novelraw Chapter 313 Thrown into the Mountains
Chapter 313 Thrown into the Mountains
Chapter 313 Thrown into the Mountains
Yes, outsiders won't open a morgue to examine a corpse, but he finds it disgusting!
"If someone has contracted such a dirty disease, burying them in their own family cemetery would be disrespectful to their ancestors! Besides, buying a coffin costs money; even the cheapest coffin would cost several hundred copper coins!"
"Now that money is needed for everything at home, where am I going to get the funds to buy a coffin for this rebellious daughter? If you pity her, give me one tael of silver now, and I will go and buy her a coffin."
Madam Qian rolled her eyes: "This is your daughter, not mine. Whether she has a simple coffin or not is none of my business!"
"Since it has nothing to do with you, why bother interfering? It only makes me look cold and heartless."
"Aren't you?"
"You!" Gu Liansheng glared at him angrily.
Qian ignored him and turned to walk towards the east wing: "Do whatever you want, I won't say another word, but don't expect me to lend you a hand."
Gu Liansheng stared at her back with a dark expression, wishing that it was Qian Shi lying in the courtyard right now.
He withdrew his gaze, looked down at Gu Qing who had stopped speaking for a while, hesitated for a moment, and still did not want her to die in the courtyard.
It's already late afternoon, and it will be dark soon. The girl is wearing a fur coat, so she won't freeze to death anytime soon.
Gu Liansheng put down the medicine bowl in his hand, went into the house and found a wooden rake. He used the rake to pry Gu Qing up so that she could turn over face up.
Gu Qing closed her eyes, her head throbbing and her head spinning badly, occasionally gagging.
Gu Liansheng looked disgusted, but forced back his anger and called out to Gu Qing, "Daughter?"
The pupils under the eyelids moved, and the eyes opened a crack.
Gu Liansheng breathed a sigh of relief; the person was still conscious.
“Daughter, open your mouth, Daddy will pour the medicine into your mouth. This is a tonic that your grandma got. You are weak right now, so Daddy specially cooked a bowl for you. Come on, eat it while it's hot.”
Hearing this made Gu Qing tremble all over. Did her father think she had gone crazy from hitting her head against the wall?
She knew what kind of medicine it was. Her father and Qian were plotting right in front of her. She wasn't deaf!
Although she knew it, Gu Qing had lost her spirit at this moment. Her mind was in a daze and in a mess. The words that Qian had said earlier kept lingering in her mind.
After a moment of silence, she simply opened her mouth and let her father pour the medicine into it.
Perhaps Qian is right. Having contracted such a vile disease, it would be best to die as soon as possible while one still retains human appearance.
Gu Liansheng was very satisfied with Gu Qing's understanding. He carefully poured the medicine into Gu Qing's mouth, a little at a time, and poured more after Gu Qing swallowed it.
Gu Qing ate half of the bowl of medicine, but spilled the other half.
Gu Liansheng was clumsy and awkward. The medicine bowl was very close to Gu Qing's mouth, and he still managed to spill half of the medicine.
Although half of the medicine had been used, Gu Liansheng was not worried that it would not be effective enough. He boiled all three remaining packets of calming soup in one go.
This bowl of medicine is made by boiling three packets of calming soup, and its effects are at least three times stronger. Half a bowl is more than enough.
The snow fell heavier and heavier, and Gu Qing, who was lying on the ground, soon fell asleep.
Gu Liansheng found a thick hemp rope, tied a noose around it, used a wooden rake to support it, and put the noose over Gu Qing's body. When it got dark, he pulled the man up the mountain.
After securing the rope, Gu Liansheng tried dragging it a few times. It was very heavy; he was likely to suffer that night.
He didn't stop, dragging the person all the way to the woodshed in the backyard, where he locked the person inside.
After finishing all that, Gu Liansheng returned to the east room of the main hall to see if his mother was awake or asleep.
The medicine that Madam Feng had taken earlier was also a calming soup, but she didn't finish it. Gu Liansheng left after taking only a few bites of the bowl of medicine.
Since Ms. Feng was unable to move and no one was feeding her, she naturally couldn't take the medicine.
Unable to take her medicine, she was unusually energetic today and managed to hear most of what Gu Qing was saying.
She kept making muffled noises, trying to get her son outside to come in, but the noise outside was so loud that no one heard Feng Shi calling out.
When her son didn't come in, Mrs. Feng was so angry and anxious that she eventually fainted from the stress.
When Gu Liansheng entered, Madam Feng was still unconscious. Gu Liansheng, unaware of the truth, assumed Madam Feng was asleep and quietly withdrew.
After leaving the main room, Gu Liansheng did not return to the east wing, but went to the west wing instead.
After Gu Lianshan's family moved away, Gu Liansheng occupied the west wing and set up a study for himself. Inside, he placed a large daybed with bedding on it, so he could lie down and rest whenever he got tired of reading.
After Old Master Gu passed away, Gu Liansheng moved to the west wing.
To avoid arousing suspicion from the Qian family, he said that the imperial examination was approaching and he wanted to focus on preparing for it.
He thought that Madam Qian would disagree, but to his surprise, as soon as he said it, Madam Qian immediately agreed without any annoyance.
At that time, Gu Liansheng was preoccupied with the passing of his grandfather and didn't think much of it. Instead, he felt relieved, thinking that Madam Qian was sensible.
Back in the west wing, Gu Liansheng patiently waited for nightfall.
Time that used to fly by seemed to be passing by unusually slowly today.
Feeling restless, Gu Liansheng and the others simply took off their clothes and shoes, crawled into bed, and took a nap.
When he woke up, the room was pitch black.
Gu Liansheng was overjoyed; it was getting dark!
He put on his clothes and shoes in the dark, and by the faint light from the stove, he found the flint and quickly lit the oil lamp.
There was a water clock in the room. I took the oil lamp and went over to check the time. My eyes widened in surprise. It was already the end of the You hour!
Why didn't Qian call him?!
Gu Liansheng stormed out of the house and headed towards the east wing.
An oil lamp was lit in the east wing. When they arrived at the door, Gu Liansheng pounded on it and shouted for Qian Shi to come out.
Mrs. Qian is having her meal inside right now.
Tonight, taking advantage of Gu Liansheng being asleep, she searched the house thoroughly and found half a chicken and a piece of pork.
She chopped the chicken into large pieces, added water to make soup, and cut the pork into thick slices, stir-frying it with radishes.
After that, she went to the east wing, opened a jar of wine, filled a whole pot, and took it to the east wing to eat meat and drink wine.
When Gu Liansheng knocked on the door, she had already eaten about 70-80% of her fill. Hearing the knock, she pouted in dissatisfaction, downed the wine in her cup in one gulp, and then opened the door with a sullen face.
As soon as the door opened, the rich aroma of meat mixed with wine wafted out, making Gu Liansheng's mouth water.
At first, Gu Liansheng didn't react and subconsciously asked, "Did you cook meat dishes?"
As they spoke, they squeezed into the room.
Qian didn't stop him and stepped aside to let him in.
Once the person entered the house, Gu Liansheng finally realized what was happening when he saw the meat and wine on the table.
"You touched the meat and wine in the east wing?!"
"What? I can't eat it?" Qian retorted sharply, her brows furrowed at his unfriendly tone. Gu Liansheng was enraged: "That meat and wine are for when we visit Scholar Han's house after the New Year! How can you eat it?!"
Madam Qian paused for a moment, then said, "If it was meant for visiting relatives, why didn't you explain that to me beforehand? I saw there was wine and meat in that room, and since we'd both been frightened today, I thought I'd cook a nice meal to calm our nerves. How was I supposed to know that you were going to give it away as a gift?!"
Hearing Qian's twisted accusations, Gu Liansheng was so angry that he saw stars.
Seeing that the man was very angry, Madam Qian dared not argue anymore. Gu Qing was still locked up in the backyard. If she angered the man to the point of collapse, who would deal with Gu Qing?
“It was my fault. Now that I’ve eaten the meat and drunk the wine, you might as well sit down and eat some too. When you visit Scholar Han after the New Year, I’ll use the money to prepare more meat and wine for you. You won’t go empty-handed.”
These words softened Gu Liansheng's expression. He sat down on another bench, picked up a pair of chopsticks, and began to eat heartily.
He took the half-full pot of wine from the flask, poured it into a wine cup, and drank it cup after cup.
Fearing he might get drunk, Madam Qian reminded him that Gu Qing was still in the backyard.
"I just went to check on him, and his lips were purple. He's been sleeping soundly and unconscious."
Gu Liansheng was startled and quickly stopped eating, asking, "Is he still breathing? Don't let him die in the woodshed!"
“I was angry! I poked her a few times with a stick and grunted a few times.”
That's good!
Gu Liansheng breathed a sigh of relief.
Madam Qian added, "Hurry up and eat. Everyone in the village is closed right now, it's the perfect time to head up the mountain. If it gets any later, it'll be freezing cold outside. If you go up the mountain during the coldest time, you'll definitely catch a cold!"
Gu Liansheng was well aware of this, so he quickly filled his stomach and didn't drink any more alcohol.
After finishing the food on the table, Gu Liansheng let out a burp, put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and got up to go to the backyard.
Watching the person leave, Qian felt extremely uneasy.
She had said she wouldn't get involved, but she couldn't let it go until she saw Gu Liansheng take the person away with her own eyes.
After putting down the bowls and chopsticks that were half-collected, Qian went out, grabbed her straw hat, and put it on. She then followed Gu Liansheng to the backyard.
Gu Liansheng found a torch, lit it, and used it to light his way to the backyard.
The snowfall has lessened considerably, and the wind isn't strong anymore, so going into the mountains now will be less of a hardship.
The woodshed was locked. Gu Liansheng took out the key and handed it to Qian Shi, gesturing for her to unlock it. He himself was holding a torch and it was inconvenient for him to unlock it.
Ms. Qian did not refuse and quickly unlocked the door after taking the key.
They held torches up into the woodshed for light, and next to the pile of firewood, the couple saw Gu Qing lying on the firewood.
Gu Liansheng's expression immediately changed: "That brat is never still, even in death! Why would she lie on the firewood? Is this firewood even usable? This is all the firewood we have left!"
"No, forget it! We'll ask the villagers later if anyone's willing to sell firewood, and we'll buy some. We don't need any of the firewood in this woodshed! Better safe than sorry!"
Gu Liansheng was furious: "If I had known this would happen, I should have left the person in the snow pit during the day!"
"It's too late to say all this now! Hurry up, pull the rope and drag him out, I'll get you a torch!"
Qian took the torch from Gu Liansheng and stood aside to light his way, urging him to hurry up and pull the person out.
With a dark expression, Gu Liansheng stepped forward, picked up the rope from the ground, and forcefully pulled Gu Qing off the firewood, dragging her along as they walked outside.
As they came out of the woodshed, Gu Liansheng instinctively pulled her towards the front yard, but Qian Shi hurriedly called out to him, "Going through the front yard is too conspicuous! There's also a gate in the back yard. Can we get to the mountains this way?"
"Yes, it's possible, but it's a bit far..."
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a bit further! Let’s go through the back door here!” Madam Qian made the decision decisively.
Gu Liansheng was at a loss for what to do, so he did as Qian Shi suggested and pulled Gu Qing out the back door to go into the mountains.
Qian escorted him to the back door, then wanted to return the torch to her, not wanting to go with him herself.
Gu Liansheng said no, "The road is difficult to travel and it will probably take a lot of time. This one torch is probably not enough. We need to bring two more torches as backups."
I'm already exhausted from holding Qing'er's hand, and I don't have the strength to carry three more torches right now. You're the only one who can come with me now.
Ms. Qian was extremely unwilling!
But she also knew that Gu Liansheng was not lying to her. With Gu Liansheng's physical strength, he would probably have to stop and catch his breath several times along the way while pulling Gu Qing into the mountains.
If he were to carry three more torches, the time required would likely double.
It was late at night, and Madam Qian didn't want to stay at home for too long. The reason was simple: Old Master Gu's body was still lying in the west room of the main hall!
After hesitating for a while, Ms. Qian agreed to go with them.
They went back into the house and got two new torches, along with a flint. Qian held the torches and led the way for Gu Liansheng.
We set off from the backyard into the mountains via a small path. I reckon no one has been here since the snow fell, as the snow on the path was unusually thick and very difficult to walk on.
The couple trudged along, their feet sinking into the deep snow, their bodies covered in snow from the waist down.
Gu Qing was in an even worse state; she was completely covered in snow, and at first glance, she didn't look like a human being at all.
The rope around his body was originally tied around his shoulders, but with constant movement and friction, the rope gradually moved upwards, eventually reaching his neck.
The noose was a slipknot, and the neck was thin. When Gu Liansheng pulled the rope, the slipknot tightened automatically until it tightly strangled his neck.
If the couple walking ahead had stopped to take a closer look, they might have discovered that the noose was strangling Gu Qing's neck.
Unfortunately, neither of the couple looked in Gu Qing's direction. Even when they stopped to rest halfway, they never looked in his direction.
Gu Qing, whose neck was being strangled, gradually lost her breath. She struggled slightly with her hands and feet for a few moments before running out of strength.
She opened her mouth and widened her eyes, and soon began to breathe more in than out.
The couple remained oblivious, continuing on their way with their heads down.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, just before the couple were about to collapse from exhaustion, they finally reached the mountains.
Gu Liansheng was too weak to go any further. He found a spot, pulled the person there, threw down the rope, and walked back with weak steps.
As for Gu Qing, he didn't even glance at her.
The Qian family was the same; the two of them seemed to be running away. Ever since they left home, they hadn't even glanced at Gu Qing.
On the way back, after they had gone some distance, Qian glanced back and suddenly remembered that she hadn't removed the rope.
"That girl is still tied up with rope. What if she gets discovered..."
"Don't worry, very few people come to this mountain forest, especially now that the mountains are blocked by heavy snow. No one will come here."
Gu Liansheng also glanced back, his face contorted in the dim firelight.
He said, "With such a large piece of meat left here, it won't be long before those hungry wild animals come out, and then... even if someone does come here, they won't see anything..."