Chapter 69#
The Cross-dressing Wife#
New Year’s Eve.
Early in the morning, Lin Xiaodong was awakened by the crackling sound of firecrackers.
From outside the courtyard walls came the laughing nursery rhymes of children: “Warding-off-evil boxes, playing with walnuts, drip-drop-dot-dot two firecrackers; Five Sons Passing the Imperial Examination bangs and pops, the fire rising higher than the sky…”
The fiery red firecrackers dispelled the chill of the ice and snow. Every household had been busy since early morning, steaming buns, making New Year’s Eve dinner, cleaning the house… even the Gu family, which had just undergone a major change, was no exception.
Lin Xiaodong dizzily rolled over in his blankets, lounging in bed and really not wanting to get up. The servants couldn’t move him, so they had to go find Gu Xingzhai. As a result, once the man entered the bedroom, he didn’t come out again, leaving a group of people staring blankly outside.
After the housekeeper fell, Gu Xingzhai dismissed most of the servants in the Gu mansion, leaving only a few elderly people who had been there since his father first arrived in Qingxie Town. In any case, there weren’t many people in the mansion who truly needed serving, so there was no need to support so many people.
Consequently, Lin Xiaodong no longer concealed the relationship between him and Gu Xingzhai. In broad daylight, he dared to pull the other party into the blankets to huddle together just to stay in bed. However, his plan ultimately failed—
“I’m getting up! You’re indulging in daytime— mmm&￥%#…” The young man who wanted to continue sleeping in protested solemnly. He struggled to crawl out of bed, but his fair wrist was grabbed by a large hand from behind and stuffed back into the blankets.
“Be good,” Gu Xingzhai leaned over his back, his dark eyes deep and burning. A kiss carrying hot breath fell gently on the pair of shoulder blades that were like butterfly wings. “You can sleep a little longer.”
Lin Xiaodong: How the hell can I sleep when you’re acting like this!
In the end, he didn’t manage to sleep.
By the time the two left the bedroom, it was already afternoon. Lin Xiaodong leaned expressionlessly on the soft couch, listlessly cracking melon seeds, watching Gu Xingzhai—whom he had kicked off the bed—perform his one-hundred-and-first feat of breaking a rock with his bare hands. The resentment from not getting enough sleep was finally alleviated. He brushed the crumbs off his hands, stood up, and said to the servants who were secretly observing: “Tonight is New Year’s Eve. If you have no family to return to, stay at the mansion and celebrate together. Also, everyone will receive double salary this month; go to the accountant’s office to collect it yourself.”
The few people looked at each other and cheered simultaneously:
“Blessings to you, Miss!”
Seeing this, Gu Xingzhai, who was busy looking down and picking up stones, also breathed a sigh of relief. Noticing Lin Xiaodong’s gaze, the man rubbed his nose and smiled: “That’s good. Let’s all have a reunion dinner together.”
The evening banquet was sumptuous. As the head of the family, Gu Xingzhai stood up and said a few words of blessing, and then it was Lin Xiaodong’s turn. But he was always impatient with such things. After hesitating for a long while, he only squeezed out four words: “Eat well, drink well,” which made everyone at the table laugh.
“In a while, let’s go set off fireworks together,” Gu Xingzhai said to him after the youth sat down. “What shape do you want to set off?”
Lin Xiaodong thought for a moment and said very seriously: “I want to set off a dog head.”
Gu Xingzhai: ?
Lin Xiaogou (Little Dog Lin) probably never dreamed that one day, its handsome and dashing head would appear in the New Year’s Eve sky of an otherworldly land.
Watching Lin Xiaodong beside him laughing so hard he was swaying, Gu Xingzhai, though he didn’t quite understand but felt the dog head was truly ugly, sighed helplessly and looked up with a faint smile.
He didn’t ask for much.
He only wished for his loved one to be safe, and for every year to be like today, and every day like this morning.
Once the New Year passed and the ice and snow melted, the weather warmed up slightly. Having stayed home for almost an entire winter, Lin Xiaodong was so bored he felt like he was growing fur. He pondered and prepared to find a time to go to the town again for another free clinic.
But unexpectedly, this decision met with Gu Xingzhai’s firm opposition.
“No,” the man said decisively. “The weather is too cold now, and your foot has only just recovered. Going out now—do you want to get chilblains?”
“It’s alright, I think it’s much warmer than a few days ago,” Lin Xiaodong didn’t take his words to heart. “Don’t worry, I’ll wear more layers this time.”
“I said no, so no.” Seeing that he wouldn’t listen to advice, Gu Xingzhai’s face darkened. “You are not allowed to go, do you hear me?”
After saying that, without waiting for Lin Xiaodong’s reply, he turned and instructed the servant guarding the gate: “Keep the Miss inside the mansion for this period of time. Do not allow him to go out, or I will hold you responsible!”
“Gu Xingzhai, what are you doing?” Lin Xiaodong frowned. But the man only gave him a silent look, turned around, and hurried away.
Gu Xingzhai’s attitude made Lin Xiaodong think of the situation in the world before the last one. He asked the system: “Has something happened in town?”
“Everything seems normal currently,” the system said. “But there seem to be some unfavorable rumors quietly spreading about you. I expect Gu Xingzhai wants to let the rumors dissipate on their own through the ‘cold treatment’ method, which is why he grounded you.”
“Then why can’t he just tell me directly?”
“Hmm, maybe he’s afraid you’ll worry?” But thinking of Gu Xingzhai’s character, the system changed its tune. “Maybe he’s afraid you won’t believe he can protect you and you’ll run away overnight in a panic.”
Lin Xiaodong: “…I really want to drill a big hole in his forehead to see what on earth is inside.”
Is this the brain circuitry a normal person should have!?
However, it wasn’t the first day he knew Gu Xingzhai lacked a sense of security. Lin Xiaodong sighed, thinking that if he couldn’t go out, then he wouldn’t go out. Anyway, the faces of those people in town weren’t much to look at, and staying home for a few more days wasn’t a big deal.
This stay lasted for more than another month.
The storm in town gradually subsided, and Gu Xingzhai also tacitly allowed Lin Xiaodong to return to the streets for free medical consultations, though he required that every time he went out, he must be accompanied by at least one servant.
Lin Xiaodong agreed.
That day, he went to the east end of town to give acupuncture to an old man who had been bedridden for half a year. Although this old man had been poor all his life, he was quite prestigious in the town. When Lin Xiaodong was administering the needles, the area outside the house was filled with over a hundred neighbors and spectators. But how many of them were there to see him practice medicine and how many were just there to “catch a glimpse of his beauty” and join the fun, only they themselves knew.
“Done.”
After over two hours of busy work, Lin Xiaodong wiped the sweat that covered his forehead and stood up.
Although the old man on the bed was still unconscious, anyone with eyes could see that his complexion was worlds apart from the wall-paint-like pallor of a moment ago. The old man’s children stood by the side, overjoyed at the sight, and thanked him repeatedly. But Lin Xiaodong just waved his hand with a pale face and slowly stood up by leaning against the bed frame, appearing to have exhausted a great deal of mental energy.
“Miss, are you alright?”
The servant who had accompanied him quickly asked with concern.
“I’m fine, just tired,” Lin Xiaodong said after steadying himself.
Before coming to this world, he knew nothing about medicine, not even knowing which medicine to take for a feverish cold versus a chill. Although with the system’s help, diagnosing and prescribing were not a problem, traditional acupuncture still required him to slowly explore and learn bit by bit himself. This was all hard-earned skill, and the system couldn’t help him cheat.
He declined the gift money and red envelopes prepared by the patient’s family. As everyone watched, he walked out of the main gate, only to be met head-on with a basin of incredibly foul-smelling black dog’s blood. Fortunately, Lin Xiaodong reacted quickly and dodged in time, so it didn’t pour all over his head and face.
But even so, half of his body was splashed with filth. His already somewhat dizzy head became even more lightheaded when hit by that pungent smell.
Lin Xiaodong gagged on the spot. The servant rushed out from behind and shouted sharply: “Who did it!? If you have the guts, get out here!”
No one dared to admit it.
But in the crowd, someone took advantage of the chaos and shouted loudly: “Death to the demon!” This immediately caused a stir.
The townspeople present had more or less heard the rumor that had been circulating some time ago. Seeing Lin Xiaodong’s strong reaction to the black dog’s blood now, they all wondered in their hearts—
Could the rumors actually be true?
Even the family of the patient he had just treated merely stood far in the background watching, without stepping forward to say even a single word for him. Seeing they were outnumbered and being pointed at despite having done a good deed, the servant’s face turned red with anger, but Lin Xiaodong grabbed him.
“Miss, I…”
“Let’s go home first,” the youth interrupted him, his voice weak.
“…Yes.”
The servant reluctantly helped him into a rickshaw, glared fiercely at the crowd following behind: “You wolf-hearted and dog-lunged things! Retribution will come sooner or later!” Then he quickly took Lin Xiaodong away from the town.
From that day on, the gates of the Gu mansion remained tightly shut, and they no longer associated with anyone.
Lin Xiaodong never left the mansion again. The townspeople, who had lost their opportunity for free medical treatment, began to grow increasingly resentful toward Lin Xiaodong and Gu Xingzhai. Eventually, under the secret instigation of someone with ulterior motives, it turned into a grand crusade.
“Mr. Gu, Miss Lin, I have come at my master’s command to remind the two of you.”
That day, the long-closed Gu mansion finally received a guest.
But his expression was serious, and what he brought was not any long-awaited good news, but a warning: “The situation has now evolved to an uncontrollable point. Besides those ignorant people, there are also people higher up who have their eyes on you. Mr. Gu, if you have relatives in other provinces, you should leave this place as soon as possible.”
As he spoke, he placed a small bundle on the table, containing a silver note and a few taels of broken silver.
“A small gift, consider it my master’s way of seeing you off,” he said. “Master says the two of you are a talented man and a beautiful woman, a match made in heaven, and it should have been a beautiful story. From now on, the mountains are high and the waters are long; may we meet again.”
Gu Xingzhai sat in the main seat, looking at the sincere expression of the messenger below. His long-tensed face finally relaxed somewhat.
He walked down and cupped his hands to the man: “The gift is unnecessary. Please take a message to Master Huang for me: say that Gu has taken note of today’s kindness.”
After seeing off the guest, Gu Xingzhai dismissed the servants in the mansion, giving them three years’ worth of salary. He then packed up the valuables in the house, preparing to take Lin Xiaodong away from Qingxie Town early tomorrow morning.
However, in the dead of night, a group of over a hundred people set out from Qingxie Town, holding torches, and came all the way to the main gate of the Gu mansion. The leader was the cloth shop owner who had overheard the conversation between the gray-robed Taoist and his disciple.
“Gu Xingzhai, hand over the demon!”
To bolster his courage before coming, the cloth shop owner had specifically drunk a bowl of wine. Now with the alcohol rushing to his head, he shouted with great vigor and slammed hard on the door: “Come out! If you don’t come out, we’ll set fire to—”
With a “creak,” the door was suddenly opened from the inside.
The cloth shop owner’s fist accidentally hit thin air, and he almost stumbled and knelt at the feet of the newcomer.
Gu Xingzhai stood at the entrance of the Gu mansion, glancing down at him as if looking at a speck of dust accidentally caught on his shoe.
Facing the group of torch-bearing, aggressive townspeople, the man asked in a calm and cold voice: “In the middle of the night, everyone, what business do you have here?”
“You—” The cloth shop owner’s teeth itched with hatred, but then he remembered they had strength in numbers and immediately became smug again. “Didn’t I just say? Hand over the demon you’re hiding in the house! For the sake of Old Master Gu, as long as you obediently follow orders, everyone won’t do anything to you. But if you don’t listen…”
“If I don’t listen,” Gu Xingzhai interrupted him, his eyes like a still well staring unblinkingly at the cloth shop owner, “then what?”
The cloth shop owner instinctively shivered: “Then… then you’ll be considered as deliberately harboring a demon. The government won’t be lenient with you then! At best your house will be confiscated, at worst you’ll be beheaded!”
“Is that so?” Gu Xingzhai said flatly. “Then everyone, please go back. There is no demon in my mansion.”
“You say there isn’t and there isn’t?” The cloth shop owner narrowed his eyes. He thought of the treasures and savings the Gu family had accumulated over the years, and his heart felt itchy. “I don’t believe it, unless you let us go in and look!”
“Exactly!” “That’s right!”
His words were immediately met with unanimous agreement from the people. The firelight illuminated the excited and greedy expressions on their faces. For a moment, Gu Xingzhai could not tell whether he was facing humans or monsters.
He sighed, knowing that today would not end peacefully.
“Xiaodong,” the man suddenly turned his head and asked, “Are you willing to go with me? Even if it means living a life wandering across the world with no fixed abode?”
Under everyone’s watchful eyes, a light laugh came from within the courtyard walls.
Under the cloth shop owner’s incredulous gaze, the youth in the cloud-blue long gown walked calmly to Gu Xingzhai’s side and stood shoulder to shoulder with him. The youth’s eyebrows and eyes were curved, without a hint of fear, as if they were not facing a group of ill-intentioned thugs, but a beautiful landscape of mountains and lakes.
“I’m not very easy to support,” Lin Xiaodong said with a smile. “But if Young Master Gu can afford it, then I will naturally accompany you to the very end.”