The Gusu Mistake - Chapter 2

The next day, Yuan Ruo and Han Yi did indeed head to the Wu family’s home in Pu You City. However, along the way, Han Yi kept trying to subtly persuade her not to go.

“Yan’er, although the Han and Wu families have had a feud, it was many years ago. Big Brother’s death couldn’t have been their doing!” Han Yi blocked Yuan Ruo’s path. “Besides, the Wu family is a powerful force. This trip, let’s reconsider it!”

Yuan Ruo stopped and looked at Han Yi without a word.

“Yan’er… why are you looking at me like that?” Han Yi’s gaze flickered, avoiding eye contact.

“Why are you so against me going to the Wu family, yet you’re so convinced it was the Jiang family’s doing?” Yuan Ruo pressed him. “Do you know something?”

“I don’t know anything!” Han Yi’s voice suddenly rose. “I just think the Jiang family is the most suspicious. We shouldn’t be wasting our energy elsewhere; we should go to the Jiang family for an explanation first!”

Yuan Ruo gave Han Yi a long, meaningful look. “Going to the Wu family and the Jiang family aren’t mutually exclusive. We have to go to both!”

“Then we should go to the Jiang family first!” Han Yi argued.

“It makes sense to go to either one first!” Yuan Ruo stared at him meaningfully. “I’m just curious, why are you so sure the Wu family is innocent?”

“I…”

“Enough, don’t say another word!” Yuan Ruo cut him off. “If you really don’t want to go, then go back. I’ll go to the Wu family myself.”

“Yan’er…”

“Go back!” Yuan Ruo didn’t want to hear another word from him and insisted on him leaving.

“Sigh!” Han Yi sighed. “How can I let you go on such a dangerous journey alone?”

“Then just stop talking!” Yuan Ruo said and walked ahead, her eyelashes fluttering as she pondered something in her mind.

“Ouch!” Han Yi suddenly cried out.

Yuan Ruo turned to see him sitting on the ground, clutching his leg. “What’s wrong, Second Brother?”

“A snake… there was a snake…” Han Yi pulled up his pants, revealing two bleeding puncture marks on his calf.

Seeing this, Yuan Ruo knelt down to examine his wound, then held her palm a few inches above it. “Second Brother, bear with it. It’ll be over soon!”

“What are you doing… ah!”

Before Han Yi could finish, Yuan Ruo chanted a spell and exerted force. A hot sensation made him cry out in pain as two jets of blood spurted from the wounds.

After forcing out the poisonous blood, Yuan Ruo tore a strip of cloth from her own clothes to bandage his leg. “You’re skilled in (gu-shu, a form of sorcery/poisoning), how did a snake manage to bite you?”

“I…” Han Yi’s eyes still darted away. “I wasn’t paying attention!”

“If you want to go back, then go,” Yuan Ruo said, standing up. “I’ll go to the Wu family by myself. Go back and tell our parents I’ll return soon and that they shouldn’t worry!”

“Yan’er!” Han Yi called after her, but she was determined and ignored him. After she was out of sight, he slowly stood up, blew a whistle to summon a black bird, tied something to its leg, and sent it flying away.

Yuan Ruo returned to the Han family that afternoon, having found nothing at the Wu family’s home.

“The Wu family’s patriarch is sick?” Han Qing was hesitant to believe the news Yuan Ruo brought back. “What kind of illness?”

“They didn’t say much about the illness,” Yuan Ruo replied. “But I went back to investigate, and the Wu family’s patriarch is indeed confined to bed, and I smelled medicine.”

“In that case,” Han Qing mused, “Ming’er’s death has nothing to do with him?”

“Heh!” Yuan Ruo scoffed, neither confirming nor denying. “The most urgent thing now is for us to go to the Jiang family and make this clear.”

“Yes, we must go to the Jiang family and demand justice for Big Brother!” Han Yi limped into the hall upon hearing Yuan Ruo’s return. “Yan’er, when are you planning to go?”

Yuan Ruo didn’t answer directly, instead asking, “What do you think, Second Brother?”

“This…” Han Yi hesitated for a moment. “The sooner, the better!”

“Heh!” Yuan Ruo scoffed. “Then will you come with me?”

“I would like to,” Han Yi looked down awkwardly at his leg. “But my leg…”

“You should rest well at home, Second Brother,” Yuan Ruo said, not looking at him again. “I’ll go to the Jiang family by myself.”

“Yan’er!” Han Qing was worried. “I’ll go with you, Father will accompany you!”

“Father, you need to take care of Mother, and the Han family also needs you to oversee things,” Yuan Ruo said to Han Qing. “I’ll go alone this time.”

“Then…” Han Qing thought for a moment. “I’ll send more people with you!”

Yuan Ruo opened her mouth to refuse, but a sudden idea flashed in her mind. “Father, I do need more people. Not just people, but a bridal sedan, horses, and a wedding procession.”

Han Qing was puzzled. “What are you planning to do, Yan’er?”

Yuan Ruo countered, “Have the Jiang family ever met Big Brother?”

Han Qing shook his head. “No, they haven’t. It was all arranged between me and the Jiang family’s patriarch.”

Yuan Ruo asked again, “When was the wedding originally scheduled?”

“Three days from now,” Han Qing pressed on. “Yan’er, what exactly are you doing?”

“I’m going to find the real culprit and avenge Big Brother!” Yuan Ruo straightened her back, her gaze becoming more resolute. “From now on, I am my brother!”

Outside of Quzhou City, Yuan Ruo, dressed as a groom, led a wedding procession away, fading into the distance. The one sending her off, Han Yi, was instructing the horse handler to turn back when a hidden weapon suddenly flew out, killing the handler instantly.

“Who’s there?” Han Yi shouted.

“Who do you want it to be?” The person wore a cloak, with only a pair of eyes visible.

“Wu Yunfei?” Han Yi squinted. “What do you want?”

“What do I want? Heh heh!” Wu Yunfei pulled back his cloak, revealing a sinister face. “I’ve come to bid your sister farewell.”

“Yan’er left home at a young age!” Han Yi’s face turned ashen. “She knows nothing about gu-shu!”

“It doesn’t matter what she knows,” Wu Yunfei said with a sinister laugh. “As long as she doesn’t ruin the Wu family’s plans!”

“The Wu family’s plans?” Han Yi frowned. “What plans?”

Wu Yunfei’s expression froze, and he suddenly laughed it off. “Nothing, nothing. It’s just a matter for you, Brother Han. Our two families have been enemies for so many years, it’s time for it to end!”

Han Yi was half-believing him. “Is what you’re saying true?”

“Of course!” Wu Yunfei affirmed. “Brother Han, please don’t overthink it. Now that my father is seriously ill, I’m managing everything at home. I’m stretched thin and have no desire to fight with the Han family anymore. Let’s just bury the hatchet!”

Wu Yunfei’s words sounded sincere, and Han Yi was almost convinced, but when he looked at the corpse of the handler on the ground, he couldn’t help but feel suspicious.

“I was a bit heavy-handed,” Wu Yunfei said, looking at the handler’s body. “But I did it for your own good, Brother Han. If he had told others about us meeting, wouldn’t that have been troublesome?”

Han Yi argued, “You can’t just kill someone like that!”

Wu Yunfei’s tone was full of meaning. “The deed is done!”

“You…” Han Yi said nothing more, took the reins himself, and rode back home, leaving a playful Wu Yunfei behind.

“Heh! The Han family, Han Yan, this is getting interesting!”

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