Probably because he barely had time to tell the stories, Gu Yunxuan did have a great deal to share with Gu Chaoyan when he was asked.
His birth mother passed away when he was still a baby, and he only had one maid left in the yard, who was responsible for taking care of chores. However, he did not dare to share too much with the girl, since he had no idea who this maid worked for really.
As for his other sisters... they weren’t born by the same mother, so they might be up to something else as well.
He visited Madame Gu the day before, and wanted to tell her how he was doing and what he planned to do, but Madame Gu ignored his ideas totally and just asked him to assist his brother in the capital city. In the end, he came home in disappointment.
He knew that as a concubine’s son, he would not get that much. He did not expect much either, since everything belonged to his brother. What he needed was to return to the army where he could live his own days. However, he could not even get this wish realized.
He sighed heavily. Then he looked at Gu Chaoyan and said, “I am just sad that as a concubine’s son, am I not even able to achieve anything?”
Gu Chaoyan already understood what was going on, through this one single sentence.
Judging from Gu Yunhe’s proud look, she suspected that Gu Yunhe was already assigned as the heir to the Gu Mansion.
There were few young masters at the Gu Mansion. Actually, there were only two of them. So if he became the master of the mansion, he would ask Gu Yunxuan to obey his arrangements, but Gu Yunxuan seemed to prefer life in the army.
“Of course not.” Gu Chaoyan answered resolutely. “Just look at me. I am a lineal daughter, but I had no rights or freedom at all. I used to be bullied. Nowadays, I have been using my own methods to try different things, and to make others convinced by my real personality. As long as you are capable, no one would be able to manipulate you.”
“...”
“Second Brother, instead of staying here and becoming gloomy, why not start thinking about how you are able to achieve your goal.” Gu Chaoyan reminded him.
Hearing these words, Gu Yunxuan got quite enlightened.
He seemed to have been trapped by his own thoughts. He always thought that he should obey what the senior members of the family said all the time. However, the senior members never cared about what he was thinking.
They might think that he was just a bare existence, hardly as important as his brother.
“I got it!” Gu Yunxuan said, and showed a relaxed expression on his face.
Gu Chaoyan smiled.
It was getting late, so she got up, ready to head back to the Qiong Pavilion.
Gu Yunxuan saw her off personally.
In the yard, Gu Chaoyan ran into the maid who was working for Gu Yunxuan at the yard. She threw an extra look at her, noticing that the girl was trying to avoid her gaze as she took off.
Gu Chaoyan frowned. That must be Mrs. Gu’s mole that was set here.
If she was Madame Gu’s maid, then she would not have ignored Gu Yunxuan, but this maid even refused to greet them, so she might not have regarded Gu Yunxuan as her master, otherwise she would not have been so impolite.
As they came out of the yard, Gu Chaoyan ceased her steps. “It is fine, Second Brother, I am fine here. By the way, you are no longer young and you can gather your own forces, so you can have easier access to deal with whatever you need to do.”
Gu Yunxuan was startled.