After the Cold and Aloof Husband's Mask Falls - Chapter 45

As soon as Gu Wanlan finished speaking, three elderly female servants from the Protector Duke’s Manor emerged and surrounded Gu Baozhu.

Gu Baozhu’s eyes widened in shock. “How dare you?! If you act so recklessly, won’t people point fingers at your back?”

But Gu Wanlan remained unmoved. She simply made a hand gesture to the servants to seize her. Seeing the servants drawing closer, Gu Baozhu finally began to panic. She whirled around, retreated into the crowd, and shouted sharply:

“Gu Wanlan! Even if you take me away today, more versions of me will stand up in the future! None of them will let you off!”

“Don’t you all agree?!” Gu Baozhu raised her arm high. She expected that this time, she could step on Gu Wanlan’s shoulders and regain her status as the praised and flattered noble lady she once was.

Behind her, however, there was absolute silence.

Gu Baozhu could even feel the group of people behind her quickly dispersing and leaving. She was stunned. Not like this—it shouldn’t be like this!

She grabbed the arm of an auntie who was about to leave and cried out excitedly, “Leave?! Why are you all leaving?! Come and condemn Gu Wanlan with me! Didn’t you also think what she did was a scandal that offends public morals?!”

The auntie hurriedly wrenched her hand away from Gu Baozhu and muttered a low curse under her breath, “Crazy woman,” before burying her head and trying to flee. Before leaving, she didn’t forget to repeatedly apologize to Gu Wanlan.

“Eldest Miss Gu, this common woman was just passing by. I had absolutely no intention of insulting you…”

It was true she liked to gossip about wealthy families in the streets, but only a fool would get involved in a legal dispute for the sake of an earful of gossip! Especially when it involved those murky romantic affairs between men and women that could never be clearly explained!

Seeing someone take the lead, the others also crowded toward Gu Wanlan, fearing that if they were a step too late, they would be implicated by Gu Baozhu.

“Yes, yes, Eldest Miss, we all know there must be some misunderstanding!” “I think there’s definitely a misunderstanding! Maybe this is a Roulan plot! They want to frame the Protector Duke!” “…”

Gu Baozhu stared at all this in a daze, forgetting even to resist. The servants twisted her arms behind her back and pinned her down. Yet she remained obstinate, her eyes wide as she stared at Gu Wanlan, who was surrounded by the crowd.

Why? She didn’t understand.

Across the crowd, Gu Wanlan’s gaze fell upon her, then coldly slid away. At this moment, a surge of hatred rose within Gu Baozhu again. She had done so much, yet in Gu Wanlan’s eyes, it couldn’t even stir a ripple of interest!

Gu Wanlan, however, was not without emotion. But this “ripple” was not caused by Gu Baozhu; in fact, she couldn’t even find an outlet for her frustration.

When Xiao Sun came to seek her late last night, she had already anticipated what kind of judgment she would face the next day. But she didn’t care. Now that the news of her taking a live-in husband had spread through the capital, she would, barring any accidents, be the actual controller of the Protector Duke’s Manor. Few people would be so blind as to gossip about her to her face.

However, when she saw the dodging gazes of the crowd, she still felt a surge of anger. They, like Gu Baozhu, believed she was guilty. Right now, they only feared her power, so they didn’t dare speak in her presence.

But what if the person who encountered this yesterday wasn’t her, but just an ordinary woman?! The one who deliberately tried to involve her was clearly the man. Yet why, in the end, was it the woman who had to face the judgment of her family and even strangers!

“Why are you in such a hurry to leave? Since you love watching a play so much, wouldn’t it be a pity not to see the whole set?!” Gu Wanlan suppressed the ferocity in her eyes and pressed her hand down on the auntie’s shoulder.

The auntie’s body shook, her legs nearly giving way, and she was about to beg for mercy again. Gu Wanlan ignored her and ordered the servants not to let a single person escape. Then, she walked back to the carriage.

She gave it a kick, and the carriage was actually kicked askew by her sheer force! “What are you still doing sitting inside?! Get out!”

Only then did the crowd realize there was someone else inside the carriage!

Gu Baozhu looked up instinctively and saw a man in a golden crown and long robes jump out. He was clearly wearing the clothing of a Great Xia person, but his slightly curly hair and heterochromatic eyes represented one thing: he was a Roulan person.

Gu Baozhu’s breath hitched. The man’s identity was obvious—he was the Roulan man who came looking for Gu Wanlan last night!

Xiao Sun had talked with Emperor Qingyuan for a long time last night. Once the fake hostage was captured by Great Xia, Xiao Sun knew he no longer needed to hide. Rather than living pathetically while being hunted by both Great Xia and Roulan, it was better to lay bare his ambitions for the Roulan throne and side with Great Xia first.

However, that wasn’t enough. If he wanted to truly gain the trust of the Great Xia Emperor, he had to hand over his “weakness” first. Gu Wanlan was the weakness he gave to the Emperor. As long as he succeeded in Roulan, he was willing to trade a city for her.

The Emperor didn’t agree on the spot but was clearly interested. The next day, he summoned Gu Wanlan to the palace. The Emperor must have said something to her, to the point where Xiao Sun could even sit comfortably and openly in her carriage after she left the palace.

So, his mood today was quite good. But that good mood clearly wouldn’t last long.

Gu Wanlan grabbed Xiao Sun’s collar and dragged him roughly in front of the crowd. “Look closely. This man is the culprit behind last night’s events.”

“Everyone knows I am a married woman. Whether for public or private reasons, he deliberately came at midnight and acted ambiguously, completely disregarding my reputation and social ethics.”

“Whatever you were discussing in your hearts earlier, feel free to curse it all out. Direct it at him, and I will let bygones be bygones.”

“If you curse well and accurately, I, Gu Wanlan, will reward you handsomely!”

The crowd was dumbfounded. Xiao Sun, especially, hadn’t expected things to develop this way. He knew his actions yesterday would affect her reputation, but he also knew she wasn’t someone who cared about such things. If she did care, even better—he could use the opportunity to simply marry her!

Gu Wanlan’s grip on his collar was quite strong; a few strands of his hair were even tangled in her palm, sending a fine tingle across his scalp.

Thinking of Cui Jue’s face from last night, Xiao Sun instinctively softened his voice and showed weakness. “Wanlan, I only wanted to see you one last time before being taken to the palace. I didn’t want your husband and everyone to misunderstand…”

“You don’t get a say.” “?”

Just as Xiao Sun was about to look up, splat—a bunch of rotten leaves was plastered directly onto his face.

“Shameless man! You even try to act coquettish in front of another’s wife! No shame!” Sharp cursing followed.

Xiao Sun was stunned by the curse, but before he could react, an egg smashed against his forehead.

“A man who doesn’t respect himself will have no one to love him in the future!” “Do you know how important a woman’s reputation is! Relying on the fact that you’re a man to ruin a reputation at will—are you trying to force someone to die?!” “This is a murderer!” “A man who offends public morals should be put in a pig basket and drowned! Why is it that only women are judged for such things?!” “I’ve had enough! If I can’t get pregnant, it’s because you men are useless! Stop blaming me! Go to hell!”

The crowd grew more and more agitated as they cursed, especially the women who had originally gathered to watch the gossip. At this moment, they no longer cared whether a fierce curse would earn a reward; rather, they thought of the unfair treatment they had faced simply because they were women.

Clearly, everyone was cursing Xiao Sun. But Gu Baozhu felt as if her own face had been slapped hard; her cheeks burned with a stinging pain.

At first, she didn’t think there was anything wrong with questioning or judging Gu Wanlan. If she hadn’t behaved improperly and attracted trouble, how could such a scandal happen? This was the logic she had been taught for over a decade as a noble lady.

But at this moment, wrapped in the indignant accusations of the crowd, she seemed… uncertain.

Seeing Xiao Sun’s face growing darker and his appearance more disheveled, Gu Wanlan stopped while she was ahead and stepped in front of him. “Fine, that’s enough.”

Like a beautiful dream suddenly being popped, the crowd hadn’t fully snapped out of it. Their faces were flushed as they panted, still glaring at Xiao Sun behind Gu Wanlan—or perhaps through him, glaring at someone else.

“Thus, the personal grudge between him and me, and between the crowd and me, is settled.”

Gu Wanlan let out a light laugh, took a handkerchief from her sleeve, turned around, and began to pretentiously clean the egg slime from Xiao Sun’s hair.

“However, officially, he is a member of the Roulan royal family, a hostage sent to Great Xia. And I, having lived in Roulan as a child, was personally appointed by His Majesty to represent Great Xia and host this distinguished guest. Last night, this guest lost his pass to enter the palace, which is why he came to my manor.”

Hiss—

The crowd gasped, snapping out of it instantly, and dropped their “projectiles” one after another. Now they didn’t care whether the Roulan man came at midnight for public or private reasons; they only knew—

Heavens! They had just cursed and humiliated a Prince! Wasn’t that a capital offense?!

The face of the leading auntie turned deathly pale. Just as she was about to kneel and beg for mercy, Gu Wanlan reached out and held her up. “The Roulan Prince knows he was in the wrong this time and will not punish anyone.”

“Am I right? Your Highness.” Gu Wanlan turned to look at Xiao Sun, her eyes smiling.

Xiao Sun’s hand paused as he cleaned his hair. He looked up and clearly saw the threat in her eyes. He knew she was still angry—angry on multiple levels.

Xiao Sun pursed his lips and nodded. “It was indeed this Prince’s fault this time. I accept it; it has nothing to do with you all.”

Gu Wanlan laughed. “See? It’s fine; he won’t pursue it. However—”

Gu Wanlan reached out and gently brushed the dust from the auntie’s shoulder. “Not everyone is me, and not everyone is the Prince. I hope that in the future, when you watch a play, just watch the play. Do not create bad karma with your words. Know that gossip is a fearful thing, and slander can melt bones.”

The auntie’s legs went weak, and she almost knelt to Gu Wanlan again. “We were wrong, we were wrong. We will never spread rumors again.”

“Fine. You cursed well. Go to the gatekeeper later to collect your rewards.”

Seeing the matter settled, Gu Wanlan pulled out a coin purse, tossed it to the gatekeeper, and headed into the manor without looking back.

“Gu Wanlan!”

Two different voices called out in unison behind her. Gu Wanlan turned back and met two gazes. One was resentful, from Xiao Sun. One was fervent, from Gu Baozhu.

“Madam?” Another cold voice sounded from behind her.

In an instant, Gu Wanlan’s scalp went numb.