Forced to be a concubine? I turned around and married the scumbag's father.

Gu Wanru was furious and pointed at Gu Hua's nose, cursing her.

"You shameless woman, you've committed such a despicable act of offering yourself to my bedmate! You should hang yourself! You still want me to cover for you? I must inform Father and Mother. You must come back to the manor with me immediately to beg for forgiveness!"

Gu Hua ignored her insults and said lightly, "Elder sister, whether I return to the Marquis's mansion or not is up to the Duke."

Gu Wanru trembled with rage: "You...you planned this all along, didn't you? How dare you lie to me!"

Gu Hua smiled slightly, no need for formalities: "Haven't you lied to me enough? What did you say when you asked me to come to the Duke's mansion? You said you would study by my side, and that you could find me a better family in the name of the Duke's mansion."

You just want to use me as a stepping stone for you. You and the young master trampled on me, weren't you treating me like the lowest of toys? What? Can't the thing in your hands disobey? Can't it resist? Eldest sister, open your eyes and see clearly, I'm not a toy, I'm a person. And people have the right to choose how they live.”

She and her mother thought they were using Gu Hua as a stepping stone to secure her favor, but they never expected that they would invite a wolf into their house!

Enraged, Gu Wanru rushed forward and raised her hand to slap him.

Just as Akabane, who was hiding to the side, was about to move, he saw a flash of light appear.

Gu Wanru didn't see who it was before she heard a crack as her wrist bone snapped. She screamed in agony, clutching her arm and breaking out in a cold sweat.

She suddenly looked up and saw Mu Junyan standing there, looking stern.

Startled, she choked back her sobs, enduring the excruciating pain, her face filled with astonishment: "Father, Father, how could you do this? Where do you think your daughter-in-law will put her face?"

Mu Junyan glared at Gu Wanru, who was sitting on the ground, exuding a terrifying chill.

“In the Duke’s mansion, bullying and taking advantage of others are absolutely unacceptable. As Mu An’s legal wife, you should be a good wife and mother, but you have allowed Mu An to bully other women. If it weren’t for the child in your womb, I would have given you a letter of divorce!”

Gu Wanru's face turned deathly pale.

Ignoring the pain in his hands, he knelt on the ground, crying and pounding on the bluestone slabs.

“Father, you have been bewitched by that vile woman. She entered the manor only to climb the social ladder and become a concubine of my husband. But after seeing you, she wants to climb even higher. Father, I am a daughter-in-law of the Mu family, and I should think of the Mu family. I cannot allow my sister to disgrace the Mu family.”

Looking at Gu Wanru's manic state, who always considered herself noble, Gu Hua thought of the suffering she had endured in her past life.

She spoke calmly and slowly, "My elder sister has always liked to distort the truth and blame everything on me. Have you lost your memory?"

It's clear that you couldn't win over the son-in-law's heart, and it's clear that you couldn't control the son-in-law's women. Yet, in order to secure your position as the young mistress of the Duke's mansion, you conspired with your concubine to trick me into entering the mansion, forced me to sign the slave registration document, and forcibly handed me over to the son-in-law.

"Hasn't this situation been caused by Aunt Pei for your so-called future? Every inch of my skin, every finger, toe, and body, has been pierced with thousands upon thousands of needles by you. I've lived a life of hunger and cold, drinking urine and eating excrement—wasn't that what you gave me? You don't treat me like a human being, but I am a living, breathing person. Why should I be at your mercy!"

Gu Hua spoke each word with heartbreaking emotion.

The suffering from the past life poured out at this moment.

He had a smile on his face, but his eyes were bloodshot.

Mu Junyan's thick eyebrows furrowed.

If she knew that her true identity had been switched, would she be even more heartbroken?

He gently squeezed her trembling shoulders and gave her a reassuring look.

He turned around, shielding her behind him, and looked at Gu Wanru indifferently.

"Gu Hua will be visiting the Gu residence today. You'd better watch your mouth, or you'll only have a divorce decree left."

Gu Hua was surprised, looking at the tall figure protecting her, and her nose tingled with emotion.

Gu Wanru's lips trembled, and she couldn't speak for a long time.

The father-in-law actually wants to divorce his daughter-in-law because of that shameless woman!

She absolutely cannot be divorced!

Gu Wanru struggled to kneel forward two steps: "Father, have you forgotten why you asked for a daughter-in-law for your husband? Don't you remember the promises you made to my father and mother at the Gu family?"

Your daughter-in-law made Gu Hua your husband's concubine, wasn't it all to make your son happy? What did I do wrong to deserve being divorced? Gu Hua is taking her anger out on me because she resents Aunt Pei for treating her badly.

Given her humble origins, she could at most marry into a poor family or a merchant household. By following her daughter-in-law, she could become the concubine of the only son of the Duke's mansion and the future heir, and if she were fortunate enough to be promoted to a concubine in the future, this would be a blessing she had accumulated over several lifetimes. How had her daughter-in-law harmed her?

This vile woman is clearly trying to curry favor with Father, using him to get revenge on me. Father, you must see through her malicious intentions!

Gu Hua laughed in her extreme anger.

So, it turns out that everyone was persecuting her for her own good.

She stood beside Mu Junyan, glancing lightly at Gu Wanru kneeling on the ground: "Yes. I deliberately climbed up to the Duke because I needed to live. Eldest sister, do you want to tell me, I am clearly Aunt Pei's biological daughter, so why would she be willing to exchange my life for your wealth and glory?"

Gu Wanru's crying stopped abruptly, her face filled with fear.

Did she find out something?

Gu Hua stared intently at her, and seeing her expression, she was certain that she also knew the truth.

Her mother doted on her like a precious jewel, yet she turned around and persecuted her mother's own daughter!

Gu Wanru's voice immediately softened: "Yes, it's because Aunt Pei wants to curry favor with me. She comes from a lowly merchant family, is uneducated and narrow-minded, and her actions are not respectable."

I wonder what Aunt Pei would think if she heard her own daughter say that her mother came from a lowly background?

Gu Hua chuckled softly.

"To curry favor? And you'd risk my life. Anyone who didn't know better would think you were Aunt Pei's biological daughter."

Gu Wanru didn't want to discuss this further with Gu Hua, fearing that it would expose the truth.

She cried and pleaded with Mu Junyan, "Father, your daughter-in-law has not committed any of the seven grounds for divorce, you cannot divorce me. Gu Hua is a daughter of the Gu family, are you going to make things difficult for your in-laws because of her?"

Although the Gu family is a marquisate, they are also a long-established family of officials who have served several dynasties and a distinguished lineage for centuries. The Gu family would never agree to father and son taking us sisters. If word gets out, not only will our Gu family's reputation be completely ruined, but your prestige will also be destroyed, and the censors will impeach you. Father, you must think carefully.”

Gu Hua was displeased and poked her head out from behind Mu Junyan: "Master's reputation is earned through his battles, his many achievements, and his protection of the people. Do you think two women like us can ruin his reputation? Eldest sister, you're overthinking it."

Mu Junyan reached out and pressed his head back, his face growing colder, and said in a flat tone, "Gu Hua will return to her residence on her own today. Go back and reflect on your actions."

Gu Wanru was stunned.

Gu Hua went back to the Gu residence herself; was she going to be confined to her quarters?

However, at noon, her husband was still waiting for Gu Hua at Yichun Courtyard.

If a husband discovers that the woman he has his eye on has gone with his father, he will definitely resent her.

"Father, I want to go back to the manor with her!" Gu Wanru screamed.

Mu Junyan said in a deep voice, "Take him away."

Jin Kui, who hadn't dared to utter a sound, quickly helped her up: "Young Madam, let's go."

"No, I want to take her back to the manor..."

She absolutely cannot let that little bitch succeed; she absolutely cannot let that bitch ride roughshod over her!

With a single palm strike from Chi Yu, Gu Wanru collapsed softly into Jin Kui's arms.

Jin Kui was so frightened that she trembled all over and had no way to lift the unconscious and limp Gu Wanru.

Akabane turned his head away, and two people appeared out of nowhere, picked up Gu Wanru and put her on a bench, carrying her away like a dead pig.

Jin Kui, her lips trembling, got up and staggered after him.

Mu Junyan turned to look at Gu Hua: "Get ready, let's go back to the manor later."

Gu Hua was stunned: "I..."

"I'll have someone accompany you back, so don't worry."

Mu Junyan tightened her cloak and adjusted her collar: "I have something to ask you when you get back."

Gu Hua nodded obediently: "Okay."

What questions did he ask himself?

Are we trying to find out what other schemes she has up her sleeve?

Gu Hua's mind was in a mess. She had just said the most defiant things she had ever said in both of her lives, all to deliberately provoke Gu Wanru.

She looked up at the sky and a cool early autumn breeze blew in her face, dispelling her earlier joy.

The maternal family that drove her into the abyss, leaving her nowhere to be buried...

She also wanted to go back and see her biological mother.

But the thought of it caused me excruciating pain and a sense of unease.