The Eldest Daughter Returns: Imperial Uncle, I'm Pregnant!

With a smile, Gu Qingwan stepped down from the carriage, supported by Baoqin. Many people on the street were seeing Miss Gu for the first time. Miss Gu's face was as bright as the moonlight. Although she didn't have a particularly warm smile, she still gave off an approachable feeling. Moreover, Miss Gu was wearing a light blue dress today, which made her appear even more mature and composed.

"Don't be in such a hurry, little sister."

"Sister is back! I just didn't expect you to be back earlier than we agreed. That's why I couldn't make it in time to welcome you back to the manor." Gu Hanjiao stepped forward and took Gu Qingwan's hand, looking very affectionate.

"Really? I already sent someone to tell the gatekeeper when I would be returning. Didn't the gatekeeper go and relay the message?"

It turns out that Miss Gu had already sent someone to say that this was wrong of the Gu family. The fact that the eldest daughter was treated so coldly upon returning home shows that Miss Gu indeed has no status in the household, which is quite pitiful.

"Hehe, that must be because the gatekeeper failed to do his job properly and didn't announce it in time. He should be punished!"

"Please spare me, Miss! Please spare me! I was going to inform Madam, but your carriage arrived too quickly. I can only open the door for you first. Please, Miss, spare me!" The gatekeeper hurriedly knelt on the ground and kowtowed desperately, begging for mercy.

Gu Hanjiao couldn't help but smile when she saw this, feeling quite smug: Hmph, do you still think the Gu family really accepts you as their young lady? This is just the beginning; soon everyone will know how arrogant and domineering Miss Gu is.

"Sister, please spare this gatekeeper. He's done his job, even if he didn't do anything right," Gu Hanjiao pleaded for the kneeling servant.

“Sister, you’re wrong. It’s not a matter of me forgiving or not forgiving you. I’m new here and don’t know the rules of the manor. In the Ning family, it would be too inhumane to just have one person guard the door and deliver messages. I didn’t expect this servant to work so hard and still be punished. I hope that you can forgive him for my sake. After all, he forgot to inform you because he was opening the door for me.”

Gu Qingwan immediately shifted the blame to the Gu family. "This is your Gu family's rule, and it has nothing to do with others. Your mistress is stingy, so she only arranged for one gatekeeper to do the work of two or more people. This is also a shortcoming of the Gu family."

Gu Hanjiao smiled insincerely: "Hehe, sister is really good at talking. Then let's not stand here anymore. Sister, come back with me to see Grandmother. Yesterday, someone sent a letter to you, thinking you would come back yesterday. Mother waited until dark but did not see you."

Gu Hanjiao's thoughts are truly intricately linked; she failed to succeed before, and now she's implying that she's unfilial?

"Ah? I really didn't know that. Madam sent someone to tell me to come back this morning. How come the servant in the manor relayed the wrong message again?" Gu Qingwan looked at the servant who had just pleaded for her and said, "Oh, I forgot. The same person is in charge of guarding the gate and delivering messages. Was it you who delivered the message yesterday?"

"So it was you! You've caused so many misunderstandings between us sisters!" Gu Hanjiao scolded the servants angrily.

"No, no, no..." The servant shook his head nervously, but when he saw Gu Hanjiao's warning look, he quickly lowered his head: "Miss, please forgive me, Miss, please forgive me."

Gu Hanjiao's face was gloomy, but she couldn't show it too obviously, so she could only say with a forced smile, "Sister, please get in the carriage. I had someone open and remove the side door, so you can go home in the carriage without too much legwork. Let's go in quickly. Grandmother and Father will be very happy to know that you are back."

Everyone thought that Miss Gu the Second was really kind-hearted. In order to prevent her sister from feeling tired, she had the threshold removed and let Miss Gu the Eldest drive into the mansion. She was indeed a tolerant and generous woman.

Gu Hanjiao lifted her skirt to go inside, but Gu Qingwan made no move.

Gu Hanjiao asked, "What do you mean by this, sister?"

"Baoqin, come and tell the Second Miss what I mean."

“Yes, Miss.” Baoqin stepped forward, crossed her hands in front of her and said, “The etiquette of Daqing cannot be abolished. The eldest young lady is the legitimate daughter of the first wife of the Prime Minister’s mansion. Logically, the wife should come out to greet her. Furthermore, the eldest young lady’s identity is pure and she is not one of those crooked people. She should enter and leave her own mansion through the main gate, not the side gate. I suppose the second young lady has remembered it wrong.”

The surrounding crowd erupted in murmurs. Was this a subconscious doubt about Miss Gu's status? Making a legitimate daughter enter through a side gate—she couldn't even use the main gate to return home? Everyone knew that only concubines entered through a small side gate, carried in by a sedan chair. Who could tolerate this? Was Miss Gu genuinely unaware, or was she feigning ignorance? If she truly didn't know, she really needed to learn more about etiquette.

Gu Hanjiao stood on the steps with a livid face. How could she have misremembered? She had clearly done it on purpose.

Gu Hanjiao thought Gu Qingwan had just returned to the capital and had no idea about all the intricacies involved. As long as she entered the Gu family through the side gate today, she would never be able to hold her head up again. The Gu family still regarded her, Gu Hanjiao, as the most honored legitimate daughter, but that little maid dared to speak sarcastically to her.

Chunlu noticed Gu Hanjiao's displeasure and quickly stepped forward to scold her, "Who do you think you are, daring to point fingers at our young lady? And you even made our madam come out to greet you personally! You should know that our madam is very busy with affairs, where would she find so much time! Eldest Miss, our young lady respects you as her elder sister and looks forward to your return to the manor every day, but you cannot bully our young lady just because she is kind-hearted!"

"Shut up!" Gu Hanjiao scolded Chunlu with tears in her eyes, "How could you talk about my sister like that? After all, my sister has never lived at home, but she is still my sister! Get out of here right now!"

When everyone saw the beautiful Miss Gu Er shedding tears, they felt a pang of sympathy and wondered if the eldest young lady had gone too far.

"Hehe, Baoqin, let's go back. Even a maid can question me. It seems the manor is still not very welcoming to us, just like before." As she spoke, Gu Qingwan was about to get into the carriage: "By the way, Baoqin, leave the tonics I brought for Grandmother."

“Miss, I’m afraid the Prime Minister’s residence wouldn’t even look at these things of ours,” Baoqin said with some difficulty.

Gu Qingwan looked at the carriage behind her, her face showing some sadness, and said, "Indeed, I left home at a young age without a mother to take care of me or a father to raise me. I really don't have anything to offer. These were all prepared for me by my maternal grandparents. Since you don't like them... Siqi, you should have the driver take the carriage back to the Ning family."

"It's Miss."

Siqi acted extremely quickly. Before Gu Hanjiao could react, she had already told the coachman to turn the carriage around. As if they had planned it together, the coachman quickly turned around, whipped the horse, and drove off. Now only Gu Qingwan's carriage remained.

Gu Hanjiao only realized what was happening when Gu Qingwan was about to get into the car: "Sister!"

"I'm late, I'm late." Madam Gu, Wang Ruyan, finally arrived. "Why are you leaving Miss standing here in the wind? I just came from the Old Madam's place. She's been nagging me about this for ages. Quickly open the main gate and let Miss in!"

Upon hearing the lady's words, the gatekeeper hurriedly went to open the main gate.

Wang Ruyan was seething with anger. She had been listening behind the door for a while, thinking that she would let Jiao'er vent her anger and then come out to smooth things over, or that Jiao'er could handle it without her intervention. However, she did not expect that Gu Qingwan was such a slippery and difficult person to deal with.

The gift-giving carriages have already left. If she doesn't come out soon, Gu Qingwan will leave too, and then the capital will probably start spreading rumors that she mistreated the legitimate daughter.

Besides, there are more and more people at the gate. When the master comes back from court and sees this scene, he will definitely scold her again. The master hasn't entered her courtyard for the past two days. If she angers him again, she might even lose her power as the head of the household.

Weighing the pros and cons, it was best to let Gu Qingwan, this jinx, into the house as soon as possible; there was no need to control her right now.

Gu Qingwan stood at the door with a smile, her hands folded in front of her, and said, "Madam, are you done with your work?"

"Uh... I'm done with my work. The old lady is ill, so I was a little late. I'm sure Miss will understand."

“Of course, but the Ning family’s gift-giving carriage has left. Should Qingwan call it back?”

Wang Ruyan's face stiffened: "No need, no need, let's go back then. Let's go inside quickly."

Gu Qingwan nodded and let Baoqin and the others go in together.

"Sister, shall I send someone to carry your luggage for you?" Gu Hanjiao said. "Qiushuang, go and help your sister with her luggage."

Qiu Shuang quickly stepped forward and opened the carriage curtain, but the inside was empty.

"Oh, I didn't bring much. I was thinking that since I was going back to my own home, what else would I need to bring? Madam must have prepared everything for me. Besides, I was worried about my grandmother's health, so I left in a hurry without packing."

Wang Ruyan's teeth ached. Bringing nothing meant she'd have to spend money and resources instead? Worried about her grandmother? Worried that she was only arriving at this hour? Worried that she wasn't going inside yet?

However, Wang Ruyan still had to pretend to be a loving mother in front of everyone.

“Of course, Miss doesn’t need to bring anything. The manor has everything. I’ve already prepared everything for Miss. I just don’t know if it will suit Miss’s taste,” Wang Ruyan said.

"It's alright, I'm not picky. Let's go in. We've already wasted a lot of time seeing Madam, and Grandmother will be angry if she finds out." After saying this, Gu Qingwan straightened her back and walked in through the main gate with her three maids.

Wang Ruyan was so angry she felt like smoke was rising from her head.

"Mother, look at her!" Gu Hanjiao felt uncomfortable as well.

"Shut up!" Wang Ruyan said, glancing at the people around her who were about to leave. "Come back with me now, this isn't the place to talk."

Gu Hanjiao composed herself and followed Wang Ruyan into the mansion.

Gu Qingwan didn't walk fast, and Wang Ruyan soon caught up. Gu Qingwan asked, "Madam, where is Father? Qingwan needs to go and pay her respects."

"Oh, your father went to court and hasn't returned yet. He's been very busy lately and comes back late. I'll send someone to let you know when he's at home."

"Is your father very busy and comes home late?"

“Yes, Father sometimes doesn’t even come home. It would be very difficult for you to see him, sister,” Gu Hanjiao said.

Gu Qingwan nodded: "I must have been mistaken that day."

Wang Ruyan asked, somewhat puzzled, "What do you mean, 'misread'?"

"Oh, it's like this. I went to see my mother's dowry shop those two days and saw my father's carriage turn into the alley of Ronghua Lane twice. I thought that my father might have some free time recently, so I thought of asking Madam Qingwan to pay her respects."

"What!" Wang Ruyan was shocked.