Chapter 217: 134 The Real Culprit (First Update)

Gu Chengfeng wanted to offer some explanations for his younger brother, but his eldest brother’s aura had significantly cooled, leaving him tongue-tied.

He now blamed the Yao Family. How did their usual submissive attitude disappear all of a sudden? Their drama exposed everything, now even things that didn’t exist appeared to be true.

“Eldest Brother…” Gu Chengfeng began.

“Shut up!” Gu Changqing commanded coldly, then looked at Gu Chenglin, “Go kneel in the ancestral hall! Don’t stand up until I tell you to!”

“Eldest Brother!” Gu Chenglin’s face turned pale.

Wasn’t he just told to kneel in the study room a moment ago? Now he was being sent to the ancestral hall?

The ancestral hall, where the tablets of ancestors were enshrined, was generally a place for punishment by kneeling for grievous errors.

Gu Chenglin refused: “I won’t go to the ancestral hall!”

“Go! Even if you don’t want to!” Gu Changqing grabbed Gu Chenglin by the collar.

Gu Chenglin was already severely beaten by Gu Jiao, and his elder brother’s forceful pull made him feel as if his neck was going to snap off.

Gu Changqing sent him to the ancestral hall of the Marquis Residence and left two guards, “Don’t give him any food or water.”

Gu Chengfeng grabbed his elder brother’s arm, “Eldest Brother, Chenglin is badly hurt. Aren’t you afraid that he feels alienated with your punishment?”

Gu Changqing retorted coldly, “He feels alienated, others won’t?”

Gu Chengfeng argued, “Despite everything, that lad is an outsider. Are you going to punish your own brother for him? Did you forget our mother’s deathbed wish that you take care of me and Chenglin? You swore by our mother’s bed that you wouldn’t let anyone bully us! But look at what you’re doing!”

Gu Changqing gave him a meaningful look, “You go kneel as well.”

Gu Chengfeng was startled.

After leaving his two brothers in the ancestral hall, Gu Changqing turned around and went back to the courtyard.

In the meantime, Gu Chengfeng and Gu Chenglin’s personal attendants brought food for them, but were stopped by the guards at the entrance.

The attendants could only seek help from the Songhe Court.

“What did you say? Chenglin and Chengfeng were locked up in the ancestral hall?” Lady Gu had just removed her forehead patch and was about to rest. Upon hearing this news, she ordered her maids to do up her hair again.

Gu Chenglin’s personal attendant spoke despondently, “Exactly, Madam, the two young masters were confined! Young Master Chenglin is also injured. If he’s locked up without food or water for the night, I’m afraid he may die.”

Lady Gu was extremely angry and hurriedly ordered Nanny Cai to rescue them from the hall.

Soon, Nanny Cai came back to report, “Madam, the guards said that without the orders of the eldest young master, they could not release them.”

“What impudence!” Lady Gu slapped the table and demanded, “Where’s the eldest young master? Bring him to me!”

“The eldest young master has just gone out, he’s not in the residence,” Nanny Cai reported.

Thinking of her beloved grandson, Lady Gu was both pained and irritated. Among her three grandsons, the late Marquis favored the eldest, but she doted on the youngest, Gu Chenglin. His misbehaviour was largely due to her indulgence.

“I’ll go there myself!”

The residence was large, with a quarter of an hour’s walk from Songhe Court to the ancestral hall. Lady Gu was too impatient to walk leisurely, so she asked her staff to prepare a litter.

When she reached the entrance of the ancestral hall, the two guards saluted her, “Lady Gu.”

One hand resting on Nanny Cai’s arm, the other pointed at the guards, “You still recognize who I am. I thought you were now in charge of the Marquis Residence! Free the second and the third young masters immediately!”

The two guards didn’t move.

Lady Gu’s eyes flamed, “My words carry no weight now?”

One of the guards replied, “We are simply following the eldest young master’s orders. We dare not defy.”

“I am his grandmother!” Lady Gu was so mad that she keeled over and asked her staff, “Where’s the Marquis?”

The staff replied, “The Marquis is also not in the residence.”

The Marquis had been away from the court for so long that official businesses had piled up. These days, he was busy handling official affairs.

Lady Gu was so angry that she felt a pain in her liver, “Surely, I can at least see how they are?!”

As the eldest young master had only prohibited providing food and drinks, he hadn’t said anything about visiting.

The two men let Lady Gu in.

Lady Gu rushed into the ancestral hall.

At that moment, Gu Chengfeng was obediently kneeling on the mat. Gu Chenglin, heavily injured, could no longer kneel and was half-lying on the ground. They looked as miserable as could be.