The intense fight from a moment ago had devolved into a cacophony of muttering voices, all questioning the impossible: they had all witnessed Mu Dishi fall into the burning building alongside Mo Enhuang, and both were supposed to have perished. Yet, Mu Dishi had survived. Everyone in the celebration yard looked at each other in disbelief, desperately trying to figure out how he lived.
After witnessing the recognition and hearing the way these people addressed Mu Dishi, Gu Yingjie realized the danger. He knew that many present were Mu Dishi's enemies, and his family's crisis was now dragging an innocent person into deeper trouble.
He understood that if Mu Dishi continued to stand up for him and Zhu Mingyang, Mu Dishi would only acquire more enemies. Worse, the Gu family, with their power and connections, were people Mu Dishi should absolutely never have as adversaries.
Gu Yingjie stepped forward, his body still raw from the whips, and looked directly at Mu Dishi. "This has nothing to do with you," he insisted, urgency in his voice. "Please step back."
Ma Jingguo seized the opportunity, tightly holding Mu Dishi's hand. "Xiao Shushu, he said it has nothing to do with you, so take a step back."
Gu Yingjie turned his gaze to Gu Tingfang, offering his final, painful trade. "I will go back to prison after you release them."
Gu Tingfang looked at his son with fury, his voice shaking. "You are an unfilial son!"
Suddenly, Lin Ruchao, the oldest guards in the Gu family, stood up. He spoke with controlled, furious intensity. "If he is an unfilial son, then so are you."
When the old guard dared to speak to his master with such a voice, and with such an accusation, everyone in the celebration yard gasped.
Gu Yingjie looked at the elderly guard, his voice barely a whisper. "Do you know who killed my mother?"
Lin Ruchao replied with a painful finality. "Yes."
Gu Yingjie pressed him, his heart pounding in his chest. "Who?"
Lin Ruchao looked at the surrounding horrified faces, then back at the son of the woman he murdered, and replied sadly, "Me."
Gu Yingjie's heart plummeted. He slowly sank down, squatting in front of Lin Ruchao. He asked, broken, "Why?"
Lin Ruchao looked him directly in the eye and said, "I was ordered to kill her."
"By whom?" Gu Yingjie demanded, his eyes wide with desperate realization.
Lin Ruchao replied, his voice heavy with a decade of torment, "My master."
Gu Yingjie felt a sharp, agonizing pain in his heart. He murmured the title for his grandfather, "Ye Ye." He simply couldn't believe it. The man who had loved him and given him the best education was the one who had ordered his mother to be killed. He gritted his teeth and forced out the single word, "Why?"
Lin Ruchao quickly pulled Gu Yingjie close, leaning into his right ear. He whispered the final, devastating truth, "Because your mother is your father's half-sister. She must die to secure your father's position as the Chief of the Gu Household. Her death was your father's idea."
Gu Yingjie let out a ragged, primal scream and violently pushed Lin Ruchao away. "You lie to me!"
Lin Ruchao spoke with sad finality. "Young Master, do you know that inside the Gu Manor, you are the only innocent person with clean hands."
Cao Fengge stood up, demanding an explanation. "Guard Lin, what are you telling him?"
Lin Ruchao replied, his voice firm despite the chaos. "Chief Cao, this has nothing to do with you."
Cao Fengge pressed, using the surrounding curiosity to his advantage. "Since you were so courageous as to slander your master as an unfilial son, we should know what you said to him."
Everyone in the celebration yard began to agree, the thirst for the scandal overwhelming their etiquette.
Lin Ruchao ignored them. He crawled back and knelt down in front of Gu Yingjie. "Young Master, if you want to avenge your mother, you can kill me," he offered.
Gu Yingjie looked at the man who had murdered his mother but had also loved him, his voice thick with tears. "You followed orders. How can I blame you?"
Lin Ruchao whispered, "Thank you. There are four people who knew about this right now, but soon there will only be three." He drew the knife from his belt and cut his tongue. Then he covered his ears with his hands and used his internal force to destroy his eardrums. He looked up to the sky and laughed, a terrible, final sound, and kowtowed three times in front of Gu Tingfang. Finally, Lin Ruchao used the knife and sliced across his own eyes.
Gu Tingfang, his face pale with shock and fury, finally broke the silence. "Take him to the infirmary," he ordered, gesturing toward the self-mutilated Lin Ruchao.
Gu Yingjie remained standing, staring at Gu Tingfang. He couldn't even bring himself to think of the man as "Father"; he felt sick to his stomach. Shame washed over him, and he finally understood the venomous hatred from the Gu family. He was truly the bastard son of Gu Tingfang. His father fell in love with his sister, and he was the product of that forbidden union. As if that wasn't enough, he had compounded the family shame by falling in love with a man. He lowered his head, tears streaming down his face. They called him a bastard child for a reason. As he is truly a bastard, just like his father.
In a final act of despair and self-punishment, Gu Yingjie grabbed the bloody knife from the ground with his right hand and stabbed it into his abdomen.
He felt an arm instantly wrap around his waist. He only felt the tip of the knife sting slightly in his right abdomen—there was no immediate, obvious pain—meaning the blow had been diverted. He already knew whose arm it was. He turned and sobbed softly, burying his face in Zhu Mingyang's chest.
Gu Yingjie wept, his voice muffled. "Mingyang, they are right to call me a bastard son."
Zhu Mingyang, though barely standing and severely wounded himself, smiled faintly, holding Gu Yingjie tight. "No matter what they call you, it doesn't change anything between you and me."
Gu Xiaowen looked at the entwined figures of Zhu Mingyang and Gu Yingjie with utter revulsion. "Shameless," he hissed.
Gu Jinjing, the calm, perceptive sister, replied coolly. "It's only shameless because it is not you, but Yingjie, who is in Zhu Mingyang's arms."
Gu Xiaowen, caught off guard, stammered, "What are you talking about?"
Gu Jinjing fixed her gaze on him. "Don't think I didn't notice the way you looked at Zhu Mingyang whenever he is around." She leaned in, twisting the knife. "Do you regret not choosing him now?"
Gu Xiaowen's voice tightened with warning. "Meimie, you should lower down your provoking attitude. Not everyone will tolerate you like I do."
Ignoring the threat, Gu Jinjing directly sent a silver leaf toward Gu Yingjie's back, aiming for the wound the whip had just created. Mu Dishi moved instantly, sending out a golden needle that intercepted Gu Jinjing's leaf. Mu Dishi's needle nailed Gu Jinjing's leaf onto the ground with a sharp thwack.
Ma Jingguo held onto Mu Dishi's hand. He sneered playfully. "Xiao shushu, you didn't listen. They already told you not to intervene and to step back." He shook his head innocently at Mu Dishi.
Mu Dishi looked at him, his expression cold. "Don't act so childish, you are so annoying. Get away from me." He roughly shoved Ma Jingguo away.
Ma Jingguo quickly grabbed Mu Dishi's hand again, acting shamelessly and moving himself closer to Mu Dishi. He smiled warmly. "Well, it's too bad, you belong to me, and this time no matter what you do, I am not leaving."
Mu Dishi replied coldly, "I am myself. I don't belong to anyone. Scram."
Ma Jingguo leaned in, undeterred. "Who is acting childish now? Hmm..."
Gu Jinjing flew forward, positioning herself between Mu Dishi and the Gu family leaders. She looked at Mu Dishi and challenged him directly, "Mu Dishi, accept my challenge to duel you."
Ma Jingguo looked at Gu Jinjing, his expression dismissive. "If my xiao shushu wins, what does he get?"
Gu Jinjing replied, "Anything he wants, even me."
Ma Jingguo sneered, looking at Gu Jinjing with an ugly, arrogant expression. "You are not qualified to fight against my xiao shushu." He stepped forward to stand directly in front of Gu Jinjing. "What are you going to use to defeat my xiao shushu?"
Gu Jinjing named her weapon. "The Gu Silver Leaf."
Ma Jingguo mocked her plan. "My xiao shushu will pin your leaves with his golden needles, and then he'll release three guzheng strings at you. One is to distract you. One is to blind your eyes, and the other is wrapped around your neck. With one single move, my xiao shushu will defeat you just like that. Or if that's too much work, my xiao shushu will send you a few guzheng strings and tear you to pieces. Very ugly death." He looked at the nearby guest, Yong Taihua. "Am I right?"
Yong Taihua frowned, madly uncomfortable. "Um..."
Ma Jingguo continued his relentless trash talk. "If you want to test inner strength, you're inferior compared to my xiao shushu. If you want to use fighting technique, you're still inferior to my xiao shushu." He looked at Mu Dishi and smiled. "Even your beauty is inferior to his."
Mu Dishi said coldly, "Shut your mouth."
Ma Jingguo shamelessly stretched out his hand and touched Mu Dishi's cloth mask. Mu Dishi instantly grabbed Ma Jingguo's hand, holding it tight. Mu Dishi could feel from Ma Jingguo's pulse that his internal strength is much stronger than when they last met.
Ma Jingguo smiled with his "puppy eyes." He chuckled and said, "Xiao shushu, behave yourself. Don't force me to carry you out of here."