6: Chapter 6 Father-in-law, I...I'm willing

Time seemed to have its sound and flow drained away at this moment.

The oil lamp's flame flickered gently, the only thing moving in this deathly silent room.

Shen Qingxue knelt where she was, motionless, like a clay sculpture instantly dried by the wind. Her blood seemed to have stopped flowing, her hands and feet went numb; she could not hear her own heartbeat, nor could she feel her own breathing.

Father-in-law's words did not turn into thunder, nor did they become boulders; they simply hung quietly in the air. Each word turned into tiny, invisible dust, slowly falling, filling her internal organs, blocking all her thoughts.

"Taking... a concubine?"

"Consummation?"

She recognized both these terms.

But when they were spoken by the Father-in-law she revered like a god, and the object they pointed to was herself, they combined into a voice from another world, one she could not comprehend, enough to overturn twenty years of her understanding.

Absurd, grotesque, contrary to human ethics.

This was the first thought that popped into her mind.

She should be angry, should scream, should accuse him of being an elder without dignity, taking advantage of his recovery from a serious illness to harbor filthy thoughts.

But she did not.

Because she saw Father-in-law's eyes.

In those cloudy eyeballs, there was not a trace of lewdness or desire, only a silent, bottomless abyss. In the abyss lay a desperate determination, the heaviness of bearing the survival of the Family, and a hint of... guilt toward her.

He was not asking for a woman for himself.

He was seeking a way out for the Gu Family.

Shen Qingxue's vision gradually blurred.

Tears filled her eyes but did not fall. What she saw was no longer the sixty-year-old man in front of her who had just recovered a bit of vitality.

She saw the rainy night three years ago, Changfeng being carried home covered in blood, he grabbed her hand and said intermittently: "Qingxue... I have failed Father... I was unable to... unable to leave an heir for the Gu Family..."

She saw her five-year-old daughter Yaya, chasing butterflies in the courtyard, her laughter crisp. She could not imagine what kind of filthy mire such a delicate flower would fall into if it were without the protection of the Gu Family.

She saw the face of the Wang Family manager, full of greed and disdain, and saw the unmasked, hooked gazes of certain men in town when they looked at her.

The future Father-in-law described was not alarmist.

It was a bottomless trap already dug for them, mother and daughter. Once Father-in-law, this last pillar of support, fell, they would immediately fall in and be doomed forever.

Chastity. Reputation.

The education she had received since childhood told her that this was the foundation for a woman to establish herself in life, even more important than her own life.

But now, could these things buy her daughter's safety? Could they preserve the Family business her late husband traded his life for? Could they keep the Gu Family line from ending, and allow Changfeng to rest in peace in the afterlife?

No.

In the face of survival, these things were as fragile as a layer of window paper.

She lowered her head, looking at the bluestone floor where she knelt, the coldness from the ground creeping up her knees, spreading through her entire body.

She had been married into the Gu Family for five years.

Father-in-law treated her as his own daughter, never once speaking a harsh word.

Changfeng treated her with deep affection; he was the only good man in her life.

The Gu Family had given her a home, given her stability, given her dignity.

Now, the home was about to be gone.

And she was the only one who could save this home.

With what to save it?

With the most precious, and only remaining thing she had.

A tear finally could not bear the weight, sliding off her long eyelashes, silently dripping onto the floor, staining a small dark water spot.

Following that, a second drop, then a third.

She did not cry out, just shed tears silently.

These were not tears of sadness, nor were they tears of grievance.

They were bidding farewell to her past.

Bidding farewell to the Shen Qingxue who observed the womanly virtues and thought only of her late husband.

From now on, she would no longer be anyone's wife, nor would she be anyone's daughter-in-law.

She was just a tool.

A tool that existed to continue the Gu Family line.

Having figured this out, the struggle and pain in her heart strangely calmed down.

What remained was only a numb, resigned sense of tragic heroism.

She slowly raised her head and looked at Gu Yan again.

Her gaze was calm, yet tears were still flowing.

Under Gu Yan's quiet gaze, Shen Qingxue straightened her back, then, facing him, slowly and solemnly bowed her body down.

Her forehead knocked solidly against the hard floor. Thud.

The soft sound seemed to strike against the chimes of fate.

This kowtow was for Father-in-law's upbringing.

This kowtow was for her late husband's unfulfilled wish.

This kowtow was for her daughter's future safety.

And even more... for her own life that was about to pass away.

She maintained the kowtowing posture, not rising immediately.

Scorching tears soaked a patch of the floor in front of her forehead.

After a long while, she used a voice that was almost exhausted, trembling with a heavy nasal tone, and said softly: "Father-in-law... for the Gu Family, for Yaya, and also for... Changfeng in the underworld. Qingxue... I... am willing."