The Challenge of a Farmhouse Son-in-Law
Chapter 528 - 538: I was Involved in the Battle for Succession

Chapter 528: Chapter 538: I was Involved in the Battle for Succession

Uh... Are we going to chat under the covers again?

"Wait for me!" After tucking Gu Youyou into bed, he went out again.

He came back after a while, only then did he take off his clothes and get into bed.

Gu Youyou knew he had gone to apply acupressure to Xiang Chun to put him to sleep, and she said, "You still don’t trust my medicine, do you?"

"Better safe than sorry," he replied.

As soon as the big stove warmed up the room, Gu Youyou couldn’t help but squeeze closer to him, her cold hands enveloped by his large ones, she couldn’t help but sigh at how warm they felt...

"Actually, I don’t have much to say, just want to tell you that I’m not as weak as you think. Yeah, I admit that I was like a delicate flower, nearly destroyed, when you first met me..."

"Get to the point, and stop moving your legs," Jin Zijin pressed down on her restless legs.

Being with her, he had to talk about serious matters to distract himself, but her fidgety actions and words like ’delicate flower destroyed,’ made it hard for him to not have thoughts derail.

"I just want to say, I’ve been through a struggle for inheritance too."

"What? You..." Jin Zijin was so startled that he gripped her hand tightly, causing Gu Youyou to cry out in pain.

"What are you doing, getting so agitated. Well, my... it’s sort of like a fight for inheritance, and your situation is pretty similar, isn’t it? Being a State Preceptor is just like being a Monarch, right? Those unspoken rules and such, I understand them."

Understand?

She didn’t understand.

Jin Zijin almost hoarsely asked her, "Tell me about your experiences."

"Ah! My family situation is quite complicated. How should I put this, we had some money, some power, and I was my parents’ only daughter, supposedly entitled to inherit what they left behind. But they died early, and at that time... coincidentally, just like the Gu Youyou from Lotus Village, I was only six or seven. My father had brothers and sisters who couldn’t bear the thought of such a large family falling to a little girl like me. Before I came of age, they did everything they could to get rid of me, and while my grandparents grieved over my parents’ death and were in poor health, they divided the family’s power, putting our family business in jeopardy.

I grew up in that kind of environment, stabilizing the family business while recovering bit by bit what they had taken. You see, having gone through that, I might be able to help with the big things you guys need to do, right?"

Jin Zijin’s gaze was complicated as he looked at her for a long, long time.

So long that Gu Youyou became impatient.

"Hey!" She sighed, "You always have this old problem, forget it if you’re not going to talk, I’m happy to be left alone."

"No, Youyou..." He caressed her face, gently rubbing with his somewhat rough fingertips, and said softly, "So this is how you grew up." There was no disdain in his voice, only a feeling of heartache for her.

If it was said that another Gu Youyou growing up confined in a dark room was a pitiful sight, then what about her? As a little girl, in what kind of blade-filled shadows and battles of wits, must she have grown up with constant trepidation.

Her seemingly easy-going few words, he almost saw the countless hidden dangers that had once threatened her life; without the protection of her parents, she had to fend for herself.

So that’s why she knew so much, why she could do many things ordinary people couldn’t?

What kind of fear must a girl have felt when wielding a knife to hurt another person? She was stronger than he had imagined, which is why she managed to remain composed.

"You are more formidable than me," he said.