Gu Chang immediately felt very embarrassed.

He felt as though Miss Xu had seen right through his little schemes.

He coughed uncomfortably a few times.

Yet Yu Tang suddenly understood why he kept trying to talk to her.

She was dumbstruck, unable to come to her senses for quite some time. Finally, Miss Xu tugged at her sleeve and smiled, “Second Brother Yin and Pei Xiaguang are talking. Lord Gu is asking if we’d like to go explore Yongfu Temple first.”

Yu Tang’s feelings were complicated.

She never would have dreamed that Gu Chang would develop romantic feelings for her.

After all, in her previous life he had married his mentor’s daughter, shared a deep bond with his wife, and never even glanced at other women. The first time she saw him, he hadn’t even given her a single look.

Who would have thought that in this life, with everything starting over, Gu Chang would also walk a completely different path from his previous life.

What exactly had happened to cause such a deviation in events?

She looked at Gu Chang, momentarily at a loss for words.

Gu Chang, however, misunderstood her silence as shyness and smiled awkwardly. “If Miss Yu is tired, we can just wait here for them as well. By the way, I still don’t know how Miss Yu came to have such close relations with the Pei household. Is it because your two families are old friends?”

Yu Tang looked at Gu Chang, whose expression was unprecedentedly gentle, and felt his admiration stick in her throat like a fishbone—he had forgotten another woman, yet was being attentive to her. She truly couldn’t accept this!

“That won’t be necessary,” she said, unwilling to continue spending time with Gu Chang. She declined tactfully, “Lord Gu, Third Master Pei, and Lord Yin are all scholars and surely have much to discuss. You needn’t accompany us. We have servants, maids, young attendants, and guards—we’re quite safe. You really don’t need to be so courteous!” Having finished speaking, without caring about Gu Chang’s reaction, she smiled warmly at Miss Xu. “Let’s not disturb their conversation. Let’s go explore Yongfu Temple first! I don’t want to become a burden to Lord Yin and Third Master Pei.”

Miss Xu was very surprised, but she forcefully held back from showing it. Playing along with Yu Tang, she laughed, “You make a good point. I was being thoughtless. Lord Gu, we won’t delay you any longer. We’ll be going now.”

Gu Chang frowned, wanting to say something, but Miss Xu had already taken the initiative, pulling Yu Tang and hurrying toward Yongfu Temple.

A large group of Yu Tang and Miss Xu’s maids and servants noisily followed behind them, departing.

Gu Chang’s frown deepened.

Was Miss Yu… looking down on him?

Gu Chang felt this possibility was unlikely.

No matter what, he could still be considered a golden son-in-law. With Yu Tang’s background, if not for a fortuitous coincidence, she wouldn’t even have the opportunity to interact with someone like him. How could she look down on him?

Unless Yu Tang had a better option.

Gu Chang looked toward Pei Yan in shock.

It seemed that with this explanation, many things made sense.

Gu Chang’s heart immediately felt as though he had swallowed a fly—extremely uncomfortable.

He wanted to turn on his heel and leave, yet harbored some doubts.

Given Pei Yan’s background, it would be impossible for him to take Miss Yu as his wife. Could it be that Miss Yu also thought he only wanted to take her as a concubine?

For the first time in his life, Gu Chang wanted to simply cast this matter aside and pretend it had never happened, yet his heart was unwilling to let go so easily and miss this opportunity.

He decided to ask Miss Xu to pass along a message for him.

If Yu Tang would rather become Pei Yan’s concubine to marry into the Pei household, then he had simply misjudged a person!

With this thought, Gu Chang’s mood calmed down, and he began contemplating how to get Miss Xu to deliver this message for him.

After Miss Xu could no longer see Gu Chang, she immediately excitedly pulled Yu Tang close to whisper, “What’s wrong? Do you find Gu Chaoyang too talkative? Or are you too shy to interact much with outsiders? Gu Chaoyang is actually quite decent. Yin Mingyuan speaks very highly of him, saying he’s one of the rare capable officials among the younger generation. Yin Mingyuan has never praised anyone else like this. Even Pei Yan only received a ‘passable’ evaluation from Yin Mingyuan.”

If he could come to understand Yu Tang and then approach the Yu family to propose marriage, it would be quite a good match.

But if he was merely attracted by her beauty, then she wouldn’t hesitate to make things difficult for him.

Miss Xu secretly pondered this in her heart.

Yu Tang quickly said, “It’s not because of that. I feel that when it comes to my marriage, it’s better to let my parents decide. Besides, didn’t you tell me that he would marry his mentor’s daughter? I think, since he previously planned to marry someone else and you all knew about it, that was also a commitment. Regardless of what happened, for him to talk to me so casually like this—I just feel such a person is too heartless. I don’t really like it.”

Miss Xu knew about the rift between Gu Chang and Sun Gao. Because she disliked the Sun family, she sympathized with Gu Chang and felt that if Gu Chang could make up his mind to break away from the Sun family, it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. Moreover, with Gu Chang being so unusually humble, she had unconsciously indulged him.

Yu Tang’s words struck like a sharp rebuke, bringing her mind back to clarity.

She was both shocked and frightened.

If Yu Tang had been someone easily swayed or lacking her own judgment, and had listened to her encouragement and done something wrong, how could she face herself?

Miss Xu couldn’t help but grab Yu Tang’s arm and said sincerely, “A’Tang, you’re truly my faithful friend. If it weren’t for you, I would have made a huge mistake!”

Yu Tang didn’t understand.

Miss Xu was too embarrassed to explain in detail, and said vaguely, “You’re right! His behavior is indeed somewhat heartless. This is my fault. From now on, I must think three times before acting. If I do anything wrong, you must correct me so I never make such a mistake again.”

Seeing Miss Xu’s face turn pale with sweat beading on her forehead, Yu Tang felt she was taking this matter too seriously. She couldn’t help but laugh, “Look at what you’re saying. I know you care about me. I just don’t like people being condescending toward me, as if just because he’s interested in me, I should be honored beyond measure and accept joyfully. Can’t I find someone I actually like?”

She had asked herself this many times.

Her family had worked themselves to exhaustion over her marriage. Many of those who came to propose were already quite good as live-in sons-in-law, yet she grew increasingly irritated and depressed.

Must marriage and living together as a couple only mean raising trays to eyebrow level and treating each other with respect?

Couldn’t it be like her father and mother, who always had endless things to talk about when together, who did everything happily, and who lived lovingly together regardless of whether they had sons or daughters?

She wanted a marriage like her parents had.

But she vaguely felt that this desire of hers might displease many people, so she had always kept it hidden in her heart without speaking of it.

This time, seeing Miss Xu looking as though she had committed a grave error made her heart soften, and she spoke the words hidden in her heart.

Miss Xu’s eyes brightened as she listened. “A’Tang! No wonder we can become good friends at first sight despite being separated by thousands of miles. It turns out we share the same thoughts. I initially didn’t want to marry Yin Mingyuan precisely because everyone acted as if I had struck it lucky that Yin Mingyuan favored me. I later decided to marry Yin Mingyuan because he treated me well and I liked him—not because of the marriage arrangement between our families or anything else. I once told my mother this, and she scolded me severely for it. I never dared mention it again. I thought I was the only person in the world who thought this way. But there’s someone else who thinks like me!”

She excitedly moved to embrace Yu Tang, her expression revealing an intimacy born of recognition that was deeper than before.

“We must be good friends for life,” she said. “Even if I’m in the capital in the future and you’re in Lin’an, we must write to each other often. Let me know that I’m not alone.”

As Miss Xu spoke, tears fell.

Yu Tang was also very moved.

She patted Miss Xu’s shoulder and smiled, “We’d better hurry and take a quick tour around Yongfu Temple, hadn’t we? Otherwise when Lord Yin and the others come over, we won’t be able to explore anymore!”

“Yes!” Miss Xu laughed through her tears. “These people are so boring, always thinking about those tedious matters wherever they go. We shouldn’t have come to explore Yongfu Temple with them in the first place. How about after we finish touring, we head back early? We’ll order a table of vegetarian dishes ourselves and then make Pei Xiaguang pay the bill—not only will we not dine with them in the evening, but we’ll also return before them and let them entertain themselves!”

Yu Tang thought this was an excellent idea.

By the time Pei Yan discovered it, Yu Tang and Miss Xu had already returned to the residence, washed away all their weariness, and were comfortably lying in bed reading picture books.

Pei Yan was so angry he ground his teeth, deciding he must properly deal with Yu Tang. However, before dealing with Yu Tang, he needed to find a servant or maid skilled in martial arts for her. That way, even if he tried to frighten Yu Tang, she wouldn’t actually be scared.

He went to find Yin Hao.

But Yin Hao had gone to see Third Madam Yang.

He sat there bored, waiting for Yin Hao.

Yin Hao was currently discussing the matter of Gu Chang with Third Madam Yang: “…Although it was Xiaguang’s suggestion, I also think it’s quite good. But in these matters, you aunts have always thought more deeply and further than us men. Whether it’s truly suitable still requires you to make the decision.”

This “you” referred not only to Third Madam Yang, but also to the elder generation’s Aunt Zhang and others.

Third Madam Yang’s heart stirred.

If the Yin family could form a marriage alliance with the Pei family, that would naturally be best. However, the Yin family’s young ladies had quite a reputation in recent years, and prestigious families might not be willing to let their sons, whom they had painstakingly educated for over a decade, become sons-in-law for the Yin family. So the matches the Yin family had discussed in recent years weren’t very good.

Gu Chang had no backing.

If they could persuade Gu Chang to form a marriage alliance with the Yin family, it would be like adding another wing to the family.

This match was worth discussing.

Third Madam Yang understood well that “opportunity waits for no one.” She immediately made the decision: “If we can win him over, this match would naturally be very good. Especially Mingyuan’s second uncle’s daughter—she’s already come of age, yet no one has come to propose marriage. Her second uncle has turned several hairs white from worry over this matter.”

The daughter of Yin Mingyuan’s second uncle’s family, having no brothers, had been raised as a boy since childhood. People around the Yin family had all heard about this, which was one of the important reasons why his second uncle’s daughter had difficulty finding a match.

Yin Hao chuckled. “I think it’s quite suitable.”

Third Madam Yang also smiled.

Yin Hao said, “I’ll invite Gu Chaoyang for tea tomorrow.”

Third Madam Yang said, “If you feel uncertain, bring Pei Xiaguang along. That person, whenever needed, can argue that the dead are alive and the living are dead. He’s most suitable as a persuader.”

Yin Hao snorted. “Is there anything that person isn’t suitable for?”

Third Madam Yang thought about it and laughed.

Yin Hao rose to take his leave.