Chapter 162: Punishment

　　Chu Liuyue revealed a look of pity. “I wouldn’t dare. Madam Gu, you’re of distinguished status, and I simply can’t accept your apology. However, Madam Gu, I think you cried too hard earlier on. Listen, even your voice is hoarse.”

　　Yue Zhenling was so angry that she could not say anything. Is she purposely being sarcastic?

　　“You…”

　　“That’s enough!” boomed Gu Yunfei as he looked at the subordinates behind him. “Hurry up and send Madam back to rest.”

　　“Yes!” The few of them hurriedly went forward and half-dragged, half-helped Yue Zhenling away.

　　Since Gu Yunfei was here, Yue Zhenling did not dare to cause a commotion any longer, no matter how angry she was. Hence, she could only leave with the rest.

　　Gu Yunfei only heaved a sigh of relief when their figures completely disappeared. “Elder Sun, Liuyue, about this…”

　　“Master Gu, Elder Sun clearly explained it previously that Gu Mingzhu was the one who harmed me and caused her own death in the end. In actual fact, that was not the only time since she did so previously as well. She failed in stealing the golden mane bear cub and was chased by a golden mane bear, yet she purposely dragged my team down with her and caused all of us to be threatened by the bear. If it weren’t because we were lucky enough, not only me, even Mu Hongyu and the rest would’ve died.”

　　Chu Liuyue looked nonchalant, but her words shocked the crowd once again. “I’m of ordinary status, so it doesn’t matter if I die. However, Mu Hongyu… is Princess Yong Ping. If she died because of Gu Mingzhu’s actions, I’m afraid you’d be in trouble, Master Gu.”

　　Gu Yunfei’s remaining words were stuck in his throat. He did not know if Chu Liuyue was speaking the truth. But even her lies would become the truth since Elder Sun was standing on her side.

　　“Since Gu Mingzhu isn’t around anymore, I thought there would be no need to pursue this matter as the victims are prioritized. However, I didn’t expect my tolerance to be rewarded with countless scoldings and accusations. Master Gu, even if I’m not an important character, I will definitely not admit what I’ve not done. If other people want to smear my name, I won’t sit by and quietly watch on. Luckily, Elder Sun was here today; if not, my name would have forever been tarnished. Don’t you agree?”

　　Gu Yunfei’s back was drenched by cold sweat. “Then, what do you want?”

　　Chu Liuyue paused and smiled. “Since Madam Gu has already apologized to me in front of everyone, I won’t hold this against her. We can just let this matter slide.”

　　The rock in Gu Yunfei’s heart was finally lifted. “That’s great; that’s great…”

　　“However…” Chu Liuyue went forward and lowered her voice to say, “Master Gu, Madam Gu is devastated from the loss of her beloved daughter, so she was easily manipulated by people. Perhaps someone has fed her some ideas and taken advantage of her. You should… be more alert of such happenings.”

　　Gu Yunfei’s heart skipped a beat.

　　…

　　The commotion finally ended.

　　Chu Liuyue then returned to the academy and briefly explained the past two days’ happenings to Elder Sun and Bai Chen. However, she used one sentence to summarize how she escaped from the black hole. She merely said that she was unconscious and that she found herself lying in the woods when she woke up, not knowing what had happened.

　　Elder Sun did not really believe her in his heart, but he did not pursue the matter and just reminded her to recover properly when he saw that Chu Liuyue did not want to say much about it. He then let her go.

　　Before Chu Liuyue reached her lodgings, she met Mu Hongyu and Cen Hu—who were looking for her. The two of them were extremely elated when they saw Chu Liuyue standing right before their eyes.

　　“Liuyue, it really is you! It’s you!” Mu Hongyu hugged her as she cried and smiled.

　　Cen Hu stood at the side and scratched his head; his smile was about to extend to the back of his head. “Haha! I told you Liuyue wouldn’t go back on her words! We agreed to meet outside the mountains, and it did come true!”

　　When she saw the duo’s frail appearances, Chu Liuyue knew that they had a difficult time the past few days. Her heart felt sour, and she patted Mu Hongyu’s shoulders. “I always make good on my words, but you guys look so sickly.”

　　“Do we?” Mu Hongyu wiped her tears. As she spoke, Mu Hongyu could not help but burst into laughter. “I heard Madam Gu came to cause trouble for you. How dare they have the cheek to do that?”

　　Chu Liuyue shook her head. “The matter has been settled. I think Madam Gu won’t be having an easy time in the future.”

　　Cen Hu curiously asked, “How do you know? After all, she’s the Gu family’s Mistress!”

　　Chu Liuyue curled her lips. “It’s precisely because she’s the Gu family’s Mistress that the incident’s consequences are even more severe.”

　　…

　　The Chu family residence.

　　When they heard the news their subordinates brought back, Lu Yao could not recover her senses for a long time. She dazedly sat on her chair and muttered in disbelief, “How can this be? Why can’t this affect her?”

　　Not only did the incident not affect Chu Liuyue, but it had even helped prove Chu Liuyue’s innocence.

　　With Elder Sun’s vouching for her, nobody would dare to spread such rumors in the entire Imperial City.

　　Chu Liuyue cleanly cleared her name up without spending much effort! What kind of backing does she have, which allows her to survive such ordeals time and time again?

　　“Look at the good deed you’ve done! Everyone now knows that Elder Sun is backing up Chu Liuyue.” Chu Yan was suffering from serious injuries and temporarily could not get off the bed, so his temper became even worse, and he easily scolded people.

　　Lu Yao was very frustrated. “I didn’t know this would happen!”

　　“It’s all because you don’t have a brain!”

　　As the two of them quarreled, hurried footsteps could be heard from outside.

　　Lu Yao looked up and saw a bunch of people rushing into the yard with ill intentions. “What are you doing? Is this a place that you can randomly barge into? Get out!”

　　The person at the front sneered and weirdly said, “Third Madam, we came here on First Elder’s orders to bring you to the living room.”

　　Lu Yao’s heart skipped a beat. “Why is First Elder looking for me?”

　　“Heh, don’t you know what you did? Now, even the Gu family’s members are waiting for you. Kindly make your way there.”

　　Lu Yao’s heart thoroughly sank when she heard the two words ‘Gu family.’