The Most Unruly Prince Consort of Great Qian - Chapter 2

With a flash of red, a spray of blood arced through the air. Second Steward’s arm hit the ground with a thud.
“Aaaargh!”
His scream tore through the night, the cruel smirk on his face replaced by sheer terror.
The household servants who had been half-heartedly dousing the fire while secretly enjoying the show were suddenly gripped by a chill.
Young Master Gu Dao… must be possessed by a vengeful spirit!
He had actually cut off the steward’s arm with a blade. What now?
Run. Best to keep your distance.
Gu Dao glanced at the blade in his hand, then nudged the severed arm on the ground with the tip of it, clearly displeased.
“Sorry about that. My cut was a little off,” he said with a hint of regret. “But really, that’s on you too. Why’d you flinch? Now you’ve suffered twice.”
Step by step, he advanced toward the staggering Second Steward.
“N-no! Young Master, I’m the Second Steward! You can’t kill me! The matriarch, she’d never allow…”
Before he could finish, Gu Dao caught up and swung his blade.
A clean slash.
His neck was severed in one swift motion. Blood gushed out, his head hit the ground and rolled, still bearing a look of shock and disbelief.
A wave of gasps and shrill cries broke out behind him.
“Silence,” Gu Dao’s voice was calm and icy, like it had drifted out from the underworld. “Disobedient dogs meet this kind of end.”
His gaze swept over the courtyard, cold and searching.
Wherever his eyes landed, no one dared meet them. Those who had once bullied him trembled on their knees, kowtowing without pause.
“Since someone mentioned the lao furen (The old matriarch),” Gu Dao said, withdrawing his gaze with a thoughtful air, “no time like the present. I should go have a talk with the old crone about running a household.”
The lao furen was the grandmother of the original Gu Dao, a sharp-tongued, bitter old woman.
The concubine and her son had been allowed to torment him for ten years. Without the matriarch’s tacit approval, could that really have happened?
But if he was going to pay her a visit, how could he go without a gift?
He looked down at the Second Steward’s severed head and nodded in satisfaction.
A midnight head delivery, light in weight, heavy with meaning. Hope the old woman understands the sincerity of this gesture.
Carrying the head, he marched straight toward Tian Nian Ju, the old matriarch’s residence.
Just as he arrived outside, a group of maidservants and old nannies who had stepped out to investigate bumped right into him. One of them made no attempt to hide the contempt on her face.
“There’s a fire in the manor, and instead of helping, the young master runs off to Tian Nian Ju; What kind of motive is that?” one of the older women said in a shrill, mocking tone. “The lao furen is already asleep. If you have something to say, come back in the morning and beg on your knees.”
“Don’t block the way,” a little maid added with a snort.
“A servant speaking to her master like that, are you tired of living or just begging for death?” Gu Dao’s gaze swept coldly over their faces.
“Heh, Young Master,” the old woman sneered, raising a brow, “being a ‘master’ still depends on…”
Wham!
Before she could finish, Gu Dao kicked her squarely in the chest.
“Depends on your damn uncle!”
She flew backward, crashing through the doors of Tian Nian Ju, toppling into the courtyard like a sack of rice.
A lantern hit the ground beside her, bursting into flames with a whoosh.
“Help! The young master’s gone mad! He barged into Tian Nian Ju!” she screeched, her voice piercing the night.
At once, a horde of maids and nannies charged out with lanterns, rushing to her aid, glaring daggers at Gu Dao.
“Young Master!” one of the older women bellowed, full of self-righteous fury. “You owe us an explanation! I’ve served the lao furen for twenty years, and you dare…!”
Now that the others had shown up, she felt emboldened. Like a rooster in a henhouse, she puffed up and let loose:
“Crazy! Who do you think you are barging in here like this?”
“Still think you’re the master of the house? What a joke!”
The group of women shouted over each other like a flock of angry ducks, closing in with menacing posture.
They knew the score: offending the other masters in this household meant death. But bullying this one?
No risk, all reward.
Especially here, under the lao furen’s roof.
Seeing she had the upper hand, the woman planted her hands on her hips and marched right up to Gu Dao.
“Young Master, you’d better give me a proper explanation or else…!”
“Will this do?” Gu Dao tossed the Second Steward’s severed head into her arms.
She caught it instinctively and looked down at it under the lantern light.
“The Sec-Second Steward… Aaa!”
Her scream barely left her throat before Gu Dao slapped her across the face.
Crack!
Several teeth flew out as the blow smashed into her mouth.
She felt the cold blade press against her neck.
“M-m-master, p-please spare me…” she stammered through her bleeding, toothless mouth.
But when she looked into Gu Dao’s eyes, bottomless, like an abyss carved from the coldest depths of hell, her words froze in her throat.
“You all,” Gu Dao said as his eyes swept over the stunned crowd of maids and old servants, “kneel. Now.”
Thud.
In perfect unison, everyone dropped to their knees. The arrogance from moments before had been utterly erased by the Second Steward’s grisly fate.
“Now slap yourselves,” Gu Dao said coldly.
Pa! Pa! Pa!
The sound of slaps echoed through the courtyard in a strange, rhythmic chorus.
Especially that mouthy old woman, she was slapping herself so hard she looked like she was trying to beat her own soul out of her body. One mistake, and the young master might just send her to join the steward in the afterlife.
“What’s going on out here?!”
Before the person even arrived, a furious, elderly voice rang out.
It was none other than the old matriarch of the Gu family.
The slapping slowed and fell out of rhythm.
Their pillar had arrived.
An old woman started to rise to greet her, only for Gu Dao to draw his blade and slice off her topknot in a flash.
The woman shrieked and dropped back to her knees, hair in disarray.
“Did I say you could stop?” Gu Dao said coldly. “Keep slapping.”
Pa! Pa! Pa!
The chorus resumed, this time more synchronized than ever.
The matriarch stood frozen, stunned by the chaotic scene before her.
Her gaze shifted;
And landed on the severed head of the Second Steward.
She staggered back, nearly falling.
“Gu Xiuzhi! Have you gone mad?! You dared to kill someone?!” she screamed, both shocked and enraged.
“So dramatic,” Gu Dao replied lazily, the steady rhythm of slaps still echoing behind him. “A servant defying his master; should I have spared him for the holidays?”
Madam Gu found Gu Dao’s words utterly laughable.
“Heh, you’ve got some nerve. You think killing a lowly servant makes you the master now? You dare come flaunting your power in my Tian’nian Residence?” Her tone was laced with mockery, which quickly turned to fury. “All of you, get up! Can’t you tell who the real master is?”
The maids and old servants who had been slapping Gu Dao immediately stopped and began to rise.
The loudest among them, a toothless old woman who’d been shouting the most gleefully, thought her backer had arrived. Surely she didn’t need to fear this useless fool anymore. What could he possibly do now, raise a blade in front of Madam Gu?
Just as she sprang to her feet and darted toward the old matron…
A flash of cold steel sliced across her thigh.
“Ahhh—!”
A blood-curdling scream pierced the night, striking terror into everyone’s hearts. The old crone collapsed, clutching her leg and writhing in pain, blood gushing out beneath her.
“Keep slapping. If you stop…” Gu Dao’s voice was chilling, “You die.”
His eyes were even colder than his blade, which still dripped with fresh blood.
Terrified, the maids and old women fell back to their knees and resumed slapping themselves, harder this time.
To Madam Gu, every smack on their cheeks felt like a slap on her own. The flickering firelight made her expression look even more sinister and twisted.
This useless waste… dared to defy her openly? He dared to seize power right in front of her?
“Gu Xiuzhi! Are you rebelling?!” she roared like a beast cornered and maddened.
“Isn’t this what you’ve all been hoping for?” Gu Dao’s voice brimmed with savage delight. “I’m rebelling, so what can you do about it, old hag?”
A chill surged up from Madam Gu’s feet to the top of her skull. She trembled uncontrollably.
This damned brat… might really be insane. If he truly no longer cared about the consequences…
“Xiuzhi… Good… good child… What are you saying? No one’s forcing you…” Her voice grew weak and awkward, thick with fear. She barely even knew what she was saying anymore.
When her status could no longer shield her, she was nothing but a coward.
“Gu Xiuzhi, what are you doing?!”
A shrill and panicked voice rang out from behind.