Venerated Venomous Consort
chapter-95

It seemed like collecting herbs was the fastest way to make money. Therefore, Gu Xijiu decided to be a herb collector to get rich.

Immediately after she made the decision, she started to plan for it. She secretly prepared the tools for collecting herbs such as a silver knife, golden hammer, anti-poison gloves, anti-malarial pills and so on.

On that evening itself, when the sun just set, Gu Xijiu was lying on her bed to study the book given to her by the Firmament Stone Bracelet to learn about making medicine. Just then, there were firecrackers bursting with noise outside along with the sound of a crowd of cheers.

Gu Xijiu called her servant and asked why there were celebrations. It was only then that she knew that the second young master was back and the firecrackers were used to welcome him. The servant then asked if Gu Xijiu wanted to go and join the crowds.

Gu Xijiu smiled, but her body language showed that she was too lazy. She replied, "What is so good about joining the crowd?" She then turned and walked back to her room.

All her servants looked at each other with confusion. They felt that Gu Xijiu had changed so much compared to before. Whenever the second young master would come back home, she used to run out happily to welcome him.

Thanks to the memories of the original owner, Gu Xijiu could still remember things about this second young master. His name was Gu Tianchao. He was the son of Leng Xiangyu and the elder brother of Gu Tianqing. But more importantly, he was the only remaining son of the Gu family.

The first son, Gu Tiannuo, was the son of Luo Xinglan and the elder brother of Gu Xijiu. Unfortunately, after Luo Xinglan's death from her own hands, Gu Tiannuo ran away from home as he was unable to face the misery that came with her passing. He entered into the most ferocious dark forest and had never come back. It is thought that he might have been eaten by beasts lingering inside the forest which is why General Gu had never found his body. As such, Gu Tianchao had become the one and only son of the family.

Gu Tianchao was known to be a genius. He had received a lot of attention from those who surrounded him, and General Gu had taught him all his skill without any reservations. He was also sent to the Jiuxing clan to develop his skills further which gave him the status as a 'disciple' of the clan.

It was not easy to join this clan. One had to be at least level four and would be required to pass examinations of the heart and mind, observations, physical fitness, along with other indicators. Only the elites could join, and therefore when Gu Tianchao was selected, General Gu celebrated his success for three days.

Disciples could only return to their hometown once a year, so, there would always be a grand celebration every time Gu Tianchao returned.

Ever since Gu Tiannuo disappeared, Gu Tianchao became the eldest child in the family. He inherited many characteristics from Leng Xiangyu and became someone who had deep thoughts coupled with good socializing skills. He treated all his sisters very nicely aside from Gu Xijiu.

Before he joined the clan, he often bullied this ugly sister with the help of his other sisters and felt ashamed of Gu Xijiu. There was once when he had secretly pushed Gu Xijiu into a pond and she almost drowned and died.

Upon his first return from his discipleship, he brought a big bag of presents to give to every family member. Even the servant who groomed his horse got a small present. He intentionally did not get one for Gu Xijiu.

Gu Xijiu was only six years old at the time and had very low self-esteem from all the bullying. She always hid in a corner and looked at her sisters who surrounded their brother. Everyone just isolated her and showed no love to her.