Gu Zhihua shrank up herself behind Ye, popping up her head now and then as if she had no nerve to confront Gu Qiang face to face.

Ye’s face remained grim, she knew that Gu Qiang would not play nice with her anymore. If none of them wanted to keep the disguise, they’d better place all their cards on the table. Besides, Gu Qing no longer remembered the most important thing anymore.

It was about the identity of Gu Zhihua, a secret that Ye had been concealing for so long.

She had been worrying all the time that this secret would be exposed one day. Now that the last person knowing it had gone, and Gu Qiang had lost her memory, Ye thought she could find a way to put up with her.

“Qiang, as our family is no longer what it used to be, we need to be very careful in court. If you keep ignoring the rules and don’t care about your reputation, I am afraid the family will have to kick you out one day. So second thought, please,” said Ye softly. The implication of her words was very clear.

Standing by their sides, Ting Feng and Chui Xue knew perfectly well about Ye’s true intention.

“I am afraid the one who wants me out is not the family, but you, right, my lady?” replied Gu Qiang with a slight smile, her clothes were fluttering in the wind, on which the blood and dust gave off a strange smell.

Ye’s face suddenly twisted. This was the first time they spoke out everything in such a ruthless, open manner. Tough talk was never her thing; she was only good at pretending nice and now couldn’t help feeling nervous in front of this demon-like woman.

“What are you saying, Qiang? You have grown up now. Now that Zhihua had gotten her husband, perhaps it’s time for you to find yours?” Ye helped herself sit on the bench in the yard. She was the Prime Minister’s wife. How could Gu Qiang keep her standing during the talk?

But she could find no one to blame. They had been too indulgent with Gu Qiang, which was why she became so supercilious.

Gu Qiang didn’t feel offended by Ye’s behaviors at all. She knew Ye would never accept her.

She took her seat as well. Then Ting Feng brought her tea and ignored the presence of Ye, which irritated Ye even more. How dare she push her luck? Even her maid dared to ignore the hostess?

“Who is it this time?” asked Gu Qiang after a sip of her tea. She glanced at Ye, and then said to Ting Feng who stood aside, “Find me some clean clothes and get the hot water ready. I want to take a bath.”

Ye turned around and pulled Gu Zhihua up, who sat down mechanically like she had lost her soul.

“You see, your sister couldn’t get the Third Prince’s love and now becomes like this. So I think, power and position are not important at all when you are looking for a husband, as you can get neither of them if you are not loved. Then, why don’t you marry into an average family where you will be cherished by them all? Isn’t it a great idea?” said Ye resignedly after a sigh.

What a great idea!

Gu Qiang sneered, slowly twirling the cup in her hand which revealed her impatience. Ye wanted nothing but marrying her to someone.

With her daughter’s marriage now a tragedy, she wanted her to follow suit?

How could that be possible? Not all girls had a mother like Ye.

“I am asking you. Who is it this time?” repeated Gu Qiang coldly. “It’s a young man from my side, a wealthy family in the south, with thousands of acres’ lands in possession. You can’t easily find a husband as good as him,” replied Ye in a tone full of promise.

Gu Qiang instantly saw through her true intention. Her words were short, but enough for her to get the meaning.

“Father hates businessmen the most, and now you want me to marry one? Do you think I don’t know that you just want father to hate me as well? Let it wait until father comes back,” said Gu Qiang. She made a gesture, after which Chui Xue walked to Ye from the door and said, “My lady, please leave.”

Ye stood up abruptly, which gave Gu Qiang quite a shock. She had foreseen this, but Ye’s movement was so hard that she nearly made the cups on the table drop. Gu Qiang made a subconscious step back and saw Ye look at her coldly, her lips curled into a line.

“This is the last time I have a decent talk with you. It’s my duty to find you a husband, and I doubt the Prime Minister will oppose it. Let’s wait and see,” said Ye. Then she dragged up Gu Zhihua who was still in a daze aside, and said softly, “Let’s go!”

Gu Zhihua finally came back to her senses and turned to look at Gu Qiang.

Gu Qiang met her eyes, which were no longer hollow and empty. Instead, there was a weird smile around the corner of her mouth, as if she was plotting something against her. For a woman who no longer had any hope for life, this was the last thing she could do.

Gu Qiang was familiar with this. After seeing a lot of these pretenses, she only found Gu Zhihua pathetic and ridiculous.

Seeing Gu Qiang hadn’t been affected by her grin as she had expected, Gu Zhihua lowered her head and left in a huff with Ye.

After a long-distance walking, Ye suddenly stopped. Once making sure no one was nearby, she grabbed Gu Zhihua before her and said angrily, “What now? Who told you to come back? Are you going to stay in the Prime Minister Mansion forever if Shen Zhongbai really dumped you?”

“Do I have another choice?” Gu Zhihua looked up to her and forced a smile out, which contained a sense of innocence in it.

Gu Zhihua had been an innocent and pure-looking girl all the time. Her smile made Ye’s heart tremble.

She hadn’t seen Gu Zhihua smile for a long time since she returned to the Prime Minister Mansion. The girl was clearly wasting away; she looked much thinner than before, and her fair full cheeks were now like a withered orange.

“Don’t you want to find out who made you end up like this? Things can’t be worse now. Are you just going to do nothing and let me help you?” said Ye so exasperatedly, hoping her daughter could have done better.

If her daughter had to live the rest of her life like this, what she could do was to make Gu Qiang feel the same.

“Have you got any plan, mother?” asked Gu Zhihua. She had no tears to wipe now, her eyes were so dry that made her feel like blind.

“Has Ye Mu set off already?” Ye asked her maid while walking.

“Yes, he will arrive in three days,” nodded the maid.

“Mother, are you really going to let Cousin Ye Mu be Gu Qiang’s husband?” asked Gu Zhihua in a soft voice.

In her memory, her cousin Ye Mu was quite a good person, he was not a squanderer like the boys in other wealthy families and even looked a bit bookish and naive.

“What do you know? What we need to do is to send Gu Qiang away, the farther, the better. Then we can find Ye Mu other women. In that case, there is no way for Gu Qiang to have a happy life!” Ye didn’t want to argue with her. More words, more troubles.

At dusk, Gu Qiang put on some clean clothes after the bath. The wind was strong; she closed the window, went back to her bed, and started to read the diary. Not knowing how to use it, or how to communicate with herself from the other side, she took up a brush, thinking.

“Has anything changed?”

The moon rose high over the trees, and everything was in quietness. She stared at the paper and held her breath.

But there was no response.

On the other side of the diary, the Empress woke up full of hope and found herself on a bed with pink curtains flowing in the wind. There seemed to be some perfume in the air, which only made her dizzy.

She never enjoyed that kind of smell. She always believed that women smelled the best with theirs natural scent, and the make-ups would only make her feel disgusted.

So this couldn’t be her room. But she was with Shen Qianshan before…

The Empress looked at the other side of the bed, but it was empty. Had things really been changed?

She got up and called for service, but no one answered. This made her a bit nervous, as things had totally gone out of her control. She was even afraid of what would happen to her every morning when she woke up.

This didn’t feel good at all. Although she had a strong heart, she couldn’t bear to live in fear every day.

She pushed the door open and walked out. This was a mansion on a mountain, and her room was staged at the highest. Everything was covered in fog so thick that she could smell water in it. It was very damp.

While she was walking down the mountain, a sense of panic coming from nowhere suddenly struck her. What if this was a brand-new life? How could she adapt to it?

Shen Qianshan was the only man who knew her situation. Should she go to find him first? After all, they were on the same boat now.

The lane winded down. She couldn’t hear a single sound; all the rooms she passed by seemed to be empty.

At the foot of the mountain stood the main hall. The Empress was sure that she had never been to this place before.

She would have at least recognized part of the surroundings had she been in Xiaoyao Mountain. But this was another place, a mountain rich in spiritual energy.

Even she, someone who had never learned martial arts before, could sense the spiritual power in the air, not to mention those masters.

Finally, she spotted some people in the main hall. They were some servant girls doing cleaning, all with brooms in their hands. At the sight of her, they all stopped and greeted her respectfully, “My lady.”

My lady? What place is this?

“Who is that?” The Empress stopped and asked in a cold voice.

A maid came forward and answered her with a smile, “Master said you can find him in the side hall once you wake up. He would like to discuss with you the details of the wedding.”

The Empress was totally lost. But instead of asking her back, she headed towards the side hall.

On the way, she passed a corridor, which was built across a deep pool. The water in it was so clear that she could see fish swimming.

It was getting cold, but the fish seemed to have not noticed it and was as free as ever.