’t have Yin-Yang eyes like his master to distinguish demons and ghosts at a glance, after so many years of cultivation, he had developed his own method of judgment.

The aura of the woman in front of him gave him a very bad feeling.

“I heard about you in the letter,” he weighed his words and said indifferently to Lin Xiaodong, “Thank you for taking care of my father all these years. Now that he has passed, if you want to remarry, I won’t stop you.”

Hearing the voice by his ear, Lin Xiaodong’s body swayed. He looked at Young Master Gu in a daze for several seconds before softly speaking: “Thank you, Young Master. But…” He originally wanted to explain that he had only stayed by Old Master Gu’s side to repay a kindness, but remembering the old man’s earnest instructions from the previous evening, he silently swallowed those words back.

“If you don’t mind, let me stay in the mansion and be used as a traveling doctor,” he said.

Leaving was impossible; he had to find a reason to stay in town, otherwise where would he collect his Good Person Cards.

But how could Gu Xingzhai really treat Lin Xiaodong as a traveling doctor: “Since that’s the case, then never mind.”

After saying that, he turned away coldly, no longer paying attention to this side.

But looking at the man’s stern profile, Lin Xiaodong felt something wasn’t quite right: “System, are you sure Gu Xi didn’t follow us? Why does this Gu Xingzhai feel a bit like him to me.”

System: “…In what way?”

Even if it used the most cutting-edge technology in the universe to analyze their facial features, it could not conclude that they looked similar. The system really didn’t know what Lin Xiaodong was basing his judgment on.

“Temperament,” Lin Xiaodong said with certainty.

System: “……”

“Anyway, the possibility is very, very, very small,” the system used three “very"s for emphasis. “So small it’s almost equivalent to you going out and buying a lottery ticket and winning five million, and then buying another and winning ten million. Do you think you’re an unlucky soul or a lucky one?”

Lin Xiaodong reflected on his usual luck and fell silent.

But deep in his heart, he still had a stubborn thought, or perhaps “intuition” was more appropriate.

Although this Young Master of the Gu family was completely different from Gu Xi in appearance, voice, and personality—though his personality remained to be discovered—he just felt that these two were very similar.

System: “You can test him.”

Lin Xiaodong asked for guidance: “How do I test him?”

“Doesn’t he still have a Good Person Card? He has to be won over sooner or later anyway,” the system encouraged. “You can try to seduce Gu Xingzhai and see if he’ll fall for you.”

Lin Xiaodong said strangely, “Wait, didn’t you keep telling me to be a good person before? You know that in the eyes of this Young Master Gu, I’m his dead father’s wife.”

System: “You don’t really have a relationship with Old Master Gu. Besides, if this Gu Xingzhai really is Gu Xi as you think, this wouldn’t be called seduction.”

“What would it be called then?”

“Husband-and-husband playfulness.”

Lin Xiaodong: “……”

He began to reflect on whether he had really corrupted the system.

But the system’s words also inspired Lin Xiaodong. Currently, he only knew the housekeeper and Gu Xingzhai in this town. If nothing went wrong, those would be two Good Person Cards. Aside from Old Master Gu’s card, there was no sign of the remaining two for now. Given his currently somewhat awkward identity, winning them over would indeed be quite difficult.

Most importantly, after kneeling in the mourning hall all afternoon, Lin Xiaodong was already starving.

He surreptitiously scanned his surroundings with his peripheral vision. The guests had mostly dispersed, leaving only a few scattered individuals still talking with the housekeeper. The only one left in the mourning hall was him and Gu Xingzhai, who had just rushed back from out of town, covered in dust.

The man was still kneeling on the prayer mat beside him, eyes closed, with a hint of dark circles under them. His mouth was murmuring what was probably something like a rebirth mantra.

Lin Xiaodong noticed that he wore a string of pitch-black wooden beads on his right wrist. Although he didn’t know exactly what kind of wood they were made of, just looking at the densely carved patterns on them told him they were no ordinary item.

Gu Xingzhai’s large hands were very well-formed, slender and fair, with distinct knuckles. Facing the coffin of his deceased father, he clearly felt guilty; his head was bowed, and the fists resting on his knees were clenched white, revealing faint blue veins, not clearly visible through the curling incense smoke of the mourning hall.

There is a type of man who, although covered tightly from head to toe in fabric, can always arouse a strong desire for conquest.

One wants to tear away his calm and composed mask, wants to personally undress him piece by piece, wants to see an offended anger appear on his face, with a struggle and endurance of surrendering to desire hidden deep in his eyes.

“If your body is weak and you can’t hold out, you can go back to your room and rest first.”

Seeming to notice the gaze from beside him, Gu Xingzhai spoke indifferently with his eyes closed and without turning his head.

Lin Xiaodong came back to his senses and didn’t decline, just softly humming in agreement, saying: “Thank you, Young Master.”

Although he knew Old Master Gu was a good man, for someone he had only met once and who had passed away less than a day after they met, it was truly hard for him to develop very deep feelings.

Therefore, upon hearing Gu Xingzhai’s words, Lin Xiaodong supported himself on the cold floor tiles of the mourning hall, wanting to stand up and leave.

But he forgot that he had been kneeling for too long; his feet were already numb. As soon as he stood up, he felt an unbearable soreness in his calves. His feet gave way, and it looked like he was about to topple over.

But at the last moment, a strong, large hand timely supported his arm.

Lin Xiaodong turned his head and instinctively gave the person a slight smile: “Thank you.”

With such close contact, even if it was just a simple helping hand, Gu Xingzhai’s expression was clearly somewhat uneasy.

He took a deep look at Lin Xiaodong’s fair face and those eyes that curved when he smiled. The young man had beautiful phoenix eyes, the upturned corners carrying a hint of red, and his long eyelashes were thick and dark. In the words of the townspeople at the tavern, “one look and your soul will be hooked.”

Gu Xingzhai quickly looked away.

Such a beautiful woman, he thought; no wonder his father was moved.

“Be careful next time,” he said.

After steadying Lin Xiaodong, the man almost immediately withdrew his hand.

But the scene just now had all been witnessed by the housekeeper standing outside the door. Looking at Gu Xingzhai’s tall and straight back, his hands hanging at his sides clenched bit by bit, and his expression gradually changed from shrewd enthusiasm toward the guests to sinister and cold.

Old Master Gu’s offspring were few, and though he had accumulated great wealth over half a life, he had only one son who was away for years. The housekeeper had prayed to the heavens several times, hoping that this eldest son of the Gu family would never return to the town—that way, he could not only possess Old Master Gu’s large inheritance, but even Lin Xiaodong would be his!

However, now Gu Xingzhai was back.

Regardless, in the eyes of others, he was the rightful heir to the Gu family.

And he, the housekeeper, would forever only be a housekeeper, dedicating his life to serving the Gu family… thinking of this, how could he be reconciled?

“Brother Zhao, don’t worry too much,” a town cloth shop owner who was usually on good terms with him walked over and whispered in his ear, “I have a plan that guarantees you can take down this green boy without shedding blood.”

The housekeeper’s eyes narrowed slightly: “Oh? Pray tell, Brother.”

“Women lead countries to ruin; beautiful women are the source of trouble. It’s been so since ancient times,” the shop owner laughed softly. “As the saying goes, the power of the tongue is greater than that of swords. Brother Zhao, you’re blinded by your own situation; a ready-made pawn is right under your nose, why not make good use of it?”

Hearing this, the housekeeper couldn’t help but frown.

While he indeed wanted to pull Gu Xingzhai down, he still had designs on Lin Xiaodong. Unless it was absolutely necessary, he didn’t really want to sacrifice such a beauty to achieve his goal.

“Ah, Brother Zhao has a tender heart for the fair sex, I understand,” the shop owner patted his shoulder and shook his head, “but you can’t catch the wolf without sacrificing the child. And think about it, once Gu Xingzhai is gone, won’t Miss Lin naturally be in the palm of your hand? A mere powerless woman—if she doesn’t rely on you, could she possibly turn the world upside down?”

The housekeeper pondered carefully, and the more he thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.

“Hearing your words is truly enlightening!” He bowed politely and said solemnly, “If there is a day when I, Zhao, prosper, I will certainly not forget your guidance today!”

“Don’t mention it.”

The two looked at each other, their faces showing a tacit smile.

They thought they could avoid eyes and ears by standing outside the crowded mourning hall, but Gu Xingzhai had been practicing for years and his hearing far exceeded that of ordinary people. The conversation between the housekeeper and the shop owner just now had been heard by him word for word.

He took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

Looking at the pale mourning banners being blown by the wind ahead, the man’s eyes were without sorrow or joy.

Having not returned home for years, the town was no longer as simple as it once was. People’s hearts were deceitful, and evil had entered the world… it was a hundred times more sinister than he had imagined.

“Father,” he held three sticks of incense and said solemnly toward the front, “your son is unfilial, but rest assured, I returned this time to uncover the truth and let you rest in peace in the underworld.”

“If it truly was that person’s doing, I will never show him mercy!”