"Chang Wei, have An Nian and Lord Xie look around." Old Madam Gu made a swift decision.
"Mother!" Gu Chang Wei's face darkened. "This is the Duke's mansion, a place of such stature. Letting them wander about? What about my reputation if word gets out?"
"Lord Xie wouldn't make baseless accusations. Refusing them would only make us seem more suspicious. Besides, I believe what you say. But what Gu Si Ya has done, I do not trust. That child is cunning and deep. Who knows what schemes she might be hatching. Gu Chang Wei, I'm telling you. Your sister is the Imperial Consort. Whatever you do reflects not only on yourself but is also closely tied to her. If anyone implicates A Le, don't blame me for turning my back on them." Old Madam Gu's face was also grim.
Gu Chang Wei hesitated slightly, though his expression remained unchanged. "Mother, I would never wish to implicate A Le. However, some matters are beyond our control. It's merely a matter of normal political alignment!"
"Bah! What political alignment? Gu Chang Wei, do you have a brain? The normal course of action is that your sister is the Imperial Consort, and your nephew is the Prince. Whether you align yourself or not, you will be categorized with your nephew. Let alone who will inherit that position in the future, as an uncle, shouldn't you be paying more attention to your nephew? Li An, who hasn't even been acknowledged yet, what are you thinking?" Old Madam Gu struck the ground heavily with her cane.
After speaking, she turned to look at Xie Chen.
"Lord Xie, what I just said was nothing significant. I merely feel that I have given birth to a fool."
Old Madam Gu offered a deliberate explanation.
Xie Chen was a man of the Emperor.
Although their daughter was the Imperial Consort and favored, one could never fathom the Emperor's heart, could they?
Xie Chen nodded slightly. "The Old Madam is a wise woman!"
Old Madam Gu took a breath and continued, "Isn't it all because Gu Si Ya bewitched him? Huh? Do you think I don't know that boy is petty? Back then, A Le didn't help him or his mother at all. So, he became resentful. He instigated you to distance yourself from A Le and to concern yourself with that so-called Li An. Haven't you considered that if His Majesty truly had any intentions for him, would he have left him unacknowledged for so long? That boy is wicked. He's a sickly individual, yet he wants to drag the entire Duke's mansion down with him."
These words were quite blunt.
Anyone with a modicum of sense could understand.
Or, Gu Chang Wei might understand but refuse to believe it.
In his heart, Gu Si Ya was the most obedient, the most well-behaved, and the least contentious child in the world.
Moreover, Si Ya had told him that he didn't hate anyone. It was just that everyone seemed to have a prejudice against him. Everything he did was wrong.
Si Ya had said that he simply wanted to prove himself.
"Mother, regardless, I believe Si Ya," Gu Chang Wei said stubbornly. "If you want to search, then you can. Take the Emperor's decree. Search as you please, search until the very foundations are exposed."
Gu Si Nian was furious and on the verge of an outburst.
Xie Chen stopped him. "Duke, we were indeed reckless. We bid you farewell."
With that, he forcefully pulled Gu Si Nian away.
"What do you mean?" Gu Si Nian asked.
"I was too eager to save someone and fell into their trap. My people did confirm that they brought the person to the Duke's mansion, but they captured your mother to threaten you, to threaten me. Why would they make it so easy for us to find the person? Even if we had brought the imperial decree, we would have returned empty-handed," Xie Chen said gravely. How could he have been led into such a simple trap?
Wasn't that precisely the logic?
Under normal circumstances, anyone could see the abnormality in this situation.
But the two of them had rushed to the Duke's mansion together.
It could only be said that when important people were involved, their minds simply stopped working properly.