The Emperor's Consort: The Peerless Doctor - Chapter 3

Looking at the way they talked about changing the bride as though it was nothing, Gu Qian Cheng’s eyes turned cold.  Her eyes were like daggers as she took everything in.

An unloving father, a poisonous stepmother, a heartless fianc; Gu Qian Cheng’s life was a bona-fide melodrama.

No wonder the original Gu Qian Sheng died in anger.  Even she felt like killing someone when she saw these so-called family of hers.

Hahaha…. Gu Qian Cheng laughed brilliantly, until tears flowed from her eyes.  The sight was more heart-wrenching than if she were to cry.  Hearing that laughter brought the others back to reality.  The bride was still here.  They exchanged looks.

Seeing Gu Qian Cheng, Duke Zhen felt a chill.  He felt guilty, but he wasn’t about to admit that.  He forced his voice to be rough, “Qian Cheng, change out of your wedding dress.”

A crippled daughter had no value.  Duke Gu didn’t do anything wrong, it’s just that it was clear that he didn’t care for this daughter of his.  The guests watched everything unfold. Although they felt bad for Gu Qian Cheng, there was nothing they could do about this.  Even her parents weren’t siding with her, who were they to interfere?  Marriage was something that parents determine.  If her parents refused to let her marry Chu shizi, Gu Qian Cheng shouldn’t even dream of marrying him.

Gu Qian Cheng took a deep breath as she tried to suppress the bitterness that was creeping inside her heart.  “Father, Mother, I can change out of this wedding dress.  I am alright with not marrying the groom, but what about my dowry?” her voice was calm as she spoke.

She knew that she had no chance of changing what was about to happen today.  Like what Qin Yun Chu said, she should stop wishing for things that were above her.

“Stop making a scene,” scolded Duke Gu while worry flashed inside Madam Gu’s eyes.

Gu Qian Cheng’s dowry was something that Madam Gu had fought for, for so long.  She didn’t expect Gu Qian Cheng to still remember about her dowry at times like this.

Hahaha…

“Making a scene?  I am not making a scene, Father and Mother.  You are,” Gu Qian Cheng raised her head and laughed.  The way she laughed was bold and open, not gentle and coy like other girls.  At this moment, no one would blame her for losing her conduct.  In fact, they should be grateful she hadn’t lost her mind.

“Father, you know best if I am making a scene or not.  My dowry was prepared by my birth mother.  Duke Gu’s manor hadn’t contributed a single tael of silver.  Why?  Other than snatching my fianc, my sister also wants to snatch my dowry?” asked Gu Qian Cheng with a cold face.

The moment she said that, the crowd was in an uproar.  The smarter bunch understood why Madam Gu chose to attack on this day and conspired to have Gu Qian Xue replace Gu Qian Cheng in the wedding.

Why did she wait until the wedding day itself to make a fuss and cause a scandal?  Turns out, it was because she wanted to have Gu Qian Cheng’s ten miles worth of wedding dowry.

Yes, she had a ten-miles long worth of dowry.  Back then, her maternal grandfather exhausted everything he had to marry her mother off to the Gu Family.

Not only was her mother’s dowry valuable, most of them were also items of precious rarity.   The value of the dowry was immeasurable.  If one had them at hand, they wouldn’t have to worry about anything else in their life afterwards.

Her words embarrassed Duke Gu who promptly turned red, “The dowry had already been brought to King Zhao’s manor.  Do you expect me to take it back?”

That meant he had no intention of taking the dowry back.  Madam Gu heaved a sigh of relief.

“You don’t have to return the dowry, but you can change them.  You could even change the bride, what’s so hard about changing the dowry?  Father, Mother, you could take my sister’s dowry and bring them to King Zhao’s manor, and then return my dowry to me,” suggested Gu Qian Cheng kindly.

Gu Qian Cheng knew that her dowry was equivalent to 2/3 of Duke Gu’s properties.  The Gu Family was big; they had many mouths to feed.  There was no way Duke Gu would be willing to spend 2/3 of his properties on his daughters.

According to custom, the dowry for a legitimate daughter from the primary wife would cost 20,000 liang while the dowry of a concubine-born daughter would be 5000 liang.  Gu Qian Cheng’s dowry was an extravagance that no other Gu daughters could even imagine.

There was not a single Gu daughters who were not jealous of Gu Qian Cheng’s dowry.  Now that Gu Qian Xue had the chance to take advantage of the situation, how could she possibly let it go?