203 Substitute
Gu Yanfei did not stop and walked straight ahead.
Along the way, Granny Li felt that it was a little unreal. She silently arrived at the Gu family’s ancestral hall on the west side of the Marquis Mansion.
Compared to other seasons, the ancestral hall in winter was solemn and cold.
From afar, he could see rows of icicles, long and short, hanging from the eaves. The icicles glittered in the evening sunlight, like ice swords hanging upside down from the eaves, loyally guarding the Gu family’s ancestors.
The old woman guarding the ancestral hall immediately opened the door for Gu Yanfei.
The inside of the door was dark. Only the sunlight that shone in the moment the door opened gave a hint of light.
The old woman thought that Gu Yanfei was here to be punished and said in a threatening tone, “Second Lady, go and kneel inside and reflect on yourself in front of the ancestors. Madam is kind-hearted. As long as you sincerely repent, she will definitely forgive you.”
“The Eldest Lady is already kneeling inside.”
Big Sister was also there?! Gu Yanfei was slightly stunned and walked into the ancestral hall.
The door to the ancestral hall was closed from behind again. The room was dark and silent.
The darkness did not affect Gu Yanfei’s passage at all. Gu Yanfei walked unhurriedly through the front hall and arrived at the sacrificial hall at the back.
There was only one candle lit in the empty and silent sacrificial hall. The small flame could only illuminate a radius of six to seven feet, and the light was very dim.
The layers of dark red memorial tablets directly ahead were clearly sinister in the flickering candlelight.
A familiar figure was kneeling motionless on the futon in front of the memorial tablet.
That slender back was so dignified and upright, exuding an elegant aura.
Gu Yunzhen heard the commotion behind her and turned around, only to meet Gu Yanfei’s smiling almond-shaped eyes.
“Yanfei!”
Gu Yunzhen was shocked to see Gu Yanfei.
Then she frowned again, thick self-reproach between her brows.
She had implicated her second sister.
Even though she did not mention her second sister at all, Grandma was still certain that her second sister had instigated her.
“Big Sister, you didn’t do anything wrong. Stop kneeling.” Gu Yanfei pulled Gu Yunzhen up and gestured for her to sit down on the futon.
Gu Yanfei also did not intend to kneel. She took a few steps forward and looked up at the dense, dark red memorial tablets in front of her.
Soon, she found her grandfather Gu Xuan’s memorial tablet in the second row from the bottom to the top.
There was an empty seat beside Gu Xuan’s memorial tablet. In the future, this seat would have Madam Gu’s memorial tablet.
Below, the two memorial tablets of Gu Ce and Madam Xie were placed side by side. The dim candlelight gently caressed the two memorial tablets, as gentle as Gu Yanfei’s gaze.
Gu Yanfei stared at her parents’ memorial tablets for a while, then at her grandfather’s memorial tablet for a while.
Unfortunately, she could not see any tricks.
It was quiet except for the occasional crackle of burning candle oil.
Gu Yunzhen watched as Gu Yanfei looked around. She did not ask further and only looked at her gently.
Gu Yanfei casually looked around at the other memorial tablets around her but did not gain much.
After 10 minutes, she took another futon and dragged it to Gu Yunzhen’s side.
Gu Yunzhen sat with her arms around her knees in a delicate posture. Gu Yanfei sat cross-legged, looking very relaxed.
Gu Yanfei was about to ask Gu Yunzhen how she had thought it through when she heard a low meow from the front hall.
“Meow~”
The muffled meowing of the cat sounded happy.
“Qing Guang!” Gu Yunzhen blurted out in surprise.
In the next moment, a long-haired calico cat walked in valiantly with a snow-white pigeon in its mouth. Its long tail was straight, and it was almost in the sky.
Its green eyes seemed to glow in the darkness.
Gu Yunzhen was instantly bewitched by the cat’s charming eyes and looked at the cat in a daze… When she came back to her senses, Gu Yanfei had already untied a small bamboo tube tied to the messenger pigeon’s foot and taken out two pieces of silk paper that were folded into long strips.
An elegant and distinctive handwriting entered her eyes. The handwriting was so beautiful that it made her feel energetic.
Gu Yanfei raised her eyebrows and fixed her gaze on the first line, at the word “Liu”. She muttered to herself in surprise, “That was quick.”
After she returned from the Murong family at noon, she wrote to Chu Yi. It had only been less than four hours.
According to the letter, Miss Liu’s name was Muyu, and her father was Liu Wencheng. During the previous Emperor’s reign, Liu Wencheng was beheaded for failing to provide disaster relief. The men in his family were exiled for 3,000 miles, and all the women were integrated into the imperial music office.
The letter also included Liu Muyu’s birth characters at Gu Yanfei’s request.
The women of the Liu family were all in the imperial music office. Their names were recorded in the Ministry of Rites, and there were dossiers to check their birth characters.
Gu Yanfei stared at Liu Muyu’s birth characters for a long time and whispered, “As expected!”
Gu Yunzhen, who had come back to her senses, happened to hear it and asked casually, “What do you mean?”
“12th year J8, 52nd year B4, 1st year D4, and 6th year F6 of the 60 year cycle .” Gu Yanfei looked at the piece of silk and read each word clearly, her clear eyes flashing with interest.
Gu Yunzhen blinked and blurted out in surprise, “My birth characters?”
Gu Yanfei smiled mysteriously and said, “It’s also Miss Liu’s birth character.”
“Miss Liu’s birth characters are exactly the same as yours.”
What?! Gu Yunzhen’s eyes widened slightly, and her face filled with surprise.
Two people with the same birth characters could be said to be one in a million. She did not believe that it was a coincidence.
Since it was not a coincidence, it must be inevitable to a certain extent!
