Jun Beiyue was awake!

How… how could it be so soon!

Madam Gu froze on the bed, her mouth parting slightly. She wanted to speak, but for a moment didn’t know what to say—she didn’t even feel the excitement she should have.

“Wife, Beiyue is awake!” the family head said again, assuming she was simply too overjoyed to speak.

Only then did Madam Gu slowly come back to herself, her face suddenly lighting up with delight. “Really? Beiyue is awake? Where is he! Bring him here quickly so I can see him, I’ve been waiting for so, so long!”

“He’s just outside. Wife, be patient—once I’ve dealt with a few matters, I’ll bring him to see you!” A trace of helplessness flickered through the family head’s eyes as he gently patted Madam Gu’s hand and rose to leave.

“My lord, what matter could be so urgent!” Madam Gu asked hurriedly. With neither Suying nor Jiang Chen in sight, she couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

“It’s nothing important. Rest, wife, the medicine will arrive shortly.” With that, the family head drew a deep breath and walked out the door, leaving Madam Gu full of unease.

“Mother, what’s happened to Father… something’s wrong!” Gu Meiting said timidly. If Jun Beiyue was awake, surely that Han Ziqing wasn’t planning something again?

“Go and see, quickly!” Madam Gu urged anxiously.

Gu Meiting clutched Jiang Yuan and hurried after him. “Father, where is Jiang Chen?”

The family head only gave a cold snort and said nothing.

Gu Meiting chased after him again, grabbing his sleeve. “Father, where is Jiang Chen! Where is Yuan’er’s father!”

Jiang Yuan also chimed in with a whiny voice, “Grandfather, Grandfather, where’s my daddy, Yuan’er wants Daddy!”

The family head stopped, glaring viciously at Gu Meiting, who was utterly baffled—she hadn’t done anything wrong!

“Someone, take the young master away!” the family head said coldly.

“Father!” Gu Meiting cried out in alarm. “Can’t you just tell me clearly what’s going on!”

Jiang Yuan immediately burst into tears, wailing loudly.

Gu Meiting was about to shove Jiang Yuan into her father’s arms—in the past, whenever her father got angry, handing Jiang Yuan over always calmed him down. But this time, the moment the family head took Jiang Yuan, he didn’t even spare him a glance, simply tossing him to a nearby guard. “Take him away, watch him closely!”

At this, Gu Meiting was stunned. The family head snorted coldly. “You ask me where Jiang Chen is—I want to ask you the same thing! Come with me to the main hall!”

With that, he strode off in a fury.

This time, Gu Meiting was truly frightened. Something major must have happened. As she turned to go, she grabbed the maid behind her. “Go tell Madam—tell her to come to the main hall right away, something huge has happened!”

“Young miss, what’s happened?” the maid asked timidly, having never seen the master look like that before.

“How should I know! Just go tell Madam it’s something serious, quickly!” Gu Meiting snapped.

When Gu Meiting hurried into the main hall, she saw the family head sitting grim-faced in the seat of honor, with Han Ziqing and Jun Beiyue seated to the right. Gu Suying had already returned, standing alone on the left, with no sign of Jiang Chen anywhere.

Gu Meiting wanted to look longer at Jun Beiyue, but his stern features and cold, sharp eyes made her instinctively afraid, and guilty—she quickly looked away and crept timidly to Gu Suying’s side.

“Where’s Jiang Chen?” Gu Meiting asked in a low voice.

Gu Suying’s expression was no better. She had deliberately sent Jiang Chen back ahead of her—she understood that man’s character even better than Gu Meiting did, and had long anticipated he would run.

Han Ziqing hadn’t been wrong to curse him—he really was a spineless coward!

Gu Suying didn’t answer. Gu Meiting pressed again, “What exactly happened, where’s Jiang Chen! Tell me!”

Her voice was hardly quiet this time, but Gu Suying’s face remained cold, still not answering.

Silence filled the room. Gu Meiting looked from the family head to the couple, Jun Beiyue and his wife, then suddenly slammed her hand on the table and stood, demanding furiously, “Where is my husband! He left with the rest of you, where is he! Why didn’t he come back with you?”

“Where’s my child’s father! Someone answer me!”

The family head snorted. “Suying, tell her.”

Gu Suying took a deep breath before saying flatly, “He most likely fled out of fear of being caught.”

Though her tone was fairly composed, she didn’t dare raise her head to look at the family head.

“Fled out of fear of what! What exactly happened to him!” Gu Meiting jumped up again, utterly bewildered.

“Suying, speak,” the family head pressed on.

Gu Suying startled slightly, remaining silent, her head lowered, saying nothing.

Gu Meiting frowned at her sister, anxiety written across her face, about to speak again. Suddenly the family head slammed his palm down on the table with a resounding crack. “Gu Suying, are you still not going to speak!”

Both sisters jumped in fright. Gu Suying immediately stood, then dropped to her knees with a thud, sobbing, “Father, I know I was wrong, I know I was wrong. I shouldn’t have listened to my brother-in-law’s slander, shouldn’t have let him deceive me. It was all his doing—I didn’t know things were so serious!”

Gu Meiting was completely stunned. What on earth was going on—what shameful thing had Suying and Jiang Chen actually done?

“Speak up!” the family head said coldly. He didn’t want her explanations—he wanted the truth.

A trace of viciousness flickered through Gu Suying’s eyes. Clever as she was, she knew there was no hiding anything now—Jun Beiyue and Han Ziqing were far too capable, surely they already knew that Bai Feiyao was the true mastermind behind it all.

She had no room left to conceal anything—her only chance now was to shift the blame.

Jiang Chen’s absence gave her the perfect opening to defend herself.

She raised her head tremblingly, sobbing without pause, tears streaming down uncontrollably. “Father, your daughter deserves to die. Ever since Beiyue was brought to the Gu residence, my brother-in-law kept egging me on day after day, saying that once Beiyue came, they’d rush me into marriage, that I wouldn’t be able to keep living at the Gu residence anymore. He frightened me so badly.”

Jun Beiyue and Ziqing watched coldly. This husband and wife were each more cunning than the other—it was obvious at a glance that Gu Suying was putting on an act.

In this whole conspiracy, a man like Jiang Chen couldn’t even freely come and go from the Gu family treasury.

Without Gu Suying pulling the strings, what could Jiang Chen possibly have accomplished on his own?

This second young miss truly was formidable. They were curious to see just how far her scheming could take her to clean up this mess.

Gu Meiting listened beside her, brows knitting tightly. Why hadn’t she known any of this?

That wretch Jiang Chen, and this younger sister she’d ordered around since childhood—neither of them had told her anything?

The family head kept his face tight, saying nothing.

Gu Suying had no choice but to continue, putting on her most pitiable expression as she sobbed, “And then… I was so scared, and my brother-in-law also said… said that once Beiyue woke up, I’d be married off to just anyone without any say in the matter.”

The family head remained unmoved, but Gu Meiting grew anxious, roaring, “And then what! What did you two do!”

Gu Suying looked like a frightened little rabbit, her hands clasped tightly together as she curled in on herself. “And then, my brother-in-law said he… said he had a way to make…”

She stammered, unable to finish. Gu Meiting’s face went pale as she shoved her sister hard, shouting, “Just say it already!”